tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27681832817664238342012-01-05T09:49:56.167-06:00The Only Sane Person in an Insane WorldLeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.comBlogger931100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-73225543285933549952011-05-18T09:25:00.001-05:002011-05-18T09:26:14.316-05:00

Original post for Left of College Station. I'll post some of the things I write for that blog here, but after the fact, so you'll always see it there first. ------------ If you've had your ear to the grindstone, you may have heard the uproar over Texas Rep. Wayne Christian's Amendment 143 last month, which proposed that equal amounts of funding be provided for both campus GLBT Resource Centers

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-69564578378902700832011-05-06T15:36:00.000-05:002011-05-06T15:36:50.180-05:00

Technically, the next book I want to read is "I Love Yous Are For White People" by Lac Su, but this is another one that I'm now interested in, thanks in no small part to a delightful interview on The Colbert Report, embedded below. The Colbert Report Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive I promise that as soon as I get around to reading either of these

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-67456699477037932732011-05-06T14:28:00.000-05:002011-05-06T15:24:02.229-05:00

I recognize that it's been...well, you can see how long it's been since I effectively shouted "BRB AFK" at the world, but that was because I was sort of busy winning the Robert M. Gates Inspiration Award for the diversity based work I've done with the Regents' Scholars Program - a student program designed specifically for first-generation, low family income college students.Yes.....I've been busy

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-74812540195305587312010-09-08T16:27:00.000-05:002010-09-08T16:48:38.658-05:00

I've decided to start a new occasional segment on my website, born largely of my newfound love of the often irreverent Hyperbole and a Half. The drawings often remind me of Natalie Dee and my wife's doodles, so I thought I'd find a way to combine my love of ridiculous doodles with social justice. Wow, that was easy! Every now and then I will post a brief list of misconceptions that the public

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-44252352754613615652010-08-31T16:14:00.000-05:002010-08-31T16:56:59.923-05:00

I have to give a hearty congratulations to Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty (or "T-Paw" as we will colloquially refer to him). It takes one hell of a man to actually turn down nearly a million dollars of free money to help fund a sex education program for young teens. Why? Because it advocates the use of condoms and discusses safe sex practices.The horror.As we all know, informing people about

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-15704713812819245022010-08-30T15:19:00.000-05:002010-08-30T17:15:33.378-05:00

I have to thank you, Justice Readers, for cutting me some slack last week. Things were ridiculously busy and I had to put in a lot of overtime at work. I think my meetings with students went well and I hope that they left after our time together thinking a little harder about the nature of privilege in society.I would like to say that I was surprised by the positive responses I received when I

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-44063227305020508672010-08-20T17:08:00.001-05:002010-08-20T17:09:55.196-05:00

Hey, Justice Readers! I didn't forget about you! Your weekend question is this:What experience have you had with gendering? Can you name a specific instance in your life where you consciously felt yourself being gendered one way or another - i.e. you wanted to do one thing but were told that it was inappropriate simply because you are either a man or a woman?Zeebo Out.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-52466894615769789872010-08-20T15:52:00.000-05:002010-08-20T17:02:20.517-05:00

I actually really hate writing blog posts that basically just say "Hey, sorry for not updating" because it's sort of a cheap attempt at updating without actually doing anything. Unfortunately I'm kind of tapped right now - I'm prepping for social justice speaking engagements with at-risk students, trying to make sure that my university's diversity plans are comprehensive and include an ongoing

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-15689626182499532962010-08-18T14:36:00.000-05:002010-08-18T15:17:05.919-05:00

As I prepare for two separate speaking engagements on campus wherein I will be talking to students about social justice and respect, I find myself beset by a world that constantly spews out disrespect. I'm obviously talking about Dr. Laura and her recent and repeated dropping of the N-bomb while speaking to a black woman on the radio.It's incredibly hard for me to listen to people like Dr. Laura

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-30696656427231770742010-08-17T15:44:00.000-05:002010-08-17T16:52:07.371-05:00

Sometimes it is very difficult to fight against a lifetime of conditioning. It's a challenge I wrestle with in a lot of areas, but none so long as I do with the concepts and stigmas of female body types. I've spent most of my life trying to champion the "fat girl" and pushing away the hideous, consistently unrealistic images of the ideal body posited by the myriad modeling and advertising

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-26775180369105747232010-08-13T16:26:00.000-05:002010-08-13T16:31:28.158-05:00

Today's weekend question, relating directly to the post before, is this:How difficult is it for you to see beyond the "mother" image to the person underneath?Zeebo Out.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-5560485483320294152010-08-13T14:27:00.001-05:002010-08-13T16:26:11.125-05:00

