Tonto

Although I haven't made a skydive in over two years, I occasionally check the dropzone.com memorial forum hoping not to see any recognizable names. Today, sadly, I found a very recognizable one. Eric "Tonto" Stephenson, a South African guy I only met once, but interacted with online regularly, died today of complications from a swoop gone bad.

The one time I met him was at a skydiving convention in Arizona. In addition to being one of the sport's best teachers and safety advocates, he was also extremely funny. I recall that much of the time I spent around him was in laughter.

He died on his ~5,300th skydive.

Book Review: My Lobotomy

I just finished a fascinating memoir by Howard Dully, a man who was lobotomized by one of the operation's pioneers in 1960. For those of you who aren't sure what a lobotomy is, essentially it was a procedure performed on thousands of mental patients and schizophreniacs from the 50s into the 70s. The earliest procedures involved drilling into the skull to remove the frontal lobe of the brain. Dr. Walter Freeman, the man who lobotomized Howard Dully (amongst thousands of others), invented a new way to preform the operation: by inserting an ice pick above the eyeball. After the ice pick was in the brain, Freeman twirled it around in a fashion not too different from how you would beat an egg. The result was a heavily damanged frontal lobe, which often rendered these mental patients vegetables for the rest of their lives.

In Dully's case, it didn't render him a vegetable. He wasn't a schizophreniac. Basically he was just a little shit-ass who liked to cause trouble. If he were a child today, they'd probably put him on Adderall and send him home. In 1960, he had his frontal lobe scrambled with an ice pick.

For forty year's after Howard's operation, his life was a mess. He was disowned by his family. He was in and out of asylums, jails, and halfway houses. Finally, in the year 2000, Howard decided to stop using the lobotomy as an excuse to go through life as a victim. He began asking questions and researching why he was lobotomized and what he had done to deserve such an awful thing. The results of this research were detailed in his memoir, My Lobotomy.

I wouldn't say this is a must-read book. But if you have a little morbid curiosity, you might enjoy this glimpse into the life of a man victimized by one of medicine's most embarrassing moments. The fact that I read it cover to cover is more than I can say for most books I open. Anyone who wants my copy, get in touch and I'll mail it to you.

Howard mid-surgery in 1960.

Recent picture holding an ice-pick used by Dr. Freeman

Sports Betting Website

I started a sportsbetting information website. It's fairly primitive right now, but hopefully I can build it into a portal with a lot of good information. Comments always welcome.

I Don't Think Jesus Approves

These erotica-gone-wrong stories are always a lot funnier when they involve a fundamentalist of some sort. Reverend found dead with with lots of rubber on and inside of himself.

The World Without Us

A few days ago I finished one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Alan Weisman spent three years researching what would happen to the Earth if humans just suddenly disappeared. Not if we got sick, or killed ourselves via nuclear warfare, or anything like that, just... poof, disappeared Biblical rapture-style. The result, as Weisman details for 336 pages, would be quite stunning.

But this book's value wasn't in merely fantasizing about what would happen to oil fields in Texas or skyscrapers in New York City if humans were no longer around to maintain them. What made it so great to me was learning about how much humans have changed the world. It's a crazy thought, not one many of us often ponder, everything in our civilization, all of it, including us, all came out of the Earth at one point or another.

I loved the way in which the author wrote this book. He somehow maintained the voice of a mere narrator throughout the entire thing even though he clearly has a huge passion on the subject. It was a much more enjoyable read when you're left to make up your own mind on the material without being swayed by the author. I achieved a certain zen-like peace at times while reading this book. There's something very calming, to me anyway, about knowing that, if humans all disappeared tomorrow, eventually the Earth would return to a state that almost exactly resembles a time when humans were still millions of years of evolution away from existence.

You can buy this book here, but I'll mail my copy to the first of you to ask.

This Gizoogle Tool Is Amazing

It takes sites and translates them into hip-hop slang. Here's my blog in Gizoolge.

Movie Grades - 3Q 2007

These are the movies I saw in the past three months. If you think your taste in movies might be similar to mine, hopefully these grades have some value:

A
Sunshine - I don't pretend to think this movie will be regarded as a "classic" by reputable critics, but I loved it to pieces.

3:10 To Yuma - The most "Best Picture" worthy movie I've seen in 2007. It had some parallel's to last year's winner 'The Departed'. (Calling it now: Ben Foster will be twenty-fold more famous in five years than he is now - incredible actor).

In the Shadow of the Moon - As enjoyable of a documentary that I've ever seen.

A-
The Kingdom - I was on the proverbial "edge of seat" for probably more than 95% of this one.

B+
The Hours - Little too geared towards chicks for my liking, but overall quite good. Nicole Kidman's character was awesome.

12 Monkeys - I don't generally go for sci-fi, but sprinkle some Bruce Willis on a badass script and I'm a fan.

Simpsons Movie - TV show is overrated, but this movie was pretty hilarious.

Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism - Documentary about the Fox News Channel. Anyone who isn't apathetic towards politics might be glad they watched this. Overall, though, I disagreed with the maker's belief that, since Fox News lies and corrupts the minds of its viewers, we should have government oversight of news organizations. Government control being the solution to corruption seems counterintuitive.

B
Inside Man - Entertaining enough heist flick.

Superbad - Little excessive on the awkward moments and conflict resolution, but mostly worth the hype.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Weird, but unwaveringly captivating.

B-
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry - This movie epitomizes why mainstream critics can't always be trusted. Rotten Tomatoes gave this a 14%, but I thought it was consistently funny.

Bourne Ultimatum - Incredibly corny, but ultimately I couldn't help but feel entertained.

The Crying Game - Spoiler: the chick is a dude.

Year of the Dog - The hero's worldview and courage was cute and all, but I didn't exactly rush out to buy the DVD when it was over.

C+
Sicko - Entertaining, but ridiculous as an argument for national health care.

Live Free or Die Hard - Who knew John McClane was impervious to injury?

Half Nelson - Depressing as hell, but a decent enough movie, I suppose.

C
The Grifters - Interesting synopsis, but really weird characters distracted from it.

C-
Big Nothing - Started off well but too many plot twists and my short-fuse for putting up with whiney-ass David Schwimmer made this forgettable.

D+
The Ten - The first couple of scenes were hilarious, but about halfway through I was anxious for it to be over.

Easy Rider - I don't even know what this was. It just made me glad I don't live in 1969 Deep South.

D
Rick - There's a reason I hadn't heard of this movie.