Today's the day they're handing out brains

So I've been watching a lot of tv the last coupla days. Sunday I watched the new Pauly Shore reality show. It was ok. I was always a but of a fan of Pauly, despite all the hate he gets. He's just goofy and became an easy target. I concede that his movies were stupid, but sometimes stupid can be good... not always, but sometimes. I do say that Biodome was excellent and will stand by that statement. Anyway that show was interesting, although I'm not sure I'm gonna be riveted by it always.

I watched Hell's Kitchen yesterday. It's entertaining, particularly when the head chef starts yelling. As far as the competition goes I'll be surprised if Ralph doesn't win. He's among the most capable and seems to have more of a traditional chef look and feel, moreso than the others anyway.

I also tuned into a couple of episodes of 30 days, the show done by the documentarian that did SuperSize Me, Morgan Spurlock. They had a marathon on FX and some of the episodes really didn't excite me. Two that did were Morgan and his girlfriend living 30 days on minimum wage. They did ok except that both of them had to go to the hospital for minor ailments. Of course, Morgan ended up working two jobs and they had no creature comforts at all. According to their budgets they would have needed to work three months to pay those bills off. Scary, but not really surprising.

The other episode was this West Va. native Christian going to live as a Muslim for a month in Michigan. That was interesting seeing this guy try to acclimate himself to living as a Muslim and watching how differently people reacted to him when he looks Islamic.

Tonight the 2005 World Series of Poker coverage starts on ESPN and I'm excited about that. I'm sure Nick will be Tivoing that up and watching it when Augustine allows a break in his schedule. I actually don't know who won this year and am eager to watch it without knowing in advance.

Electrons and unicorns

So I've kept a low profile this week, not leaving the house. I reread some Harry Potter books through the week and on Saturday read The Half Blood Prince. The new one is excellent. I'd give it a filet mignon rating, unreservedly so. It's one of the better Harry Potter books and they are all good.

I also finished the Gods of Aberdeen and would give that a definite +1 chainmail. It started out good, then the story crawled to a standstill and bored me.

Back to Potter I have a few thoughts on the book that have some serious spoilers, so I may wait til the end of the week to post them for the few readers I have to catch up with the reading.

I've also been listening to this song Astronaut by Luna, that I downloaded years ago. It's exceptionally good and I would like to get more of Luna's work. I have on of their albums that's not bad, but this song makes me want to hear more.

It's important to remember...

sometimes the bull does win. Anyway nothign going on. I'm preparing to apply for a bunch of jobs, so I got that going for me. I'm now going through and rereading the last coupla Harry Potter books in prep for the upcoming release of the next book. Woo, who's excited?

Well sadly that's about all I have to report. Been getting my nerd on with WoW and watching junk tv.

Sex and crap

Slow week on the posts, I know. What can I say, I'm depressed. Went to Trip's place one night and we watched both Kinsey and Aliens vs. Predator. Now there are two different experiences in movie watching.

I'll start with Aliens vs. Predator. It was horrid. Bad plot, sketchy acting and so not what I wanted to see when I heard the title. I mean I love the original Alien movies and I'm an apologist for the original predator film, but this was inexcusable. Not enough Alien on Predator violence. Somehow through the movie the predators become the "good guys' which seems odd. I'm saying this movie earned its mudbutt rating with a vengeance.

Kinsey was good, not the best movie ever, but good. I have always been fascinated by human sexuality (which is odd considering how little participation with it I have). It was a nice telling of how one man tried to banish ignorance and misinformation and replace it with scientific fact and how he was fought constantly. I find it amusing how his book on men was fairly well received, but when women's sexuality was discussed people balked and thought it was evil and dirty. Just an example of the patriarchal nature of our society. Anyway I'd give Kinsey a foot massage (no foot fetish involved).

I'm reading this book the Gods of Aberdeen and it's pretty good. It's about college life and studying medieval alchemical works. Kind of a Davinci Code vibe, except different.

I also continue giving entirely too much time to WoW. I'm a video game addict, maybe I should do a study of that. I could be the next Kinsey... cept I'd get laid a lot less... than Kinsey I couldn't possibly get...nevermind.

Anyway it's storming now, with some nice tornado warnings so I suppose I should go.

Stenches

Trip and I went to see Land of the Dead yesterday. I'm a big fan of zombie movies, even the silly ones. This, however, was not Romero's best work. I prefer movies where the zombies have just come to life and people are figuring out how to deal with them. This was an established zombie world and the living had created a city to live in and went so far as to use captured undead as entertainment. Really it was less about zombies and more about the abuse of power by man.

Another thing it seemed to be lacking was the cool zombie moment. One of the draws of these movies is seeing really disgusting things happen to the living or zombies with really bizarre deterioration. It had some of that, but not the depth of putrescence that I wanted.

On the up side, Asia Argento=hot. That's all I have to say about that. There was also a cool Tom Savini zombie cameo, but it seemed kinda tacked on. All in all I'd say this movie ranked about Meh. The Dawn of the Dead was soo much better, both the original and the remake.

Here is my brother and nephew in living color. Photo credit goes to my mom. This was an "action photo" compared to the sheer number of Stonehenge shots she took. 

Bombs bursting in air

My back pain seems to have subsided somewhat, which is a good thing. There is still an occasional twinge, but I don't have to ease my ass out of bed now. Three cheers for being relatively able bodied.

So the July 4 holiday is upon us and I'm actually gonna do some of the traditional activities I suppose. Trip is having a barbecue tonight and that should be fun. The speedway is doing it's fireworks (on July 1 not 4, who can understand why they do anything). Honestly I'm not that big on fireworks, they are nice but I can take em or leave em. But since I can watch from Trip's backyard and not have to rub elbows with every slackjawed idiot within 50 miles I can enjoy it.

Doctor says I need a backeotomy

I have to be the only person alive who can hurt his back sleeping. I've just got a knack I suppose. But yes, my lower back is the source of much pain and displeasure at the moment. I think it's a pulled muscle. No idea how I manage to do that while unconscious. The truly sad part is that it hurt some yesterday and is worse today. I'm unthrilled.

Anyway nothing else of note is happening. It's hot as a mofo outside, so I'm trying to pretend it's winter inside.

Mom has returned from England and all is well there. She seemed to have a good time, aside from the actual cost of everything British. She also confirmed what I've always heard about British food, i.e. it's disgusting.

I'm now rereading Stranger In a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. I've been on a Heinlein kick lately and some are better than others. This is probably his best work, certainly among them. Definitely my fav. I think it may fall just short of headcavingly orgasmic, but it's very close.

It's witchcraft

Went to see Bewitched yesterday. I wanted to see Land of the Dead, but Corb isn't into zombie movies and I like Will Ferrell and Nora Ephron so there you have it. It wasn't bad, some funny moments and a nice romantic edge. Not spectacular, but really how many of these movie remakes of old tv shows are that? I'm saying +1 chainmail.

I got a hearty night's sleep, which was nice. I know some of you are shocked, believing that I sleep like a log usually, but that isn't the case. But last night I conked right out, it was marvelous.

Gonna be really lazy today, I think, although I may try to do some writing. I've been meaning to put something down for a while, but I've been uninspired. We'll see if I can get it together today.

Quotables

So I haven't written much this week, because there hasn't been much to write. Little mowing, some hanging out and that's about it. It's been a pretty quiet week overall. I did splurge on sushi on Wednesday. That was good. Mostly I've been goofing off.

I did watch the AFI's Top 100 Movie Quotes special, and I strongly disagree with a lot of the choices. I understand the list is made by stuffy old movie buffs that think the only movies worth watching were made before 1980, but there were some glaring omissions and soms grotesque additions. I'm sorry, "Show me the money!" is not a great quote. I admit it infested the public consciousness to nigh plague levels, but that don't make it good. I mean Austin Powers quotes are unbiquitous as well and they didn't make the list (and rightly so). "E.T. phone home." can suck my ass too.

Six Casablanca quotes also seems excessive. I admit it is one of the truly classic films, but six of 100 is a lot. Especially considering that there was no Pulp Fiction quote. I mean the "Royale with cheese" conversation is golden. I could make an argument for several Resevoir Dogs quotes, but I conceed that it is a smaller movie that has less public awareness. I also felt like The Godfather movies should have had more than two quotes total. I can give you a lot more off the top of my head.

