New Porcupine Tree Track

Found this kicking around the InterWeb. Take a listen if you like that sort of thing.

Baby's First Crappy Rhythm Track

Homework assignment. When I hit it big, you can point at this and laugh. Hey, why wait? :-)

Ow

I am such a disgusting fatbody. My legs are killing me after a hike up Mt. Tam that would have been no problem only six months ago. Oh well, got a nice dinner at Japantown afterwards, at least. Oh, and I finally got Cowboy Bebop OST 2.
Oh yeah, saw Robin Williams in Japantown.

And so it begins...

So, after only six months or so, I went back into a gym. It didn't hurt too much.

Eternal Sunshine

And I need
your loving...
like the sunshine.

Just finished watching that movie again. I had a conversation with someone a while back where I stated that there is such a thing as a beautiful sadness. That's kind of what this movie is to me. I love how the idea that people could love one another to return to each other even after knowing the warts and wrinkles of their partner. Wow. I guess I am a Romantic. Sssh. Don't tell anyone. And I love Kate Winslet in this movie. Actually, I love Kate Winslet in pretty much every movie she's in (and not just because she flashes her boobs all the time), but in this movie in particular, her portrayal of Clementine gave me an almost visceral sense of longing. Jim Carrey's acting is also quite remarkable.

Aluminum Foil Hat Construction Site

Had to steal this from Noelle's blog: a site dedicated to the Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie. Why make your own? You want to "avoid the risk subversion and mental enslavement" and premade ones "may actually promote mind control." You can also get anti mind control software... if you have Linux or an Amiga.

I'm not so sure about this site, though. Certainly it's important to avoid hats from others, but how can we trust this person's methods? Maybe it's just a front organization for Them? Be aware and take care.

Christian Organization Warns Spogebob is Gay Foil

CNN is reporting that certain Christian groups (religious groups, not people who follow the teachings of Jesus) are warning that Spongebob Squarepants are "being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality." Some people have too much time on their hands (writes the man blogging). Fortunately, there's some sanity in the world: 72% on CNNs QuickVote poll think SpongeBob is: "Absorbent, yellow and porous."

Poll: Americans Split As To Whether Bush Is A Uniter Or A Divider

You know just when you thought only the Onion has a sense of humor, CNN comes along to brighten your day. This CNN article has the title: "Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider". I guess I would have to say if 49% of the people think he's a uniter and 49% think he's a divider, that would pretty much by definition make him a divider, no?

Yow! Santa Clara County Home Prices Rise 15%

Front page on the Mercury News today: Median house price rises 15%. The median price of a resale house (like mine) was $582,000. Sonofbitch! When I bought in 2000 it was around $475k (looking at the graph). My condolences to those who have had not the means to get a house. This place is nuts. [article]

hackers

Wow. Breathtaking. Such dialog. Wow.

The Weekend

Had a very enjoyable weekend. Had a friend over for another successful dinner. Heard from a friend I've been missing hearing from for a while now. Saw two movies in the theater. Had a nice dinner at Zao's (Chicken Pho: Yum!) with another friend I haven't spent enough time with lately. Watched a frightening number of James Bond movies (two channels to choose from!). Had a very satisfying night of D&D. Even got some guitar playing in. I will get that strumming thing down yet. Fun fact: When I bake a cherry pie, it tastes pretty good, even though I don't really like cherries that much.

A Tale of Two Movies

Went to see two original movies this weekend: Elektra and Appleseed. In something of a surprise, Elektra is the more watchable movie. It fully met my comic book movie needs. It's not great cinema but it has the always awesome Terrence Stamp and that Garner woman is decent too. I was expecting Appleseed to be a bit better since the original manga is by Masamune Shirow, who is responsible for Ghost in the Shell, one of my all time favorite anime/manga series. The animation in Appleseed appears to be strictly 3D, which I have concluded is just not a good idea for anime. It's really weird watching the characters' clothes shimmer as they move and their faces have virtually no emotion. And the compositing is frequently not good (why don't any of the people standing in the rain for 10-15 minutes get wet?). The fight scenes were pretty awesome though. Oh, well Elektra has at least broken my streak of disappointing movies.

Huygens Probe Successfully Lands On Titan

We've done it again! The NASA-ESA-ISA probe Huygens landed on the surface of Titan around 7:45AM EST this morning, after a journey of 2.2 billion miles and a13,700 mph descent through 300 mph winds of icy methane. Pictures are expected around 2:45PM EST. It's reassuring to know in these times of unmitigated horror that humans are capable of doing wonderful things. [article]

Cool APOD: Triffid Nebula

Lord of the G-Strings

So I come home late last night and turn on the idiot box only to catch the tail end of Lord of the G-Strings: The Femaleship of the String which has to be the worst parody of Lord of the Rings I've ever seen, although in fairness, I've only seen the Mad TV ones, so it doesn't fare that poorly in comparison. The flatulence humor is terrible. I won't even tell you how the evil wizard Sourass attacks them. On the other hand, there was some nice T&A (this is a softcore movie for those of you who hadn't figured it out). AJ Khan is foxy!

1602

Just finished 1602, which as I mentioned before, is written by the incomparable Neil Gaiman. The artwork and cover art are really gorgeous. Overall, I'd say pretty good for a Marvel comic. <grin> It is not Sandman, which I guess Neil was going for. :-) Worth a look.

Fun Sunday Afternoon!

So I went to Yoshi's in Oakland to see a great blues show. Charlie Musselwhite excellent and James Cotton was incredible. But my favorite performer by far was Kim Wilson, formerly of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. He has a great voice and the articulation he did on the harmonica was astonishing!

After the show I went and visited my friend Rick whom I haven't seen in far too long. We bummed around Berkeley and had a nice dinner and ended up browsing at Pegasus Books, where I got Persepolis 2 and the hardbound 1602 which is convenient because I finished Persepolis over the holidays and I've just finished rereading the Sandman cartoons. 1602 is really cool so far. The illustrations are excellent and the writing (from the incredible Neil Gaiman) is also great.

The Life Aquatic

Strange movie. I am not sure what Wes Anderson was going for here. It had some funny moments, but it was not as amusing to me as The Royal Tenenbaums or even Rushmore. It was very odd because some of the sets were incredibly cheesy, like they were part of a Steve Zissou documentary. I assume that was intentional. The characters, like those in the previous movies are quite idiosyncratic, although I found them less likable. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. The David Bowie songs in Portuguese was cool though.

OMG, Jon Stewart Killed Crossfire!

You bas-- Wait a minute, whaaa? I heard this on public radio tonight: Tucker Carlson is off of Crossfire and in fact, Crossfire may not be long for this world. Only months after Jon Stewart publicly castigated them on their own show. Maybe we can get Jon to go on Fox News next. The president of CNN said: "I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp," [article]

Jury Gives Man 4 Months For Murdering Wife, 15 Years For Wounding Her Boyfriend

A Texas jury ruled that a man was temporarily insane when he shot his wife to death and thus could get no more than six months in prison, but he got 15 years for attempted murder of her boyfriend. My favorite part about this story is: Jurors said they recommended probation because they didn't think Watkins could be rehabilitated in prison. This confounds my theory Texans prefer to give their mentally incompetent guilty people the death penalty.

Such Emptiness

Well, I finished Halo 2 tonight. Not very satisfied with the ending. Oh well. Now I'll have to find something else to occupy my time with. Hmm, I should get back to guitar. :-)

House of Flying Daggers

Visually striking. Needed more kung-fu. Ultimately kind of unsatisfying.