Oct03

10-31-03 (13:52)

"As expected, a proposal to establish mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions was rejected yesterday by the U.S. Senate in a 55-43 vote. Still, supporters of the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), were generally pleased with the outcome: Crossing party lines, six Republicans backed the bill, as did several Democrats from major industrial and coal-producing states, who typically oppose such caps. The vote represented the first time that members of Congress have been called upon to take a position on global warming since President Bush took office -- but, apparently, it won't be the last. Sounding distinctly like California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, McCain said, "I want to assure my colleagues we will be back.""

"While the "polluter pays" principle struggles here in the U.S., our neighbors to the north have resoundingly reaffirmed it. In a unanimous decision, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled yesterday that companies that pollute must pay for the damage they cause. The case in question concerned Imperial Oil, which, in 1998, was ordered by the Quebec Ministry of the Environment to clean up pollution that had leaked from company storage tanks to contaminate the ground beneath 20 homes. Jerry DeMarco, managing lawyer for the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, called the ruling against Imperial and in favor of the polluter-pays principle "one of the great environmental law victories in Canadian history." If the court had ruled otherwise, some 30,000 sites in Canada could have remained contaminated."

it's so grim and cold outside right now. i hate it.

10-31-03 (00:57)

read the playboy interview with quentin tarantino today. good as usual. he's an interesting fellow.

i heard that in kill bill there is supposed to be another scene after the credits roll, but i've also heard that tarantino decided to cut it into the film because people might not stick around and the scene is important. i might ask michelle at the theater what the scoop is on that one.

wannabe onion. they've actually got some good headlines, but overall not as funny as the onion.

heard a show on npr the other day about high school drop out rates. the national dropout rate is 11%, but that doesn't count kids who go to jail or say they'll enroll in adult school or a host of other exceptions. according to the journalist 33% of freshman don't make it to graduation and a lot of this is allowed to happened because the (state) governments don't demand proper accounting of dropout stats. the federal government allows each state to detemine its own policies on collecting said statistics and as a result national dropout statistics are muddled and inaccurate. of course there's no real motivation for state's to make their policies more stringent since that would only make the numbers look worse and no one likes that, so instead they just turn a blind eye to it.

today was the first real day of fall. it was cold and the sun set before 6pm. i don't like fall or winter. some people enjoy seeing the seasons change, and i can understand that, but i enjoy consistency and comfort.

i've seen 52 movies this month and will likely watch another 2 or more tomorrow. if i watched that many movies every month i'd rack up over 630 a year. i wish i had the discipline to do that. i feel like i have so much catching up to do. i always feel like i haven't seen very many movies...even though 300 a year (25 a month) is pretty damned good relative to most people, it just doesn't seem like that much relative to the number of great films that exist. of course there's the other factor - my awful memory. so watching 300 movies for me is like watching 150 for most people...so really should be watching 600 movies a year. too bad i don't work at a video store.

i haven't listened to public enemy in a while, but i'm giving "yo! bum rush the show" a spin right now and this shit bumps. a lot more straight ahead than "it takes a nation of millions..." which is pe's best, but not necessarily my favorite.

10-30-03 (01:09)

updated movies list.

updated movies i own list.

10-29-03 (02:02)

updated movies list.

10-28-03 (01:26)

i've been wanting to get a new watch for a while and just recently my battery died so i'm officially in the hunt for a new watch. noteworthy and exciting stuff.

actually there were two noteworthy events today...today was filled with opportunity and i only half seized it.

went to another michael moore lecture today. it was shorter and less eventful than the first, but still worthwhile. afterwards i went in to work and talked to lacy (she's the only republican at work). i asked her if she had gone to the lecture (sarcastically of course). she said that she wanted to get together with her friends and show him where the rec hall was. i asked her why and she said "because he needs to go there." at this point i should mention that lacy is ugly and beginning to become overweight. i asked her if that was supposed to mean that michael moore was fat and she said yes. i told her that was a fucked up thing to say and she didn't really care. she was mostly concerned with the fact that michael moore was fat and that she didn't like him. i asked her why she didn't like him (other than his weight) and she didn't come up with any real answer. actually she did say that she didn't like when he said we were living in fictitious times, with a fictitious president, etc. she admitted he was a good filmmaker, but said that bowling for columbine was a work of fiction, not a documentary...and the conversation didn't really go anywhere from there. i tried talking with her in a rational way about the film, about moore, about the debacle in florida, etc., but she shuts out anything that doesn't coincide with what she already knows. i really wanted to just tell her she was fat and ugly and stupid and everything else, but that wouldn't have done any good and then i'd be just as bad as her, though right.

