Friday, December 29, 2006

James Brown is dead

Been an intensely busy few days. But good. The holidays are hectic and this year has turned it up to extra spicy. Went to see my bro on the 26th, which was an adventure. Had a good 60 minutes of sleep and then spent the whole day with my parents. Got home around 7 p.m. and immediately drove to Roanoke to hang with Mike, Shannon, Adam and Greg. Had a good time, but I'm lucky I didn't collapse on the drive home and hit a tree.

Lots of other stuff going on, but I don't feel like blogging about it.

In fantasy football news my hunt for the championship ended abruptly when Laverneus Coles dropped a fat deuce when I needed 12. Sad.

Also a moment of silence for the godfather of soul, the hardest working man in show business, the living legend,Mr. James Brown. The world is a less funky place without you.

Monday, December 25, 2006

The feats of strength

So it's all Christmas and whatnot. I should be in Fayetteville, NC, but we were unable to trek down as my Mom is suffering from the same virus that sidelined me last week. We're going tomorrow instead, which makes things difficult, but at least I'll get to hang with my bro, Kelly and Cameron. Of course, then I have to come back and ride to Roanoke to hang with Mike, Shannon and Adam. Gonna be a long day, but should be fun.

Yesterday, Mike, Shannon and myself rode up to Roanoke and found the one place open on Xmas Eve, Awful Arthur's. We had the traditional holiday calimari and beer. Well I did anyway. We had a good time. Low key and pleasant.

Anyway I'm off to kill some time and watch some NFL highlights. The games tonight decide whether I head into the Techmo Lucky Breaks Superbowl or consolation. It's neck and neck.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Guff reduction

My day off, woohoo. I sniffled and snuffled my way through the day. Got a below average haircut, love when they rush through it as fast as they can and go "That'll be $18." Also got my glasses fixed, which is something I've needed to do for about a year. Nice to not have metal scraping my nose. I should probably have my eyes checked and get new glasses, but don't wanna pay for em really. Bah.

Hooked up with Trip and Danny and we hung out. Sadly I let Trip school me at hockey and while we split at Tony Hawk Project 8, but clearly my skills are deficient in that game. He probably should've beaten me, I just used my old school voodoo to take a win.

I just watched Penn and Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour, which was Penn and Teller traveling to China, Egypt and India in search of old school street magicians. Interesting, but not great. Well, Penn and Teller are great, but it seemed like a lot of the time they were kinda disappointed by what they found. The Egyptian guy who "swallowed" a snake basically put a snake in his mouth and then let it crawl out. Not especially exciting.

Went to the library today also, to kill time and picked up Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side which is about left tackles. So far I'm a little over a chapter in and he's talked about Lawrence Taylor's crushing hit on Joe Theisman that put him out of the game and how Taylor went on to change both the dynamics of how the game is played and how players are paid. Pretty interesting stuff, for the die hard football fan.

Monday, December 18, 2006

In the black grip of pestilence

Now listening to: Xiu Xiu

So I'm still feeling sick. Stupid cold. My eyes all watery and nose runny. I swear it also keeps me from thinking straight, but I may just be getting dumber independently of the cold. I had to get the hell out of work ASAP and left fairly early because I felt like hammered ass. (I know you're wondering whether I mean a sexually assaulted ass or an ass that has been bludgeoned, but I'm not gonna tell you. Writer's prerogative.)

Now that I deleted about half of what I wrote initially and can't remember what I wrote, I'll just cram in some quick football notes and go to bed. First off, the Steelers are back to .500! Woo. We could still get into the playoffs... ok that's never gonna happen, but it's at least possible after the crappy start we had. We finish against Cincinnati and Baltimore, which means we got a long way to go before we can finish at .500 or better. Anything can happen tho.

Secondly, the Surly Caribou are playoff bound barring Adam Vinatieri breaking all sorts of kicking record tomorrow night. I'd like to take this moment to give a little shout out to Adam and The Vendetta. He's the odd man out in the playoffs. It was a valiant effort man, just not enough lucky breaks. I know you're rooting for me in the playoffs since you don't want A) Mike's shit-talking ass to win, B) Nick to repeat or C) the rookie (Kevin) to ride LT to a title. Probably gonna have Nick in the first round so I need some serious lucky breaks next week.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Words won't save your life

Now watching: Dead Man

I returned to work yesterday and it hadn't changed a bit. Not that it really mattered, as I had managed to stay as busy on vacation as I do at work. Lots of visiting with friends, which was good. As I've said in hte past, it's easy to feel lonely working the schedule and the job I do. Soo, when you get the chance to actually get out and see people, it's for the best that you do.

But now I'm back to being estranged from everyone and working. Alas.

I seem to have the sniffles, which sucks. I'm hoping it doesn't morph into something worse. It sucks bad enough as it is, what with the snuffling and dry throat all the time.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Bastards coated bastards with a bastard center

Well I made it home safe and sound after driving all damn afternoon. Whew, it's a haul. But it was worth it, we had a good time. The hockey game was fucking phenomenal! The Penguins went down 4-0 midway through the second period, but rallied back to tie it up in the third. Then held off the Caps, despite being short-handed to start the overtime. They finally won it in a shoot out. It was worth the trip. There were a ton of Pens fans in the house, which was cool. Rachel was less enthused about the ending than I was, being a Washington fan and all, but still had a good time. Loads of fun and a $7 beer, wooo!

Today I trekked back into bumfuck, with a brief pause in Roanoke for some final Xmas shopping and Red Palace. I swear I was near a chinese coma on the way home. Brutal.

Once I got home I unpacked, talked to Mom for a bit and then watched Closer, which was pretty good (foot massage). Lots of infidelity, emotional strain and innuendo. Natalie Portman is stunningly beautiful. Breathtaking. And she can act! The total package.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Always got room for a goon

Having a good time up here in Loudon County, the fastest growing county in the US (so sayeth Adam). I'm enjoying the sprawl. Yesterday was an orgy of football watching. Sadly the Surly Caribou are behind by a nigh-insurmountable amount now. I could come back, but it would take the hand of Zeus coming down and smiting the Rams offense.

We also enjoyed watching Dallas take it in the rear from the Saints. Small pleasures man. I think I'm hopping on the Saints bandwagon . They have to cool story, with the whole hurricane thing, and they are kinda black and gold. So the transition will be easy.

Getting psyched up to see some Penguins action. Just gotta figure out how to get there. Adam's still bitching about missing MNF for hockey. He can't appreciate the joy of a low scoring game. But c'mon, it's stick wielding guys, with blades on their feet slapping a piece of hard rubber at another guy's head. How can that be bad?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

I miss my mouse

Interesting couple of days. Friday, Jill and I went to my office party and had a good time. Not a good a time as Kevin, who was in the bag when we arrived, hehe. Not that he was alone mind you, plenty of drunken coworkers to be found that night.

Saturday I took the haul up to Leesburgh to visit Adam, which is a brutally long drive. I take a week off so I don't have to commute and end up driving more than normal. What can you do? Anyway, I'm actually up before noon today to watch football. So that's pretty much the whole day taken care of. Tomorrow I get to see the Penguins and Caps play, wooo. Gonna be fun, even if Adam is bemoaning the fact that we're watching hockey instead of Monday Night Football.

Now if I can manage to pull off a fantasy victory over Nick, my vacation will be even better.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Function is meaning

Now listening to: The Big Sleep

My vacation continues to be a flurry of activity, although I did get to slow down a tad on Wednesday and relax. I managed to clean my room and my desk a bit and then watched The DaVinci Code with the fam. It wasn't bad, about what I expected. Sometimes they went out of the way to explain things, but it's a Hollywood movie that wants to include every jackanape that can afford a seat in the theatre. But yeah, I'd say foot massage all told, although the book was better.

Thursday, I managed to sleep in, waking up several times and deciding it wasn't worth actually rising yet. After I finally did drag my ass out of bed, I got my oil changed so I don't have to sweat that when I trek to DC. After killing some time, I headed up to Kevin's pad and dined with him, Courtney and the Plaster daughters. We had a good time, between chatting, playing with the kids and watching the Steelers whomp the Browns (something that never gets old for me).

My only complaint was that it was friggin cold. The wind was blowing and, damn, it was ball-freezing, witches tit in a brass bra, nipple-cutting-glass cold. I gotta get me a nice winter coat and dig out my awesomely huge stocking cap. No idea where that thing is. Alas. I know us penguin types are supposed to like the cold, but we need to be prepared. When it goes from the 70s to buttcrack cold we are caught off guard.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Boondock Saints is the best movie ever!

Actually, no it's not. Not even close, but I'm fucking with Trip. He hates the Boondock Saints and claimed I'd like it just to annoy him. Which I might have done, if it wasn't so incredibly bad. It's like it was done on a dare. "I dare you to make a movie that tries way to hard to be like an ultracool gangster tip and falls flat on it's face." I think I'm pulling out a Mudbutt rating and it's been a while since I delved to those depths here.

