man, i’ve been doing so much actual work, i haven’t been able to use much time at work to do any link collecting, and even my favorite link mining sites are bookmarked at work, and not here.

however, real quick like, you can check the hot shit from slashdot (i should just let brl take over since he provided this one, too) on the robotic tagger. the movie is pretty boring but the che mural is ill. check it out at hektor.ch.

-i’ve been absolutely loving the tivo, even though i haven’t paid for a subscription yet (tomorrow). but ever since last week, it’s been simpsons, futurama, family guy, seinfeld, and good eats, with the occassional first run episode.

speaking of futurama, how cool is it that al gore used a clip to explain global warming in his moveon.org speech on jan. 15th?

-me. sleep. now.

jade tree (pronounced paco style, a la jackie chan adventures, which would mean “yade tree”) just recently released the other guy from desaparecidos, denver dalley’s album. the band, statistics, has a song up at jade tree called a number not a name. take a listen, it ain’t to shabby.

-matt’s got a nice review of transatlanticism up, which brings up some good points, regardless of whether or not you’re willing to agree with them. i especially like the “here we are” part, because it’s oh, so true.

and can i just keep fucking harping on this whole indie 103 thing? what with the dcfc on the OC and what was it, bright eyes, too? and now indie 103 wants to commidify that? fine, fine, whatever.

-i haven’t been reading all that much on wesley clark, and a lot of what i’ve read hasn’t been substantial– there was that big thing in the nation a while back about him being nothing more than a republican in democrat’s clothing, and then just this week there was a short article from lt. gov. barbara lawton (wisconsin) that’s called why i’m for clark, which was mildly convincing, but overall, i think one of the most persuasive has been 1115.org’s wesley clark endorsement.

-i only browsed this list of the top 101 dumbest moments in business long enough to catch them make fun of some quiznos commercials and talk about how a mcdonald’s food prep area was backed up with raw sewage, but i got one for ya, how about letting people blow snot on the walls in the elevator?! that’s gotta be a bad business moment, right?

anyways, i was in the elevator and was <----this----> close to getting some nasty fucking looch on my shoulder. oh well, at least it wasn’t pee, right? i can’t find my mufucking post about it, but remember when there was a pee bandit loose in the building? you could see the pee stains on the wall, right by the buttons. that sucked.

-everyone’s going crazy over this dj dangermouse grey album shit, for good reason. it’s pretty hot. check fluxblog for a piece while you can. change clothes.

so, i’m a rube that missed craig kilborn’s show featuring death cab for cutie’s national television debut, but thank the lord, for it has been found. check out death cab live on craig kilborn, and revel in its weirdness.

-this shit is kind of scary, but kinda cool in the way where you thought that plastic gun that john malkovich used in in the line of fire was kind of cool. that’s right, more videos for your bored ass at work, ladies and gents the cell phone gun.

-i was checking out listings on craigslist for places in The City (that’s right, capital T capital C, angelenos and seattlites), san francisco for the non-snobs. anyway, i ran into an ad that has quite the wit to it, in a foxtv sort of way. the loft is bitchin’ though, but that’s oakland (smokin’), not The City.

-james mercer is featured in the new tape op this month, and he talks about a lot of stuff that he did on the new record, and how his basement studio was robbed, and uses the oft misunderstood and over-the-head derogatory term “hesher” a lot. hell, i’m not from albuquerque so i guess i’m not really the man to judge that shit. bmp, thoughts? fucking southwesterners and all their cheesy mexican food goodness.

-shit, for the life of me i couldn’t figure out why i had this article on electronic pony express in with my links i collected yesterday, but all i can really think of is just wanting to be the guy on the scooter roaming from town to town all day. i think i’d also dress in a clown suit and eat circus peanuts while i was on the scooter, leaving a trail of them so i knew how to get home.

actually, that picture there in the article (ny times if you’re not reg’d, then i’d skip it, because it’s not THAT interesting) looks kind of ominous, like the guy on the bike is about to tear ass through the building straight up, street hawk style.

