Sunday, May 30, 2004

I am so tired, so tired

I'm ready for bed. A long afternoon of COH, followed by an entirely long night of work, followed by more COH. I reached 13th level tonight, only one more and I will be able to fly. Woot!

Went to G-Boro with the crew yesterday and had a pretty good time. Went to this club, Much. Upstairs is their rooftop club called Heaven and I hated that. It was cock to ass all the way across the roof and I was honestly contemplating homocide. But we went downstairs fairly quickly and hung out in a much more sedate bar area that was cool. I few drinks and my urge to kill had faded.

I watched His Girl Friday today and I have to say, it wasn't that great. I mean Cary Grant played his role well, but I didn't like the story. A woman comes to quit her job at a newspaper and tell her ex-husband that she's marrying a new guy. Ex doesn't like it and is crafty, lures woman into covering big story before leaving town. Tricks new beau into beign arrested repeatedly and ultimately wins back the heart of his wife. Sounds good, except the ex was an asshole. Of course it's true the hot women always do go for assholes... Still it wasn't great for me. I say Meh.

Friday, May 28, 2004

Hailing Satan since 1991

Now watching: Friends, for some reason...

A whole day of COH??? Why yes, of course. I reached level 12, only two mroe and I'll be able to fly. Such small hopes for me. I watched North By Northwest, which is actually the first Hitchcock movie I've ever seen. (I watched the Psycho remake, but technically that wasn't Hitchcock.) Anyway it was pretty good. It's in that odd place between +1 chainmail and Filet mignon. I'm going to have to address that soon.

I am considering trying to fit His Girl Friday in before we head to G-Boro tonight, but not sure I have time. I should probably just shower...off to the tub.

Feeling the flow, doing the bull dance

Now: preparing for bed

Had a good time in G-Boro tonight. Had an excellent meal at the Greene Valley Grill (I think that was the name). My pork chops were nice and the string beans were exceptional. Maybe the best I've ever had. So I give hte meal a definite Filet Mignon rating.

After that we tooled on down to Nick's pad for a friendly poker game. It went pretty well, with Mike going down quick, but managing to hang on for the rest of the evening. Well, until the very end when he gave me $3-odd just to finish up neatly. I ended up the big winner for the night, taking home $21.50. Nick was second with around $13 I think.

At one point midway through I thought Nick had taken me down in a big way. I had AQ and Q,six,x flopped. I don't remember exactly how the beating went but a six came on the turn and an ace on the river. I thought my two pair would be good, but Nick's boat took me down a notch. He played it just right, I have to give it to him. A couple of times I got burnt on two pairs.

I got back above my buyin when my pocket aces turned into trips on the flop. Nick's brother in law, Cal had bottom pair after the flop and stuck around. He caught a third five on the river, but it gave me the full house and I bet $6. He came over the top, going all in and I made out like a bandit. From there I managed to collect a few more pots and stay up. It was a good night.

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Plateauing

Now: preparing to go to G-Boro.

It's been a pretty slackass day. I played COH until around 5:30 last night and slept in, despite the nextdoor neighbors best attempts to wake me by hammering on something for two solid hours. I then got right back on the COH horse and played until just now. I am a goon.

I have finally reached 11th level, but am finding it incredibly difficult to get much experience now without dying all the time. I'm a little stunned with that. I am finally out of debt and working forward on 12th level.

I'm gonna hook up with Mike and Nick tonight and have a nice dinner. Maybe play a little poker, whatever. Should be cool.

The world is full of crashing bores

Now listening to: Morrissey (You are the Quarry)

ANother grueling night of work. A nice, confidence shattering night. I found out that not only am I not going to be the sports editor, that I was no better than the third pick last time, since they gave it to their second choice this time. That's nice, thanks for killing any belief I had that you consider me a valuable employee. I am merely a cog and am easily replaceable.

So that set a fun tone for the night. At least I'm off for the next two days. That will give me a chance to get a little break and not kill everyone I see.

The new Morrissey kicks ass. The more I listen to it the more I like it. Great lyrics and Morrissey's voice seems to be getting better with age. I'm saying it's Filet Mignon. I also bought the new Clutch album (Blast Tyrant) and after only two listens it's excellent. Nothing really new for the band, but up to their high standards. They've just got a great sound, combining metal and southern rock and somehow managing to make it funky. It's really nice. I'm not sure I'd give it Filet Mignon status just yet, but it's close. I may have to make a step between Filet and +1 chainmail. Not sure on that, but it's a consideration.

