Successlessness

Worst Movie Ever?

2008-01-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Nerd Confession

2007-02-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

I had a great time watching the Oscars at my place on Sunday with Jeanine, Misty, and Nick, but during the red carpet pre-show stuff I reached a new low of nerdom. There was some one wearing a Kimino in the background which cause some one to ask "who is that?". Now you couldn't see this persons whole face but you could see their jaw. I instantly blurted out "Oh, that's George Takei!" And not a second later the screen revealed that it was indeed George Takei, of Star Trek fame. Which caused a profound wave of embarassment to wash over me. I then looked up and saw a my evil-bearded Spock action figure on the window sill and I died a little inside.

On the subject of George Takei this is some funny stuff:

Battle Beasts

2007-01-31T17:51:00.000-08:00

I have long held that the most compelling television show ever would be if Animal Planet could throw out all their ethics and start a show pitting different types of animals in a fight to the death. It would be completely wrong and evil but just imagine: lion vs. tiger, tabby vs. chihuahua, toucan vs. parrot, cougar vs. wolf, eagle vs. leopard; cockroach vs. dung beetle, or two roosters vs. a single turkey. I'd hate myself for it but I'd be glued to the set for every episode; especially that rooster-turkey show down.

I was reminded of this idea by the upcoming Bears-Colts Super Bowl match up. Now an actual show down between a colt and a grizzly bear would be awesome. Would the young horse speed and kicking power overcome the grizzly's strength and agressiveness? I think it all depends on the size of the arena. The colt wins if it has room to run, but the bear takes it easily if its a fight in small quarters.

While not nearly as exciting as the real deal the videos on Bear vs. Colt are a welcome substitute. I'm rooting for Bear because Colt comes off as a total ass.

In the actual game I'm rather conflicted about who to root for as I have strong strain of hatred for both Peyton Mannning and Rex Grossman. Peyton has annoyed me for years with is goofy slack-jawed expression, lack of clutch play, over played TV ads, and the constant references to his brother and father. But at least Peyton is a great player, Rex is a mediocre Quarterback at best and comes of as a spoiled dumb frat boy that you wouldn't want to leave alone with your sister. So i think I have to root for the Colts, but thats a weak endoresment at best.

But who do I think will win? On paper I think the Colts, but he recent death of Barbaro has me wondering if this is going to be a bad week for colts all around or if the Indianapolis Colts will be inspired to avenge his death.

Screw it. Rex Grossman sucks. The Colts will win and cover

Dream Ticket

2007-01-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

The 2008 Presidential race is already in full swing two years out, which is rather weird as things didn't really get going last time until the summer of 2003.

Regardless of who wins, Republican or Democrat, the next president will be an improvement over the current guy. As a Democrat there are a lot of good choices and thankfully John "Frankenstein" Kerry is not running. I'm frankly embarrassed i supported the guy and sadly I can't say I wish he had won in 2004.

Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton are the superstars but both have their flaws. Obama is a dymanic and charismatic guy and he's great on on all the issues. He smokes which makes him strangely cool in my eyes. But Obama is short on experience especially in the international realm. Hilary Clinton is pretty impressive but she's a little too cold and calculating and I never quite she believes what she's saying. Plus i've had enough of dynastic politics with the Bushes and I fear President Hilary would result in a future presidential race between Chelsea Clinton and George P. Bush ends up causing a fratricidal civil war in the streets.

My dream ticket would be John Edwards and Bill Richardson. Edwards was my first choice last time and I think he is even more qualified and ready to win this time around. Edwards is likable, progressive, populist, southern, and this time he seems generally more serious and won't just be Mr. Nice Guy. I think Edwards can win and be a great president, but his only short coming is foreign policy and that's where Bill Richardson comes in. Richardson is the very popular Governor of New Mexico, a state won by Bush in 2004 and Gore in 2000, and was a leader on foreign policy in the House and served as Bill Clinton's Ambassador to the United Nations. Plus he's Hispanic! Richardson balances Edwards weaknesses.

Edwards/Richardson in '08!

Top Albums of 2006

2007-01-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Lots of great music last year! Full reviews of the top ten to come later.

My Top Ten:
1. Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
2. Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 - Olé! Tarantula
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
5. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
6. Cat Power - The Greatest
7. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
8. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of Broken Seas
9. Robert Pollard - From A Compound Eye
10. The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea

The Runners Up:
11. The Pernice Brothers - Live a Little
12. TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
13. The Minus 5 - The Minus 5 (The Gun Album)
14. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom
15. Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint - The River in Reverse
16. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
17. The Dresden Dolls - Yes, Virginia
18. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
19. Frank Black - Fast Man Raider Man
20. The Long Winters - Putting The Days To Bed

Honnorable Mentions:
The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Jon Auer - Songs From The Year Of Our Demise
Badly Drawn Boy Born In The U.K.
Beck - The Information
Dan Bern - Breathe
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go
Built to Spill - You In Reverse
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
Lloyd Cole - Antidepressant
Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
Destroyer - Rubies
Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Elf Power - Back to the Web
The Futureheads - News & Tributes
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Gomez - How We Operate
Grandaddy - Just Like The Fambly Cat
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
John Legend - Once Again
Jenny Lewis - Rabbit Fur Coat
Loose Fur - Born Again In The USA
Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Grant Lee Phillips - Nineteeneighties
Robert Pollard - Normal Happiness
Puffy AmiYumi - Splurge
Paul Simon - Surprise
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Ray

2006-07-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

I saw Ray Davies at the Moore tonight. I was surprisingly psyched for this show and was listening to the Kinks all day in preparation I was hoping he'd do a wide variety of Kinks stuff and only a limited about of his new album. Unfortunately He mostly did a combination of the Kinks oldies radio rotation and way way to many of his mediocre new songs. He even managed to flub "You Really Got Me" by including an accordion in the arrangement. Sorry Ray, accordions should only be included on polkas and songs from weirdos like Tom Waits and They Might Be Giants not on classic rock tunes. But Ray saved the evening from being a mild thumbs down to make it a mild thumbs up by closing with 1979's "Low Budget".

Silence of the Lambs Musical

2006-07-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! Someone has gone recorded songs for a Silence of the Lambs musical. Its called fittingly Silence! Songs include "# If I Could Smell Her...", "Are You About a Size 14?", and of course "Put the Fucking Lotion in the Basket" Read more and download the tracks here.

Library Horror

2006-05-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

I promise this blog is not going to become just as series of YouTube posts but this was too funny to not share. It's a ridiculous stry reported in a ridiculous mannner. At first I wasn't sure if this was for real or some sort of brilliant comedy sketch. The very end is the best part. And as always bad mustaches are very funny.

Update YouTube's version is down but you can watch it here.

Heat Vision and Jack

2006-05-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

Another legendary lost pilot. This one is from Ben Stiller and stars Jack Black has an astronaut named Jack and Owen Wilson as the voice of his motorcycle, Heat Vision. It is even more awesome than it sounds. My favorite part is Ron Silver the villian.

Lookwell

2006-05-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to see this pilot for at least 6 or 7 years. I think i first saw a clip for it on an A&E Biography of Conan O'Brien. Now thanks to the wonder of the internet here is Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel's 1991 lost pilot Lookwell starring Adam West. Look for In the Bedroom director Todd Field as Jason.

Def Leprechaun Bring The Rock!

2006-03-18T00:49:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my drinking life I went out on St. Patrick's Day. As rule I always try to avoid drinking holidays with the exception of New Year's, but so-called holiday's like St. Paddy's, Mardi Gras, and Cinco De Mayo are a no-go for me. But this year I was drawn out of my boycott by the specter of a band called cover band called Def Leprechaun playing at the Sunset Tavern mere blocks from my Ballard home. Would this mean a tiny Joe Elliott impersonator? One could only hope!

I was joined by my friend and former co-worker Layne. Layne is a legitimate metal fan not a trader in metal nostalgia like myself. The first album Layne ever purchased was Def Leppard's Pyromania, while my first album was either Lionel Richie's All Night Long or Wang Chung's Mosaic. The man knows his metal.

It was weird being out on such a busy night. There were a lot more people on the street. All the bars on Ballard Ave were packed and there were a lot of people completely blotto at 9PM. "Amateur night" indeed!

The show itself was pretty close to awesome. Layne and I both expected Def Leprechaun to be dodgy at best. And I was well prepared to suggest getting drinks elsewhere a few songs if they sucked. But they started off with a double shot of Loverboy with "Working For the Weekend" and "The Kid is Hot Tonite" back-to-back I knew we'd be staying.

There were no little people in the band which was good because the Sunset has a very low stage; just guys in silly wigs and fake beards. The Loverboy double shot was followed by some great songs by the likes of Journey, Cheap Trick ("Surrender"!), Styx, The Cure, Night Ranger, Kiss, and of course Def Leppard ("High & Dry" and a surprisingly awesome version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me").

Towards the end of the set a few Seattle Fireman started roaming around to make sure everything up to stuff and not overcrowded. The Firemen were clearly digging the set and waited until the end to leave. They closed with a back to back Van Halen tunes "Jump" and "Panama". I left totally impressed with the band. They played together pretty tightly and had some real chops; not the amateur stuff I was expecting. They rocked Ballard hard tonight.

Top Ten Films of 2005

2006-03-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

1. Me and You and Everyone We Know - Strange, weird and totally affecting. I knew I'd probably like this but I waited until DVD because it seemed too serious. But to my surprise this movie was totally serious and really funny. Weird funny but still funny. Surreal, real, and sweet all at the same time.

2. Where the Truth Lies - I'm always a sucker for Atom Egoyan. This movie rather blindsided me since the concept is rather hokey: Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth as Martin and Lewis stand-ins involved in murder that ruined their careers and all based a pulpy mystery novel by Rupert "The Pina Colada Song" Holmes. But it works flawlessly.

3. The Squid and The Whale - Divorce in the 1980s, fuck yeah! I have rarely seen a truer or darkly funny film about things I experienced as a child and worst of it made me relive the shame of past as a teenage intellectual. Billy Baldwin almost steals the show as Ivan.

4. Munich - My favorite critic Jeffrey Wells let me down on this one he poo-poo'ed it and I kind of avoid it. Thanks to the Geekdrome podcast and Headstart's enthusiasm I finally saw it this weekend. Powerful stuff.

5. A History of Violence - Cronenberg! Straight forward and Sci-Fi free but still totally Cronenberg. You'll never stink of stairwell sex the same again.

6. In Her Shoes - I love this chick flick unashamedly. This is one of those Ohana movies for me. Toni Collete was robbed of an Oscar!!

7. Brokeback Mountain - Worst Oscars ever! Crash had no business winning let alone being nominated. Brokeback was all it promised and more.

8. Broken Flowers - Jim Jarmusch and Bill Murray apologize for that Cigarettes & Coffee mistake with this bit of understated brilliance.

9. King Kong - This movie should have been a disaster but instead its best thing Peter Jackson has done since Heavenly Creatures.

10. Layer Cake - Daniel Craig is going to be an awesome Bond.

Kneel Before Zod in 2008!

2006-01-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

Finally a candidate I can support! Check out Zod's site and contribute now!

They Stole My Joke!

2006-01-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I joked to Misty that song "The Mariner's Revenge Song" off of the latest Decemberists album was secretly about Alvin Davis and Harold Reynolds. Now the guys over at the U.S.S. Mariner blog have posted alternative lyrics that make the song about the worlds most frustrating baseball team. Ladies and gentlemen, "The Mariners' Revenge Song".

Happy Holidays!

2005-12-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Chirstmakwanzayulasaturnaliakkuh to all.

Melly Mel

2005-12-23T01:43:00.000-08:00

Thought Mel Gibson went over the edge with his Jesus movie? Well, this a frame from the trailer to his new movie Apocalypto, which is about the Mayans. Amybe Jesus will appear Mormon style! Funny dude or addled religious nut? You decide!

Potteriana

2005-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

I caught the new Potter flick on opening weekend. Solid flick definitely better than the first two movies but not as good as the third. My old friend Nick how ever had a much more passionate reaction and here it is:

I liked it considering the amount of things that go on in the book and that they need to make it fit into a couple hours of screen time. Still, I wish they would have just made it a 5 hour long movie and put in the first half of the book. I did feel cheated on not having any World Cup scenes. (BTW, did you ever see the Daily Show's report some years ago from Harry Potter camp where the kids essentially played Ultimate Frisbee while holding brooms between their legs...).