A Note: This was pretty hard to write, Justice Readers, so I will probably not respond to comments for a bit. I'll get to them, though, I promise. In the meantime, please enjoy this actual photo of my parents when they were dating.A few things have been bouncing around my head lately in a very bothersome fashion, all of which involve what I perceive as a common plight of mothers across the

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-24171044225740238672010-08-12T15:17:00.000-05:002010-08-12T16:28:30.527-05:00

I had a whole other article I wanted to write today about the unrealistic and unfair expectations of mothers, but after I read this article from NPR I became so annoyed that I felt I had to comment. In it, author Linda Holmes talks about the ongoing tendency by formal film critics to judge the movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World based more on its audience than the film itself. She cites several

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-81708602165016212902010-08-11T15:25:00.001-05:002010-08-11T15:33:13.040-05:00

I'm obviously in a pretty goofy mood today, so everybody will have to excuse me. I can only write seriously about social issues that shouldn't even exist for so long before my brain sort of melts out my ears and I revert back to comedy.In other news, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Theater shows us the basic argument Fox News has been making for years in regards to the legalization of gay

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-4186881969085725412010-08-11T12:27:00.001-05:002010-08-11T12:32:58.969-05:00

By this time I assume most of us have heard that the Mexican Supreme Court has officially declared that all states within the country of Mexico need to recognize GLBT weddings performed in Mexico City. It's an important piece of legislature for Mexico, though it does not specify the degree of recognition that must be granted to same-sex couples, nor did it force any states to reverse any

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-33375001661892368462010-08-10T15:44:00.000-05:002010-08-10T17:04:11.319-05:00

Huong pointed me to this article on Feministe as a continuation of the ongoing conversation we have about gender dynamics within our relationship. The concept of a wife being "lucky" because her husband is actually, you know, useful is something that is not at all foreign to us. It ties right into the same conversation I had before about the subject of Huong not changing her name and the fact

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-88109425031742716532010-08-09T14:22:00.000-05:002010-08-09T14:58:06.995-05:00

I had an issue with Penelope Trunk long before she actually made a guest post on BNet chronicling her forcefully blind misunderstanding of sexual politics in the workplace. Back in January of this year she made a blog post that essentially calls anybody who actually pays for a liberal arts education a sap (note: Few things aggravate me more than this condescending idea that liberal arts is for

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-76838463995381088222010-08-06T16:31:00.000-05:002010-08-06T16:34:24.534-05:00

Justice Readers, I open my weekend question up to a basic suggestion box format, because I can always use new reading material:What blogs do you regularly read that focus on Social Justice? Where are you primarily getting your news about social issues?

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-9270024722344496412010-08-06T12:48:00.000-05:002010-08-06T13:50:27.804-05:00

Recently Texas A&M president Dr. R. Bowen Loftin met with the student senate to discuss the university's upcoming $39 million state budget cut and the $21 million reallocation of funds. Sixty million dollars is a pretty hefty amount of money to take out of the university, and it's going to result in over 200 filled positions being let go. The student senate is composed of undergraduate students

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-50636239440736084752010-08-05T10:32:00.000-05:002010-08-05T11:27:25.185-05:00

By this point I hope that most of us have seen the clip of Stephen Colbert hashing things out with Laura Ingraham over her new book "The Obama Diaries." I went ahead and linked straight to Lauara Ingraham's official page for the book, not because I'm endorsing that you buy it, but because I think you should be able to determine exactly what the book is without me needing to rely on an outside

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-85816483063857932082010-08-04T14:47:00.001-05:002010-08-04T15:54:50.270-05:00

I had an interesting conversation with my wife recently on our marriage, and whether or not it can be considered interracial. I was washing the dishes when I turned to her and mentioned that I was trying to do research on interracial relationships and the differing interpretations that exist between cultures (the fact that I openly do this sort of thing in my free time causes my friends to

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-55609712623691423062010-08-03T14:41:00.000-05:002010-08-03T15:17:04.265-05:00

I'm a giant fan of mc chris (the name purposely lowercased because that is essentially how Chris rolls). I've been listening to his music since I first heard Fett's Vette on Sealab 2021, which I watched religiously with my friends. Chris Ward pushes past the nerdcore rapper concept in ways that other self-identified nerdcores don't. He experiments with sound and subject matter and I enjoy the

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-48978902806487803222010-08-03T10:10:00.000-05:002010-08-03T11:44:21.719-05:00

When Huong and I were engaged to be married, I asked her if she wanted to take my last name. I had no real expectations out of the question, as I'm sure she knew - I'm a naturally curious person and I always ask for her thoughts on pretty much everything. She turned to me and said, "No."For me, that was pretty much it. Having Huong change her name for me has never been high on my list of

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-54133877313496105162010-08-02T15:34:00.000-05:002010-08-02T15:47:00.991-05:00

Sorry, Justice Readers, I've been doing my usual reading and trolling for intriguing stories, but haven't found anything that has really grabbed me today, with one exception. I love the Gallup organization and its mountains of polling and trend data. As a proponent of Strengths-Based offices, schools, and personal lives, I tend to look at them pretty often to see who is adopting the philosophy

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-86317663700390140972010-07-30T19:00:00.000-05:002010-08-06T16:31:09.019-05:00

For all the Lady Nerds out there, what stereotypes do you encounter that challenge your identity?

