Ben Weasel has the nerve to criticize Hunter Thompson for "playing up the cartoonish aspects of his persona" while also claiming that his artistic output "went from medicore and lifeless, to slightly embarrassing, to painful..."

This, coming from a guy who intentionally placed a cartoon image of himself on nearly half of his recorded albums and has issued a handful of lifeless, less than mediocre, or just painful albums in his day. I brought up Ben's "obituary" to Paul who responded, "sometimes a persons harshest criticisms are their greatest insecurities." I think he nailed it right on the head.

I think that Pitchfork did a much better, and classier job. **

Speaking of hype, I am enjoying the hell out of Bloc Party's Silent Alarm. **

Happy Birthday to me. I'm 24. But I feel like 23 1/2. --

I feel guilty posting here above paul when it comes to speaking of Mr. Thompson. Everything I learned about the man came through Paul. But I loved everything about the man. Never ceased to make me smile. Never ceased to say something that didn't teach me how to live life a little bit different. HST gave me a hero in a time when there are no heroes. I am thankful to have lived in a time in which he did.

"I always felt like I was born in defeat. And I may have written everything I've written just to win back a victory. My life may be pure revenge."

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."

RIP.

hst uber alles



worst loss ive suffered.

When I arrived home last night there was a monster sized package on my doorstep. I knew instantly that it was my air purifier... and was instantly annoyed with the size of the thing. Now, I know that this site clearly labels the dimensions of the unit... but the image on that page as well as the very misleading images on this page led me to believe that I would be able to safely stow this sucker behind a chair or in an out of the way nook and have it invisibly whisp away all of the dust, allergies, and other bad stuff that's been keeping me up all night. Not even close! This thing is big enough to be a chair. I'm considering getting rid of my night stand and just using the Whispure to hold my overnight items... or maybe I'll even hock my computer desk and replace it with this breathing machine. However, there was a significant improvement in the air quality in my bedroom last night.. which despite it's ginormous appearance, is exactly what I bought it for. *

I was re-reading some of my older blogs last night and noticed that any sense of excitement or optimism in my words is completely gone these days. As much as this blog is nothing more than just a pot for my brain to puke in every once in awhile, reading last year's entries has very much confirmed how blah I feel about everything right now. It's been nine months since I graduated college and moved back home... and I still long for living the life I did before graduation every day. I would've figured that the amount of time to conceive, carry, and deliver a child would've been more than enough to accept my post-graduation predicament... but apparently, there have been some complications. I don't really have a solution... so empty whining will have to suffice for now. I'm banking on warm weather aiding my cause... and days off from work. Often. --

God Don't Make No Trash or Up Your Ass With Broken Glass. Five tracks from The Falcon, a band that is 1/2 Lawrence Arms, 1/4 Alkaline Trio, and 1/4 Anti-Flag. $6+ shipping for a short EP was kind of a bummer... but worth it considering it was virtually impossible to find on ye olde interweb. *

I'm still battling off the remnants of what has become the cold that won't go away. It's like two steps forward and one step back with this thing... and then every once in awhile 27 steps backwards. Winter's lame. Bring on the warmth and short sleeves. --

hay hay hay

ive been fishing for music in the lossless boneless section of newsgroups.

i finished that rushdie book and i have to say rushdie is one of my favorite writers. that book was great. especially at this point in time. i realize now that it may not be that the books i read are good at the time i read them, i just apply my current thought, et cetera.

but hay, end of world time

one

two

My research concludes that (drumroll) the ionic breeze is a waste of money. I read two separate Consumer Reports articles that tested it. The first time C.R. tested it for short-term effectiveness and found it basically worthless. Sharper Image, who makes it, responded and said their testing wasn't suited to their product. So Consumer Reports did another test on it and concluded the same thing.. it doesn't actually improve breathing conditions or remove anything harmful from the air. All it does is emit ozone, which essentially tricks people into thinking the air is cleaner because it smells different (and not always better). They essentially say that the whole "ionic" thing is just a fad, and that in most cases ends up taking dust from the air, doubling it in size with ion particles, which makes it heavy and fall to surfaces like beds, couches, carpets, etc.

They gave the highest rating to The Whispure filters from Whirlpool. I ordered the strongest one today for $299... significantly cheaper than the $500 Ionic Breeze.

