Gettin' hitched

Susan and I have just returned from London and we are now engaged. My modest proposal was made on one knee at the top of the London Eye in a private pod, 8pm GMT on Friday the 15th.

Susan was kind enough to accept my meager self.



While this sounds very romantic on paper (and it was, to a certain extent), the atmosphere was not as perfect as I had hoped. As you can see above, the Eye is all concrete and steel and the steward of the pod, who was pouring the champagne, had us feeling a bit "third-wheelie". Anyway, it was nice but not the flawless event I had envisioned.

Susan may disagree, but this ain't her blog. :)

Anyway, whilst in London we spent a lot of time at Gordon's Winebar. It's the oldest in London and is absolutely gorgeous; intimate, candle-lit and pretty much perfect.

Their website says it looks like this:


Without the benefit of a flash (not to mention a glass or two of good vino), we say it looks like this:


Either way, we were there in the late afternoon on the Sunday following our engagement, discussing our wedding and love in general. Struck by a moment of inspiration, I asked for the ring back, stood up, made a brief, impassioned speech to all the other patrons in the bar, then went down on one knee (AGAIN) and proposed (AGAIN). This brought the house down, as well as considerable tears to my lovely lady's eyes.

Very much more the reaction I had hoped for the first time :).

(As an aside, she said yes. AGAIN)



I am a very happy man.

Requiems for bachelorhood:

Immortal - Damned In Black
(which will most likely not be played at the reception)

Justice - Hears To The Future
(drop the hiphop heavy funkery)

The Higher Intelligence Agency - Freefloater
(quick ticket to bliss)

The Veils - The Runaway Found
(temporarily possessed by the vocalist from the Strokes)

Peanut Butter Wolf - The Jukebox 45's
(the boom, the bip, the boom bip)

Drowning our reputation

Our CIA Director says that waterboarding is "necessary though probably not legal".

Astounding.

Especially astounding given that this detailed explaination (i.e. "It's bad, but we gotta do it") was enough to convince our Attorney General not to open a criminal investigation into waterboarding by the CIA.

So don't make Michael Hayden mad. Ever.

Men in ninja suits and black ski masks will break into your house, drag you to some undisclosed location, strap you to a board, stuff a rag in your mouth and then pour water on your face.

Hayden and the AG apparently think that it's OK to torture "an unlawful combatant" (can I get a definitive explanation of what that means, BTW?) if they are "possessing information that would help us prevent catastrophic loss of life of Americans or their allies."

Tyranny 1, Constitution and the core human rights beliefs of America, 0.

Actually, it's more like a hundred something to zero at this point.

Hayden went on to say that the CIA doesn't do this any more (at least since 2003 or so), but isn't it strange that he still said it was necessary, i.e. it's still in their bag of tricks?

I'm sure a bunch of folks are going to say, "But it's OK to use this technique on our enemies to save lives." Who determines who "our enemies" are? The guys pouring the water on your face? Remember that your belief that you are an American Citizen doesn't mean shit if they're convinced you're "an enemy combatant". No trials, no judgements by a jury of your peers.

Just torture. Pure, simple and evil. Each time we do it, we degrade ourselves and everything we are trying to protect in the first place. How can we expect the rest of the world to be civilized when we ourselves do not act like civilized men?

"I'ma drown you like dis."


Keeping me above water:

Swans - Kill The Child
(use a waterboard)

God - Appeal To Human Greed
(chunky)

L7 - Hungry For Stink
(you were dying)

Hive - Bedlam
(dnb in the place to be)

Mighty Force - Hypnovel
(whatever happened to these guys?)

Food for thought

From dictionary.com:

Liberal (adjective)
1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.
3. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression
5. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
6. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant
7. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.
8. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts
9. given freely or abundantly; generous
10. of, pertaining to, or befitting a free man.
Synonyms: progressive, broad-minded, unprejudiced, beneficent, charitable, openhanded, munificent, unstinting, lavish, ample.

Conservative (adjective)
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness
4. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.
Synonyms: cautious, controlled, fearful, guarded, inflexible, obstinate, uncreative, undaring, unimaginative, white bread

Liberally spiced with:

Various - Spectral Liquid: Konkrete
(future music for future seekers)

Alif Tree - French Cuisine
(white Burgundy on CD)

Tom Waits - Orphans
(a crooked sheriff in a real straight town)

The Upbeats - MP3 Compilation
(face-ripping, body-pounding dnb)

MC 900 Ft Jesus - Hell With The Lid Off
(UFOs are real)

Hit the floor

Five months is a long time. Yes, it's been five months since I cranked out DJ Abstract 21: Late Night Fable Mix. I considered doing another downtempo mix, as my life has been pretty wild of late and I could use some mellow. However, I stumbled across "Mindblowing" by Andy Whitby & Matt Lee and that sparked the dancefloor right into me. So after several iterations, may I present DJ Abstract 22: The Ion Mix. This one pummels pretty hard, but I like it. The mixing isn't that spectacular in places, but who cares? It's a hell of a lot of fun.

01 Intro
02 Hydrogen - Creature Of Habit
03 Nicholas Bennison & Christopher Laurence - Scorcher
04 Andy Whitby & Matt Lee - Mindblowing
05 Armin Van Buuren - Wall Of Sound (Airbase Presents Parc Mix)
06 Art Of Trance - Mongoose (Tek Tonik Remix)
07 Brother Grim - Survive
08 Trance Uber Alles - Ich Schallte - I Switch
09 4 Strings - Mainline
10 DJ? Acucrack - Emulsifier
11 Underworld - Rez / Cowgirl



If you'd like to download this bad boy along with the other 21 DJ Abstract mixes, definitely wander on over to my site and snag to your heart's content.

Other sonic fumbles:

Various - DJ Abstract 22: The Ion Mix
(say what you're going to say, say it, say what you said)

Jesu - Pale Sketches
(JKF takes you on a mind trip)

Moby - 18
(more of the same from the baldster)

Various - Thinner Volume 19
(cool as freak dubtech)

Various - Techtonic Plates CD1
(cool as freak dubstep)