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-1245620657018797022010-07-30T14:36:00.000-05:002010-07-30T16:06:01.316-05:00

I believe in our last installment I left off on a fairly good note, and hopefully convinced everyone that although large chunks of my childhood were filled with ridicule and sometimes physical bullying, I turned out fairly positively in spite of this. I really want to stress the whole "in spite of" part of that sentence because most of my life I've been told that part of the reason I am so

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-63683096256866031562010-07-29T14:52:00.000-05:002010-07-29T15:12:21.593-05:00

This will be brief - I saw a good opportunity to plug another blog written from the perspective of a liberal concerned with social justice living in a haven of conservative, often racist thinking. The blog "From Austin to A&M" is openly on my read list, and I think anybody in this area (and well beyond) should tune into it as well. This blog is the first place I learned about the Scarlet A for

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-35737959314856857492010-07-29T13:45:00.000-05:002010-07-29T16:02:13.698-05:00

I've had a few good stories and information coming in, so I thought I would wrap them all together with a little bow for my readership (all eight of you - I love you so much you adorable little social justice seekers). I apologize if some of this is terribly old news to you guys, but I love this stuff so much that I'm willing to celebrate it again if you are.JUSTICE READERS,

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-29683831873614806292010-07-27T14:01:00.000-05:002010-07-27T15:59:44.539-05:00

Or rather, one man who is technically unaffiliated with NOM (National Organization for Marriage). Larry Adams stood with the NOM group in Indiana holding a sign that openly suggested that homosexuals should be murdered for crimes against humanity and God. NOM didn't exactly ask Mr. Adams to take a hike, so maybe we can assume some level of affiliation with the group. They obviously weren't

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-2100510888493418072010-07-27T11:20:00.000-05:002010-07-27T12:20:53.323-05:00

I think that the primary issue I had in my youth was that I was never terribly comfortable with myself - something which was consistently cemented by the way others treated me and behaved around me. When I was particulraly young, my parents used to set up these play dates for me with children of people that I think my dad worked with, and they were always disastrous. The kid I was supposed to

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-67066742175877959462010-07-27T09:00:00.000-05:002010-07-27T09:15:33.460-05:00

I apologize for the lack of an update yesterday, but I was wrestling with some sort of stomach thing and my mind wasn't exactly on the problems of the world or even nerdy interests. The one time that I allow myself to be selfish is when I am bent over a toilet and pretending to be some kind of dragon to take my mind off the fact that I'm ejecting everything I ever have eaten or will eat.But I'm

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-27570720533112351092010-07-23T17:01:00.000-05:002010-07-23T17:03:16.895-05:00

Based on the last post, my weekend question to you guys is this:When did you first feel that you were an outsider? This can be tied into the nerd identity if that applies to you or it can be relative to your own personal experiences.Zeebo Out.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-8870401219542042842010-07-23T15:06:00.000-05:002010-07-23T17:01:11.673-05:00

Just a quick note, guys: This entry is going to delve into some of the negatives of inhabiting the nerd identity - primarily those areas of social awkwardness and existing as an "other" to more traditional children during my youth. Nerds are aware of what I'm talking about and this stuff will resonate, but others will probably only see issues. I'm not suggesting that I don't have issues, but I

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-21391352012672242492010-07-21T14:50:00.000-05:002010-07-21T16:14:53.599-05:00

I mentioned in a previous entry that I am not at all a fan of other people apologizing for one person's abhorrent acts, whether that be rape, hurling racial slurs, or any sort of abuse. Let the person who committed the act make the apology, and then let that person's actions afterwards convince the rest of the world that the apology was genuine. If I haven't made this clear before, there is a

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-91931444547125377042010-07-21T09:49:00.000-05:002010-07-21T11:22:19.062-05:00

I've been thinking that I'd like to try some ongoing segments (on no particular schedule) on LZA, and since I point out specific individuals who consistently drive me to drink with their antics, I thought I would start there. This segment, called simply "Counter-Productive," will highlight persons or groups who set back racial equality, feminism, or just general good will by decades.That's right

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-9045199715336434382010-07-20T11:43:00.000-05:002010-07-20T12:05:20.679-05:00

I honestly have very little to talk about today - I think my brain is a little bit fried. However, I didn't want to go too long before at least throwing out this conversation piece: Sociological Images pointed out that, at least according to Thesaurus.com, there are several synonyms for power that equate to masculinity, and several synonyms with weakness that equate to femininity. With "power"