Anyway I'm gonna try to log some quality time with COH now. After dying twice this afternoon I need to get my ass out of debt. Perez Park, here I come.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Beaten with a sack of oranges

Now watching: Late Night Poker

I'm feeling beat. Tonight was unpleasant. I'm just tired of doing everything at work. Nothing seems even a little entertaining at this point. I think I'm going to have to take a vacation soon, just to get away from the job. I desperately need a break. Of course, with us being understaffed as of next week, that could be a problem. Nothing is ever easy at the Bulletin.

I'm currently downloading the new Morrissey album (You are the Quarry). I've heard nothing but good things. I'm not sure what I plan to do with the rest of the evening. I think I'm gonna take a break tonight on COH. Maybe read this new book I bought the other day by Raymond Feist. I've read the first 20-odd pages and it's pretty good so far.

Had a nice dinner with Jeff tonight. It was good to see him. He's also talking about having kids, but not a father yet. Apparently he's working on it. This glut of children is too much for me. I'm way too immature to have kids, how can people my age or under even think about it? I dunno, kids just scare the hell out of me.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Zug, zug

Now: preparing for work

Man I don't feel like working tonight. The weather is nice, COH is calling, I have a book to read. Pretty much I am feeling lazy. Nothing new, right.

I've spent the afternoon goofing off, reading about World of Warcraft. That game is gonna kick so much ass. If i wasn't so addicted to COH I wouldn't be able to stand the wait.

I think I have to carry my headphones to work tonight. I won't be able to stand it without them. The call ins have dwindled and so it's much more sedate. I don't have to answer the phone every two minutes to take a track brief (fuckin track).

Anyway I'm off to the salt mines. On the upside I do get to have dinner with Jeff, who I haven't seen in a while. So there is that. Woo.

the girl who lives on heaven hill

Now listening to: Electric Six and Ugly Casanova

Another night full of City of Heroes. It's jsut too much to ignore. I don't mean to be boring, as I'm sure reading about my online nerd life isn't exciting, but I can't stop playing. I want to take a break and do some reading, but no I feel the need to level up. I just got Brody Ramone up to level 10 and earned the resurrect ability, which is sweet.

But enough about that. Tonight work was boring as all get out. My only respite was the internet. So I spent half the night going through webcomics. You should check out Angst Technology if you feel nerdy enough.

Monday, May 24, 2004

No respect

I just read a cool article on Rodney Dangerfield in Entertainment Weekly. I've always dug Rodney, since I first saw Caddyshack (Headcavingly Orgasmic) The man is simply funny.

But in the article he seems a little bitter and like an unhappy guy. I think the best humor comes from people disatisfied with life. They aren't afraid to point out the stupid shit. You'll note that most consider Bill Murray surly and he's one of the funniest motherfuckers ever to walk the planet.

Anyway the article has a great line from Rodney's new book, that I may have to get. The line is "I tell ya, I know I'm ugly. My proctologist stuck his finger in my mouth."

He will kill for you

Now: too groggy to care

Yesterday was an odd day. I got up early (!!!) to cover a baseball game. It was fine for two innings, when the sky broke and a deluge hit the field and didn't let up. There was thunder, lightning, HAIL! and an astounding amount of rain. The game was moved to Ferrum COllege, so I didn't have to cover it. Yay.

During all this bad weather my jeep (with the sieve-like top) had the windows down. This meant I had water standing in the floorboard. It was above my ankle. After figuring out my work thing, I had to bail out my jeep for fear it would sink.

Other than that, Corb, Trip and I hung out for a while, playing Tiger Woods (Trip won again, becuase I couldn't stay out of the aqua). Then I came home, settled in and played COH until I couldn't sit up in my seat anymore.

This morning I was roused by someone next door hammering, for over half and hour solid. At that point I just got up. So here I am tired and wishing for the death of my neighbors. Nothing new.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Ghost of a smile

Now listening to: Sleater-Kinney, Pogues

I'm putting together a COH mega mix to listen to while I play, It's gonna be a freeform floating list of things I'm currently listening to. So I got that going for, which is nice.

Work was a bear today, I went in early and busted ass for most of the night. I have to get up early and go to a baseball game tomorrow. I'm rooting for Salisbury State, because if they win I don't have to cover a second game.

I did make a new character, his name is Brody Ramone and he's a controller. I got tired of the whole tanker thing, although I may play Jotun at some later date.

It's gonna be such a long week, man. I'm gonna have to pay the price for having those days off last week. I'm on desk for most of the week and not looking forward to it. Arrgh.

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Shiver me timbers

Now listening to: Tom Waits

After spending most of the afternoon playing COH I packed up my comp. and let Trip play at his house while I covered a girls soccer game. The game was ok, a dull first half, but the 2nd was decent.

After that I went back to Trip's and we goofed around for a while. Played Tiger Woods, but my heart wasn't really in it and Trip took an easy five stroke win. Now I'm back at home and considering playing still more COH or just going to bed. Who am I kidding I'm gonna be playing in a minute.

