Jun02

6-28-02 (01:18)

nothing to say

6-26-02 (23:04)

amanda quit work today, no loss there. apparently she quit because on sunday mike told her that he didn't like her to which she responded "fuck off." after that he told her she should leave because he didn't need to hear that and she was bothering him. i guess they finished out their shift without much fanfare, but today she came in and quit. if it was my choice she would have been fired a long time ago anyway. it's funny because just yesterday i was thinking about mike's willingness to be extremely honest. so even though he can be a pompous dick at least he doesn't hide it, he's not afraid to be who he wants to be. at least three different other employees have had run-ins with mike and all three have quit recently. the good thing about that is that the three of them were also the three most annoying co-workers i had - son in a sense mike is just doing the dirty work for me, whether he knows it or not.

when i got back to work from my lunch break i was outside locking up my bike when i saw alex (the loss prevention person) getting into an argument with some other guy outside of the store. it looked like they were going to fight and then the other guy told alex to follow him. so alex followed him down the street and i followed alex and by this time sean was outside too so he came along with me. the other guy took us around the block and after coming out of a barber shop walked back towards alex and threw a punch. alex (who isn't very big, but is definitely strong) threw the other guy to the ground and they went at it for a little while. after a few seconds the guys from the barber shop peeled the two of them off each other. that was the first fight i've seen in davis. when i was in la i saw them a lot more because i was in high school and because it's la. the only thing that worried me was if sean or either of the two guys from the barber shop had joined the scuffle it would have been a brawl and i would have been in it. i'm glad that both parties let it remain between the two original people. i've never been in a fight so it would have been nice to finally have that experience, but considering one of the guys from the barber shop was probably about 350 lbs i'm glad it didn't happen this time. at any rate, my dionysian got its fix for the week.

after work i went to play basketball. for the first time since i've been playing there i encountered another person shooting hoops. we talked a bit and it turns out that he measured the height of the rim the other day and it's only 9'8" - regulation height is 10' so i've been playing on a rim 4 inches shorter than regulation. that made my day kinda suck. i might have to start playing basketball on the other side of the freeway where there are only two hoops, but both are regulation size. the other drawback besides being over the freeway and only having two hoops is that they're always crowded.

work was pretty fun today. we had a good crew of fun people in the morning and still got things done. one thing i liked about painting is that it was customer service, but i never had to deal with customers. even jon didn't have to interact with the customers all that much because people were usually at work.

"we're going to be friends" by the white stripes sounds very beatlesesque. the beatles is a stupid band name.

i need to start paying more attention to malcolm.

i had a sandwich for dinner and a sandwich for lunch.

i haven't seen germany play, but i gotta go with brazil if not for the simple fact that germany is playing without the only guy who has scored any goals in the last two games.

the kings drafted dan dickau (from gonzaga)...he's a good player and i'd really like to see him play for the kings, but (not so) unfortunately we have jackson and bibby at the point position so it would be too redundant to keep dickau so after we drafted him we traded him for a future first round pick - a good choice. it also shows confidence in the fact that bibby will return. if there was any indication he wouldn't then we'd keep dickau for insurance, at least until bibby gets signed.

woke up this morning to the dogs next door whining, that made me really mad.

one more week before my birthday. on certain holidays we get paid at time and a half and on others we get paid at double time, but i don't know if july 4th is one of them. i know that new years, xmas, and memorial day are 3 of the 6, but i don't know the other ones. i've never been well versed on holidays.

heard that they're working on a plane that carries a space shuttle, flies to a certain altitude, and then allows the shuttle to take off while flying. the reason this would be so much nicer than the current system is because more than 80% of the energy (fuel) is spent in the first 100 feet. if the shuttle starts at elevation where the air is thinner lift off will be more efficient which is good for everyone.

"they" also spliced goat dna with spider dna so as to produce spider silk on a much larger scale. the reasons this would be great are: spider silk is far stronger than steel (in relative terms), it's also pliable whereas steel obviously is not and it's also far lighter than steel which has obvious advantages.