Anyway besides watching a shitty movie, I did some more Xmas (I'm taking the Christ out of Christmas and I'm unapologetic about it.) shopping with Trip. I got most of it done, got a few people left, but the bulk is down. I need to slow down on the spending tho, it's getting ridiculous. And I still want an iPod, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon.

I think tomorrow I'm gonna try to do some domestic things and keep a low profile and maybe relax. I still gotta get my oil changed before I trek to NoVa. this weekend, but it'll keep for another day. I'm actually kinda stunned with how busy I've been. I think I'm gonna go and watch Lucio Fulci's Zombie now. Hope its good and not just slow and dull.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

I love Goblin Cock

Ugg, it's been a busy coupla days and it's my vacation! It started on Sunday when I roused early after very little sleep to go to Big Dave's funeral. Big Dave is my friend Jeff's father and was a really great guy. It's no secret that I'm usually fairly uncomfortable around people that I don't know that well, but Big Dave was so unassuming and fun he always just seemed like one of the guys to me. I'm gonna miss him. I hate that Jeff and his family have to deal with this type of thing, it's gotta be tough.

After the funeral, Trip, Kevin, Jill and I grabbed a bite and had a good time hanging out for a bit. Not the reason I'd like to see them, but it was still cool to hang. After that I hung out at Trip's for a while, he managed to get his manhood back by defeating me in hockey. I then came home and watched football and nodded for a while.

Today I rose fairly early (neighbor left his alarm on and apparently left the house) and Trip and I headed to Greensboro for some X-mas shopping. I spent too much money and ended up buying myself an external hard drive. I've been running low on space and thinking about getting one for a while. I saw a nice deal on a 160 gig so I splurged.

Anyway it was a long day of shopping. I think I ran Trip ragged. I just wanted to get as much out of the way as possible so I don't have to wade into the malls when the mobs really hit. I hate fighting huge crowds.

After returning, Trip and I watched Cars, which was ok. Pixar doesn't do bad work. My lack of interest in racing and unfettered hatred of Larry the Cable Guy tainted it somewhat, but I'd still say it deserves a foot massage. Ohh we also watched some of his music on demand stuff and I found the best band name ever, Goblin Cock. Ohh it brings me so much joy. I may try to find their cd on principle alone. Yes, I admit it, I love Goblin Cock.

Friday, December 01, 2006

She doesn't sound like a credible expert, does she?

Just watched Thank You For Smoking and man is that movie good. To make a character that literally bullshits nonstop about something that kills people and make that character completely likable is no small feat. I'm saying this is Filet Mignon, I really loved it.

I've been listening to lots of new music lately, spanning a broad, broad range. I got some nice metal, Isis being an interesting progressive metal band and Sunn O))), which is an interesting drone/ambient metal that offers something I haven't heard before. Got some Jawbreaker which is nice quasi-emo punk that is simply amazing.

Gogol Bordello is in the mix, which is really odd and describe themselves as gypsy punk, which seems to be as good a way to say it as any. An indie rock style band called Frog Eyes that I heard of because one of it's members is in Swan Lake with Dan Bejar of Destroyer and New Pornographers fame.

Architecture in Helsinki is an Australian band, which brings odd instrumentation and an indie sensibility. A slick Ghostface Killah album fills my rap needs with post-Wu Tang styles and it is piping hot. The new ... and you will know us by the trail of dead album is decent and I need to give it another listen. The Knife has some interesting abstract electronic sounds.

I'll finish with an artist that's a timeless classic, Tom Waits. I got his new three disc set, but haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet. Too few hours in the day.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

From off to on

Now listening to: The Knife

Well I've been monkeying with my design here again. I tried several different things and they all looked crappy. I decided to settle on this for the time being, because it's not bad. I'm not really sold on it all the way, but it will have to do for the moment.

I watched Art School Confidential and 21 Grams last night. ASC was less funny than I'd hoped. I'd rate it a Meh. at best. That's being fairly lenient I think. 21 Grams was powerful, but kind of a downer. What was the last movie Sean Penn was in that wasn't a total downer. He's always great, but it's usually depressing. Also I'm not sure if I liked to convoluted way it was shot. When I say I'm not sure, I mean I'm really torn about it. On one hand it kept you involved because it kept dropping in odd moments that made more sense down the road. On the other hand, it seemed an unnecessarily complex way of telling a story. I'd still give it a +1 chainmail rating overall cause the acting was phenomenal.

Tonight I watched the Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which was really good. Honestly, I would have never watched this movie without Kevin basically forcing it on me. Tommy Lee Jones just doesn't usually draw me in, I start thinking Men in Black and get disinterested. But this is a really good story. I'm saying +1 chainmail for this too, definitely worth the time.

Down to three days before my vacation. I'm counting em down.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Boys go for looks, girls go for status

Now listening to: Swan Lake

It's been a fairly eventful couple of days. Sunday I rousted my ass after only 6 hours of sleep to watch the Steelers' game. I should have slept in, it was brutal. I don't even wanna talk about it. (Much to the relief of Yvonne.) After that game I headed to Trip's and we made our way to Chapel Hill.

Once there we rode around until we found the sushi place and man was that good. It had been too long. Yummy stuff. We had Ben and Jerry's afterward to fulfill the gluttony portion of our day. We then headed to Cat's Cradle to catch the show. The opening band wasn't bad, but also wasn't notable. I don't remember their name.

The second band, The Big Sleep, I liked a lot, enough to buy their cd. It's very good. Trip, of course, loathed them. They are too challenging for him. Lots of feedback and noise, which I love. He needs his rock with training wheels attached. The headliner was The Hold Steady, which I've ranted about on here before. They were excellent, although a little less tight than the last time we saw em. Still pretty damn kickass.

So all told Sunday wasn't too bad. A horrible start, but a strong finish. Monday went fairly well for me. Trip and I grabbed some wings and then went to see Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. I love me some D. I do have to admit that the movie could have been a lot better. It has some moments of total rocket sauce, but not near enough. I had hoped for more. I'm giving it a +1 chainmail rating, but it would be lower if the D weren't so damn awesome by themselves.

After we returned to Trip's pad, we watched some tv (How I Met your Mother and The Simpsons) and then I fucking SCHOOLED Trip at hockey. I mean, there are victories and their are ass beatings. This was decidedly the latter.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Egg, larva, pupa, adult

Recently I've been internally debating whether or not people can really change. I mean sure, you can do things a little differently, but don't most end up being the same person no matter what? It's like a stream of water, you can divert it to go somewhere else, but left untended it will go back to it's natural path of least resistance. I'm not really certain if people work the same way or not.

The impetus for this question is, of course, the fact that I have several things I'd like to change about myself. These changes seem to be very difficult, but all revolve around my own personal tendency to take the aforementioned path of least resistance. This leads me to accept a lot of mediocrity in my life. Of course, the one area where I absolutely refuse to have mediocrity I am an abject failure. So I'm not sure that changing would definitely make for an improvement.

At any rate, I've got a lot of thinking to do and perhaps some new things to try. I'll think about it later. Now I just need some Pepto and my pillow.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Let's give thanks for imperialism and genocide

Now listening to: The Dresden Dolls

Thanksgiving. Where the pilgrims were helped through a tough winter by Native Americans. The same Native Americans that they drove off their land and exterminated using small pox blankets. They had to do that so they could instill absurd puritanical sexual beliefs to scar America for centuries to come. I'll get off my intensely liberal soapbox now and let you enjoy your charred flightless foul.

So yeah, things I'm thankful for... Well I have a job. This time last year I was pretty far up Shit Creek and lacking a means of conveyance. Now I have a lot of that sorted out. I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be, but I've made definite headway. Lots of that is attributable to my friends, to whom I am eternally thankful (I don't know if whom is right used there, I never learned that rule since it seems so extraneous.)

I'm pretty thankful for my Mom too, cause she keeps me up and running even if it's a huge pain in the ass for her. Can't imagine what my life would be like without her there, I wouldn't have accomplished even the small things I've done up til now.

Anyway I could probably be thankful for days, but I ain't gonna do it. Don't you people know the real spirit if this season is going to the mall and buying loads of shit you don't really need? Maybe getting into a fistfight over the new super vibrating Elmo game with all the bells and whistles.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Take you to brown town

Now listening to: Neutral Milk Hotel

So it was cold, windy, rainy and generally nasty today. I swear, driving to Trip's this evening it was darker as dusk than it usually is when I drive home from work at 2 a.m. I actually love this weather, the bleakness sings to my soul, if I have such a thing. But lets not debate the possibilities of immutable individuality contained within human beings.

I got to sleep in, which was nice. For me this means that my daylight time is significantly limited, but it's good to catch up on my sleep. Contrary to popular belief I don't usually get 8 hours a night. I then hung with Trip for a bit and we watched Slither, which was better than I thought it'd be. I'd say +1 chainmail. Some cool little joke things and decent gore. It had a nice concept and a sense of humor.