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-54870007901169492302010-07-19T10:13:00.000-05:002010-07-19T11:16:16.243-05:00

Every time I think about the Armed Service's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, I can't help but think about the incredible Lt. Dan Choi who is the baddest dude on the face of the planet, as far as I am concerned. I had the pleasure of going to see Lt. Choi speak on the A&M campus a while back in a segment titled "Truth and Consequences: One Man's Quest to Openly Serve his Country." It was

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-62391772139734426952010-07-16T14:48:00.000-05:002010-07-16T15:47:51.592-05:00

I've stated before that the realm of fashion and design, at least in its current incarnation, is a whole plane of existence that I don't even live on. Case in point, this story, in which designer Mark Fast's decision to use "plus size" models is considered a controversy in the world of designers and models; one which actually led to the resignation of his stylist and his creative director. That

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-67807817685990243992010-07-16T10:13:00.000-05:002010-07-16T13:21:19.515-05:00

By nature I am not the most observant guy on the planet - I can rarely remember what anybody around me is wearing, for instance - so it's very difficult for me to try and pinpoint the exact moment when I realized that privacy had gone completely out the window in our new information age. Was it when Bush signed the Patriot Act and basically told law enforcement that all they needed was the

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-11730364098837359772010-07-15T14:07:00.000-05:002010-07-15T14:47:49.647-05:00

So Feministing had an amusing bit of news yesterday. At an event sponsored by Ladies Against Feminism, Michelle Duggar of the TLC program "19 and Counting" was crowned Mother of the Year. This doesn't make much sense until you realize that the only actual requirement of being a good mother is to have as many children as humanly possible.I tried perusing the Ladies Against Feminism website to

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-68982673528050723532010-07-15T10:02:00.000-05:002010-07-15T11:03:50.950-05:00

This image, and the image of the GayBot 1000 from this post, both come from the consistently awesome blog Slap Upside the Head, which I highly urge people to check out. I just wanted to give a nod to Mark for the art I've been using, and to share his cause. I spend a lot of time talking about things that basically just piss me off on this blog, and I thought it would be a nice change of pace to

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-26680220368248910982010-07-14T10:16:00.000-05:002010-07-14T12:13:17.044-05:00

By this point I think everyone and their dog has heard about Mel Gibson's latest outburst. My own opinion of him is fairly simple, and one I actually formed a long time before this recent news hit: He's an asshole. I don't think he has some kind of brain defect, I don't think his alcoholism causes him to say things he doesn't mean, I just think he's a racist, bigoted, misogynyst. A lot of

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-68055884369919380792010-07-14T08:36:00.000-05:002010-07-14T09:11:01.473-05:00

At a certain point I suppose my Wonder Woman fascination will become a bit oversaturated on this blog, but I really couldn't resist providing everyone with a link to today's ShortPacked, where comic artist David Willis has coined my new favorite catch-phrase: Star-Spangled Panties. And in the process he managed to show off the general style of Fox News. "Next Up: This Adorable Puppy....

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-53567397837235587792010-07-13T12:49:00.000-05:002010-07-15T14:05:21.907-05:00

I have been excited for Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables since the initial teaser trailers which smartly showed us that the film featured every major action star of the past twenty years. I say "smartly" because the teasers, which featured almost no actual film footage, already told us everything we needed to know - this is going to be a popcorn movie where everything blows up, and dudes with

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-65459578068205068532010-07-13T10:56:00.000-05:002010-07-13T12:20:56.840-05:00

I am officially a convert to Project: Rooftop, a blog designed to showcase various artists' attempts at redesigning superhero costumes. I hate Project Runway and America's Next Top Model and all that other crap, but if somebody took those concepts and used them to showcase awesome super-costumes instead of the usual fashion disasters they generally put on television, I would be glued to the set

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-38719129361947065942010-07-12T09:33:00.000-05:002010-07-12T13:32:45.142-05:00

Edit: Huong just sent me this link. I think it feels pretty appropriate.I've mentioned before that my decision to live my life as an Atheist was a really easy one. The reason for this, I think, has some partial involvement with some of my negative exposures to religion as a kid and throughout my life. This is not to say that these few events, which I will recount for you, are the entire reason

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-20998698012432427782010-07-09T15:07:00.000-05:002010-07-09T16:22:18.219-05:00

I've been sitting on a slew of links for a while that all kind of deal with a similar subject - the stereotypes we lay on women, and the general way we use misogyny to take advantage of them through advertising. This is going to be pretty feminism-centric.Using Sex to Sell Stuff - This is not a new link, nor are any of the advertisements contained within new, but I'm pretty sure if we all look

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-71484511130871425492010-07-09T12:15:00.000-05:002010-07-09T13:17:51.642-05:00

