Catching the fever

So it's the midpoint of the NFL season and my devotion to the greatest of sports is strongest this time of year. Sure, I drool for the beginning of the season in August, but now the picture is starting to clear and it's all the more captivating. Certain games start to take on greater importance and you can't help but be enthusiastic if you have the slightest interest in the old gridiron.

I could probably go on to make a notes style NFL column from there, but I shan't since most of you don't give a damn. (I'm looking at you Trip.) It's hard not to since most of what I'm doing these days is watch football and/or sports talk. It's easy to get caught up in.

I am also still heavily focused on WoW, although I don't play as much as I once did. But my guild and our friends are close to knocking down one of the toughest bosses in the game. Well they've added tougher in patches, but Ragnaros is still a significant challenge. But again, most of you don't care.

So I will leave you now without anymore football speak or nerd chat. Just felt like writing a little something. I need to get back into a regular habit of writing.

Steel town stays sharp!

Woo the Steelers pull out a win sans Roethlisberger on my B-Day. All is well. Well, actually I'm probably gonna lose a game in my fantasy league despite scoring over 100 points. It's stupid, noone else is close, but this guy has LaDainian Tomlinson, who singlehandedly scored 38. Sucks ass. I'm currently leading him with 102, but he has 97 with Brian Westbrook and Adam Viniteiri and I only have TE Chris Cooley. So my prospects are bleak.

But as long as the Steelers win I can be satisfied. Hey! Charlie Batch didn't look too bad. He's not a world beater, but he managed the game well and made a couple of decent passes. I think he'll look even better next week against Cleveland.

Not a jolly good fellow

So it's my birthday again, woo. I've been kind of depressed all week thinking about it, but tried to defend with serious escapism.. which has worked for the most part. Just sometimes while lying in bed before or after sleeping. But I'm gonna try to not dwell on being a 31-year-old loser.

Went to see Saw 2 this afternoon and it was a beautiful day. The movie was pretty good, actually better than the first one. I'd give it a foot massage overall. I was surprised to see not one, but two children in the theatre. I mean kids under 8, impressionable minds clearly not prepared for the sadism this type of horror entails. Now don't get me wrong, I hate kids, but that is patently absurd. I'm sure parents will say its video games or heavy metal that caused the kids to go over the deep end, not their horrible parenting.

Anyway Trip then took me out to dinner, which was cool. He also got me a nice Kif Kroker action figure, one of my most fav. characters from Futurama.

We then went back to his pad and started to watch Hide and Seek, but it was way too slow at the beginning to hold my interest (despite both Famke Jannsen and Elizabeth Shue). We ended up watching Mythbusters and then George Carlin Live on HBO. Carlin was good, but depressing. He pointed out how much mankind sucks and I tend to agree with him. Although when he says cornhole, it is comedic genius.

Just enough

So the Steelers managed to hold off the Ravens for a Halloween victory. Man I was sweating it. I kept it kinda low key as I watched the game at Trip's. Pretty sure he was regreting letting me watch the game there since it went kind of late. He joked that if it went to overtime he was gonna kick me out. He doesn't know that I would sooner disembowel him than miss the end of an OT Steelers game.

So it has been a fruitful holiday for me. I managed to apply for not just one, but two jobs today. One pretty much because I talked to Kev. His dog Mocha died and I sent him condolences cause dogs are cool and it sucks losing a member of your family, even of the four-legged variety. (Also I tend to prefer dogs to people anyway.)

Gullet bomb

I had a good weekend. Mike came in and Adam came down and we all hung out at Nick's. On Saturday we played some poker. I didn't play great, making at least 2 serious errors and a few other bad judgement calls. Despite losing my whole stack on the third hand by overplaying my hand, I managed to rebuy and win most of it back, finishing down only $7. So it coulda been much worse.

Went back down to Nick's new home, which is really nice, on Sunday. We watched football and goofed off. Abby made us some serious burgers. They were chili cheese dog bacon burgers, or something like that, with a side of garlic fries. Quite tasty, but rough on the old digestion. You should consider yourself lucky that you were not in the car for the ride back to Martinsville. The Geneva Convention was ignored.

