Doldrums

So it was a rough football week for me. The Steelers lost to the Pats and I was bummed. I'm trying to look at it philosophically tho. Last year, New England lost to the Steelers in the regular season and then won in the playoffs. Hopefully the converse will be true this year. We'll see.

Another factor to hurt my football love was the fact that the Chiefs crapped out on me. I had both running backs and the kicker on my fantasy football team and between them they couldn't put up 15 points on Monday night. I ended up with a tie, with Mike's Dallas Danglers (the lowest scoring team in the league). Sad sad sad.

I've been staying up way too late playing WoW and reading the last few nights so now I feel like crap. I like sleeping in, but 3p.m. is too late. It's just not good.

Someone's calling your phone Goulet

Went over to Trip's the last coupla days. On Friday, Danny and Corb came over as well and we all hung out for a bit. Danny drank a lot of scotch and got a little silly and we all had a good time. After Danny and Corb left, Trip and I watched Threshold, which is still fairly interesting.

Trip is reaching new heights as a tv nerd. The new tv schedule is taxing Trip's reserves as he refuses to miss anything. I'm sure as the season pans out he'll lose a few items he can't miss now. I've got quite a few myself, but I'm a lot more fluid with most tv shows. Honestly how much can you miss that they won't either rebroadcast or (in the case of reality tv) clip from and rehash until you know all that happened.

Tonight we watched Kung Fu Hustle and I thought it was pretty good. It had an odd structure, but was entertaining. Several Looney Toons moments in the martial arts action. I'd say +1 chainmail, although I'm pretty sure Trip would disagree.

We also ended up watching a coupla boxing matches on HBO. Both were really good. The first was two skinny guys (no idea what the weight class was, but whatever), Cotto vs. Torres. It was a slugfest with Cotto picking up a knockout in the 5th or sixth. This fight coulda went either way, Cotto just proved to be a bit better that night.

After that we watched heavyweights Wladimer Klitchko outbox Samuel Peter in 12 rounds. Peter is a raw puncher, who clearly can throw a huge KO punch at anytime. Klitchko simply used his superior height and jabbed Peter into submission. Peter got in a few times and put Klitchko on the ground, but couldn't keep him down. Very entertaining. I like seeing a more technical fighter face off against a brawler. Shows the strengths and weaknesses of both styles nicely. Anyway I'm not a huge boxing fan, but the sweet science has it's charms.

Must've been hard on your mother

Sooooo I've stayed busy... well busy in the entertainment sense. I watched a ton of TV yesterday. I watched My Name Is Earl, which was good. I'm a Jason Lee fan anyway. But it had a nice white trash vibe. I also watched The Biggest Loser, which isn't as riveting as last year's, but we'll see. I caught the end of House, which was decent.

I also finished reading Slaughterhouse Five, which was interesting. I can't rank it as one of my favorite books, but it had it's moments. The structure was definitely unique. I'd rate it as a +1 chainmail overall. Now I have to find something else to read... Not sure what I'll end up with.

So I was wondering where fall is, it's still all summery outside. I want leaves changing and briskness. I demand it! Also I'm tired of hearing about hurricanes. So no more of that crap either.

Yarr!

Ahoy! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day and I be needing to feel the gentle toss of sea spray on me face. This sea dog spent yesterday watching football and be well pleased with what he seen. Our own Steelers be looking sharper than me cutlass and left the Texans feeling like they were in Davy Jones' locker. Yarr.

I may be watching still more football tonight, with two Monday night games. Me only wish is the landlubbers Clinton Portis and Joe Horn plays like a bilge rats, so me fantasy football team will have reason to bring out the grog with a victory over Nick.

triple helix life

I'm completely obsessed with this one song at the moment. I pulled the Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92 off my shelf the other day, because it was finally given a U.S. release. (I paid through the nose for the import, that's right I'm old school.) So the first song on the album is called Xtal and is a testament to the fact that electronic music does have a soul. It's absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like falling in love feels... yeah, that good.

The Aphex Twin, a.k.a. Richard D James, is such a great artist. He is impossible to pigeon hole. He makes some of the most brutal and noisy industrial music ever and also some truly ethereal peaceful music. He's got some song that are poppy and some that are so abstract as to be almost unlistenable. I'm sure I've mentioned my admiration for him before, but I do have to recognize he's not for everyone. I think when history tales the tale of our musical culture in the future, he will be mentioned the way people talk about Bach and Mozart today. Bold prediction, but I could see it. He's that innovative.