All said, I paid $200 less for a product that an impartial consumer publication says works very well and I don't have to have a big noisy phallic thinga-ma-doo-hicky in the corner of my bedroom... so all is well in the world. *

I had band practice last night. That's right, you heard me correctly, band practice. It's been about 5 years in the making (no joke) but myself and two other individuals whom I couldn't imagine not being in a band with got together and played some rock-n-roll last night. I had a blast and I'm pretty sure they had a good time, too. It went well enough that it seems as if practice will become a weekly event.. and hopefully things like recording and playing shows happening not too far down the road. Get ready to be (pop) rocked. 1,2,3,4! --

Does anyone know anything about Ionic Air Purifiers? Or any kind of air purifiers at all? Having a basement "apartment" has taken a serious toll on my breathing... it's to the point now where I wake up more or less every night gasping for breath. On saturday I opened my blinds to let the sun shine through the windows and was astounded by how much dust I saw fluttering through the sunshine. For someone with allergies as terrible as mine, I figure investing a couple hundred bucks into one of these miracle machines is a no brainer. However, the Internet is a mysterious place sometimes and I haven't been able to find anything credible as evidence to pick up one machine over another. Consumer Reports wrote an article back in October 2003.. but I figure new products have come along since then...

Any ideas?

Ben Weasel offers up a fairly lengthy blog over at Weasel Manor today. It'd been awhile since I heard anything out of him that didn't have to do with his NHL sim league... and while the indication is that he will continue being sporadic with updates, I enjoyed a little bit of Weasel in my day. *

Although I have a new job... I don't quite have a new desk just yet. Seems as if the IT people are rather busy and haven't been able to set up my new git up, so to speak. So I've spent the past two days sitting at my old desk, surrounded by my former co-workers.. with absolutely nothing to do. I think I've read the entire internet. Twice. *

The sun is shining quite bright in New York today. Although the chill is still in the air, there is a definite spring like feeling to it. Now, I know it's too early for an early spring even by the earliest Punxatawny estimates, but it's refreshing to not feel like your eyeballs are going to freeze upon stepping outside.*

I'm working out again. And I'm sore. --

I have not learned anything of value since May 5th, 2004, which was the approximate due date for the last of my undergrad assignments. I've worked one job for five months, tackled a two month internship prior to that, and do not feel I have learned anything memorable, anything that's made me feel more intelligent, or anything that's given me a sense of purpose. 8 months is a long time to feel mentally stagnant. During that time I've read books to try and feel stimulated... but without a general undercurrent of learning in my life I feel I've gotten far less from the experiences than usual.

Tomorrow is my last day at the mindless job which has taken away any semblance of intelligence that I thought I once had. Monday starts a new job, with new people, doing new things. There are responsibilities. Things that need to be learned. And while I'm still not 100% sure it's what I want to be working at for my entire life... the idea that I will be learning anything at all at this point is very, very welcome. I miss feeling passionate about life when I wake up in the morning. I miss living and breathing to learn and care about everything around me instead of keeping my gaze firmly set on my shoelaces while I meander around from point(less) A to point(less) B.

So far, being an "adult", at least in the sense that I'm through with college level learning, has been incredibly disappointing and sad. I'm hoping that this Monday is not another step in that same awful direction. *

Two quick other random things...

Firstly, I just received spam, in the form of a text message, sent to my cell
phone. "For a chance to win a free spring break trip..." Are you kidding me? What's next? "Feeling inadequate as a male? Dial 69 Send to find out about our wang enlargement pills.."

Secondly, did I really hear Wes Anderson in an ad for Guitar Center this morning? [terrible rap/metal being blared in the background] "Hi, I'm Wes Anderson. For a chance to win a Gibson guitar, autographed by me, stop by your nearest Guitar Center... and don't forget to see my newest movie, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, playing in theaters now." Has this world truly gone mad? --

PC Update: still not fixed. Not that anyone cares but me. (incircles... in 2005 celebrating six straight years of rambling about PC problems that nobody cares about). That's right, I've been doing this since '99.*

What records are people anticipating this new year? The only thing that comes to mind is the new Crooked Fingers, which just so happens to come out one day prior to my birthday. I predict that this will be the year that I further fall out of step with rock music and descend further into the depths of 'aging rock guy that liked all of those bands that played guitars in the Mid-90's'.*

My 24th birthday. The number 24 seems staggering to me. Like at one point in the past someone would've asked me about being 24 and I would've been able to equate it with a time in which cars would be flying, space travel standard, and robot maids being sold in the same department store aisles as common appliances (talking ones, of course). My parents were married and owned a home by the age of 24. This petrifies me. How in the world were people of that generation able to do that at 24? Isn't marriage complicated? What does this say about our generation... are we lazy? Are we smarter? I can count on one hand (two fingers) the guys that I'm friends with that are engaged.. and well, they're both lunatics. So hopefully it means that we're smarter.. or more patient.. and if that's so I guess I can understand why everyone was smoking pot in the 60's... how in the world can you all have been dumber than us? *