There is always an awkwardness I feel when discussing my whiteness with anything other than a joking tone. I'm acutely and, quite frankly, painfully aware of the appearances of a middle class white dude writing on the internet about social justice. There will probably always be a level of people not taking me very seriously on these topics. I'm positioned in a prime space of priviledge, so

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-35125401663555622182010-07-09T09:23:00.000-05:002010-07-09T09:42:43.997-05:00

I wanted to write a scathing review of M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, but then I realized that this review from io9 blows away anything I might say - it really is that good. The review, not the movie. The movie is terrible. Don't waste your money.If nothing else, I think we can all agree that Shyamalan's expertly crafted line "We need to show them that we believe in our beliefs as

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-54873680621499882010-07-08T10:41:00.000-05:002010-07-08T11:44:35.029-05:00

Uh-oh! Look out, everyone! When the National Organization for Marriage goes on the road, they pull out all the stops, except for the predesignated stops on their tour so that they can talk to you about how homos are the devil. Wooooo! When the NOM tour bus is a rockin', you can bet that there's a Christian Heterosexual couple in there making some babies like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-34301331572628141702010-07-08T08:19:00.000-05:002010-07-08T08:43:13.238-05:00

Recently designer Shawna Trpcic leaked photos via Twitter of the Wonder Woman costume designs she created for Joss Whedon back when he was attached to a live action WW film (which, let's be honest, was a shockingly inspired decision considering that it came from the depths of Hollywood). Unfortunately Whedon's involvement was canceled before we could enjoy his take on a comic book icon, but we

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-81791478553248360142010-07-07T19:59:00.000-05:002010-07-07T20:39:46.636-05:00

Hey, remember when the spoof movie genre was awesome? When we would watch Airplane! or Top Secret! and actually be happy that the films themselves were so ecstatic about their content that they automatically added an exclamation mark? When the films often cleverly exposed genre cliches and worked very hard to make sure every set detail had a new, hidden gimmick designed to grab your attention

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-15171564192103506972010-07-07T14:58:00.000-05:002010-07-07T20:44:48.439-05:00

I hope it's no secret that the vast majority of my interesting links come from my wife - she is a rabid consumer of sociological issues in the vein of racism, feminism, and general social justice, and has a tendency to throw mass quantities of stories in my direction, perhaps in an effort to kill me and collect on my life insurance. One can never say for sure.While I would love to devote a great

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-41472299569590739072010-07-07T10:33:00.000-05:002010-07-07T12:27:01.235-05:00

I've been an atheist for a long time. Like many atheists, I cannot claim that it was an ordeal to come to this decision - that I endured a sort of spiritual trial that lasted years, dealt with feelings of being forsaken, only to "turn my back" on the one true Lord and Savior. I went to church when I was young, both Baptist and Methodist (my mother is Methodist, my father comes from a

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-75852865549174283162010-07-05T09:57:00.000-05:002010-07-05T10:25:11.508-05:00

For those who are not in the know, my wife is half-Vietnamese. There aren't any moments that this causes a culture clash, honestly, though concepts of spirituality sometimes make us look in different directions. Huong isn't necessarily a highly spiritual person, but she generally has a lot more respect for people with varying belief systems, and acknowledges the existence of destiny-changing

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-62104754586836691742010-07-02T16:20:00.000-05:002010-07-05T11:27:26.901-05:00

I have mixed feelings about advertisements. I believe they actually do provide a valuable service, but as the marketing industry - and their budgets - grow bigger and bigger, so do the campaigns, eventually intruding on my life in ways that I just find completely annoying. We all remember the era where a trip to the theater didn't mean we had to sit through three commercials for Coca-Cola and

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-19066530791216762612010-07-02T11:49:00.000-05:002010-07-02T17:02:49.233-05:00

Huong sent me this article from the Sociological Images blog that she frequents, and I was somewhat skeptical. This is the most recent Occupational Outlook Handbook, and it comes straight from the government. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, partnered with the Department of Labor. If anything, these are the people who are going to go out of their way to show me that people of all different

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-73226888558323716162010-07-01T12:34:00.000-05:002010-07-01T12:46:21.870-05:00

If you glance over there to your right, you may notice that I have implemented a new link section titled "Other Projects." Prior to now, my blog seemed to lack any sort of specific focus, and I just tossed out concepts and projects without a lot of thought or planning. All I've basically done is relocated some of my bigger items that used to be housed here, to somewhere else.I do this primarily

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-14656361760479610742010-07-01T08:39:00.000-05:002010-07-01T09:20:16.346-05:00

So, let's go ahead and get this out there from the very beginning. I am pro-choice. I have always been pro-choice. There is not an argument anyone can make to me that will cause me to re-evaluate my stance on this issue, and I know this because very many people have tried. The fact is that I am a pragmatist and an atheist, and I know that this planet is ludicrously overpopulated and I believe

