I admit that I get a little freaked when people do a google search on me (as indicated in my stats referrer)...it's like, WTF??? What do you want with me? Leave me in peace!

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My boss just gave me this book....all is good.

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Three-day weekend ahead with absolutely no plans other than dinner w/ friends tonight and a trip to the True Love. Oh, maybe a movie, maybe breakfast with a friend...maybe a drive somewhere, maybe a walk...basketball probably. Reading definitely, episodes of Freaks & Geeks most likely. A little cleaning in all likelihood....an errand or two...but, really, nothing defined, nothing set in stone, nothing demanded...and damn if that doesn't feel great right now.

Ha, I'm a bleeding heart liberal and I still think that this Google search is funny.

Wonderful. According to an anonymous Pentagon source and as reported by Yahoo, Donald Rumsfeld has banned camera phones in Iraq:

Quoting a Pentagon source, The Business newspaper said the US Defense Department believes that some of the damning photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were taken with camera phones.

"Digital cameras, camcorders and cellphones with cameras have been prohibited in military compounds in Iraq," it said, adding that a "total ban throughout the US military" is in the works.

So great then, super! Problem solved! Thanks everyone, now run along and mind your own business. (Via Catchdubs).

I'm here, I've just been in a mood lately...and thus, a bit anti-social, a bit anti-everything. Sorry Cory for being such a case these days. I know it's getting to be a drag.

As such, there are some days, some nights when I want to say to all those people who barely know me but, you know, really think they get me - screw you and think again.

Blah....The weekend was OK. It started early on Thursday night with the Hangmen/Smugglers/Knockoffs/Black Dahlias show at Old I. That was entertaining although I started to fade during the Hangmen's set. Friday night was Sleater-Kinney & Quasi at Empire. Definitely the strangest S-K set I've ever seen. For one, the venue just seemed like an odd place to see them play - maybe that's because I swear to god, at least half the crowd didn't seem to either know or care about the band - something I don't get at all. You pay how much to go see a band you couldn't care less about? Seriously, these weren't people checking out something new, these were people who seemed like they were just checking out the club at $15 a pop.

Then there's the fact that the show started really early - 7 p.m. (which felt odd on a Friday night) and when it ended, promptly at 10 p.m., we were unceremoniously booted from the club so that they could clear the place for the evening's scheduled dance event. It was: encore, lights up, get out and don't let the door hitcha on the way out. Boo on that.

Now, factor in that S-K was super-jammy and they didn't talk very much (barely at all), and well...yeah, a strange night. We capped it off w/ a post-show diner at Ink w/ Laura and Marcus so that was nice though and even though the night left me a little off-kilter I still couldn't resist buying a new band t-shirt (it's been at least three years since I bought my last one). Consumerism = makes everything better.

Saturday night we had two parties to go to, one was a going-away get-together for Mark and that one was really nice because we saw people we hadn't talked to in ages and it was relaxed and outside and we drank lemon tequila shots as the sun set and generally you just can't argue with hanging out with friends on a cool pre-summer evening while you imbibe tasty alcoholic beverages. The second party was at a loft off of Broadway and that was pretty good for a while. The almighty DJ Larry Rodriguez was spinning, the band Sacramento played, there was good food and more beverages...but then I got all square and wanted to go home at 1:30 just when things were revving up for the night. In fact, Cory took me home and then came back to pick up some friends to whom he'd promised a ride home and he said the place was even more packed at 3 a.m. So yeah, boo on me. Squaresville. Dullsville. Whatever.

Much of Sunday was just spent feeling lazy and more than a tiny bit cranky. There was basketball, there was reading, there was Sopranos (Adriana!), there was the general avoiding of anyone who was not a member of my immediate household.

Hopefully the mood will not persevere...there's a three-day weekend on the horizon....I'd rather enjoy it than spend it hiding out.

Damn. See ya in October.