After that I tossed Trip a beating in hockey in retribution for his actions yesterday. Fear my mighty Penguins, for they are legion! Speaking of penguins, I read a disturbing thing today that mentioned that some penguins are moving toward extinction because of global warming. If ever there was a reason to halt global warming, it's this. (Well this and the continued existence of our species and life as we know it.)

After returning home I watched L4yer Cake, which is a cool British gangster movie, with some caper elements. Worth the time (foot massage). What is it about British gangsters that is so compelling to me.

Sadly I return to work tomorrow, so much for the holiday. Ahh well, I needs to get paid. I'm still trying to control my consumerist tendencies, but it gets harder as my nerd-desires go longer without being quenched. For example, you can get a 30-gig iPod for $250 now and I want one bad. But I must resist. Also I want an Xbox 360 and with the potential sale at Amazon on Thurs. I may procure one despite my better instincts.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I know about pain and suffering and being cold, but I just wanna fuck

Now listening to: Jane's Addiction

Soooooo not much went on the last couple of days. Watched some football, Steelers and Surly Caribou were both victorious (despite a stunningly low score by the Bou) and all is well on that front this week. Tonight Trip and I hung out, played some video games. I schooled him at Soul Caliber 3 and he had his vengeance in hockey. They grossly underrate my Penguins, but that's not entirely why I lost. I do kinda suck, especially on defense.

We also watched Squidbillies, which is undoubtedly the best show on television about hillbilly squids and their hijinks. Click that link and hit the fix up to see a brilliant 15 minute episode dealing with complex issues of dating, love, fidelity and truck-boat-trucks.

Hey speaking of hockey (a paragraph ago) I got the tickets to the Caps-Pens game that Adam, Rachel and I are attending. I'm stoked. Looking forward to heading up to civilization for a coupla days and doing this and that.

Ohh the title? That's a Jane's Addiction lyric that I appreciate. It's my mission statement these days.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Before bed rambling

Apparently I'm not updating enough to satisfy some of my law enforcing readers. That's how it goes when you have to do actual work instead of sitting in your car eating donuts. Hehe.

Honestly there is not much to tell. I bought Soul Caliber 3 for my PS2 (which has become officially antiquated as of 8 a.m. yesterday) and have spent too much time with that. I've also been reading Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon which is quite good. More about that when I've finished it. Ohh, I also watched The Breakup, the Vaughnifer vehicle, and it was ok, nothing exceptional really (Meh.). I mean it has some cool Vince Vaughn moments, but I'm accustomed to greater things. Ohh and Jennifer Aniston is hot, I'll give her that.

What I should be doing instead of all of those things is writing. I've been working on a couple of ideas during my commute. (Gives me something to do besides dwell on self hatred.) I think I've more or less worked out what I'm gonna write for my grad app. Still there is the process of taking that out of my head and putting it into real words and that can be time consuming.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Something just isn't right pretty much always

Blarg. I'm in the middle of my weekend and I'm not sure how to fill the time. I need to be doing something other than staring at a screen for hours on end, but what? It's Monday so no one else wants to do anything and I need to not spend a ton of money anyway. I dunno I'm just bored of doing the same old thing. I need more social interaction.

I dunno, I'm just bitching. I suppose I'm a bit jealous that Mike, Nick and Adam flew down to Miami to see the Chiefs-Dolphins game. They're off partying while I'm stuck working. Bah, it's my own fault, I gotta pay my dues now after being slack for so damn long.

I did finish Accelerando and it was good, although the ending kind of dissappointed me. Still well worth the effort (foot massage). Ohh and I finished watching Godard's My Life to Live, which is about a woman who finds herself becoming a prostitute. I can't say I really liked it, it was a series of marginally related scenes and didn't involve me as much as I'd like.

In other news, I got my packet from Hollins University and looked over the requirements for admission. If I do the creative writing program I need to do just that, write creatively, for the application. I also need three letters of recommendation and have no idea who to get to write them. Who knows if my college profs will do it since it's been so long since I was there. The people I worked with at the Bulletin I have either drifted away from or hated from the start. My antisocial nature bites me on the ass once again.

Friday, November 10, 2006

pushing past the current possibilities

I feel like ass. It all started last night when I at some chicken and my body rejected it immediately and violently. Unpleasant. Then I wake up a half hour before the alarm because my arm is numb because my melon head is lying right on top of it. By the time I drift back off, it's time for the alarm to go off and I feel like total ass. I debated calling in sick, but decided to tough it out. Work was fairly uneventful and I stayed busy so it went fairly quickly.

Now I'm back to filling ill and tired. I need to get back to walking and eating better, but it's damn hard. I'm gonna try to reinstate it on Sunday, but I may be exhausted from work and distracted by football. We'll see.

I finally finished reading The Prestige, which was pretty good (maybe foot massage, but more likely +1 chainmail). I want to see the movie now, but will probably wait for DVD. It's just easier and less annoying than the theatre. But yeah, the story is pretty good. It's about a feud between to 19th century magicians. It gets a little odd at the end, but that's part of the charm.

I'm now reading Charles Stross' Accelerando which is excellent so far. It's a cyberpunk tale that is a decidely 21st century novel. It keeps pushing new ideas and information at you constantly, like a less sucky MTV dialed up to eleven. Lot of ideas about people becoming "posthuman" which is a concept that fascinates me.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Known racist and Virginia senator... maybe not

So I exercised my franchise today. As cynical as I am I do try to take advantage of the advantages a democracy brings. Too bad I'm surrounded by absurdly conservative people who base their lives on a book written 2000 years ago and translated more times than you would believe. But yeah, I figure that if you don't vote you shouldn't complain. So I vote... and complain. The circle is complete.

I'm listening to the new Badly Drawn Boy album, which is pretty good. I think this is an album several of my more middle of the road readers would like. It's got a nice mellow rocky vibe, but with depth. It's not my usual brutal metal or anarchistic punk, more mainstream.

Edit:Looks like I was lamenting an Allen win too early and Webb may have pulled it out. Maybe Virginia is less dumb than I thought. But just barely.

Flames of Icarus

A low key birthday for yours truly. Went to High Point and had dinner with Trip and his girl. Had a pretty good time. Got our TGIFriday's on, and they have some intriguing appetizers. We went with the fundido, which is both tasty and fun to say. Fun-Di-Do. It's like a party in your mouth... That sounds like a bad joke waiting to happen, so I'll stop.

Since I got home I've basically just futzed around on the net, not doing much. I did read the Marvel Zombies comics, which was interesting. Basically all your favorite heros had been transformed into zombies and had eradicated almost all human life on earth. Loads of fun. Zombies and superheroes, two great tastes that taste great together.

I'm also listening to the most recent Ministry album, Rio Grande Blood, which is wonderfully brutal. I recommend Assclown to anyone who isn't a big Bush fan.

Monday, November 06, 2006

subtracts and divides

So it's been a pretty shitty football day for me. Steelers, lose. Caribou, have a tenuous 10 point lead, but have three players left to face on Monday night, including both starting backs. Not good. I was so disheartened by the Steelers' fumblitis that I packed up and went to Kev's where we watched the Colts-Pats game. It seemed like the Pats kept forgetting that their rushing attack was slapping the Colts' D and just decided to pass a lot and lost.

It was cool hanging with Kevin, although I was stunned driving up there. I don't need to be on that road any more than I have to at this point. Too much time to think and let my negative mindset take hold. Still it was worth it to get to hang some. Plus I ended up swiping a bunch of his DVDs to watch.

Speaking of DVDs, I just watched Fugazi's Instrument, which was pretty good. It follows their career with different shows, interviews and whatnot. Interesting stuff for those who want to know more. Fugazi is one of those seminal bands that really affected my world view. They have a different way of looking at things and I'm a better person for having heard it and trying to apply some of it to my life, even if I fall short of the ideal quite often.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Murder train a-comin

After a brutal work week I am finally free. Today I enjoyed the first of four days off and that was nice. I went to my grandma's 80th birthday party. It wasn't too bad. Lots of older people that I really have no idea about, but whatever. I got to see most of the relatives I like, so that was good.

Ohh, one thing I can complain about is the fact that when I arrived home at 7a.m. this morning I got out of my Jeep and smelled gasoline. I check underneath and, sure enough, gas is dripping. So now instead of being free for time off, I get to stay in and wonder if my Jeep will be back on the road by the time I have to be at work. If not, I'm fucked. It's pissing me off.

Anyway, after the party I went to Trip's for a minute (in Mom's car) and we watched a Hellboy cartoon he had taped. It was pretty good, most of the same people from the movie. Trip was less enthralled and slept through a significant portion of it.

It's late (early?) and I'm headed for some sleep. Maybe I'll be able to rise before the first games start tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The fleshy cheek of the mommy and daddy dance

So yeah, I've spent my time off this weekend dividing my time between lamenting my football teams fates and watching movies. Both the Steelers and the Caribou were bested this weekend. Sad times indeed.

