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.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

I need more cowbell

Well I took my computer into the most crumby looking computer shop ever today, but the guy seemed to know what he was doing. Sadly, what he seemed to know was that my hard drive was fucked up, with potential for my motherboard to be fried. So best case scenario I lose everything I had on the laptop, but it will still work. Worst case, it's shot and I need a new computer altogether.

These revelations cast a pall over my shoe shopping this evening, not that I found anything that was comfortable, attractive and in my price range. Maybe I'm a cheap bastard but I don't wanna pay $40 for a pair of Chuck Taylor's and I don't wanna pay $100 for a pair of sweat shop-made cross trainers. After I find out if I need a new computer I may be postponing my new shoe quest for a bit.

I am now working on my old Imac, which is sooooo fucking slow. There was a time when I loved this computer and it still holds a certain nostalgia factor, but man is it outdated now.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Ohhh the goat!!!

It's been a busy weekend. Let me begin by complaining that my laptop hard drive seems to have died. I'm writing this from my old Imac and it's very slow. Still I wouldn't want to withhold my faithful reader(s?) from my erstwhile ramblings. I reactivated my Netflix account, so I go movies flowing in now to hold my attention. I also have told my WoW account to stop renewing for the time being, so once my last month is up, I'm gonna let it slide for a while. I'll probably go back when the expansion comes out, but til then I'm kinda bored.

Anyway, Let me diagram my Saturday for you. I rose around 1 p.m. and moved to the couch to watch Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. It was pretty good, if you like Jarmusch. Bill Murray is really exceptional in these minimalist films because he can convey so much with just a turn of his head or by moving his eyes. He makes you understand what is taking place in his character's mind. ...back to my day... I finished that, drove to work and was there for almost 10 hours.

While there I read Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle in its entireity. It was good, but he's got a real dark sense of humor, which I appreciate. Still any book that kills off the entire human race (and probably most of the animal and plant kingdoms as well) is a tad darker than what I deal with in the regular. Hell, he puts Palahniuk to shame, maybe close to rivaling Lovecraft from a perspective of basic carnage. Well the creator of the Elder Gods is hard to rival, there was probably less suffering a la Vonnegut and no blind idiot god. But once again I have derailed.

After finishing Cat's Cradle I went to The Know It All, which is about a guy reading the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's ok, a little dry in places, but not bad. I'm still whittling it down. After I finally was able to leave work and drive home I goofed off on the internet until around 6 a.m. How's that for a full day?

Ohh I also watched Waiting, with Ryan Reynolds and it was entertaining, lotsa dick jokes which I enjoy. Luis Guzman is the man. Why isn't he in more movies? OK I'm beat and going to read for a minute before I sleep. I had other crap to talk about, but I'm drifting too much to get to it, plus this thing is too long as it is.