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-54894160151165971532010-06-30T08:59:00.000-05:002010-07-02T14:05:31.866-05:00

Update: Jezebel doesn't exactly agree that the new Wonder Woman design helps anything.I came across this interesting tidbit at Topless Robot, which picked it up via DC's Source. I'm sitting here looking at this, and I can't help but be happy. Every since William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman she's had good intentions but looked ridiculous. Admittedly, her outfit was no more or less

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-29450556316786776252010-06-29T15:43:00.000-05:002010-06-29T16:05:12.579-05:00

Pardon the Bowie reference. Lord knows that's incredibly overused.I realized, as I was elbow-deep in budgeting spreadsheets, that I rarely update my blog anymore, but I still have tons of things to say, as Huong finds out pretty much every time she sends me a link to one of her many feminist/sociology/race relations blogs. I am a liberal, I'm a firm believer in social justice, a feminist, a

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-31437543292526656662010-06-08T14:36:00.000-05:002010-06-08T14:58:15.087-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about the shift in how we obtain and keep our entertainment media that's been going on for quite a while now. Quite a few major video rental chains have already gone out of business, and BlockBuster has been hanging on by a thread for quite some time now. The fact of the matter is that nobody wants physical representations of their media taking up floor space anymore.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-25669607107703170742010-01-22T09:32:00.001-06:002010-01-22T10:02:27.760-06:00

Sometimes I wonder what kind of background a person must possess in order to be a complete and total jerk in adulthood. I have known far too many people that just have this inflated sense of entitlement about everything - they feel they deserve everything without actually having to work for it, and when you don't give it to them, they throw what essentially amounts to a grown-up temper

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-89299657654997084562009-11-18T11:20:00.000-06:002009-11-18T11:22:16.307-06:00

It seems unusual that American hospitals are equated with sickness as opposed to health. Perhaps it's time we focused more on preventative care, as they do in Britain.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-50336360119349683192009-11-04T11:39:00.001-06:002009-11-04T12:16:17.258-06:00

This is a bit of an exaggeration. While Huong and I are not exactly "living on the streets" destitute, we certainly live a life of very careful budgets; one in which saving money is a necessity, because every speed-bump we hit has a tendency to drain us dry. The cost of products and services is ever-increasing, and our compensation doesn't really keep up a lot of the time.There are occasions

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-77611421988507911222009-11-02T14:22:00.001-06:002010-07-01T11:28:00.487-05:00

I'd love to know who designed the layout of Blogger's posting screen. The examples given for posting labels never fail to make me laugh every single time I take more than two seconds to think about them. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the founders of Blogger spent all their time riding around on mopeds in tropical climates every year during October.For those of you who don't use

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-13636829260073457092009-10-23T13:35:00.000-05:002009-10-23T14:06:33.690-05:00

On Friday, October 9, 2009, Barack Obama visited Texas A&M University to deliver a speech on the importance of community service. The Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) organization on campus organized an enormous protest rally at Spence Park on campus during his speech. These photos chronicle the individuals who attended this protest, and the signs they created.All photos in this set were taken

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-49481440817572455822009-04-21T16:37:00.001-05:002009-04-21T16:37:49.606-05:00

Sometimes I wonder what makes us come up with the bizarre monikers we assume when we enter the world of the internet. We're presented with this realm where we maintain total anonymity, allowing us to present ourselves however we wish to appear. It's even better than your first day of college or work, because nobody even knows what you look like. You have one opportunity for everybody to learn

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-43391188313547561462009-04-21T16:00:00.001-05:002009-04-21T16:01:31.121-05:00

Testing out text entries on my cell phone. Welcome to the future! Your alien overlords should be here shortly to throw you in a box. We can update from there!

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-21315398135090576802009-02-27T10:11:00.000-06:002009-02-27T10:22:17.349-06:00

I have an irrational fear of strangers touching my underpants. It's for this reason that I feel like I can never hire a cleaner to come take care of our messy apartment. I just know that whoever comes over to clean is going to find some of my underpants somewhere - a place that I don't even remember leaving them, like behind the refridgerator, or hanging from a fan blade, or soaking with the

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-31537917466338908252009-02-09T09:01:00.000-06:002009-02-09T09:11:07.502-06:00

My girlfriend thinks that posting videos of me acting like a big dork on YouTube is going to somehow embarrass me, but what she doesn't understand is that I lost all semblance of my dignity ages ago, and therefore am immune to public scrutiny.In fact, here is a link directly to the video, where you may watch me bust a proverbial move, as though I invented the thing. Behold! It is good.I told

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-41678869551321055292009-02-03T13:15:00.000-06:002009-02-03T16:13:38.166-06:00