6-26-02 (00:56)

updated movies list.

listening to Pithecanthropus Erectus.

played basketball today. the last two days i've really gotten into a rhythm. i've had a few good stretches where i'll make 75% of the shots i'm taking. by focusing on a couple of things i've been able to find some consistency in my shot in the 12-18 foot range which is encouraging. in terms of actual game play i doubt i'm back to where i once was, but then again i haven't played in a game in at least a year (except the one day with johnny, vern, and nic).

called jon a couple nights ago to see if he wanted to hit the links, but he's in SF now so that was out of the question.

got a letter from johnny today, he's in field camp in big pine. he seems to be doing pretty well.

also got an email from vern today. he's exchanging his painting talents for room and board with his parents. i'm not sure what his parents are getting out of that arrangement. i remember one time when we were working on old man mcgriffiths place jon, vern and i got to talking about who the better painter was. it came out that we all thought that we were the best painter of the three. that friendly debate lasted pretty much all day. those were good times.

listening to haitian fight song.

had a pretty awful day in fantasy baseball.

talked to my dad today about home theater, looks like he's finally looking into that. for someone who watches more movies than anyone i know i would have thought that it would have come sooner, but he's old and resists change so it took a while.

will most likely buy some speakers this weekend.

doing receiving at work makes the day go by more quickly so that's nice.

it's tiring playing basketball after being on my feet all day.

talked to mike at work about drug use. he says he does drugs to make life harder. "life is too easy without them" he told me. it's interesting how some people can see drugs as an easy way out and other can see it as something that makes life harder. i think that it has the illusion of making things easy, but in the long term does the opposite. so in that sense i congratulate him for seeing further than most.

i give a lot of respect to people who are honest and not hypocritical.

pardon the interruption is a pretty good sports show.

i'm down with savoy brown and the white stripes.

i'm down with the vw commercial that uses the j ralph song. it's got serious power, even after repeated viewings.

i'm down with the kronos quartet and clint mansell.

i'm down with the requiem for a dream soundtrack.

i need to get some rest so i can play basketball tomorrow.

6-24-02 (01:31)

updated movies list.

didn't do all that much today.

went shopping and accidently got nonfat yogurt instead of the regular kind.

cleaned the apartment a bit, including washing the curtains in the washing machine.

went for a bike ride with the intentions of playing basketball, but the school is undergoing construction so there were trucks parked on the court. from there i went to the other courts which are pretty close to home and there were too many people there. after that i just went on a bike ride through downtown and onto campus - i haven't been on campus for a long time. there's some kind of volleyball tournament going on so the campus was pretty busy with teenage girls. went to the basketball courts where i used to play with the kdvs folks. there were plenty of people playing, but i just watched. after that i went to jamba juice and that ended up being my dinner.

messed with my fantasy baseball team. i'm closer to getting out of last place than i have been since i got there so that's exciting.

when i got home i sat around a lot. ended up watching a movie late into the night.

i'll probably watch star wars episode II this week.

6-23-02 (13:29)

saw a special olympics commercial today which used an aphex twin song. there's a little mtv blurb that also uses an aphex twin song. i like what i hear.

6-21-02 (22:50)

"i can't remember to forget."

i like it when a movie ends with a void of answers, with a lack of an ending...i like a movie that takes a walk along a road and brings you along, the whole time you're gathering things on this road and putting them in your arms, by the end of the road you have your arms full with all these things and rather than the movie taking those things and neatly arranging them for you it just steps on your foot making you drop the heap of things at your feet. at that point you're forced to reconcile the mess in front of you. finding a film that can do that well is not as easy as one might think. some films goto far towards surrealism and i don't even feel like following the movie along the road it presents, and some films try to make things too tidy in the end. i like "gummo."

updated movies list.

i watched "hearts of darkness" a documentary about the making of apocalypse now. coppola was struggling with himself the entire filming of the movie (which took an extraordinarily long time) about how the film would end. since he was shooting the film basically chronologically (also something that's rare) he and his crew were able to experience the journey just the characters in the film were. by the time the end of the shoot came he still hadn't written an ending and because of certain restrictions (brando being retarded, budget concerns, etc.) he didn't have time to sit down and really work out an ending so he just put the actors into their positions the last few weeks and had them improvise hoping the ending would present itself. but this was something that during the entire shoot he was trying to avoid, the whole time he struggled to write a suitable ending, he had nightmares, he talked to people around him, but he just couldn't come up with a suitable ending. i think it's almost fated, preordained, written on the wind that his film-making process - especially with a film of this magnitude and theme - should come down to being "completely irrational" (his own words) and surrendering the desire for control. i think a postmodern parable the likes of kafka's "before the law." a lesser director wouldn't have been able to surrender control like that; especially after having come so far.