I'm considering making a new character with healing powers, since those are always in demand. I should at least get Jotun to level 14 before I start someone new, but I'm intrigued by different powers.

Oh on a completely unrelated note, my mother had dinner with Kelly (my brother Gabe's wife) on Thurday and Kelly is pregnant. So I'm soon to be Uncle Eric. That's some scary shit, man. Too many people I know having kids. I'm not sure how to react. I still equate children with death, of course I have been indulging in an evergrowing antisocial behavior pattern of late. SO that could be related to that. I dunno.

It's also odd to think about these guys I have really silly memories of having kids. Like Kevin with his pants around his ankles and a prosethic penis strapped to his head doing a Wolverine impression for a drinking game. Or Gabe running about doing his gimpy man impression. These people will be responsible parents. It's almost too weird a concept to grasp.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Condoms are the glass slippers of our time

Now listening to: Ugly Casanova

Another slackass day, I spent most of the afternoon in the thrall of my crack addiction. I did manage to roust myself enough to shower and go to see Shrek 2. It was ok, nothing exceptional and definitely not as good as the first one. I'd say on the low end of the +1 chainmail end. I will say that Eddie Murphy came through with Donkey again. He's gold.

After that, Trip and I had some dinner and played some Tiger Woods (in which I took him down, despite his regularly practicing). We then goofed around and watched the motion video from the Futurama game, which was pretty cool. It did a good job of working in the video game cliches. All the same I'm glad it was Trip that played it and not me.

We then fooled around with Garageband for awhile. It's a pretty sweet program and given the time and effort you could really make some cool music. I dropped some science, and then bailed.

I figured I had better write an entry before I delved into Paragon City or I wouldn't write one at all.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

The stomach, scenic gateway to the bowel

Now watching: Futurama

Well it's now 11 p.m. and I've played almost seven hours of COH today. Crack, I tells ya, crack. I finally managed to hook up with Nick and we dispensed justice for a while, although I was in over my head. Jotan Heimdall is now level 10, which is cool. Although level 14 is where it's at i.e. you can get either flight, leaping or superspeed to not slow you down as much. I'm probably gonna go with leaping as I have enough of an endurance drain normally.

Anyway, that's about it. I've been a total nerd today (no surprises there). Ohh, Trip notified me that this site is the top response for incoherent rambling on google. Woo. I'm the king of incoherence.

I think I'm going to catch Adult Swim and then try to do some reading. I'm not sure what I'm gonna be reading. Perhaps Dostoyevski, maybe something else. I still need to read up on some poker strategy, especially since Mike is coming in next weekend. I dunno. I'll probably stick with fiction.

You want a piece of my heart?

Well I intended to post last night, but the lure or COH was too much. So I meant to post after playing, but I blinked and it was 6 a.m. and my bed was calling me. That's right I played until 6 a.m., this game is pure crack. I can't stop...I'm an addict. I joined a supergroup called the Mean Old Drunks (MOD) and we grouped around the Perez Park area, where I got mad experience. I also sidekicked with this guy so I wouldn't get owned. It was pretty cool.

Before I was pulled into the black hole of COH, I watched Tim Burton's Big Fish. It was pretty good. Some cool imagery, but not spectacular. I'd put a +1 chainmail ranking on it.

I have today and tommorrow off, which is both good and bad. Good because I'm not at work. Bad because after that I'll be on for like 10 days solid, which will blow ass. It's the busiest time of year at work and I'm swamped. On top of that, my editor is leaving soon and the job is anything but mine. I don't know, I'm kind of stunned with the whole work thing.

Today I'm planning on nerding out and playing COH all day. I also need to finish New Spring, which I've been reading slowly. It's pretty good, but I would have prefered the next book in the Wheel of Time series as opposed to a prequel. (+1 chainmail)

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Must...get...life...

Now: getting ready to go to sleep

Well after roughly an hour break I played COH until after 5 a.m. That's right, almost eight hours in a single day. Oh yeah I'm hardcore. I spent the second four hours doing lots of exploring around and only completed a couple of missions. As such I am only about halfway to 7th level. Too much slowass wandering around. Oh how i need to get a super leap.

Anyway, before I collapse in front of the computer, I'm going to bed.

Knock off all that evil!

Now listening to: Air

Well I did make the trek to Danville today to procure City of Heroes. The drive up sucked, as it started to rain about 10 minutes into the trip and didn't stop until after I got to the mall there.

Notable people I saw in Danville: The Chatty Cowboy- a talkative crazy person in a partially purple cowboy hat, apparently chatting doesn't require anyone to talk back for this guy. The Fragrants- a middle aged couple that really really likes nasal stimulation. The man was wearing one of those horrible generic colognes, Old Spice, or Brut or something and the old woman was combatting that with a cheap perfume of her own. It was enough to almost put me off my lunch sitting in Quizno's.

