11-26-02 (04:00)
  • i wonder how often people actually laugh themselves to death. i'm sure it's happened to old folks before. what a cool way to die.
  • i wonder what the first laugh was over. probably a fart....those are always funny.
  • after more than a year of waiting i finally got my audioslave cd. more than half the tracks are the same as the ones that were on the internet for so long, but on the whole the cd is still good. not nearly worth the wait, but still good.
  • updated best of film. best of music.
  • this holiday season i'd like to ask people to think twice before they take the attitude of "it's your job to..." with customer service people. it's true that employers think they pay people a whopping $6.75/hr to cater to your every need as a conspicuous consumer, but that doesn't mean we are really getting paid to deal with asshole customers all day. i understand that it can be annoying when you want a certain item and the clerk doesn't seem to be helpful, but i urge you to think about what is really going on. from my perspective we (customer service agents) get paid a paltry sum to do the bidding of both our bosses and customers who often demand far more than is really required; that is people seem to put so much effort into finding widget 2ab when after all isn't it just another widget? why have we become such avid consumers to the point that customer service people are literally told that "the only reason you are here is because of the customers."? to me that seems to suggest that the only reason we go to work is to serve. the only way we can live is to work and hence our life is one of servitude. this xmas season i'm going to be as nice to america's workers as possible because i understand that what's more important than our paper god economy is the mental sanity and humane treatment of our fellow countrypeople. i understand that customer service people don't really get paid to deal with my trifling problems as a money machine with arms and legs. granted if someone is truly being an ass then feel free to tear their head off, but please do keep things in perspective during this year's consume-a-thon.
  • mr. lif makes an interesting observation - "life is a gift to be enjoyed every second, every minute is temporary - not infinite. yet i find myself looking at the clock hoping for the day to fly by."
  • genetics has reached another landmark in science history - they have located a gene which may enable them to produce blue roses.
  • i wonder how many africans died of aids last year.
  • i should get some rest now.


    • 11-26-02 (00:16)

  • kicked some major ass in fantasy football this week. i have a good shot at making the playoffs.
  • saw jordan and mara in tower yesterday. jordan bought two cds, paid with a check and even talked to me briefly.  a couple weeks ago i saw some guy who (according to a customer) was jesse - the ex-mtv vj. i don't really know if it was or not and i guess it doesn't really matter either way. if it was him i'd like to know what he was doing in davis. celebrity encounters abound.
  • a while back i had an idea for a song made entirely of samples that my car might make - the engine trying to turn over, the gravel in the parking lot crunching under its tires, the doors being closed, etc. then a couple weeks later i saw a commercial that used that same idea. darn.
  • looked at the schedule at work today and noticed i'm not scheduled to work tomorrow. that means i only get four days this week. not sure if joe just decided he didn't need me and felt it unnecessary to tell me or forgot to put me on the schedule. i had planned on calling in sick tomorrow because i wanted to get paid for not being there, but now i don't have that option. before i quit i'd like to use as many sick days as possible. when i quit i get all my vacation time in cash so i'd like to save my vacation time for whenever that day comes. sick time doesn't get paid when i quit so i want to take advantage of it as much as possible in the meantime.
  • bought the graduate while i was in berkeley. that's such a great film.
  • i wish they would release "hoop dreams" on dvd.
  • updated the layout of my sidebar, i think it makes more sense now.
  • updated my mp3 list. i forgot i had a list of all the songs i used to have on mp3...this'll help a lot in reacquiring my old mp3s. at any rate the one that is up there now is current and, thus, much smaller.
  • i'm digging townes van zandt right now. kinda like bob dylan.
  • "neu!" is worth checking out for fans of sigur ros, pink floyd, mogwai, godspeed or any other ambient post-rockish stuff. i knew of them back when i was a kdvs dj, but i'm rediscovering them now. they're better than sigur ros and 25 years older.