last night i stayed up to watch the england/brazil game...it was pretty entertaining. i also planned on getting up at 430 to watch the usa game, but when the alarm went off i hit snooze and it didn't go off again so i missed the game. that was disappointing.

work was pretty good today. a couple people annoy me with their elitist tastes. with vern it was always more cute and funny than genuinely annoying, but with these music nazis it's a bit different, maybe because i don't really consider them my friends. it's okay though because i've turned it into a game. erin made the point today that wyclef talks about himself a lot on the new album. just about every time one of the wyclef songs played in the store he would reiterate his distaste for the album and wyclef's habit of talking about himself. the last time he mentioned it he said "dude, wyclef talks about himself like half of this album." i replied "and half the time you talk you're talking about him talking about himself half the time." i don't think he mentioned wyclef the rest of the day. i love it when people do stuff like that...they'll see a spill on the ground and say "why doesn't anyone clean that shit up?" then they'll walk away and leave it to someone else. or they'll complain all the time about people complaining all the time. note your displeasure once and then shut the fuck up or risk becoming like them. be the change you want to see in the world. on that note i'll shut up.

didn't get much sleep last night.

6-20-02 (18:44)

haven't been watching very much tv these days.

going to be doing some receiving for the next couple weeks since the receiving clerk is on vacation. that'll keep life interesting.

"Yeah, you've probably heard it before: We're in the middle of a massive extinction era on a par with the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago -- only this one is our own doing. By the middle of this century, human activities will have erased up to 30 percent of all species on Earth, according to many biologists. Many of those species will have come and gone without so much as a blip on the human radar screen, meaning their ecological role and potential usefulness to people will remain forever unknown. In an effort to minimize the number of species that fall into that mystery category, scientists are undertaking a massive effort to create a comprehensive "family tree" of life on Earth -- from wooly mammoths to itty-bitty bacteria. The projects' backers say it will help scientists understand how organisms function within their niches, shed light on evolution, and even help track acts of bioterrorism. The project is being funded by the National Science Foundation to the tune of $10 to $12 million per year and could take up to 15 years to complete." good idea, but i thought something like that would have already been done.

"California could soon have the world's toughest standards for emissions of microscopic pollutants. Regulations currently being considered by the state Air Resources Board target pollutants composed of particles of dust and soot that are smaller than 10 microns in diameter, or about one-seventh the diameter of a human hair. Such particles come from the agriculture industry and combustion in cars and power plants, and can contain heavy metals that contribute to lung, heart, and other health problems. Because of their tiny size, current filtering systems are not effective against them. The Air Resources Board estimates that 99 percent of Californians are exposed to unhealthy particle levels every day -- but even if the board approves the strict regulations, the technology to keep such particles out of the air could take a decade or more to perfect."

"Whales are the largest animals on Earth, not to mention among the most famous crooners -- but scientists fear that whale songs will soon become as obscure as 12th century lute music. According to new research, whale sounds might be no match for ambient underwater noise from commercial shipping, military sonar, and seismic surveys. That ever-increasing artificial din could reduce the distance over which whale songs can be heard. That's bad news for species like the blue whale and the fin whale. Scientists think that the male members of these species use low-frequency love songs (which can travel thousands of miles underwater) to attract mates -- so if the songs go unheard, the survival of the species could be threatened."

the dogs next door are extremely annoying. they're officially the worst neighbors i've ever had. at least last year when i lived at la casa de flores the neighbors were good to make fun of.

saw the mormon guy again today, he and his friend were biking around downtown. seeing him made me laugh.

thinking about painting with jon and vern makes me laugh. "it's a no brainer."

i should eat and watch one of my movies.

june 20th seems significant for some reason, but i don't know why. i don't think it's anyone's birthday, i don't think it's an anniversary of any kind, i don't know what it is. johnny is good with dates.

i'm definitely feeling this dandy warhols album. 'bohemian like you' sounds like 'brown sugar' mixed with 'jumpin jack flash' by the rolling stones, but i'm sure that's been pointed out before.

orbital comes out with an album this month. red hot chili peppers next month.

