11-28-03 (02:57)
updated movies list.
watched two movies, worked 6hours 15minutes.
11-27-03 (01:03)
made the mistake of watching "primetime on abc" tonight. they had a story
on a couple who buy and sell swanky (worth millions of dollars) apartments
in nyc. they said that they made a profit almost every time they made a
transaction, despite having to buy new furniture every single time they
moved. the "interviewer" asked them if they ever had a piece of furniture
they wanted to keep, they replied "we're not object people." if you're
not "object people" then maybe you should stop worrying so much about your
social status by constantly (on average every nine months) buying whole
new sets of furniture and a new apartment.
updated movies list.
arnold made a visit to the most recent kings home game. the local news
interviewed a few of the players afterwards and christie seemed wholly
unimpressed by arnold's presence. i like christie.
still have a cough.
only working 6 hours tomorrow. getting paid double time is good since i
left early on sunday.
11-26-03 (01:04)
had the tv on while i was preparing dinner and i heard a story about "drugs
and crazed rhetoric being used to dupe american teenagers into killing
people." i naturally assumed that the story was an expose on the military
during the vietnam era. turns out it was a story about a movie being made
about charles manson. oh well.
"twice the first time" is such a dope saul williams track. i wish that
guy would come out with another full length album.
updated movies list.
listened to a lot of rush limbaugh while i was on vacation last week. i
think it's important to know one's enemy. i listened to him for several
hours over the course of a few days and i think that he said one, maybe
two, things that i agreed with. it's funny how often he'll say something
like "contrary to what the mainstream liberal media would have you believe,
most of the country is conservative - and by that i mean most of the country
lives a conservative life." to back up his claim he had one "fact": "for
example, most americans save their money." that was his proof that most
of the country is conservative...and it seems that people eat this shit
up. what a funny guy.
still sick.
two more days of work and then i get a couple days off.
kings won tonight.
both my fantasy football teams won this week.
got the new wyclef album today, have yet to listen to it.
11-25-03 (01:21)
updated movies list.
had a busy week this last week.
got sick and that's too bad. i wish tower gave us more than just 20 hours
of sick leave per year. that's not even three days worth...in a year!
it's really cold these days.
11-23-03 (02:01)
warp records
leads the way again.
11-17-03 (00:40)
"Falcons’ quarterback Michael Vick practiced for the third straight day
on Friday, quarterbacking the scout team and pushing his right foot as
hard as he could, according to the Associated Press. Vick, who has been
sidelined by a fractured fibula since August 16, also told reporters that
he wants to change what everyone calls him. “No more Mike Vick," he said.
"I want Michael. They tried to call me Mike Vick at Virginia Tech, and
then I got hurt. Now it happened again. It's Michael Vick. Michael is a
form of God, an angel. That's the name my mother gave me, and I want to
honor it.”"
updated movies list.
i need a new mouse.
tomorrow arnold becomes governor. wonder how he's going to repeal the car
tax...i've heard that it's not within the governor's power to do that.
tomorrow rush limbaugh goes back on the air. wonder what he's going to
say about the fact that he's a complete hypocrite.
finished reading the new michael moore book ("dude,
where's my country") now i'm onto the newest al franken book. they make
good companion pieces. to me michael moore has always been more of a populist
who is political...never went to college, not particularly brilliant (though
he does have plenty of good ideas, is smart, and very funny, etc.). that's
long been a major appeal to me. i'm not comparing him to al franken and
i'm not saying that he's an average person, but i don't see him as exceptionally
intelligent either - he just looks at things in a common sense way. he's
not noam chomsky and that's precisely why he is so popular. i think that
sometimes the book simplified things (esp. regarding americans being liberal
vs. conservative - he looked at principle to define political inclination,
rather than looking at policy), but overall was necessary and is
certainly going to help swing the country to the left...it points out the
links between the bushies and saudi arabia, it shows the patriot act for
what it is, etc. definitely a recommended read for those who have a passing
interest in current political events. if, however, you're a little more
into politics then check out something more along the lines of 'the best
democracy money can buy.' it's a more focused effort from greg palast,
an (maybe the) investigative journalist, who's been getting lots
of press since bush became president.
actually got to catch most of the 4th quarter of
the kings game tonight. it was closer than it should have been...we've
been struggling lately, but i still love my team. we play the kind of ball
that i like to see and that's more important than winning. 6-4 so far in
the season. hopefully when webber returns next month we can get a streak
together. brad miller is playing very well these days.
somehow i don't have as much money as i thought i
did. maybe it was the books i bought the other day or the battery i had
to buy for the car or the fact that i eat out for lunch every workday...i
don't know.
my headphones are finally starting to fall apart...pretty
sad business.
gotta get some sleep.
