Jason Toney

molesting clowns in 3D

"We don't care if you have more fun in Sunday School, cuz who invited you?" - The Donnas, Who Invited You? (Spend the Night) So, when someone invites you to go see a movie by saying, "Wanna go see Molesting Clowns in 3D?" I encourage you to go. The HSW and I made our way to the NuWilshire theatre on Wednesday to see Capturing The Friedmans. After the film, I didn't know how I felt about it. It felt awkwardly paced and maybe a bit redundant in parts but as I thought about it over time I'm here to say that Andrew Jarecki (yes, that "Felicity Theme Song Stealing Away From the Very Cute Former Power Ranger" Andrew Jarecki) makes a very fine documentary that seeks to present as many sides as possible of quite the intriguing child molestation case. It features pianos, computers, a dirty game called leapfrog, Larry King, a west coast brother whose full of surprise revelations, a mother whose just over it all, some terribly obnoxious children, the #1 birthday clown in New York City, and, apparently, intentional quiet. We sat in the second row as they announced that the film would begin. Except it didn't.

The HSW: Is this part of the movie? Me: Yes, the uncomfortable silence part.

Capturing The Friedmans is fine documentary filmmaking. Go see it in the theatres or wait for the next season of America Undercover on HBO as I'm sure it will end up there sooner rather than later. It also reminded me of one of my other favorite America Undercover pieces (one that they didn't play nearly enough) - Just Melvin, Just Evil.

i've got mail

"like Annie/Thinking tomorrow will maybe be a better day." - Jean Grae, Love Song (Attack of the Attacking Things) The world would not shut up yesterday. I felt like it was closing in on me. Dark tendrils creeping in trying to pull me into the chasm of "feeling down." Some cats in the writer's block at okayplayer.com think I'm biting with my current design. It's true. I am. But it's only in the sincerest form of flattery. But I do feel on shout because of it. An acquaintance happened on a piece I wrote about his former band and caught me off guard. He liked the piece but it reminded me, again, that this site doesn't live in a vacuum. An entire department got fired and replaced at work. A department that I just had a meeting with on Monday. Like Whoa. And there's some other shit going down that has got the shoulders all tight but we won't deal with that here. It had gotten to the point that I was going to feed the fever and make myself a glutton for punishment and revisit the assassination of Medgar Evers (40th anniversary of that event is tomorrow, by the way). Then I got home and my mailbox was full of good stuff. KCRW sent me Sidestepper's 3am (in beats we trust). Netflix had Personal Velocity for me. Newsweek continues to maintain my subscription even though I haven't paid for it. And gamefly. Gamefly dropped off my first 2 games from them in my trial subscription. Black & Bruised, which has it's moments but wasn't what I expected and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker which is outstanding. Ispent several hours last night getting immersed in the world of this game. It's like living inside a pixar feature. I absolutely love it. It's so going to take over all my free time. The point of this? That mail is my friend after a long day. And so is The Lovely Miss Mahoney. Mail and Mahoney. And Hot Rice made by my grandmother and sent across the country on dry ice. Mail. Mahoney. Hot Rice. Yes.

on margaritas and madcappery...

"Pass that glass, pass it around, don't bring the party down" - The Donnas, Pass It Around (Spend the Night) In case you can't tell by my current opening lyrics, one of the big things you missed this weekend was my illicit love affair with The Donnas and their Spend the Night disc. I'm in a real rock kind of mood right now and they are rocking the party hard. So much fun. Plus there's the atari 2600 and a Freddy Kreuger poster in the liner notes. That's cool shit. Here's what else you missed:

we can funk until the dawn

"We're rising to the top, we won't let nobody stop what we're doing" - Keni Burke, Risin' to the Top (Snowoboy's Acoustic Mix) (Badmeaninggood Vol. 3) I'm not sure I'm the marrying kind anymore --although I still think that my wedding ideas rock-- but, should I ever be snookered into the traditional rigamarole, please don't let anyone play "Magic Stick" and "21 Questions" at the reception. I love Prince but the song content of "Erotic City" is not really where I want the playlist to go while my grandparents and my baby cousins are sitting at the table next to the speakers. I'm just sayin' is all. The Lovely Miss Anna Baby and I missed the actual ceremony as we couldn't find the church. Or the University of San Diego for that matter. It seems like an entire University bearing the name of the city wouldn't be hard to find but it was. Souplantation wasn't hard to find though and we got our lunch on in a major way. We then made our way to the Prado at Balboa Park in downtown San Diego to do some prep work for the reception. That included us spending an awful lot of time chillin' with the koi and the lobsters in the koi pond and the beautiful plants in the botanical garden...and listening to random conversations.

