May02

5-31-02 (00:17)

updated movies list. finally got around to watching gummo.

work was mostly boring today.

5-29-02 (00:48)

as hard to take as the last kings game was, this game made up for it. the kings really didn't play all that well either. bobby jackson had a mostly shitty game, christie had a really bad game, webber and divac had trouble from the line, scot pollard didn't have an impact at all, peja wasn't able to get anything going offensively and with the hurt ankle was a defensive liability. meanwhile both the laker superstars played what i thought were their best games of the series and rick fox also had his highest scoring game of the series. despite all that we were able to pull it off. i think that we played really really smart ball. as soon as peja came in everyone knew that fox was going to test him defensively and on the first possession he went right after peja, but bibby helped on defense and he forced a turnover. little stuff like that wins games. i've been impressed with the play and leadership of divac this playoff year. he really has acted as the elder statesman of the team and has been the coach on the court for us. that, and webber being willing to defer to bibby as the goto guy (and bibby's eagerness to take on that responsibility), has been the major difference in the laker series this year vs. last year. marv albert came up with the statistic that (before tonight) the kings had led in all but 30 of the last 7200 seconds against the lakers.

the new eminem album has been selling really well since it came out on saturday. i have respect for eminem.

jon came by tower today and we had lunch.

harry potter came out today. i don't plan on buying it, but i do plan on buying the lord of the rings dvd.

according to james (and he's been in record sales for 10 years) the best opening week cd he can remember was the beastie boys' "hello nasty..." it sold 500 units on the first day. in four days the eminem album has done about 130 units at a smaller store. to give you an idea about how big that is...a big new release at our store will usually do around 50 units in a the first week...alanis's last album did probably about 75 the new weezer album probably did about the same.

5-28-02 (00:01)

the kings loss on sunday was easily the worst loss i've ever experienced. i was truly depressed after the game. thanks to some music therapy i was able to recover, but that loss still remains one of the more nightmarish events in my life. i know you probably think that's lame, but it's true.

updated movies list.

saw spiderman today with johnny. we also played some frisbee and basketball. i was awful at basketball.

been getting hotter lately.

life is a waiting game these days.

5-26-02 (01:17)

updated movies list. finally saw amelie.

look for the back to the future dvds around thanksgiving.

interesting day at work.

went to see insomnia, but it was sold out, might check it out tomorrow.

hopefully i can play basketball with johnny and the get fresh crew tomorrow.

listened to blackalicious, hella, james brown, tool, tom waits, ratm, and matthew shipp today. it was a good music day. can't wait till i can take the hella cd home....it should be in the listening station for only a couple more weeks at work and then i can have it.

i've broken down and decided to just download the new ratm project with chris cornell. since their labels are sitting around doing nothing and since the band has already broken up i don't know if the cd will ever be released. thankfully it's out there to be downloaded. i think this will be the only full album i have ever downloaded

5-23-02 (00:45)

watched the season finale of the simpsons tonight.

didn't get to see the end of the hockey game because i fell asleep, but i heard that detroit won in overtime.

got the new tom waits albums today. also finally took home my copy of the new chemical brothers album.

don't know if i'll get around to watching spiderman.

got in (from netflix) chomsky's 'manufacturing consent' on dvd the other day, it's really long so i'll have to watch it when i'm not tired and on a day when i don't close

" Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and MK2 have teamed up for a historic partnership to fully restore and reinvigorate the works of the film master Charlie Chaplin. Starting in the spring of 2003, the companies will release eighteen of Chaplin's films from 1925 through 1958. Each film will be meticulously restored and released with the prestige and supplements of any current blockbuster including behind the scenes footage and other peeks behind the scenes. Although a few Chaplin films are currently available from various distributors with excellent quality, the majority of his work is either unavailable or poorly done on video. Of particular interest is the release of the 1925 silent film "The Gold Rush". Although the 1942 version of this film is currently available from Image, no decent version of the original film with proper scoring and placards is available on DVD. Each film will come with among other features, a thirty minute documentary created exclusively for the DVDs exploring each film with as much detail as possible. "The Great Dictator" will also come with a 47 minute retrospective look at the works of Chaplin."

i no longer receive email from my deeptht account. use chris@aptpupil.org from now on.