The pace was really quite fast and I'm not sure if someone hasn't read the books if they will really catch on to what is going on. For instance, the whole gilliweed (sp?) exchange with Snape misses something without the Dobbie/House Elf sub-plot, though they try (and fail) to infer that Moody made it happen. I also think the SPEW thing is important to the Hermione character development (not least because I was once an idealistic laborista-type myself...). I do think that the Dobbie aversion might be to some sort of Jar Jar Effect, but the house elves are cool and fit the spirit
of the story, whereas Jamaicans in Space do not...This also tells me that that part of the story will not be carried forward at all in Book 7.

The only thing that grates on me every time I see this movie (my 6th viewing will be on Thursday--its only like $3 here), I am developing a strong aversion to the current Dumbledore. He moves too fast. I like the All-Knowing, Metered Albus of the first two (Richard...whatshisname...). In fact, I think even Richard's dead corpse would be better than the current one. He's too cartoonish and the scripts make him too obtusely sage-like rather than the behind the scenes mover and shaker that he is until the end of Half Blood. I was appalled at him rushing at Harry and almost tackling him after his name was drawn and they convene down in the dungeon. Ahkh! The best contrast is how the two Dumbledores handle candy be it the Everyflavor Beans in the first or the Licorice Snaps in the current one. Acting, acting, acting...

The one major flaw in the screenplay though is the disemboweling of the whole Crouch and Crouch dynamic. It was murdered. The whole denial of having done anything at the Wizengamot is the crux of that story and they just had him do the admission (and weird tongue flick) once he was caught in the pensieve recollection. I think that could have been written into the screenplay without adding any additional scenes or taking up any more time.
I did wish there was more character development with the Champions, though I did get all choked up when Cedric bit it (especially when Harry's clinging to him once they get back to Hoggies). Of course its always easy to feel empathy for good looking people...Fleur was a little one dimensional and should have been waaaaay more French. Instead of the formidable woman that she is portrayed as in the books, she comes off as the standard heroine in distress. I couldn't get enough Diggory and Krum and that's the theme of my main dissatisfaction with the film. NOT ENOUGH. MORE, MORE, MORE. It wasn't so much the omissions, but the aversion to straying from only Harry's story. I sort of feel they did a Rita Skeeter on the book.

Also, you just can't have enough Rickman and I know that in the 6th installment it will be all Severus, all the time, but still...

The twins were great, but again, it would have been nice to have the Pearcy sub-plot and the foreshadowing of the weak character of Cornelius Fudge. After all, he's not just a silly, weak politician, but duplicitous and that comes to light in Phoenix and this would be a good set up. Shades of Bill Bennett... :)

Alas, not enough Sirius, but I can see that being made up for in Phoenix so as to get maximum tears. If I got all sniffly over Cedric, I'll be a basket case when Sirius goes through the looking glass (although, I'm absolutely jones'd about his evil cousin--but that's partly because she's such a good character when Jim Dale reads her on the audio versions).

Still, I'm glad they didn't change any of the themes or alter any of the storylines in fundamental ways that would have diverged from the book. Although, the Myrtle scene was a bit overdone and I hope it doesn't portend them mangling the Luna storyline in the next installment.

I liked the way they did Moody, but (like Lupin in Azkaban) he wasn't anything like I was expecting, but I liked the way they rendered both of them.

And now here's my geek hang up: Bulgaria's colors are NOT RED & BLACK. I understand why they did what they did, but its like in Dune where they screwed up the coloration of the Houses and instead opt for the standard Hollywood color wheel (red = bad, [insert a McCarthy joke of your choosing here]...). If British Pinewood wanted to be considered more than just a shadow of American cinema, they should challenge these cinematic stereotypes...okay, I'm done geeking out. Putting jam on my nose...

I will end my ramblings on the whole ball/love subplot which I thought was done superbly. I really do like how Daniel, Rupert, and Emma deliver all their lines through out the movies. They just so good at being these characters. "It will never wooo-ork." sings Granger to Fred & George as they enter with their aging potions or Radcliffe's "How could anyone figure that out, Ron," after Grint goes through the complicated way in which he really did tell Harry about the dragons.

Woo! Now that was a rant! Although I must completely disagree with nick about the whole Harris/Gambon Dumbledore debate. Harris was too comatose to be the Dubledore of the books!

Released

2005-11-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Recently for the second day in a row, I overheard a co-worker weep uncontrollably and appear to have nervous breakdown of sorts. The first time, I wasn't sure what to do. I was the only one else left in the office, so I figured I'd leave this person to their solitude. But the next the sobbing became a total freak out/argument in the middle of the day, all while I was working with other co-workers to try to solve a rather tricky problem. Eventually we are all a little rattled by the goings on nearby that we postpone resolving the problem for a time and retreated to our individual headphones and more mundane tasks. When I fired up my iPod I was greeted by a fantastic Jeff Tweedy cover of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" which immediately soothed my jagged nerves. Gob Bless you Jeff and Bob for returning me to normality.

Please Let This Be True

2005-11-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

According to this article, crazy billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban may be buying my first Baseball love the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were my favorite team growing up in Alaska when they still wore those silly pillbox hats and Bill Matlock was my favorite player. Even when they sucked in the mid-80s I loved them for Manager Jim Leyland's Don Knotts looks and chain smoking in the dugout, and young skinny Barry Bonds' promise. And the fact that Public Enemy's Chuck D always wore a Pirates hat solidified my fandom. The early 90s were a great time to be a Pirates fan with 3 straight NL East titles, but since then they have really sucked and my allegiance has been won over by the local Mariners, who now suck only marginally less than the Pirates. But if Cuban buys the Pirates and opens his big wallet and turns the Pirates into a first class organization worthy of their great ball park and swank uniforms I'll be fully back in the Pirates fold. Please Mark, please buy the Pirates!

Balloting

2005-11-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Today is Election Day. And by all means vote dammit! Here's how Im voting (if you care). I guess you could consider these my endorsements:

Statewide Intiatives:
330 Limit Malpractice Awards - No
336 Malpractice Accountability - Yes
900 Perfomance Audits - No
901 Smoking Ban - NO!!! (The 25 foot outside ban is stupid. And what about private property rights?)
912 Gas Tax Repeal - No (building roads is a good idea!)

King County:
Veterans Levy - Yes
Executive - Ron Sims (please god let Ron win!)
Sherriff - Sue Rahr
Council District 4 - Larry Phillips

Port of Seattle:
Comissioner 1 - Lawrence Molloy
Comissioner 3 - Lloyd Hara
Comissioner 4 - Jack Jolley (I'm still mad at my local 36th District Democrats for endorsing Pat Davis)

City of Seattle:
Health Care Advisory Measure - No (this sort of thing is a waste of time).
Mayor - Greg Nickels
City Attorney - Tom Carr
Council 2 - Richard Conlin
Council 4 - Jan Drago
Council 6 - Nick Licata
Council 8 - Dwight Pelz

Monorail:
Modify Monorail Plan - Yes (we gotta build something!)
More Elected Board Members - Yes
Board 8 - Beth Goldberg
Board 9 - Cleve Stockmeyer

Seattle School Board:
Director 4 - Michael DeBell
Director 5 - Mary E. Bass
Director 7 - Cheryl Chow

Down With GBV?

2005-11-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

I work with acronyms and initialism all day at work. I use them, decipher them, and define them. And yes, I'm a big enough of a dork to make a distinction between an acronyms and initialisms. Anyhow tonight I ran I was trying to find Guided By Voices posters for purchase and I ran across this site. Apparently in addition for standing for the greatest band in the history of Dayton Ohio (if not the world), GBV also stands for Gender Based Violence. GBV the band is the best and GBV the social problem is very bad. Up with GBV! Down with GBV!

Also Robert Pollard's double album is coming out in January with a tour to follow. Let the Miller Light flow!

Tusk-esque

2005-10-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

While standing on the corner of 2nd and Stewart tonight, Nicole and I saw the weirdest thing, USC Marching Band marching south on 2nd in full uniform. I was like a flashback to a Fleetwood Mac video. Former University of Colorado Marching Band Member nicoel, remarked that she would have never been allowed to do that. Apparently it wouldn't have been becoming for their band or something. It was really cool to see something random and unexpected. I carry around my digital camera all the time hoping to document something special and I see something truly sureal and my camera is sitting at home.

Reunion

2005-10-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post has nothing to with a hideously bad yet entertaining show on Fox.

I was rather nervous about attending my 10 Year High School Reunion last night. Initially it sounded like a grand idea but as it approached I found myself trying to convince myself that it was an ill-conceived idea. That I didn't need to go. That I was above all that. And when Misty (AKA Headstart), my best-friend and ride to the reunion, had a crazy day that delayed our departure I thought "hmmm, maybe we should see that as an omen and just scratch the whole thing." But luckily the $85 dollars I had already paid to attend (later called "the most overpriced cover to a lame club ever")compelled me to at least get some of my money's worth. It turned out to be a freaking awesome time. Sprizee you totally missed out on an excellent event.

On the way there Misty and I got into a retro mood by listening to Frank Black's Teenager of the Year, which I must have listened to about 600 times during my senior year and remains one of my Top 5 albums of all time. We arrived well after dinner which by all accounts was horrid. Immediately we ran into Zac and he was as crazy, fun, and intense as ever and I knew this was going to be a great night. Most of the people I hung out with a lot it high school, people like Kingston and Gabe, where not there but It was great to talk to all sorts of people. With the exception of once really creepy dude, it was particularly enlightening to talk to people that I knew I high school but wasn't particularly tight with. After staying past last call at the official reunion we retreated back to Nikki Gross's parents house (they were out of town! How fitting). Here are some pictures and anecdotes:

Travis, Anne, Sean Berg, and Misty
My old AP history nemesis Travis was a real delight. He has mellowed considerably of the years and is now a TV news reporter in Spokane. Sean Berg is still Sean Berg, which was reassuring in away. I did not hear him try to argue that Star Trek physics were plausible last night, which he did memorably do in physics class a decade ago. At one point, I heard someone say that "Who new that Sean Berg would be such a hottie!" Which frankly really freaked me out. I guess the lack of mullet can do wonders. Anne seems to being to doing great is now attending the UW's iSchool to get her Masters of Library and Information Science degree so she can be just like me! Or maybe its to be like her parents, I forget.

Karen and Misty
It was really awesome to see Karen. Misty and Karen reminisced about old times and Karen showed us a picture of her lovely daughter. I never knew Karen that well after Misty and Sprizee informed that I was not to talk to her anymore in Junior year, but she has turned out really great.

Amy
The last time I saw Amy was about 9 years ago and I was at her house in Tacoma on acid and my brother was making me cry by badgering me with a puppet Amy had made out of a Band-aid box. Amy remains one of the sweetest and nicest people I have ever met.

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Misty and Zac
Zac was crazy kid in school with big dreams. And for the most part he is living exactly the life he wanted. And he's the manager at Shorty's, how cool is that! He was kind enough to retell the famous "Ruben Sandwich" story and the saga of his marriage, divorce, and forth-coming remarriage was inspiring stuff.

Rob, Morgan, and Misty
The five minutes Misty and I talked to Morgan was probably the highlight of the evening. Morgan was completely sloshed and was the same sincere honest asshole that he's always been. He extolled the virtues of being the boss and putting people to work and explained what a complete loser he thought our president was. Morgan Handley was in a word awesome.

Josh and Pooh at the after party
I've run into Josh at the Croc and at Shorty's several times over the years. He's always been fun to chat with and he seems to be really enjoying himself after breaking with his former band The Spits. Josh told me about one reunion possibility that would have been truly awesome if had managed to go down. Josh's friend Allen, who I knew slightly in high school, is now a producer for the Playboy Channel and is dating porn star Ashley Blue. Allen had intended to come to the reunion with Ashley and raise all holy hell. Josh also told me that he overheard that some one in our class had become a female-to-male transexually but he didn't catch the name.

Also Nikki would probably like me to note that the large number of stuffed Poohs in this picture were are going to be given aways to kids at Children's Hospital and that no one in here family has a creepy Pooh obsession.

