Sep03

9-30-03 (02:14)

i have thursday off because i'm going to a show at the mondavi center. that'll be nice.

9-26-03 (13:19)

"Consistent with its habit of pushing the environmental envelope, California has adopted the nation's most comprehensive law governing the manufacture and disposal of electronics. The law has three main purposes: to speed the recycling of discarded computers and televisions (some 6 million of which await disposal across the state); to ensure that future tech trash will be less toxic by forcing manufacturers to stop using lead, mercury, and other harmful materials; and to establish safety standards for dismantling computers in foreign countries. To fund the law, new high-tech products will be subject to a $6 to $10 fee; if manufacturers won't absorb the charge, consumers will. Twenty-nine other states have introduced e-waste bills, but none are as far-reaching as the one signed yesterday by Gov. Gray Davis."

why is it that you're IN a movie, but ON tv? heard a bunch of funny and quizzical questions like that on radio parallax yesterday.

as good as the chemical brothers are it's a shame they released such a poor singles collection. the beastie boys' "best of" is definitely one of the best out there. it's got great liner notes, a good cross-section of their roots, their hits and their rarities. the chemical brothers best of chooses a few of their hits and includes a few tracks that are just mediocre. too bad.

it's sad how quickly the media pick up a new band, laud them as the new beatles and then, a year later, dump on them at every opportunity. i personally never thought that the strokes or the white stripes were fantastic - both are pretty good for a turn or two - but now it seems that everyone (including those who once held them on a pedestal) is tired of them.

i hear there is a die hard 4 that's in pre-production. oh well.

i don't have very much music from the 80s, but i have a lot (in relative terms) of movies from the 80s.

1999 was a good year in film.

the new atmosphere is good, but it doesn't have any really great tracks...their last album had two or three of those.

9-26-03 (03:13)

today was relatively good.

updated movies list.

listening to the new atmosphere album right now. bought it today.

updated cd list. by year.

my left year is driving me crazy. i'm thinking of cutting it off.

9-25-03 (01:07)

tomorrow is my friday. this week has gone quickly on the whole, but each day has been slow.

watched the debates tonight. i still like camejo. huffington was entertaining and a good voice to have...she did a lot of the dirty work - like connecting the bush administration's policies with some of california's problems or pointing out the inconsistencies of arnold. camejo and mcclintock did a good job of staying on point and in control. neither seemed arrogant, argumentative or ignorant. i don't really care for mcclintock, but he's not an idiot and he's not an asshole. if i were a republican then he'd be a more logical choice than arnold.

going to visit the wild sanders boys friday.

finished melanies desk. it's pretty nice, but i definitely would have liked to do more.

another nice link.

fantasy baseball is getting interesting.

i think it's a good thing that kdvs is run mostly by music nazis. even though it's obnoxious i think that, in the long run, it's that kind of culture which will allow indie music to stay alive.

9-24-03 (02:20)

i don't really like fleetwood mac, but this is pretty cool "Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks has lambasted pop superstar Madonna for kissing Britney Spears at the MTV VMA Awards - deeming she is too old to kiss youngsters. The singer was disgusted when she saw the 45-year old Hollywood hitmaker smooching with the 21-year old in the headline grabbing incident. She says, "Madonna is too old to be kissing someone who is 22 (sic)." And the veteran singer also slammed Spears and fellow Madonna-kisser Christina Aguilera for their raunchy images. When asked what advice she would give the pair, she says, "Wear more clothes and try writing some decent songs.""

updated movies list.

9-23-03 (02:14)

raiders lost today.

updated movies list. glad that i watched a movie tonight. it's generally tough to do so after working a closing shift, but if i want to see 300 then i'll have to average a movie a day until the end of the year.

i spend more time looking at johnny's fantasy baseball team than i do looking at mine.

going to berkeley this weekend. should be fun.

i go to sleep pretty late these days.