Amazing IT guy from work says that my hard drive is tip-top. Bootable, readable, and very secure and stable. I'm clueless... could it be as simple as a bad ribon or power being sent to the drive? I will have to investigate tomorrow on my day off (sorta) from work. *

The "sorta" is because it's a day off to attempt to get my butt back into an IT type role, as I mentioned in a previous post. Wish me luck. (anything at all will help when it comes to my luck) *

I've gotten pretty far into the songwriting process with a batch of songs that I'm really, really excited about. I've recruited two individuals to help me make it happen for real. I'm so obsessed with the progress of the tunes that my desk at work is littered with all kinds of insane notes to myself that pop into my head throughout the day.. "chorus needs to be Bb minor, G, A for two measures!... strummed like that Sicko song off of Chef Boy RU Dum" and "structure = 1X just guitar, 1X with bass and symbol crashes 2x all together, 4x with vocals before kicking into bridge to chorus." Yes, this is all jibber jabber.. but for the past few years I've written a four chord progression and passed it off as a "song". As in, "dude, i've got songs" or "hey babe, i've written dozens of songs". I've just recently really started finishing things the right way and I couldn't be more excited about it. I'm really ready to put my money where my mouth is this time. --

For better or worse... (i'm of the opinion that it leads towards worse) I haven't played videogames all that often lately. However, I have odd memories of experiencing the same sort of feelings that are addressed in this article from back when I did. The most severe case I had was when I was obsessed with creating my own world maps for Duke Nukem 3D. I remember looking around classrooms and my home intently to figure out which vents might be good for secret passageways and whether walls were "real" or "false". I even got so obsessed with looking around my own home that I spent about a month creating a level that was pretty much a replica of my house. Except for the secret passages, false walls, and dozens of dancing cheerleaders that were hidden in my ceiling.

The same goes for when I was rehauling BorisFX.com this time last year.. I was knee deep in Photoshop 7.0 for 10 hours a day and I'd get into bed and start thinking about using filters to change the texture of my ceiling and dying to make it 75% transparent using the layer menu.

I very much need to get into a technology-heavy type job again. I feel like a part of me is missing without it these days. --

Just wanted to thank everyone for the hard drive fixing tips. I've asked the amazing IT guy that covers my floor at work to take a look at my drive and he's going to take a stab at it later this week. At this point I just really want to save the things that are irreplaceable... digital camera photos, projects / papers that I wrote in college. Although 99% of my time is spent listening to music on my computer... losing an MP3 is nothing like losing that amazing digital camera photo I took of my roommates three years ago, etc. etc. Although it's not quite the same situation, when the fire in my apartment had just been put down by firefighters two summers ago and I was told "kid, you've got a about twenty minutes to get the hell in there and grab whatever means something to you"... surpisingly the things I grabbed first were probably worth the least. Aside from my guitars, there was really nothing of any monetary value that I grabbed that first load. Just pictures, important documents... sentimental things. It was warming to have made the right choice so obviously... it was very natural.

I feel kind of silly for not backing the things up that were on my hard drive, when I easily could have duped them onto my 80-gig slave at any point during the past few months, but with any luck I'll end up relatively unscathed just like I did two summer ago on Mission Hill.

It's been wonderful to see posts here that are not my own. *

Today I came home, turned on my PC, only to be greeted with an error message indicating that my two month old 250 gig hard drive had no intentions of booting. I tried a bazillion different things.. and no matter what I did could not find any data on it at all. That's every paper I've written since high school... over 5,000 mp3's, some of which (even in the age of file sharing) will be nearly impossible to replace, and digital photos going back 7 years. None of it was backed up and the thought of losing all of this stuff is seriously choking up. Yes, that's right... a whole bunch of fucking ones and zeroes is almost making me cry. Cheers to two lame cliches of my generation coming together in perfect unison... technology and melancholy.

So, Miss TFL, if you want me to hook you up with some happy pop tunes, keep your fingers crossed that the ace I.T. team I plan to employ on this case can get back those three-chord ditties comprised of ones and zeroes.

For now I'm booting to my older hard drive, which I've been using as a slave.. which for some reason is still bootable to Windows ME. *

The Copyrights, We Didn't Come Here To Die. Find it and listen to it now. Danny Vapid's brother on vocals. Grade A stuff. I also secured myself a copy of the long out of print LP Groovin' Hard by The Crash for $7. Aside from those ones and zeroes, it's been a pretty good week.

oy!