Aaron and Misty
Aaron was our Homecoming King (although he was really more of the anti-Homecoming King). When I knew him sophomore year he was a scrawny geek that constantly recited scenes out of Ren and Stimpy and the movie UHF. He obviously got a lot cooler by senior year and has turned out to be a really great guy. He was heavily invloved in the Dean Campaign and now runs his own business designing and supporting websites for progressive causes.

Travis and Zac circa 4 AM
Not long after this picture was taken we finally went home. What an excellent evening! A big thanks to Nikki for being such a great host!

Go Pale Hose!

2005-10-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

The Mariners sucked yet again this year and the ever-likeable Red Sox are out of it but that doesn't mean there's no reason to what this years baseball playoffs. Personally, I'm rooting for the White Sox and Astros to make it to the series under the reasoning that if all the other teams that have one it all win then eventually the Mariners will get their shot. And I would love see to the White Sox take it all.

Although I find it strange that the coverage Fox is mostly ignoring the legitimate Curse of the Black Sox that has kept the White Sox championship free since 1917. While they constantly hyped the comparatively bogus Curse for the Bambino and Curse of the Goat in recent years when the Red Sox and Cubs were involved.

Anyhow, I love this picture of White Sox outfielder Scott Podsednik getting punched in face by a Yankee fan. Yankees, grrrr.

Second Cutest Dog Ever?

2005-10-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Nicole's new dog Duke. He is an adorable Dachshund. I have teased Nicole about Duke being a rat-dog but that's really just silliness. I haven't met Duke yet but he is freakishly cute and Nicole should be proud.

I have always wanted a Dachshund ever since I saw The Ugly Dachshund on the Disney Channel as a kid. Remember when the Disney Channel was all cartoons and old school Disney movies starring Fred MacMurray and Dean Jones? I was really into Mousterpiece Theater.

Oh and if you were wondering the cutest dog ever is still Jackson.

Grizzly Werner

2005-10-09T21:49:00.000-07:00

I caught Grizzly Man this evening with Ben. What a film! Of course, I am total Werner Herzog's bitch so this is in no way an unbiased review. The footage of Timothy Treadwell and the bears is staggering and it would have been an interesting film even if Treadwell hadn't been eaten by a bear, but it Herzog makes it an even greater film through his deft editing and limited but pointed narration. Herzog goes so far as to directly criticize Treadwell's choices rather than using a talking head surrogate or other technique.

In a lot of ways Grizzly Man is the anti-penguin movie. Nature is not presented here as cute and harmonious but nasty, chaotic, and brutal. My few experiences in the raw wilderness of Alaska that I had growing up let feeling the same thing. Civilization protects us from nature and left alone in the wilderness we are fucked.

Fishstick Kitties!!

2005-10-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

By request a pictoral Tribute to Cabin Boy

Chris Elliot as a Fancy Lad

"Would you like to buy a monkey?"

Andy Richter dances like a harem girl

Fishstick Kitties!!

Fishstick Kitties served with love.

The proper reaction to Fishstick Kitties

Harriet The Justice

2005-10-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

Nice to see that the new Supreme Court Nominee Harriet Miers has a blog. Too bad its not really her's though. My favorite post is the one hoping to hook up with the also unmarried Justice Souter.

She seems a weird pick for the court. Not clearly conservative, not clearly qualified, clearly a Bush crony, but ultimately more palatable than some of the alternatives.

Wedded Bliss

2005-10-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

I went to my cousin's wedding this weekend. It was a pretty swanky affair up in Everett. I realized I had never actually been to Everett before, making it the largest town in the state not to have been previously graced with my presence. It was good to see my mom's extended family. Mom was in top form loving every minute of the cermeony and spectacle. It was also great see Mom's old friend Lele who is now dating my stepfather's brother Mark. The bride and groom's first dance was to the Cure's "Love Song" as covered by 311, which I found rather apalling until my brother pointed out that they probably had never heard the Cure original. I also have to ask are all wedding DJ's douchebags? If I'm ever so lucky as to be married the iPod is doing the DJ duties.

The New Successlessness

2005-10-02T22:26:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my self-imposed blogging sabbatical. I hope this break will prove to have reinvigorated me. I hope to post much more regularly than I did this summer and with higher quality posts as well.

More to come tomorrow. Really.

Proud of My Dad

2005-08-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I went to the annual Maggie Awards ceremony at Benaroya Hall. Its a big fancy schmacy fundraiser for the Washington State Democrats. My favorite 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards was guest speaker and he delivered a knock out speech. But the real reason I was there to support father who was nominated for one of the awards. And guess what my dad won! He won Chair of the Year for his hard work as chair of the 26th District Dems extremely proud and super happy for him and the most touching thing that he was more excited to show his award to my grandfather who is in hospice care than anything else, which just makes even more proud of him.

Adebisi Joins Lost

2005-07-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Excitng news! Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who played the legendary Simon Adebisi on Oz is going to join the cast of Lost this fall. His character is described as "a mysterious character who wants something". Hmmm I suspect this time the something won't involve Kenny Wangler's ass. My favorite Adebisi line: "I'm in a mood all right. I'm in a mood to kill." Anyway this should be fun.

Gotta Brand New Bag

2005-07-21T07:57:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but sometime last week I decided that the smallish green Trager shoulder bag I've had since my senior year of college just wasn't cutting it anymore. Probably the first sign was how rancid it smelled at the movies way back on my birthday.

But a combination of REI gift certificates I received as a perk with my bus pass and some American Express gift cheques I got for opening a new bank account allowed me to buy this bag essentially for free. It's pretty swank. Even though I don't have a laptop, the laptop slot in the bag is great for magazine, comic books, papers. The best part about the bag is its damn comfy! No more slim strap cutting into my shoulder.

A Total Eclipse of Art

2005-07-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen the most awesome Bonnie Tyler cover ever. Man whats wrong with Scadinavians!

Twin Falls, Anger-ho

2005-07-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

So SportCenter is doing this 50 States/50 Days thing and today the state is Idaho. At one point anchor Steve Berthiaume is rattling off a bunch of songs that mention Idaho: "My Own Private Idaho" by the B-52's, "Twin Falls, Idaho" by the Ben Folds Five... Wha? No love for Built To Spill? That BFF cover sucks. Fuck you Steve Berthiaume! "Say hello to my little friend"...my foot up your ass!

Tom Cruise Goes Crazy Aussie Style

2005-07-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise on 60 Minutes Australia.

My last post about this man ever. Promise.

Andy Milonakis Shocker

2005-07-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

So The Andy Milonakis Show is really funny and kind of in the tradition of Tom Green and Jackass, but with an added Pee Wee Herman twist. Its got a big goofy kid saying ridiculous things to strangers on the street. You know eventually he'll be come to well known for the jokes to work. But the shocking thing that he's actually like older than me According to this article* from over 2 years ago, he's like 29 years old now! His apperance is the result of some sort of growth disorder, which explains why he seemed way to clever for a 14 year old and why he looks the same as he did when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel a few years ago asking rude questions to strangers. Even though I feel a bit coned the show is still funny. Not Wonder Showzen funny but still funny.

Oh and Being Bobby Brown? Brilliant every thing that Britney show was supposed to be.

*despite the goofy site hosting it this is a real New York Observer article.

Funniest Real Name Ever?

2005-07-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

This guy has to have the most awesome name ever. Funniest otherwise harmless piece of journalism I've read in a while too. What a headline!

This guy easily surpasses this woman, and to be fair her name is only funny is you mispronounce it and take into account her position as a collegiate women's basketball coach.

Blockbuster Roundup

2005-06-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have taken a pass on most of the big summer movies thus far. Stuff like The Longest Yard, Mr & Mrs. Smith, and Madagascar looked awful so other than Revenge of the Sith I've been blockbuster free. Not so any more.

Batman Begins - Wow! Probably the best superhero movie ever. Or at least in a tie with Superman II. Gets everything right. Its grounded in reality and Christian Bale's Batman is mean, tough and scary. Every role is perfectly cast and most importantly this movie is actually about Batman. Its not about the villain, unlike the previous Bat-flicks. Bring on Batman Continues or whatever they are gonna call it.

Land of the Dead - I'm biased as I love me some zombie movies, so Romero would have had to really screwed things up for me to not be happy. I was more than impressed. Its a total b-movie horror flick but a smart one. Everything in the plot works the characters are fun and most importantly the zombies kick ass. One thing I learned about the film after seeing is that there were a ton of CGI effects in the movie. Not once during the movie did I think "nice cgi" or whatever I thought it was all traditional effects. That's the way CGI should be you shouldn't be thinking about it being CGI you should just be enjoying the action on the screen even if it priest zombie with a near decapitated head biting a chuck of a dudes arm.

War of the Worlds - What a freaking intense film. The first 75% percent of the film is awesome. Out of this world amazing. But then Spielberg seems to loose the plot near the end. A truly excellent film even with its large flaws. Deserves to be seen on the big screen in a quality theater. And freaky Tom Cruise is actually quite good in it. Could have been a classic but its still very good almost great. Jeffrey Wells sums up my thoughts on the film pretty good in his latest column (you gotta scroll down to the second story).

Doubting Street Memo

2005-06-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

All this hubbub about the Downing Street Memo is really overblown. I've read the said memo and supporting documents and I fail to see this smoking gun that proves "WE MUST IMPEACH BUSH NOW!" This isnÂt the Pentagon Papers just yet. It may be the start of something big but the idea that the DSM amounts to a smoking gun is wishful thinking at best. I think we really ought to wait until more comes out be fore we start trying to storm the Bastille. And the mean time lets focus on the here and now and the future rather than rehashing old battles that we lost. If Democrats put half is much effort into doing something as a party as we do on attacking out idiot President wewouldn'tt be losing all these elections.

Still doubt me? Read Christopher Hitchens latest which dismisses the thing.

I Couldn't Say It Any Better

2005-06-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

Regarding the whole Tom/Katie thing, ESPN.com's Bill Simmons had this to say:

Despite all the joy he's provided me over the years, I'm not sure if I can forgive Tom Cruise for what he's done to Katie Holmes. This is the same girl who allowed SNL's Mr. Peepers to spit apple all over her face four years ago and went topless in "The Gift" just for the hell of it – now she's whispering "I love you" on Oprah, shamelessly plugging movies and embracing Scientology? This is an outrage. I'm outraged. This never would have happened if she had stayed with Dawson.

Pub Trivia Glory

2005-06-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

I gathered with my buddy FCW, her lovely husband, and her newly relocated brother for some pub trivia at the Old Pequliar in Ballard last night. A great time was had by all. The highlight was definitely getting a perfect score on Movie round (all Gary Oldman flicks!), but when we got a mere 8 out of 20 on the final fine art picture round we figured we'd likely win one of the runner up prizes, but to our huge surprise we took first place winning $130! You know I really gotta make this Pub Trivia thing a more than once a quarter thing!

Dino KO'd

2005-06-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

Our long statewide nightmare is over. The Republicans have lost their attempt to overturn November's election for Governor. Judge Bridges really put the smackdown on the R's and rejected all of the Republicans supposed evidence and in a bit of sweet irony actually deducted confirmed felon votes from Rossi and Libertarian Ruth Bennett thereby increasing Gregoire margin of victory. Rossi then the made the smart move and announced that he would not appeal the case further. Now the Democrats and the Governor can return more important matters and hopefully King County will iron out its election problems.

It will be interesting to see what Rossi does next in his career. Its possible he might run against Ron Sims for King County Executive this fall and then run for US Senate against Maria Cantwell in 2006. He is certainly one of the most popular Republican politicians in this state in a long time and proved himself to be a formidable campaigner last fall. As a Democrat, I hope he retires to the private sector but the Republicans would be stupid to let him do that.

The only downside to justice being served in this case is that Tim Borders, my Knowledge Bowl teammate at South Kitsap High School will go down as a mere footnote a in Washington State history rather than be one of the named parties (Borders v. King County) in a historic case that overturned a Gubernatorial election.

Juggling on TV?

2005-06-05T09:03:00.000-07:00

Im beginning to think that the weird "sports" on TV trend started by ESPN is starting to go too far. I think it started with their coverage of the National Spelling Bee and then went to the next level with their World Series of Poker coverage. Last night while folding my laundry before going to bed I caught the World Juggling Federation Championships on ESPN. It was really strange stuff, but in some ways its much more a sport than Spelling Bee or poker as it does require freakish physical skill. And those Galchenko kids were freaking amazing. Throw in Penn Gillette of Penn & Teller fame as a commentator and you have pretty compelling sport.