God, I suck...I completely forgot that the Mirah/Tara Jane O'Neil show was tonight...but tonight is also Game 7 of the Kings-Timberwolves match-up and there's no way in hell that I'm going to miss that even if it does turn out to be a painful mess.

Yes, I'm going to be a slave to my TV, to the King's, to my inner sports enthusiast (a total nut I never knew existed until a few years ago).

Speaking of TV...I loved this week's Soprano's episode. I know some people probably hated it but I thought it was so well-done, fucking genius really - especially the Annette Bening part.

If you've yet to see it and don't care about spoilers then here is how Television Without Pity summed it up:

David Chase separates the men from the boys this week with a twenty-minute "test" dream sequence that probably only makes sense if you've watched every episode ten times or written a fifteen-page recap about each of them. It also helps if you've seen or read every movie, book, or TV show ever made, since the dream references The Godfather, 2001, Bugsy, Chinatown, High Noon, The Valachi Papers, Taxi Driver, American Beauty, The Honeymooners, A Christmas Story, and Frankenstein, along with non-cinematic nods to Lee Harvey Oswald, Pie-Oh-My, Toblerone, castration, the Newark riots, horses as whores, the fact that Tony never had the makings of a varsity athlete, Joey Pants, Mickey Palmice, Big Pussy, Gigi Cestone, Richie Aprile, Gloria Trillo, Vin Makazian, Annette Bening, and, amusingly enough, Artie Bucco as a dead guy who encourages Tony to fuck Artie's wife.

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Last night we went to see Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself and while the movie is certainly flawed in some respects, it is still a little gem of a movie and definitely worth checking out because even at its most sentimental it was one million less times sentimental than the Hollywood version of this film would ever be. Cory & I figured that in the Tinseltown rendition of this film that Tom Hanks would play the older brother and really, I think that tells you everything. Maybe Adam Sandler would play the title character? And that's not a slight to Mr. Sandler because I thought he was freaking amazing in Punch Drunk Love, but I'm just sayin'....Hollywood likes its bankable laughs...

In any case, if you get a chance, check it out(I believe it's already out on DVD and video).Once you get through the first ten minutes of adjusting to the thick Scottish brogues, it's really witty and nearly pitch-perfect in its dialogue and story development.

For better or for worse we had the theater to ourselves last night so it was like a private screening and we could talk in normal voices throughout the movie as if we were just checking it out at home with our cups of coffee and tea. A nice evening all in all.

Alright....go Kings...please.

Ohhh....Tony Randall is now gone...

Oh and the thing is my weekend was completely shot to utter hell thanks to allergies. I feel windswept and smothered, unable to breathe. Unable to be. Truth is, I feel depressed and more than a little helpless as I think of lists of things that need to be un-listed and simply figured out or, better yet, done.

But still, I did accomplish a few things and the Kings won a game and the days are getting longer and the light, post-afternoon, early evening, is the pretty sort that makes you want to take long drives and eat ice-cream from sugar cones.

And the thought of such does make me feel a little better.

Someone told me about this fella on Friday night and then today I got an e-mail from another friend extolling the virtues of the Subservient Chicken....Check him out, he really is a good listener.

Unless there's a last-second stop, same sex marriages will start tomorrow in Massachussetts. In the meantime, it looks like the issue has been tabled in California - at least for the short term.

An SF Gate article reports that while the California Assembly may still vote this year on a bill to legalize gay marriages, the issue has, for now, been placed on hold while the Appropriations Committee reviews it for fiscal impact:

The deadline for bills to come off the committee's "suspense" file is May 21. Before then, committee chair Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park (Los Angeles County), agreed to look at a study presented at the hearing Wednesday morning, which found that allowing same-sex couples to marry would inject more than $20 million annually into the state economy.

Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who introduced the legislation, said while he would continue to push for passage of the bill, he didn't want to take it to the floor until he was confident of success. He does not yet have the 41 votes needed.

