Jan02

1-31-02 (00:53)

pretty long day.

monday it snowed here in davis, but i was asleep while it was happening.

new chemical brothers came out the other day, put my name on the promo. sounds pretty good, but hasn't blown me out of the water. time will tell.

got 6 cds for free today....part of being a supervisor and having a pretty nice boss.

a good usps commercial would be "shipping rates so cheap even this guy can afford em." then show a picture of the unabomber and his shack in montana.

bush makes me sick.

rhetoric makes me even more sick.....both of the above are probably why reno collapsed today.

law and order is a good tv show....probably the best running show on tv today, except of course for the simpsons.

read a bunch of the beatles anthology last night. george is the beatle i relate to the most and ringo is the one i admire the most. john came off as a bit pretentious and a little fake. john said that 'happiness is a warm gun' wasn't about heroin.

working the opening shift always makes the day go by more quickly, but having to wake up at 830 in the morning sucks big time.

time to goto sleep.

1-28-02 (00:37)

why is it that we can't sell cds containting rare beastie boys (or any other artist for that matter) songs on ebay, but we can sell pills which claim to help people lose 80lbs in a month? which is more harmful to society? which takes advantage of people and fosters the idea that we live in a quick fix world and which protects the rich?

watched roughly the last half of the rams game today. pretty good game from what i saw. too bad philly couldn't have pulled it out. philly is a better city than st. louis could ever hope to be. superbowl should be pretty lame.

a) why would you name your band "fallacy"? b) why would you spell it "phallucy"?

i like mp3s, but i think people abuse their access to them. i think it's lame to download an entire album's worth of mp3s without buying the album. never done it, never will. what's funny is how we don't even take it seriously anymore. the fact that it's stealing doesn't mean anything to anyone. technically it's theft and yet no one cares one bit because you're stealing without actually taking anything in the tangible sense, like we're used to. it should be interesting to see how the law catches up with piracy...i mean eventually laws are going to have to change, because right now it's too easy (both in that it's socially acceptable and that it takes minimal effort).

nysnc tickets went on sale yesterday and we did over 6k in ticket sales. little girls are so easy....just ask mark chmura.

when britney spears was asked why she wanted to remake joan jett's "i love rock n' roll" she replied "because i love pat benatar!" no joke, she's that stupid.

well today i finally decided to listen the the bands i have been blindly making fun of for the last couple of months....so after listening to system of a down and linkin park i can now make informed decisions regarding their music. system of a down's single "toxicity" starts out with a certain degree of listenability, but then the lead singer decides to start "singing"....it's pretty good for a laugh. linkin park, too, met my expectations...combining the worst of limp bizkit and korn. i was pleasantly surprised when i gave incubus a chance, but that didn't happen today with either of these bands. i wasted countless megabytes of precious bandwidth, but at least i came out more informed.

1-27-02 (01:03)

tomorrow is my friday.

have some reading i want to do. have some movies i want to watch. have some laundry that needs to be done. have a cold i need to get rid of.

updated cdlist.

1-26-02 (00:39)

been sick the last couple days.

i like food a lot.

a chicken burrito sounds good right about now.

"dope on plastic" seems to be an oft sampled phrase in hip-hop.

i want to check out some more jon spencer blues explosion. haven't heard anything by him that i haven't liked.

1-22-02 (00:13)

since i've been going to sleep so late and waking up in the middle of the day i might just pull an all nighter and reset my sleeping schedule that way. i have monday and tuesday off, but then on wednesdays i have to work at 9am....so i have those two free days, but right afterwards i have the earliest day of my week.

i hope to get a lot done if i do decide not to sleep tonight.

life is like riding a bike - if you don't fall down once in a while, then you're not riding hard enough.

sun ra is underrated.

1-21-02 (02:39)

might goto sonoma tomorrow, but probably not.

1-20-02 (02:40)

got this dexter romweber (formerly of the flat duo jets) promo and it's really good. good rockabilly type stuff.