But in fairness some examples of quotes that I feel the AFI was dead on with are "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a war room." from Dr. Strangelove. That is pure genius. Caddyshack's "Cinderella boy" bit, although I think the llama story is also priceless. ("Hey Llama, how bout a little something, you know, for the effort." I'll finish by saying that "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Helobious

So not only am I having issues with my sinuses, but now my wisdom teeth are pushing up through my gums again. This happens every year it seems. A smarter man would go have them removed, but not me. Oh no. But yeah teething at 30 is less than pleasant. It makes mastication a lot less pleasant (you'll note the ticat instead of turbat in that word... so no comments).

Trip and I watched some old episodes of Jon Favreau's Dinner for Five, which was interesting. Just Favreau and four celebs chatting over dinner. We also watched Celebrity Charades, which is exactly what it sounds like... celebrities playing charades. It all plays into America's cult for celebrity, where we will watch famous people do anything.

Home alone

Mom has gone to England for the week to visit her grandson and my dad is hanging out at the old place so I seem to have the apartment to myself. A sad testament to how lame my life is that this in no way affects how I will be doing things. I suppose this is a sign of maturity, although I have so many other things that point toward immaturity that it's hard to believe.

Anyway it's been a pretty good weekend. Hung with Corb and Trip on Friday and we watched the documentary Trekkies. Now I know I'm pretty nerdy, but I can't hold a candle to these people. There is just a point where you have to stop taking your hobby so seriously. There was this one group of trekkies that hold a Trek barbeque each year. To quote "It gets bigger every year. This year we even had a girl come." Sad sad sad.

Saturday we managed to get Danny to come out and hooked up some Halo action. That was pretty sweet. We then played this demo of Flatout. It is a racing game that has a mini game where you launch the driver into the air and see how high you can get him. It doesn't sound like much, but when you hear Corbin cackle with delight at the suffering of the driver it makes it all worthwhile.

Today I woke up feeling like ass. I think switching from air conditioning to sleeping in my non ac room is causing lots of congestion. It's not good. I hate not feeling well.

Everyone is going fetal

Went to see Batman Begins with Trip and Corb last night. I gotta tell you, it may be the best Batman movie ever. I say that with an extreme reverence for both Tim Burton's films and the TV movie starring Adam West. It was dark and delved deeply into why Bruce Wayne would become Batman, his motivations, training and history. It also gave me a new respect for the villian the Scarecrow. My only experience with him before (not being well versed in Bat-lore) was from the old Superfriends cartoon where he was a huge vagina.

Anyway my rating is Filet Mignon and I hope the movie does well and there is a sequel of equal or greater value. So go see it if you have any interest whatsoever.

I read the new Nick Hornby book, A Long Way Down. It was excellent as all his works are. Maybe a little too upbeat for a book about suicidal people, but good nonetheless. I heard an interview with him on NPR yesterday and he seems like someone I'd like to know. We have a lot in common. Terry Gross asked him about his column in some McSweeney's magazine where he lists the books he buys and the books he reads separately. He noted that the books he buys and reads are often completely different. So he buys something and then never gets to it, a habit to which I can certainly relate.

Anyway A Long Way Down I give a foot massage rating. It was good, probably better than his last one, How to Be Good, in my opinion, but not up to High Fidelity or About a Boy standards (which if you haven't read, you should get to it). Still count him among my fav. current authors.

Ohh I also listened to the new White Stripes album and while it grew on me a little more the second time through, it isn't as good as some of the other stuff. It seems to lack so much of the rock element that I love and leans more toward a rooty blues/country sound. Also I don't know who that song that Meg sings is for, but it's not me. It's probably for noone besides Meg, actually.

You got seven kinds of cock breath

Due to an billing oversight on my part I was condemned to spend the weekend with the horror of the "real world." No, I wasn't on MTV, my internet was disconnected and I was left to my own, non-digital devices. It was a challenge filling the time. I didn't realize how addicted I am to the internet. But I honestly can't survive without the ability to interact with cyberspace.

That said, I got to hang with Kevin this weekend for a while. We met up at Trip's and hung out for a bit. Watched some Cheap Seats and played a bit of Halo 2. After Kevin went to play with his band, Corb, Trip and myself played a bit more Halo (the original for some old school action) and then watched an Eddie Izzard DVD called Glorious I believe. It had some moments, but it wasn't really Eddie's best work in my humble opinion.

Sunday we went to see Madagascar, which was nothing special really. It had some moments, but overall I'm saying Meh. It would have been worse without the cool penguin action. Basically Dreamworks took every possible cliche from that type of movie and shoved them into an underdeveloped plot for a quick cash in, or so they hope. I stand by my statement that Dreamworks couldn't carry Pixar's jock with a wheelbarrow.

Ohh I almost forgot. I finally caught the final three episodes of Deadwood... Man is that show great. Viva Wu! I watched them rapid fire on Friday and it had it all. Cursing, violence, Calamity Jane naked and burning her snatch (which was a little disturbing I have to admit). Anyway I am now in agony waiting for next season.

Cut a finger off, the little one, and tell him his thumb is next

Now listening to: Fugazi (In on the Kill Taker)

After that he'll tell you if he wears women's underwear.

Yeah, I watched Reservoir Dogs again tonight, whatcha gonna do about it? Nothing, that's what. I so love the eloquent cursing of the film. How so much of it is not action, just conversation, yet you are still riveted. It's a testament to Tarantino's talents. Unquestionably headcavingly orgasmic.

I also watched a bunch of Spike Jonz videos on another DVD borrowed from Kevin. My personal favs? Well I'd be lying if I said Sabatoge wasn't the pinnacle of the music video form. The synthesis of quality Beastie Boys rhymes and kickass 70s cop show parody= wonderful. The Weapon of Choice video exudes a cool that you can't deny as well, it may be all Christopher Walken, but it's there. Nah the song is pretty cool too, although I have to admit I was never as big on Fatboy Slim as some of my compatriots.

I finished up the book Honeymoon with my Brother: A Memoir by Franz Wisener the other day. It was a nice combination of travel writing and relationship issues. I'd say it's +1 chainmail. I'm now delving into the new Tom Wolfe book, I am Charlotte Simmons, which is interesting so far, but it's gonna be a long read.

DDT did a job on me

I watched Brazil, which I borrowed from Kev the other day. It was very good, so very Terry Gilliam. Lots of tubes lying around and magnifying glasses. It creates a nice dystopian vibe. I'd give it a foot massage.

The cable was out for most of the day, so my entertainment options were more limited than normal. I ended up talking to my brother on the phone for a while, which was cool. I miss that goon and I can't wait for him to come in at the end of July. It's gonna kickass. I just gotta go about getting some work so I can afford to hang with him when he comes in (and pay my bills too, I suppose).

In the evening I went to visit with Trip, who was much relieved that Bodie (his doggie) was doing well after a day at the vet. We watched The End of the Century, a documentary on The Ramones. They were so underappreciated it's obscene. It just shows that popular doesn't=talent. The music world would have a completely different landscape without the genius of Johnnie, Joey, Dee Dee and Tommy (and Marky and C.J. too I suppose). I'm now reviewing some old Ramones cds and they never fail to please.

That's how I roll

Trip and I went to Kevin's yesterday and had dinner. It was cool. Got to hang with Kev, Courtney and little Eve. We ended up watching the Independent Film Channel (for which I now yearn). There was a cool show with Henry Rollins and a nice Reservoir Dogs retrospective. I am now planning on rewatching that movie soon.

We escaped from the Plaster homestead with a cornucopia of cinematic goodness. Trip and I both got a ton of DVDs to watch. I think our plan is to watch The Life Aquatic tonight. We may try to fit in some Halo as well.

After getting home I endeavored to hit UBRS in WoW and that was a total waste of my time. I didn't win a single roll for anything and honestly, not a single thing I wanted dropped through the whole instance. It was a bummer.

Sucking out on the river, or was it a lake?

Mmmm, it smells like fresh strawberries in here. Which makes sense, since I do, in fact, have fresh strawberries in here.

Man do I love this type of weather. I sleep in, snuggly and giddy with delight. I read a lot more since I like laying around under a blanket and listening to the soothing tone of the rain pattering off the trees.

I applied for a database librarian job today and I really hope I get this. Of course, that hope probably dooms me to failure, but what can I do?

Lately I have been getting a lot of good new music, courtesy of Trip. The problem is I can't stop listening to Modest Mouse's Making Nothing out of Something. It's just pure greatness. The opening track Neverending Math Equation is one of the best songs...evar!!!! It's headcavingly orgasmic in every way.