But yeah it was a good time. Got to see Adam watching his Chiefs lose and that may be more entertaining than actually watching football. I'm looking forward to hooking up again at the end of the month.

As for my Halloween plans, I'm still not sure. The Steelers are on tonight and I'm gonna be watching that, just not certian if I'll be at home or at Trip's.

Bring on the pavement saw

Now listening to: The Who and Rammstein

Went to get a haircut today. I didn't ask for the Opie look, but that's what I got. I said I wanted ti short on the sides and an inch off the top. She made it short on the sides with the clippers then added a different length guard on them. I wasn't paying close attention but when she fucking scalped me I was a little put off. But what do you say at that point when there is a whole freaking swath cut out? So I bit my tongue and took it and it looks like shit.

Went to Trip's and we watched this French slasher movie, High Tension, which was decent, +1 chainmail. About 60 minutes into it I thought it was kinda crappy. Generic and whatnot. But there was a nice twist that made me change my mind. It made a lot of what happened earlier make a lot more sense. Plus pavement saw love at the end.

We then watched a series of shows that would have made drug use a good choice. It started with the new adultswim show, Squidbillies. Which is the story of a total backwoods squid and his family. Yeah, it's a little surreal. We followed with some HBO show about weird sex tv from around the world. Sometimes tittilating, sometimes gross and sometimes just odd.

We finished up with another adultswim product called 12 oz. mouse, which is even weirder than Squidbillies, if you can believe that. It's a stream of weirdness with little mind for story continuity or artistic sensibility. Sometimes amusing because of it's bizare nature, but nothing I can really recommend.

I didn't get you anything

Now watching: Celebrity Poker Showdown

I have to say that Gina Gershon has the sexiest mouth in Hollywood. That's right, not Angelina Jolie, Gina Gershon. Tremendous brunettes.

I've been slacking around again, reading The Wheel of Time again. As such I've been staying up way, way later than I need to be just because I get wrapped up in the story. Then I sleep all damn day. I know most of you think I sleep all day anyway, but lately I've really been sleeping all day. My nocturnal nature is coming through clearer than ever.

I meant to go get a haircut today, but my late rising curtailed that intention. So I'll probably end up looking shaggy for another weekend. Maybe I'll try to sneak one in tomorrow, but Friday's usually suck for walking in.

I'm now addicted to watching Around the Horn and Pardon The Interruption. Football season always makes those shows better and they are pretty good even during the spring. Well actually I can't stand Around the Horn outside of football, but PTI is really good. The joy of sports.

Death will be my bride

I got to watch ye olde Steelers lay a pride-obliterating bitch slap down on the Bengals yesterday and that was good. On top of that I won both my fantasy football games this weekend! So it was nice. Maybe I can get back in the game.

Fall has definitely arrived, as it is noce 46-degrees outside. Brrr, I love it. Now that the race fans are gone all is well. Well, not all. The classifieds continue to be empty of decent jobs or even less than decent ones that I can get. Now is the autumn of my discontent.

Anyway not much else is going down. Just got word that Mike is coming in this weekend and we are gonna get a poker game together and watch football. Sounds like a good time to me. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Tonight I'm gonna head to Trip's for some TV. Hopefully watch a little of the football game. It's funny how much the NFL can do to ease my mind.

Tombstone with a cross

It's that time of year again, where the knuckle-dragging morons come out to play. Race fans infest the area like plague-filled rats. The horror. I'm making every effort to avoid them, but last night's trip to Trip's put me in redneck central.

We didn't do a lot, watched Threshold and played hockey. We're pretty evenly matched at the moment. Our games are decided by which way the puck happens to fall. Who's goalie comes up with the big saves and who can get the best scoring chances. It's enjoyable having the game in question.

Other than that I've been reading some, nothing new really, mostly stuff I've read before. I am enjoying the hazy, rainy fall weather now tho. Love the chill in the air.