SNL was really good tonight...the strokes and jack black...

the raiders lost today in what was apparently a badly refereed game. i got to see the second quarter on my lunch break and they were up by seven. now i have no interest in football.

updated movies list.

1-19-02 (03:17)

updated movies list. going to start rating films A-F, i think that'll work better.

generally i don't like guitars in jazz music, but there's a group on john zorn's label called "naftule's dream" which uses an electric guitar pretty well....that is to say they don't make it sound too smooth jazzy.

i've got way too many cds i need to sort through and decide whether i'm going to keep or give away or try to sell. then there are some cds i am definitely going to keep which i need to get more well aquainted with. at the same time i need to watch more movies so it looks like i know what i'm doing with my weekends.

some of the people i work with are really lame and can ruin a day pretty quickly. on the other hand, most of the people i work with are cool and pull their own weight.

1-18-02 (03:30)

the hardest part about dvd ordering is picking out which new releases to get, and in what quantity; this is especially true with lesser known titles.sometimes they'll give you box office numbers, but other than that you have no idea what kind of response a certain movie might get. also, just because a movie did pretty well (or pretty bad) in the box office doesn't mean that dvd will or will not sell well.

had a good human to human conversation with my usually reserved boss. we talked about movies and business competition and michael moore.

made myself a chicken sandwich for dinner. it was pretty tasty.

my grandmother is going to france for almost nothing, that's pretty neat.

i think not making plans works out pretty well for me.

going to sleep rather late these days.

the big problem with documentaries, or, more precisely, my love for them, is that they don't come out on dvd very often. i don't think (though i haven't really researched this) that any of frederick wiseman's dozens of documentaries have been released on dvd....even the more recent or popular ones. neither of the michael moore movies have been released on dvd so far. if i had a few more documentaries like "american movie" then i'd be set.

talked to a sony representative today who said the rage against the machine/chris cornell thing is slated for march right now so that's pretty good since it's the first time i've heard a month mentioned when referring to the release date. up until today i had always heard "sometime in spring 2002" or "sometime next year, possibly."

sleeping is nice. on the other hand i might be turning into my dad.

i have a full spectrum light bulb in my room now...it is supposed to cut down on eye strain and it lasts 4 times longer than a regular light bulb, but the real benefit is being able to grow pot in my room.

got a promo of the new anniversary album and i think it's pretty good. kinda like ben folds five with some of the pixies.

it's still cold as ever, but that's fine by me.

www.newdream.org.

"The proposed reorganization of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which is currently in federal bankruptcy court, could spell bad news for thousand of acres of pristine landscape in the Sierra Nevada. Right now, PG&E is supervised by the California Public Utilities Commission, whose regulatory structure requires strict environmental protection and encourages public access to the company's 140,000 acres of watershed and timberlands. But all that could change if PG&E, which suffered huge financial losses during the state's energy crisis last spring, divides into 26 smaller corporations that would operate under the less-eco-friendly authority of federal energy regulators."

1-17-02 (00:54)

been doing a lot of dvd ordering lately.

the boss is hooking me and a couple other supervisors up with free cds so i got to pick out 5 regular cds i wanted. that's cool of him.

the new tommy castro album is pretty good.

got a router attachment for my dremel...looking forward to using that.

i've been living a pretty boring life lately. don't really do much. don't get really happy or really depressed. it's like i'm on prozac or something.

johnny rotten was on politically incorrect today...he was funny and a bit rude, but overall right. i might have to buy a sex pistols album to support his cause.

there was a good jeopardy game on the other night.

the kings played well tonight, but against a subpar team.

i think hunting is just fine if you use a knife or a spear or maybe even an old bow and arrow, but using a gun is lame. saw this one hunting magazine which documented joe blow's trip to alaska where he bagged two caribou and a black bear over the course of a week. where's the sport in that? it wasn't for subsistence so there's no argument there... i mean this is a simple argument i'm making yet hunters argue the other side of it all the time...'we need guns for sport.' doesn't make much sense to me. if someone sees something i'm missing (other than the "we need to have guns in case we need to overthrow the government" argument) then please let me know. and in terms of "protection" we should all just have a sawed off shotgun under our beds...it's not too big, it makes lots of noise and you can't miss. no need for assault rifles or hanguns the size of your palm. but then i guess it's silly to talk about what is "necessary" when we live in a world that produces mantle ornaments in the form of singing plastic fish, or chips/salsa dishes that play 'the mexican hat dance' everytime you open them up, or probably a lot of other things you and i have laying around.

i'm digging the sun ra album i got the other day.