"Is the Ivory Tower built from sustainable materials? Increasingly, the answer is yes. College campuses, long regarded as bastions of left-leaning life, are becoming promoters of sustainable development. Oberlin College recently completed a comprehensive study of how to reduce pollution from its operations, the State University of New York at Buffalo spent $17 million to retrofit buildings with energy-efficient technology that will save it $9 million per year in utility bills, and Stanford University is spending $3.2 million on an entirely off-the-grid new building. Meanwhile, 275 universities worldwide have signed the Talloires Declaration, which commits its parties to incorporate sustainability and environmental literacy into teaching, research, operations, and outreach. That's good news, because in many communities, universities are some of the biggest developers, always at work on a new dormitory, research facility, or alumni center."

"As the fifth highest waterfall on the planet, Yosemite Falls is one of the world's most photographed natural wonders -- and the area around it is one of the most heavily tromped, trampled, and otherwise degraded. The falls attract about 3 million visitors per year, which has lead to despoiled trails, jam-packed parking lots, and overcrowded bathrooms. All that could change courtesy of a two-year, $12.5 million restoration plan announced yesterday. Under the plan, a loop trail around the falls will be restored, access for the disabled and restroom facilities will be improved, and the parking lot by the falls will be removed. (Visitors will instead park at a central facility and be shuttled to the waterfall by bus.) The restoration is the first stage in the Yosemite Valley Plan, a blueprint for relieving traffic congestion and restoring the wonders of the national park."

i plan on saving the world one ribbon at a time.

"After years of foreign control, East Timor became the world's newest nation this week. Now the country must rise from the ashes wrought by years of brutal domination by Indonesia -- and it hopes to do so in part by capitalizing on its abundant natural beauty to attract eco-tourists. Currently, East Timor is the poorest country in Asia, but revenue from scuba diving, mountain trekking, biking, and other outdoor pursuits could become the island-nation's lifeblood, according to Craig Wilson, an economic policy adviser who helped draw up a development plan for the new nation. But there are some catches to the plan: East Timor is not easy to get to, prices are higher than in nearby vacation destination Bali, and, unsurprisingly, there have been virtually zero foreign travelers in recent years, so the nation must start from scratch to build a tourist base."

5-22-02 (00:42)

i think i like "nia" more than "blazing arrow," but i reserve the right to change my mind about that. i'm glad that blackalicious spelled "blazing" with a "g" rather than just truncating it with an apostrophe.

work has been overly dramatic lately. elanda is leaving so the reign of terror is soon to end.

it's funny how much of a different experience going to a game is from viewing it at home. at home the stats are readily available, commentators are constantly giving you insight and their judgements of how each team and their players are playing, as well as their opinion on the calls that the refs are making. i mention this because watching the kings game last night i didn't notice that horry grabbed 20 rebounds and didn't think that refs made bad calls when it came to the 3 offensive fouls that shaq got. but when i watched sportscenter today all they were talking about was shaq whining about the calls and phil crying to the same effect. i'll admit that one of the calls wasn't an offensive foul, but the other two were offensive fouls and there were probably other non-calls which could have been called as offensive fouls. the most revealing thing said in the postgame interview was "there's only one way to beat us - it starts with a "c" and ends in "t."" ...cheat. that really shows how far he's come as a thinker and as a person. it's too bad he hasn't had any impetus to mature...in this regard he reminds me of mike tyson.

talked with an eleven year old boy at tower today. he was selling a couple cds so i chatted with him a bit. i noticed he was wearing a lakers beanie so i naturally gave him a hard time about that. he asked about the beastie boys, but didn't have enough money to buy any of their albums so i suggested blackalicious and he ended up buying that. i'm happy that i was able to point him towards blackalicious (positive and thoughtful hip-hop) as opposed to linkin park (angry and mostly retarded rap/rock). kids can be fun.

rained a lot sunday and monday. it even hailed at one point on monday. i think it'll be clear and warm tomorrow though.

"i get all the news i need on the weather report." - paul simon.

if not for the steady snacking on ice cream i would be able to say that i've been eating pretty well lately.

my fantasy baseball team sucks big time.

i don't really care all that much about star wars or spiderman.

saw vern walking across the street today. he was with his girlfriend and was wearing a beret. he didn't come across the street to visit me, but i can't say that i blame him.

i wonder how long it'll take before the corporations realize it's a waste of their time, money, and effort to try stopping piracy. anyone who knows anything knows that no matter what they do it's going to be hacked in a matter of days. windows 95 was hacked 2 weeks before it was even released. that means that you could get it for free on the internet before you could buy it legally. the same is true for most music and movies. right now you could download the newest star wars movie, burn it to dvd and watch it in your suv if you had the right software and hardware. i, with a five year old computer and windows 98, could download it and view it on my computer. for every genius programmer 'they' have working to stop piracy, there are a thousand hackers working to hack into whatever it is they don't want us to have. it's so obvious i shouldn't have even spent this much time talking about it, yet they don't seem to get it - yet.