While same sex foes claim that gay marriage will drain money from the state income tax coffers, advocates counter that it will actually save California millions of dollars "because fewer individuals would be eligible for state benefit programs, such as Medi-Cal and CalWORKS. "

And so basically this is what it may all be decided by? How much it may or may not finanically benefit the state?

Perhaps that's oversimplifying the question, the situation as a whole.

Then again, maybe not.

Because I've gotten something like a half million Google hits today for "Chris Webber + Brad Pitt + Troy" - but none of my entries actually pointed to what you were looking for I thought I'd go ahead and print the quote you're seeking.

It's from an Entertainment Weekly article wherein Pitt talks about how he studied the Sacramento Kings forward for his role as Achilles in "Troy".

"There’s a real sweetness behind his eyes, but he’s pissed off."

So there you go, don't say I never did anything nice for you.

But please, enough with the Meg White + Boobs hits already....Sheesh

See, the good thing about being sick with the stomach flu is that you can eat whatever you want because none of it counts in the end.*

The bad thing about being sick with the stomach flu, of course, is that you're sick and you have godawful stomach cramps and a fever and nothing tastes good anyway. Feh.

I am hoping the worst has passed because this is what it came down to: me on the couch watching the Mary-Kate & Ashley Story on E! and sipping lukewarm water while Cory enjoyed the Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven show with Bobby and company.

Really, I've just got too much weekend-ing** too do to be sick any longer.

*Sorry, an attempt at bad flu humor.

** That's right, I turned "weekend" into a verb. So?

Your three second Troy review: Long, bloody and Brad Pitt gets nude.
So, if that's your kind of thing and you've got 168 minutes to spare, go for it. Me? I almost fell asleep during the film but all those damn fight scenes kept me on the alert.

God...could last night's King's game been any more of a disappointment? The final few minutes of overtime nearly did me in. Unless they pull it together and muster up a win tomorrow night then they are probably done for the season. Really, until the final three minutes of last night's fourth quarter when Peja and Mike Bibby and Doug Christie started to spark, they don't even look like they want to go any further.

And Chris Webber? Don't get me started.

Salon's King Kaufman gets it though: (requires registration)

Webber is talking about the Kings' collapse in Game 2 in Minnesota Saturday, when they gave up an 11-point lead in the last four minutes by completely abandoning their offense in favor of hoisting up ill-advised long jumpers.

"We're too old, we're too much of a veteran team right now to be making those mistakes," he says. "Late in the game we've got to get the ball in my hands, we've got to get it in the post, late in the game, that's just the way that it is."

Has Chris Webber ever watched himself or his team play?

The Kings are at their absolute worst when they're trying to get the ball in Webber's hands in the post. That was true when Webber was healthy, and it's especially true now that he's lost so much quickness and power to knee surgery

In any case, what a dissatisfying end to a season that started out with such promise. At least when they got blown out of the semi-finals last year I felt as if they still wanted it, that they were still trying....

Oh well...anyway...MediaBistro has an interview with my honey Anderson Cooper so things are getting at least a little better in my little corner of the world today.

Go see Mean Girls. Now.

No, I mean seriously.

Last night Kim & Julie and I caught the 9:15 showing at Century. I think there was one other small group in the entire theater which was cool because it was like having a private screening and since everyone else in the wolrd was probably at home watching Friends, I wasn't too concerned about the film's box office status - after all it was the number one movie last weekend and it's numbers were still really strong as of Wednesday.

But whatever the numbers, the film really rocked. Based on Rosalind Wiseman's non-fiction social study "Queen Bees and Wannabes," the script was written by SNL's Tina Fey and the end result is Heathers meets Clueless with dashes of But I'm a Cheerleader and Josie & the Pussycats. (Side note: I know the critics savagely clawed "Josie & the Pussycats" but I thought it was a fun, subversive take on modern teen girls).

Other than one or two scenes that didn't quite work I thought that the "Mean Girls" script was defiant and smart and the performances great. Tina Fey is wonderful as the nerdy, divorced math teacher and the pacing is quick and snappy. Factor in the film's high-gloss candy-colored visual scheme and it's a definite winner. Salon has a pretty spot-on review.