"The Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, is getting even lower. In the last decade, the sea, which already lies more than 1,300 feet below sea level, has fallen an additional 20 feet. Scientists attribute the change to a drop in the water table around the Dead Sea, which allows the ground to settle and compact. The declining water table, in turn, is blamed on the steady siphoning of water from the area for agricultural, industrial, and residential uses in the parched region."

the last part helps put things in perspective..."Fires that rage in thousands of underground coal seams around the world are polluting the air and releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas. Although coal fires occur naturally from spontaneous combustion, scientists say the frequency of such fires has risen as mining has exposed coal deposits to more fires and to the oxygen that feeds them. The Office of Surface Mining says coal fires have cost the country about $1 billion to date -- and that's a drop in the bucket compared to the international cost. In China, for example, coal fires burn upward of 200 million tons of coal per year, about 20 percent of national production. Those fires alone produce almost as much CO2 as all the cars and small trucks in the U.S."

1-16-02 (00:07)

updated movies list.

1-15-02 (01:18)

a good place to go for all your plane hijacking needs.

aphex twin's "classics" album is bomb ass.

i've been going to sleep too late on my days off.

been pretty cold outside lately, but it hasn't rained very much this winter...i'm happy for that.

1-14-02 (19:54)

updated cdlist.

updated moviesiownlist.

fixed the towel bar on the bathroom wall today.

watched a documentary called 'berkeley in the sixties' today...it was good.

took in a bunch of cds i don't listen to and sold them back for credit at tower....that's why i bought so many cds and a dvd today. after all was said and done i got about 120 bucks worth of stuff for $16.47. employee discounts coupled with excess cds turn out to be quite the money saver.

woke up too late today.

i've got two pearl jam live cds and in both concerts eddie tells the crowd how much better they are compared to the previous crowd. that seems like a punk think to do. in the first concert (november 5th 2000) he tells the crowd that it's nice to be back home in seattle because all the other cities suck ass compared to seattle. then the next day (november 6th 2000, still in seattle) he tells the crowd that they're better than last night's crowd.

1-14-02 (02:20)

saw part of "crumb" a documentary about the controversial comic book artist r. crumb. he's one strange character with an even stranger family. one of his brothers has this long piece of cloth or string that he eats over the course of 3 days and after that time it has gone through his entire system so in effect he has one end coming out of his mouth and one coming out of his ass. it's too strange to make up so you gotta believe me.

i think barter is a lost art, especially in western society. i wish people traded things more often. i get all sorts of free cds and magazines from work it's a shame i can't put some of that towards getting free meals or a free movie rental or something. if i were to ask people if they were interested in some kind of exchange i'd likely run into a lot of bewildered faces...people just don't even think to trade things other than cash.

woke up early today and watched the niners lose to the packers. it was a tough game to watch.

on the one hand i don't think a band should release a live album unless they do something significantly different with the live versions of their songs (deep purple and led zeppelin are the first two bands that come to mind for me). on the other hand i think that it's nice to release some live stuff for your real fans who just want to get as much as they can. some say it was lame of pearl jam to release all those live albums, but i think it works out better for everyone except the bootleggers. fans get two cds for 16 bucks instead of one cd for 25 bucks, it's better quality, and the band gets its due.

not sure why johnny has made his site password protected.

the guy who once came into tower and broke a cd in front of me visited the store again today. this time he bought something and left without much ado. i should have broken the cd before putting it into his bag.