On to the movie watching. I started things off with a documentary on heavy metal music called Metal. It was pretty good. Entertaining and informative as a general overview of metal and the questions surrounding the music. The interviews with the satanic Norweigian black metal guys were the best. I also watched Day of the Dead, which is another George Romero zombie flick from 1985. Pretty good, but not the best (+1 chainmail). Hard to top Dawn of the Dead.

Tonight Trip and I hit Danville, scarfed some wings and saw Saw 3. It was ok (+1 chainmail), but not as good as Saw 2, which was my fav (foot massage). I dunno, the traps seemed less interesting. Hard to get into why it was less intriguing without giving away the "twists."

Anyway I have to work overnights all week and am more than a little beat at that thought. Gonna be a long damn week. I think I may get a jumpstart on sleep soon as I am beat. Good night.

Sunday, October 29, 2006

I hate to think of what else it could be

So Daylight Savings Time tacked an extra hour onto my work schedule, making it a 13 hour night. Yeah, it's marvelous... I got to drive home with the crack of dawn in my rear view. It was nice actually, the brightening light, the panopoly of colors. It made for a spectacular ride home. I do so love fall.

Spent the long night watching Bravo's take on the scariest movie moments. I'm a sucker for a good list, as I've said before. Especially when they put on the best clips from quality movies.

Anyway I need to sleep so I can watch the foosball later. Long live the Caribou!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

He has a condo made of stone-a

Now listening to: Nick Drake

Today was one of those days, where no matter what you do it seems like you're behind. I got up and walked, then had to scramble to get ready. It didn't help that I took way too much time talking on the phone. I have a tendency to put off leaving for work, since, of course, I don't really want to go. Once arriving at my place of business (and talking a teeny bit of smack to Kevin) I found out that we had computer issues and I was starting in the hole. At 8:30 I finally got done with the stuff I normally have finished at 6:30 and then addressed the other crap that was backed up. It was a struggle.

Let's see, what's new for me... I watched The Seventh Seal, which was amazing (filet mignon). If you like deep existential movies about death, the existence of god and plague-ridden Europe, it's the film for you. Ingmar Bergman put together some amazing scenes and dialogue. I love movies with Death as a character anyway. Also, it is the film debut of Max von Sydow, who I have loved ever since first seeing Strange Brew.

I also finished The Pleasure of My Company, which is Steve Martin's second book. Yes, the wild and crazy guy Steve Martin. It's pretty good (foot massage). It's about an OCD suffering guy, who's trying to find love. Martin does a good job of infusing the book with real moments and a nice dry humor. I'm amazed by how talented this guy is, it's pretty amazing.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Who cares about you?

So clearly I've been fiddling with my blog again. I went for a more Steeler-centric theme, in spite of their overtime loss today. I'm still not sold on it tho. I may have to figure out how to manipulate html to get what I want and who has the time? So this will do for the moment, I tried to keep it readable although black type on a black background was tempting.

So yeah, Pittsburgh lost in OT. An OT that should have never happened. First of all we shouldn't have put the ball on the ground three times, giving up 21 points on turnovers. Secondly, we shouldn't have let them have a successful onside kick. Third there should have been no bullshit false start penalty with eight seconds left. How can you make that call when you didn't call a helmet to helmet hit on Roethlisberger? That call made the game a coin flip and we lost it.

Anyway, after the game I went for a walk to cool down and then went and had dinner with Corb and Trip. We went to Applebee's and saw Jared from Subway, clearly off his diet. I feel so betrayed. Honestly, I would have never noticed if Trip hadn't of pointed him out. I mean, who looks for Jared?

I just tried to watch George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and couldn't get through it. Too slow. I tried, but it wasn't taking. As I may have said in the past, I love me some zombies, but this was just too dated. So after that aborted attempt I decided to fiddle here. So that's my day, are you on the edge of your seat yet?

Friday, October 20, 2006

Tastes like chicken if chicken was a candy

My feet hurt. Argh. I'm preparing to go to work now, which kinda sucks. I think I may be doing some training tonight, which could also suck, but it will spell the end of my 50 hour weeks for a while. That's both good and bad really, but I could use some time to myself.

So Adam has panned my new site design, claiming the colors aren't as good. I'm inclined to agree with him, although I do like some of the other accoutrements. Gonna have to see what else I can find when I get some time.

I watched the Devil's Rejects last night and enjoyed it. You know I often end up rooting for the villans in horror movies and clearly Rob Zombie is the same way because you can't not root for the Rejects. He takes all the coolest bits from 70s horror movies (including some of the actors) and makes you love the evil! I'm sure at some point there will be an antropologist showing this movie as an example of the decline of the American way of life. Something to look forward to.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Please don't declare me an enemy combatant

Now listening to: Xiu Xiu

Work wasn't that bad tonight. I stayed busy and it moved pretty quick. That's always a good thing. Just three more days until the weekend... yesh. Ohh and it's race weekend, which means I can't leave the house Sunday even if I wanted. Good thing I'll be captivated by the NFL. Here's hoping it's not gonna rain all weekend and we can get the race tards gone ASAP.

So this Xiu Xiu is hauntingly beautiful and abstract. Odd instrumentation and minimalist at times, but it can also wander into the odd dance track, well an unusual dance track, but a dance track nonetheless. It's got a noise component that makes it tough to get into for some, but I love it.

I watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead last night, which was an odd adaptation of Hamlet that I may have read in high school. The movie starred Gary Oldman and Tim Roth and had Richard Dreyfus supporting, so you know it was well acted. Still, the story was clearly intended for the stage and the transition to film wasn't altogether successful. Had some great word play tho. I'd rate it +1 chainmail, but you have to be in the right mood for it.

I intend to dive wholeheartedly from the depths of the Shakespearian into the incredibly shallow waters of The Dukes of Hazard tonight. Putting my brain in park in preparation.

Ohh before I shift into brain numbing comedy I do have one political note to add. I'm afraid. George W. Bush now has despotic powers granted by Congress. Keith Olberman went on a tirade about it tonight and I agree with him 100%. I want my habeus corpus. It's this type of move against personal freedoms, made entirely out of fear, that make me think the terrorists are winning. If they do "hate our freedom" (as W. so ineloquently puts it) then we're going out of our way to accomodate them by getting rid of it.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

She wasn't all that strict of a Christian

Man I'm pissed that I didn't watch Monday Night Football. The Bears drop a magnificent comeback with the defense (which is the engine that my fantasy team runs on) and I miss it. Arg. Oh well, Trip and I had a good time hanging out at least, although I thought he was gonna flip the script when he found out that Adelphia had screwed up his High Def channels and his shows didn't record right. No Heroes for him or me for that matter.

We grabbed some shrimp and then did some shopping. I bought a sweater that was on sale. I was trying things on in the store and realized I wasn't gonna like how anything I put on looked because I don't like what's underneath it. I gotta get it together and lose some weight. It's hard with my schedule tho... Bah, I'm boned.

Got the new Hold Steady album and it's awesome. The Springsteen flavor has been upped somewhat. It's really good. I've listened to it three times already tonight and starting on a fourth.

I do not want to head back to work tommorrow, seems like I just left that place. Sucks.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm

Well I gave homage to the Lord today in the matter usually proscribed... I watched football all day long and ate way too much. The Lord in this case is, of course, the NFL. It was a good day for me, the Surly Caribou won and I still have the Bears' D and Bernard Berrian left to play. Also the Steelers brought the hammer against the Chiefs and showed that they aren't done yet. It was fun to watch, although Pittsburgh fumbled the ball too much. Things like that will lose close games and you gotta cut em out.

Did anyone see the footage of that footbrawl that Miami put on Saturday. Hot damn! That's fun to watch. Anytime you see a player using his helmet as a club, you know it's good. It's even better if he rips off another guys helmet and bashes him with it, that'd be awesome.

I finally finished The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon. Good stuff, small surprise this guy won a Pulitzer. Not sure what I'm gonna read next, I got a book that's supposed to have some horror themes, just in time for Halloween called The Town that Forgot to Breathe. I may have to look for something a little less cerebral tho and find some old school zombie, vampire, Frankensteiny action.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Time has told me

I have a headache and am soon for going to bed and trying to sleep it off. In the meantime, I am listening to some Nick Drake and trying to soothe it away. Five Leaves Left is a great album if you can dig the whole depressive folky vibe.

Work was the usual tonight, periods of slackness punctuated by moments of panic. Sometimes I'm amazed things get broadcast at all. Word on the street is that they are trying to hire someone who has worked there before, so the training period could be short and I could get back to my three day weekend. I'll believe it when I see it. Also I'll miss the overtime pay, although I really could use some more time to myself.

