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I spent the past week or so working my way through 5 years worth of Questionable Content back archives. It’s a web comic strip.

On April Fools Day, this super geeky comic that I love, XKCD switched comics in a round robin “prank”. I read a few, and was kind of interested in the characters. I got busy and forgot about it, but then earlier in the week, I was reminded and decided to start from the beginning.

I think I liked it generally. A lot of the drama seems pretty goofy, and many of the characters (particularly the 3rd tier characters) are basically the same unrealistic character with like 1 quirk to make them different, and in the case of parents really unbelievable. Still, it held my interest, and there are a bunch of Dune references that I love. Really, more things should reference Dune.

I took my camera up to Descanso Gardens to photograph some spring flowers. It’s weird. I haven’t been to Descanso in about 5 years, and I remember it being a lot smaller. I don’t know if my memory was playing tricks on me or if I didn’t fully explore the place last time. It was a nice day though.

Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel’s cover of Helter Skelter is surprisingly awesome. Oh sure, it lacks some of the zen koan like absurdity of his throw a rock into a lake video. But, what it lacks in inscrutability it makes up for in disturbing images of war and violence and Bill Shatner like ironic song stylings.

With all of our recent rains, the desert is in full bloom, so I drove over to Joshua Tree to check out all of the wildflowers. I was really kind of surprised at the variety that I saw. It seems like whenever I see wildflowers on TV, it’s just fields of yellow flowers (I think poppies). There were plenty of yellow flowers, but there was also red, white, purple and blue flowers. I did the hike to the 49 Palms Oasis. It was a nice walk with plenty of steep and uneven rocks to teeter over. The oasis itself was shady and peaceful, but not very beautiful or interesting.

Here are a few of my photos of Joshua Tree Wildflowers.

I headed up to Chinatown today to check out their New Year Dragon Parade. It wasn’t nearly as colorful as the Doo Dah parade I went to a few weeks ago. It seemed a lot longer — particularly with all the city and state officials that turn out for the thing. Still, it was interesting and provided some prime photo opportunities. The sun was definitely trying to cook the year of the rat before it even got started. I got a bit burned, and the glare and harsh lighting conditions played havoc with a lot of my photos. Still, I did manage to make a few keepers, so here are some of my Chinese New Year Parade Photos.

I have no idea what Today is the Day is going on about. It’s surreal in the weirdest ways, but it is foamtastic.

A colorful bunch of characters get together every year in Pasadena, CA to put on the Doo Dah Parade. It’s a crazy scene with a synchronized nap team and a marching hibachi band grilling and passing out hot dogs and every other stripe of freak that you could possibly imagine. I figured with all that fabulous lunacy there’d be plenty of opportunities for photographs, so I went up there today with my camera. You can see my 2008 Doo Dah Parade Pictures.

My dad was in Orange County for business, and my mom came down with him, so we spent a couple of days sight seeing. We went to Laguna Beach, the mission at San Juan Capistrano, and Newport Beach. You can see some photos.

Lasagna Cat is crazy weird. Somebody has done a bunch of live action recreations of Garfield comic strips. Each strip is surreal enough on its own, but then they tack on these crazy music videos. Very, very strange.

Obama is such a great orator, it’s stunning. I’ve seen him in debates and interviews when he’s speaking extemporaneously (or at least as extemporaneously as debates and interviews get when you’re running for president), and he seems weaker if only by comparison. I find myself wondering where is this great man that I’ve seen in the past. But, when he’s in front of a crowd delivering prepared remarks, he’s inspirational and motivating and so charismatic he makes me hope and believe that the US could really elevate itself to live up to its ideals and self-image.

Take a look at Obama’s December 27 speech. I really hope he wins the nomination. I really want a president who can inspire me and quench some of my natural cynicism. It would be so nice not to have to vote for the lessor of two evils, but to be able to vote for the candidate I’d really like to see leading the nation.