"California Gov. Gray Davis (D) seems to be experiencing a green awakening as he campaigns aggressively against a recall. He is expected to sign a number of environmental bills in the coming days, despite opposition from major business interests in the state. One controversial, groundbreaking bill would add a recycling fee onto the price of new computers and televisions sold in the state. Davis has also signaled support for bills that would prevent oil spills, crack down on air pollution from agriculture, force old refineries and power plants to upgrade pollution-control equipment, and more. Today Davis and the governors of Oregon and Washington state are scheduled to announce a new partnership to fight global warming. Davis seems more willing to take political risks on environmental initiatives now that he's anxious to sew up the green vote. "The dynamics of the recall help us," said Mark Murray of the environmental group Californians Against Waste."

"Turns out the sun isn't the only celestial body that can provide eco-friendly power; the moon is now getting into the game. This weekend, a number of homes in the far north of Norway started getting energy from a sub-sea power station driven by the rise and fall of the tides, which are determined by the gravitational pull of the moon. The power system, which looks like an underwater windmill, will generate enough electricity for about 30 households. "This is the first time in the world that electricity from a tidal current has been fed into a power grid," said Harald Johansen of Hammerfest Stroem, the company leading the project. Other sub-sea energy experiments are underway around the world but have not yet gotten to the stage of feeding power into the electricity grid. If the Norwegian project is a success, it could pave the way for much wider use of tidal power."

"The Bush White House seems to have teamed up with a conservative think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, to undermine the credibility of government scientists doing research on climate change. Myron Ebell, a director of CEI, which has received more than $1 million in funding from ExxonMobil since 1998, last summer sent an email to an official at the president's Council on Environmental Quality that indicates the White House sought his group's assistance in playing down an EPA report that said humans are contributing to the warming of the planet. "Thanks for calling and asking for our help," Ebell wrote, then went on to suggest ways to cast doubt on the report. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is crying foul: "This email indicates a secret initiative by the administration to invite and orchestrate a lawsuit against itself seeking to discredit an official U.S. government report on global warming dangers." Other recently uncovered internal government documents point to further White House efforts to suppress research into climate change."

updated cd list. by year.

updated movies i own list.

big cd release day tomorrow...dave matthews, outkast, nickelback, limpbizkit, r. kelly, and more. outkast are pretty decent, but the rest are a virtual hit list for anyone who enjoys quality music. i'm not sure why r. kelly is allowed to still release records (even though this one is a greatest hits album)...the guy pissed on a 14 year old girl and had sex with her. why hasn't someone killed him yet?

the gubernatorial debates are supposed to be on the 24th (i think) so check em out. arnold should show up this time.

9-22-03 (00:29)

updated movies list. there's a small chance that i can actually watch 300 movies this year. that would be nice.

internet is down right now and that's a drag.

9-21-03 (19:34)

finally got around to hearing sacd technology on my own system...even though i don't have an sacd player it does make an appreciable difference. haven't listened to it using the surround sound option, but i'm sure that's nice as well.

9-21-03 (02:06)

can't sleep. have work tomorrow early.

i've cracked the code. not more thought, but less. this whole time i thought that thinking things through was good - it's not. choose a course quickly and act upon it without any further thought on the matter. thought is slow and defeats action.

9-21-03 (00:55)

i didn't think about this until recently, but i find it interesting that the jim carrey movie "the truman show" chose truman as the protagonist's name. his whole life was a farce made for tv so in a sense he wasn't really a true-man. i guess it's lame that it took me five years to pick that up.

nice site. in related news bush is going to ask the un for help. he'll probably get it in some form, and it was probably planned this way from the beginning, but it's not going to be the same degree of help his daddy got in the first gulf war.

they have some really great links on that site as well.

more cost figures.

civilian deaths in iraq...more than twice that of 9/11, but it's for a good cause.

updated movies list.