later in the night michael moore showed up at tower. he was with his wife (i think it was her, but i've only seen her once so i'm not sure), a man and a girl about 11 years old. he shopped around for a while and went to buy a few cds. lacy was at the register helping him with his transaction. i went up to the front and said "hey mike, this is lacy (i placed my hand on lacy's shoulder) - she's our resident republican." at this point i really should have gone on, but i'm not enough of a confrontational person. i should have continued "...would you mind explaining to her what happened in florida, or why your movie isn't a work of fiction - how you had three teams of fact checkers working to ensure that all the facts are correct, or how she's a fucking moron, or better yet...hey mike this is lacy and about two hours ago she was calling you fat and stupid, what would you like to say to her?" i should have said any one of those things, but it just left it at "she's our resident republican..." he commented on how nice she was since she called him sir and went on his usual comic schtick about right wingers being the kind of people who wake up at the crack of dawn or being the kind of people who are really motivated, etc. the second part of this speech (which i've now heard twice) is what he left out and it goes something like..."they wake up at the crack of dawn just dreaming up ways to steal from more downtrodden minorities..." after that lacy mentioned that our boss would like him to sign a poster we had in the back for "bowling for columbine." he said sure no problem and joe got the poster. after moore signed it we chatted for a minute or two. i told him that i had been to the santa cruz show as well as the early show today (he had another talk later in the night). i asked him about tv nation and he said that sony was sitting on the rights to the show so there aren't any plans for the release of the series on dvd, yet. he's a very warm and open guy. i instantly felt at ease talking with him. with celebrities or bosses or people of supposed power i usually feel anxious...in fact i feel less at ease talking with my boss than i did in talking with him for the two minutes he was there. i sort of regret not using that resource to enlighten lacy and i sort of regret not punching lacy in the teeth, but i'll live. after her metabolism slows down and she's mothered a couple of her cousin's children she'll be a lard ass and the world will hate her because of it. what a fucked up society.

the other semi-missed opportunity came with another michael m. this time it was michael mercury - the kdvs astrologist....first some background, if you know dr. strangelove at all then feel free to skip this over...

copied from here.
Cut to: int. Ripper's office. Mandrake is sitting worriedly on a couch. Ripper puts a comforting arm around his shoulder.
Ripper:
through his cigar Mandrake,
Mandrake:
Yes, Jack?
Ripper:
Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake:
Well, no I... I can't say I have, Jack.
Ripper:
Vodka. That's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake:
Well I... I believe that's what they drink, Jack. Yes.
Ripper:
On no account will a commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake:
Oh, ah, yes. I don't quite.. see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper:
Water. That's what I'm getting at. Water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, you realize that.. seventy percent of you is water.
Mandrake:
Uhhh God...
Ripper:
And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake:
Yes. chuckles nervously
Ripper:
You beginning to understand?
Mandrake:
Yes. chuckles. begins laughing/crying quietly
Ripper:
Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?
Mandrake:
Well it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper:
Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake:
Ah, yes, I have heard of that, Jack. Yes.
Ripper:
Well do you now what it is?
Mandrake:
No. No, I don't know what it is. No.
Ripper:
Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
Window in the office is shot through by automatic weapons fire.

it's one of the most classic scenes in one of the most classic films of all-time. well listen to this. i made one small edit for brevity's sake. after you listen you'll understand what i mean by missed opportunity. this situation was absolutely ripe for the picking and if i wasn't at work or had given it more thought then it could have been even better.

that's all folks. no movies today. ended the streak.