Hard drugs are for bartenders

So I'm not cursing every few minutes now, well no more than normal anyway. I dim acceptance has taken over that I suppose will carry me through. I'll now try to talk about recent developments outside the NFL.

First off, Jeff has had his baby. Well, his wife did and all is well. So that's cool. There is now a chip off the old Biscuit out there. So congrats to him, although I'm not sure he reads this blog, but I'll link his nonetheless.

Friday I hung with Trip and we watched Threshold. While the show is still good, I'm a little concerned that it could get bogged down with some side stories and lose some momentum from the main concept. We'll see how it goes. Saturday, Danny, Trip and I went to Danville where Danny and I got a copy of the ESPN NHL 2005 game, both used and under $10. It's fun when everyone can practice on the same game and actually compete instead of taking a beating from the one guy who owns the game.

So I'm reading this book by the Dali Lama. It's about how science and spirituality don't have to be mutually exclusive, which I happen to believe. In fact, most of what the lama is about I agree with, aside from some of the more hardcore buddhist dogma. But anyway I mentioned this in an email to Dana, who lives in Arizona. She told me that the lama had recently been there and that people had protested him!!?! They had signs that said Tolerance=sin.

Ok, if there is a hell, there is a special place in it for people who earnestly belive tolerance=sin. Plus protesting the lama is the dumbest thing ever. According to Tibetan Buddhism the lama is essentially the spirit of peace, unity and enlightenment come to life and continually reincarnated to help spread love and joy. Now while I normally don't believe a religion's word about it's centerpiece (the pope isn't infallible, get over it) the lama has made an effort to at least try to follow the doctrine of his role in his religion. He's never condemned people for using birth control or masturbating or called them to bomb anyone as far as I know. He's just a cool guy, who'd kinda like his country back.

I suppose I'm more defensive because as far as religions go I'm closer to buddhism that most, at least in theory. Sort of a zen/taoism thing with existential highlights. Of course around these parts once you depart from christianity you're so far out of the mainstream as to be absurd. I distinctly remember the looks some people would give me in high school when I told em I not only didn't go to church, but I didn't believe in their god. Hmm actually I remember a couple of those looks from the Bulletin as well.

In closing I would like to say that if you protest the Dalai Lama the you can fuck right off.

Son of a...

bitch, cocksucking, motherfucking, worthless whore, eat a candybar out of my asshole you shitstuffing douchebag.

An overtime loss after winning the toss and Quincy Morgan returning the ball back to the Pittsburgh 30. Three plays, two fumbles and then the defense steps up again. We get the ball back and the QB I mentioned in the headline and so forth throws his third interception of the day. Just cut that prick. He was good for about 12 games in his whole NFL career, he gets hit once and turns into a freaking chucker. So I say cut Tommy Maddox and find someone who can be a decent backup.

The defense played phenomonally and the special teams kept Pittsburgh in it. But with eight men in the box, Maddox gives the game away.

A knife behind the eyes

So Roethlisberger's injury is not as bad as I thought, thankfully. That is sooo a good thing for me. He's probably gonna sit out this week against the Jaguars. Which means our third string QB, Charlie Batch, is gonna be starting as Tommy Maddox is injured. I'd say look for the run a little bit.

In other news, I whipped Trip's ass in ESPN 2005 hockey last night. The Penguins cannot be stopped (ok, yeah they probably can, but whatever). It's a lot of fun tho and I'm actually considering picking up the game. I go through hot and cold spells on hockey. Oddly enough, while Trip and I were battleing with the Pens and Sabres, the actual Pens and Sabres were playing. Sadly the real Sabres won that battle 5-4 in OT.

Trip and I also watched The Biggest Loser (or as we call it The Fat Show!). You know I still like the show, but the player's personalities seem kinda dull. Most of the women seem irritating or whiney and ready to place blame on someone else. The guys all seem flaccid, as in just kinda blah. Well except for the ex-wrestler Matt, who fluctuates between the guy I'm rooting for to huge douche.

We the watched My Name is Earl and The Office and those shows rock. My Name is Earl has a really nice tone. It's stupid, but in a nice and funny way. The Office, on the other hand, is really funny, but in a way that makes you want to cover your face with yor hands because of the total humiliation of the characters.