5-21-02 (00:37)

the game was really exciting. worth every penny. bobby jackson stepped up, webber had his problems from the line, we kept up pressure on the offensive end, and did a pretty good job of limiting shaq. he got 35 points, which is a lot, but he didn't elevate the play of his teammates the way he usually does. usually he'll score around 30 and he'll make the defense collapse on him which will create good three point opportunities for his teammates, that didn't happen as much today and that's a good sign. hopefully predrag can come back in game three. neither team played to their potential, but it was still a good and exciting game.

updated movies list.

commercials provide a good study of our culture.

5-19-02 (17:58)

updated movies list.

listening to the new blackalicious album. blackalicious are one of the few bright spots in mainstream hip-hop these days. just check out some of the credits for this album: Mario Caldato, Jr. (the fourth beastie boy) - Engineer, Zack de la Rocha (of RATM) - Vocals, Ben Harper - Guitar, Vocals, Producer, Money Mark - Organ, Piano, DJ Shadow - Producer, Mixing DJ Babu (of Dilated Peoples) - Cut, Cut Chemist - Scratching, Producer, Cut, Miho Hatori - Vocals, Lateef the Truth Speaker - Vocals, Lyrics Born - Vocals, Gil Scott - Vocals, and Saul Williams - Vocals.

going to the kings game tomorrow, look for us in the nose bleed seats.

Lakers 36, 22, 24, 24

Kings 22, 23, 24, 30 take away the first quarter and the kings win by 7, rather than losing by seven. i think that the fact that they beat the lakers in three out of four quarters is a very good sign (especially since, unlike the spurs, it was the last three rather than the first three.) game two will be exciting and i'm pretty confident that we'll come out swinging.

rained quite a bit today, that was surprising.

updated moviesiown list. updated cdlist.

5-17-02 (01:14)

"Move over, Great Barrier Reef: Coral researchers recently discovered what they think is the most valuable reef cluster in the world. Known collectively as Raja Ampat, the reefs are located in a remote archipelago off the coast of Indonesia. In the course of a two-and-a-half week expedition there, a survey team recorded 972 species -- 283 of them in a single dive. Gerald Allen, the team's lead researcher, described the species diversity as "mind-boggling"; a colleague who authored the definitive work on corals of the world immediately found seven new species at Raja Ampat. The reefs owe their spectacular diversity to their location at the intersection of different waters, bringing in species from the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. Moreover, the area is flushed with cooler waters that help protect against coral bleaching, an increasing threat to reefs worldwide. Still, scientists warn that even these remote reefs are threatened by illegal fishing and illegal logging, which causes soil erosion and silting that can choke living coral."

"Apparently spooked by a recent history of devastating floods and blinding sandstorms, China has unveiled a plan to plant trees on almost 200,000 square miles of land in an effort to reverse rampant deforestation. The plan, which Chinese officials call the largest conservation effort ever attempted, will cost an estimated $12 billion over 10 years and restore trees to an area larger than Germany. In the last century, that much land and more has been cleared by the agriculture and timber industries, paving the way for erosion, desertification, and other environmental woes. According to Lei Jiafu, deputy chief of the state forestry administration, China settled on the "unprecedented" reforesting effort after smaller-scale attempts to improve the environment were unsuccessful. The plan will also create protected reserves for pandas, Tibetan antelopes, and rare orchids. Sounds good, but skeptics point to China's overwhelming rural poverty and question whether state subsides for turning croplands to forests will be sufficient to support families and reverse deforestation trends."

5-16-02 (12:16)

yesterday johnny was in davis so we ended up playing baseketball with nic and vern. we had a few good games and i wish we could do it more often, but johnny and vern are both leaving to back to santa cruz by the end of this month.

it was the first time in months that any of us had played basketball and it certainly showed. hopefully i can make it out to the courts more often.

i really need to get some quarters so i can do my laundry.

getting paid tomorrow will be nice.

i should get some quality shoes so my feet don't ache so much after playing basketball or standing for eight hours.

kings/lakers tickets go on sale tomorrow. i'm working the opening shift so i'll be working the onsale. i think this time i'm going to be selfish and print out the first set of tickets for myself. usually ticketmaster has a way to reserve tickets for yourself if you're working the onsale, but apparently they don't do that for kings tickets.