6-19-02 (23:47)

updated movies list.

it seems like a disproportionate number of movie stars got their first break in a horror film. jamie lee curtis, jennifer aniston, bruce campbell, johnny depp, and others... i usually equate horror films with bad acting so that's why it's odd, but obviously there are exceptions.

"Just thought you South Park fans would like to know - we've confirmed with our sources inside Warner Bros. that the studio is currently working to bring the ENTIRE animated series to DVD in complete season sets. No word yet on features or street dates, but there's reason to believe that the first season will street before the end of the year. We'll post more when we can confirm it." yay!

while i was wandering around big 5 the other day looking for a basketball net i saw a guy wearing a suit and a name tag so i approached him. when i was a couple feet from him he looked up at me with a smile and so i seized the opportunity to ask him where the basketball nets might be he replied "uh, actually i don't work here, sorry." i said sorry and looked down at his name tag and it read "church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, john" i laughed for quite a while after that incident.

got a call yesterday while i was at work from some guy asking for matt. i told him that matt didn't work there anymore so he told me that instead of matt i could get a free dinner at chevy's. matt's loss, my gain. so today i went to dixon and had a lobster/chicken fajita for free. eating at a restaurant is even more lonely than watching a movie in the theater by yourself.

went to the elementary school and put up the net today. the swish sounds all that much better when you put the net up yourself.

we had a lively debate about bob marley at work today. people are so funny when they get involved in debates. no one seems able to agree to disagree, also most people have a real problem distinguishing fact from opinion. i don't agree with the way so many people (especially those on television) debate. it seems that they attack the person (instead of hir ideas), use bloated and emotional language, and capitalize on fear in order to discredit a person's ideas. i think that's lame. noam chomsky has a pretty straightforward approach to debate and i like it.

today was a pretty good day.

i'm anxious to see what kind of raise i'm going to get.

the bug runs so much better when it's good and hot outside. it fucking snows in germany so i'm not sure when the engineers were thinking when they first designed the bug, but i guess there's no reason to complain...until next winter anyway.

time has really been flying lately.

6-19-02 (00:27)

updated movies list.

i was pretty lazy today.

6-18-02 (00:30)

updated movies list.

had a little bit of a cold this last week - it was different from the usual cold in that it was more along the lines of allergy symptoms, but i never have allergies so i'm thinking it was a cold. at any rate it's pretty much gone now.

saw some bad golfing yesterday...both phil and tiger seemed to fall apart a bit on the last five holes or so, i wasn't too impressed or entertained.

saw some good soccer last night, though, which made up for the bad golf. hard to believe that the u.s. beat mexico. it looks like japan is going to lose tonight.

didn't do all that much today, but i stayed busy.

6-17-02 (12:48)

i woke up at 10:30 today, that's pretty amazing for me.

went shopping and went to the post office.

updated movies list.

played basketball yesterday, plan on doing the same today. i think i'm going to buy a net for the court (it's at an elementary school) i play on. i don't know why they don't have nets on the hoops there, but i'm going to have to get one from big 5 today and put it on sometime.

6-13-02 (22:53)

updated movies list.

played basketball today. it's tiring chasing down all the rebounds and such. the courts i play at don't have nets. without a net there's no positive reinforcement with made shots...not only do i have to chase down the ball, but the reassuring sound of the ball hitting nothing but net is absent.

out of the six people besides james who came to work today four were late by anywhere between 6 and 53 minutes.

got the white stripes' newest album yesterday compliments of kdvs (finally). now i understand what the hype was about - it's a really good album and one i think is likely to age nicely, unlike the strokes album.

in theory i should get 700 bucks from elanda tomorrow.

melanie leaves for a week on monday.

6-13-02 (00:11)

looks like i'll be opening (9-6) 5 days a week now. i was working a closing shift once a week, but that changed this week.

updated movies list.

it was johnny's birthday today so i gave him a call.

nothing of much consequence happened today.

overall in life i think i want to create good memories. when i was living with jon and vern we created lots of good memories from hitchhiking and house painting to water balloon launching and dirty kitchens. i miss those days.

the laker game was lame. i honestly thought it was going to go six before the series started, and earlier today i still thought that new jersey would win today, but they suck as much as i thought at the beginning of the playoffs. at the beginning of the playoffs i chose the winner of the detroit/boston series...as it turned out boston won so i thought they would go to the end, but new jersey pulled it off. after complaining all year and playoffs long about not getting any respect the nets finally earned my respect going into the finals and then they got swept. i can't respect that.

i wonder why teams on the east are so lame compared to teams on the west.

i can't believe it's june already.

i plan on going golfing sometime soon - figure i'll just hit the driving range.