As we left the theater Kim and I agreed that we saw ourselves reflected in the film - both on the side of the "nice" girls and the "mean" girls. Most definitely. High school insecurities can make one behave in the strangest, not always most flattering ways. In any case, I think I'm going to have to see it again. One question though - would a similarily-themed mainstream film that explored the cult of teenage boys work as well or even reach its intended audience? Would such a film even be made?

Just wondering.

Anyway, after the film we headed over to Old I to hang out w/ Cory and some friends. I had a drink and didn't get to bed until nearly 2 a.m. and it was a great way to cap off the semester. I've got nearly four months off until the next semester and even though my dance card is filling up quickly with thesis stuff, literary projects, trips, shows, showers, etc I'm looking forward to having a little down time, some quiet evenings just reading or taking a walk to enjoy the wonderful Delta breeze or driving out near the airport to stare in wonder at how beautiful the planes look against the early evening summer sky. Sacramento summer days are not my favorite, but summer evenings here are amazing.

This weekend will include:

• Playoff games (Kings v. T-Wolves and Lakers v. Spurs)


• Groovie Ghoulies and 7Seconds at the Boardwalk


• more episodes of Freaks & Geeks


• a wedding reception


• Mother's day activities


• Last night's Survivor episode and this Sunday's finale


• absolutely no homework

By the way, I'm looking for suggestions for new Web hosting. Currently I get web hosting/service by the same provider but I want to switch over to DSL or broadband (finally, sheesh) and my provider doesn't really offer a decent package on that and I think I could also get cheaper Web hosting elsewhere. So any suggestions on such would be greatly appreciated.

That's all for now...

No wait, there is one more thing. Lately I've become re-obsessed with Quasi's Hot Shit record. I think I listened to it at least thee times this morning. If you've yet to hear this disc check it out and don't miss 'em when they play with Sleater-Kinney. Oh yeah, and the new Mirah record is really good too.

OK, Kinja rocks. It's the latest in the Nick Denton blog stable and it's a great way to get digests of your favorite Web sites. Sign up for the beta version and add your daily reads.

Yes, I am still here.

Hurtling towards the end of the semester (but why is it like pulling teeth for me to rewrite a goddamned essay? A 1500-word essay? For the love of Irene, that's short) and I'm ready to move on into the summer to spend some qualilty time with my thesis.

As a result of tonight's last-effort homework-a-thon I had to miss the Death Cab For Cutie / Ben Kweller show tonight. But I did get to work with the Kings game on in the background. Still, Death Cab For Cutie and Ben Kweller. Sigh.

But there are good shows coming up (and we did just get to see Belle & Sebastian on Friday and it rocked my tired-end-of-the-week-body-and-mind to full extremes). Coming up: 7Seconds/Groovie Ghoulies at the Boardwalk. Shins/Decemberists at the UCD Coffeehouse. Tara Jane O'Neil & Mirah at the UCD Coffeehouse. Sleater-Kinney/Quasi at Empire. Possibly the Shins/Fiery Furnaces at the Warfield and maybe even Franz Ferdinand at some place in SF if we can snag free tix because I don't want to pay $40 a ticket to see some band I just saw a month ago especially when said band only has one freaking album out. (I'm too tired to link to these bands - Google 'em if you care that much).

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I am in love with Nick Denton and all of his blogging glory. First it was Gizmodo - the techno blog. Then came Gawker - NY gossip. Then, of course there's Fleshbot - the porn blog (if you're into that sorta thing) and Wonkette - the Washington, D.C. blog. Now there's Defamer - an LA-based gossip blog. Helllooooo, I've got some quality time-wasting to do.....

Speaking of time-wasting, I better go finish the last of that homework


P.S. Friends & Frasier....jeez stick a fork in 'em already, they're done.

P.P.S. - I find the idea of pubic stencils rather disturbing. But maybe I'm just square like that.