Best of Film of the Year (So Far) is...

2005-06-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

...Layer Cake. Granted I haven't seen some of the supposed top films of the year so far like Millions or Palidromes, but Layer Cake was excellent and flawless. Daniel Craig is the lead and is charismatic without being hammy or obvious. He has been stellar in everything I've seen him in and is a very versatile actor capable of playing intellectuals, psychopaths, regular Joes, and smooth criminals with equal aplomb. The film definitely in the same genre as recent British gangster flicks like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, but unlike most of those films it has depth. It could be a complete splashy gaudy film but it remains restrained throughout which just heightens the tension. The plot is never predictable an never implausible. And the ending? Perfect! Anyway, go see it and ignore that bad football remake.

The Importance of Napping

2005-06-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

One thing I miss from my college days is the daily nap. I used always get an hour of sleep in the afternoon after classes either in the old Suzzallo Reading Room or back home. It always left me energized for the evening ahead regardless of whether I had to go to work, do homework, or have fun. Unfortunately my schedule these days makes a mid-day nap impossible. When you work 8 hours a day with lengthy commute each day there just isn't time. Sometimes I do manage a brief nap on the bus on the way home but that doesn't happen often enough and when it does its not quite the same. But sometimes you do get a chance to squeeze in a good nap like yesterday I left work early for a doctor's appointment (the good news I do not have to have tear duct surgery!) and got home in time for a nice nap. Bliss! Maybe when I get my dream job at the Ballard Branch I'll be able to swing a more nap-friendly lifestyle, but until then I will continue to envy the napped among us.

Travishammockery

2005-06-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

I wish I could go back in time and stop myself from ever recording Britney and Kevin: Chaotic. What the hell was I thinking? Maybe that it would be similar to that Jessica Simpson/Nick Lachey show. You know good natured fun. But no its quite possibly the worst show in the history of television. Maybe even worse than Who's My Daddy?

On Newlyweds, Jessica comes off as total ditz but also genuinely nice person, while Britney comes off as nearly retarded and vapid. And Nick seems like a very regular guy, while K-Fed is possibly dumber than Britney and scummier up close than you ever imagined. To make matters worse the home video footage is so jittery as to be nauseating. And the editing? It appears there has been very little thought put into that. You'd think they'd try to give the episodes a theme and all that? You tell a little reality TV story? Nope. Just a few things happen, a bunch of dumb stuff is said, and then it just ends.

Ugh. If only I had the strength of character to remove it from my scheduled programs list, but I can't its like a car wreck. I can't turn my eyes away from the big bloody white trash car wreck.

Deep Throat Revealed!!

2005-05-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! The identity of the Watergate informant code named Deep Throat has been revealed as Mark Felt, the number two man at the FBI at the time. Very exciting! Blows away my theory that Deep Throat was really Hal Holbrook and he cleverly played himself in All the President's Men to allay suspicion. You can read the whole Vanity Fair article here.

Deadwood

2005-05-31T07:37:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my Memorial Day finishing watching Deadwood via HBO OnDemand. Not exactly honoring our fallen soldiers, but a worthwhile pursuit nonetheless. Like The Wire this series takes the possibilities opened up by the Sopranos and takes it to the next level. Yes its better than The Sopranos. And While not quite as tense as the first season, this season was full of sex, violence, and foul language. If you haveIts great to see what the West was really like in all its ugliness. But its not all bloody cocksuckers. There is a great deal of humor and romance as well. They whole Bullock/Alma romance is bordering on epic, with all the restrained rules of society keeping them apart. If Ian McShane doesn't win an Emmy for his performance as Al Swearengen, then they can just go fuck themselves.

iDrudgery?

2005-05-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

As glorious as the iPod is the worst part is definitely burning all my music on to my computer. I feel like I'm a slave to the process. I definitely see why people would use one of those iPod upload services. Luckily it will all be worth it once I have everything on the hard drive then I can have all my music right at my fingertips and easily switch music on and off my 20GB iPod.

All Hail Cronenberg!

2005-05-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

David Cronenberg has long been one of my favorite directors even when I was a pre-teen. I think it was The Dead Zone and The Fly that hooked me on him. And I remember forcing my family to go see Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch in the theater. i lvoed them to death while everone else was seriously freaked out bot the films and the fact that I loved them. His films are always so raw with a distinct, yet not flashy, visual style. I honestly think he's only made one bad film in his career. The rest have been good to great. Each new Cronenberg film is a bit of an event in my life and the trailer for his next film A History of Violence looks stellar. It doesn't look at all weird but certainly looks intense. Possible Oscar fodder? I sure hope so.

Don't Call It Ping Pong

2005-05-28T13:04:00.000-07:00

Ok this has to be one of the most peculiar web pages I have ever encountered: Celebrities Playing Table Tennis. Wow all your celebrity table tennis image needs in one place! From a shirtless Fidel Castro to Gene Kelly to Henry Miller. I guess I should say "god bless the internet", errr maybe not. Also this picture is visually sums up why John Kerry couldn't win the Presidency:

Jeeze no wonder this guy didn't crossover to the NASCAR crowd!

Tom Cruise Crazy Tour Continues

2005-05-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise was on Access Hollywood being insane. Defamer has the scoop. This time more it was more about Scientology than Katie. At least know what the driving force behind this craziness is.

I do wonder what will become of Scientology in a century. Will it have disappeared or will it have become more or less legit religion like Mormonism? Hopefully the former. If there has to be a religion based on the works of 20th century science fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard is the worst possible choice. Now Asimov or Herbert that would have been cool. Especially Herbert.

The Redemption of George?

2005-05-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

Revenge of the Sith unequivocally does not suck! A huge improvement over Phantom Menace, which totally sucked, and Attack of the Clones, which half sucked. Like many of my generation I was a huge Star Wars fan as a kid, so it was great fun to see all the bad stuff go down. All of the light saber duels were very cool. Yoda was awesome throughout. Ewan McGregor was superb, selling even the dumbest dialog. It is too bad the prequels couldn't have been more about Obi Wan Kenobi. Ian MacDiarmid was super hammy as the Emperor. Unfortunately, the love scenes are still painful, but luckily there are far fewer in this film than there were in the last one. Lucas has to take the blame there as Portman and Christiansen proven to be great actors in other films. Seeming Darth Vader at the end was very cool but not as cool as I’d hoped.

All in all Revenge of the Sith is almost as good as Return of the Jedi which is pretty high praise for me. Does it redeem the whole prequel enterprise? Absolutely not, but it does save it from total disaster.

Bonus: here is a goofy anti-prequels song that I found out on the internets. I don't agreeee with sentiment but it is funny.

“George Lucas Raped Our Childhood”

Whoa, Canada

2005-05-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

As an esteemed holder of a Canadian Studies degree*, I feel obligated to point out this article in the New York Times. I think Canada is a fantastic place but as the article points out anyone that thinks its some kind of perfect utopia is kidding themselves.

Canada is on the side of the angels on many important social issues like gay marriage and drug laws. But that’s not the whole story. They have corruption and government mismanagement there too. Basic civil rights can always be put on hold with a simple act of parliament. They have big corporations doing what ever they want. They have serious systemic problems with their health care system; different problems than we have but problems nonetheless. They have a growing gap between rich and poor. Basically the vast majority of the problems we have here are also found in good ol’ Canada.

Why? We'll it probably has something to with humanity being shitty where ever you go. So I guess if things in the US have you wanting to move north, don’t because you won’t escape basic problems that are inherent to the human race. You are better off working to improve things here that running away from something that you can’t ever really escape.

*University of Washington, Class of 1999! A degree so useful I went straight on to graduate school!

Newsmaniax

2005-05-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

My best friend at work Nicole (aka FCW) has left for another position in our company. She still works with our team but works out in Issaquah now thereby depriving me of a daily stream of brilliant and silly conversation. She is very much missed but her new job (managing a small corporate library) is way cooler than her old one and I was lucky enough to inherit one of her cooler tasks, compiling a daily media and entertainment News alert and a thrice weekly video game news alert.

Compiling these news alerts is a lot of fun and it really makes my mornings zip by. For instance today, I sent thousands of people a link to an article about Motley Crue and the other day it was the Cannes Film Festival. Today I found what looked like a promising article by Conan O’Brien on "The Future of Television" in Newsweek, but then I read it. It is hilarious but not something I could send out, so read it and bask in the glory of Conan’s genius.

Nicole, you are desperately missed around here but I love getting to read goofy articles as part of my job. It is so much easier to get up in the morning now. Now if I can just manage make my subscriptions to Entertainment Weekly and Game Informer in tax write-offs...

Tom Cruise is Officially Ape Shit Crazy

2005-05-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise was on Oprah with Katie Holmes yesterday. He was completely insane Defamer has the evidence.

I don't know what is so profoundly creepy about Tom and Katie. I don't think its the age thing. It could be Cruise's creepy personality and Scientology obsession. But I think mostly that Katie Holmes will alwyas be Joey Potter to me. And I know Joey would never date Tom Cruise. I have no idea who Katie Holmes really is so maybe Psycho-Cruise is her dream guy, but Joey? She would be having none of that shit.

Returned

2005-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

No excuse for my long break between posts. Sure I've been working a fair amount of OT and just got a new computer and iPod that have been dominating my free time, but I can't continue to neglect successlessness! Anyhow here are some quick thoughts:

The Sonics played above and beyond their capablities. They should have one any games in that series but managed to take it to 6 games. Way to go.

I'm resolved to stop being an eltist ass to people. I don't often notice it when IO do it but it must stop.

My iPod is changing my life everytime I use it its really freakish technology.

I have new post up at Soapnix. Check it out.

Star Trek is over. Enterprise is over and there are no new shows or movies in the works. That's likely a good thing for now.

Life is good in the greenhouse, Rrather be a plant than be your Mickey Mouse.

Christine Gregoire had been a good governor. I really didn't think that was possible.

The new Washington State anti-secondhand smoke ads are annoying and wrong.

Am I geek because I tivo Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Face the Nation, and Upfront With Robert Mak every sunday? Umm, yep!

The BBC's Alan Partridge is almost as funny as The Office.

Safeco field is still a great place to see a game, even when the M's suck hard.

This video is too funny. Britsih troops are cool. All credit to the last ditch for the link.

More to come later this week.

Go Sonics!

2005-05-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

After watching the Sonics eliminate the Kings last night. I think the Sonics may have what it takes to go all the way. Ray Allen has been unstopable and when Jerome James and Nick Collison are coming through big anything is possible. Bring on the Spurs!

They Call Him the Kid

2005-05-03T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ex-GBV frontman Robert Pollard's new vinyl only "comedy" album Relaxation of the Asshole has to be the silliest thing (with the silliest title) I have ever purchased at full price. There is no music just Bob's drunken and hilarious stage patter from GBV shows of yore. I'm glad I have but I highly doubt I'll listen to it more than a few times. On the other hand Pollard's first post-GBV solo EP ZOOM is pretty rad and is getting repeated listens already.

Baaaaaaad Movies

2005-05-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

I need to stop going to the movies with Merychippus. Well at least paying to see movies with him. We saw the documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the
Room and for free and it was excellent. But Fever Pitch and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were both awful.

I should have known that the mere presence of Jimmy Fallon was going to doom Fever Pitch from the start. The movie offended me both as a sports fan and as a human being. All the conflict in this film is bullshit and based on the stupidity of the characters. I don't expect all movies to reflect how people act in reality but I like to at least be able to understand why people did do things in a movie. The answer should never be well he did that so there would be conflict. Anyway Bill Simmons slammed the film far better than I could in his review.

I have read all of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books but am by no means a geek for them (if you want me to geek out bring up Dune). Still I was looking forward to the film. I thought it was well cast and went into the film pretty excited. But man what a disaster! What was with the tacked on love story? Why were most of the jokes, like the towels, never full explained. I felt like I needed to have just read the book to figure out what was going on. Halfway through I was totally bored. Still not as bad as Fever Pitch though!