11-15-03 (00:34)
a good column from a
good comic news source.
updated movies list.
saw a movie in the theater for free today.
watched the first episode of carl sagan's "cosmos" today. i bought the
dvd set the other day so i plan on putting it to use.
bought five books today. one was a 2004 alamanac. i love almanacs...i use
my current almanac more than any other book i own.
11-14-03 (01:37)
yesterday while at work some little girl asked for the "ymca" song. i showed
her the village people section and said she might also be able to find
it on a compilation of 70s music. her dad said "just download it honey."
i smiled and said "that's illegal." he looked at her and said "it's okay."
i wanted to tell them that if enough people did that i'd be out of a job.
you see our store has already gone from having at least three people at
any given time to having two people most of the night. now part of this
is mismanagement on tower's part and some of it is part of a larger down
sizing in the music industry. you see when people stop buying cds they're
not hurting the executives of bmg, emd, sony, warner or universal - they're
actually hurting the people at the very end of the cycle - that's people
like me. you can't stick it to the man by downloading music because the
heads of these companies are so well insulated that they barely feel the
impact - even of a downward trend this size. rich people don't become poor
unless they've horribly mis-managed their money, that's just the way it
works. rich people spend their entire lives becoming rich and making sure
they maintain their riches. sure a few people at the top lost their jobs,
but they all have golden parachutes (severance packages) and sizable savings
so they really don't need to worry. so download if you want - i actually
don't have that big of a problem with it - but down delude yourself into
thinking that it's harmless or that you're sticking it to the man, because
you're not.
it's raining right now.
there are 3.5 million households (in the U.S.) whose net worth is over
one million dollars, and there are 4.1 million "american indians and native
alaskans" in the U.S. In ten years there will probably be more millionaires
than there are native americans. i think that's a pretty telling statistic.
i plan on watching a couple movies and buying some books. after that i'll
sleep.
"today was a good day, i didn't have to use my A-K." -ice cube
11-14-03 (00:49)
no work for the next two days.
scanning in a couple of articles that i'd like to keep, but since i don't
want clutter keeping them in image form on my computer makes the most sense.
there's no point in having a scanner if you're not going to actually use
it. since it's one more thing that i have i think it's good that it is
serving the purpose of relieving clutter elsewhere.
11-13-03 (22:26)
the machiavellian style of world politics doesn't work anymore. i think
that at one point it worked well enough to be considered (though it may
not have been the "best" method it was a viable option). some would have
you believe that the world is the same as it was before, but that's not
true. the last fifty years have been far different...and the rules of the
game have changed quite a bit since biological, nuclear and intelligence
warfare. the ability for rogue individuals to have a calculable effect
on a given state has increased like no time in the past and as a result
it just might make more sense to be loved than respected and feared.
11-13-03 (01:47)
updated movies list.
tomorrow is my friday so that's good. and next week is a short one for
me.
2 out of the 53 CA H.O.R. elections were won by the candidate who raised
less money than their competitor i.e., 96% of the time the person who raised
the most money went on to win a seat in the house of representatives.
more greg
palast goodness.
related stuff.
side note: my dad works at the peninsula and worked at the century plaza.
11-12-03 (02:23)
updated movies list.
it seems that catherine zeta-jones likes to sue people.
updated movies i own list.
11-11-03 (01:17)
"For America's first 212 years, it used to be that if the police wanted
to search your house, they had to be able to convince an independent judge
to give them a search warrant and then (with rare exceptions) they had
to go bang on your door and yell, "Open up!" Then, if you didn't quickly
open up, they could knock the door down. Also, if they seized anything,
they had to leave a list explaining what they had taken. That way, if it
was all a terrible mistake (as it sometimes is) you could go and get your
stuff back.