The wondrous thing about the library at Texas A&M is the fact that it has comic books. The moment I discovered that I think I fell in love with the library all over again. I never fell out of love with the library you see. What can I say? I enjoy reading.But I have a special place in my heart for comics. I was that kid who actually put off watching Saturday morning cartoons until I'd had a

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-87124469900170030452009-02-03T10:43:00.000-06:002010-07-08T14:43:43.262-05:00

My dog Harper seems to be getting worse about destroying things. I know everybody remembers that she chewed a big chunk of my coffee table. That was pretty bad. Well, since then she's eaten two pillows (one of which was made for my girlfriend, and the other of which was made for me), and devastated our rug. I'm not real broken up about the rug. It's mainly designed to hide cables anyway.

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-24259629828986780942009-01-30T16:41:00.000-06:002009-01-30T16:49:20.996-06:00

I am once again indebted to Melissa Pynn for creating a totally awesome piece of artwork for one of my websites. Lissa is pretty much my "go-to" artist when I want something that will blow my mind. I think I may have challenged her a bit on this simply because I wanted a steampunk setting, which she'd never done before, but it turned out truly great, and now it shall stand at the top of my blog

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-84103982561949702232009-01-30T09:13:00.000-06:002010-07-01T11:53:00.336-05:00

Recently my Gee Eff gave me an iPod Touch for my birthday. I realize my birthday isn't actually until March, but the girlfriend isn't very good at keeping gifts away from me. This is evidenced by our usual conversation - GF: I want to give you your gift now.Lee: I think we can wait until the official gift-giving day.GF: But you'll love it!Lee: I'll still love it on my birthday.My girlfriend

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-87501303043927770282009-01-27T15:08:00.000-06:002010-07-08T14:43:56.855-05:00

If you had insinuated that I would one day be a dog owner a year ago to me I probably would have punched you in the face. It's nothing personal, but I grew up in a house of cat people. We are well-versed in tuna, and know nothing of the elusive Milk Bone. Having a girlfriend who is 100% allergic to cats will change your perspective on this sort of thing very quickly. What once appeared to be a

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-478345664234019172008-10-02T15:33:00.000-05:002010-07-08T14:44:07.937-05:00

I live in a world gone mad, I think. It's the only explanation I have for why I can visit a doctor twice, have blood work, an electro- and echo-cardiagram, and a chest x-ray, for about $50 with insurance, yet every time my dog goes to the vet it seems like I go to the poor house, even with the puppy insurance she has.Yesterday's trip to the vet for Harper yielded a $250 price tag in drugs and

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-91525639083683794192008-09-24T15:52:00.000-05:002008-09-24T16:29:13.798-05:00

Ever since my initial doctor's visit I seem to have run the full gamut of tests possible for a man my age. I've had the usual bloodwork and urinalysis, but also an electro- AND echo-cardiogram, a chest x-ray, and some kind of test where they basically stuck a needle in my neck and took a piece of my thyroid for clinical study. I've seen all these professionals and more over the past week. Is

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-37214658630472517992008-09-17T10:11:00.000-05:002008-09-17T10:34:58.305-05:00

Today I have a doctor's appointment. I was supposed to have gone to see the doctor ages ago, when my brother was still sick, but that was a hard time for me, and I will freely admit that the concept of visiting a medical professional wasn't anything I relished. For one, it was a painful reminder of all the time I had to spend watching Sam in the hospital, and for two, I was deathly afraid that

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-62529870611980307742008-09-16T10:14:00.000-05:002008-09-18T06:22:29.741-05:00

Cali Lewis is a nerd. She also happens to be a beautiful woman, but I've never witnessed her trying to use sex to sell anything. And that is why most nerds love her to death. She takes the time to talk to everybody, and she genuinely cares about the material she discusses.My girlfriend calls Cali my "internet girlfriend," despite the fact that Cali Lewis is married and has no idea I exist. Could

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-47030879113761976422008-09-15T14:45:00.000-05:002010-07-08T14:45:23.932-05:00

I have to wonder if my girlfriend's brother doesn't suffer from some sort of Karmic backlash - maybe a series of cosmic punches to his metaphorical junk. Aside from the dog boarding fiasco he and his wife suffered when they first came into town, he also had the pleasure of having his car broken into late Saturday night. What did they take? His CD deck - ripped right out of his dashboard.And yet,

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-41812924616215781702008-09-11T15:37:00.000-05:002010-07-01T12:33:41.240-05:00

I'm essentially going to copy the bulk of this from my new Yelp Review of the Wellborn Road Veterinary Medical Center here in College Station, TX, because I am just that dumbfounded at the treatment my girlfriend's family received today. I can't muster up new words to do this one justice.Update (09/12/2008): My girlfriend has informed me that the only reason this vet's office got in touch with