I couldn't believe they wanted this man dead

I've kept busy recently. Friday I hooked up with the Danny, Trip and Corb and we played some Halo 2. It'd been a while since we got together and that was fun. On Saturday, Trip and I went to Roanoke for wings and a movie. We saw The Longest Yard, which was pretty good. Not the greatest movie ever, but a remake made with some respect for the original. What can I say, I'm an Adam Sandler fan. I'm torn between foot massage and +1 chainmail. I need to see it again to give it a final rating. What I found amusing once, may not stand up under closer scrutiny.

I suited up for some heavy lifting on Sunday and Kevin, Langdon and I got up some hay on their family farm. Man I am not cut out for that type of work. I was chugging. But I got a little cash and a free meal so it's all good.

Monday I felt "as tho a bear had laid on me" (to quote a friend of mine online). So I just lazed around here and finished watching the final season of Angel. That was good, but I was a little annoyed with the ending. Not that it was bad, it just left more story to tell and there isn't going to be anymore told most likely.

I also finished Palahniuk's Haunted. It was good, a nice mindfucky type of read. It's not my favorite of his works (Fight Club is gonna be hard to top, although I think Lullaby was close). I really favor the novel over the short story. I lose focus with shortstories, they break things up to much. Who thought I'd argue against the short attention span version of something? I'd say it's a foot massage of a read. Although if you take away the shock value of Guts, it'd drop a bit.

Iggy was here?

Hey I just noticed the comments from my earlier posts and Iggy left me a message. He's a celebrity among the poker blogging crowd, nay a poker blogging legend and he was here. I feel all warm and fuzzy. Makes me wanna go all in with a 7-2 offsuit. Check out his blog for what's really going on in the poker world here.

Completely random crap

Haven't had much to say lately. Basically nothing new going on, just watch tv and movies and playing video games. I'm just gonna do a brief list of stuff I've caught lately and random thoughts on it.

• The Terminal- Tom Hanks was good as always and this movie was a lot better than I had heard. I'd give it a foot massage rating overall.
• Drumline- I was bored and it came on TNT. Pretty much exactly what I expected so it achieves a heartfelt Meh.
• House- Watched the season finale tonight and I gotta say this show is pretty damn sweet. I do think that any doctor that actually behaved as the lead char. would have long ago been sued out of the medical profession, but it's def. entertaining.
• Deadwood- I'm now three weeks out of the loop! Man I miss it. I start to freak out if I don't hear someone being called a cocksucker a couple times a week. Fortunately my neighbors like to argue so I'm not gonna be dying anytime soon.
• Halo 2- Been playing a lot of this lately, it's just caught my attention for some reason. Got my rank up to 13 and climbing, woohoo.
  
• WoW- I continue to be this game's willing thrall. I don't know if I can ever give it up at this point. Between creating alternate characters and getting the best equipment for my warlock and player vs. player action this game holds my attention vigorously.
• Lindsay Lohan- She hosted SNL this weekend and while she is hot, man she needs to eat something. Those little twig arms are not sexy. Makes me think of Auschwitz or starving African children.
  
• Poker- This weekend I bet I watched no less than 7 different poker programs on tv. You gotta love that. The really sad part is that I loved most of them. The rerun footage of the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, Celebrity Poker Showdown, Fox Sports Poker Stars Showdown, The Heads Up Poker Championship, etc., etc. Hell Gabe Kaplan has a new show coming out... I mean come on, poker resurrected the Welcome Back Kotter guy, it's power knows no bounds.
  

You are unwise to lower your defenses

Well I did it. Trip and I went to a matinee of Ep. 3. I suppose I get some nerd cred back, seeing it on opening day. Anyway I have to say it is easily the best of the prequels. Granted the bar isn't too high, but it's pretty good. The acting isn't nearly as wooden and there is nigh constant action.

My favorite bits were the ones with General Grievous, who rocked. I liked him in the Clone Wars cartoon and my respect has only deepened. But yeah, it this is def. the fourth best Star Wars movie ever made. My personal rankings for the films (and, really, the only sensible way to rank them) are: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars (A New Hope), Return of the Jedi (extraordinary except for the Ewoks), Return of the Sith, Attack of the Clones and, last and least, The Phantom Menace.

It's funny, when the movie finally started and the Star Wars theme kicked in with those old 70s Star Wars font scrolls up the screen I can't help but feel a little giddy. It's something visceral and ingrained. I mean that is a great lead in. There will never be a new movie with that lead in. It's the end of an era.

Nerd shangrila

These are the times when geeks thrive. The final Star Wars movie is released, E3 has been going on and there are a ton of nerdy summer blockbusters on the horizon. I'm up to my pocket protector in goodness.

Of course, honestly I haven't paid that much attention to E3 since its mostly been about the next gen consoles that I can't afford. I also didn't make the midnight opening of Star Wars. So I suppose my nerd cred is under suspicion. But really Trip didn't feel up to standing in line and really I didn't want to deal with the nerds I knew would be in line around these parts. I'm sure I'll see it before the weekend is out, but I'm not slavering at the idea as I have in the past.

Watched House of the Flying Daggers and I'm not sure why it was marketed as a kung fu movie. I mean there was kung fu, but it was really a love story and really slow paced. But again it made wonderful use of color and landscapes. I'd give it a Meh. all told, with moments of sheer beauty.

I've got a bad feeling about this

So I have been fairly low key lately. Watched Apollo 13 a coupla times on Bravo and that was good. I also watched three hours worth of Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars. It's pretty awesome. None of the horrible Jar Jar crap or wooden acting of Ep. 1 and 2. Makes you wonder how good Star Wars coulda been if George Lucas wasn't both an idiot and a douche.

This afternoon I spent a little time reading on the porch with the rain pouring down. That was nice. I then hooked up with Gabe online for some Diablo. Of course I've also been WoW a lot. Woo.

Yep. That's my life. Ugg.

Que?

Man it's a beautiful day. I'm actually gonna end up outside for a while and enjoying it for a change. Gotta do some mowing, which once I get started on I don't mind at all. I just dread it beforehand... like most things.

Anyway, not much is going on atm. I've been doing my usual bumming around. I watched Spanglish yesterday, which I thought was pretty good. Not spectacular (although Paz Vega's body definitely deserves that term, Tea Leoni looked good too, but I don't have the fixation with here that Trip and Kevin do). I think it got kind of a bad rap because Adam Sandler is in it. Critics only see him as the goofy bastard that makes somewhat juvenile comedies (which I love). But with this and Punch Drunk Love, he's shown he can be more than a fart joke punchline, he's got some emotional range. Don't get me wrong he ain't Brando yet, but give the man a chance. Anyway I'm giving it a +1 chainmail rating.

I'm now reading Haunted, by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a collection of short stories strung together by an odd narrative. The stories, in usual Palahniuk fashion, tend toward the disturbing. I can't remember if I commented on Guts when I read it in Playboy, but man it is one of the most off-putting tales ever. It wraps the awkwardness of youthful masturbation with the horror of real life tragedy in a way that makes your skin crawl. It's one of those things that you have to experience to get, but honestly it's not for everyone.

crushing murk

I've had a busy week. Lots of moving and delivering, but now I suppose I can relax again. Nonetheless, I've been in kind of a foul mood for most of the evening. Just brooding and thinking too much.

Watched Ocean's 12 with the rents and it really didn't stand a second watching. It was ok, but some bits of the plot look a little weak the second time through. Still there were some nice moments.

I suppose I don't have much else to say that wouldn't be me just unleashing vitriolic comments all over everyone and thing.

The big cheesebread

My tendency to not update here is becoming more and more prevalent it seems. Honestly I don't have much interesting to report. I've been doing a lot of mowing the last coupla days and have been playing WoW as if my life depended on it.

I finally wrapped up the Incarnations of Immortality series and it just wasn't as good as I remembered it. I suppose that's the trouble with going back to reread things that you read when an adolescent. They tend to disappoint with the passage of time. Whether the cause is simply because it is easier to impress the young mind or if I recall them with a sense of nostalgia I'm not sure.

In other news I'm rereading Fight Club, which certainly provides no disappointment. After I complete that I have Palahniuk's new book Haunted to dive into. Hoping it's better than Diary, which I didn't care for overmuch.