6-11-02 (00:35)

updated movies list.

didn't play basketball today.

james told me today that leslee (the assistant manager who has been on maternity leave for the last 6 months) isn't going to be coming back to tower. after that he told me that i was getting my raise. i'm not sure if the juxtaposition of those two pieces of information meant that i was being promoted or what, but getting a raise is good no matter what. it's amazing how little i know about music relative to some of the other people working at tower (i know my fair share about specific bands, but in general i have less knowledge than at least a few of the other people working there) and despite that i've been able to do pretty well there. it's good to see that effort and common sense count for something. also the fact of the matter is that tomorrow is more about knowing where to get the information rather than having the information on hand.

"Movie mogul Steven Spielberg brought together a team of renowned futurists to make sure his concepts for the film Minority Report could actually be possible in the year 2054. The 28-strong panel, who took over suites at swanky Santa Monica, California, hotel Shutters at Spielberg's expense, agreed with the director's ideas--and came up with a few of their own. Spielberg explains, "They came up with this analytical toilet that would catch and evaluate what went down and automatically adjust your diet. I couldn't find a place for that."" sounds like a good idea.

wyclef is set to release a new album this month.

6-10-02 (23:26)

updated movies list.

played some basketball today. the sooner in life you realize that all you have is yourself the better off you'll be.

my back gave me more trouble than usual today.

i really like the "raw sienna" album by savoy brown. it's hard to believe that they're british because they sound so american.

august should have some good dvd releases - super troopers and simpsons season 2 among them.

specs for lord of the rings super special 4 disc dvd:

Discs One & Two - The Film

A unique, 208-minute version of the epic adventure (with over 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage incorporated into the film and new music scored by Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore) in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) with Dolby Digital EX 5.1, DTS ES 6.1 and Stereo Surround audio, four audio commentaries by the director and writers, the design team, the production team and the cast featuring more than 30 participants (including Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen and Academy Award winners Richard Taylor, Andrew Lesnie, Howard Shore, Jim Rygiel, Randy Cook… and many more).

Disc Three - From Book to Vision

Includes features on adapting the book into a screenplay an planning the film, designing and building Middle-earth, storyboards to pre-visualization, a visit to the Weta Workshop (an up-close look at the weapons, armor, creatures and miniatures from the film), an Atlas of Middle-earth (tracing the journey of the Fellowship), an interactive map of New Zealand highlighting the location scouting process, galleries of art and slideshows with commentaries by the artists, a guided tour of the wardrobe department, footage from early meetings, moving storyboards and pre-visualization reels and much more.

Disc Four - From Vision to Reality

Includes features on bringing the characters to life, a look at a day in the life of a hobbit, principal photography: stories from the set, Scale: creating the illusion of size, galleries of behind-the-scenes photographs and personal cast photos, editorial and visual effects multi-angle progressions, a sound design demonstration and much more.

need sleep.

6-10-02 (03:02)

well the nets had a chance, not a very good one, not a well-earned one, but they had one. they should win the next one because there's nothing on the line but pride and then they'll lose game five.

played basketball by myself today. it was okay. shooting is a lot better when you have someone to share rebounding responsibilities with. there are four hoops at the school a few minutes from my place. at least two of them are only about 9 feet high, one seemed about 9.5 feet high and one was definitely a genuine 10 footer. it's an elementary school so that isn't all that odd.

updated movies list.

weather has been fickle lately. last couple days have been really windy, before that it was really hot. don't know which one i dislike more. both make it a pain to play basketball or go outside in general. i'm not a very allergic person, but the wind as bad as it's been has made me sneeze some and my nose is a little stuffy.

it's too late to be awake. i need to pick up a copy of last week's sacramento bee so i need to drive to sacramento.

watched the belmont stakes the other day...it was pretty lame overall.

i think shaq is literally retarded.

"MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Like Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali before him, Mike Tyson has discovered he is no longer invincible." one question for you...did mike tyson ever beat anyone good? not really. louis, ali, and tyson were all black male boxers and that's where their similarities end.

6-9-02 (18:00)

the nets suck and they insulted sacramento today in several player interviews. justice will be served because they're going to lose in 5 games.

6-8-02 (00:48)

updated movies list.

saw mike bibby and chris webber on jay leno tonight. they're both great guys.

tomorrow is my friday.

it's a big weekend for sports....triple crown, lewis/tyson, nba playoffs, stanley cup playoffs, martinez/schilling, world cup soccer...

"Actor Woody Harrelson was wrestled to the ground and arrested by fourteen police officers who chased him Thursday after he allegedly went berserk in a London taxi. The Natural Born Killers star is said to have smashed up the cab's door, breaking a window and lock, before forcing his way out, hailing another cab and speeding off. The first taxi driver gave pursuit before calling police, who eventually intercepted Harrelson's cab. The 40-year-old star then fled on foot before finally being tackled and restrained by the officers in West London in the early hours of Thursday morning. He was arrested on suspicion of causing $420 worth of damage to the cab and spent the night in a cell before being freed on bail. Taxi driver Les Dartnell said he was hailed by Harrelson outside the trendy China White nightclub in central London. Harrelson was with a female companion but got in alone and asked to be taken back to his hotel. But moments later Les, 44, heard a loud crack. He says, "I turned round and he was kicking the inside of my taxi. He had suddenly gone completely bonkers. He was kicking the glass and trying to get out. I tried to find a space to pull over but he had already yanked back the door and broken it." Police will now send a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who will decide if there will be charges. Harrelson must also report back to Belgravia police station on July 1. Harrelson refused to comment on the alleged fracas."

no respect for that idiot. everyone knows he's a big propenent for the legalization of pot and this incident probably doesn't help his cause...funny that he caused $420 worth of damage to the cab. 420 huh huh huh.

"The security chief at the store where Winona Ryder was arrested on shoplifting charges mistook her for a homeless person at first. As the preliminary hearing in the case resumed Thursday, Kenneth Evans, the security manager at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, also said six anti-theft sensor tags that had been cut off of merchandise were found concealed in the store after Ryder's arrest. Evans testified he found four of the tags stuffed in the pockets of a designer coat, three of them still bearing material and cut-out marks that matched two handbags and a hair bow that had been found in Ryder's possession when she was arrested. He said the two other tags turned up in the chair padding of a fitting room that the Girl, Interrupted, star had used on the day. Store security officer Colleen Rainey also testified, telling the court that she saw Ryder cut security tags from merchandise. She said, "She was using a pair of scissors. She cut a sensor tag off the black ... purse and a handbag." Ryder, 30, has pleaded innocent to shoplifting and drug possession charges stemming from her December 12 arrest. The Heathers star, who has remained free on bail, was accused of trying to steal goods worth about $4,800. Evans testified that when he first noticed Ryder on store video cameras, "I thought she was a homeless person." In questioning Evans, Geragos suggested security personnel had targeted the film star, but Evans denied that was the case. Late Thursday, the judge in the case decided there's enough evidence to move the trial from a preliminary hearing to an arraignment. The movie star and her legal team must now decide whether she's going to plead guilty or not guilty when an arraignment date is set."

no respect for that idiot either, or her best friend courtney love.

"Jennifer Lopez's marriage to Cris Judd is over, according to a published reports. What's more, J.Lo has reportedly returned to the arms of her famous ex, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. So says Cindy Adams in Friday's New York Post, who breaks down the marriage thusly: "Cris Judd was handsome, available and a quick stand-in when Puffy's legal problems were overwhelming. They are now underwhelming. And so, thinks J.Lo, is Cris Judd." Rumours of marital strife have dogged the superstar and her dancer-choreographer hubby since they tied the knot last year, with friends suggesting Judd is sick of being "Mr. Lopez" and reporting arguments between the couple concerning his choice of female company while she is out of the country on promotional duties. Combs, a mogul who is used to getting his own way, has made no secret of his continuing affection for his ex, describing their new-found friendship as "more than cool". The Puerto Rican actress/singer married Cuban barman Ojani Noa in 1998, but the marriage lasted under a year."