5-14-02 (23:49)

work went by pretty quickly today. finally put away all of the new movie dvds we got in the last couple weeks.

updated movies list.

san antonio has no heart, hopefully the kings will play to win rather than playing as if they are just happy to be where they are.

finally bought the new michael moore book today

5-13-02 (03:00)

updated movies list.

saw the typical san antonio performance today. that was pathetic as usual.

5-12-02 (01:54)

updated movies list.

saw the last minute or so of the kings game. what a minute of basketball though. yesterday i caught the last half minute of the boston game which was equally exciting.

5-9-02 (00:39)

"If you count yourself among the cell-phone-hating masses (and doesn't almost everyone at least claim to, even if owning one on the sly?), here's more fuel for your fire: Within three years, Americans alone will discard about 130 million cellular telephones annually, generating 65,000 tons of toxic trash, according to a recent report. On average, cell-phone-owning Americans (135 million of them and counting) hang on to their hi-tech toys for 18 months before tossing them in the garbage, according to Inform, the environmental organization that released the report. Into the garbage with them (and from there into the landfill) goes an entire alphabet soup of toxins, from arsenic to zinc, that have been associated with cancer and neurological problems, especially in children. The report urges the cell phone industry to expand "take-back" programs so phones and batteries can be recycled, as well as to standardize technical and design features so users don't have to throw their phones away when they switch services."

updated movies list.

got 'crossroads,' 'the royal tenenbaums,' and 'amelie' on vhs today...advance screening copies. crossroads should prove to be a laugh a minute.

word on the street is that star wars episode two is better than episode one.

dave chappelle made the joke one time in reference to monica lewinsky..."you know you're a big shot when the person who sucks your dick becomes famous." the same could be said about the star wars films. the trailers for the films are more important than a lot of movies are. in fact when the trailer for the first episode came out there were lots of people who would go to the theater just to see the trailer and then leave. i forget which movie it was that first had the trailers, but i remember that it did a lot better in its first weekend because it had the episode I trailer on it. the star wars series has become the most overly hyped thing in my lifetime. the first three were good, even great, but people really do take it too far. there's a documentary coming out next week called "phandom menace" which is the star wars answer to "trekkies."

got the new kdvs t-shirt today.

need to pick up another couple hobbies. think i'll start playing basketball too.

5-7-02 (00:25)

updated movies list.

was pretty productive today. keeping busy helps me stay distracted. living life well is all about distracting yourself. the person who is truly happy with life is probably a pretty busy person (this doesn't mean that if you're busy then you'll be happy with life). i think it would be a challenge to find someone who is really happy with life, but finds all sorts of free time on their hands.

i need some compressed air, this weekend i've had at least three different times when it would have come in handy. it's too bad compressed air is so expensive.

kept myself busy by changing the oil on malcolm, getting melanie's bike in working order, remounting the bathroom towel rack so it'll be more stable, and reworking the cooling system for my receiver. all and all it amounts to a few small projects to keep the day moving along.

tomorrow ocean's eleven and waking life come out on dvd. i plan on purchasing both of those fine movies, though probably not until i get paid next.

bought a new saddle for my bike. the old one is now on melanie's bike. i don't think she's actually going to do much bike riding so i might find it becoming my bike soon enough.

watched boston public on tv tonight. that was a mistake; it almost always is.

kurt vonnegut is a funny guy. he thinks semicolons are useless; i think i agree with him in that respect.

i get a lot of positive feedback on my car these days. ever since it was painted i've had people stop to say they like it. before it looked like a piece of shit and ran like it. now it looks great and still runs like a piece of shit. there are several things which need to get done before the car operates as well as it looks...transmission needs to be worked on (maybe rebuilt?), valves probably need replacing, heater needs to be repaired, interior needs a lot of work, carb will need replacing pretty soon, as will the tires, and there are probably other things which i don't even know about yet.

pet sounds is a really good album which i haven't listened to in a while.

got this album from some group which consigned a few cds with tower and it's really good. along the lines of boards of canada whatever you would call that kind of music (idm, ambient techno, i don't really know).

there's probably going to be a demand for postal workers now that someone has taken up the distribution of pipe bombs.