Tonight I watched my first Ingmar Bergman film, Wild Strawberries. It's about an old man, looking back on his life and realizing some of the mistakes he's made. Some dream sequences and whatnot. Aside from the theme of the movie, the thing that struck me most was the absolutely gorgeous women in the movie. I know, hot women in movies is as old as the medium itself, but there was something that captivated me with all of the women in the movie. Some quirk of their character that forced me to love them, not just because they were lovely, but because they had some kind of depth. I need to find more women with depth, all the ones I do know are either married or have managed to move far away from me.

I think I'll stop there before I start to wallow in self pity.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Extreme makeover

Well it's obvious that I have been tinkering around here. Got some new options for variety so I thought I'd try em out. I'm not sure how if I like the new color scheme, but it'll have to do for a bit, as I'm tired of fiddling with it for now. The biggest problem I have now is that the yellow I was using to show what I was listening to as I posted is unreadable on the new main background color. I'm way too lazy to change all of those old posts, so my advice is to highlight it if you feel the need to browse the archives.

Trip and I went to Greensboro for some shopping yesterday and we had a pretty good time. I didn't go overboard money wise, which is always a plus. I did buy Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job and read it in it's entirety last night. I had planned to wait for paperback, but after some soul searching I decided I wanted a first edition copy. It's really good, Filet mignon with upward mobility. Hmmm not sure if that color works, but it will have to do.

The only trouble I really had all day was the fact that I ordered a calzone and it was loaded with black olives. I originally asked for it without them, but they had a premixed thing they used, so it was get olives or change my order. I didn't feel like changing and thought that since they were a minor part of the meal I'd be ok. What I forgot is that it only takes one black olive in the thing to make every bite taste like the foul little turds of Satan.

Later on Trip and I hit Cold Stone Creamery for some ice cream.I got a yummy banana ice cream/peanut butter cup mix, while Trip went for a banana ice cream/chocolate syrup/brownie shake. While there I offered Trip a taste of mine (Yes, we're an old gay couple, leave us alone) and he reminded me he hates peanut butter. What makes this odd is that he does, in fact, enjoy peanuts. I marveled over this absurd idiosyncracy and prodded him further to admit that when he eats peanuts eh doesn't chew them up a lot to keep them from getting the butter consistency. Not just weird, also a choking hazard.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Battle of the network space krakens

Just as country music scars the landscape of musical variety, so too was my day scarred by the loss of the Pittsburgh Steelers. All had been going well: The Surly Caribou had supplied ample points and, while the jury is still out, it seems as though victory is at hand, T.O. had a relatively lackluster day and lost and I had lounged on my couch thoroughly. So it was quite a shock to find my perfect day suddenly significantly less perfect. Roethlisberger showed signs of improvement early, but feel struggled late. Maybe next week.

Hmmm, let's see what else is new? I'm watching far too much tv (imagine that, someone who works at a tv station watching tv). Some of the stuff that's pretty awesome according to me:
  • Heroes, kinda Xmany, but with a nice flavor. Hell I'm a sucker for mutants, Marvel or otherwise, the fact that I hang out with Trip proves it.
  • My Name is Earl, still super awesome.
  • The Office can't be denied.
  • Studio 60 is really, really good too. I wish it didn't conflict with MNF.
  • Venture Bros. is still maybe the best thing ever. Lots of other adult swim stuff could also go here. Robot Chicken, Squidbillies, Metalocalypse, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law.
  • Scrubs, reruns everywhere... well on Comedy Central and my Fox affiliate. It rules.
  • The Biggest Loser makes me want to get off my fat ass and do something. If only I had time for it now, maybe once I drop under 50 hours a week.
I suppose that's all I can think of now. I tried to watch Friday Night Lights, but I've seen that type of thing too many times. Read the book, saw the movie, watched Varsity Blues and I'm over it. I think I'm gonna go watch the Xmen 3 now. Gotta get my nerd on!
I'm sure I forgot some

Thursday, October 05, 2006

I wanna be a bear

Now listening to: The Descendents

So it seems I only thought I hated baseball before, now I really do. Well that's not entirely true, I had plenty of reason to hate it working at the Bulletin. Sadly I have a new reason to hate it, as the dreaded national pasttime has intruded into my professional life once again. I will be forced to run most of a double header on Saturday of the god awful baseball playoffs. Those games move slower than an octogenarian's colon and are not quite as entertaining to watch.

In other new, I watched Manhattan the other day. Gotta love Woody Allen. This wasn't my favorite of his movies, (hard to not say Annie Hall as my fav., which is the standard answer, but it's really good), but it was still good. Gotta get more. I also watched Jules and Jim, which is more of the French New Wave courteousy of Truffant. It was involving and had some deep relationships, a la a love triangle. Up next in my watching schedule: Lady Vengeance, the final part of Chan Wook Park's revenge trilogy. Gogo subtitles!

Monday, October 02, 2006

I'll get the astronaut ice cream

Now listening to: Puccini's La Boheme

So I'm trying out some opera. It's not bad, although I don't see it become a passion of mine or anything. But I always like to try something new on for size.

Anyway, on to what's really important: The Surly Caribou rumbled to a win over Kevin's Heaven's Own team this weekend. I got excellent production across the board (cept for my damned kicker, I can't buy a break there) and posted big numbers. It's very exciting after getting demolished last week. Hopefully my guys are gonna get it together now.

Also I got to hang with Gabe, Kelly and Cameron, which was cool. I admit that I am genetically biased toward my nephew, but he's pretty cool. He's always smiling and having a good time. Friggin adorable, and I don't even like kids. Tho for some reason most of the ones I deal with seem to dig me.

After they left I hooked up with Trip and he and I had dinner. We then watched some adult swim and, what?, football. Got so see the Bears wreak havoc on Seattle.

Friday, September 29, 2006

So sayeth the lord "Don't be a dick."

So Adam and I met for a late dinner last night at IHOP. As usual, the food was substandard, but it was good to hang out. We talked for a long time. We had a nice discussion about his Christianity vs. my skepticism. Nothing offensive, just trying to explain how we see things and get a handle on the other's view. Good times.

I do think Adam was half amused and half appalled when I consolidated all of Christ's ethical teachings down into one sentence. "Don't be a dick." But come on, it does sum it all up, more or less. Anyway I had a good time chatting it up.

Tonight was significantly less enjoyable. As I neared Roanoke, the clouds grew dark and I was deluged for the final few miles. Then at work I was supposed to be training this girl and it just didn't really suit me. I was put off for most of the night, really. I get to do it again tomorrow too probably and I'm not looking forward to it.

Monday, September 25, 2006

the dawn simply refuses to break

And the end of my time off draws nigh. I did very little of use this weekend. Both the Steelers and the Surly Caribou, my fantasy football team, continue to lose and all remains fairly unwell. I'm trying not to dwell on the many ways my life sucks at the moment and just keep my head down and trudge forward. What else can I do at this point?

Trip and I did enjoy some shrimply delights this evening and walked about the Danville mall. I resisted temptation in the form of black Chuck Taylor lowtops that I've been considering getting to up my Ramones cred. They are the apotheosis of cool, but a penny saved is blah blah blah.

I watched Pollack last night, which won some Academy award in 2000. It was pretty good (foot massage), I love learning about art, particularly modern art. But it's another one of those topics where me knowing about it doesn't really make any difference since most people have no clue. Which means if I do work it into conversation I sound like a know-it-all and, hence, a douche bag. Knowledge, she is a bitch goddess.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

still I'm gonna miss you

At last, my respite is here. I have no real plans for the next two days. I know that's shocking to everyone. I do intend, however, to make some attempt to get out and interact with people. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm spending way too much time alone. I need some face time.

Not much else new, work, blah, drive, blah, sleep, blah. I watched Heavy on VH1 last night, which is the story of heavy metal. Or rather, it's the story of the video clips VH1 can get to use as a history. It was more comprehensive than the punk one they did a while back. (Just cause metal has had more time in the spotlight, I suppose and punk's naturally nonphotogenic past.)

Friday, September 22, 2006

invalidity of feeling

Now listening to: Mastodon

Man it's been a long work week... and I still have two more days, 12 hours each. My mood has been of the darkest variety of late. Too many things reminding me of too many things. I'm just struggling to make it through the days. Something good has to happen soon, if only through blind dumb luck something good has to happen.

I should note that Kevin has proven his manly virility again and spawned a second daughter, Zoe. At last word she, Courtney and all involved were doing well. So I suppose that's something good.

I've been watching lots of the fall season openers this week. I haven't been overly impressed, honestly. But that may just be a side effect of my depression. Earl and the Office were pretty good, but I only got to half watch them being distracted by work crap. (Damn work from keeping me from watching the television I wanna see.) I watched the Biggest Loser while running America's Next Top Model. Those two side by side was a serious juxtaposition of fantasy vs. reality. It boggled the mind. Another note on the model show, yes those women are smoking hot, but what the hell would you talk to them about? I mean how much hair care/skin care discussion can one bear?