--------------5:46 PM 1/5/2005----------

im listening to bill hicks (amongst other things) today whilst contemplating life. salman just dropped another biscuit on my head, and i researched said biscuit, as i hope to be more inclined to do when biscuits come dropping.

someone went to canada recently, i dont know who this guy is, but he has a funny tale.

seems like everyone is getting sick, whether it be UTI's or the flu or both, time for immuno-shields or something. on an impulse i purchased some astro glide today, large 5 oz bottle. dont know what im gonna do with it but i know i need to own it. cost cutters has been having some weird sale on hockey cards, so i bought 4 boxes. now i have 4 boxes of hockey cards that are worthless. i spent ~100 dollars on these things. its kinda weird to spend money too, especially when you dont have any. definitely a form of coping with depression. i want my goddamn hockey back.

i have so many plans just waiting to take off, but im missing the ingredient one needs for off taking. oh yeah, motivation

pictures from the fray:
boozefire
drunknbusty
goodtimes
gulliver
joshdeadly
pookdome
vistajosh

i have nothing to do except take pictures and crop them with the gimp

ive been reading this book called ground beneath her feet, its really good and i like it. salman rushdie is a wizard. so far its all earthquakes at tequila distilleries and viscous prattling on greek and indian myth. but yeah, its good.

ive been playing a little bit of a game called uru, and its really successful at making me feel ignorant. i also play with my ipod alot, but hate the fact that i cant make an eq preset and have that preset save to my pod.

Today's iPod playlist (thus far):

Dirt Bike Annie - Show Us Your Demons
The Ergs! - Ben Kweller SP
Go Sailor - s-t (discography)
Sicko - A Brief History Of Sicko

Even with new "hip" and unlistened to tunes like the two new Bright Eyes
albums and the (i'm told) awesome Madvillain LP sitting within the caverns
of my massive 40-gig friend, I can't seem to stop listening to tasty bits
of pop-punk fun. The first two were new to me, and very enjoyable (although
I prefer the Ergs! full length) and the bottom two were loved gems that I
haven't listened to in way too long. I think there are two reasons for my
recent pop-punk revival: #1, I'm miserable and hate not being a student
anymore and am desperately searching for happy pop ditties that remind me
of being younger or #2, as I mentioned in my previous post.. all of the
songs I've been writing lately are very much in this vein. Regardless of
the reason.. something about constantly listening to and playing the type
of songs that I spent so many years of my life really enjoying has been
bringing a smile to my face even during the times when I might not have had
a lot to smile about. *

As Promised, my favorite ten albums of 2004 (or something, i guess):

* Ergs! - Dorkrockcorkrod
* Challenger - Give People What They Want in Lethal Doses
* Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm a Machine
* Hot Snakes - Audit in Progress
* Thermals - Phuckin' A
* Methadones - Not Economically Viable
* Arcade Fire - Funeral
* Les Savy Fav - Inches
* Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
* Detachment Kit - ... Of This Blood

.. honorable mentions to Interpol, Prefuse 73, and Dizee Rascal. *

I'm craving video games again. I need a good RPG to zap up all of my free time
and remind me why I stopped playing them in the first place. Tales Of
Symphonia perhaps?

It's fitting that I end 2004 sick for 10 days straight.

Thinking back, 2004 kinda sucked.

I hope everyone enjoys their new year's.

I'll hit you with my 10 favorite songs and albums of the year soon.

Here's to 2005.

I hope everybody had a wonderul Christmas.  Despite being plagued with the

flu and a few (expected) insane family outbursts it was an enjoyable time

for me.  I ate well and my various Santa Claus' were very good to me. I

also watched Napoleon Dynamite twice (once while drunk) and found it very

much ot my liking.  It was just... nice.  *



The internet is always lousy the week after Christmas.  Every website goes

on vacation.  My workload this week is insanely small and without the likes

of penny arcade, gamespot, etc. digitally enlightening me it's a struggle

to keep my eyes open.  I also left my iPod at a friends house in a hungover

fog last week.  I can typically use my little white earbuds of joy as a way

of stating things along this lines of, "i'm not interested in hearing what

you got your cat for christmas"... but now I'm defenseless and vulnerable.

And still carrying a little bit o' that flu around.



I'd like to thank Paul for updating lately.  I like pictures.  If I had a

digital camera I would take some, too. *



I'm really writing songs again.  Really.  And they sound like 1996 or so.

1996 was a good year.  I got all A's, made the basketball team, and bought

my first guitar.  I'm hoping that these songs will end up being good as

well. *



Cheers.