9-19-03 (01:30)

picked up a used copy of autechre's Anti EP. it's a tri repetae++ era three song ep that's relatively hard to find and some lady brought it in with a bunch of other stuff she was selling. a nice score.

downloaded a bunch of old radio parallax shows. it's a public affairs program on kdvs that offers political, social, and technological news/satire/commentary. it's good stuff all-around. on today's show he even mentioned an e-mail i sent to him last week asking him to tally up what one might be able to buy with 160 billion dollars (the latest cost of our war in iraq).

i'm going to watch movies and finish the desk tomorrow. i've already sanded it using 80, 120, 150 and 220 grit silicon carbide sandpaper. wiped it clean and will apply an oil-based wipe-on poly finish tomorrow. hope it turns out well. bought a book on finishing and it's got some good stuff. i never knew the difference between silicon carbide, garnet, aluminum oxide and ceramic sandpapers...now i do. in fact i didn't know that the different color sandpaper had any bearing on the job it did, but i was wrong.

updated cd list. by year. the majority of my cds were released post-1990. it's a shame i don't have a better balance of old to new. granted i've gotten a couple hundred free cds since working at tower and about 95% of those were released after 1990, but i still wish i had a better balance.

updated movies i own list.

9-18-03 (01:43)

riefenstahl died the other day. oh well.

9-17-03 (02:48)

updated movies list.

duh and it's about time.

another duh.

9-15-03 (00:21)

had a good talk with the wild sanders brothers today. wish we got together more often.

lost in fantasy baseball. it was all because of one pitcher too. he had his worst game of the year and that lost the contest for me. very sad indeed.

listening to nas' illmatic right now.

heard the raider game on the radio. sounded exciting. heard about the niner game later. that was sad.

there was some ruckus outside a little bit ago. i guess some cops were chasing after a couple people on bikes. i don't think they caught em.

9-14-03 (02:50)

can't sleep again. don't know what my problem is.

updated movies list.

by this time tomorrow i'll know whether i made it to the final round of the fantasy baseball league.

saw the last 10 minutes (plus 3OT) of the ohio state game. the last two college football games i've seen at any length have been ohio state games...the national championship and this one. both times they had a combination of luck and luck to win. nc state really should have won the game today and miami could have won that game last year. at any rate i don't give a shit about any of the aforementioned teams so i was just happy to see a good game.

usc killed and notre dame got killed. two separate games, but i care about those teams more than any other in the nation. i like ucla for basketball, but not so much for football. probably because i went to so many sc football games as a kid.

9-13-03 (05:28)

haven't had a strong desire to sleep yet. my sleeping has been odd lately. i don't recall the last time i woke up on my own. usually there is some outside force that wakes me up...alarm clock, neighbors sanding their table, kids outside, birds, lawn mowers, phone, etc.

autechre's tri repetae is such a good album

updated movies list.

johnny cash's "hurt" video is pretty good and sad.

he's the only person to be inductd into the country music hall of fame, the rock and roll hall of fame, and the songwriter's hall of fame. he's the country artist that breaks the molds for a lot of people. ask many music lovers and they'll say they like all kinds of music except country, but then they'll add that johnny cash is the lone exception to that. i don't know any other country artist sampled by both the beastie boys and de la soul, or revered by both u2 and garth brooks. enough said about that.

9-12-03 (23:17)

the number one crop in california is marijuana. not sure if that's by weight or value, but either way it's an impressive fact.

i wonder why we're not closer to france. they bailed us out in the revolution, detocqueville wrote one of the most important books about us, they gave us the statue of liberty, washington dc was patterned after paris and the only film we have of the first plane hitting the tower was shot by a frenchman.

a lot of people died this week. warren zevon, john ritter, johnny cash and my great uncle.

looking forward to matchstick men.

9-12-03 (01:25)

updated movies list.

there was a good episode of radio parallax on today.

i've been spending too much money lately.

if anyone out there actually listens to merzbow please let me know why.