And to finish, a haiku from Fight Club:

Flowers bloom and die
Wind bring butterflies or snow
A stone won't notice

Those that doubt me suck cock by choice

So I watched the last episode of Deadwood finally and man do I miss that show when I don't see it regularly. The sheer poetry of the cursing, it's glorious. My aunt and I spoke about it earlier and she asked me to remember the phrase that has become the title of this post. And so now she knows it.

Also got to hang with Kevin for awhile today, which was cool. We had a fine Hardee's dinner and played some Halo 2 before he was off to bang on his drum all day. Trip and I then caught up on some tv watching.

I suppose that's about it. Today was the first day I'd left the homestead since Tuesday... Maybe I'm finally become a recluse. I wish I could actually afford for that to happen.

digital lifestyles and overpopulation

So I've been slack about updating. I've been keeping a very demanding video game schedule. I've been a part of so many virtual worlds I don't know where I am anymore. I've been hooking up with my brother playing both Starcraft and Diablo 2, which are both cool. I sold him out yesterday because I just needed a break.

I've also been hooking up some Halo 2 since the new patch and yesterday they released two new maps. Those are fun, but one of them is exactly like the Wizard from the first Halo and it makes me wonder why it took them so long to come out with new maps. I dunno, whatever.

And, of course, my dedication to WoW knows no boundaries. Been taking down a few high level instances and have finally got my infernal quest down. I'm part way through the quests to get my epic mount, just a few more goals on that and I'll be all speedy.

On a completely unrelated note, congrats to Nick and Abby. They are now proud parents and little Gus seems to be doing fine. Check out a myriad of photos at Nick's blog (conveniently linked on the left). I'm still freaked out by all my friends having kids... but I suppose I have little recourse aside from getting used to it. Anyway here's to happy times for Gus.

In other baby news, my nephew Cameron is growing like a weed (so says his father) and is doing well. So all seems right with the world as far as the munchkin crowd goes.

Snit

I'm in a bit of a mood, but figured I should post something here. I don't know why I'm feeling grumpy, but I suspect it has to do with the fact that my downstairs neighbors enjoy having loud gatherings in the a.m. Those are always annoying.

Anyway I haven't done a lot this week. Continued reading the Incarnations of Immortality series and have been noticing that they are hot and cold. Finished reading Bearing an Hourglass, the one on Time and it was meh. and I read With a Tangled Skein, about Fate, it too was blah. I finished reading Weilding a Red Sword, on War, and that is probably my least fav. of them all. I'm about halfway through Being a Green Mother, on Nature, and it's def. in the top two with On a Pale Horse, about Death.

Anyway, I think I'm starting to lose some interest in WoW. It's not over yet, but some of the new stuff is irritating and I'm running out of new stuff to do. We'll see how that goes. Could just be my mood lately.

E.B. gets left out

The new Deadwood episode was still more excellence. Man is that show the shiz. You've got to love Swearingen trying to hold off the cursing in front of the widow, unsuccessfully.

Watched that yesterday at Trip's after Gabe and I played Diablo 2 online for an hour or so. The wonders of the internet. My brother and I, separated by an ocean, can still take part in nerdery together.

Speaking of being an ubernerd, I'm downloading the new WoW patch and it's taking forever, as usual. This patch will be nerfing my warlock yet again, that's something to look forward to huh.

Anyway, Trip and I are gonna hit up some seafood tonight. Mmm, seafood.

Slapass leapfrog

So I am still recovering from helping Trip pull up the carpet in his basement this Saturday. It was quite a job and I had to get up in the A.M.! But we got it all up, cleaned up the dog urine and tack strips and now all that's left is some fabulous asbestos tile. Woo.

After all that I returned home, planning a long nap. But it was not to be, Kevin came down and we hung out and played a little Halo 2 and watched Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle again. High quality stuff.

Then on Sunday, Adam gave me a call and we hooked up on Xbox Live and I schooled he and his brethren. Later my bro called and we chatted for a while, then we got online and played some Diablo 2. That was cool. We're gonna hook up and play some more tonight.

So yeah, that covers the weekend. My life could not possibly be more exciting huh.

Freak Meat

Terms that made us giggle during MTV2s Wonder Showzen: Scrote poker, freak meat, Your worse than my grandma's stinky junk. You had your chance and you gobbled its balls, This is where we learned to accept murder, The secret ingredient was botulism.

That show is magnificent. It's what a kids show would look like if demented freaks put it on and let the kids do drugs. I highly recommend anyone with a sick sense of humor and a distorted perception of reality check it out.

Anyway, Trip and I have been hanging out, goofing off and playing Starcraft. I schooled him four times in a row. Four! Man I rule him. Now if I could only get some game at Warcraft 3.

Childless whores

Another day to fill in my mindnumbing life. Can you believe it? I just sit around the house and wait for credit card companies to call and harass me. It's great, I think I'm getting a nice new hole in my stomach thinking about it.

But anyway, I spent the weekend watching The Incredibles. I think I watched the movie twice and then watched all the non-commentary special features. I can't get enough. If it was still in the house I'd have watched the commentaries. But it went back to the library. Sarah Vowell had a cool little segment on the dvd. She voiced Violet and I've been a fan of her's for a while. She writes cool books about American history and has done lots of radio stuff for NPR. I recommend you check out her books, they are awesome.

Anyway since the forced shut in of race weekend, I went over to Trip's a couple of days. Got smoked at Warcraft 3. You'd think that having some success at the older games would translate into skill at this one, but no...that is not the case.

Yesterday I went with Trip and his parents to get sushi and that was cool. His rents bought me dinner, which I appreciated a lot. I went with the full sushi meal and tried some new things. I have to say that I think I need a counterpoint to the sushi to fully enjoy it. When it's all I had, it was a little much. After that we watched House, which was very good, and I went home.

Once here I decided to hold off on my WoW addiction for a night and I finished reading Douglas Coupland's new book Eleanor Rigby. It was good, albeit a bit too depressing at times. It tackles the idea of loneliness and dealing with it. He's so good at feeling out the soul of his characters and making them easy to relate to that you have to be impressed with his work, even when it's a tad off kilter. I'd rate this a foot massage book.

I then decided to tear into a series I read years ago, the Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony. I read the entire first novel last night, On a Pale Horse. It's really good. The series deals with a universe where actual people assume the roles of Death, War, Time, Fate and Nature. Actually God and Satan are thrown in there too, to spice things up.

The first book is all about Death and is very good, although it suffers from having to map out the world. Still it's good. Next up is Time, in Bearing an Hourglass. I'm enjoying re-reading these books, because I was very young the last time around and some of the concepts about the subjective nature of good and evil may have been lost on me back then. Anyway I'll keep you informed.

Wishing I were dead isn't the same as being suicidal

Thursday night Trip and I went to see Sin City and, man, is that movie awesome. It's fan-fucking-tastic. It's seriously like watching a comic book come to life right before your eyes. The stories are fantastic and the style Robert Rodriguez used was amazing. Far and away my fav. character was Marv, the brutal thug with the heart of gold. Mickey Rourke made me love him. At this moment I'm say it was a filet mignon film, but given the fallow period I could see it moving into the elite headcavingly orgasmic rating. It's that good.

Yesterday I got a new bank account, finally, and hit the public library. While looking around the biography section I blundered upon the cds. Man, whoever picks the cds that the library gets is a lot hipper than I expected. They had tons of good alternative music. Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield, The Pixies!!!! I never expected to see those names in Martinsville. I ended up checking out a Bob Dylan live album and Concrete Blonde's Bloodletting album.

Anyway it's race weekend, so I'm probably not gonna leave the house if I can help it. I don't want to wade out into the mullet-infested masses.

They got the new Yanni cassette

So I've got to decide on a new bank. I honestly hate banks at this point. Their whole reason for being seems to be to try and take as much of your money as possible without you noticing it. This fee, that charge, the bank makes a mistake? well they gotta charge you for it. They know they have you, you can't go without a banking account and who wants to change banks? It all adds up to the Man sticking it to you. There is my incoherent anticorporate ramble for the day.

Yesterday I didn't leave the house, in fact I barely left my chair. I played WoW all day. Did a couple of runs in Stratholme, which was cool. I hadn't been there before. The first one we did the dead side and I got some Dreadmist Sandals, which kicks total ass. The second one we did the live side with only five people and no priest or druid. We rock. After that we did a guild run of Blackrock Depths and that was cool, although I was starting to wear down. I didn't really get anything great after the sandals, but had a good time.