i've always been fascinated by serial killers and people working covertly to enact political/social change. the unabomber definitely interests me. it's strange how someone can put forth such a small effort towards killing and they get noticed so much more than someone who puts forth far more effort toward the opposite cause. but then no one really takes people who use violence seriously so any message they try to bring is usually lost, unless it's in a war and there's a massive indoctrination campaign after success...the u.s. defeating japan for example. we made forced them into submission so much that they now regularly kick our ass at our own games (baseball and capitalism).

i think todd solondz brings the truth that most people don't want to acknowledge, in that respect i can relate to him.

made some good breakfast burritos today.

i wish i was a famous basketball player so that after ever victory when i was interviewed i could thank jesus for my victory, then the next game after our victory i would thank buddha for his infinite guiding wisdom, and the next game i would thank allah for shining his grace upon me. every new victory i would change my religion and thank another diety which really had nothing to do with my shit being brown or my team winning that game. granted no one would take me seriously and hardly anyone would get the point, or find it funny, but it would be fun for me.

have to work at 10am tomorrow.

i like the new moby album, even though it's nothing different and isn't as good as "play."

5-6-02 (13:00)

woke up on the reasonable side today. need to finish changing the oil on the bug and fixing up melanie's new (used) bike.

5-6-02 (01:12)

updated movies list.

hilary swank looks better as a boy than as herself.

watched the inevitable happen with the laker game. they are a truly boring team to watch, not because they don't make games interesting, but because once you watch them enough you know the outcome and so it becomes like watching a tape of the twin towers falling. it's sad, you know how it turns out, and yet you hope that the next time you watch it'll end up different. despite the first quarter lead of 10 and the injuries of both kobe and shaq i knew the spurs would find a way to blow it...and of course they did. i feel sorry for david robinson because he'll likely have to watch this year's sweep from the bench.

the celtics provide more entertainment. after watching the first round i think that it's going to be either boston or detroit who ends up facing the lakers. boston is one good center away from a really quality team. dallas should be fun to watch in the next few years. i don't think they have what it takes to beat the kings this year, but i think they have a good squad and could end up being perennial second place finishers in the years to come.

the utah jazz may be the most underrated team in nba history. i think consistency has to count for something and they certainly are one of the most consistent franchises of all-time...18 straight playoff appearances speaks for itself.

sean penn doesn't impress me.

the simpsons tonight was good. there was one point where apu was having an affair with some woman in the back room of his store and he said "ooh baby you feel like you've had less than eight children." (remember that his wife had octuplets) it was pretty awful, but funny.

last work week went by pretty quickly. james has been keeping me busy with new tasks...thursday i worked on consignment product/paperwork and friday i was the receiving clerk because elanda was gone.

special edition pulp fiction dvd is going to come out this year. Paramount has officially confirmed that the Indiana Jones films WILL NOT be released on DVD this year.

so harry potter did 90 million it its first three days and now spiderman has done 114 million in its first three days. the more previews i see for spider-man the less i want to see it. it looks really retarded.

kazaa seems better than the new more-fee-us.

5-1-02 (21:12)

updated movies list. saw the newest todd solondz movie...it has mike schank in it which was a nice surprise.

fantasy baseball league is filled with self-serving facists. might have to dissolve my team by picking up shitty players and dropping good ones...it would make things interesting for everyone else.

we have a new ordering system at work now. it's mostly automated so i guess i'll lose part of my duties, which means i'll be bored more often. we have about 2300 dvds in stock right now, our optimum is 2250 (as set by the head office) and the automated system has put in an order for another 1000+ dvds. needless to say the system has its flaws already. we don't have space for 3300 dvds so i'm not sure what we're going to do. i got to see a list of some of the titles the computer felt we needed and the vast majority of them are truly awful films. not much i can do once the people up top get these crazy ideas in their heads.

rained yesterday.

april went by pretty quickly.

got a new tv the other day. tvs these days are really cheap. 10 dvds at regular price equals the price of one tv. when you put it that way it seems even cheaper.

i like watching 'this old house.'

could buy tickets for the usually impossible kings games now that i work at tower (which doubles as a ticketmaster outlet). the tickets for the saturday game go onsale early friday morning. i could buy a ticket before i even opened the store, if i really wanted to. i have to work saturday and i don't really have money so i don't think i'll end up buying any tickets, but it's nice to have first crack at it. the monday game is much more of a possibility since i have mondays off and it starts at 6pm.

the sixers/celtics game five should be fun.

moby seems to be a big simpsons fan - that's gotta count for something.

my memory is awful.

i suppose it's bed time.