I'm also obsessed with The Hold Steady, which Trip got me hooked on. It's really incredible music, although in a much different way. It is more traditional rock and roll, with kind of spoken word lyrics about the club scene and junkie life in Minneapolis. It's got a really poetic feel and paints pictures I can see with music, while kicking major ass. I can't stop listening to their albums, I keep playing it again and again.

Tonight Danny sold Trip and I out, although with his current work schedule I can't blame him. So futzed around a bit. We watched Threshold, which is the new show starring Carla Gugino (who is more than a little hot). It's a really interesting show about first contact with some form of alien life. I know that sounds like it's been done to death starring Will Smith and whatnot, but the first show was really good. It's got Peter Dinklage, who makes a great character. I'm afraid that it's doomed to fail because I liked the first episode. So many good shows do.

Cockthirsty?

I borrowed NFL Street 2 from Trip last night and played it way too late for my own good. It's high quality. My created player, Karl Marx, is a QB with attitude. Not sure why I enjoy making my players communists, but I do. It amuses me.

Went to Trip's yesterday and we got our game on. Trip unearthed his Sega Genesis recently and we've been playing NHLPA 93 a bit. I told him I'd give him his props so here they are: Trip pwns me at the game. I got nothing. My best result is a 3-0 loss, with him more often than not completely shellacing me. In my mind, those hockey games on the Sega are the best ever made. They've never recreated the feel of the ice the way they did there. I need to learn how to score more effectively, until I do that I'll continue to lose.

We played some Halo 2 last night and it had been a while. We actually tried the new team games, where there are 4 different teams of 3 players. It was fun. We aren't the best team, but part of that is our lack of knowledge of the bigger maps and the fact that we've trained our skills as individuals with no team ethic in mind. Anyway it was a fun and a nice change from our usual activities.

Things get creative when you're hanging out with our creator

So the new WoW patch has kept me fairly busy this week. A whole new instance to explore and several new things to do. I have managed to pick up the basics of whats going on in a couple of shows tho. I watched the first episode of The Biggest Loser. It loses something without the bingeing, but it's still fairly entertaining. They seemed to go for bigger people this time. Last time there were a few of the women selected clearly because they thought that they would drop a couple and be sexually appealing. What happened was they got voted off quick, because of their lack of weight loss potential. Anyway I hope it's as entertaining as the first.

It's pretty cool. Other than that I've been doing a fair amount of reading. I finished David Eddings' Belgariad, which wasn't bad. It was light reading and kept me entertained. Can't compare to Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin. I'd give it a +1 chainmail all told.

I've now started reading Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, bascially because I saw him on the Daily Show and his wit was incredibly sharp. His comments about evolution and American Democracy were sidesplitting. I bought the book years ago and never got around to it, but with a renewed interest I'm going to delve into it. So far, so good.

Hip deep in football

Oh man what a great day. Opening weekend of football and all is right with the world. The Steelers looked absolutely wonderful. Big Ben ends the day with a perfect passer rating and Willie Parker answered any questions about his abilities. My only complaint is that Hines Ward didn't make more catches (fantasy football).

I spent the whole day Sunday watching sports (although I did a bit of multitasking with WoW after the opening games.) Opened with the Steelers win, switched back and forth between the Cowboys vs. Chargers and the U.S. Open final. I so wanted Agassi to win, but man, now I know why they do all that talk about Federer. He can just end a point at will sometimes. I wrapped up with the evening game and was rooting for Indy (fuck the Ravens). Their defense looked good, especially Dwight Freeney.

Hmm what else did I do this weekend. Went to Trip's Saturday night and we watched Ong Bak, which was pretty cool. It was a little slow at times, but the action was fun. I'd say it was +1 chainmail overall. Basically it was an 80s action movie as told by Thailand. After I got home Saturday I played a bunch of Def Jam: Fight for NY after watching Trip play for a bit. It's a really good game. The only "wrestling" game I have any interest in playing since Pro Wrestling for the NES.

a week in brief

So it's been almost a week since I posted. What can I say, I've been distracted. Anyway a quick recap:

Movies watched
Alexander (+chainmail, it was too long and a little indulgent, but had certain epic qualities. If I was in a worse mood it could be meh.)
After the Sunset (foot massage, a nice little caper movie with Salma Hayek in a bikini most of the time, how can that be bad?)
A Lot Like Love (+1 chainmail, Decent romantic comedy type movie, nothing special tho, although I do like Amanda Peet. hmm me liking an attractive woman, fancy that.)