I'm now off to contemplate my solitary existence for a while before the sweet release of sleep.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Hardly getting over it

Well it's been that kind of weekend. I've felt kinda crappy, both my fantasy football team and the Steelers lost and just a general malaise around me. Bleh. And tomorrow I get to go back to work... woo. I did manage to live up to my concept of not doing a damn thing today. Fun stuff.

You know I th0ught I had more to say, but I really don't. I could talk about the Steelers loss, but why?

Monday, September 18, 2006

it's getting faster now, it's getting out of hand

Now listening to: Joy Division

I've felt beat all damn day. It didn't help that I got like six hours of sleep, I suppose. I got home from work and made some dreadful fantasy football decisions, that ultimately cost me and, as such, I lost to Adam. It would have been down to the wire anyway, but my changing tight ends and Stallworth for Maroney cost me. Hats off to him for fielding a solid team and not being a dumbass and putting the wrong players in.

I need to shake it off, as my waiver movements this week paid off. I won't get into specifics, since those that know what I'm talking about can check it out for themselves and those that don't, really don't give a shit anyway. Ohh and congrats to Kev for a stunning come from behind victory. He may be a real contender.

What else? Ummm, instead of sitting around watching football all day I decided to go and do dinner with Trip. We ended up hitting Western Sizzlin. I don't regret that decision, but I both rue and lament it. After that we did Walmart, which was ok. I really hate Martinsville's Walmart, but am less put off by others. I think it's just the potential to run into people I know and don't want to talk to, or maybe it's just the aura of suck that permeates everything in Martinsville.

I haven't decided if I'm leaving the house tomorrow. I may just laze about, watching all the pregame hype for Steelers vs. Jaguars. I dunno. Sometimes it's good to do absolutely fuck all. Plus I should probably try and clean my room at some point, although I've intended to do that for several months now and found it difficult to get started.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

They don't love you like I love you

My work schedule has changed. It's the first time ever that losing someone at work has lead to me having a better schedule. I now get Sundays and Mondays off, starting tomorrow and lose an overnight shift for one where I leave at 1 a.m. That is a relief. I probably wouldn't mind overnight shifts if I didn't have a two hour commute that pumps it up to 14 hours and that's brutal.

I'm currently reading this book called Hairstyles of the Damned and it's pretty good. It's about high school angst and all that. I probably wouldn't have paid it any mind if it hadn't of been published by Punk Planet Press. I'm a fan of their magazine and basic philosphy so I picked it up.

Spent most of last night on the phone with Kevin, Trip, Gabe and Corb. Who knew I was such a big phone person? Not me, usually I hate the fucker, but lately I can't stay off it. I suppose chattering on the phone at work is better than actually paying attention to what I'm doing.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Inbetween days

Now listening to: The Cure

So I did absolutely nothing today. Well, nothing of consequence. I sat in front of my computer and fiddled and watched some TV, which wasn't really that good aside from various sports talk programs that I watch regularly. I'd almost have been better off working... God, who am I?

I got kinda bored really, but didn't want to go out cause I'd just spend money I don't need to waste. So I sat here. I debated jumping back into Warcraft, but I know my leisure time will soon be in short supply again. Plus Netflix and Warcraft is a bit much. It may not be too bad once my work week goes back to four days, but that appears to be a far off proposition.

I tried to watch Woody Allen's Match Point but what was going on seemed so remote from my existence it lost my attention. That's not to say it was bad, I mean come on, it's Woody Allen. Plus Scarlett Johanssen is simply breathtaking. Even with all that going for it, I just couldn't relate. A guy with two beautiful women wanting him, living the life of the elite. It was too far for me to go. This has more to do with my current low grade depression than the movie.

I really love the Cure's Head on the Door album. There was a point where I would have said hands down that Disentegration was the best they had ever done. I still think it's a work of pure genius, but it's hard to put in. It's soo depressive that it just sends a black wave over me and I can't deal. Head on the Door has the same flavor, but without the mind-altering despair and has worked it's way into my heavy rotation of late.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

To become immortal, then die

Now listening to: The Eels

The joys of doing very little, ahhh. I got to bed early (for me) and slept well. I finally rousted and checked up on the state of fantasy football. Not surprisingly not much had changed, that didn't stop me from talking about it all day on my phone. Adam and I tried to hash out a deal, but neither of us is willing to come across with what the other wants.

I think I may have annoyed Trip by talking on the phone while we were hanging out. I know I've been on the receiving end of that stunnage plenty and it sucks, but what can you do. The best solution? Get your own cell phone and become the stunner instead of the stunnee.

I watched Breathless tonight, Godard's first film, to continue my exploration of the French New Wave. It was good, although I did prefer Truffant's The 400 blows. I'd say Breathless was +1 chainmail overall, but it did have some amazing lines, like "To become immortal, then die." Which was a novelist's greatest ambition.

Sometimes I wonder why I bother watching these things, since they inevitably take me even farther away from the norm of the average person I meet. I mean, it's not like I run into a lot of new people who have any idea what I'm talking about half the time. Of course, maybe that's my subconcious goal, to be different. Who can say?

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I'm extrastitious!

Now listening to: Fu Manchu

Let my weekend begin! Three days off and I intend to maximize my slackness, paying attention only to football, my pillow and possibly beer. We'll see if that works out for me. I actually need to pay a bunch of bills and do some other little crap. It's always something.

I'm currently reading George Plimpton's Paper Lion, which is about him going and playing with the Detroit Lions during their training camp in the 60s. It's the type of thing that probably would never happen today, but it helped boost the popularity of the NFL at that time. It's really good, honestly. Plimpton, who was a member of the educated elite possessing a snooty sounding New England accent, somehow found a way to fit in on the rough and tumble team and it makes for some good stories. Especially his conversation with Night Train Lane on how to play cornerback. That's pure gold.

The Surly Caribou's 101 point lead was enough to hold Danny's Dizzle Bolts off and rack up a win. Next up is Adam's Vendetta squad. Gonna be tougher, especially considering that my guy's matchups aren't as favorable this week overall. Caribou!!!

Monday, September 11, 2006

the other side

So I was trying to find some sports talk on my drive home this morning (because watchng Sportscenter three times last night just wasn't enough for me.) and all I could get was chatter about it being the five year anniversary of Sept. 11. I'm not really sure what to say about it. It's a turning point in history, certainly, akin to Pearl Harbor.

What kind of annoys me, though, is most Americans' inability to recognize that we may have done some things to provoke that type of action. Good ol' America was just sitting on it's hands, being righteous, when evil Islamics crashed planes into us. Never mind when we shoot missiles into villages or meddle in the affairs of a sovereign nation to get what we want, that's "For Democracy" and the good of man... well American men, who are white and wealthy. We are every bit as ruthless and brutal and if you don't believe me ask the people of Hiroshima.

Before Adam has a coronary let me assure you I'm not siding with the terrorists. Those guys are batshit crazy. But there are two sides to every story and the U.S. never perceives that. Shades of gray go unnoticed because the terrorists "Hate our Freedom."

On a much lighter note, my Surly Caribou are currently leading the scoring in the Lucky Breaks league, with only a few players left to play. Mike or Kevin could potentially outscore me (and maybe Danny if the planets align and the Redskins put on an offensive showing never before seen while the defense batters the Vikings back to Norway) but it looks like my team is running hot. Ohh and for the record I'm leading the scoring with none of my receivers or running backs scoring a touchdown.

Friday, September 08, 2006

And so it begins...

Now listening to: Thom Yorke - The Eraser

The NFL season is officially underway and the Steelers looked pretty amazing even without Big Ben. I trekked to Roanoke to meet Adam and watch the game. (Because my day isn't complete without two hours on the road.) We had a good time watching Blitzburgh smack Daunte Culpepper around and scoping the women. Man, hot girls everywhere... Football and hot women, my testosterone levels reached a new high I think.

The best part (aside from Joey Porter's interception and Heath Miller's TD reception) was watching this drunk chick drool all over Adam. She was tore. I went to the bathroom and apparently Adam told her to "Bug off!" which amuses me. Who says bug off? Anyway she fell out of her chair and then fell down again before she was escorted out. Good times.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Encased in stone

Now listening to: Celtic Frost

So my weekend is here at last and I'm in desperate need of a break. I think my schedule is gonna lighten up some now, but I'm not 100-percent sure of that. I did "train" one of the production guys tonight so he can cover for us. That basically meant showing him how to do the log and doing absolutely fuck all after that. The night went by sooooo slooooow. It was awful.

Hmmm, what else do I have to cover here? Not much. Outside of work I've not done a lot. The cool rainy weather also plays it's role by making me want to sleep nonstop. It's sooo hard to get out of bed now. At least football starts Thursday night, I'm so freaking ready to get this going it's unbelievable. Part of that eagerness is just to give the talking heads on tv something real to analyze and not have it be total conjecture. I mean they'll still be talking out of their asses a lot, but at least it will be about something that happened and not something that could possibly happen if all the events pan out.