Not Cheating

2005-04-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

I am sick of all these baseball writers whining about steroids. “It’s cheating!” Bullshit. The fact that people talk seriously about whether or not people like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire should have asterisks put on their record home run seasons is just asinine. If they were found to have used corked backs or juiced up balls that would be different. That is changing the objective rules of the game in which all players are expected to compete on a level playing field playing field with only themselves and their skills to measure who is better. Steroids are no different than lifting weights, working out, and other things players do to prepare their bodies to perform.

But steroids make it an unlevel playing field right? Again that’s bullshit. Players like Tony Gwynn and Ichiro clearly don’t use steroids but they obviously have unfair advantage over the Felix Fermins of the world. As Dan Bern Says in his brilliant song “73”, if you are going to run Barry out for the game for steroids then you have “burn all the poems by poets who took lithium as boys”. (You can download this gem here.)

Elective surgeries that enhance players’ skills. I’d long known about pitchers getting Tommy John elbow surgeries that they probably did not need and becoming better pitchers than they ever were before because of the extra kick the surgery gives to their pitches. But I was completely unaware how widespread LASIK eye surgery has become in sports, until I read this article on Slate. Tiger woods had LASIK to get 20/15 vision? Mark McGwire wore contacts that gave him 20/10 vision? None of this is considered cheating but steroids is? Bullshit.

Steroids isn’t cheating. LASIK isn’t cheating. Tommy John style robo-elbows isn’t cheating. No, gambling is on baseball is cheating. Throwing a game is cheating. Corking your bat is cheating.

But what do I know? I don’t think Barry Bond is an asshole. In fact he’s been my favorite player for almost 20 years.

Onion Man

2005-04-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Commuting via the bus from Ballard to Redmond and back again every day means I get to run into my fair share of crazies usually on the Montlake to Ballard portion of my commute. Most often its some schizophrenic guy or drunk homeless guy that gets on in the U-District starts screaming or something and ends up getting kicked off the buss in Wallingford. But today was something different.

I had just missed catching my bus in front of the UW Hospital. It was going to be 20 minutes till the next bus so I sat down to read my book. After a few minutes smelled something funny. I looked around and there was only one other guy at this normally busy bus stop. He was a short stocky black guy with a mustache and mini-dreads wearing a gray addidas track suit, bright red children's sunglasses, and black velvetine Mastercard cap. He kind of looked like a weirded out Easy-E. He also had a pair of kids safety scissors and a metal can opener hung from his neck with an old shoe lace. On the bench next to him he had a couple beat up overstuffed grocery bags filled with papers, books, socks, etc. This guy looked off but from his looks he could have just be eccentric rather that really out there.

He kept turning away and I couldn't figure out what he was doing then I saw him repeatedly flinging little white things in all directions. It was onions! I had smelled onions. He was cutting up onions with his kid's scissors and can opener and flinging the chunks and slices in all directions. After doing this with 2 onions he reached into one of his bags and pulled out a spray bottle of what appeared to be some sort of Lysol cleaning product and started to spray his body with it ending by spraying his chest in the same cross gesture made during a catholic blessing. The liquid in the bottle was clear so he may have been spraying self with water rather than Lysol. For his safety I hope he was.

He repeated this process 4 or 5 times and remained oblivious to the large group of people now waiting for various buses. And then he just picked up his stuff and walked west on Pacific with out getting on any of the buses. What was he doing? My best guess was that he was protecting the bus stop from vampires. Maybe that was holy water in the spray bottle? Or he wasn't crazy and it was some weird performance art? Whatever he was doing it made my day see an Easy-E lookalike blanket the sidewalk with a dozen onions. You go, Onion Man, you go!

Tag in the Dark

2005-04-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Tagging is the buzz on the Internets these days. Tagging is assigning words or phrases to a information item. Flickr is all tagging crazy. Amzon is experimenting with tagging through 43 Things. Lots of blogs use tagging to categorize posts (including Soapnix!). Its pretty exciting stuff and its nice to see people are into it but the idea that free text tagging is the answer to real information retrieval needs is just silly.

This article in Newsweek perfectly illustrates this wrong headed attitude. The writer clearly doesn’t understand how libraries have dealt with information retrieval. The Dewey Decimal system is not a cataloging scheme it’s just a classification scheme for placing books on a shelf. Similar books are located together for so that you can collocate similar materials. I won’t even get into his bogus Frederick the Great example. But the real strength of the library is the catalog not the shelf.

I’m a librarian and my job consists mostly of building and maintain a taxonomy and tagging sites on the intranet of a local mega-corporation. The multi-user uncontrolled free text tagging is an inherently flawed system that is easily corruptible. For instance what’s to stop me going on Flickr and tagging photos of my Lt. Picard action figure with the term dog? Ideally traditional library ideas of authority control can be used to enhance these systems and help connect searches on canine with things tagged with dog. Maybe blending the old and the new will help improve information retrieval.

Mr. T Says Respect Your Mother!

2005-04-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

With Mother's Day coming up, do yourself a favor and take some time to reflect on this video of Mr. T's freakishly hilarious tribute to his mother. It's apparently from motivational video tape Mr. T did back in 1984 called Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!, the rest of which looks even sillier than this song. Pray I don't pay too much for it on eBay.

All credit goes to Merychippus for forwarding this video to me.

Hoops and Woody

2005-04-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

I think I was one of the few people in America to both watch the NCAA Basketball Final and go to see Woody Allen's new film Melinda and Melinda all in the same night. I guess that says a lot about me and who I am. Good or bad you decide.

The North Carolina-Illinois game was fantastic At the half it looked like it was going to be a blow out with the Tar Heels pulling away but Illinois rallied back and it was tied with under two minutes to go, when former Bremerton High star Marvin Williams slammed home a putback to seal the victory For North Carolina. One of the best back and forth championship games in while.

Melinda and Melinda was excellent. I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone that doesn't already love Woody Allen's films, but if you are into Woody its easily his best since Sweet and Lowdown. Radha Mitchell is fantastic in the title roles. Both tragic in the dramatic half and charming in the comedic half. Will Ferrell was really hilarious he made his character more than just a stand in for Woody, he made it a Will Ferrell character through and through.

Sin City

2005-04-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

I am skeptical of pretty much all comic book movies. If you try to judge them against the comics, you'll only find disappointment. Like Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell went from being a meditation on the history Masonry, London, and humanity itself on the page to be a goofy Jack the Ripper whodunnit with Johnny Depp on the big screen. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City however is very a different beast.

It's not so much an adaptation of the comics as it is a direct translation. The movie is exactly like the comics and its exhilarating. I think the idea of total digital filmaking is really neat but too often the technical feats are exciting but the films are awful, like Sky Captain. That is definitely not the case with Sin City. Of course along with the strengths of the material it has the flaws (hackneyed dialog, thin characters) of Frank Miller's books as well. But ultimately its one of the funnest (and hideously violent) movies I've see in a good long while.

Mitch Hedberg 1968-2005

2005-04-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

Comedian Mitch Hedberg is dead. Likely from a drug overdose. That really fucking sucks. Here's some choice Mitch quotes:

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it."

"I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long."

"I love blackjack. But I'm not addicted to gambling. I'm addicted to sitting in a semi-circle."

"I don't have a girlfriend. But I do know a woman who'd be mad at me for saying that."

"I saw a human pyramid once. It was very unnecessary. It did not need to exist."

"I think Pringles' initial intention was to make tennis balls. But on the day that the rubber was supposed to show up, a big truckload of potatoes arrived. But Pringles is a laid-back company. They said 'Fuck it. Cut 'em up.'"

"I have a cheese-shredder at home, which is its positive name. They don't call it by its negative name, which is sponge-ruiner. Because I wanted to clean it, and now I have little bits of sponge that would melt easily over tortilla chips."

"I got an ant farm. Them fellas don't grow shit."

"If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up."

"I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, 'You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit.' As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit."

More comedic brilliance here.

Soapnix!

2005-04-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

My new blog venture with my friends Keith and Ryan K. is Soapnix an MP3 blog, where we write about songs and post the tracks. We all have some pretty eclectic tastes in music so there should be some interesting music being shared. Keith has done most the posting so far (err make that all of the posting so far) but my first post is up today detailing the glory of "Mind Games"!

Vegas!

2005-03-31T19:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Headstart and I went to Vegas with my brother for his girl friend Amy's Birthday. I had an awesome time and definitely will go back. Thank you so much Amy for inviting me! Headstart and my brother were the best to hang out with as well.

We stayed at the Excalibur which was hideously cheesy and fun with its Smurfs-style medieval motif. The excess of the whole place is both beautiful and disgusting. There was great people watching. We ate hideous amounts of food of various quality. We never managed to see any shows but I did drag Headstart and my brother to Star Trek the Experience which while horribly over priced did get my all geekily excited.

The best part was the gambling. It was awesome. First slot machines are just evil. I had no luck with them. But playing poker and Roulette was a blast. My brother one big at the Luxor on Roulette and Headstart and I both had success with it at our hotel.

On Saturday night, Headstart and I played $1/$3 poker until 5 in the morning. I won big and the highlight was definitely when I re-raised to bluff Headstart out a pot and she screamed "asshole" at me from across the table much the shock and horror of everyone else at the table who didn't know we knew each other. I ended up turning $20 into $115 on the night. Sunday Night was less successful at the poker table but still loads of fun. And I absolutely loved the free drinks you get while gambling. Brilliant!

Here's some more pictures:

The Conservatory at the Bellagio

Amy and my brother

Headstart and my brother at Spock's coffin.

Klingons!

$5.95 Prime Rib! And it was good!

The Grand Theory of Everything pt. 31

2005-03-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, while being repeatedly blow away by the Decemberists at the Showbox, I started thinking about how unique and transcendent their music is. Which lead me to wonder what is it about certain kinds of music that makes me really flip for it. I think there are two basic classes of music that really excites me.

The first class is personified by artists like Robyn Hitchcock, The Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel, mid-period The Kinks, and late-period XTC. These artists manage to make music that is unlike anything every before. Sure they have their influences but they create songs that live in their own musical universe and operate under their own unique rules and expectations. A song may remind you of something else but it is unequivocally a Hitchcock song or a Neutral Milk Hotel song. There is also an unpredictable quality to the music. There is an inherent freshness to the work that makes it stand out even after the hundredth listen.

The second class of music less ambitious but still exciting; Guided By Voices, Teenage Fanclub, Ted Leo, early XTC, Early Elvis Costello, etc. There isn’t anything all that new brought to the table. There are no unheard sounds or song structures to be heard. The influences are worn on their sleeve. But what these artists do deliver is a perfect synthesis of their influence to create something special. I’ll mind myself enjoying both the song for its self and the way it intertwines the artists’ influences in equal measure.

Not all great music falls in these two classes but a fair about of my favorite stuff does. Things like later-period Costello and Franz Ferdinand are really enjoyable at first but there is some lacking and maybe too much formalism and formula and usually a few months down the line it seem comparatively stale.

Next Month: Why and how Elvis Costello lost his way.

Why Mickey?

2005-03-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Ok I have to ask what is the appeal of Mickey Mouse? Why do people like him?

Now I don’t hate Disney or anything. Although, I do have a more or less evil aunt that collects Mickey memorabilia to excess and loves to got to Disney World for vacation. She would always give my grandfather (her father-in-law) tacky Mickey-related golf gifts that he would just toss in a box in the garage. Not surprisingly she ended up with that crap when he died a few years back. I’ll leave it at that before this becomes a rant.

I can pretty much understand the appeal of every other heavily merchandised cartoon character. Donald Duck is our ill tempered side. Bugs Bunny has snappy comebacks. Snoopy is a dreamer. Daffy Duck is vanity personified. Goofy is well…goofy. But Mickey? Even in his early incarnation he is lame. Completely personality-less. Which probably says something about Mickey. Is there any reason to like Mickey other than maybe you think he’s cute? Any?

Greatness

2005-03-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

I would just like to say that Rob Mariano is now the Barry Bonds of Reality TV. He may not be well-liked by some but he is the best without question. After coming out of nowhere to contend in Survivor 4 and then dominating Survivor All-Star with Amber, Rob and Amber are now dominating The Amazing Race 7. Rob has managed to find new way to succeed in this game from using his celebrity to get help to using bribery to get an edge with the locals to stealing another teams cab. In last night's episode Rob took it to the next level by quitting on an eating task and then convincing other teams to quit as well there by guaranteeing he and Amber would would make it to the next round. I won't be surprised if Rob and amber make it all the way to the end and win another million dollars. Really the only thing comparable is Sarah's unbeaten streak on Real World/Road rules Challenge: The Gauntlet.