Yes I know most of you will find the above paragraph incomprehensible, but what can I do?

Broken drum

Now listening to: the new Beck album, Guero

Monday I chilled out, applied for a coupla jobs and actually heard back from one of them. It was a school system sending me a full application, but it's nice to actually get some response other that "We got your resume and decided you suck." That's not what they say, but that's what they mean.

Haven't done a whole helluva a lot the last coupla days. Trip and I tried out Warcraft III on Monday and Trip sent a beating my way. It's been a long time since I played that and there are some quirks that I didn't remember. I also watched the new Deadwood episode on Mon. and that was excellent as always. I think the addition of some black characters adds a new dimension.

I got the new Beck and Billy Idol albums from Trip and the Beck is pretty good. I still haven't completely absorbed it and I haven't listened to Billy Idol at all. But Trip has said it's not bad in his initial listenings.

I'm almost done reading Miles Davis' autobiography, which Kevin loaned me many years ago. It's not bad, but I can't say it's well written. I suppose that's the price you pay for a primary source. A couple of things have struck me while reading the book. First that ultimately Miles did not trust white people. Admittedly he had plenty of reasons not to, but he always seemed to assume that whites had some plan to fuck over black people. Again, it's not entirely untrue I'm sure, but it's hard for me to conceive of that type of racism.

The second thing that reading the book makes me realize is how little I really know about music. Now there was never any doubt that Miles' pinky finger contained more musical knowledge than I will ever gain, but man some of the theories he tosses off in the book, about chord playing and modal playing and whatnot, I just have no clue. It's always amusing to be when reading a book makes you realize how ignorant you really are.

One final note, there is a new link to Nick's new blog on your left. He put the kibosh on the old one in an attempt to circumnavigate any potential scandal and now has one set up for the impending addition to his household, Augustin. Feel free to check it out and see a pround papa's struggle.

Somebody need to do dey shirt laundry

So I've been busy this weekend. After Thursday's bachelor party I kinda kicked back on Friday and went to Trip's. We decided to trek out for some uncharted Chinese food in Eden. While in transit we saw a billboard for a sushi place and decided what the heck. I've only had buffet sushi at Chinese places and frankly it wasn't that exciting. This stuff, however, was exquisite. Definitely worth the trip.

Saturday I attended Adam's wedding, which was nice. He seemed really happy so that's cool. Nick and Abbie picked me up and it was cool riding with them. Gotta shoot them some love. Once I got home I took about a five hour nap and then went out with Mike and Shannon. We hooked up with Chafin and proceeded to get buckwild. Honestly I don't remember the last time I had that much fun in a bar in Martinsville. I was expecting to be stunned, but we managed to have a kickass time in spite of all the odds.

Today I slept in again. The Trip and I forced Corb to go to the sushi place. I even got Corb to try some of my spicy tuna roll, even after his vehement denouncement of all things raw fish based. Anyway it was quite tasty (as was our waitress). After sushi we retired to Trip's where Corb and I watched Napoleon Dynamite and Trip snored. Not a bad day.

Magic crunch berry tales

Man I am beat. I got up early (10 a.m. is early to some of us) and rolled up to Roanoke with Mike and Nick for Adam's "Bachelor Party." Now I know that the term bachelor party brings up images of drunken hijinks and crazy strippers, but this one was pretty low key. We played some poker, got a little Halo 2 action and then went to a sports bar for dinner. We played more poker when we returned.

Poker-wise I did ok, I think I ended up up like $20, which I used to buy dinner. So that worked out nice. I coulda probably been up more, but I took a gamble at a decent sized pot after dinner and it didn't work out. Cest la vie.

At Halo 2, I ran some hoes. They play no shields and just rifles on the map. It was an essay in destruction. I was a little concerned about being competitive going in, as playing online has given me a whole new sense of humilty in the Halo world, but really none of those guys have Xbox Live and weren't prepared for the time of game I got.

Dinner was good too, the wings were kickass. I got some boneless Thai flavored wings. Mmmm, the perfect synthesis of spicy and asian flavor. Trip, I'm telling you, we should hit that place up sometime.

Anyway it was pretty damn cool hanging out. Kevin made an appearance, but had to leave early. I'd have given him a harder time, but it is his daughter's first birthday. So it was def. cool he made time to come out and hang. Hell I think it was cost effective for him too, as when he left, he was up in the poker game.

Happy vernal equinox!

So it's Easter. That magical day when the Easter Bunny delivers chocolate eggs to all the good Christian boys and girls to commemorate Jesus dying for the end of winter ...or something like that.

Anyway it's a dismal rainy day, the kind I love, and I'm just chilling. Last night I finished reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. It was good, albeit depressing. It tales the tale of climbing Mt. Everest and the tragedy that ensues. Krakauer was one of the few that actaully got to the summit and survived. I think 12 climbers died that day (perhaps not on that day, but as a direct result) with two more suffering incredible frostbite.

Don't know why I've always been fascinated with Mt. Everest. I certainly have no illusions that I'll ever climb it. But I suppose I am attracted to the idea of places and events that have serious consequences if you go there, a la climbing Everest. the running of the bulls in Pamplona, the Source Hip Hop Awards.

Anyway Into Thin Air gets a foot massage rating from me, mostly because you'll need one after frost bite costs you most of your toes.

Now I'm running like a flaming pig

Been an interesting weekend video game-wise. I started with a total beating of Trip in Starcraft, a unprecedented occurance. This was followed shortly thereafter by Trip defending his honor in Halo 2. Another odd occurance. It was as if we switched roles for a bit. This was all Friday.

Today I returned to Trip's, but left my comp. at home so no Starcraft. We played Halo 2 again and I may have come out on top overall, but I did not have the ownership I usually do. Trip is hanging in there with a vengeance. Corb is also in there and will offer the occasional surprise. He's just fun to listen to when we play. We're currently trying to talk him into getting Starcraft. That way we can all play from home. We've tried with the XBox, but that's more than he's willing to spend.

My fading Halo skills are disappointing because I need to hone my skills in before hanging with Adam and crew on Thursday. I also haven't played any poker since we last hooked it up over Xmas. I'm gonna be rusty.

My aunt sent me a cool article on Deadwood. If you're not watching it, you should be. Here is the link.

I rule

So I just picked up a big Starcraft win over the Tripenheimer. Woo. I decided to play the boring old Terrans instead of trying one of the alien races. Having played through part of the Terran campaign I had more experience with them and that helped a lot. Trip put up a valiant effort, forcing to move my primary base not one, not two, but three times. But my unwillingness to give up gave me the win. Hehe.

It was the only time I've played through Battlenet.com, but there was a goon on there screaming white power. Gotta love the anonymity of the internet.

We apologize for any inconvienience

Well it's that time of year when my allergies make it possible for strange liquids fly from my head at any given moment. It's a fun time.

Besides being under the weather, I thought I might post about a few things I've done recently that I haven't blogged about for one reason or another. Last Sunday, Corb, Trip and I went to see Be Cool, mostly for the star power contained within. I didn't see Get Shorty, but Travolta, Uma, Harvey Keitel, Andre 3000, etc make me take notice. It wasn't a great movie, but was entertaining. My main critique was that it was a little too aware of it's own virtue. Still I'd say +1 chainmail, with a Filet Mignon rating for all things Uma contained within. Mmm Uma.

Went to hang with Trip on Monday and we played more Starcraft. He dispatched a virulent horde of Zerg that applied a brutal beating to my Protoss legions. I thought I had him right where I wanted him, right up until his troops started overtaking my territory. Now I know how Rommel felt. Tuesday we hung out for a bit again, but I was feeling poorly both psychologically and physically so I called it an early night.

Since then I've been keeping a low profile because of my allergies and the fact that WoW released a new content patch that I've been fiddling with. Lots of fun stuff, when the game decides to work. There is a lot of hoopla about Blizzard's inability to stabilize their servers and whatnot and I'm starting to get frustrated. I try to be good natured about it, because I understand this type of game is an epic undertaking, but it's been several months since launch. I am paying to play each month, give me a break. Everytime there is a patch or maintenance on the servers or anything I get locked out of the game for quite a while. It's frustrating.

Just one thing

Well this week has been an adventure and it's only freaking Tuesday. Remember when I said I deposited my state tax return. I may not have actually said it, but that was what happened. I took a deposit slip to the bank and left it with the teller, who gave me some of it in cash. Easy right?

