The fleshy cheek of the mommy and daddy dance

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

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

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

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

I hate to think of what else it could be

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

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

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

He has a condo made of stone-a

Now listening to: Nick Drake

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

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

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

Who cares about you?

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

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

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

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

Tastes like chicken if chicken was a candy

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

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

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

Please don't declare me an enemy combatant

Now listening to: Xiu Xiu

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

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

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

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

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

She wasn't all that strict of a Christian

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

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

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

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

Street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm

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

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

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

Time has told me

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

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

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

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

Extreme makeover

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

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

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

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

Battle of the network space krakens

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

Hmmm, let's see what else is new? I'm watching far too much tv (imagine that, someone who works at a tv station watching tv). Some of the stuff that's pretty awesome according to me:

• Heroes, kinda Xmany, but with a nice flavor. Hell I'm a sucker for mutants, Marvel or otherwise, the fact that I hang out with Trip proves it.
• My Name is Earl, still super awesome.
• The Office can't be denied.
• Studio 60 is really, really good too. I wish it didn't conflict with MNF.
• Venture Bros. is still maybe the best thing ever. Lots of other adult swim stuff could also go here. Robot Chicken, Squidbillies, Metalocalypse, Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law.
  
• Scrubs, reruns everywhere... well on Comedy Central and my Fox affiliate. It rules.
• The Biggest Loser makes me want to get off my fat ass and do something. If only I had time for it now, maybe once I drop under 50 hours a week.

I suppose that's all I can think of now. I tried to watch Friday Night Lights, but I've seen that type of thing too many times. Read the book, saw the movie, watched Varsity Blues and I'm over it. I think I'm gonna go watch the Xmen 3 now. Gotta get my nerd on!
I'm sure I forgot some

I wanna be a bear

Now listening to: The Descendents

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

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

I'll get the astronaut ice cream

Now listening to: Puccini's La Boheme

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the dawn simply refuses to break

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

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

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

still I'm gonna miss you

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

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

invalidity of feeling

Now listening to: Mastodon

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

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

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

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

Hardly getting over it

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

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

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

Now listening to: Joy Division

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

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

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

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

They don't love you like I love you

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

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

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