Anyway I made it home and installed COH and played for four solid hours. It would have been longer, but the lag go soo bad that I had to give it a rest. I may go back a little later. My character is a 5th level tanker with stone-based powers. His name is Jotun Heimdall (obviously I'm pulling from Norse mythology) and he's on the Liberty server.

I was considering making a controller, but figured I'd go with a character heavy on the hitpoints to start so I can make mistakes and not die every minute. I may make a controller at some later date.

So far I have to agree with Nick's assessment of the game as Filet Mignon. It's pretty damn sweet. My only problem so far has been the lag and I can't really blame the game for that, I suppose.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Sin thine ass off, with my blessing

Now listening to: Sleater-Kinney

Another slackass day, Watched the original Ocean's 11 this afternoon...not good. I give it a Mudbutt. (yay, my new rating system rocks). After that I hooked up with Trip and Corb and we saw Troy, which was pretty good. Nothing fantastic, but decent. It landed safely in +1 chainmail land.

After that we debated about where to eat for a while and it nearly came to blows. Ok maybe I was the only one contemplating violence, but it coulda happened. If there is one thing the Bush Administration has taught me it is that violence is always the answer.

Anyway we ended up grabbing a pizza (only after Corbin fenced me a new watch) and heading to Trip's to watch some Zim. I then went to Walmart in the hopes of picking up City of Heroes, but of course they had none of it. I've given up resistance at this point. I may drive to Danville tomorrow to pick it up, if the weather is nice.

The rest of the night I've spent planted in front of the tube, watching Adult Swim. The Aqua Teens were excellent and the Harvey Birdman was genius, it was about environmental abuse. One of the jokes was Harvey asking how much difference can one make for the environment and Dubya was in the background...he he, political subtext is nice.

Random ratings to things: Sleater-Kinney (All hands down on the bad one)=Filet Mignon. Scent of rotting animal mixed with blooming honeysuckle=Shaq-Fu. Van Helsing=Mudbutt.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

You say you quote love unquote me

Now listening to: The Magnetic Fields and Sleater-Kinney

I've decided to institute a rating system on this site. I plan on keeping it as incoherent as the rest. It's a seven point system starting at 0 and working up to six. Here is the system and how it works:
6-headcavingly orgasmic. The best ever. Reserved for stuff I use in my personal top five lists, like the Pixies, Frank Herbert's Dune, Fight Club, breasts and so on.

5- filet mignon. Things that are exquistely done and make for time well spent. The Empire Strikes Back, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time and Mike Doughty fit into this category.

4- +1 chainmail. Good stuff, but not superb or something that was good, but you don't want to see again. Has some flaw that detracts from the overall effect. I'd put Clerks, Jackass and Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov here.

3- Meh. Mediocrity abounds. It's not bad, but it's not good. If it's on I'll watch it, but I would seldom seek it out on my own. Too bland to bother hating. Will and Grace, Taco Bell and most movies with the Rock belong here.

2- Shaq-Fu. Time spent with this you want back. Not bad enough to make you feel betrayed, but not good. Universal Soldier, cheap vodka and Caddyshack 2 fit in here.

1- Mudbutt. It's pretty stinky down here. Rank things to avoid if at all possible. I'd say Silas Marner, Dracula Dead and Loving it and Ray Romano.

0- Torn colon. The most horrible of all things. The people responsible for these vile acts deserve to suffer. Hideous examples are the Holocaust, Achy Breaky Heart and willful ignorance.

That about sums it up. You'll note the list on the left, complete with illustrating links. Hope this will help to clarify my thoughts on some things. If not, at least I found it moderately entertaining.

Saturday, May 15, 2004

I'm dancin' like a monkey!

Now watching: Invader Zim

A Zim-filled afternoon, snuggling under a blanket as the AC pours waves of cool comfort over me. Ahh, that blissful state of near sleep and partial consiousness. But alas now I am headed for the dreaded work beast. (Invader Zim speak has infiltrated my brain).

I also read part of the new Entertainment Weekly, which had a cool interview with Morrissey. He seems like quite an interesting person. I'm looking forward to his new album.

I'm tongue-tied and useless again

Now listening to: The Magnetic Fields (I)

I'm tired, I think the scotch I drank earlier is starting to wear me down. A decent day, got up goofed off, watched some Invader Zim (although my DVD is scratched and I'm annoyed with that), went to a softball game that went really quickly and then wrote that story. I then headed to Trip's to dominate the Halo realm. Actually there was no real domination by anyone, we only had three people (Trip, Danny and I) and so the lone wolf invariably won. But it was fun.