Ohh no, easy is the last thing that happened. It seems that since I haven't had any money in my bank account it has closed down. So my deposit was void. When I went to get money out of the ATM on Monday, it took my card. On investigation of this I find out that not only is my account closed, but they won't reopen it. Please keep in mind that I "deposited" money on Friday.

So when I asked about getting that money back, I, of course, was told that I had to wait for all the beauracracy to filter it through and spit it back out. They didn't even have an estimate on how long that would take. They are gonna call me.

In the mean time I'm left with no money, no bank account and no hope. Is it too much to ask that something in my life goes smoothly? I mean come on. Just one fucking thing.

Not enough materials

So it's been a pretty good day. I got my state tax return and so I'm not totally broke for a bit. That's a pleasant change. I downloaded a cool new skin for Firefox, called Pimp, that Trip showed me. It's pretty sweet.

This evening I tooled out to Trip's with my comp and we figured out how to get Starcraft working on a LAN. Man that was cool. Trip owned me the first coupla games, but with the help of the mighty Protoss, I managed to pull out the last one. I look forward to matching up with him in the future, although currently I'd have to give him the advantage. I'll have to look into what I can do to catch up skillwise.

But yeah, I decided to pull out Starcraft because Gabe mentioned he had been playing it lately. I really wish he had high speed internet so we could play, but I doubt that's gonna happen in the near future. Still it made me want to give the game a go again. In fact, Trip and I are gonna hook up some Warcraft action in a coupla weeks. That should be even more fun, as I always prefered the Warcraft world. (Who woulda thunk it with my complete immersion into World of Warcraft?)

Ohh my aunt sent me this cool link to determine what breed of dog you are. The interface of the site is really cool. Somehow I ended up as an Alaskan Malamute, which I suppose is ok. Just not sure how I ended up rating as one. Trip was a German Shepherd, which is also odd. Anyway here is the link.

Scratch a lie, find a thief

Now watching: Futurama

So I watched Ray yesterday and it was pretty good. It was pretty much exactly what I expected. I understand why Jamie Foxx won the Oscar, it was an exceptional performance, but I still think Giamatti was better. His role was a bit more subtle, in my opinion. I'd say Ray was pretty much typical of that sort of celebratory biopic film, +1 chainmail.

I also watched Battle Royale, a japanese film based on the book I read several months ago (feel free to browse the archives to find my take on that... or don't). I think the book was better. The movie was ok, nothing special. +1 chainmail teetering on the brink of Meh. Basically it was lots of Japanese school girls (and boys, but you know the girls were the focus) killing one another in a government sponsored game.

It snowed today and man was it beautiful. Nothing really stuck, but it was nice to look at... yes I could see it from the window when I looked over my monitor.

Come on, come on

So Sunday Trip, Corb and I hooked up with Jeff and Melissa and had dinner. That was fun and those two seem really happy, so that's cool. Jeff told me he could hook me up with a job in Durham, but I'm not sure I'd be able to make enough to live there. Anyway it was cool to see them and a good time was had by all.

After dinner they had to leave, so Corb and myself returned to Trip's for a spot of Halo 2 action. Trip and I then watched Deadwood, which is undoubtedly the best show on tv. (There are probably three or four things I say that about, but they are all in different categories, so they are the best in their division). Have to say I was amused by some of Al Swearingen's more "intimate" moments.

Ohh I also talked to my brother on Sunday morning. He's doing well. He's going through the nostalgia phase that fatherhood seems to bring on in lots of new dads. He's been hitting ebay and looking for M.U.S.C.U.L.E. men, a collectible plastic toy from our youth. It's a bit silly, but I certainly have no room to judge, I'm terribly silly about plenty of things.

Yesterday I didn't do much at all, just my usual WoW regimen. I think I may go watch Ray and see if it was as good as everyone said.

Is it wrong that I always rooted for the Coyote?

Well Trip took me out for dinner and a movie tonight. If he keeps doing that I'm eventually gonna have to put out. Them's the rules.

Anyway we say Constantine, which was ok, but not spectacular. It's one of those movies I went into knowing it could go either way and while it didn't surprise me, it wasn't bad. I'd say +1 chainmail, mostly because Rachel Weisz is really hot. I enjoy the whole catholic heaven vs. hell mythology and this had some interesting moments. The devil was also really cool. However I will never be a big Keanu fan. He's just not that great an actor in my mind.

One trouble I did have was adolescents with cell phones. Turn that motherfucker off when you come to the theater. Why do you need to take a call in the middle of the damn movie? Trip makes fun of me for my usual refusal to go to movies on weekend nights, but this only furthered my resolve against it. Too many schmucks who think a movie is a social atmosphere conducive to conversation. Personally I think that if your cell phone rings during the movie I should be allowed to punch you in the throat. Why don't more theaters adopt that policy?

The most beautiful boogeyman

Hit Trip's last night and we played Sim City 4. I watched him play for a while, then he had to run off and watch Survivor, so I avoided reality tv by administering Penguingrad. It's funny that we are competitive about Sim City. Currrently his coffers have swelled to a ridiculous rate, but I have more people. I like to keep the people happy. My biggest problem is that I am running out of room to expand. Not sure how to proceed.

Couldn't help but notice that my visitation numbers are way down. Not really a surprise considering my spotty update schedule. I'll try to do better, but my life is either dull or depressing of late.

You're gonna burn in hell

Well I just finished writing and Blogger ate my post, so take 2.

My mother and I watched M.Night Shamylan's The Village and we weren't terribly impressed. I anticipated the twist, well one of the twists early and was unimpressed with the later one. It had some decent acting, but I'm gonna have to give it a Meh. rating.

Still no word from any of the jobs I applied for, it's not looking good.

After looking through the classifieds of the Bulletin, I decided to read a column in the sports section. It describes how one of the new sports writers is a UNC grad, coincidentally the GM (who I hated) is also a Tar Heel. I hope they all burn in hell.

Viva El Presidente!

Now listening to: an old mix I made for a drive to Roanoke

So I'm making an effort to not give in to despair. Every time I get in a decent mood and stop thinking about my problems, some harbinger comes along and puts me in my place. Nonetheless I am trying to keep occupied instead of just focusing on the negative.

Last night I got sick of WoW (just for a minute) and decided to finish reading The Ha-Ha. That book is well written and emotionally draining. After finishing I was thinking about it and then my thoughts drifted to all the crap in my life now. I spent the rest of the evening in an incredibly dark and depressed mood. I ended up just going to bed to put it out of my mind, cause that kind of black mood is not good for my mental stability. Not at all.

On to brighter subjects, I corralled Trip and got to see the first episode of the new season of Deadwood. It continues to be riveting. I did feel a little confused by the fact that the plot skips forward a few months it seems. Still it's good stuff, cocksucker.

I also watched The Contender, which was pretty good, even for reality tv. I'm kind of fascincated by boxing anyway. I mean boxers are essentially people paid to get hit in the head. It's an odd line of work. But I have high hopes for that show.

I wrapped up the evening by playing Sim City 4, which is compelling despite being about civil engineering. Anyway El Presidente is ruling Penguingrad with an iron fist, yet the public still loves him.

No one gives a damn right now

My boring life continues unabated. I've hung out with Trip the last coupla days. Yesterday we hooked up with Danny for some Halo 2 action. It's funny how the enthusiasm for that game has kind of waned lately. We had a good time tho.

I have been reading Dave King's The Ha-Ha, which my mother recommended to me. It is a well put together novel and I'm enjoying it. Time also gave it a positive review, so others may want to look into it. It's an odd tale about a man who can't speak and his attempts to reconnect with the world after years of coasting.

I've been listening to a lot of old cds while play WoW lately and it's hard to explain how much I miss music when I don't spend a lot of time listening to it. I have so many albums and sometimes I'll go a month without really sitting down and tuning in to them. I'm confounded by people who don't get into music at all. To me it is a reason for being.

Pavement saw

Yesterday put me in a better mood. I got all my tax stuff taken care of and I'm getting a phatty return. That perked me up a bit. I'll have some cash to splash around soon, which will be a nice change.

I also hooked up with Trip and we watched a bunch of the final season of Angel, which is high quality. I can't wait for the episode where he gets turned into a puppet, that one is priceless.