    • 11-25-02 (00:46)

  • updated movies list.
  • yesterday was a good day.
  • melanie and i drove to orinda and took bart into SF. while we were there we watched Naqoyqatsi on one of the nine screens in the country that bothered to carry it. it's not playing in l.a., chicago, or nyc. pretty freaking lame. the "theater" we went to had under 30 seats and a ten foot wide screen, but it was 2/3 full so that was encouraging. after watching the movie we went to berkeley and dropped by to see johnny and luke. johnny claims to be a lonely guy and not have many friends, but whenever i see him he's got someone hanging out with him. it turned out to be a good night to be in berkeley because they won the big game against stanford. the streets were a little rowdy and the police were making their presence felt. we walked to tower, got a couple things, ate dinner at baja fresh and went back home. it was a fun day on the whole.
  • today was another story. someone new was hired on saturday.  from behind she looks exactly like heidi (the assistant manager)- they have the same tattoos, body type and hair style and apparently she worked with heidi and joe at another store. i think it's lame that joe is so anxious to hire people he worked with at the other store, but i suppose it's also understandable. isabel (one of the cooler people at work) put in her two week notice and i'd like to do the same. the new girl (sydney) actually doesn't seem as dumb or mean as heidi so i guess that's good.


    • 11-23-02 (13:48)

  • wow, it's been exactly 36 hours since my last update.
  • updated movies list.
  • i've watched only seven movies this month. that's horrible.
  • there's a possibility we'll go to SF today and see naqoyqatsi. i also want to see the movie about jerry seinfeld - "comedian." but the closest place that's playing now is also SF.
  • the garbage disposal is broken.
  • i want to see sullivan's travels again. i really dig the conclusion that sullivan came to by the end of the film - sometimes laughter is the best thing life has to offer.


    • 11-22-02 (01:48)

  • just looked over pitchforkmedia.com's top 100 albums of the 1980s. most lists like that have the same old crap on them, but this one does a pretty good job of having the classics and the unknown gems. there were a few notable misses though - metallica - master of puppets or and justice for all, take your pick; ac/dc - back in black because it defined hard rock for the next 20 years; and dead kennedys - fresh fruit for rotting vegetables because it's the best album of one of the best punk bands ever.


    • Mr. Lif's "Home Of The Brave"
    Now let's talk about self expression, true expression
    Open your minds without question
    No doubt, tell me what you're thinking about
    Let's try to set aside pride and clout
    Can you believe I feel the same exact way you do?
    You truly do believe these modern ways have fooled you
    Systems exist so we never need each other
    Pretty soon from now that I'll long the word "brother"
    And that's true if they see you walking with a crew
    If you don't know, that means more than two
    I'll tell you what they'll do
    They'll pull over, hunt you over
    Kick your ass, nightstick to your shoulder
    I know it's unjust, as if it wasn't enough
    If you try to fight back they're locking your ass up
    And Chuck already told you that a cell is hell
    But I'm waiting for the phone so I'll sit for a spell
    Call the guard, tell him I'm a piece of God
    With no beliefs in his streets or his boulevards
    I eat, read so my mental is hard
    And the heat from my anger just melted the bars
    They reach for their guns so I put them to sleep
    Break the chains and put the shoes back on my feet
    He's on the loose with no discernible scars or marks
    Just the mind of Mandela and the heart of Rosa Parks
    So I dip, time to see the governor and mayor
    Tell them life ain't fair and see if they care
    Well they do, but only if they are the heir
    So they appear to have a heart and make a flair
    But they haven't done shit for us and that's a fact
    Their only function is to keep the funny money where it's at
    And it causes pain, stress

    Ask me if we need a different way of life (yes)

    Headline: Bush steals the presidency
    He needs the backing of the media what could the remedy be?
    The country's headed for recession reminiscent of the Great Depression
    Are lives worth a world of power? Easy question
    Planes hit the towers and the Pentagon
    Killing those the government wasn't dependant on
    It's easy to control the scared so they keep us in fear
    With their favorite Middle Eastern demon named Bin Laden this year
    Bush disguises blood lust as patriotism
    Convincing the living to love "Operation Let's Get 'Em"
    But when he realized we don't support their attacks
    They needed something to distract, hmm, anthrax
    This further demonizes Afghanis
    So Americans cheer while we kill their innocent families
    And what better place to start a war
    To build a pipeline to get the oil that they had wanted before
    America supported the Taliban
    To get Russia out of Afghanistan
    That's how they got the arms in
    They're in a war against the Northern Alliance
    And we can't build a pipeline in hostile environments
    Here's what your history books won't show:
    You're a dead man for fucking with American dough
    They killed several birds with one stone
    While you're at home with anti-terrorism up in your dome
    But my eyes are wide open and my TV is off
    Great, 'cause I save on my electricity cost
    And you can wave that piece of shit flag if you dare
    But they killed us because we've been killing them for years