After that I came home and fooled around in the iTunes store until I decided to buy The Magnetic Fields new album, which is pretty good. Not many albums that can boast having both a banjo and a harpsicord on them and still be good. iTunes is really dangerous to have, I can download weird stuff at any time and I'm prone to impulse buys. Oh well...I still need to get an iPod so I can enjoy all these MP3s on the go...well that's one excuse to buy one. In reality I'm just a gadget whore, who loves having the newest gear.

Oh tonight we also watched the Daniel Pearl beheading ...which was unpleasant to put it mildly. On one hand I'm horrified that anyone would do that to another human being. It's simply appallling. On the other, if I was in Iraq and felt completely controlled and helpless against a foreign invader mistreating POWs (and they are POWs, whatever euphemism the White House decides to call them) I would probably consider resorting to those tactics as well.

Friday, May 14, 2004

We're gonna flash fry this motha!!

Now listening to: Mike Doughty

Another trying day at the office, but I did get to meet Al Groh and Debbie Ryan (Virginia's football and women's basketball coaches). They were pretty cool, but I always have trouble knowing what to ask coaches like that. I got to stay late again and help close out the paper.

I also found out that my editor may be moving on to another job soon, leaving a crapton of work for me to do. That means I may be up for the editor position again, which is good and bad. Good that I could finally get a real paycheck. Bad in that I would have more responsibility and need to spend more time at work. Also there is the chance that I will get dissed on the job again and feel like shit. A distinct possibility knowing the way things work at the Bulletin.

I finally finished A Storm of Swords, which had some nice twists at the end (hell the whole thing has had interesting twists). So I can put that on the shelf and move on to new things.

I think tomorrow we are going to try and hook up some Halo multiplayer at Trip's. LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!!! I'm so gonna suck, I haven't played in so long, of course neither has anyone else really. I'm now off to slay untold hordes of baddies in Diablo 2, now.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

The finglonger

Now listening to: Air

Kind of a stressful night. My soccer games started late (because of lack of refs) and then went long (because of OT). So I left the field at 10 p.m. and had to write two stories before 11 p.m. Some fun. Then I had to help finish out the paper, which annoyed me. When I'm on desk everyone gets to leave after they write, but when I'm writing I have to be there all night. Irritating.

After work I hit Walmart for some groceries and the new Invader Zim DVD (which I haven't watched yet). I ran into Reed and invited him to Trip's on Friday for some video game action.

Once I got home i made a little soup for dinner and watched the WPT Aruba, which Eric Lindgren won by getting monster hands for most of the final table. I could have won with those hands, I swear. Pocket aces all over the place and Big Slick in full effect.

Anyway I think I'm gonna try to wrap up A Storm of Swords tonight. It's getting pretty good at the end, but I'm kinda tired of the series for the moment. Three 1,000 page novels in as many weeks will do that to you. Up next is Robert Jordan's New Spring. Oh and some poker reading.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

One, two, fo, five ...count these rocks bitch!

Now listening to:Ugly Casanova

Please note my new counter to the right. Isn't it special? Now i will know exactly how few people come through this sad little blog and read my blather. I can feel the depression coming on.

I'm starting to figure out some of the minor html things now, although I still have tons... tons to learn. But a few things are starting to make sense, especially when dumbed down for me.

My rhymes come funkier than your grandfather's feet

Now listening to: Method Man and Tom Waits (how's that for eclectic)

I had a busy afternoon and wasn't feeling really well, but made it through. Got off early and came home for some chill time. I've pretty much wasted the rest of the day. I did watch part of the Thrilla in Manila, which was cool. Mohammad Ali was amazing in the ring. I also played a little Tiger Woods and listened to loads of Tom Waits. I borrowed three of his cds from my lovely coworker Talia and the two I've listened to so far are excellent.

I'm being assaulted by E3 information right now. Lots of Halo 2 stuff and EA and Xbox Live making nice. It's cool. I'm really considering selling my PS2 now. There isn't anything I'm really interested in besides Final Fantasy XII and i don't know if it's worth keeping for that. I dunno.

I'm also hearing a lot of stuff about both Sony's new handheld, the PSP, and the Nintendo DS. Both look kinda interesting, but will either live up to the Game Boy Advance? Both have lots of bells and whistles, but I'm definitely gonna wait and see which emerges on top before spending any cash. There are plenty of GBA games I can catch up on in the meantime, not to mention XBox and PC games. Of course I say that now, but when the things come out my reason may go out the door.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Dog cologne landmine...nose army

Now listening to: RadioioRock (webradio)

Just watched Steven Soderberg's Schizopolis, it was pretty good. Very odd, but in an interesting way. Lots of completely surreal dialogue, a la the title of this particular blog. Some cool tricks with language and visuals. I enjoyed it.