Even after level 60 my WoW addiction remains unsatiated. I'm now focusing on one of my alternate characters, a hunter. Once I get him up to level 40 and buy his mount, I think I'll focus on buying an epic mount for my warlock. And for you comedians out there, yes I'm gonna put all this on my resume.

Where do you go when what you're running from is yourself?

Things I've been listening to a lot lately: Modest Mouse, a perfect circle (eMOTIVe), Wu Tang Clan (Enter the Wu Tang), The Velvet Underground and Nico, Wilco, MC5, ...and you will know us by the trail of dead and Big Black

Another day passes and the world remains unchanged. I went to visit Trip, who was in fair humor considering his recent infirmary... not sure infirmary is the right word, but whatever. It's my blog and I'll do what I want.

We watched the final episode of Deadwood and it was high quality. I honestly couldn't like the character of Al Swearingen more. I know he's not really a nice guy, but he does live by a certain code. He's complex and I like complex characters, being one of them. I'm fucking eager for the cocksuckers at HBO to get on with the second season.

We also watched Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, which is awesome. I'd say it's the Citizen Kane of asian-american weed movies. It's a weed movie with a soul. It addresses the bias an indian and korean stoner deal with in the real world without being heavy handed or characaturing the characters involved. It's filet mignon with upward mobility. (It'd be even better...on weed.)

the rrazor's edge

Haven't updated in a while. Really I've lost the last coupla days to WoW. I know I'm a loser, give me a break. I've been trying to push through and get my warlock up to level 60, which is the current level cap. So nyah.

I did watch the Oscars, in spite of only having seen one of the main films nominated. Basically there weren't any surprises. I do want to see Million Dollar Baby now tho. As for the streamlined broadcast, I have mixed feelings. They took out the Oscar clips, which are some of my favorite moments. I like to have an idea of why the actors and films were nominated in the first place.

With those gone my current favorite part of the Oscars is the memorial part of the people who died over the year. I know it's kinda morbid, but it provides a nice sense of history. I thought they cut that too short too, this year. If they are so obsessed about keeping the program time down, get rid of the stupid song performances. Noone cares about those. Usually the songs nominated are lame and we don't care.

Trip is having surgery today and I'm hoping all is well with him. He's supposed to call me when he's regained consciousness, so I'm hoping to hear from him soon.

I'm the same as I was when I was six years old

Not a bad day I suppose. I hooked up with Trip and Kev and we had dinner and then retired to Trip's for some Halo 2 action with Corb. That was fun. Kev had to go and play with his band, Joe Washrag and the Cosmic Spatulas, and left fairly early, but it was a good time.

After he left we watched more Wonderfalls. I highly suggest anyone with a slightly absurd romantic comedy sensibility check this show out. It gets better and better.

Despite a pretty nice day, I'm feeling depressed. I was gonna rant about my lack of goals and directon and the general meaninglessness of all actions... Oh and my inability to affect the world in any real way, that too, but I think I just won't. Not right now.

Try the new WhatchaMcCarcuss sandwich at Krustyburger

So I spent the evening doing something I didn't want to...watching reality tv. Trip did let me watch the Christina Ricci guest appearance on Joey, so I can't complain all that much. You know I am finding here less and less attractive as she moves more toward conventional leading lady and away from weird goth chick. What can I say, I likes em pale.

Anyway watched the cursed Apprentice and Survivor. It's so easy to get caught up watching beautiful people argue. Especially survivor where they all wear next to nothing. I'm going to try and continue my resistance and not succumb to the reality.

We also watched The Simpsons where Marge's sister Patty came out and was gonna marry a woman. There was a lot of talk about one of the characters coming out and I don't think Patty was the top pick. Hard to say why in retrospect.

Nothing else new going on, really. I'm reading Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son. It's not bad, got a cool concept so far. I've always enjoyed the Frankenstein legend. It's a good story that doesn't really paint society in a positive light overall. Well that's how the original worked out, we'll see if this new take on it stays true.

bad apple spoils...

I've been entirely too slack today. I got up at a reasonable hour tho...well reasonable to me anyway and watched 24 Hour Party People (another loaner from Kev). It was interesting. A movie about Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays, more or less. Since I'm a big fan of two of those bands (the first two for the record) I enjoyed learning some of the lore. It wasn't a laugh a minute tho and moved slow in some places. I'd say +1 chainmail overall.

After that I moved on to my usual position in the WoW world. I managed to get roped into doing this instance with a group that I didn't know all that well. Most of the time I stick to my guildmates, because they aren't morons. This experience reinforced that concept in a big way. It's amazing how one asshole can ruin everything.

I think I hear my bed calling me.

Fear and loathing got the best of him

Hunter S. Thompson died yesterday at his own hand. This undoubtedly makes the world a lesser place. While I don't personally prescribe to his drug-fueled, gun-toting philosophies, he was someone who refused to live by anyone's rules but his own. You've got to respect that.

Venus in furs

Now listening to: The Velvet Underground and Nico

Well I applied for a job or two today and may try to continue that habit until I actually end up with one. I also dropped off my stuff to get my taxes done. I definitely need that cash and hope it comes out to be a decent amount. Here's to hoping for a windfall.

After taking care of that business I had some time to kill before Trip came home and we could play video games/watch tv so I parked my care in a random parking lot and read. I finally finished the third of Asimov's Foundation books. I know it sounds sad to just sit in a parking lot and read, but honestly it's kinda peaceful. Nobody bothers you and no phones ring. I dunno, maybe I'm just trying to put a positive spin on how pathetic my life has become.

Anyway once I arrived at Trip's we watched some quality tv. I watched the premier of Robot Chicken Sandwich, which is the new surreal action figure show on adult swim. It wasn't bad, although it's not gonna really reach a broad audience. It's pretty much an exercise in the absurd, which I enjoy.

We played a little Metal Arms, which Trip picked up this weekend. It's pretty good. Having played only a little bit I know there is still a lot to figure out, but it was fun. We switched to Halo 2 after a bit and that was fun, except for the morons teaming up in what is supposed to be a free-for-all game type. The sad thing was I still ended up second even with them cheating. You gotta suck pretty bad to cheat and still lose.

Anyway I topped the evening off with the penultimate episode of Deadwood. That show is honestly one of the best things on. Characters with depth, interesting plotlines and wonderfully real dialogue. If you don't mind hearing the word cocksucker as though it were a congenial greeting, I recommend it highly.

I now retire to Azeroth and all it's trappings.

So I'm the the asshole in the place

I have to admit I'm an asshole. Through my extreme poorness and inability to get a job I have become "that guy." The guy who is a burden on his friends because he never has cash. If they want to go out they have to spring for him too. I hate it. I feel bad, but what can I do?

I've been stressing out lately because of it and the fact that my creditors are calling me. It all sucks. You'd think having no job would be relaxing, but it's all I can think about Now I feel guilty for everything I do that's fun, because I feel like I don't deserve it.

I'm gonna go apply for a coupla McJobs tomorrow (in the Generation X sense, not actaull working for Ronald). Hopefully I can land a low pressure clerk-type job and start to move toward the edge of this abyss I'm currently wallowing in.

Bobbing along in my barrel

So I haven't updated in a while. I have no real excuse other than the sheer mundunaity of my everyday life. Of course, if you were concerned with that you'd have stopped reading a long time ago. Honestly I didn't do much this week after Monday. I watched Deadwood with Trip and several episode of Wonderfalls. I played a metric buttload of WoW (now a hair shy of level 56) and watched crap tv.

Today I finally managed to break from the drudgery a bit, as Trip and I hit G-boro. Had some Chinese food for lunch, which wasn't bad. I watched Trip shop for a bit and managed to stave off my own consumerist instincts. We went to see Sideways, which was really good. I'm baffled that Paul Giamatti didn't get a best actor nomination. He's so good at playing characters that aren't really great people, but he makes you empathize with them somehow. I'd rate Sideways at Filet Mignon.

We then returned to Trip's pad and watched Brandon Hopkins defend his middleweight title for the 20th time. The fight wasn't overly exciting, with Hopkins controlling the entire fight and winning more on technique than slugging the other guy. Impressive in it's efficiency, but not entertaining.