    11-19-02 (23:44)

  • "Some 92,000 acres of mud and sand at the bottom of the Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound is contaminated with dioxin, toxic metals, and PCBs (just for starters), all the result of industrial pollution. In turn, these nasties make their way into the sound's critters. Crabs are poisoned, while orca whales, salmon, and even some herring stocks are disappearing.  The sound's beaches -- important nursery grounds for many fish -- are also in trouble because of rampant development.  Scientists think global warming is also affecting the sound's sea life."
  • updated movies list.
  • haven't been watching very many movies lately....mostly because of my new work schedule.
  • the boss suggested that i use an empty rack as storage for budget dvds. after he suggested this he asked me "do you care?" "not really" i replied. he asked why and i gave a cop out answer rather than telling him that he had driven me to apathy. he's a sad person.
  • "Michael Jackson is in trouble again after he was spotted briefly dangling a barefooted baby over the railing of his fourth-floor hotel window in Berlin. The pop superstar left fans gasping as he held the baby high above their heads in the German capital Tuesday. The King of Pop arrived in Germany to accept a humanitarian award for his charity work with children but his gesture to fans from his hotel window has left many wondering just how safe a parent he is. Fans below gasped as he held a light-skinned baby briefly over the metal railing with one hand. An onlooker says, "People were looking away. I'm sure Michael knew exactly what he was doing and was in complete control but it was a strange thing to do. It could have been a doll but it looked very real." The baby is believed to be Jackson's new child, Prince Michael II. A spokeswoman for the singer says Jackson was traveling with his children. The Thriller singer is already under attack from his former brother-in-law Jack Gordon - who claims in a new book that Jackson used to beat his pet chimpanzee Bubbles."
  • that guy is just plain funny.
  • got a flu shot today.
  • started downloading old episodes of beavis and butt-head recently. that show was great.


    • 11-18-02 (22:35)

  • haven't been able to get email lately, not sure why.
  • nothing interesting has been going on at home or work lately.
  • i'm not very interested in fantasy football any more.
  • looking forward to my trip south.
  • went through my entire cd collection to make sure that everything on the list was right. there were four discrepancies.
  • the bush administration is funny and we're even more funny for letting them be as funny as they're being.
  • i have class tomorrow. missed last week and the week before that we didn't have to go because of the elections.
  • melanie's parents were in town this weekend so i got free dinner and kept busy on saturday.
  • so i hear the segway people mover is now on sale at amazon.com. hopefully it catches on. i don't think it'll be anything more than a toy until at least a few years down the line.
  • working an opening shift tomorrow.
  • "One-click activism has been a one-click failure with the Bush administration thus far.  The Interior Department, for example, received 360,000 public comments (the huge majority of them sent by email) about the future of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; 80 percent of the writers asked that the government ban the snowmobiles.  Last week, however, the administration said it would let the machines continue to rumble through the parks.  What gives?  Public comments have carried increasingly less weight since a 1987 court ruling that gave officials permission to ignore mass mailings, such as the one generated when green advocacy groups encouraged their members to sign form letters about the snowmobiles. Accordingly, the administration also discarded 93 percent of the comments it received about its plans to roll back protections for roadless areas in national forests, arguing that only 7 percent of the comments were "original" and not the result of a Beltway-orchestrated campaign."


    • 11-15-02 (01:00)

  • work gets ten times better once heidi and joe leave... that's the good thing about working a closing shift.
  • listened to johnny cash's new album today. it's actually mostly covers of other songs which is kinda lame. the first song is good and there are a couple interesting renditions of popular songs, but overall probably not worth buying.


    • 11-14-02 (01:16)

  • updated cdlist.
  • updated movies list.
  • been downloading games for the computer lately. makes me want to get a sony playstation II.


