that new picture is very temporary. it was taken in early 2011, after i had just turned 30. it's just been a while. something new will come up with the new season...

it's a reminder that i'm finnish. i almost look icelandic, huh? it's pretty heavy-handed. those eyes can get humongous depending on a few things...

it's almost a reminder that, as young as i look today, i've aged a lot over the last five years. even i'm a little taken aback by this shot.

i'm thirty years old, here:

actually, as a general rule, i can't stand bands with male singers that wear make-up.

there's a few exceptions. and, it's not like it's a condition, or something. but, it's kind of a mark of a pretension. it usually signals that the band is about making fashion statements rather than about writing songs.

i mean, i'm not going to judge anybody on it or anything, but it's just not usually the kind of thing i'm going to get interested in...

and, fwiw, most of the female musicians i listen to don't wear much makeup, either.

my laptop is currently badly bogged down with editing concert footage, so the vlogs will have to wait until that gets done.

there will be vlogs for all the days, i just don't know when i'll get around to doing it. it could be a week or more.

when they're one, i'll upload them all at once.

i just only have so many cycles available to me, and catching up on these concert reviews is simply higher priority right now.

yeah.

these missile "defense" systems are in truth offensive weapons systems, and the target is beijing.

we're starting to see a more coherent policy develop, and it's every bit as stupid as you'd expect. these high testosterone man-apes are rejecting anything resembling softpower (ex: the tpp) as effeminate, and instead opting to use the biggest, baddest guns they can find to threaten the chinese to do what they want, or else.

or else, what.

see, that's the reason why them book lerners always wanted to use the soft power. nobody really thinks they'll actually do it.

if the chinese focus on soft power in reaction, while the americans completely abandon it, it will be a superior strategy. i mean, consider the vietnamese capitalist. the chinese are offering free trade, while the americans are offering no trade at all. under those conditions, the vietnamese capitalist is simply not going to want american protection. protection from what? trade? it is in their interests to align with chinese softpower - and the bigger the guns the americans bring in, the larger the incentives are to side with the chinese.

it would be one thing to bring the guns in and utilize softpower. but, they're clearly being driven by the retarded idea that softpower is for unmanly fags. and, this is what happens when you elect somebody that thinks with his cock.

the chinese are not stupid. and, if this tactic takes four years or longer to get reversed then they're going to clean up.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-usa-thaad-china-idUSKBN16709W

the chinese can't reasonably talk about dominating a trade agreement that includes canada and mexico. the americans can project that kind of power towards asia, but the chinese are a long ways away from projecting that kind of power towards america.

even talk of the chinese dominating japan is absurd. in a real sense, what the tpp did was reconstruct the japanese empire - sort of how like the eu has reconstructed a german-dominated europe. as the americans have delegated running europe to the germans, the tpp was meant to delegate control of asia to the japanese.

but, what the chinese can do is talk about essentially absorbing countries like vietnam into it's sphere of interest - at the expense of japanese ambitions. and, that's of course what the deal was intended to prevent and what is now free to happen, with it gone. and, where a strong tpp could have prevented a war between japan and china by the projection of american power, the withdrawal of america from the region could very well embolden the chinese to the point where conflict is now inevitable.

i've approached what trump is doing as irrational, but, even so, at the least, if trump was the master negotiator then he would have sought something like a deal to exchange american withdrawal from southeast asia for chinese withdrawal in south america, or perhaps even asia. i see no evidence of this: he just gave away the farm, for nothing. and, this could potentially be game over for american influence in the region.

sadly, the republicans will likely spin the situation as proof that they were right all along. it's really an absurd point of failure.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/14/china-south-korea-join-tpp-members-in-trade-talks.html

fwiw, if you're curious...

yes, i'm known to drink a fair amount, from time to time - and, yes, i'm as irish as i am anything else (on my mom's side), but i never go out on st. patrick's day.

it's the type of drunk that st. patrick's day attracts that i'll go well out of my way to avoid.

and, fwiw, it's the same reason i prefer to stay in inside on canada day, on new year's and, often, on hallowe'en, too.

how can you miss the incredibly dour and darkly facetious use of religious imagery in the track?

americans are just hopeless with sarcasm. they literally don't get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8Vfp48laS8