10-27-03 (01:43)

updated movies list.

i wish there was more kurosawa stuff on dvd. i also wish grapes of wrath and los olvidados were on dvd.

getting pretty tired. didn't get much sleep last night.

seeing michael moore at the mondavi center tomorrow. should be fun.

at work our children's section is right next to our religious section...i've always found that funny.

i wrote an e-mail at work today that i might get in trouble for. i wrote "dear fellow employees, from now on r. kelly can be found in the "uncle molesto" section in between the children's and religious sections. roman polanski's films will also be located here from now on. thank you, chris." sometimes my sense of humor compels me to say/do things that i shouldn't. i don't really care if i get in trouble. i remember when going to the principals office was the worst thing i could imagine.

melanie asked me if i could go a week without watching a movie and the idea seemed so foreign to me that i've come to the conclusion that i'm addicted to film. watching movies occupies my thoughts, time, money and as such prevents me from doing other things like mingling with intellectuals about the relative merits of nietzsche's will-to-power or something. or maybe i've always had an addiction to being separate and film has just become a convenient excuse.

gotta read 'watchmen' and then sleep.

10-26-03 (03:08)

wake up early tomorrow.

updated movies list. 54 movies to go. watched 5 more today. i've been lucky lately because i've seen so many really good movies. i feel sort of bad since i've been grading so highly, but that's just an indication of the caliber of films i've been viewing - not that i've become and easy grader.

ended up watching natural born killers twice tonight...hadn't really planned on watching it at all.

i used to think that watching more than one movie in a day was boring, but lately, for some unknown reason, i've found myself watching 3, 4 or 5 movies a day on the weekends. i'm sure it'll taper off eventually, but in the meantime it's been quite a ride. not sure what's gotten into me. in the last week i watched more movies than i watched in all of may.

yankees lost today and while that's not all that bad in itself, it's awful because it means that florida won. i hat the state of florida. i'm sure there are some nice people there, but i still hate that place.

10-25-03 (03:21)

updated movies list. watched 5 movies.

missed cable today for the first time in a while - the kings/lakers game was on espn. we won and i missed it. sad day.

10-24-03 (01:12)

updated movies list.

today was about the usual.

9,000 people were asked to answer true/false to three questions 1) saddam and al-qaeda have been proven to have links to each other. 2) the world at large favors U.S. action in iraq 3) weapons of mass destruction have been found in iraq. 9% of the people answered true to all three and 60% answered true to at least one. among people who watch the fox news network the results were slightly different. 45% of those people answered true to all three and 80% answered true to at least one. by the way all three, to date, are incorrect. oh and watching fox news makes you stupid.

in an unrelated story...some people at ucla did a study and apparently found that ann coulter has an iq of no higher than 83 and thus it is rude to call her stupid or blame her for what she says - it's not really her fault since she lacks the ability to think critically and retain information.

"Well... it looks like things are backfiring on Jack Valenti's anti-piracy plan to ban all screener copies of films for awards season. Film actors, directors and particularly independent filmmakers have been protesting vigorously, going so far as to take out full page ads in local newspapers and industry trade magazines. The problem is that the ban would make it unlikely that most awards voters (including Academy voters at Oscar time) would ever see smaller, art house films, given that they're run in so few theaters. That would unfairly skew voting towards big-budget, major Hollywood studio films. Anger in the industry over this move is so great that the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has, in protest, announced that they'll cancel their 2003 awards unless the ban is rescinded."

i really like autechre's "chiastic slide" LP.

listening to the fresh air interview (online) with bill o'reilly right now. terry gross is freaking cool. bill o'reilly is so funny. he's talking about an old interview (which i actually saw) and it's funny to hear him spin what happened in that interview. i miss watching o'reilly's "no spin zone" because it was so comedic. actually i guess i really don't since it was ultimately more depressing than it was funny.

i recommend you check out the npr.org site...it's got a bunch of archived shows...and more on audible.com

if getting a new job were like running 10 miles despite my being horribly out of shape, i would have gotten a new job months ago. i'm bad at doing things that take more than a day. i can be inspired for a day or a week, but it's hard to be inspired for long periods of time.

10-23-03 (01:46)

updated movies list.