But that's all changed now. Starting two years ago, federal agents
were given broad new statutory authority by the Patriot Act to "sneak and
peak" in non-terrorism cases. They can secretly enter your home with no
warning -- whether you are there or not -- and they can wait for months
before telling you they were there. And it doesn't have to have any relationship
to terrorism whatsoever. It applies to any garden-variety crime. And the
new law makes it very easy to get around the need for a traditional warrant
– simply by saying that searching your house might have some connection
(even a remote one) to the investigation of some agent of a foreign power.
Then they can go to another court, a secret court, that more or less has
to give them a warrant whenever they ask.
Three weeks ago, in a speech at FBI Headquarters, President Bush went
even further and formally proposed that the Attorney General be allowed
to authorize subpoenas by administrative order, without the need for a
warrant from any court."
that's from a speech that al gore gave the other day. i've yet to hear
anyone say anything to rebut the attacks against the "patriot" act. i've
heard all sorts of really bad things about how insidious and (for lack
of a better word) evil it is, but i haven't heard anyone defend it....yet
it was passed 98-1 in the senate. i get this distinct feeling that the
last ten years or so our government has been consistently dropping the
ball, turning a blind eye, or just plain not cared when it comes to protecting
the people from corporations and government agencies. in the last couple
years there seems to be more of a swell of information regarding the long
term security of our water resources...more and more cities are privatizing
the running of their water supply. to me, privatizing necessities like
water and power just doesn't make long term sense.
"In pushing for continued use of a controversial pesticide, the Bush administration
could undermine international efforts to protect the ozone layer.
The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty ratified by the U.S. and other industrialized
nations, calls for phasing out the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide
by 2005, but at an international meeting on the protocol this week in Nairobi,
Kenya, representatives from the U.S. will fight for an exemption that would
not only allow U.S. farmers to keep using the pesticide but also to use
it in larger amounts. The U.S. agricultural industry argues that
methyl bromide is essential for affordable growing of strawberries and
other crops, but European Union officials and others contend that there
are viable alternative products. Atmospheric chemists say the ozone
layer will likely take at least 50 years to heal, so this is no time to
let up on protections."
updated movies list.
11-10-03 (01:06)
went to santa cruz yesterday. fun times were had by all involved. it's
always nice to see johnny and luke the whole crew. they're nice and upbeat
people. we played ultimate frisbee (which was fun and i did pretty well
at), lots of super mario kart (which i was okay at and was also fun), trivial
pursuit (which i wasn't very good at, but don't care since it's a petty
endeavor anyway. har har), and celebrity (which is like the $10,000 pyramid
game, but the object is to find the names of celebrities).
for some reason i was looking at brad pitt's filmography and noticed that
he's going to be 40 in a month. wouldn't have guessed him to be that old.
wanted to come home from work early today, but couldn't since one person
called in sick and another left early because he has to work on tuesday.
lame.
gotta sleep now.
11-9-03 (21:49)
updated movies list.
11-7-03 (01:53)
updated movies list.
lakers are undefeated so far this year. i hate the lakers.
i'm watching the matrix finale tomorrow. i didn't have very high hopes
for the second one and loved it, but now that i have high hopes for this
movie i'm worried i'll be disappointed.
star wars trilogy is likely to be released on dvd in september of 2004.
today was an oddly good day. when i got to work i heard that chris anderson
(the representative for caroline distribution had stopped by)...now a really
bad rep will stop by the store to drop off promos once every 6 weeks or
so, chris hadn't stopped by for 6 months or more. he dropped off a bunch
of promos because word was getting around about how poor a job he had been
doing. in sum, i got six primo promos today...which saved me at least 30
bucks since i had definite plans on buying three of the six cds that i
got; it was like christmas. i also got my yearly review today and it looks
like i'm going to get a quarter raise which is nice since it's more money,
but it really doesn't even cover inflation. more money is good though.
today is my friday so that made today better as well.
tomorrow is the third anniversary of melanie and i being together.
boards of canada to release a new album early next year. that's exciting.
beta band as well, not as exciting, but still stimulating.
tomorrow i'll watch the animatrix, matrix 2 and matrix 3. saturday i drive
to santa cruz and see johnny for the last time until he comes back from
antarctica which will be in february or sometime next year. a long time
anyway.
new plaid album sounds real good so far.
i recommend you check out this week's episode of radio parallax...www.kdvs.org,
click on schedule/archives and find the thursday 5pm slot; or this
should work too. download it or listen to it streaming. they had an interview
with joseph wilson (the guy whose undercover cia wife was exposed by the
bush administration). overall, a better show than usual.