the guy who told me my shirt was offensive at the amtrak station came into the theater on a few different occasions. i wanted so badly to do something to him as well. i can only rest assured that the almighty lord and his son (though i guess that's redundant since they are one and the same) will punish him severely for his dastardly deeds.

i don't think jennifer anniston is very pretty.

played spades on yahoo games last night. it's a pretty good way to waste some time. first time i've done it and probably not the last.

tomorrow i hope to be somewhat productive.

i think it's a good idea to take a shower only when you need to, not every day merely for the sake of consistency, or out of habit.

the new version of winamp requires a pentium II processor. ouch.

my computer is about 5 years old and nothing has been majorly changed or upgraded in that time. i added, but did not replace, a hard drive. i changed the case once. i replaced the cd burner because the old one died. i did need to buy a new monitor as well, but the old one was about 7 years old when i replaced it. in sum i feel i've done a good job not getting carried away with trying to upgrade my computer.

some people came in a bought about 150 bucks worth of stuff and were very happy they were doing their part for the economy. they went on to conjecture just how much more they would have gotten had they gotten "drunk or high or something else" before coming to shop. it was rather funny.

just about every night i close at tower i work with jj and paris. paris is 30 something and jj is 19 or so. both of them are intellectually and emotionally 10 and it provides for an entertaining (at its best) or exasperating (at its worst) night. paris is married and constantly relays to me the disadvantages of being married and having kids. jj has a typically hot girlfriend and thinks he's going to get a pga card after he graduates college. first of all the latter will likely not happen, second even if it does he'll likely be too drunk to have time to work on his slice or putting game. both get regular calls from their girlfriend/wife and talk down to them. after the conversation is over they will inevitably shake their head as if to indicate the stupidity of their significant other, often this is accompanied by sighs and statements which range from "stupid hoe" to "i shoulda never gotten married." most of the night is spent deciding which one is more repulsive, usually paris wins because he is despicable AND ugly whereas jj is just despicable. come to think of it jj did work at the gap and probably wouldn't ever show enough responsibility to stick around as a father so maybe he's more repulsive. then again maybe paris' sons would be better off without him. well now you see how difficult it really is being a supervisor at tower records...so many tough decisions.

1-13-02 (00:57)

johnny came into tower today. might hang out with those guys on monday.

going to get up early to watch the 49er game tomorrow.

tomorrow is my friday equivalent.

despite taking a film class and recognizing the genius that goes into the craft of film i find myself wanting to see documentaries because the craft can be almost completely forgotten when viewing the film. obviously i still enjoy seeing a well made movie, but lately i've been craving the kind of content that documentaries have which most films can't even approach.

1-10-02 (00:46)

i discovered what it is about almost famous that makes it so bad....it's more or less like a cheeseburger and fries covered with dog shit - underneath the nastiness was once an appealing piece of work. i saw potential in almost famous, it was almost close to being good. the whole motif of music changing peoples' lives, the over-controlling mother weary of the influence of music and the music culture, the young boy going out on his own to discover himself and the world...all of these appeal to me. but when it came to execution it felt as if cameron crowe took one giant dump on it and obscured any of the once appealing elements beyond recognition by the time the film reached its complete form.

got to do some dvd buying today. the biggest problem i see is that we have a budget of only 1250 items at any given time...so in order for me to buy some new titles we'll have to make room under that 1250 item mark. in other words we're very limited in terms of the amount of new titles, and quantities of current ones, we can order.

1-9-02 (01:57)

if there was ever an appropriate time for the phrase "off the hook" describing blackalicious' song "alphabet aerobics" is it. that track takes the cake.

updated movies list.

1-8-02 (01:00)

finally finished making a tea shelf for melanie.

watched the royal tenenbaums and got in for free. michelle let us in and that was nice of her. updated movies list.

overall i'm down with pearl jam.

johnny and vern are back in town.

the car will be sold pretty soon.

almanacs are freaking cool.

i'll have to get up early on sunday to watch the niners/packers game.