Still no sign of my phantom commentor. Alas.

Monday, September 04, 2006

I shall be free

I'm tired, which shouldn't surprise anyone. Work blows, especially when there is so much of it. Also the fact that Ben Roethlisberger is sidelined once again has worked me into a state of annoyance. The man survives a potentially fatal motorcycle accident and is back to work on time and looking sharp. Then comes along a rogue appendix and sidelines him for at least the season opener. Can he catch a break? I'm betting it was an evil Dolphins fan who knew they didn't have a chance of winning against a fully operational Steelers squad.

Moving away from football talk (which is getting harder as the season grows closer and my obsession reaches its peak before culmination... that sounds a lot dirtier than it should), my drive home this morning was less than fun. Once again a reckless mail truck blew by me halfway home. This is a regular thing on Mondays now, but it was made worse by the fact that it was pouring down rain at the time. Nothing like an early morning drive through a torrential downpour with a two ton truck pushing you down the road.

What else do I have to cover? Hmmm... ohh yeah, I LOVE being a cell phone owner. It's just awesome. Really the phone part is the least of it, especially since I'm pathetic and not many people call me. But yeah, between the internet (which I did ultimately sign up for), the games and the clock it's perfect. I'm gonna have to research which cell phone games are worth getting, but so far Lumines is awesome. It's like Tetris for the 21st century.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

In heaven everything is fine

The trouble is, there is no heaven.

Anyway it's been a long night. My "weekend" left me unsatisfactorily relaxed and so work tonight was torture. I showed up not wanting to be there and it was downhill from there. Twice one of the Fox broadcasts dropped and I had to call an engineer. As you can imagine, he was unthrilled to make the trek to the tower on his weekend... particularly the second time around at 2 a.m. But what the hell can I do?

Anyway it's over now and I can go get some rest. On the up side, at least it feels like fall now. I think it may warm up today (boo), but the chill was in the air yesterday and this morning. Fall is when things get back to how they should be, the kids in school, football on tv and my fall wardrobe concealing far more than my summer one... not that it really matters I suppose.

Last night I watched The 400 Blows, which is Francois Truffant's first movie and ushered in the French New Wave way back in 1959. It was good, most movies I've seen from that period are so plodding and slow as to be nearly unwatchable. Not this one. It keeps your attention, even without being a slave to narrative. I intend to explore more of this New Wave and see how it goes, so I can become ever more pretentious.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Chug, Chug, Chug!

In further efforts to get out of my head, I joined Trip for dinner and a movie. Yes, Trip is the best date I can get... and he won't even put out. But we went to see Beerfest, which was awesome. I'm a big Broken Lizard fan anyway, but Beerfest is truly magnificent. It's a sports movie about drinking beer! It combines two great genres in one sidesplitting package. I had to buy beer after the movie on principal alone. It was a tasty filet mignon and I intend to have another helping when it comes out on DVD.

Afterward we watched the season finale of Deadwood, which was just ok. It seemed like not much happened. This whole season has seemed to be building up to some big clash, but that didn't happen. Just a fizzle really. I'm hoping the method they choose to finish the story doesn't suck. Two movies may be ok, but I don't want to have to wait too long between them. I wish they'd just do a season 4 and stop fucking it up for the rest of us, cocksuckers.

I watched Crash last night and there is a movie where the characters are not one dimensional. Everyone in there is a whole mess of good, bad and everything in between. It's a good portrayal of racism in our culture and really makes you realize how fucked up we all are. Also Don Cheadle may be the best living American actor. It's between him and Paul Giamatti at this point. I'm sure someone is gonna say Pacino or Deniro and yes they deserve a mention, but Deniro has lost something with the who Analyze This thing... Pacino I can't really rip on... I suppose I should give these guys the same leeway I gave Brando, but I don't think I will, cause Brando was the king. I'm sure there are others that could be argued, but why bother?

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Fecaltastic Four

I watched Fantastic Four last night. I knew it wasn't going to be good, but bleh. They did do a good job with the Thing. Michael Chiklis was good and seemed to nail the character. It was the rest of the movie that sucked so hard it created a black hole. I mean bad dialogue, hackneyed Hollywood action that had little to do with anything. Horrible.

On top of all that they made one of my favorite villians of all time suck. Dr. Doom was absotively abyssmal. No excuse for making him so lame and, for some reason, making him in on the same accident that turned the Four fantastic. It was all mudbutt to me. Just a prime example of what happens when you let people with no knowledge of the source material have final say over a movie.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Pushing it down

While my depression rages on, I'm going to make an effort to get back to my normal numb feeling by escapism. The topic? Fantasy football. Those bored with it should stop reading now.

Anyway it was a bit of a stunner today when I found out that not one, but both of the Jaguars on my roster are injured. Greg Jones, out for the season. Mike Peterson is out for a while and not likely to come back for the first game of the season. Stunner. These injuries have shaken my confidence somewhat after a solid draft. I'm still looking sharp, but it drives home the point that one bad play and a major player can be gone. I'm currently hoping those major players are Larry Johnson and LaDainian Tomlinson. Both those guys go down and I'm gonna crush the league, of course, they won't and my little Tiki will. It's the law of the west.

I'm hoping some of that is offset by Donte Stallworth being traded to the Eagles. He could be their top receiver there and rack up some major yardage. He had a solid season last year as a Saint and the Eagles tend to throw the ball more. We'll see.

Monday, August 28, 2006

hope is suffering

Yesterday was good and bad. I'll start with the good so I can dwell on the bad.

Gabe, Kelly and Cameron came in for a visit and that was cool. I finally got to meet my nephew and he was adorable, all smiles. It was fun watching him run around and play and possibly more fun watching my Mom laugh while she watched him play. I also got to talk to Gabe some, which is good, although I was in a bit of a haze having only slept for two hours. Still it was a pleasant visit.

On to where it all went wrong. It all started a week or so ago when I got an anonymous comment here from some secret admirer. I assumed it was this girl I work with (as she is really the only single woman I deal with regularly these days). This proved to be a false assumption and I'm now in the post-rejection despair. There are two facets to that: a) I've been judged not dateable... again and b) I now have to deal with at work who shot me down. I honestly don't hold it against her, she's nice and she was nice about it, but that doesn't stop me from being bitter and having to fight off my own self-loathing whenever I talk to her.

There is also the fact that I don't know who left the comment, no idea really. With my current level of negativity I'm thinking maybe it was some cruel prank made to shatter my already beleaguered self-confidence. If that's not the case, I hope whoever wrote it would shoot me an email. I could really use the ego boost.

Having laid myself bare with this post I shall now skulk off to bed and try to avoid thinking about how I'm going to never find love.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Went to Trip's tonight and we watched V for Vendetta, which was pretty good. I'd rate it a foot massage all told, although I really did like the imagery/artwork and the inherent message. It just got kinda slow at times and that kept it from being higher.

I remember hearing about it having some anti-American sentiment or something. I think maybe Adam mentioned that it was an attack on the Bush administration or Republicans in general, I may misremember, but he seems the most likely culprit. I think you could only say it was an attack on Republicans if you see them as fascists trying to grab power through fearmongering and rousing the public with supposed foes of the community (a la the gay community, etc.). I do happen to see them that way and don't think the movie was about them in particular. I think it was more about the perils of letting fear make your decisions for you and that giving away your freedom for supposed safety is a horrible exchange.

The title line is also significant for me because my mother's birthday does fall on Guy Fawkes day, with mine immediately following. (My maternal grandma's is on the fourth of November, so we make a nice package deal.)

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I talk about fantasy football a lot

So now the 2006 Techmo Lucky Breaks league draft is in the books. I feel pretty good about my squad overall. There were a couple of times someone snagged the guy I wanted right before my pick, but it wasn't too bad. A couple of rookies in the house made it better, of course I wish I had of drafted beside those guys instead of right between Nick and Cal. Oddly, I didn't take a single Steeler. I was gonna get Hines Ward, but Nick nabbed him. I will now do some quick analysis.

My preseason ratings, post draft, are:
  1. Dallas Danglers
  2. Team Vipperman
  3. Surly Caribou
  4. The Vendetta
  5. Warchant
  6. Heaven's Own
  7. Hudson Street Hellraisers
  8. St. Nick Kringles
  9. The Fighting Fins
  10. Dizzles Bolts
Draft winners: I'd say the guy who ended up with the top squad of the night was Mike. His team is pretty solid top to bottom. It sucks, cause I don't think I could live with his smarminess if he won. Nick fielded another solid team and looks to be dangerous again (although I doubt he dominates like he did for most of last season). Also Kevin showed some solid knowledge in his rookie outing.

Draft losers: I hate to say it, but my boy Danny showed his inexperience. His running backs are patchwork at best. The Fighting Fins couldn't make it and an automated draft is suspect even if you shift the ratings around. Also the St. Nick Kringles, which is Nick's stepdad's team, looks a little shaky at RB.