Old man, as he walks up to the pond, caught up in the moment: Ahhh, this reminds me of my time in Japan. His wife, as she walks away from him: Yeah, well.

We also had random conversations...

Me, as we walked towards the random juggling guy and his audience: Wow, he really has a big crowd. The Lovely Miss Anna Baby: Yeah he does! (pause) TLMAB: I thought you were going to say head... Me: What? TLMAB: I thought you were going to say 'Wow, he really has a big head.' Me: Yeah, he does!

only a babillion miles to go

"Just take me to the backseat, where no one else can see." - The Donnas, Take Me to the Backseat (Spend the Night) At 5am, I was up. I pretended like I wasn't up. I kept my eyes closed and tossed and turned in bed as if I was sleeping but I was up. At 6:20am, I was getting gas. On a Saturday. 6:20am. Wow, it's early. I was surprised by how many people were out and about before 7am on the weekend. 7am. Heh, at 7am, I was walking down the steps into the outdoor auditorium of Santa Monica High School as Cool Ass Photographer yelled my name. You remember C.A.P. right? Yeah, she's my marathon coach in an effort to remind me again how small a world L.A. is. At 7:22am, I was running down Pico boulevard towards the beach. Passed by Shutters and considered hanging a right right into the restaurant and ordering up some vanilla flavored waffles. Considered long and hard about it. Even as I ran past and onto the boardwalk I was thinking about those waffles. I ran for about 6 minutes straight which was a bad idea. Just like Marathon explains, you should take your walk breaks often and early. I took them a lot more often late and wasn't getting as big a benefit from them, although I took the incline back up Pico from the beach really well. At 7:58am, I made it back to Santa Monica High School having run 3 12 minute miles. I opted to go in a slower pace group, though, for a few reasons: 1) I don't think I can maintain that pace over longer runs yet and 2) the 12 minute mile group is filled with a lot of A-type personalities that I think would get on my damn nerves and 3) the 14 minute mile group is a lot smaller and filled with cool chicks and me. That's so my regular scene.

before we begin...

"I don't care if you don't wanna bother with me, baby." - The Donnas, I Don't Care (so there) (Spend The Night) MT Question...If I wanted to put a list of all the entries in a certain category in my sidebar (in chronological order) just like the "most recent entries" list, how would I code that? I'm too lazy to hunt for it...

there is no animated spoon

"He goes to, she goes fro, he goes fast, she goes slow, he goes left, she goes right, Papa's lookin' for Mama but Mama is nowhere in sight." - Perry Como, Papa Loves Mambo (Ocean's 11 Soundtrack)
banner courtesy of the wonderful and talented gwen. Someone must buy me the Animatrix! Come on! Please! I already spent my thirty dollars and twenty five cents on a hepcat ticket, I can't have more superfluous spending this week. Especially considering I have a moving violation I need to pay for by the end of next week. This is probably why I spent several minutes just staring at Enter the Matrix for the game cube in Target yesterday. I went in to buy my running clothes. Some dry fit tank tops and some wind resistant shorts and possibly an ironman watch with 100 count lap time. No watch but I got the clothes. I also know it takes exactly 37 steps from the Men's Wear area to the electronics area and that Enter the Matrix is on the second shelf, 2nd from the left, in between Wolverine's Revenge (on sale for 37.88) and Clone Wars (on sale for 29.99). I didn't buy it, though, and thankfully, the counter lady didn't ask me if I wanted to see something or if I needed help. I desperately need help.