9-11-03 (00:53)

"Matt LeBlanc is reportedly causing hostility on the set of the final season of hit comedy Friends amongst his co-stars by focusing more on his spin-off show. The actor - who will be reprising his character Joey Tribbiani in a new series - is reportedly boasting about his continued coverage on television, something which has left co-star David Schwimmer fuming, according to Britain's OK! magazine. A show insider says, "He says things like, 'When I'm the only one on TV next season, we're going to do things a little differently.' Most people just turn away and roll their eyes." Sources claim Schwimmer - who plays whining Ross Gellar - is angry he hasn't been offered a spin-off series of his own, something which is causing friction in his off-screen friendship with LeBlanc. The insider adds, "Matt has tried to make him feel better by offering him guest spots on the show.""

"Actress Cameron Diaz has spoken out about the acne hell that plagues her life - and forces her to become phobic about germs. The 31-year-old Charlie Angel's is well-known for her problem skin, which flares up at times of stress and even caused her to miss the London premiere of her film Gangs Of New York earlier this year for fear of being photographed looking less than perfect. She admits, "Of course I know I am an attractive girl, and I'm pleased about that. But even I have a flaw. My skin is so over-sensitive I get inflamed spots at the smallest thing. If it's possible I even touch door handles with tissues. On days like that I just stay away from the mirror." But Cameron has other qualities that make up for her troubles - she has no need to exercise to keep her famous figure in shape. She laughs, "I wear high heels - that's my only fitness training and it gives nice legs. Sometimes I want to start playing tennis or going swimming but I'm too lazy for that. I like my bed.""

moby is going to be a guest on the new britney spears album. fuck moby.

i like to offer important news items like those above once in a while to balance out the usual crap about politics and the environment.

updated movies list.

listening to some youssou n'dour right now. he was supposed to come to the mondavi center this year, but pulled out because he doesn't want to support anything american while we're at war. one more reason we shouldn't be at war...

had a pretty good week with my fantasy sports teams.

tomorrow (today) is my friday.

well today (technically) is the two year anniversary of 9-11. chomsky properly points out that 9-11 wasn't that big of deal when you think about acts of terrorism world wide over the course of history, but it was a big deal in that it was the biggest ever brought against a nation of our relative power. i think the biggest tragedy about 9-11 wasn't the 2-3 thousand who died that day, rather it's the fact that we (read: the bush administration) used it as an excuse to kill thousands overseas in afghanistan and iraq. we had the entire civilized world on our side for a while, but not anymore.

turn.

9-10-03 (01:02)

greg palast was on kdvs last week talking about stuff in general. i look forward to reading his book, which i acquired while sarah was in town, called 'the best democracy money can buy.' he pointed out that we don't have very many reporters any more, rather we seem to have far more repeaters. in recent years it seems that the government has gotten really good at controlling what the media reports. in both middle east wars the media basically has just repeated whatever press releases the pentagon has issued. he also talked about ken lay getting to pick the head of firc and likened that to the mob being able to pick the chief of police. by the way, to this date no federal charges have been brought against ken lay (head of enron).

the country is getting more and more scary lately. i don't know why people are so apathetic. polls show that the majority (69%) of americans still think saddam was linked to the 9-11 attacks; people, on the whole, don't care that bush used false evidence when making the case for war; people are "over" that whole bush stealing votes in florida thing; people don't really care that we're seen as international bullies; people don't know about/don't care about what's been happening in texas the last few weeks; people don't care that we've terrorized others for the last 50 years...etc. now i'm the first one to point out that all regimes are soaked in blood, but to deny the past or not care about the present is just pigheaded.

ueberroth dropped out.

updated movies list.