Big win and potential despair

Well the Steelers managed to fight their way through and win a close game against another good team. The problem is that Ben Roethlisberger got injured in the process. That could be the season, more or less. Well, we'd still probably be near getting a playoff spot, but it makes things a whole lot harder. You can't run on every down and still come away with wins against the NFL elite. i gotta tell you my heart was in my throat when I saw that helmet hit his knee. Serious trama (for me... and maybe him).

But as far as the game went, the Steelers played really well. We got some raw calls man. That fair catch rule is total horseshit. Jerome Bettis is back and he looked sharp. Man, I love him. The way he runs is what's best about football in my mind. Well that and the way the defense hits, especially Polamalu ...and Casey Hampton, you gotta love the nose tackle. Hell I could go on all night.

Fuckery most foul

Well I seem to have recovered from whatever was plaguing me yesterday. I felt shitty all day. This was probably aided by the fact that I stayed up all night reading Jarhead, which was pretty good (foot massage). I wanted to finish it and did, around 9 a.m. I intended to sleep til around 2p.m. and then watch football. What happened was that I slept til 11a.m. and then woke up and felt shitty for the rest of the day. I ended up nodding off at some point and missed the second half of the Pats-Falcons game, but no big deal.

Something odd happened, I ended up flipping back and forth between football and the Astros-Braves baseball game. Normally I loathe baseball, but 18 innings adds some drama. I was also glad the Stros won, because fuck the Braves.

Honestly I none of the football games enthralled me yesterday and I kinda lost interest. This feeling was only helped by the fact that my fantasy players were playing completely shitty. I have 32 points with only two players left, Hines Ward and Ben Roethlisberger. Here's hoping for a 4 TD game for that duo. Even if that happens I'm still probably gonna lose, it's that bad.

On Saturday, Trip and I went to Danville for some shrimp love. I decided to buy last year's version of EA's college football game. It was $6 and I'll end up playing it a bit, I'm betting. For some reason I always enjoy those more than Madden. I enjoy recruiting players in the dynasty mode more than Madden's franchise mode.

You knew what you were getting into

Just finished watching The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it was pretty good. I really liked Mos Def. He's awesome. He really got the quirky unworried demeanor of Ford Prefect down. Sam Rockwell was also very good. It really managed to keep the flavor of the books without being slavishy devoted to keeping every detail. I'd give it a foot massage.

I've been really low energy the last few days, pretty much staying in and playing WoW. I've also done some reading. I finished the sequel to Eragon, Eldest. It was pretty good and I may have liked it more than the original. That tends to be the case with fantasy writing, as the first book sets up the frame and the following books get all the action and whatnot.

I started rereading Palahniuk's Lullaby and that's entertaining. I got Jarhead from the library, because I saw an ad for the movie and Trip mentioned that the book was supposed to be good. So we'll see.

I gotta bunch of stuff I need to do tomorrow and I'm hoping I can drag my lame ass outta bed at a decent hour to do them. I need to get my car inspected (it's a week late already). I need some new razors (I need to shave and know that my old razor is not gonna make that a pleasant event.) I'll probably also throw in a trip to the library and try to find some other new books.

Losers chase

Now listening to: Dead Can Dance - Live

So the title is some poker wisdom I picked up today watching some 7 card stud WSOP tournament on ESPN. It seems to hold true outside of poker, but I'll not delve into a deep philosophical discussion.

Decent night. I went over to Trip's, tried the new chicken parmesan sub from Subway (don't bother) and watched some good tv. I also threatened to kick Trip in the groin until he was unconcious, ya know, in a fun way. But yeah, I'm totally gay for Monday night tv lately. First off you have football, although this week I couldn't bring myself to watch the Packers-Carolina game. I just don't care enough.

Then there is Arrested Development. I always found it funny when I watched it, but never watched it cause it was on Sunday nights. An evening usually reserved for football in my mindset. Man is this show funny. David Cross touts himself as the first man to combine being an analyst and a therapist... this makes him an analrapist. He has it on his card. That is merely the tip of the iceberg of funny.