I tried to be unbiased for these ratings, but I certainly have my own motivations. I should note that teams 3, 4 and 5 could easily be rearranged and still be reasonable. I just put myself on top because it's my fucking rating and I get to do what I want.

Let the games begin!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Can I play with madness?

So another work week in the books. I'm taking tomorrow off for my draft. It's gonna be fun. I met up with Adam again at IHOP and we had some last minute discussions about it. Well football and other things, we both just like hanging out. It's gonna suck when I move to Roanoke and he moves away almost immediately. Ahh well...

In my effort to find metal I like I have went with a nostalgia pick and started listening to Iron Maiden. They aren't the black, death, evil metal I was looking for, but damn are they good. Their rhythm section just drops a thunderous groove I can't deny. Plus their lyrics are actually fairly well informed and interesting. I mean how can you not love a song about World War II pilots or dueling with swords in the 19th century. It plays on my love of history.

I started reading this book Writing Down the Bones, that's about how to make yourself into a better writer. It started by telling me some things I already knew, but don't put into use enough. Plus it has some really cool advice. It's written by this woman who clearly has some hippie background. She quotes Zen masters and the like. It's about living in the moment, opening yourself up to writing what you know and not letting an internal editor rule your life. All advice I could use.

Still I'm leary of all things hippie... but D. Boone and Mike Watt said some similar things in the Minutemen documentary I watched recently, so I'm taking it as bohemian punk advice.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Every step an adventure

Man I dropped a shit ton of cash today (that's more than a regular ton, but less than a metric shit ton). The thing is I didn't get anything I didn't pretty much have to have. Well, ok I bought two pairs of shoes when I coulda only gotten one, but it was buy one, get one half off and so I bought some Nikes (which looked better in the store, but screw it they are fine) and some Vans.

This was after I had dropped a cool $30 on an oil change. Yeah, I'm officially changing the place I take my Jeep to after that. I tried to support the small local business, but damn. Thirty is a lot to spend on a friggin oil change. I then got a haircut and snagged my sneaks.

I then proceeded to Trip's pad and we got Japanese, mmm tasty. We watched Deadwood (always a pleasure) and goofed off. I predict that his Tifaux (that's like Tivo, but different) will explode this weekend taking out his DVD player with it. It's not that I wish him ill, it's just that all his electronics seem to be dying of late. It started with his computer a few months ago and then moved into his big screen tv (which he hasn't had for over a month now). Then this week his XBox 360 dies and he's gotta get it repaired. I think his house has been infested by some sort of anti-electronics demon. We may have to have do something about that. I need a young priest and an old priest.

The draft order for fantasy football came out yesterday and I pick fourth. Not a bad spot, but not one I really figured I'd have. I was hoping to either pick second or third or somewhere around seven or eight. I'm kinda torn, I know who the safe pick is, but I'm considering reaching down for potential... hard to say. I may just free wheel the draft and go with my gut. Still need to do some research beforehand and have the up to the second injury report. Ya know, I may care about this waaaaay too much. Naaahhh.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I prefer Nobody

So I just watched Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. I watched it way back when it came out in 1996 and remember enjoying it, but man I don't remember it being that good. Pretty fucking amazing. Johnny Depp is awesome, as usual. Jarmusch uses great scenery and some really great concepts, I mean great storytelling without having to spoon feed every detail to the audience.

Ohhh and the thing that pushed it into the truly wondrous was Neil Young's soundtrack. Oh man, just Neil and a guitar, plodding, hinting, casting dense rays of emotion. It created an atmosphere that pulled you in and made you feel what was going on. I'm saying this is pure filet mignon, although I admit it's not for everyone. Hell whenever I say it's Jim Jarmusch's you know it's not an easy movie.

In other news, it's my weekend! I have a couple of days of not work to enjoy, although I have a bunch of crap I need to do. Haircut, oil change, find shoes, study fantasy football drafts, etc. I pick fourth in the draft, so I gotta plan a strategy for that spot. It all goes down on Tuesday.

Ohh, and I hooked up with Adam tonight for some late evening IHOP action. Kinda regreted the food tho, it coulda been better. Was cool to hang out, basically we talked football. We both are like freakin school kids.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Believe what I tell you to believe

So I've just completed my 48th hour of work in four days. Fun stuff that. As you might imagine I'm a little tired, not having had a moment to myself. But hey, at least I don't have to work a full 12 hours tonight. I may get away with as little as six, although I may stretch that out a bit to make more overtime. We'll see.

So yeah, I'm feeling a bit depressed of late, I can't decide if it's because I'm genuinely bothered by something or if this is just residual overwork depression. Doesn't really matter, I suppose, I'm down either way.

You know it's odd, when I end up working these absurd hours at work, I end up doing tons of crap I probably could get away with not doing, because I'm doing all this overtime. Still the late night hours get long and I'm just looking for something to keep me occupied. Tonight I did a ton of crap while watching Headbanger's Ball on MTV2. I've been trying to broaden my metal horizons, but am having trouble finding bands I actually enjoy. So I continue to dig through mountains of aural assault until I find that soothing bark,thunderous bass and wailing guitar I am looking for.

Ohhh, in case you live in a cave, football season is about to blossom before our very eyes. There were preseason games on all weekend and a Monday Night offering last night, which I flipped on a bit. It's awesome to see football on, but it's hard to care about the preseason. I swear every time I flipped onto a game this weekend it was to see a punt. Not too inspiring.

Still we are now T-Minus 7 days and counting until my fantasy football draft. Should find out the draft order tonight so I can start planning my strategy. Here's some draft tips for everyone in my league: You should definitely go kicker, defense, kicker in the first three rounds.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Ignore me!

Ahhh the sweet release of a day off. I slept in and then proceeded to be on the phone for most of the evening. Had to make sure Corb was still down with dinner, talk to Trip, tried to call Danny and even managed to contact my brother. So heavy on the old calling. Sadly Gabe is unable to partake of our fantasy football offering, but I at least made the effort.

I did manage to get Corb to come to dinner, although it was a truncated interaction. We had dinner at Clarence's. (I let it happen, I knew it was going to be bad, but I still let it happen.) The Corb trundled off, back into his world of lippy pubescents and clueless teachers to bully.

Trip and I then trekked to Danville so he could pick up his copy of Dead Rising (a wonderfully whimsical game about killing zombies in a mall, gotta love an homage to George Romero). We got that, I talked myself away from the 3 DVDs for $10 rack and we stopped for some ice cream. We then headed back, played a tad of Dead Rising and watched Deadwood.

You know, this season of Deadwood has been less action packed than in the past. Aside from Dan's streetfight it's been pretty much a quasi political affair. Well, aside from the odd impromptu punch to someone's face. What makes it still riveting, even in light of the relative lack of action, is the growth of the characters and their interaction with one another. There is some serious depth there.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Twelve+two+eight=my life

So I've been working my ass off this past week. Tomorrow will be my seventh consecutive work day, but fortunately I get a couple of days off after that. Got a nice dinner with Corb and Trip planned, so that's something to I can look forward to this week. Of course, after that break I go right back into a 36 hour weekend. Hell tonight I feel like I got in super early, even tho it was like 1:30 a.m., but it's much better than 7 a.m.

Not a lot besides work going on. I started reading Tolstoi's War and Peace, basically so I can lord it over people that I am well read, but it is slow going. I'm like 70 pages in and having a hard time getting my footing in the novel, if you will.

I'm about to go overbudget for the week, which annoys me, but there are circumstances beyond my control. The first being my computer repair and the second being expanded gas use because of working an extra three days. I suppose this will even out once I get my fatty check on Friday, but I'd rather not be dipping into my bill money. I'm making every effort at fiscal responsibility and hate even the notion of backsliding at this juncture.

Friday, August 04, 2006

watching tv so hard it hurts

There was a point this week, where I was thinking that I wasn't going to get any overtime on my next check. That worry has more than been put to rest. I will end up with only one day off this week and a metric asston of overtime. They fired a dude (who I thought should have been fired a month ago, but noone asks me) and I'm picking up the slack... well at least part of the slack.

I worked my Wednesday and Thursday and will be working 12 hour shifts for the next three days. Then I get to work around 9 hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday. Woohoo. I'll be making the fat cash if I can stay awake on my drive home. I'm now trying to stay up until 6a.m. so I can get a little prepared for the long nights ahead.

Ohh also I got my computer back and it's running. I'm trying to restore it to it's former glory, but I gotta resign in everywhere and try and remember which websites I frequent. Also my mp3 list went from 15 gigs or so to zero. So I gotta figure out what to do about that. And all my email addresses are gone. Some are easy, cause I got em on my gmail account, but some I'm just gonna have to wait to mail me so I can get it. It's gonna suck. Ohh and all the times where I actually wrote something creative... yeah that was wasted cause it's all gone. I gotta learn to back that shit up somewhere.