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-85414926131035261122008-09-10T09:13:00.000-05:002008-09-10T10:56:12.404-05:00

Does the image here make no sense? It probably won't, most of the time. Much like The Consumerist, I plan to update my blog with found images that are only remotely related to what I plan on talking about. I really need to start a Flickr group pool that you guys can upload images to so that I can always have a series of ridiculous stuff to choose from.Update: The photo pool has been created!As

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-32612865786364415122008-09-09T09:44:00.000-05:002008-09-10T10:57:06.519-05:00

So I'm perusing for ideas to create a great Halloween costume this year. I don't usually mess with Halloween, but it's on my girlfriend's birthday, so I feel somewhat compelled to actually make an effort to dress up.My youth was filled with costumes all revolving around a medieval theme (Lee the Executioner! Lee as King Arthur! Lee the wizard! Lee as Robin Hood!), essentially securing my place

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-79645107784172693072008-09-08T10:05:00.000-05:002010-07-08T14:44:27.582-05:00

Let me tell you about my dog, Harper. I'm sure all of you other dog-owners think you have the monopoly on dog-talk, but you need to take a step back, because I've had Harper for a whole two months, and that makes me qualified to talk about how awesome she is.I named my dog Harper after world famous American author Harper Lee, although I don't think she appreciates it. My dog, I mean. Harper Lee

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-27200480023099441672008-09-06T11:31:00.000-05:002008-09-07T21:59:51.793-05:00

For those of you who are pitifully unaware of my quirks, I have decided to take a moment out of my intensely busy schedule to educate you on my favorite topic: Me.I am a creature of addictions, the first and foremost being the internet. For the last two years (longer, actually), I have basically been without internet. I assumed in that time I would pick up new hobbies, learn and grow, or

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-90876843434102726132008-09-03T14:23:00.000-05:002008-09-03T14:31:35.511-05:00

The following is a list of expensive junk that I want:MiniDV CamcorderDigital Photo FrameiPhone 3GMacbook Pro5.1 Surround ReceiverI won't be buying any of this stuff due to the fact that I am perpetually poor and can't justify spending money on stuff that isn't food or bills. I put it to you, gentle readers, to try and quell my insatiable appetite for techno gadgetry.Zeebo Out

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-49709115144348141372008-09-02T15:03:00.000-05:002008-09-02T15:44:23.705-05:00

I realize that it's been a while since I last wrote in this blog. Everything that I considered doing online ground to a halt in March when my brother had a heart attack and was diagnosed with a very rare type of cancer: Cardiac Sarcoma. From that point forward it's basically been one long struggle for me. My brother Sam passed away on June 28, and we held a memorial to honor him almost a month

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-91574603924460243642008-02-21T11:40:00.001-06:002010-07-08T14:35:38.424-05:00

I've never been much of a traveler. I've really only been out of the country once, and I sometimes question whether Mississauga, Canada actually counts.One of my many dreams is to go on a major road trip, and next month I'm finally going to make that happen. I'm driving from Texas to Indiana so that I can visit my friends Megan and Grant at Purdue University. And, of course, if you're going to be

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-90737534080571071392008-02-19T11:50:00.000-06:002008-02-19T11:54:24.243-06:00

I have some concepts for how to make Blogspot as functional and convenient as possible for me to continue updating, so you may see some short and informative entries cropping up for a while. Currently I'm setting up short descriptions of all my categories, and soon I plan on creating an entry that will actually act as my profile, since I'm not very enamored with the profile materials that

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-35336519460728926682008-02-19T11:14:00.000-06:002010-07-08T14:36:00.822-05:00

I dream quite a bit, and I have a tendency to remember my dreams. Growing up, I was often told that I had an overactive imagination, and I think that my untapped creativity often finds an outlet in my subconscious.One of my hobbies is reading up on dream interpretation, but I very rarely apply the material to my own expressions. I feel, in a way, that I'm much too close to my dreams to

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-80228778367342115342008-02-18T08:36:00.000-06:002008-02-18T16:23:17.887-06:00

I think I've wanted to move out of my current apartment since the moment I moved into it. When I accepted my position at Texas A&M, I had a very limited time to find a place to live, and as anyone who has ever lived in a college town knows, the availability of housing is largely determined by what point in the school year you happen to be looking.I had the misfortune of looking well after school

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2768183281766423834.post-80062165642221720312008-02-15T15:32:00.000-06:002008-02-15T15:44:34.770-06:00

Since coming back into the internet fold, I have begun rediscovering many of my horrible internet addictions, and I'm afraid I have to admit that blogging is a major one.When I look back at my blogging experience in the past, I think the most FUN I had was when I was simply writing for a small audience of people, back when I ran with the 12% Beer crew on Diaryland, when things were completely

LeeboZeebonoreply@blogger.com0