"more than any other band, led zeppelin established the concept of album-oriented rock, refusing to release popular songs from their albums as singles." - all music guide.

it seems there is a lot of money to be made in releasing dvd box sets and tv series seasons on dvds. you throw a few dvds into one package and sell it for 2-3 times the cost of a regular dvd for just a bit more packaging and development costs.

been listening to a lot of johnny cash lately...the essential johnny cash is coming out soon so we have the promo in the store and his 1974 album 'ragged old flag' was reissued...for obvious reasons. at any rate, that guy was the shit.

if i were to ever drop acid i would want to listen to "tomorrow never knows" by the beatles while tripping out

talked to this guy at tower the other day about sun ra and he said that one of the guys who played on coltrane's ascension lives in davis. pretty cool.

1-7-02 (01:31)

i get the next two days off...definitely the first two consecutive days off in a couple months.

apparently i've been getting about 100 hits a day since i've had my webpage on tigertech.com and it turns out that most of it is because of my mp3 list. for example so far i've gotten 6 hits from people looking for "steve martin+philosophy/religion/college sketch" on google.com.

"interstellar overdrive" by pink floyd sounds good on headphones.

working with paris is about the most annoying experience of my life. he's going to drive me to alcoholism.

added an icon to my webpage so that if you have my page in your favorites folder it'll be accompanied by a small icon.

work sucked today. some of the people there complain too much, some of them don't care enough to complain at all, and few let their actions speak for themselves.

i really wish it was possible to influence things outside of my little sphere of life. making a difference at work is hard enough...making a difference on a national or international level seems so impossible.

wish i could have seen the 49er game. marc must be pissed.

the kings have depth like nobody's business. i really hope they're able to step it up and beat the lakers, and thus secure a championship. if i were the kings coach i'd follow in the footsteps of the bulls in the early 90s...they had a hell of a time beating the pistons come playoff time and for two or three years they were eliminated by the pistons at some point in the playoffs. finally they dedicated the next season to a single minded goal - beating the pistons. they did, and began a new era at the same time. the kings, while they have all this talent and potential, need to commit themselves towards the singular goal of defeating the lakers. not only have the lakers been the ones to oust the kings from the playoff the last two years, but they are also the best team in the nba. just about every team meeting should be about analyzing their strengths and weakness in the context of a matchup with the lakers....this strategy will obviously lose them some games in the short run, but it won't harm their chances of making it to the playoffs and once there they will be far more equipped to finally defeat their goliath. hopefully the third time will be the charm.

it's 5am.

1-4-02 (01:11)

wish i had more time to listen to music.

my boss is putting me in charge of processing special orders next week. i figure between that and ordering dvds i'll be able to keep myself busy. keeping busy is a good thing.

"The U.S. government will no longer consider a business's environmental track record when awarding federal contracts, following the Bush administration's decision to rescind 11th-hour Clinton-era "blacklisting" regulations. The regulations required a business to have a satisfactory record on ethical, environmental, tax, labor, antitrust, and consumer protection laws to win government contracts worth more than $100,000. Repeal of the regulations was a significant triumph for the private sector but a blow to environmental and labor organizations, which argue that the regulations are necessary to prevent the administration from doing business with companies that violate the government's own laws."

i met the helen thomson a couple days ago. she came in to return the godfather dvd collection. we chatted for a bit about my becoming a government teacher one day. she gave me her card and told me i should call her office in regards to some program they had applications for. for those of you who don't know...helen thomson is the state assemblywoman for davis.

updated movies list.

i want to go hitchhiking again.

might have a buyer for my car.

1-1-02 (20:52)

today was my first day off in more than a month. i didn't do anything special. everything is closed and that's pretty lame. the one thing i wanted to do was goto the hardware store and it's not open.

watched some football. watched a movie.

my last day at the theater was yesterday and it went well. got a few movie posters, said goodbye, and that was that.

updated movies list.

watched part of predator today....it hasn't ceased to amaze me. john mctiernan really knew how to make movies in those days. very good cinematography (same guy who did moulin rouge....which sucked as a movie, but had very good, and original, cinematography.)

i heard something about yankee stadium possibly being replaced - that would be a shame.