Sweet!

I write this from my newly minted shiny dell desktop with a 20" widescreen LCD and more power than i expect to actually need to at least 6 months.

It's pretty, DVD's (in this inaugural case it's Kitchen Confidential from Netflix - a criminally short-lived sitcom from a couple years ago starring Bradley Cooper (Jen Garner's doomed boyfriend from Alias), a grown-up John Daly (star of Freaks and Geeks), Nicholas Brendon (in the only thing I've seen him in post-Buffy), and some lovely ladies who's only other credit of note appears to be OC season 1. I've never seen them in anything else, but that's the only thing listed on Netflix that I suspect anyone else might have seen.) look almost hi-def, and stuff opens almost as fast as i can click. So far only web-surfing, but I'll have to start checking out games that can make proper use of the processor/ram/video card tasty goodness.

Out.

Busy month of May

I learned over the weekend that the former Lemoyne Borough Building has finally been leased and is now being used as a church. Given my feelings on churches in general, this prompted an immediate "not in my backyard" reaction, but then I realized I don't really have a say in the matter and, so far, they've been good neighbors.

Also had a long movie-watching weekend - Pirates 3 (liked it), Pan's Labyrinth (really liked it), RV (not as awful as I expected), Christmas with the Kranks (c'mon - i was bored and it was nice), Epic Movie (complete nothing - i think i laughed twice, and both scenes were in the trailer), The Machinist (you're forgiven for never hearing of this - it's a weird whodunit-spiral-into-madness story that almost killed christian bale in the making), The Fountain (good stuff), and Jesus: The Great Debate. This last one irritated me, and i was irritated at my own irritation, because I should have known. I should have known. The description was vague enough to suggest a certain level of intellectual honesty about the 'debate.' It wasn't until i actually had the disc and realized that it was hosted by a biblical scholar did I realize that objectivity was, in fact, going to be lacking. The whole point of movie was educating Christians who run into people like me on how to present us with scientific proof of the bible's accuracy. This makes me glad I watched it, because now i know what to expect. Netflix recommended it as a follow up to another, much more skeptical documentary i got recently. The problem is, now I can't remember what it was or find it in my rental history.

The Wrong Company

Well I fell into prison about a quarter till three
Where I found in my cell a glass waiting for me
So I filled what was empty and I pulled up a stool
But he stood in the corner, the old devil wouldn't move
He said, "You drink when you're lonely." No I drink when I want!
He said, "You'll never be sober." Sure. Why would I want that?
I only drink to be merry but unfortunately
I'm in the wrong prison cell and the wrong company

- Flogging Molly, Within a Mile of Home

On nostalgia...

Wow... two posts in two days... although after 100 days straight with 3, i doubt anyone's still reading.

Anyway, this is a quickie. I just wanted to put it out there that, while I didn't make many friends in high school or college, the ones i did meet - and i could use both hands to count the total for each - i consider friends for life.

The sad bit is that i don't really talk to many of them. Mostly my fault - they don't call me either, but i can't blame them because I'm not picking up the phone myself. Regardless, I'm always excited to have plans to see someone. Such is this weekend. Unfortunately, of the "less than 20" people referenced in Paragraph #2 above, this weekend is not one of the girls. So the search for my lady-life-partner continues.

Ehh... there's always Joy "crab-man/Jaime Pressley" Hickey to keep me warm on those long cold nights. Or someone who isn't blonde. Not that i'm opposed to blondes, i just find that I enjoy the contrast of white skin and non-white hair in a visual, aesthetic way. And suddenly i'm painting myself some sort of racist preference here, and that is totally not me, although i think white-liberal guilt is the only reason i even notice it. i'm going to stop now, since i know my white liberal guilt has already gotten me into trouble. Earlier today, i started to expound on the horrors of Darfur. I'm still ashamed by the number of people who don't understand what you mean when you simply say "just look at darfur." It is an embarrassment, and i feel compelled to fight it on a personal level.

out.

Film is dead! Long live film! and so on...

Ahhh... it's that time of year again -- summer movie season. In case anyone isn't paying attention, there are several distinct seasons of movies throughout the year. Of course there are always exceptions, but in general from the start of May through mid-August is the summer season. This is when you see the big action movies that kids who are out of school for the summer can spend time going to over and over. September is where bad movies go to die -- never get excited about anything coming out in September. Never. Go see something if you want, but if you don't get your hopes up you just might be pleasantly suprised (see exceptions comment above). October-December are when the "big" oscar movies come out, the ones that are expected to be profitable in their own right, along with courting a little gold statue.
January-February is awards season - this is when the smaller oscar-bait movies start seeing a wider release (see, to be eligible for an Oscar a movie has to premier in New York City and L.A. by December 31, so a lot of smaller films will play one theater for 1 day in each city, and ride the coattails of (hopefully) positive buzz from all the critics who saw their movie to a wider release. This is also a play to keep their movies fresher in the minds of voters when those little ballots come out.)
March/April is another pseudo-wasteland. About the best you can hope for here is a good sundance festival movie to pop up (a la Black Snake Moan).

In the meantime, you can busy yourself with May sweeps on tv (heroes, lost) and netflix gems like Alpha Dog. I'm not saying Justin Timberlake is the greatest actor since, I dunno, some really incredible actor, but I will say that the guy doesn't suck. Dick in a Box, and his SNL appearances in general, are funny funny stuff, and he's made good choices and turned in non-self-embarrassing performances in two smallish movies in a reasonable attempt to build some acting credibility and not try to pull a Glitter-like explosion into film. He's doing good, and people need to give him a chance.

Oh, yeah, and Spiderman 3 didn't suck. Long live Bruce Campbell!

grrrr

20-some days... I actually started a post earlier this week, but then my internet died and i ended up losing it(my fault - not google's), and here we are.

Very big accomplishments (for me) here lately - a kid who lives near my parents managed to smash one of my tail-lights riding his bike. It all worked out, though - the kids' parents were the ones who told me it was broken, and they paid for the replacement, and then I took the little adventure of actually replacing the part. In retrospect, it was about as easy as you could hope replacing a tail light would be, but i'm still extra-proud of myself because I've never done anything even slightly mechanical on my car before.

(I would have said "uber-excited" in that last paragraph but don't know how to make the two little dots over the U. any help?)

I also had some help from the best-neighbor-ever with my car stereo, and now i have an AUX 3.5mm input and can listen to the ZUNE in my car! I'm finally listening to some of the stuff that I zuned but never got around to. Modest Mouse, Galactica, Panic! At the Disco, gnarls barkely, fat boy slim, fall out boy, bare naked ladies' "Sing Everywhere for Everyone" album series.

I would like to propose a marketing strategy to Microsoft free of charge. Now i know, aftermarket stuff is a way to increase revenue on the Zune. However, microsoft needs something big to kick start this puppy. I would propose that i'm not alone in that most of the music i listen to is in the car. The parts for my little zune install project cost me $50 - there was a $30 proprietary plug for my pioneer, and an overpriced $20 best buy RCA-3.5mm cable. I bet Microsoft could get those much cheaper. Why not include them with the Zune? Not actually in it, because not everyone has a pioneer stereo, but a certificate you can take back to car stereo and cash in, and maybe a discount on installation there in store if, like me, you previously had no idea how to get the stereo out of your car.