I make up for emotions through intensity. That is: I don’t cry often; I don’t have too many highs or lows really. But I manage to get very intense, very focused and very stressed.

A couple of weeks ago, I did a phone interview with April for her class. One of the questions was “When was the last time you cried and why?” It worked out well; it turned out that “Son of Rambow” had caused me to tear up a few days before.*

Imagine my surprise when I teared up this morning, over some actually emotional. I was listening to Ballboy and damn if those Scots don’t know how to handle moroseness. In my long line of scanning pictures through Scancafe, I got email telling me my latest batch was online.

This batch is special for several reasons; the main reason is that it includes several hundred pictures of my father that I have never seen. Not only have I never seen these, but I don’t think anyone has seen them in decades; my mother has probably never seen them even; they were packed away with my grandmother’s things and only recently found. These are only photos I have of my father as a child — without these, his life began sometime around the time he married my mother.

And this morning, I sat in a coffeeshop, watching people in chilly fall air walk by, listening to someone sing to me about the beautiful downsides of life and I felt tears come to my eyes. And not just once, but twice over 10 minutes.

It just surprised me. I got on the train 10 minutes later and switched music to something a little louder and rougher (Rotors to Rust) just to see if I can wrestle free of this mood a little.

But man, there is something totally neat about seeing old photos that you have never seen before of people you know and love.

* Generally, I have found that any story about an underdog overcoming obstacles will get me. The most classic example is “Babe,” which I promise will always cause tears in the final scene or two.

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just got this text from chrispy and figured i’d throw it up:

a bus on fire. i’m sure it’s even more insane in person. sadly i have no context for this.

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There are a few tales of Texas to be told and re-told, but first I need to clear out some of these open tabs I have floating in Firefox, waiting to be thrown over to you.

• a “twist” on mario. (and I use “twist” in that old “jo buddy” kind of way.) a preface on this link: 1. i didn’t see the original post, 2. this actually ties in with an ongoing conversation i have been having with kurt: that no one would post to craigslist/casual encounters with an offer of “the door will be unlocked, come have your way with me.” 3. this is another of those things that you can’t undo once you have read it. you’ve been warned.
• michael bay’s rejected script for batman.
• school locked down after a ninja sighting.
• the best looking wags (wives and girlfriends) of soccer players. yeah, this one is a little too maxim for me, but i figure you might care anyway. (also, i love #41. who is 36. but then you see her and you realize why. im so predictable.)
• grant morrison’s tv scripts for the unproduced ‘invisibles’ bbc show.
• i know you missed it the first time, so take another look at the fail blog. it it dynamite.
• a bit on the difficulty in covering fox news [via rex]
• 10 dollars or 10% off a jet blue flight (expires 7/10/08) — not usually the kind of thing id link to, but it might be helpful to someone out there.
• finally, for hima, the train station/depot at mountain view is going to become a wine/beer bar + good food. now ill never be able to drive home after work.

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…but what goes inside of it?

Really, Sandisk? Seriously?

It is said that any publicity is good publicity, but you do know there is a difference between laughing at and laughing with, right?

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Petunia, meet iris.

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Work must be keeping me busy — I just end up stacking tabs and tabs all day long now to post in one giant string for you. I hope you don’t mind.

• The easy one first: Stuff White People Like. This was everywhere today, but it is funny, at least for a moment. (#49: Vintage.)
• This is another great craigslist post. Unlike my other favorite one, this one is safe for work, aside from the profanity. Bonus points for being posted from Richmond, Va. [via flickr]
• I don’t usually like funny animal images, but for some reason, this one tickled me. I think it might just be slightly dirty in my weird mind.
• So, somehow, I missed the whole “anonymous vs scientology” thing that has been going on the last couple of weeks. What? You did too? Read this article and this article and maybe even this blog post and you’ll learn about it. And then you’ll have some context as to why this image is funny.
• kniiiiiiife eeeeeyyyye attaaaack
• rejected star wars merchandise. sadly, this is a serious article — I wanted a list of truly fake and silly merchandise, stuff like Tauntaun Steaks. Still, the Death Star grill is a pretty awesome idea.
• How to make Nutella icecream.
• Finally, to end the day right, go to this blog post and listen to Energy Flash by Joey Beltram. This is a fantastic blog about early rave/dance music, usually covering about ‘88-’96 (I’m totally guessing years here). I used to not love this song, but somewhere in the last 5 years or so, I have come to really really dig it. And it made my day today. Let it make yours.

PS — I am still laughing at myself about ‘i can has man on ur boat.’

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Tripp, when did you start posting so many links?

I don’t know. Probably in the last couple of weeks when I realized:
1. end of the week sucks. And you could use some pick me ups.
2. that not everyone reads the web as obsessively as I do.

Let’s go:

a u.s scientist has cloned himself from skin cells. Only a matter of time. Still a bit freaky. But hey, maybe they can grow me a new colon. Who am I to argue with progress?

The coolest piece of junk I’ve seen this week (I forget last week’s winner, 2 week’s ago, it was this japanese masturbation aid): a tentacle arm. Ah yeah.

Some more words about ffffound, which I am still addicted to. Having it’s front page feed in my reader is a source of constant happiness. Don’t believe me? How about this, this, this, this or this or this?

No? How about some fun and silly nerd flickr pictures then?

And finally, a couple of articles on io9 — future newspapers in movies and such and info on a new mini-series on the history channel called “life without humans,” which really just sounds like ‘the world without us’ which i still really really really want to read.

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