Next up is Kitchen Confidential, which I like a lot as well. (Thanks to Trip for making me watch it.) Good cast, nice food jokes and probably gonna get cancelled soon. Catch it while you can. I'll end with the show How I Met Your Mother, which I love. Neil Patrick Harris reminds me of Mike... a lot. Also this show has lots of hotties. Lots. It's quirky and sexy and also will be cancelled cause I dig it. (My positive attitude knows no bounds.)

Beaten to death with a nerf bat

So the weekend was filled with small annoying things that wouldn't be that big of a deal individually, but they all added up to frustration. Football-wise the Steelers had a bye, so it seemed like an empty Sunday without them. I also managed to lose both my fantasy football games. Who can believe that Sebastian Janikowski was my undoing in one of them?

Serenity only took second place in the movie list this weekend, with Flightplan somehow topping the charts. Flightplan? It looked stupid to me, sure Jody Foster lent some credibility, but please. Another lame "mystery with a twist style" horror movie. I've been Shyamalan'd enough.

I was awoken early today by people talking outside my window... I soo hate that. I'm not sure if they are new neighbors moving in downstairs or simply people working to prepare the apartment for new people to move in. (Apparently my crackhead neighbor that moved out left the place in a shambles.)

Also my mouse just gave out. Don't know why. I'm now back to my wireless mouse that I stopped using cause it eats batteries like mad. On the upside, it is wireless and that's nice.

You can't take the sky from me

Now listening to:KMFDM

So Trip and I went to see Serenity tonight and it was excellent. I was very pleased with the movie, although there were some events in the film that sucked, simply cause I love the characters. But I won't get into it in case someone wants to see it. I won't be the spoiler king. Needless to say, if you haven't seen it, then you should and if you have then you should watch the Firefly TV series DVDs.

After the movie we watched Threshold, which I'm still loving. I like the whole Extinction Level Event concept for fiction. (Not too fond of the idea in a real life scenario.) But yeah, the show continues to be very cool in concept and I like the characters on the show. I'm anticipating it getting cancelled at any moment.

I finished reading this book Eragon that this kid wrote when he was 19 years old. I'm both impressed and annoyed with that. People who have their shit together at that age need a beating for making the rest of us schleps feel like losers. Anyway, it probably help that his parents had a publishing house. Still it's a pretty good read and I've got the next in the series on hold at the library. I need to get to writing since I'm not doing anything else useful, but I have a hard time focusing.

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.

I spy with my little eye...

So I actually left the house today. It was ever so exciting. Went to Trip's and then we went to Jerry's Pizza with the intent of dining there. They have been remodeling for what seems like forever and still are. The dining area is incredibly small because of this and so we decided to just take it back to his place as there were hordes of people milling about. Later we went for a Blizzard at DQ and it was also packed. The fun thing about going to places in Martinsville is the sites you see. I'm gonna give you a little list of things I saw that caught my attention.

• White trash family, including mom smoking in line (clear violation of Va. state law), eldest child wearing a t-shirt and filthy underwear and nothing else and younger child who decided that a shirt was too much and just sported a diaper. Altogether charming.
• Surly white girl who seems to wish everyone dead while taking their order.
  
• Surly black woman who seemed to wish everyone dead while making thier Blizzard.
• Annoying white guy who clearly wanted to use the N word on the surly black woman.
• Woman in her 40s wearing an outfit she didn't have the body for when in her 20s.
• Bald black man wearing a hairnet. Why was he wearing a hairnet without hair? Couldn't tell you.

After our adventures in the outside world Trip and I watched The Incredibles. I love that movie, seems to be as good as the first time each time I watch it.

New gig

well I have now started blogging about WoW at a new site. This will come as a relief to some of you who don't enjoy my WoW rambling. To those that do, you can check it out here. Just go to the MOG blogs and look for the WoW listing.

Anyway that's about all I got for now. I only halfwatched the WSOP broadcast last night and it wasn't what I expected really.

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.