When they open the Reality TV Hall of Fame Rob and Sarah justly will be the first inducted.

"But the dealer just stares"

2005-03-15T23:40:00.000-08:00

Having pretty much recovered from my illness and after drab day at work, I met up with Headstart, AA, Jim, and my brother for some Poker at Jim's spacious yet under furnished place in Fremont. Playing with Jim is great as he really knows his poker and always has great other games to suggest like Omaha or Criss Cross. Jim and Headstart were the big winners with both of them doubling their money. I really improved my play from the last time we played (didn't let my emotions control my betting) but still ended up busted. Hopefully my luck will be better in Vegas next week. Well, a man can dream...

Ted Leo is God, okay?

2005-03-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

So I'm at home sick today. Feeling like crap with sore throat. Bored out of my mind. Annoyed that I'm getting behind on stuff at work. Taking long naps on the couch. Wondering why I am still tivoing Point Pleasant. And what does the internet offer to make me a happy boy? An mp3 of Ted Leo covering The awesome new Kelly Clarkson single "Since U Been Gone" and mixing a a bit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps" at the end to make the song even better. This is just further evidence that Ted is the coolest man in rock. He sings the song totally straight with no irony at all. Anyway here's the track. I hope it brings half as much joy to your day as it brought to mine.

Ted Leo - Since U Been Gone/Maps

CD Revue: Dogs Die In Hot Cars- Please Describe Yourself

2005-03-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Glasgow's Dogs Die in Hot Cars have absolutely the worst band name in history at least when it comes to bands that are actual good. For all the retro 80s dance pop coming out of the UK these days Dogs Die in Hot Cars are the only band that wouldn't sound some how out of place on a Top 40 radio station in 1985. In fact, if you heard them on with out knowing who they were you'd like think they were some great 80s new wave band you missed out. They wear their retro influences (XTC, Squeeze, Big Country, Talking Heads) on their sleeve and new wave producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Elvis Costello) take it to the next level of retroness. Songwriter and lead singer Craig Macintosh has fantastic sense of melody and the lyrics deftly straddle between smart and dumb. Macintosh's voice is a unique mix of Stuart Adamson of Big Country and Andy Partridge of XTC. The first track "I Love You 'Cause I Have To" is a subpar song with boring ska riff but the rest of the album is a delight. My favorite song is "Lounger", a hideously catchy ode to unemployment and laziness. It's clearly Headstart's 2004 anthem. Dogs Die in Hot Cars may not have the edge of some their peers (Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads) but it's probably the best album of 80s new wave since David Bowie's Let's Dance.

Farewell Epp's

2005-03-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

My neighborhood tavern is no more. Epp's Place has closed it doors for good and will reopen as a fancier sports bar next week.

I can't say I was a regular at Epp's but I probably went to Epp's more than any other bar in Ballard. Since it was just tavern (nor hard stuff just beer), I usually went out elsewhere with friends but Epp's was my place to just stop by for a beer or two on my own after work. It was by all accounts a total dive; everything was run down, the pool table sucked, they had pull tabs, and the bathroom was really skeezy. But it was always clear that the regulars loved it. The regulars were a real blue collar crowd too and honestly the most friendly people around.

I loved going over there to catch a game on TV. I'll always remember watching the game 7 of last year's Red Sox-Yankee's series there. I loved that you could always count on Epp's having both Pabst Blue Ribbon and Rainier on tap. I loved that even though I only went in a couple times a month the bartender would always know I wanted a PBR.

My favorite Epp's memory has to be from last November. I was there with Merychippus and the bartender, who seemed like he'd had more than a bit to drink himself, came up and asked us what we were doing for Thanksgiving. We both said we were doing stuff with family. He then told us that they were going to have a Thanksgiving there at Epp's and everyone was bringing something. I thanked him for the offer and told if my other plans fell through I'd definitely consider it. It really touched me that Epp's was serving as a gathering place for people that had no where else to go on that most family oriented of holidays. Then 5 minutes later the same bartender came up and asked us again what were doing for Thanksgiving and just as we started to answer he realized his mistake and started to laugh. That's the kind of place Epp's Place was; both strangely warm and unintentionally hilarious.

I guess I should have seen it coming as the block had become increasingly upscale with a nice coffee joint and a really nice restaurant turning up in recent years, But I guess I always just assumed Epp's would be there and now after 5 and half years of living half a block from it its gone for good. I'll probably visit this new sports bar jut as much as Epp's but it won't be the same

From Bad to Worse...

2005-03-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

I think its universally agreed that song "We Built This City" by Starship (formerly Jefferson Starship formerly Jefferson Airplane) is the worst single in the history of mankind. But now thanks a Starbuck's corporate event back and worse than ever in the form of Jefferson Starbuck's "We Built this Starbucks". This is even worse than Microsoft's Visual Basic .NET rap song.

The Stranger has all the details here and you can download it here. Warning this song could severely damage your psyche. Seriously.

Faithful Cog

2005-03-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night, I saw Robyn Hitchcock in concert for like the billionth time actually it was only my eleventh time. As usual the show was at the Crocodile Cafe and my concertmate was Merychippus. "It's a machine and you're its faithful cog" Yeah, that's me!

After a nice dinner in Ballard we arrived super early (more than two hours till Robyn hit the stage!) and after briefly attempting to go elsewhere we settle into a table and had some drinks and mostly talked about politics. I was already a bit drunk and remember reiterating that "While I am becoming more conservative in my old age, I am by no means a conservative." It was fun but I recall it getting even more wonky after that.

Luckily were saved from performing some sort of dialectic analysis of social security when my old quiz bowl friend and recent pub trivia team mate Ryan K. and his friend John showed up. Ryan is one of the best and most sincere people I know. He's always honest and straightforward with people and won't shine people on. Ryan and I had discussed meeting up at the show months ago but had talked about it since so this was a real nice surprise. Ryan's friend John turned out to be a real cool guy and I talked with him a lot about music and impressed him with my knowledge of NC State basketball. Later Ryan's friend Ellen joined us and while I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her she was a delight.

Ryan K., John and Ellen.

The actual show was great. Robyn was in top form; complete with a polka dot shirt, with lots of blinking, plentiful flipping the hair out of his face, and inspired monologues. While I prefer to see Robyn with a band and rockin', the solo acoustic format allows for a nice rambling experience. You never know what Robyn might play and he played stuff from all over his career from The Soft Boys "Only The Stones Remain" to The Full Moon of My Soul" from his latest album. The highlight for me was definitely "A Skull, a Suitcase, and a Long Red Bottle Of Wine" which contains one of my favorite lines "when your dreams come true they pretty soon decay" such beautiful cynicism. The lowlight was definitely "Viva Sea-Tac", Robyn's tribute to Seattle. Its a cute song but totally gimmicky. I wouldn't mind it if Robyn didn't always play it at every show in Seattle. Everything else was pretty fab though.

The only picture of Robyn I managed to take where he is not just a red blob of light.

The show was sold out so it was awfully warm in there. We were standing near the back and there was a light that I kept seeing out of the corner of my eye so I tried just close my eyes and focus on the music, but since I was rather drunk I kept losing my balance. Lesson: drunk people should keep their eyes open!

Anyway, thank you Robyn, Ryan K., John, Ellen, and especially Mery for great night out!

Now That's Old-Time Hockey!!!

2005-02-23T13:50:00.000-08:00

This years NHL season is dead but this story just warms my heart. Reggie Dunlop of the Charlestown Chiefs would be proud.

It Feels Just like 1984

2005-02-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

This morning, inspired the hilarious cover story in this weeks Stranger, I listened to Thriller and I am still confused by the "Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable" part of the chorus to "Wanna Be Startin Somethin". Last night I watched the pilot to Miami Vice on DVD (thank you Netflix!) and tonight I'll watch more Miami Vice just like a normal Friday night back when I was 8. Damn that show is good. I'm worried on the way home tonight I may end up buying some parachute pants or something worse.

Best Headline Ever

2005-02-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

Actor Tom Sizemore Fails Drug Test with Fake Penis

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2005-02-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

Through the miracle of free tickets I went to last night's Sonics-Kings Game. It was a great game, tight throughout, with the Kings holding a slim lead through most of the game and the Sonics pulling it out in the end. The highlight was definitely the big confrontation between Danny Fortson and Chris Webber which really changed the momentum of the game in the Sonics favor.

What's amazing about the Sonics this year is that absolutely no one expected this sort of turn around. I would have been excited if the Sonics managed to win 25 games all season and they have 34 already and are a virtual lock to win their division. Even with two All-Stars in Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, The Sonics really play great team basketball and a blast to watch. They had nine guys contributing quality minutes. I was especially impressed with rookie Nick Collison's performance down the stretch last night.

Between the Sonics and the Husky Men's team (20-3!), Seattle is becoming something of a basketball Mecca which is more than a little exciting. Thoughts of a dual hoops championships are conceivable.

Commuter Memo

2005-02-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

To the guy across the aisle from me on the bus this morning. It is perfectly okay to watch DVDs on your laptop with headphones on the way to work. It is definitely not okay to watch episodes of HBO's Carnivale that have long sex scenes on the bus. It is even more not okay to have a big creepy grin on your face while watching said scenes.

Thank you that is all.

Nerdiest Post Ever?

2005-02-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

Today at work, I was comparing a list of language codes with one of our taxonomies (Aren't you totally jealous of my exciting job?) Anyway I discovered that Klingon is included in ISO 639-the Codes for the Representation of the Names of Languages standard. This is just wrong on so many levels.

I mean I can understand including Esperanto but Klingon? Even worse is the fact that the Klingon word for the Klingon language is included as an alternate form. And no, I won’t tell you what that is. I almost wonder if this is just a joke that no one caught in the editing process. Sigh... I think I’ll have to burn my Worf action figure at home tonight in protest.

Movie Shorts

2005-02-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

Million Dollar Baby - I was skeptical going in. The movie totally stomach punches you yet it works. Great performances all around. Could have done with less of the Danger character though. If this wins the oscar im ok with that.

The Village - The twist is a good one. But you have to give a shit about what happens before the reveal for a twist to work. M. Night's streak of success is over.

Star Trek II: The Wraith of Khan - Awesomeness. Hadn't seen this in ages. Bonus features informed, me to my surprise, that that really is Ricardo Monteblan's real chest and not a breast plate.

Ray - Jamie Foxx is fantastic but its still just a biopic. It doesnt really end it just sort of stops.

Infernal Affairs - Quite possibly the best movie of the year. If you can imagine a Hong Kong Cop flick minus John Woo's doves and Chow Yun-Fat's wooden acting, you get this great film. Tony Leung and Andy Lau are both phenomenal.

Napoleon Dynamite - I am an ID-iot for not seeing this in the theaters! Its not a movie for everyone but its kinda like a live action version of a really funny Adult Swim cartoon. And I swear the guy that plays Napoleon's brother Kip cuts my hair at Supercuts in Ballard.

She Hate Me - I know I'm supposed to think this movie suckes but I really dug it. Its a seriously flawed film and major step down from The 25th Hour. But there's something about Spike Lee's style that I just love.

Intermission - Danny Boyle has a lot to answer for. Yet another boring Trainspotting inspired rambling mess. Kelly MacDonald is as cute as ever though.

Mean Creek - One of those movies I wish I had never seen the trailer for. I really liked it but I wonder if I would have loved it if I hadn't been spoiled by the trailer.

The Door in the Floor - Excellent film from start to finish. Jeff Bridges was robbed of an Oscar nomination just as much Paul Giamatti was. Kim Bassigner is pretty good as well. Not a happy movie but a good one.

The Saddest Music in the World - Weirdo director Guy Maddin's tribute to Canadian stubbie beer, the Great Depression, and American Idol. Both bizarre and kinda boring. Great silent era still cinematography and good perfromances by Rossellini and McKinney

Conventioneering

2005-02-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

As anyone that has been to my house knows I read comic books,When I was about 10, I started reading comic books pretty obsessively. I stopped about halfway through high school and started back up in college. This past weekend I did something I have never done before, I went to a comic book convention. The Emerald City ComiCon at the the Qwest Field Exhibition center to be exact.