Books read
Stiff by Mary Roach (filet mignon, the funniest book about cadavers you're ever likely to read. It's nonfiction about what happens to bodies after death, with amusing anecdotes and interesting facts thrown in. I highly recommend it if youre not easily offended.)
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings (+1 chainmail, another foray into the fantasy genre. Not bad and a fairly quick read. It's the first book in a series and I'm probably gonna keep going.)

So yeah, I've found ways to stay busy. I applied for a job and I'm hopeful. We'll see.

Way to go bench

Go Steelers! I had a fabulous time yesterday seeing the Steelers. I have to give another big shout out to Nick for hooking me up with a ticket and driving me there. We had good time. While it was the final preseason game and has no real bearing on anything it was still cool to see my boys on the field. When they came out of the tunnel it was a great moment.

Bank of America Stadium is really nice too. It had a nice atmosphere, most of the people were pretty pleasant (except the asshole behind me, every football game I go to there is some prick behind me who has to be as obnoxious as possible). We got there early so we could kick back, grab a bite and watch warmups. There were a ton of Steelers fans there as well and I had to stop myself from buying a Terrible towel.

The first team offense looked like they really didn't care. The Panthers defense took apart the O-Line at will (making me suspect that the first team wasn't really starting there). The only first downs we got were when Ben Roethlisberger scrambled for em. That had my heart in my throat.

But in the second quarter the second team came in and I got to see some of the up and comers play. Heath Miller looked pretty sharp. He's got some definite potential. The fifth string running back Noah Herron looked like he might have some potential too, if he can keep his hands on the ball. We left about midway through the 3rd quarter to avoid traffic and because you only need to see so much of the 5th string guys.

All in all, it was awesome. My first actual live NFL experience. Thanks again Nick, you da man.

Enjoy the sweet blasphemy

Stark, austere and minimal and it means the world

Now listening to: Four Tet

I'm feeling verbose today. I think I'm still awash in the excellence that is Pattern Recognition and it makes me want to try to write something good. Don't know if I'm there yet, but I should be writing more. I have no excuse other than my own lack of discipline.

So I think after I finish here I will make with the buckling down for a bit. Although I may get distracted by the William Gibson forums.

This Four Tet album I procured (!?!) is interesting. Four Tet is described as a laptop artist, meaning all he needs to compose an album or to set up a performance are two laptops. That's what the music is made on from start to finish. It's a deliciously punk concept (although the music is decidely not so). It's mellow electronic noise with a beat. If you like Air, check this out.

Odd that I prattle on so much about loving thick layered music that hits you like a wall and go bananas over these minimalistic sounds. I am nothing if not willing to change my mind.

Suck me raw with a breast pump

Now listening to: Nick Drake

So last night I finished reading what may be the best book I've read this year, William Gibson's Pattern Recognition. What's that? I knew one of you bastards were gonna throw The Half Blood Prince in my face and it's hard to deny the genius of Harry Potter, but Gibson really outdid himself. (Incidently Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down is also a candidate for this year's best read.)

But yeah, Pattern Recognition. It's a departure from Gibson's other stuff that basically invented the whole cyberpunk genre. It's a take on modern culture seen through an austere lens of marketing, the internet, obsessive fanboys, reverence for emergent technology. It's really brilliant and I was saddened when I finished it. It takes a really good book to make me wish it was longer. I say it's undoubtedly Filet Mignon, with potential to move into orgasmic territory. I recommend it to anyone with even a mild technology or pop culture fetish.

Hmm what else? I also read Must Love Dogs, the book they turned into the recent movie. It was ok, +1 chainmail, but nothing exceptional. I watched Surviving Christmas, which was ok (Meh. with shades of +1 chainmail). It seemed like they kinda rushed things plotwise, never really developed anything, just tossed it in your lap. Also I agree with Trip (that just feels odd to type) that casting Ben Affleck was a bad call. He was not good. Despite all that, there were some funny moments and it's worth seeing if you don't have to pay for it.