10-22-03 (02:07)

"Scientists at the University of Alberta in Canada are creating a stir with their discovery of a clean and simple way to generate electricity by forcing water through narrow glass tubes, a finding being touted as the first completely new way to generate electricity in more than 160 years. According to research published today in the latest issue of the "Journal of micromechanics and Microengineering," the process works by harnessing the natural energy created when a flowing liquid meets a solid surface. The work is in its early stages, say researchers Larry Kostiuk and Daniel Kwok, but by the end of the decade the process could be used to make "water batteries" to power mobile phones and other small electronic devices without using toxic materials or creating pollution. Eventually the system might be used for full-scale generation of clean power."

updated movies list.

just remember that you can't hug your children with nuclear arms. ha! i've been watching the family guy a lot lately.

listening to bs2000 right now. just finished the first record, now i'm on the second one. i just remembered that i had a dream last night that the beastie boys officially retired, glad it was only a dream.

not much to say these days. all my attempts at getting new jobs have be fruitless. i don't even get calls asking me for an interview.

updated movies iown list.

10-21-03 (02:20)

i hear there's a gladiator 2 in the works. i didn't think all that much of the first one.

yesterday we went to berkeley and then santa cruz. saw michael moore do his thing. it was good overall. he's a pretty optimistic guy...he kept saying that he felt things were going to change - that bush would get ousted, that minorities and women would claim power, etc. melanie bought his new book for me and we got it signed. i asked him when 'the big one' was coming out on dvd and he said 'as soon as i can sit down and do the commentary track for it.' he's a pretty busy guy...two books in the last couple years, a movie (working on another one), awards shows, speech tours (31 shows in 22 cities - or thereabouts), etc. that's a lot to do.

at any rate, it was a good day trip. actually it felt like two days because i only got 4 hours of sleep the previous night, went to work for 4 hours, and then went to berkeley, santa cruz and back to davis. had to keep the movie watching streak alive, though, so after all that i watched a movie. then i went to bed. my grandma is right when she calls me a lunatic.

updated movies list. 34 movies in 20 days. 11 days in a row i've watched a movie, a couple years ago i think i had a 28 day streak.

10-18-03 (00:00)

updated movies list. four movies today and four yesterday. 33 this month, 69 to go.

saw the yankees lose today. florida is a good team. the other day boston had a man on third with one out against the yankees and they didn't drive in any runs. today florida had men on second and third with one out and drove in two runs. they know how to manufacture runs.

thought it was daylight savings time tonight. guess not.

thought of another way of ranking movies. it's sort of based upon how many movies a person watches a year. for example a rating of 1 would indicate that even if you watch only one movie a year this movie is worth putting on your "to see" list. whereas a rating of 1,000 would mean that only if you plan on watching a thousand movies this year should you plan on watching this one.

going to see michael moore in santa cruz tomorrow. should be a fun trip. plan on stopping in berkely for a bit. drop in on johnny and walk around for a while.

melanie had her purse stolen last night. that was kinda funny because she left it on the desk in the office at the co-op. a girl came in to leave a note for the hiring manager because she wanted a job, while she was writing this note she saw melanie's purse and put it in her bag. little did she know that this was all on camera. ssince she was applying for a job it was easy to get her address, phone number, social security number and everything else. i somehow doubt she'll get the job. melanie gets the purse back on monday. just remember that big brother is ALWAYS watching.

10-17-03 (00:06)

all day i was looking forward to the boston/NY game. with about 30 minutes left in my shift some fucking idiot drunk walks in and says really loudly (to no one in particular) "i can't believe sports. i can't believe the yankees came back from being down five runs (actually it was four). i lost 180 bucks. i shouldn't have gone double or nothing." at that point i wanted to rip his limbs from his body and burn him alive. i didn't.

came home and fast forwarded through the game even though i knew what the outcome was. thanks to the town drunk it wasn't nearly as exciting as it would have been. i used to like the yankees because i respected the way they played the game and respected the entertainment they provided. and i guess i still do to a certain extent, but seeing both boston and chicago go down made ill. florida just won the world series six years ago and the yankees seem to win one every other year. i'll root for the yankees in the series because florida (the state, and thus the team) is at the top of my shit list, but after that i'm done liking the yankees.

on a positive note i got a free sun ra dvd today. eager to check that out.