    • 11-12-02 (00:11)

  • now that i'm going to be closing more often my sleep schedule is going to go back to late nights and mornings around noon. that's nice during fall and winter, but not during spring and summer....so i'm not too upset about it.
  • "Smoking three pure cannabis joints is as bad for your lungs as smoking 20 normal cigarettes and marijuana is more dangerous now than it was in the 1960s, British researchers said on Monday. In what it described as a shocking new report, the British Lung Foundation (BLF) said tar from cannabis cigarettes contained 50% more carcinogens--the agents that produce cancer--than tobacco. "Three cannabis joints a day cause the same damage to the lining of the airways as 20 cigarettes," it said in a statement." i thought that had been established a long time ago. people who smoke pot seem to think it's so much better for them than cigarettes, but then they deny that pot is a gateway drug. in my limited experience people who start smoking pot always experiment elsewhere. i don't have anything against people who choose to do drugs, but don't pretend that pot is good for you and won't expose you to other drugs because that's just dumb.
  • today was uneventful.
  • i ate at togo's for the first time in quite a while. they have good sandwiches.
  • i tried using the dvd player on my computer to get a screen shot from koyaanisqatsi, but the copyright software prohibited me from doing so. i could get a screen shot, but the dvd image was just black. pretty good technology. i'll have to find a program that can take screen shots from dvds because there are a couple images i want for my desktop and to post on here.
  • femme fatale was a good movie.
  • updated cdlist.
  • updated moviesiown list.
  • i think i lost this week in fantasy football. i needed to win and it came down to monday night's game. i had a good chance of winning, but my second best player blew it for me.
  • i think it's lame that there are people living in northern california who are actually mad that southern california uses the water that happens to fall up here. i don't understand how you can fault a person for being born in place that doesn't have as much water as you. my understanding of this issue is limited only to what northern californians have articulated...and that hasn't been much. most have a general anger about southern ca stealing "their" water. occasionally one might hear about the topographic or environmental impact this has had on ca as a whole, but usually it's just an ownership thing. the ownership complaint is pure ignorance, but the environmental one does have merit. i still don't see the point of condemning a whole area because people who once inhabited the area chose to do a certain thing. it's beyond my comprehension.
  • dvd taking another leap. sony is usually good about making quality hardware that makes sense for consumers.
  • "We have it on good authority that Fritz Lang's restored version of Metropolis will finally reach DVD from Kino (here in R1) on February 18 as a special edition release. This is the new, German restoration that is currently making a tour the art house circuit."
  • "We have word that The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season will street sometime in April of next year."
  • having a hard time coming up with my top ten in music for the year.
  • heart shaped box is a disturbing video.
  • read some of kurt cobain's journal the other day. he was just another troubled youth who happened to be highly talented and that's what's so appealing (to me) about him - he's just another guy. just like dylan was just another beatnik who happened to be so talented that he became a voice for a whole group of people.


    • 11-10-02 (21:48)

  • updated movies list.


    • 11-9-02 (11:46)

  • today will be the 8th day in a row that i've worked. sunday - off, monday/tuesday - work, wednesday - off, thursday - work, friday/saturday - off.
  • i think it's in our nature to constantly live at the very extent of our means. i can say that if i were rich i would get a modest house and not buy too many toys, but i think that it's natural for most of us to just consume as much as we are able. this isn't true for everyone, but i think that's more of a result of the guilt associated with conspicuous consumption. i find that most people live in the best house and have the best tv or sleeping bag or whatever that they can afford. the very fact that that statement seems obvious is testament to what i'm saying. we think it's completely natural to get the best things we can afford within (and sometimes beyond - thanks to credit) our means.
  • the lakers lost and the kings won. the lakers are a subpar team without shaq. samaki walker is possibly the worst player in the nba - he actually does more bad than good for his team. i'm not just being mean, he really is that bad.
  • updated cdlist. i'm at 680 now. got a couple good compilations off the luakabop label. they seem to have good stuff including david byrne (talking heads) and cornershop which i did not know before.
  • shannon, fellow tower employee, also had her review recently and got a 20 cent raise. she's been there longer than me and probably works harder (though not a full 40 hours a week). it actually made me more upset to hear of her slap in the face 20 cent raise than it did to hear that i was losing the ass man position. not to make excuses for them, but i guess we have to take into account the context - tower is not doing very well. they just announced that pulse (tower's monthly magazine) will no longer be published and 15% of the corporate staff is getting the axe. if they were making record profits then i would be truly mad.
  • the rage against the machine/chris cornell album is finally going to come out (nov. 19th) and i should get a promo next friday.
  • working a closing shift every once in a while is nice because it lets me sleep in on a work day.
  • gotta go wash dishes, eat and watch notre dame come back to beat navy.