---

Yesterday afternoon someone handed me Tommy Boy's Classic Cuts. I'm sure people are looking at me when I'm poplocking to Planet Rock in my car. That song is like THE poplock record. Every note is built to demand a move from the breakdancer's body. Damn. But Stetsasonic's Sally has me fiending for some Salt-N-Pepa. Something about the track makes the pseudo DJ in me think of Push It as a great transition to or from that record. Hot to Death. It also had me thinking about De La Soul so I fell asleep reading Fearless Jones with Bionix in my headphones. Pos is really on point throughout that entire record. Is he underrated as a lyricist? I think so.

supernova

"I say the beat don't stop" - Peanut Butter Wolf, Conducted Rhythms (Jukebox 45s) You should probably read 26.2 miles first. Asher asked me to walk away from him with my shoes off and my pants rolled up. "Don't look at me," he commanded and I stood up a little more straight, scared to turn my head. "What can you tell me about your foot," he asked. "I wear a ten and a half or a ten depending on the shoe," I said. "You're an 11 because your right foot is longer than your left," he stated. "And, your right foot is very flat. You need cushion. I have the shoe!" And he did: the Adidas Supernova Cushion M. Oh my goodness, they feel so good. I like shoes but I don't spend a lot of money. Some choice purchases at Payless, the Skechers outlet and a sale at foot locker and usually I'm straight. My newest pair of shoes are really light, if not entirely comfortable, Nike Prestos and they were a gift from my mom. The Adidas Supernova though? The finest feeling under me. I felt so quick in them and solid and my back screamed with delight a little as it realigned. I wore them through Tae bo and then for the rest of the night. I should have probably worn them today but I need at least 2 more pair for all that. And, this is important because running shoes are usually horrendous, they aren't ugly! No orange and yellow and bright blue all up in there. A nice, sleek, white shoe with gray and black accents. I can find matching gear for that. So, yay for Asher and Shoe Wearhouse. And 10% off so that I could buy a few pairs of 10 dollar socks. Other news. Some folks are awesome with their generosity and support of me and this cause. I'm honored and amazed by all of you. Especially you. Your words of encouragement and support will be in my head on those tough miles. Fo'rilla.

26.2 miles

"This world is full of love, we still have hope." - Zero 7, This World (Simple Things) From my apartment in Canoga Park, California to the exit for Los Angeles International Airport is 23.5 miles. On December 14th of this year, I will run that distance plus 2.7 more miles. 26.2 miles. In my head it seemed impossible when I decided I was going to take this on about a month ago. It still seems incredibly daunting, a feat that I would have never imagined attempting 3 years ago or 3 months ago. The reason I'm running this marathon? Because I'm raising money for AIDS Project Los Angeles. APLA is the leading provider of AIDS services for Southern California. When I raise $3,000, APLA will fly me to Honolulu Hawaii, put me up in a hotel for the weekend and wish me luck. Then I will run 26.2 miles. I'm not a runner. I don't jog. I've never even really enjoyed the activity but I'm doing this. Why? Because the only reason the shows I work for have any cultural merit is because a young man died from AIDS complications but spent much of his last year with our cameras in his face. I'm doing this because Magic Johnson is living with the disease and not only living with it but thriving. I'm doing this because I know people living with the disease that aren't thriving. They are struggling. I don't want them to struggle anymore than they have to. I'm also doing this for me. Accomplishment, discipline, focus, pushing myself to the limit. All of it. I have a tendency to shy away from challenges. I have a tendency to succumb to fear. I'm giving that outlook on life a holiday. And quite simply, I have two legs, my health, and my life. There are many who do not, so why wouldn't I do this? But I would like your help. My fund raising goal is $5,000. Which seems like a crazy goal but if I get 200 people to donate a dollar a mile (26 dollars), APLA would have $4200.00, those dealing with HIV and AIDS in Los Angeles would have some serious assistance, and I would just have 26.2 miles to complete to honor your belief in me. What do ya say? You can make a donation right here on my AIDS Marathon Fundraising page. If you do so by September 3rd, I will promote any link you want right here on this site until I've completed the marathon. And you will have my undying gratitude. And, I'm sure, the gratitude of lots of others who won't know your or my name.

phrenology v.5.0

"What chu goan do now?" - DJ Shadow, Monosylabik (The Private Press) I like the banner and the colors but I'm still playing with the fonts and I really want the slick dotted underline links but for some reason I'm not really wrapping my mind around how that works yet. Over on the side there, you can see everything I'm into at the moment as it relates to mixed media. I should probably put which game I'm playing a lot right now but I don't play games because I'm too busy being cool to be spending too much time fiddling with my gamecube and watching g4tv. You can also see which things I'm currently done with and am offering in trade. Hopefully this will be my own little version of bookcrossing. I would like to put my books out into the world instead of having them just sit on one of my bookshelves collecting mountains of dust. You want the book I'm offering? Offer something in exchange and I'll mail the book out to you. Same goes with anything else in the offering. So, yeah, this is the phrenology of me. Headz ain't ready.