Just got a call from Nick and he's gonna hook me up with tickets to see the Steelers! Man is that awesome. It's only a preseason game, but it's as close to live NFL action as I've ever been and it's gonna kickass. I'm stoked. Now I can have fantastical dreams about Bill Cowher pulling me from the stands to give me a couple of carries. (Hey! I said fantastical.)

Last note, this Nick Drake is awesome. A nice folk feel with a solid chord of melancholy running through it (no surprise this guy committed suicide).

It hurts, but it's worth it

Now listening to: The Hold Steady

So I am now finally recovered from Saturday night. Kevin came over to Trip's and we hung out for a while, doing our thing. He had to go and play with his band, but convinced me to stay at Trip's until he was done. Soo Trip and I watched Sin City, man is that movie awesome. At some point I decided it would be a good idea to pull out the tequila and do a few shots. So five minutes and five shots later we had set the pace way too high. We backed off a bit, but it was too late at that point. I ended up getting slobbery drunk (along with Trip) and it was a good time. When Kev finally made it in, I'm sure he was thrilled to get to deal with two shitfaced assholes. Ehh, whatcha gonna do?

The next morning, however, was substantially less fun. I finally got home around 2 p.m. Sunday and didn't eat any solid food for quite a while. I finally had a club sandwich for dinner and have been slowly improving since then. I'm now back to relative normality. Sucks getting old and paying the real price for an evening of drinking. Used to bounce right back. Part of that may be I'm out of practice, but I don't plan on getting back into a regular drinking situation. I found it wanting overall.

I feel as if I am looking at the world from the bottom of a well

So last night my first fantasy football experience kicked off with the draft. I think I did ok, my inexperience showed at some points, but I got some solid picks. The big prize I got was Priest Holmes, who I hope has another amazing season. (I also picked his backup Larry Johnson in case he gets injured. I could run for 1,000 yards behind the KC O-Line... well probably not, but you get the point.)

Anyway it was fairly fun and I'm looking forward to all the junk talking that will sprout from this league. The only problem I had was that Mike and Christian weren't there for the draft. That leaves them a nigh-plausible excuse should they fail and I'd rather be able to rag on them unmercifully.

I did the actual draft from Trip's house, as I wanted to hang with him and Corb some. Sadly the draft stole most of my attention and I was mostly aloof. We did manage to play some Mario Kart 64 and Super Smash Bros., which is some nice retro action.

Wait. What is that?

Can you smell that? It's the scent of sweaty men beating the hell out of each other and a pork product being thrown, tossed, dropped and kicked. That's right football season is afoot once again. Football, the pinnacle of all sports and joy to all who worship the divine god of the gridiron.

Tonight I watched the preseason Steelers vs. Eagles game on Monday Night Football and my yearning soul was soothed for that time. It is merely preseason action, which means both diddly and squat, but it symbolizes the changing of the season and that makes it great.

Anyway enough waxing philosophic on the pigskin. Hell I only watched half the game and then Trip and I watched Kenny vs. Spenny reruns. That show rules. The humiliation's are no doubt the height of comedy. Check it out if you can.

This weekend I stayed busy. Jeff and Melissa came in and we hung with them and had a good time. Went to see Wedding Crashers, which was as good as I hoped. Vince Vaughn is a genius. Also really, really hot women. They are always a plus. I'd give it a foot massage rating, pending more watchings. Some of these movies fizzle after seeing them a few times, while some keep getting funnier and funnier.

They call me Hard Corey

Been keeping a pretty low profile this week, gathering my strength after Gabe's visit. Trip and I did go to G-boro on Monday, in hopes of getting his comp. fixed. Of course, because of some tech. support misreporting that did not go as planned and we stood around in CompUSA for two and a half hours. Man that was fun. I, at least, got to sneak away and watch NFL Countdown at the TV kiosk. Trip was on the phone with Apple for most of the evening and, ultimately we left with nothing done. Huge stunner, even moreso for Trip than me.

Hmm, I've been listening to The Hold Steady's two albums a lot this week. Trip made me copies of their albums and they are very good. It's like a blues band with spoken word lyrics about drugs and parties and weird times in the midwest. Sorta. It comes out being good somehow and I wouldn't have thought so from my own description there. I've also been trying to get some more Finntroll, which is what Swedish pirates would sound like if they played metal. It's kinda cool, in a weird way.