    • 11-7-02 (22:21)

  • it rained pretty hard today.
  • lakers lost and that's good news.
  • not much new at work or home.
  • looking forwad to going to la.


    • 11-6-02 (23:26)

  • had my one year review at work today. got almost all fives (five being the best). i'll also will get a 50 cent raise. i should probably start looking for a new job, but i've never been very good at that stuff.
  • my fantasy football team won this week.
  • coming down to la and will be there from the 27th of november to the 1st of december.
  • "The mythical Twoism recordings, originally released on Boards Of Canada's Music70 label before their groundbreaking "Music Has The Right To Children" album, are re-released on November 25th."
  • the kings haven't been playing very good basketball lately. i also don't think they've gotten more than 3 starters to play in one game since the season started.
  • voted yesterday and that was worthless, but didn't take very long. the democratic party needs a wake up call and bush winning in 2000 wasn't good enough so hopefully 2002 will be.
  • tomorrow is mike's last day at work. i'll miss him, but no one else will.
  • hasn't rained yet, but it was close tonight.
  • i don't like that it gets dark so early. fall is lame.
  • went through my Dungey notebook the other night. the three classes i took with him were probably the most rewarding of my college life.
  • if you've got the time and bandwidth you should check out mr. lif's song "home of the brave" - it's the best new (to me) song i've heard this month.
  • bad news at work today was that yesterday we had computer problems so today i hade to spend three hours doing deposits manually for the last two days. the good news is that i got to listen to npr the whole time.
  • it seems that no one really likes the new assistant manager at work. not sure if that's because she's a coke head or because she's mentally retarded. i'll get back to you on that.
  • updated cdlist.


    • 11-03-02 (01:03)

  • updated movies list.
  • cleaned up around the house today.
  • watched notre dame lose its first game of the season.
  • i go back to work tomorrow, but i work a closing shift so i can stay up a little later tonight...that's a nice thing. so are my new keyboard and mouse. the keyboard has a nice feel and is quiet. the mouse has a scroll wheel which is a first for any mouse i've owned.
  • the video to orbital's "the box" is freaking great and aphex twin's "come to daddy" video is disturbing.


    • 11-01-02 (22:53)

  • updated movies list.


    • 11-01-02 (09:53)

  • "Refiners should have no problem producing nearly sulfur-free diesel by 2006, according to a report released yesterday by an advisory panel to the U.S. EPA.  The panel was convened last year by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman to assess possible technological barriers to complying with a clean diesel rule issued in the final weeks of the Clinton administration.  That rule requires refineries to reduce sulfur emissions from 500 parts per million to 15 ppm by 2006, a move that will go a long way toward cleaning up tailpipe exhaust from trucks and buses.  Such exhaust causes and accelerates respiratory ailments such as asthma, resulting in thousands of premature deaths per year.  Big oil has resisted the 15 ppm rule in the past, saying it might cause distribution problems and fuel shortages.  But now the American Petroleum Institute, the large oil companies' trade group, says the industry will not seek to postpone the diesel rule."
  • "Frogs are changing genders -- and it ain't just to Halloween getup. The most popular weed-killer in the U.S. is causing sex changes in frogs, according to a summary of a new study published today in Nature.  The study, led by Tyrone Hayes, a biologist with the University of California at Berkeley, contains the first field evidence that atrazine, a pesticide used since the 1950s and once thought benign, is causing developmental defects in a common Midwestern frog.  In one watershed researched, 92 percent of the male frogs had been feminized in water with just 0.1 parts per billion of the chemical.  The U.S. EPA allows 3 parts per billion in drinking water.  In 1999, an estimated 80 million pounds of atrazine were applied to U.S. crops, golf courses, and lawns.  In an unusual move, scientists on an industry-financed panel assembled to issue a critique of a longer version of Hayes' study appearing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives."
  • not really sure what i am going to do with my day off yet.
  • the history of beavis and butthead dvd that was supposed to come out last month has been cancelled, but a few got through and are selling on ebay for over 100 bucks. insane.

    • "...(I) won't come down like new york's two burning middle fingers." -cage. "cut my wrist and walked by some crips bleeding red / in the hopes that i get shot in the fucking head....i'm a suicidal failure, look my life's failure" - cage. this album is freaking great.