Why had I never gone to one before? I think mainly because all the previous conventions seemed overly small time and likely supper lame. I know from past record shows that any event you can get in free to by donating a can of food is bound to be super lame.

My biggest mistake of the day was that I forgot my camera at home. There were some truly egregious displays of geekery on display. There was the swarm of thirtysomething fat guys in full on Star Wars Storm Trooper uniforms. There was the massive line to see artist Jhonen Vasquez filled fully decked out goths of all sorts that wrapped around the whole front of the Exhibition Center. There were also lots of sweaty teen geeks wearing this ninja headbands and it wasn't until later that I realized some both was giving them away and this wasn't some Karate school field trip. Then there were the geeks with big wheel around bags filled comics to signed by the talent. Worst was this chubby girl with a rat tail, and bad skin wearing a fetching combo of stained sweats and Ugg boots. The vendors were far more freaky looking than the average convention goers. One female vendor was full done up as a leopard complete with face paint and rest of dealers were some variation on the Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons complete with the bad B.O.

I was really impressed with the convention. This was a real convention and they had the big names and everything. Well big names for the comics world that is. At the Fanatagraphics booth I picked up a copy of Peter Bagge's new Hate collection Buddy Does Seattle and got him to sign it. I'm rather ambivalent about autographs and I was a more that a bit of pathetic dork when talking to Mr. Bagge, which of course reminded me of why never get autographs. My Brother bought some really nice prints from artists Tony Harris and Alex Maleev. And was much less of a dork about.

The highlight was definitely the panel discussions we walked in on the end of a panel about self publishing comics and got to hear some 50 year old dude on the panel tell the audience they should be watching The O.C. every week because of all the Seth Cohen comics discussion. The next panel was all Marvel Comics writers including big names Brian Bendis and Ed Brubaker. Brian and Ed had a lot of interesting things to say about the writing process and were cracking jokes left and right. Lesser known writer Robert Kirkman stole the show when cracked that he never worried about repeating cliches and just ripped off shitty old comics that no one read like US 1 or Starbrand and mixed them up to plot his comics. I think I'll have to check out Kirkman's zombie comic The Waking Dead sometime soon.

Final Verdict? Good fun if you take it in small doses. I enjoyed it for what it was while remaining horrified by the more hardcore fans. Will I go next year? Oh yeah!

Pernice/Partridge

2005-02-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

Last summer, in a freak Google accident, I had my mind blown. Ok it really wasn't an accident but more like serendipity. I was looking up information on one of my favorite songwriters Joe Pernice and discovered that his last name was Italian for partridge. Which in addition to being the surname of a close friend is the the last name of Andy Partridge the genius behind the band XTC and a god to me. The coincidence made me giddy.

Both Joe and Andy's song are filled with melancholy beauty and sad joy. Joe is usually more restrained with the wordsmithry. Both are artist that made me ecstatic when I first discovered them. With Andy it was when I bought the XTC album Nonsuch on a lark and before the I was half through the my first listen I was already wondering which of the band's albums I should by next. With Joe I bought the Pernice Brothers' album "The World Wont End" based solely on a rave review in the magazine The Big Takeover and was not disappointed. I remember being excited that someone was till making this kind of shimmering pop music.

Joe's last name is pronounced PER-niece but in Italian it would be pear-KNEE-chay. This discovery also explains the presence of Partridge's on most Pernice Brothers' albums.

SuperPatriots

2005-02-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

Remember when the Super Bowl was boring? When every game was a blowout and the commercials really were the only interesting thing. That's really not true this decade. Starting with that Rams-Titans game back in 2000 4 out of the 6 Super Bowls this decade have not just been close games they've been classics.

Yesterday's game was yet another classic. It was sloppy but still a great game. The Eagles really could have had this game but they blew it. If I were an Eagles fan I would want Coach Andy Reid's head right now. Reid deserves much of the blame not on just for their poor clock management down the stretch but also for never changing his pass first gameplan. The Pats deserve all the credit in the world for this victory. Three championships in four years is an impressive achievement. Although these Boston championships are getting a bit much!

The commercials were pretty much a bore with the exception of the Americaquest cat murder on and the NFL Network musical spot. Paul McCartney was solid as the halftime act and fortunately did not whip it out as my brother predicted.

Maybe next year the Seahawks will be be celebrating at the end of the game? Yeah dream on...

Dwight Remembered

2005-01-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, my step-father Mike's father Dwight passed away. I didn't know Dwight well but he was always kind and sweet to me. He always had a goofy joke to share or a silly nickname to bestow on someone. He was always wearing acowboy boots and western shirts. He always seemed to be a quintessential Norman Rockwell style grandfather. I know he was good man because his son is one onef my favorite people in the world. I really regret I never got to know him better.

Dwight's health had been in long decline from Parkinson's, but the suddenness of his death really took me aback. It struck me harder than my own grandfather's death or my great grandfather's deaths. Maybe that's because BoBo's death something i was long prepared for. I am glad that Dwight is no longer suffering but I feel really sad for Mike and his brothers. I can't fathom what it would feel like to lose your father. And my heart goes out to Bette, Dwight's wife, as well.

I won't be able to go to his funeral next week and I didn't really know what to do with my grief or how to honor Dwight, so I went to a Blessed Sacrament in the U-District and lit a candle in Dwight's honor and said a prayer for him. I'm not Catholic or even particularly religious, but Dwight was so it felt like a fitting tribute. This has reminded me how precious family and friends are and how important our time with them is.

Hail Satan! \m/

2005-01-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

This picture is just to good to be true. He's obviously just doing the doing the Hook'em Horns sign but it makes him look like he is a big Slayer or Ronnie James Dio fan. Not to mention the whole Bush is Satan angle. I guess a Norwegian newspaper was so disturbed by the picture that it ran on their front page today.

I am surprised by my lack of dread and apathy towards Bush's re-inauguration. Maybe I'm just avoid thinking about so as to not depress myself. You know if I don't recognize the problem maybe it will go away, right?

I initially just read his inauguration speech and thought wow what a hopeful positive speech! If John Kerry had given that speech I would have been really excited. But then I listened Bush delivering the speech. Holy god! He just murdered the speech and sucked the life out of it; even mangling the home run lines. Additionally, while I do believe bush really means what he says about spread democracy I don't trust him do it without making things worse.

Have we ever had a more fucked up less accountable administration? At least Nixon got nailed for his crimes. But Nixon didnt get in trouble till his second term so there's still time.

Colin Sings

2005-01-13T23:24:00.000-08:00

I just got back from an excellent Colin Meloy solo show. I have loved the Decemberists dearly since I first discovered them a year and half ago and their live shows are always excellent but seeing the band's frontman/songwriter Colin Meloy (AKA the future Mr. Headstart For Happiness) on his own was a special treat. Meloy is a first rate songwriter with a strange tenor voice and and a first rate guitarist. His songs are unique to say the least. Dickensian is probably the best word to describe his songs but they aren't all about Chimney sweeps and prostitutes., like his best song "Angel, Wont You Call Me?", which is the most straight forward of love songs. He is very reminiscent of Robyn Hitchcock in that he can be ever so strange but always manages to connect emotionally with me in the end. However, Colin dresses better and blinks less than Robyn.

Meloy's set was nice mix of old and new Decemberists' tracks, unreleased songs, and well chosen covers. Early on he played "Apology Song", which is literal and apology in song for losing a friends bicycle. Another highlight was a new song called "On the Bus mall" which was about contemporary prostitutes instead of Victorian ones. He also played two Morrissey covers "Sister I'm a Poet" and "I've Changed My Plea To Guilty" which were just awesome and he was even selling an tour only EP called "Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey", which has to the coolest tour only item I've ever bought. Meloy closed the main set with "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" which was the song that got me hooked on the Decemberists and still to my knowledge the only song to mention the Multnomah County Library. In the encore, Meloy ended the show with an awesome cover of Cheap Trick's "Southern Girls" that was superior to the original. He managed to strip the song down its pop essence and eschew the sometimes unnecessary Rick Nielsen bombast. What a great way to end a great show.

The show was at The Triple Door which is easily the poshest venue I have been to in Seattle. It's a cabaret style theater with tiers of booths and tables. It was like being at the Copacabana minus Ray Liotta and a 7 minute Scorcese tracking shot. I did like that we were able to eat and sit while watching the show. It wasn't a very rock n' roll venue but this wasn't a very rock 'n roll show. It works for solo acoustic but it would be a crime to see a real rock band there. But the service was weird. First our server kept trying to get us to sign up for their email list by talking it up and leaving forms for us to fill out. Then it seemed like every ten minutes a server would open the bottle of water on our table and fill our glasses even if they were almost full. It got really annoying and even if you waved them off they wouldn't stop. It was like they were water pouring robots. The PourBot waitstaff didn't impede my enjoyment of the show.

Fountains of Wrong

2005-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

While watching the great but ultimately disappointing Seahawks-Rams playoff game on Saturday, I caught two commercials featuring Fountains of Wayne songs. The first was an NFL commercial featuring slow motion footage of quarterbacks going back to pass while FoW's "All Kinds of Time" plays. Pretty cool use of the song, which actually is about a quarterback going back to pass. The song works much better in the commercial than it does on its own.

The other commercial was borderline creepy. It starts with soccer mom-ish woman standing outside a minivan while the chorus to FoW's "Stacy's Mom" plays ("Stacy's Mom has got it going on"). Then we see a large group of children running to the minivan and then she opens up the door to reveal a bunch of Dr. Pepper. Nothing wrong obstensably wrong with the commercial unless you are familiar with the rest of the song and its content which makes more than a little wrong. Shades of that recent Nicole Kidman Movie Birth? Maybe Dr. Pepper will take this one out of circulation and play their commecial featuring Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" instead.

I Heart My DVR

2005-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

For the past ten days, I have had a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) and has been awesome. It's not a Tivo but its essentially the same thing. And unlike a Tivo, I didn't have to spend any money on the hardware. I just have to pay Comcast an extra ten bucks a month. The DVR runs Microsoft TV software. Its pretty sleek and far better than the Scientific Atlanta stuff my Dad's DVR runs. Before FCW got her Tivo I thought it was a fussy extravagance for people to lazy to set their VCRs. But after hearing her extol its virtues on a near daily basis I knew in needed one

Yet I still resisted the lure of Tivo, thinking it would make me what too much TV or at least even more than the ridiculous amount I already watch. But to my surprise I am actually watching less TV. I no longer am just endlessly surfing for something to watch. Instead, I just set it to record the shows I want. And then I can watch those shows when its convenient for me which leaves me free to read more, watch more DVDs, play more video games, and even get more exercise.

The best part is recording things you always mean to watch but tend to forget about like The Venture Brothers on the Cartoon Network or Ebert and Roeper. The time shifting quality is great. Even if you intend to watch a show the night airs why should you have to watch at 8 when it would be more convenient to watch it 9:35.

It is so much easier to record shows with the DVR than with the VCR. It also allows you never have to hesitate on making spur of the moment plans with friends just because you'd have to go home and set up the VCR first
Another added bonus is when you are flipping around and run across a show you like that's half way over you can set the DVR to record the whole thing. I did this last night with Do You Speak American?, Robert MacNeil's PBS documentary about regional dialects in America.

I know this sounds like an informercial but having DVR rules. It's a steal for ten bucks a month. Comcast isn't advertising their availability yet but if you call them they can get you all set up.

The Return of Me

2005-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

Worry not readers, I'm back.

Where did I go? Nowhere really.

I took last week off of work and coupled with some weird work holidays I ended up with 12 straight days off. It also turned into a unexpected vacation from blogging as well.

The time off was splendid as were the holidays (I'll post some holiday pictures later). I spent some time with family in Port Orchard, Olympia, and Lake Stevens. Although most of the time was spent in Seattle

It was particularly nice seeing my Nana at Christmas. It has been a few years since I've spent Christmas with her and she full of joy throughout. I even got her to make me a patented Nana-style Canadian and tap water cocktail which turned out to be not bad at all which is saying a lot from a vodka drinker. I also got to have Christmas dinner with Uncle John and Aunt Gail and my cousins. I really don't see them enough, especially now that they no longer east of the mountains.