Today was decent, went to a godawful baseball game, but interviewed NY Giant Delvin Joyce, who was cool. The problem was I just didn't feel that great and definitely didn't feel social. So I may have come off as a little short with him. Social skills fading...

I also got out of work early, which allowed me to kill most of the evening doing nothng much. I did get to see Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which was nice. Gotta love Shake's hijinks. Did I mention I need a life?

Terrorism sponsored by the U.S.

I was listening to a variety of webradio stations tonight and tuned in to a speech by Arundhati Roy giving on an NPR station (I think it was NPR) on Sept. 11. It was really awesome. I don't normally listen to speeches or anything but this caught my attention. She was amazing, I listened for over 40 minutes. She had this quote:

"The American way of life is not sustainable because it doesn't recognize that there is a world outside of America."

She documented several instances of American sponsored terrorism throughout the world and touched on a lot of Western expansionism and hegemony. She mentioned that the CIA helped Pinochet to overthrow a democratically elected government in Chile on Sept. 11, 1973. How's that for historical significance? I tried to read her book "The God of Small Things" when it came out, but couldn't get into it. I think I may try again.

Monday, May 10, 2004

It barely reads as a moon

Now:wishing I had a fourth day off

A decent weekend. My poker prowess has turned to dust, tho. I am now a mere four dollars to the good after paying for an hour last night. I made some horrible calls and realized how bad I was playing, so I'm staying away from the game until I can figure out how to get back on track.

On Saturday, Trip and I made the Danville scene and watched Van Helsing...steamer. It's just sad really, I know Hollywood blockbusters require a lot of suspension of disbelief and I wasn't expecting oscar caliber writing, but cmon. This was shitte. Why can't they make a good movie that pays homage to the horror villans of years past. Are Frankenstein and the wolfman condemned to horrible writing in films forever?

Sunday I stayed in the whole day and watched Futurama, Season 3 and played Diablo all afternoon. It was funny, I was doing well until a predecided point where I started to die and die and die. It got annoying. Then of course when I tried poker that sucked as well. When my luck goes, it goes all at once.

I did manage to watch Adult Swim and that was excellent. Aqua Teen Hunger Force gets better with every viewing.

Saturday, May 08, 2004

Your sauce will mix with ours and that'll make a good goulash baby

Now listening to: Jay-Z (The Black Album)

I have to say that Jay-Z isn't as good without the help of the Beatles and Danger Mouse. It's nto bad but some of the beats are humdrum. I've often said that more of the rappers need to get with better DJs to make their albums pop better. A lot of my fav. hip hop songs start with a solid drum and bass DJ (Tricky, Roni Size, Goldie) and then add a good rhyme over them. The typical hip hop beat is flavorless, I suppose that's so it doesn't detract from the rapper, but for me music is about more than lyrics. You should be able to dig deeper.

I just finished going through all my hotmail messages I had left and deleting them. It was pretty cool as there were some messages over a year old in there. Plus it helped me notice how awesome some of the friends I have are. I swear the way Vishi, Karen and Dana support me is incredible. It's a small wonder that I think of college as the best time of my life. With those three giving me positive reinforcement all the time it had to be good.

But yeah, now I'm down to three email accounts. I may try and get it down to two, but dissing my yahoo account will be harder as I will have to go to some other sites I signed on through them and change my email address, like ebay and paypal. Maybe I should do that now. The lure of Tiger Woods is kicking in tho. Hmm...

Friday, May 07, 2004

Good money after bad

Now watching: What's eating Gilbert Grape

Man has today sucked ass. I am down $40 at Party Poker. None of my hands held up, I suffered some horrible beats and couldn't do anything. It started bad, I went on tilt and lost a bunch. Then I stabilized and played better and that's when the bad beats kicked in. I'd chaulk some of it up to simple variance, but that whole tilt episode was entirely my fault. The thing was I knew I was tilting, but kept playing anyway. I think I'm going to stay away from the tables for the rest of the night, catch up with some Diablo.

This movie is good, but depressing. Man is it a downer, still I have to appreciate the performances. Johnny Depp is simply the man.

All alone in the danger zone

Now listening to: The Ramones

Wow it was rough out there. Tonight was hard on a brother at the poker tables. I managed to win $10, but it was a struggle. I didn't see a lot of hands early and dropped back a lot. I couldn't find a passive table to save my life and ended up sitting with a bunch of rocks. Then i tilted slightly and started playing loose-aggressive. It was not a good idea. I was down a lot before I managed to catch a break on the river after betting my top pair all the way with two callers. One of them I had beat on kicker anyway, but hte other caught bottom two pair on the flop and I lucked out. Still I made like $30 on the pot and made it into the black. So not too bad I suppose.

