I don't try to keep it hidden anymore - I'm an unabashed Nine Inch Nails fan.  I have been since 'The Downward Spiral' came out back in 1994. I still hold 1999's 'The Fragile' to be one of my Top Ten Albums of All-Time. And then Trent Reznor disappeared off the face of the earth for years, only to resurface in late 2005 with 'With Teeth', which while I wasn't a huge fan initially, is the album I probably listen to the most right now.  He followed that up in 2007 with 'Year Ze...

Or are you just twits?  But seriously.  So after hearing all about Twitter for all these months, I finally signed up .  And you know what?  It'll be cooler once I'm back in the states and have a phone plan I can afford, because I'll be posting from my mobile phone. Yeah, Twitter is tacky, but it's also rather fun.  I mean, stupid and tacky fun, but fun nonetheless.  Yet while most of the twits I follow are known in the Stardock family of sites, they're ...

14 Apr 2008.  1:08pm. I sit at the small table outside the little café, situated just south of the Great Pool in the Parque del Buen Retiro .  It's a beautiful day, the vast azure sky dotted by friendly, fluffy clouds, making their quiet pilgrimage across the countryside.  It's almost as though Madrid wants to say to me, 'Look!  I'm not so bad, after all!  Enjoy your last day here!' A cool breeze blows by, rippling the face of the shallow pool, breaking u...

Here it is, the one thing that Cedarbird has probably been dreading more than anything else - my esoteric, wordy, long-winded description of what I think about Madrid as a city. You know you hate it. -- 13 Apr 2008.  7:51pm. The sun pokes his face through the thick clouds for the first time in what feels like ages as I walk down the bustling streets of Madrid this Sunday afternoon. "All the blue changes, all the blue chains . . ." The dro...

I'm pretty sure that's the most exciting title I've ever given an article of mine.  For the record. Now, this is a story I don't tell very often (and I didn't even tell my family about it until I was back at home, for good reason) but I've had a couple of requests to share it.  This was, without a doubt, the second scariest thing I've ever had happen to me.  Even scarier when the crazy woman was shooting at us with her shotgun and hit the sign right over our heads. So, h...

Gotta love those crazy Floridians. It seems as though there's a motion being put forward to make a new specialty license plate that you can purchase in the 'great' state of Florida.  Yes, that's right - rather than plastering another in your fleet of Jesus fish on the back of your car, you can slap a cross on your actual license plate. Wanna see what they're considering?  It's just glorious, let me tell you. Wow.  That's just . . . special. My issue w...

More Madrid.  I wrote a lot while I was there.  Don't worry, my next post will be the murder story.  And then back to Madrid.  Still got at least two, probably three more posts from there, and then back to beautiful Tarragona. I'm totally going swimming later today in my beautiful sea. -- 12 Apr 2008.  10:10pm. My phone rings early, an alarm to get me up so I don't have to wait in line at the Reina Sofía Museum.  After a day full of renaissa...

11 Apr 2008.  9:19pm. For lunch, Gloria, Jani, Asunta, Merced and I go to El Museo del Jamón , which, for its goofy name, is actually quite good.  The paella is especially tasty, chock-full of little seafood. Following lunch, we meet the teacher and the others in front of the entrance to the Palacio Real .  We get in and as our guide takes us from room to room, I'm almost sickened by how gaudy and ostentatious it all is.  While it's pretty, it's mostly poin...

More awesome Madrid!  You know you get bored by it. -- 11 Apr 2008.  1:02am. After the Biblioteca Real , we separated - but as we were leaving, Carolina asked if I wanted to come to dinner with them.  I answered in the affirmative, and we exchanged mobile numbers. Around 10pm my mobile rang, and I was off to meet them for dinner by the opera house.  (Gotta love Spain's version of dinnertime - 9pm at the earliest.) I arrived just as they did, and as w...

(Thanks to erathoniel, whose article inspired this.) San Chonino would make the best president for three reasons.  He will get respect from foreign nations, he has all the necessary experience, and he will lead the nation through the turbulent times we face.   First:  San Chonino would make the best president because he will get respect from foreign nations.  Our opponents respect hotties, and he is pretty much the biggest hottie of them all.  Having an ...

Okay, I'll bore you with another Spain adventure before putting up my newest article - biting political satire!  Yeah, babeh.  It's hott.  Plus, it's nice to actually be writing again.  But hey - this is pretty okay, too. -- 10 Apr 2008.  8:42pm. I awaken, full of energy after a good night's rest, albeit populated with strange renaissance visions.  I quickly bathe myself in the communal washroom and throw on some clothes. I stand in the doorway a...

I know, I know, I know.  You're saying to yourself - What if Jesus what?  What if he wasn't the Son of God?  What if he didn't exist? No, my friends.  It's something far more sinister. What if Jesus had turned to the dark side of the force? -- I'll just let that sink in for a minute there. ... Okay?  Properly sunk in? Here's what I think would've happened.  He would have become like Caesar's right-hand man, you know?  Like...

Oh, you know how it is.  Gotta get my submission in for the JUWC. Went for a walk down to the beach on Saturday, sat there overlooking my beloved Mediterranean, and this crap showed up.  Oh well.  Nothing ever turns out as good as we want. -- Where she treads, chaos reigns. -- Waves envelop, foamy nothingness - I drown. -- Solos, somos nada. Juntos, todo. Unámonos. (Translation: Alone, we are nothing.  Together,...

For those of you who remember, last year I finally succeeded in writing a pantoum , that most annoyingly beautiful type of poetry that seems so difficult to construct but is so worth it. Lately (like so many on here) I've been suffering a nasty bout of writer's block about everything but writing down what's happening in Spain, which seems to be boring the majority of people lately since they refuse to stop by and read or comment.  (Those who do - you rock!)  But today I was able ...

Another big, fat one.  Sorry, CB.  Hate me for it.  I dare ya.  Plus, I took a long time getting all the hyperlinks to (hopefully) work - each piece of art I mention should pop up in its own browser window/tab, depending on your settings.  So get to know some of the art I got to see. -- 09 Apr 2008.  8:37pm. A few weeks ago a friend in one of my classes told me about a trip that her class was going on to Madrid, and explained that the teacher had exte...