My mom and Mike surprised me with a really cool xmas gift. A print of Public Enemy's Chuck D by guerilla graphic artist Shepard Fairey. At first I thought it was some baseball player like Curt Flood or Eric Davis but brother set me straight. At first I thought it was a little extravagant for me but now I really really like. You can see the print here. The print I have is of the right side. Maybe I'll get Flava Flav to complete the set next year.

Oddly I only caught two movies on my vacation The Aviator and The Life Aquatic I really liked both a lot. I expected to like The Aviator because even bad Scorcese is usually quality stuff. The Aviator is probably Scorcese's best film since Goodfellas, a really excellent film. With The Life Aquatic, I didn't know what to expect. I loved Rushmore but I was left cold by The Royal Tennenbaums, but I really enjoyed this new one. You just can't go wrong with David Bowie songs done in Portuguese and including the original versions of my two favorite Bowie songs "Life on Mars?" and "Queen Bitch" means I have to love it.

I also spent a lot of time playing geeky board games with Headstart and my old friend Nick. Headstart, newly employed in politics, had the week off and Nick was back from Africa for the holidays. We played lots and lots of Settlers of Catan and Illuminati. And this last Sunday we played more at our old high school friend Bill's place with my brother. We played History of the World which even though I won is only really fun for the first half then it tends to get a little stale but it was still a lot of fun.

I also had a wonderful time on New Year's with Headstart, Sprizee, AA, and Xan. We were at Frumhouse where Headstart was house sitting and good time was had by all. There was booze, Chinese food, and poker. My poker game was initially horrid but after I had couple of great hands at the end that took me from big loser status to big winner status.

By the last day of my vacation (Monday) I was ready to return to the working world. Rested, happy, and motivated to have a great 2005.

Music: The Year in Review

2004-12-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

The Top Ten:
1. Graham Coxon - Happiness in Magazines
A Brit Pop masterpiece. Graham sounds more like Blur on this album than Blur has in a decade. Pure pop pleasure from start to finish.

2. Mirah - C'mon Miracle
This is an album that I would never have never checked out without file sharing. Quiet, creepy songs that are both personal and political. Portland's Mirah is kind of like Cat Power minus the preciousness. Easily, the Best album from K Records since Boot Party.

3. Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Shake the Streets
This was supposed to be the album celebrate Bush's defeat with, but its still a fantastic collection of Jam-esque political pop songs of the catchiest kind.

4. Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
Mellow Scottish twee pop at its finest.

5. Robyn Hitchcock - Spooked
Another great album by favorite artist of all time. This acoustic album contains at least 3 all time classics "Television", "If You Know Time", and "Full Moon of My Soul".

6. Guided By Voices - Half Smiles of the Decomposed
The final album by the world's last great rock band. Not as immediately catchy as their last three albums but fantastic in its own way. "Window of My World" is a gorgeous song.

7. Harry and the Potters - Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock
I've raved about these guys before in the blog but this album is really special. This is essentially Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix turned into a rock opera/song cycle. "The Human Hosepipe" is one of the angstiest songs in years.

8. Morrissey - You Are the Quarry
With a 7 year wait between albums, I haven't anticipated an album this much since XTC's Apple Venus. Luckily, the Mozzer did not disappoint. This is easily his best album since Vauxhall and I if not Your Arsenal.

9. The Mountain Goats - We Shall All Be Healed
John Darnielle was my big discovery this year. I still haven't figure out what is about his music (it's sure not his voice!) that I like but I know I dig it.

10. TV on the Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
These guys really turned me off at first but the more I listened the more I liked it, until I couldn't stop listening to it over and over.

Honorable Mentions:
Destroyer - Your Blues
The Guild League - Inner North
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
A.C. Newman -The Slow Wonder
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
Wilco - A Ghost is Born
Brian Wilson - Smile

Also Great:
Air- Talkie Walkie
Belle & Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo and Books EPs
Bjork - Medulla
Jon Brion - I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack
Neko Case - The Tigers Have Spoken
Lloyd Cole - Music in a Foreign Language
Elvis Costello and the Impostors - The Delivery Man
Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
The Lashes - The Stupid Stupid EP
Magnetic Fields - i
The Minus 5 - In Rock (Reissue)
The Minus 5 - At the Organ EP
Andy Partridge - Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 5 & 6
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: L.A.'s Desert Origins (Reissue)
Grant Lee Phillips - Virginia Creeper
Puffy AmiYumi - Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi: Music From the Series
Of Montreal - Satanic Panic in the Attic
Sgt. Major - Rich, Creamery Butter
Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
Smoosh - She Like Electric
Jill Sobule - Underdog Victorious
Visqueen - Sunset on Dateland
Kanye West - The College Dropout
Paul Weller - Studio 150

Good Solid Albums:
Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One is One
The Bees - Free The Bees
Frank Black - Frank Black Francis
Jon Brion - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack
David Byrne - Grown Backwards
Johnny Cash - My Mother's Hymn Book
Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
The Decemberists - The Tain
Elf Power - Walking with the Beggar Boys
The Fastbacks - Truth, Corosion, and Sour Biscuits
Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here
Keane - Hopes and Fears
Le Tigre - This Island
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
The Old 97s - Drag It Up
Pedro The Lion - Achilles' Heel
Robert Pollard - Fiction Man
Preston School of Industry – Monsoon
RJD2 - Since We Last Spoke
The Sadies - Favourite Colours
Snow Patrol - Final Straw
They Might Be Giants - Indestructible Object EP
They Might Be Giants - The Spine
Various - Read: Interpreting Bjork
Tom Waits - Real Gone

Disappointing or Just Plain Sucked:
The Beta Band - Heroes to Zeroes
Interpol - Antics
Lambchop - No, You C'mon
N*E*R*D - Fly or Die
The Thrills - Let's Bottle Bohemia
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Various - This One's For the Fellows
Brian Wilson - Gettin' In Over My Head

Abomination:
Glenn Tilbrook - Transatlantic Ping-Pong

Confessions of a Trekkie

2004-12-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

Two years ago I would have considered myself a mild fan of Star Trek. Sure I'd seen all the movies, probably seen most episodes of the original series, had watched most of The Next Generation in its initial run, and occasionally watched Deep Space Nine. But the magic of Netflix changed all that.

For no particular reason that I can recall, I decided that it would be fun to start rewatching The Next Generation. I was just going to get the occasional disc and figured that with seven seasons of TNG at seven disks a season it would take me years to work through TNG. But I complete fell in lvoe with it and became obsessed and soon my queue was filled with TNG and I was getting five discs of TNG at a time. Next thing I knew I was biding for Reg Barclay action figures on Ebay.

Soon with in a few months I was all out of TNG so I moved on to DS9 and watched that series with equal speed. While inferior to TNG, DS9 is definitely my personal favorite especially the intricate plots of the later seasons. Way too many Ferengi centric episodes though. Once I was done with DS9 I started watching Voyager as the seasons came out on DVD this year and even though the series is highly mediocre for the most part I can't stop watching it. I just got the first disc of season 7 today.

Earlier this year I started watching the old two episodes on disk DVD of the Original Series but when word came of real TOS box sets I stopped getting those. Now thanks to Christmas gifts from my father I now own all three seasons of TOS.

Last fall I even started watching the much maligned Enterprise on UPN and found that I really liked it. The third season Xindi arc was a lot of fun and this season has turned out to be phenomenal. I really hope there is a fifth season. And of course I am looking forward to seeing the first two seasons on DVD in the future.

All tolled in the past 22 months I have watched 10 Star Trek feature films and 572 episodes of the various Star Trek series on DVD or on the air with another 48 episodes of TOS in possession to be watched. That's pretty scary and definitely makes me a big Trekkie. But this evening I crossed the point of no return. I bought a Star Trek novel. A DS9 novel called Unity and I'm really excited to read it. Kill me now. Please. Really.

Now for a bunch of embarassing Trek top fives:

Series Rankings:
1. Star Trek: The Next Generation
2. Star Trek
3. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
4. Star Trek: Enterprise (only based on seasons 3 and 4)
5. Star Trek: Voyager

Captain Rankings:
1. Picard (TNG)
2. Kirk (TOS)
3. Archer (ENT)
4. Janeway (VOY)
5. Sisko (DS9)I love the character but he's not a great captain.

Favorite Characters:
1. Spock (TOS)
2. Picard (TNG)
3. Gul Ducat (DS9)
4. Worf (TNG, DS9)
5. The Doctor (VOY)

Worst Characters:
1. Dr. Pulaski (VOY)
2. Neelix (VOY)
3. Kes (VOY)
4. Troi (TNG)
5. Chakotay (VOY)

Most Promising Yet Underdeveloped Characters:
1. Tuvok (VOY)
2. B'Elanna Torres (VOY)
3. Hoshi Sato (ENT)
4. Travis Mayweather (ENT)
5. Geordi LaForge (TNG)

Best Episodes:
1. Tapestry (TNG)
2. Mirror, Mirror (TOS)
3. The Visitor (DS9)
4. Far Beyond the Stars (DS9)
5. All Good Things... (TNG)

And Now I'm Older Still

2004-12-12T22:55:00.000-08:00

This is Jackson the sweetest dog in the world. He could probably kill me with in 5 seconds but he such a weenie the thought would never occur to him. He is deathly afraid of the vacuum. So much for a pit bull/rotweiller mix being a tough dog.

I now have a digital camera courtesy of a birthday present from my mom and step-dad. It's a really fun gadget. Now I just need to learn how to take quality pictures with it.

I spent most of the day downtown with my mom and I had a real blast. I finished most of my Christmas shopping and used the last of my birthday money to pick up a copy of Freaks and Geeks on DVD. I had a really nice time hanging out with mom and while it was busy downtown it was not insanely busy. Afterwards we went to dinner and Nishino with my brother and Amy. High end Japanese food can be so yummy. After dinner I went home and met up with Merychippus and we enjoyed the three hour finale of Survivor and I was most pleased with the final result.

It was a completely fantastic birthday weekend. I feel very loved.

Older Than I've Ever Been

2004-12-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my 28th birthday. Five years ago I would said "whoa 28? That's old!" but now it doesn't seem so bad. Maybe that's just wishful thinking but I really like who I am, where I am and where I'm headed. May the next 28 years be just as good. Although as I heard on NPR's Day To Day this week even 26 is considered old by teenagers today.

Last night, I went out to dinner with Headstart, AA, FCW and her no longer FC, my brother and his girlfriend Amy, and K and her new beau. Sprizee and Xan were invited but otherwise engaged. Dinner was delightful and the conversation ranged from carrier plans to Bremerton to the awesomeness of this week's episode of the OC. And when the check arrived it turned to the metaphysical implications of check spliting. Mind blowing. I also snagged some great presents including the new Jill Sobule album, a deluxe Goodfellas DVD, Green Lantern Christmas ornaments, and a bunch of nice books. Afterward, most of us went to see Ocean's Twelve which turned out to be a really entertaining piece of fluff. Unlike the tightly plotted Ocean's Eleven, the plot seemed like is was made up on the spot as they filmed it but it was still fun.

Today, I went out to lunch with my dad, step-mom, and brother. We mostly talked about politics and the future of the Democratic party. Some really great debate from all sides and I, as always, came out comparatively looking like right winger. My dad is now the chairman of the 26th District Democrats and my step-mom is the secretary. Afterwards, we went to University Village where I spent some gift certificates I had gotten as gifts and I ended up with Chinatown, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Bubba Ho-tep, and May DVDs. A great birthday weekend so far.

Victory!

2004-12-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

I played pub trivia at the Old Pequliar tonight with a bunch of friends including keith and Grumbles. We had to split into two teams because there were two many of us. My team was called Personality Crisis and Grumbles team was called (as always) Faces of Defeat. While we struggled a bit on the figure skater picture round Personality Crisis was in second place at half time with Faces of Defeat not far behind. In the second half we continued our success by nailing some tough questions in the TV round including one about Magnum P.I.. Our perfromance was just good enough for us to win! We won $140 and split it with Faces of Defeat. After trivia was over stuck arond for an hour or so and chatted. Thong provided the highlight of the evening by putting some Toby keith on the jukebox and then telling us his plans to get people arrested by misusuing stolen neighborhood broadband. The plan was far to nefarious and hilarious to even mention here. I also found out that Grumbles' friend Kate went to Davis High School in Yakima with my brother and even went with him to a high school dance. Small world indeed!