I still haven't seen a pocket pair bigger than jacks and the pairs I have seen never turn into trips. It's like a 7-1 shot that a pocket pair will hit on the flop and I've probably had 14 pocket pairs, I'm owed some. Plus I can't get big slick or AQ to hold up. It blows.

On to less complainy topics, I have a three day weekend!!! Wooo. I think tomorrow I am gonna try to filter through my old hotmail account and get everything i need from it and let it go. Four email accounts is way too many.

This weekend I also intend to re-read some poker books to refresh my memory on what I'm doing wrong at the tables. I need to tighten up and stop playing trash and calling bets when I'm in the blinds with crap. So much money thrown away...

Thursday, May 06, 2004

Schoolin' the fish

Now listening to: The Grey Album

Whoo. In 5.5 hours I have over doubled my money at Party Poker. I won $24 in and hour and a half tonight. I'm honestly amazed by how bad some of the players at the .50/1 tables are. It's sad, well sad in a good way for me. I only had one hand I thought was a real winner not stand up, but I made it back quick. I also took a nice fat pot when my nut flush came through. I've been on the prowl for passive tables and have been pretty good. I only have seen one maniac at the tables and I ended up whipsawing him out of the game with another rock. We ended up chopping the pot and the maniac went broke. He he.

Part of me is considering trying the 1/2 tables, but I'm not really sure I can take losing at this point. My bankroll is tenuous to say the least and my confidence can't handle a lot of beating. I may wait until I've got a longer sample of the real money play. Two nights could just be luck I suppose, although I don't believe it judging by the scrubs I've seen.

I got a new gmail account from google which will be the official email of incoherent rambling. It's listed above, feel free to drop me a line.

I found out I have the weekend off, so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. I need to get mom something for mother's day, but who knows what would be good. She's incredibly hard to shop for. Maybe I'll talk trip into a shopping excursion...not that I need to drop the cash for that.

I managed to resist the iTunes store tonight, but it was close. If it hadn't of been offline for awhile I'd have succumbed to the urge to buy something new.

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

All your thoughts, they rot

Now listening to: Ugly Casanova (Sharpen your teeth)

Well I finally did it. I started playing cash games at Party Poker. I made a $50 deposit, and man was that a pain, and went to work. I was planning on doing $100, but really I don't need to spend that much right now. So after filling out several online forms, having three credit cards refuse the transation (apparently most credit cards aren't big on the whole netteller thing), giving them bank info and paying $5, I made it into action.

The poker was good, I played fairly well, made a few lose calls that cost me and need to buckle down on my starting hands. Of course I did end up profitable. I won over $20 on the night, which is around 5 big bets/hour, not too bad. Plus I satisfied the bonus requirement for the code I entered from Iggy , so I'm up $30 in one night. Not too shabby.

Work was a drudgery tonight, it went slow and nothing was going on. Bored, bored, bored. I just read a bunch of crap at salon As you can tell I figured out how to link stuff in the text, which was ridiculously easy when I noticed it.

I downloaded Ugly Casanova from the itunes store and it is mighty. It's the lead guy from Modest Mouse, so of course it's really good. I didn't know that before or I would have got it earlier. I also put together the beginnings of a mix, I made for poker playing. It's gonna take some work.

Tuesday, May 04, 2004

On the corner of Fifth and Vermouth

Now listening to: Tom Waits

Well I spent the last couple of hours hitting the poker tables and listening to both the Grey Album and the White Album. Time well spent I do believe. Of course the poker was play money, but I did win a Omaha tourney (first time I've ever played the game) and placed second in a hold 'em tournament.

I've got to stop eating Oreos. I don't want any more, but they are sitting there on the table and I have them in my mouth before I think about it. Jesus, I'm compulsive.

I'm still fighting the urge to buy an ipod. I don't technically need one, but they are super sweet. I am a technology whore. I saw a voice recording peripheral, that would work as a recorder for work, which would kick ass. Also my portable cd player has been a pain lately, shutting off in the middle of a cd for no reason. I don't have the $300 I need to get one, but man do I want one. I may have to start a slush fund.

Monday, May 03, 2004

I'm like Che Guevara with bling

Now listening to: DJ Danger Mouse (The Grey Album)

I've spent the day slacking as planned. Watched a considerable amount of Angel, Season 3. It's been pretty good. I'm now enjoying the illegal stylings of DJ Danger Mouse. It's interesting, to say the least. I suppose it's not really smart to listen to the amalgam of the Black and White albums without ever having heard the originals, but what am I gonna do? I could probably figure out how to do a mix like that (maybe not as good to start), particularly with Trip's help. But I don't know if I've got the dedication to deconstruct and build again like that. It would take a lot of effort, probably more than actually creating something completely original.