"Despite being brought up a Catholic and claiming to be a Buddhist, Penelope Cruz appears to be adopting her boyfriend Tom Cruise's controversial religion Scientology. The Captain Corelli's Mandolin actress visited the West Hollywood Scientology Center with her friend Ryan Haddon, wife of actor Christian Slater. Cruz may be adopting Cruise's religion in a bid to secure their reportedly rocky relationship. One of the alleged factors in the disintegration of Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage was Kidman's aversion to bringing up their children Connor and Isabella in the L. Ron Hubbard-created faith."

cruise and cruz, that's just great.

that's all the news that's fit to print on this webpage. real stories about people who get rich and don't change at all. it's amazing how simple these people are; not to bash white people or anything, but all of these people are such "white trash." i, on the other hand, am infinitely complex.

finally saw bully today, it was lame compared to kids.

listened to a seinfeld stand up routine on cd today, he's a funny guy.

6-7-02 (01:10)

updated movies list.

6-6-02 (01:17)

it cracked 100 degrees today.

watched a good episode of south park today.

6-5-02 (01:06)

james informed me today that he is trying to get me a raise. that's both unexpected and pretty nice of him.

it's super hot inside my room right now. hopefully i'll be able to sleep.

if all goes well i should be able to get my speakers this month.

saw part of the hockey game tonight...it wasn't as exciting as the final score (3-2 in OT) might indicate.

6-4-02 (00:41)

"For the first time, the Bush administration has acknowledged, in a report to the U.N., that climate change is most likely caused by human activity and will have far-reaching effects on the American environment. Although the report marks a significant shift in the administration's rhetoric -- Bushies had heretofore maintained the need for more research before drawing conclusions about climate change -- it is unlikely to precipitate a corresponding change in policy. Rather than recommending reductions in greenhouse gases to control global warming, the report suggests adapting to the inevitable, including heat waves, the disruption of snow-fed water supplies, and the permanent loss of Rocky Mountain meadows and some coastal marshes. The conclusions aren't pleasing anyone; industries that produce or depend on fossil fuels feel somewhat betrayed by President Bush, while environmentalists are excoriating the administration for acknowledging a problem while refusing to help solve it."

depression has settled in now that i basically have one friend in davis, the kings lost, and i'm doing nothing with my life. i don't know why, but i've never been much of a go-getter.

seinfeld is a great show, i only wish they would release it on dvd.

fixed my screen so it won't fall out of my window anymore.

went shopping for groceries today. also bought shoes because the last pair i bought sucked beyond belief.

i should have played basketball today, but it was hot, i was lazy, and i haven't found a good place within walking distance to play.

cleaned my room.

wanting to win a game is so much more simple than wanting to do well in life. a) in life doing well is completely subjective, in a game it isn't. b) games take place over a shorter time period. c) it's easier to adopt winning strategies in a game than it is in life. in the former you're merely changing your actions for strategic purposes, in the latter you have to force yourself to change the way you've been living for x number of years.

tracks 5 and 6 on the chemical brothers album are probably my favorite.

"Back in March, Eric Schaeffer made a big media splash by resigning after years as head of enforcement at the U.S. EPA over differences with the Bush administration's environmental policies. But the truth is that Schaeffer was just the tip of the iceberg. From senior career administrators to lawyers to leading scientists, a number of longtime, highly respected officials have left environmental jobs in the administration in protest. Take James Furnish, a politically conservative deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service with more than 30 years of experience, who left over the administration's pro-development philosophy and unwillingness to listen to other perspectives. Or Martha Hahn, Idaho state director for the Bureau of Land Management, who quit after she was told that she would be transferred to a previously nonexistent job in New York. Or former EPA staff attorney Michele Merkel, who submitted her resignation papers because of EPA Administrator Christie Whitman's decisions to play down enforcement in favor of voluntary compliance. White House officials chalk up the resignations to the usual staff tensions when a new administration takes over, but environmentalists see a more telling trend."

i wish christie would have made a couple more shots in the game against the lakers.

watched part of the noam chomsky dvd "manufacturing consent" today. it wasn't as good as i expected. the usual stuff about the media manufacturing consent so that the populous remains ignorant and apathetic. sadly i don't know or care about any of that stuff.