I'm not the biggest boxing fan, really. All the scandal and different titles and general shadiness of the sport turn me off. That said, I do enjoy the rich history of boxing. I love watching old fights and documentarys on old fighters. I really want to see the PBS movie on Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ. He's a hero of mine.

better lucky than good

Now listening to: The Eels (Rotten World EP)

Kevin loaned me a movie called Intacto several months ago and I finally got around to watching it today. It was about exceptionally lucky people that were capable of stealing other people's luck and using it for themselves. It was an odd film overall, but not bad. It had slow pacing at times, as foreign films often do, but didn't drag too much. It also had Max Von Sydow, who is a great actor in my book. I mean if only for Strange Brew, he's a genius. Anyway Intacto gets a +1 chainmail for it's efforts. Now if I can only get it together and watch the other stuff Kev loaned me.

Anyway I'm now trying to develop the luck stealing talent. I'm not sure if it's gonna work out, but I could stand some good luck.

Roses and indigestion

Well I spent all yesterday delivering flowers. It wasn't that bad, honestly. I've had worse jobs. Everybody is usually happy to see the flower guy and you're surrounded by nice smells all day.

Plus most of the time is spent driving around listening to cds. I was in Corb's Jeep so I was plenty comfortable in that. My soundtrack for the day included The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fugazi, The Pixies, The White Stripes, The Rolling Stones, The Eels, Sleater-Kinney and Modest Mouse. So I was rocking for much of the day.

My only problem at all was that I saw way too much a.m. I was still up at 3 a.m. and had to be at the shop at 8 a.m. I was fine until about 2 p.m. when it started to rain and I was just beat. I managed to survive to the end, but it was a struggle.

Not sure what my plans are today... I may just stay in and relax, a.k.a. my normal life at this point.

The Great Wave of Kanagawa

I bought a print of this painting at the Met years ago. I stumbled across it today and it seems to accurately represent the feelings I have about life these days. So I hope you guys enjoy and relate somewhat.

Pigbenis

Got up early today and went to work... don't get too excited. I was there for 20 minutes and then left and spent the rest of the day watching tv with Trip. We watched L.A . Confidential, which was pretty good. I'd say +1 chainmail.

We also watched a lot of G4 and the end of Along Came Polly. The we played a bit of classic Halo, which is still fun. After fetching some Taco Bell, we watched some more of the series Wonderfalls. Man do I love that show. The lead character, Jaye, is my ideal woman. I know I have a lot of ideal women, but what can I say, there are acceptable parameters which several jaded, disaffected brunettes fall.

On Friday I had dinner with some of my family, which was both pleasant and painful at times. My aunt Yvonne, who is a faithful reader (that's three!), mentioned her love of Charlie Daniels' Devil went down to Ga, which amused me at the time, considering my post Super Bowl comments. Come to find out, she hadn't read that and seemed a little put off by my comments in an email. Let me say that I honestly do think that is a decent song, pretty good really. But it's the only thing they every let the man play. Can't they just let him rest or explore some new territory? Is that too much to ask.

Faint glimmer

Now listening: high quality emo

Soo tonight Trip did me solid and took me out to Red Lobster. It was quite nice. I have been depressed the last coupla days and needed a bit of a pick me up. Thank you Trip for providing it.

You know I really have to thank my friends for being cool. They keep me going when everything else seems to be stacked against me (like now). I can't tell you how good it is to have people I trust to commiserate with or help me think about something else.

I know I can be difficult, moody, insulting and generally a bastard, which makes it all the more amazing that these people keep me around. Anyway thanks to all the people who put up with my shit and keep coming back for another handful. It is greatly appreciated.

Superstition ain't the way

I don't like to be a superstitious person. I'm not a big believer in that sort of thing, by and large. But around the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, it occurred to me that the Eagles couldn't win. Not because they aren't talented or played exceptionally poorly. Simply because I was rooting for them.

When things get to a major stage, a la the Super Bowl, my support and active participation is a guarantee that defeat is the order of the day. It's played out in major football games, presidential elections and even at the Oscars. I don't really think of myself as a born loser, but I do tend to be on the minority side in most things.

After the game, which was close, but not particularly well-played I thought. Well, Tom Brady played well and Deion Branch, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. Trip and I watched The Simpsons, which wasn't really my fav. episode, and then American Dad, which was Family Guy, Take 2. I gotta tell you, I wasn't impressed. While I don't have the loathing that Trip does for it, I can't say it's good.

Speaking of less than stellar, how about that halftime show. Now I know music history and completely understand the way the Beatles changed it for all time. I understand how integral Paul McCartney was to that process at the time and how Paul, John, George and Ringo are a veritable Mt. Rushmore of rock and roll. That said, come on... how is he still relevant? I know the NFL was all concerned about the whole boob flashing thing, but really, why not just march a orchestra out and have them play Beethoven.

I know I shouldn't complain, it could have been the horrible country/trailor park girl Gretchen whatever that played in the pregame...yesh. I thought country divas were at least supposed to be hot, that's the only reason I can stand any of them at all. Also note to country music people, let Charlie Daniels not play Devil went down to Georgia for a while. Give the man a break.

A rose by any other name

So Corb took me out for dinner and theatre last night. (I told him ahead of time I wasn't putting out, so there was no confusion.) We went to Averett and saw their production of The Complete Works of Wllm Shkspre (Abridged). Which was pretty good. I like the play, but it suffered from some college theatre problems. Still not bad.

The only problem I really had is that Corb is too well known in the local drama circles and I end up stranded and alone while he chats with any and everyone. This is especially bad when we are alone, because I look like his bored boyfriend. (I'm always hyperaware of the gay thing in a theatre.)

Visiting a college always makes me long for the good ole days of mycollege years. Although being forced to listen to some of the conversations of college students makes me wonder if I was that vacuous. I honestly don't think so, but I could be a bit biased.

Genghis Ghandi

So nothing new, just doing my thing. I have a job for one day, woo. On Feb. 14 I will be delivering flowers. I expect this to help me wallow in the depression I always feel as a singleton on Valentine's Day. But at least I'll be making money, so that's something.

Yesterday we had another blast of snow, which was pleasant. I spent the day playing video games, as usual. I finally hit level 50 in WoW, which was a bit anticlimactic. Nothing especially new. Perhaps I just haven't found it yet.

Tonight I'm hoping the gang gets together for a little Halo 2 action at Trip's. I'm looking to run some hos.

We shall overcome

The penguin revolution has begun! Penguins will over run the streets and fill them with the blood of the unbelievers!

I'll pwn your ass back to the Stone Age, noob

I'd like to take a moment to address the topic of shit talking. In particular, boasting after winning at video games. It has come to my attention that some of my compatriots think I talk a lot of shit while gaming. I disagree. I admit to talking some shit after a win, hell why else play the game other than bragging rights?

The simple fact is that growing up, talking shit was much more pervasive than anything I do now. In high school, hanging with Mike, Adam and Nick, I learned what shit talking was for real (I'd also note that my brother Gabe is quite an expert at the fecal discussion as well). Mike will occasionally still bust up some shit talk about how he used to school me at tennis. That talk made a natural progression to video games during my college years, when Techmo Bowl was king.

So I know real time shit talk, I've a long history with it. That said, what I now do is low grade at best. I honestly censor myself over half the time, because I'm afraid of offending fragile sensibilities. But occasionally I have to let one fly, so they know who the man is. (It's me, dammit.)

Seldon crisis at hand

I'm gonna have a discussion of the genius of Isaac Asimov. I am re-reading the first couple of Foundation novels, the first of which was published in 1951. The books are about a man in the extreme future (Hari Seldon) who has put together complex mathematics in such a way as to predict the direction a society will take and how it would be necessary to circumnavigate problems. This is called psychohistory.

Seldon discovers his society is failing and takes measures to create a small bastion of civilization in an universe growing ever more barbaric. He plots the path of this outpost (Foundation) so as to minimize the "Dark ages" and have mankind return to a better civilization on a much faster timetable.

What makes this story interesting is that our protaganist dies within the first chapter or two and we follow the society along it's path and get to see the pressures they face and the evolution of Foundation. It's a really well put together story.

What I find interesting is that Asimov predicted the success of micronization well before our society took part in it. In 1951, the nation, and in fact the world, was just emerging from the biggest war of all time, consumed with big cars, huge national projects and pretty much big everything.

Asimov noted that while the big mindset works, it is the small things that ultimately change society. America certainly proved this to be true. One need only note how pervasive the small computers of today are to see it live and in action. The fact that he saw that society would go this way is astounding to me.

Many people make fun of science fiction and the people who are fascinated by it. But those people end up shaping the future, simply because by looking toward it.