10-16-03 (02:52)

i don't claim to be a cubs fan, but watching them lose today was very disappointing. when kerry wood hit that two run homer i was psyched and then alou added to the lead i thought things were looking good. ultimately, though, florida just played better ball. they got their lead off man on base more often, they manufactured runs rather than just hitting the long ball and the played good defense (despite the first half of poor pitching). they're a good team, but i still hate florida. i think that the boston/new york game is going to be great. i'm taping it and will try to stay ignorant of the outcome until i get home to watch it.

calling in sick was a good choice.

updated movies list. three more movies today. 24 in 15 days.

10-15-03 (02:37)

got two autechre EPs in the mail today. i think they shippe from england, but they got here really quickly so i'm not sure. at any rate, i'm two cds closer to having all their stuff. i think i'm three singles away from having all their cds.

i'm going to call in sick tomorrow. i'm not actually sick enough to warrant it, but my grandma is in town, the cubs game is on and i've come into work sick before so i figure that it evens out in the end.

i've been a movie watching machine lately. i'm really gunning for the 300 movie mark...a mark that i thought was unattainable earlier this year. 81 movies left to 300 and 77 days left in the year. i've watched 21 movies so far this month.

updated movies list.

"Here are three good reasons environmentalists should be worried about the energy bill currently in joint conference committee at the U.S. House and Senate. First, it includes virtually no conservation measures -- nothing to improve the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, nothing to wean the country off of its unhealthy and unsafe dependence on fossil fuels. Second, it includes plenty of measures that will decimate the environment -- opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and coastal areas to oil and gas drilling, providing billions of dollars in subsidies to established, lucrative extractive industries and energy companies that don't need the boost, weakening policies to hold polluters accountable for their actions. Third, it'll cost you, Mr. or Ms. Taxpayer, a bundle over the next 10 years, adding to the national deficit some $19 billion worth of unsustainable measures. Join a League of Conservation Voters' campaign and tell your senators just what you think of the energy bill."

i like the sound of the train in the distance.

"Ah, winter -- icicles on the eves, smoke rising from the chimneys, a crackling fire, and emerging from it, that fragrant, familiar smell of ... coffee? Yep, that's right: A Canadian company is marketing fake logs made of recycled coffee grounds. Other fake logs, made of everything from sawdust and paraffin to corn cobs and peach pits, have been on the market for 50-some years. But the Java Log burns brighter and hotter than sawdust logs and produces 88 percent less carbon monoxide than the real thing, according to Robustion, the company that makes it. Robustion has been manufacturing and selling the logs in Canada for three years, and now hopes to create recycling agreements with major coffeehouse chains such as Starbucks. The company also hopes to expand its market in the U.S., where it currently sells Java Logs in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York."

the south park movie is going to have a special edition dvd out next year.

10-14-03 (01:45)

"The Bush administration announced yet another environmental rollback on Friday, following a pattern of releasing such news right before a holiday weekend, presumably in hopes that it will slip past the public's notice. This time the beneficiaries are mining companies, which, thanks to a reinterpretation of the 1872 Mining Law, will now be able to use as much public land as they want to develop operations for mining gold, silver, and other minerals. The 131-year-old mining act, long criticized as outdated by the environmental community, already allows mining companies to extract minerals from public lands without paying any royalties to taxpayers. Steve D'Esposito of the Mineral Policy Center, an environmental group, called the Bush decision an "open invitation to dump massive quantities of toxic mining waste on unlimited amounts of our public lands. It puts clean water and community health at increased risk.""

happy to hear that the sox won today.

i guess i ended up losing this week in one of my fantasy football leagues. not sure how that happened.

i've been loading up on dvds lately. the object is to have enough movies around to hold me over when i'm in between netflix movies. since i watch anywhere from 4-8 movies a weekend, and only get three movies from netflix, i have to fall back on my own catalog to tide me over. lately i've been listening to commentaries as much as possible. it's like a film school on disc. a cheap dvd sells for 14.99 + tax and i get it for under 9.00 after tax. for less than 9 bucks it's worth getting a film i wouldn't normally be interested in owning, especially if it has a commentary track. jeepers creepers and last house on the left are good examples. there's just so much value in dvd and the studios are doing a good job of pricing catalog titles.