i pledged three different times to kdvs this year and i've only gotten one of my premium packages. when i called today they said that my other two packages should arrive shortly. the guy i talked with seemed nice...i asked him if he wanted to get together and play some basketball, but he said he wasn't gay. i told him that it would be a strictly heterosexual encounter and he agreed. when i met him at the courts he was wearing pink l.a. gear shoes and a black tank top. i immediately returned home to watch tv. har har.

tomorrow i work until 7pm.

luke is a funny guy.

thought about watching "we were soldiers" tonight, but then i realized it was probably a horrible movie and would be a waste of my valuable time. also thought about watching star wars, but realized that i didn't really feel like watching it today. ended up watching a show on discovery about super massive blackholes. then i watched seinfeld and then i watched this old house. it was the greatest two hours of tv viewing since yesterday.

i did 100 pushups after the kings won game 5. my upper body hurt for a while after that stunt.

i like and respect chris webber for too many reasons to list here.

i remember when i was a young tike and michigan was playing north carolina for the ncaa basketball championship. my dad and i were in hawaii with my grandfather that week and my grandfather offered me a bet - he would bet $20 against the team i thought would win. i picked michigan and so he had his money on NC. i remember only two things about the actual game a) towards the end of the game NC had the lead and my grandfather said "looks like my niggers are better than yours, i thought it was less than funny. and b) chris webber, playing for michigan, called a time out when trapped by the defense...unfortunately they didn't have a time out to call so it counted as a technical foul and that play sealed michigan's loss and my becoming $20 poorer. for a while after that i hated chris webber and my grandfather, but in the case of chris webber the hate was based upon a simple mistake and i eventually forgave him for this. several years later i was fated to end up in the same city as him and with our rocky history behind us we were able to forge a new future...him as a kings player and me as a kings, and thus chris webber, fan. this year we shared another loss together, this one far more important and weighted than the lost...more invested and more lost, but i have faith that we'll rise from this defeat as we did from the last one. this kind of thing, after all, builds character.

i never expected that 20w-50 oil would be the suggested type for my bug, but i suppose it makes sense considering how hot it gets on account of it being air-cooled and all. i always used 5w-30 because my dad used sae30 and i figured that in davis it would be nice to have the multigrade considering it consistently gets much cooler here than it does in la. but after asking my mechanic and double checking that with the vw newsgroup i've been informed that 20w-50 is the way to go.

look up mario caldato jr. on allmusic.com and you will see how cool that guy is.

why is it that a lot of parents look at the day(s) they had their child(ren) as among the greatest of their life? all it took was a couple minutes of sex to make happen. is it that it represents the begining of a great responsibility or is it that they were so influenced by society and biology that they determined their worth on passing on their genes?

bibby is a franchise player. i remember being in nyc when i heard that chris webber was going to stay in sacramento and that we traded jason williams and got mike bibby. i can't say that i was ecstatic about it, but i was definitely optimistic about what that meant for our team. i remember when bibby won the ncaa championship in arizona so i knew he had championship experience/potential. i never thought he would become the goto guy that he has this year, but i never lamented the loss of j. williams in light of what we were getting.

i think that the jazz have taught a lot of teams a lot about how to win. phil jackson made it a large part of his coaching career to defend against the pick and roll because of the pick and roll masters stockton and malone. then this year the kings learned how to play a slow tempo game and still find a way to win. despite the fact that the jazz have never won the championship i think they're one of the great teams in nba history.

on sunday i saw the 1990 finals game between detroit and portland. rick adelman was the coach and clyde drexler was the star for the blazers back then. it was game two wherein bill lambeer hit a finals record 6 three pointers and despite that effort detroit lost at home in OT. funny that twelve years later in the conference finals rick adelman was on the other end of an overtime loss at home.

if there's going to be a nuclear war i hope it happens before the lakers win the championship.

gummo has grown on me now that i've had some time to think about it. it's a good movie for those who can hack it.

roy orbison's "crying" is a really good song.

6-2-02 (16:01)

30 minutes before the biggest basketball game in my basketball watching career.

updated movies list.

can't believe what happened in the detroit/colorado game. roy choked big for the first time in his career.

bought 6 cds yesterday for 47 bucks, that's pretty good.

got a new chain for my bike. washed my bike as well because the pine tree outside drips sap on it all the time.

kings by three.