There is a lot of talk about the copyright infringement. Personally I believe art is part of the word once it is created, particularly music. I understand why an artist wants to get paid for his creation and talent and I also understand that you don't want songs used to pimp products without the permission of the artist. But when it comes to remixing or the like, it stifles new artists when they can't crib from the past or even try to adapt, particularly in this age. The fact of the matter is that music is moving forward with the remix, that's the evolution.

Also copyrights need to end at some point. It'd be nice to own the rights to a popular song, but c'mon you can't hold on to them forever. I blame Disney, pushing those laws for as long as possible. Let something go into the public domain. I suppose it just comes down to the money again. Art be damned when there is a buck to be made.

Just not a lot going on. After reading several new blogs the last couple of days, I realize that my life is way to dull to write about. Maybe I should just create a fictional blog about the life I want. That might be interesting. I dunno, I need to live less in a fantasy realm, not more.

Say I'm your momma!

Now listening to: more ambient web radio

A slack day, which was nice. Got up at noon and finished A Game of Thrones. It was good, although the ending left a little to be desired. Hopefully A Storm of Swords will get off to a good start to get me back into the story.

After that I fiddled around on the internet and watched part of The Fisher King, which I finished later and was exceptional. What a great movie, I'm sad I waited so long to watch it. It had great lines, kickass performances from Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams and was overall awesome. Hell it even had Tom Waits! You can't deny the beauty of that.

But I did break it up by going to Trip's this afternoon and drinking a nice '99 Pinot Noir. We sat on his porch and enjoyed a overcast/rainy spring day (my fav.). We then grabbed some dinner and watched some Upright Citizen's Brigade and 2 Skinnee J's DVD and the Simpsons. Not bad. I came home, watched the end of the Fisher King and Adult Swim. Then I watched a Robin Williams standup, that was ok, but seemed a little predictable.

I'm probably gonna continue my slackness tomorrow with more sitting in front of a screen. I need a life sooo bad.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

FREE!!!!!

Now listening to: Classical net radio

When I walked out of the Bulletin this evening I caught a whiff of the most wonderful flowers. I love rainy spring days. The humidity makes the flowers smell heavier and pervasive. I also enjoy the way the trees and plants look soo green against the gray skies. Add the color of the flowers against the backdrop of the overcast horizon and it's like my own personal art movement. I love it.

I was feeling the bliss of an impending weekend as I left the building. I always think of the scene in Half Baked when Dave Chappelle leaves his job on the weekend and stretches both arms above his head and yells "FREE!" That's pretty much the way I feel on Saturday nights.

Of course this feeling is increased by the people I have to deal with to end the night. They are (in no particular order) an obese guy with bad teeth who, while a decent guy, is the laziest person I've ever met. And I'm in the know about lazy. His daughter, who's got a really bad attitude and isn't afraid to talk about her female problems (note infection). A mostly deaf guy who looks like a rat. This guy has clearly been so abused throughout his life that he has no idea how to relate to anyone who's not making fun of him or abusing him in some way. He's like an animal in a cage that hasn't been fed in days and has been poked with a stick, just angry. There is also the incredibly chatty kid, who refuses to go away. He makes stupid and overtly racist remarks regularly and is clueless.

Saturday, May 01, 2004

I got a fever and the only prescription for it is more cowbell

Now listening to: an ambient webradio station

Well it's been a pretty decent day. Slack afternoon followed by covering a decent baseball game. Of course I went to the wrong place and had to bust ass to get across town to the actual game, but it turned out ok.

I then hit Trip's and we played a little XIII and some Tiger Woods. I finally managed to win one from them, despite a late charge by Danny and a solid run by trip. I think the more difficulty we add the better off I'll be with my conservative tendencies.

Danny bailed and Trip and I watched some TV, caught Penn and Teller's Bullshit, which is awesome. It's informative and funny. Can you ask for more than that? We then watched some Invader Zim on his computer. Oh man do I love that. We watched like three episodes and I couldn't stop laughing. Gir kills me. I love his absurd actions. It's genius at work. Figures the show got cancelled, it was too good to last.

Anyway I only have one more day to survive before the weekend. I plan to follow through with more slackness and try to really power out some Diablo 2 time so I can beat it and move on...possibly to City of Heroes. I'm a total nerd, I know, but I'd like to be able to talk about a game made this millenium. I checked the monthly release guide for May and it's pretty bleak. Not much new coming out that is interesting. Not that I need anything new to come out, I have plenty of crap I need to catch up on.

This ambient station is pretty cool. Very mellow. I think it's called Drone Zone, which certainly fits.