9-9-03 (00:54)

"A measure in a big Republican-backed energy bill would exempt from federal regulation a natural-gas-drilling procedure refined by Halliburton Co., the oil and gas services company previously headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. The process, called hydraulic fracturing, is used widely in Western states and involves the injection of diesel fuel, hydrochloric acid, or other substances into the ground to help increase natural gas production. Enviros argue that hydraulic fracturing has contaminated drinking water in Alabama and could put water in other areas at risk. The massive energy bill, being written and pushed through Congress by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), is expected to contain plenty of other provisions that will make environmentalists cringe."

apparently congress doesn't mind too much that bush is asking for 50% more than he originally planned for in the war on iraq and afghanistan. that's a shame, but also sadly predictable.

9-8-03 (02:00)

updated movies list.

9-7-03 (01:28)

have to wake up early tomorrow for work.

hopefully i can watch a movie and clamp up melanie's desk. after that all i'll have to do is finish it....finish in the carpentry sense, not complete...although they are the same.

updated movies list.

9-5-03 (01:54)

had a pretty telling experience the today...i was talking with the new assistant manager about music reviewers. he said he hated pitchfork.com and allmusic.com and went on to list a few reviewers he did like. it happens that allmusic.com and pitchfork.com are the primary places i go for music information/reviews and i like em plenty. then today i was in armadillo music browsing their used section when i heard paul (the manager) talking to a customer about how he felt that allmusic.com was the best site of all-time...it's got reviews, information about related artists, essays and, in general, is just loaded with good information. after i was done browsing i went to the counter to get a used cd and the other guy who was working there gave me 50% off just because i come in sometimes and chat with them. what a nice group of people and what a contrast it is when i go across the street to visit the competition.

that being said, i had a decent time at work today.

9-4-03 (00:10)

watching a candidate forum on tv right now. it features bustamante, huffington, camejo, mcclintock, and ueberroth. the latter two are retarded, especially ueberroth...that guy has some sort of serious mental defect. i agreed with everything camejo had to say. huffington seemed pretty well prepared and placed her anger in the proper places. she was also entertaining. bustamante was moderate, but he's still a backstabber.

camejo talked a lot about taxing the right people in the right way (tax the rich and corporations more), renewable energy, and equal rights (for gays and immigrants).

i don't know why this debate was on so late and i don't know why schwarzenegger decided not to show up (actually yes i do), but i hope that people got to watch it because it was informative. before the debate davis was on tv answering questions at a town hall meeting.

deadline to register to vote in september 20th, or thereabouts. so register soon.

while was updating this page i made the mistake of leaving the tv on. i just watched 15 seconds of "suddenly susan" and now i'm in full depression mode.

this is absolutely amazing...""UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, World's Largest Music Company, DRAMATICALLY REDUCES CD PRICES." That's right-- one of the five major label groups announced a plan yesterday to lower the list price of most top-line CD's to a jaw-dropping $12.98, effective as early as October 1st. Wholesale prices will be decreased as much as 30 percent, effectively reducing the end price of many discs to between $10 and $12 at many retail outlets."

it's about time. of course sony had already implemented a pricing plan that sort of half did the same thing. they have a lot more "discovery price" artists...usually 9.99 to 12.99. they have an extensive "midline" catalog (8.99 to 12.99) and more recently have been offering new release titles at 9.99 to 12.99 for the first week or two and then raising the price to the industry standard frontline price of 18.99. i think that sony has been at the front of these kinds of moves and other distributors have followed suit, though usually only with regards to breaking artists in at the lower price point (john mayer, interpol, pete yorn, etc. all were broken in at lower price points). in the long run this policy change is going to be only good for the music industry...people will likely start making record store trips more of a part of their routine if they know they can find what they like for under ten bucks.

everytime i see that vince carter dunk where he flew over the 7'2" french guy and dunked on him...it just amazes me. who would even think to jump OVER a guy to make a shot. pull up and take the jump shot or go around him...that's what most people would think to do, but vince carter just flew right over the guy. it still amazes me.

9-3-03 (12:55)

not much going on these days.

going to see michael moore speak at santa cruz in october.

i've been getting bit pretty badly by mosquitos or something lately. it's not pleasant.

updated movies list.