the new sage francis record (actually non-prophets) finds him rapping more like eminem than anyone else i've heard before. he probably wouldn't like the comparison, and i don't really have anything to back it up, but what he's rapping about (and the style he's using) reminds me of eminem; and that's a good thing. i've only listened to the album twice, but i like it already. he rips a line from the beastie boys "i'm a writer, a poet, a genius - i know it. i don't buy cheeba..." he changes the end of that line, but it's still a nice homage to the original white rappers (sage francis happens to also be white).

i've been trying to pare down my top albums of the year to ten. i've only heard one or two really good records this year...there have been plenty of good albums, but nothing that's been fantastic.

wednesday i'm having lunch with my grandma since she's in sacramento right now.

sunday i'm going to santa cruz to see michael moore speak. might stop in berkeley for a couple hours along the way.

it seems like i have a lot of things going on these days. i have a bunch of books i want to read, a bunch of movies i want to watch, a bunch of music i want to listen to...i mean really listen to, i want to get a new job, and i want to get out of debt.

10-13-03 (02:05)

updated movies list.

had a good week in fantasy football. both my teams did well. i'm still undefeated in one of my leagues, but i have the third most points so i've been lucky so far.

glad i watched two movies tonight. the weekend didn't produce as many movies as i had hoped. by the end of the month i hope to have watched 240 movies.

10-12-03 (late)

turned on the boston/yankees game in the fourth inning. what a good game. i'm sorry that boston lost, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

updated movies list.

10-11-03 (03:14)

watched more of that spike jonze dvd tonight. it's loaded with great stuff. the beastie boys have 40 minutes worth of commentary on it, there's a documentary on fatlip of pharcyde, short films, interviews, etc. it's really good.

gotta sleep.

10-10-03 (01:31)

today was a good day overall. went to a job fair to get info on a teaching program. forgot the application at work so i might go in to get it tomorrow.

joe wasn't at work today so i didn't have to appear busy. he actually doesn't crack the whip very much, but when the boss is around and the cameras are pointed at me i feel compelled to work... so his not being there lightens my spirit a bit.

my forearm feels weird when i put pressure on it. when i was at work i leaned on a computer and a nerve in my forearm started freaking out. it was odd and not very pleasurable. so now i'm trying to give my left arm some rest. maybe it's a repetitive motion thing from work or maybe it's because i rest my left arm on my chair while my right arm is working the mouse. i'm not sure what it is.

convinced someone to buy the global communication album today. yesterday i got someone to buy a boards of canada record. it's always nice when you turn someone on to something new and good.

original star wars dvd petition.

got a bunch of dvds today. actually got the spike jonze dvd for free from the wea representative because i helped him find something he was looking for and he was grateful. that was nice of him. the dvd is loaded with good stuff. i'd recommend it to anyone who likes his work. it comes out sometime in the next couple weeks and i think it's going to be under twenty bucks. updated movies i own list.

running at 1152x864 nowadays.

gotta sleep.

10-9-03 (01:26)

saddest thing i've ever seen? (buy the same ring as kobe's wife)

heroes and villians list.

why did tom hanks get a lifetime achievement award before deniro?

10-8-03 (00:30)

common sense.

rationality does not guide the majority of people...this is the only explanation i have for the way things are in this world.

obviously i'm not pleased about the election.

one girl had an "i voted" sticker on so i asked who she voted for. she said "arnold!" rather excitedly. i asked "why?" she replied "i don't know."

i'm looking forward to the basketball season. i think that the kings lost some real talent in jackson, clark, pollard and turkoglu, but that'll give wallace, miller, and songaila some room to thrive. funderburke is out for six months which is too bad because we all of a sudden need the depth because we lost jim jackson, clark, pollard and turkoglu. webber's probably out until december. still, i'm hopeful for our season, but lately it seems that things haven't been going well in general so...

bought "a christmas story" special edition on dvd today. i'm excited about breaking into that one since it's one of my favorite films of all-time. speaking of which...i added a bunch of films to my best of movies list.

10-7-03 (01:29)

"California intends to sue the U.S. EPA over the Bush administration's recent decision that the agency doesn't have the authority to regulate emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, Gov. Gray Davis (D) announced on Friday. Nine other states, including Illinois, New York, and Washington, are expected to join the suit, which argues that the EPA should have the power to regulate carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases under the federal Clean Air Act. Last year, California passed the nation's first law aimed at reining in CO2 emissions from cars, and clean-air advocates worry that the administration's decision could undermine that law. "If the United States is ever going to regulate greenhouse gases, it will start with a victory in this lawsuit," said David Bookbinder of the Sierra Club, which is backing the suit."