11-6-03 (01:44)
"To the delight of environmentalists, California Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger
has chosen Terry Tamminen to head the state's Environmental Protection
Agency. Tamminen helped start the Santa Monica environmental organization
BayKeeper, then went to work for another green group, Environment Now.
He was one of the drafters of Schwarzenegger's environmental platform,
which included measures to protect California's national forests, cut air
pollution by 50 percent, and invest in hydrogen vehicles. Environmentalists
welcomed the plan but saw it as so ambitious -- even for a liberal Democrat,
which Schwarzenegger is not -- that they feared it would amount to little
more than politicking and pipe dreams. The naming of Tamminen to
lead the DEP is helping allay some of those suspicions, since it suggests
that the governor-to-be plans to follow through on his green campaign promises."
missed another kings game tonight.
there's a position open for varsity track coach at davis high school it
would run from feb. to may and the stipend is $3,800. i'd really like to
do something like that, but going from ex-runner to varsity track coach
is a stretch to say the least. plus my knowledge doesn't extend to anything
below the 800m race. i know roughly how to structure workouts for long
distance training, but not for the sprints or for field events. i also
know almost nothing of the technique that is required for the shorter distance
events.
11-5-03 (01:39)
"The Bush administration is ticking off many traditionally Republican hunters
and anglers with its plans to encourage logging and oil and gas drilling
in natural areas throughout the Western U.S. Last week, 450 U.S.
gun clubs sent a petition to the U.S. Forest Service objecting to plans
to remove protections from the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska,
which contains prime habitat for big game and salmon. And many hunters
in Montana are irate about administration plans to encourage gas drilling
in the Rocky Mountain Front, which is home to bears, wolves, elk, bighorn
sheep, bobcats, and many other large mammals. Carl Rappold, a Montana
rancher and longtime Republican, says he won't vote for Bush again:
"To me, it doesn't make sense. We got all these species clustered
in a little bit of space. It is almost like a last stand. And
now we are going to develop it for a handful of gas?""
it makes perfect sense to me. bush's primary motivation is helping those
with money. whether it be his oil buddies or arms manufacturers. that's
why he's done other atypical republican things like cutting benefits for
army personnel. vying for republican votes isn't at the top of his list,
making more money for his friends is.
updated movies list.
looking forward to watching the matrix on friday, bought tickets for it
today.
talked with michelle at the theater about kill bill and apparently there
isn't anything that comes after the credits roll...either a dumb rumor
or tarantino spliced the scene into the film before release.
11-4-03 (01:21)
updated movies list.
could be good.
today was decent. work went by quickly enough and tomorrow is my wednesday.
watching a movie at night really breaks up the day well.
was looking at my movies list for 2000...the first (and only year, so far)
that i reached 300 movies. i realized there was an error in my counting
and i actually watched 302 movies that year. i had accidently repeated
a number a couple times.
normally when i watch a mystery movie i don't view it with the intent of
cracking the case before the movie presents the answers to me. i've never
been good at it and i find that it's more fun for me to be surprised at
the end. as a general rule i try not to think about the end while in the
middle of the movie; i like it better that way.
11-03-03 (01:12)
updated movies list.
very cold this morning. started raining tonight. rained a bit the other
day as well. i guess i shouldn't complain since october was mild, but i
don't like weather.
my fantasy teams are falling apart.
ikiru is finally coming to dvd. very happy about that.
going to la in a couple weeks. this weekend i plan on visiting johnny before
he goes to antarctica. vern's in nyc and johnny will be in antarctica.
started reading "dude, where's my country" the other day. it's depressing
already. talks about ties between the bush family and the bin laden family.
talks about the bushies being in bed with saudi arabia. it's more about
investigative reporting than his other books...at least so far.
11-02-03 (01:10)
updated movies list.
watched two movies in the theater for the price of one.
looking forward to the new matrix film. will have to live in a cave until
it comes out to avoid learning anything about it.
11-01-03 (01:23)
updated movies list.
finished "watchmen" tonight. what an amazing book, or illustrated novel
if you prefer.