Also football season is afoot and that always makes life a little better. I'm gonna do a fantasy football thing with Nick and the gang, but my only hope of succeeding there is if everyone else is as big a noob as I am, which I doubt. It'll still be fun I suppose. Must not draft all Steeler players...

Jojo the Idiot Circus Boy

Things are starting to get back to normal around here. Gabe left on Saturday morning and it's been pretty quiet. I had a great time with him in though and I hated to see him go. We hit up Chateau Morrisette and had a good time while he was in. Nice meal, good wine and beautiful scenery. That's a hard combo to beat.

Gabe had to be at the Raleigh airport early Saturday and I ended up not sleeping at all Friday night and riding down with him and mom. Sucked to see him go, but what can ya do? He's got a real life (which is a stunning contrast to my total lack of one). Mom and I rode back and hit K & W Cafeteria for breakfast. I won't be hurrying back for that. I've never been a huge fan of that place and my biscuits and gravy were quite horrid.

In other news, I watched Million Dollar Baby on Friday and it lived up to the hype. Good through and through. It's happy and sad and pretty much everything you could want. Also Morgan Freeman, man does that guy kickass or what. I'm giving it a filet mignon rating, with no reservations.

Saturday (after I had slept for a long while) I hooked up with Corb and Trip and we watched some Kenny vs. Spenny (a show I've only recently discovered) and some Pimp My Ride. We also watched a show that drove home the fact that I have outgrown the MTV demographic. It's called Trailor Fabulous and it's simply atrocious. It's a makeover show for people in trailors, with horrible, horrible people doing the making over. They have a token gay dude who was obnoxious. He's like Queer Eye's Carson if he was born in a trailor, forced to wear Levi's toughskins and molested by his uncle, Bo Duke.

Moving along, today Trip and I went to see March of the Penguins. It was really good. I love penguins anyway (note the name of the site afterall), but this was well done. Morgan Freeman narrated and again, he's the man. While I'm giving this movie a filet mignon rating, I have to note that I think Winged Migration was a little better film overall, it just lacked penguins.

Social interaction levels reaching dangerous levels

Man it's been a busy weekend. My bro rolls into town and EVERYBODY wants to hang. I've been social for the last 4 days and it's wearing thin. I'm tired, but I'm taking a day of rest. Hopefully that means I'll be more social going to the vineyard tomorrow.

But this weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Picked Gabe up on Friday in Raliegh with the fam. Saturday we hooked up with John, Tony, David and Ben and got a little drunk. Hodges showed up a little later. I managed to drop $20 in two poker tournaments. (I so hate the tourney format.) But it was a good time and good to see everyone.

Sunday we went to Trip's for some Halo 2 hijinks and Danny, Corb and Hodges showed up. After some early technical difficulties we got up and running and had a decent time. We finished the evening with some Robot Chicken, which Gabe appreciated.

Monday Hodges, Gabe and myself headed to the 'Noke and hooked up with David and Ben. We also managed to squeeze into Kevin's schedule and have a little Red Palace dinner with him. Mmm Red Palace. We ended up going all nostalgic and playing a booster draft with the new sets of Magic cards. That was fun and made me want to play again, but I really can't afford to get a new habit.

Well my plans of relaxing may have just come to a halt. Corb invited us to the pool, so we may end up doign that. Although at least that's a low pressure situation. Could be fun.

Nonentity

Now listening to: still more Modest Mouse

I managed to stay busy today. I mowed Trip's yard and did some weedeating in the insane heat. That was fun, but noone to blame but myself. I coulda waited for things to cool down in the evening, but I just wanted to get it done.

After that I came home, drank a gallon or two of water and cooled down. I then went to see a dress rehearsal of Corb's community theater production of Little Shop of Horrors. It was pretty much all I expected. The show was well put together and there were some talented folks in it, there were some technical problems, but it was a rehearsal and not an actual show, so I shan't over critique that. Corb did a really nice job putting it together, the sets look sharp and clearly a lot of work was put into getting everything just right. It did suffer from the same problem all plays in this area are going to suffer from, the target audience. But that really can't be helped. On the up side, there are a coupla cute chicks in the play, none in my age range, but it's nice to look nonetheless.

My biggest problem with going to the show was something I had foreseen, but there is no cure for it. There were loads of people I kinda, sorta know. Not people I wanna talk to, but people I'm obligated to speak to when I see them or I seem like an snob. So I get to have pedantic miserable faux conversation with them, when I'd rather be staring off into space.