24 hours from now we'll have a good idea of who are governor is going to be for the next few years.

"dear catastrophe waitress"...that's such an indie rock/pop album title.

i hope people vote.

two weeks in a row i lost in fantasy football by just a couple points, and both weeks i had a quarterback on the bench who would have made me win by more than 15 points. bad decisions i suppose. in my other league, though, i'm in first place and the only player who is undefeated...despite my number one pick being on the DL the entire season.

10-6-03 (00:32)

science is crazy, but neat.

updated movies list.

tonight i watched all the beastie boys videos, with band commentary, from their criterion anthology. it was nice to revisit their videos.

i hope everyone (in CA) is planning on voting this tuesday. it's pretty scary to think that one man (d. issa) can pay 1.5 million to throw a political system responsible for the fifth largest economy in the world into disarray. then an actor with (very) minimal political skill or experience can use his fortune and "charm" to become the frontrunner. he's given multiple campaign speeches and one debate. in both these instances he knew what to expect - speeches are rehearsed and planned beforehand and the one debate he participated in was the one with preplanned questions. it's just sad.

the recall is just bad. anyone who has taken a political science course knows that we have certain term lengths for a reason - namely stability. depending on the office the term could be 2, 4, or 6 years. having, and using, a loophole like this recall bullcrap undermines that system. we can't rely on the whims of the electorate. if half the people in ca (30 million) voted in the last election and half of them (15 million) voted for davis then he received 7.5 million votes. right now it's looking like arnold will get around 6.5 million votes; and what if he won with an even lower percentage? it doesn't seem like democracy to me.

i understand people want to have someone to blame, but that's just not the way the world works. if you're old enough to vote then presumably you've learned that lesson by now. the world is complicated - our economy is in the dumps for lots of reasons and davis is one of the least of them. the bubble burst, 9-11 happened and bush used it as an excuse to spend shit loads of money while lower taxes and of course deregulation really hurt us and that came about because of pete wilson's administration. i think that 47 out of 50 states are running deficits right now and they didn't have the energy crisis that we did. it's not about the car tax or even worker's compensation. it's more about bigger things - most of them were out of davis's hands. the recall is a complete overreaction to the bad times we're having right now and it seems that 54% of the people don't understand that. hopefully come tuesday they'll figure it out.

six more people are killed in the movie "bullets over broadway" than are killed in "pulp fiction."

10-5-03 (00:53)

updated movies list.

somehow i watched six movies today.

the chronological ending to pulp fiction would be bruce willis riding his new motorcycle into the horizon. don't think i noticed that before.

three day weekend was nice, back to work tomorrow morning.

10-4-03 (03:17)

updated movies list.

was fairly productive today.

yesterday we saw a show at the mondavi center. it was pretty good.

updated cd list. by year.

updated movies i own list.

10-2-03 (01:55)

"Fabric made from stinging nettles could be the next big thing in eco-friendly fashion. The process of growing nettles is much gentler on the Earth than growing cotton, which generally entails high use of water and pesticides. (Almost a quarter of the world's pesticides are sprayed on cotton plants.) In contrast, nettles don't need much water or protection from pests, and they provide habitat for many insect species and small birds. While hemp and flax are also eco-friendly replacements for cotton, they produce rough fabric, whereas nettles, strangely enough, can be made into soft and silky fabrics. One Italian fashion house has perfected a nettle fabric, designed a line of nettle-fabric clothes, and lined up willing retailers around the world. It's biggest problem: finding enough farmers to grow the nettles it needs."

updated movies list.

kids come into tower all the time asking if we price match. it bothers me that people allow price to be the only consideration when buying things. i hope people realize that voting with one's dollar is even more important (sadly) than what you do in the ballot box. you can support walmart because they have the lowest prices or you can support the locally owned record store. just think about it please.

10-01-03 (01:09)

it's more than a little disturbing that the polls show that a) people support the recall and b) that arnold is leading in the polls.