-there was this one time where i let jason into james’s room and jason changed all of the backgrounds on james’s computer to tony danza related stuff. i don’t know how he found it, but there was a nekkid picture of tony sitting in the background, and every time james tried to change something back, the computer would start playing the theme to who’s the boss. the computer would just lock up then, because every alarm was set to play the theme, and it would die trying to respond to every request for the .wav file. i thought it was kind of funny. i think james did, too.

i’ve got links up in here, but no time to post them with my usual witty commentary. but tomorrow. damn, you, inconsistency. damn you to hell!

I figured there was a ton of other stuff that I enjoyed last year but haven’t had the time to mention it. Here’s some of things I left out that I really liked about 2003, and then I’m gonna leave that shit alone, because it’s already like a month into 2004.

Films:

Love Actually – A pretty surprising film, considering its ability to transition from story to story like water from glass to glass. The water may look like more or less in varying sizes of glasses, but the liquid gets to its place.

In America – I misspoke the other day and said that this movie wasn’t sad at all. That’s not completely true, in fact, there’s some terribly painful moments in the film, but without them, everything else would flop. It’s a pretty simple concept, it’s amazing that rarely does anyone do it in mainstream film today. And that’s all this film really did, and it did it well. That was more than enough.

Lost in Translation – The Golden Globes were on tonight and seeing Billy Murray turn on his subersive charm was lovely. If you’ve read here before, I didn’t initially love this movie, until I thought about it, and then realized that I was holding all the cheap culture shock shots against it. But Bill Murray’s ability to make anyone feel comfortable through his own ability to feel comfortable is amazing. And the ending whisper, so enigmatic and wrongly satisfying. mutherfucking sigh, man.

God, I can’t go through all these movies, and I’m sure I’m missing something, but I also liked A Mighty Wind, Finding Nemo
School of Rock, and Spellbound.

Best Building I Pass On My Way To/From Work:

A tie between the building at the horizon of the 105 exit on the 405 and the See’s Candy Factory on La Cienaga. I don’t have a great picture of the glory that is the former, but you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever been on that highway. But the latter, every time I go home, I crack my window a bit so I can smell the candy cooking, which I thought at first were the smells of McGriddles, but was gladly mistaken. And I’m fat, so I love candy. And oh yeah, food.

Food:

Hamburgers:
I know, you’re thinking, what about Mad Cow Disease? Yeah, I wasn’t really worried and still try not to be. When I think about it, I try to remember that a million cows were infected when the outbreak killed 153 people in England. We got one here.

Father’s Office in Santa Monica has an exquisite bleu cheese burger and the best french fries I’ve tasted in Los Angeles. Nevermind that they’re technically frites, the thin finely fried crispy seasoned french fries, I’ll take them over thick mushy steak fries any day. Nice selection of micro brews, but crowded, crowded, crowded. Next time, I’m going on a Tuesday, rather than Friday.

Jaxx, right in West Hollywood next Book Soup has a comparable hamburger, though sans bleu cheese, lettuce, really, everything but cheese and meat (cheese, cheese, meat, cheese, meat and that’s all! thanks jack in the box and the meaty cheesy boys), but the ground beef seems to be hand packed into patties with some onions, garlic and seasoning that pretty much makes that other stuff extraneous. They also have frites, though sans seasoning. I will say they’re cheap, and were pretty empty when I stopped by and I’ll be sure to stop there again if I’m at Book Soup someday.

And I can’t talk about burgers without mentioning In and Out, but you know that already. Cheeseburger animal style, please.

Burritos:
There’s a TON of good places for a burrito, I’m sure, but none of them come as cheap and as good as the cicharon burrito from Guillen Family’s Mariscos in Venice. It’s right on Lincoln, next to the car place. Seriously, ask disposable. He always buys them for me anyway.

Sushi:
That place on Main Street in Santa Monica (oyaku?), is usually not crowded and give generous portions of fresh tasting fish (read: non-fishy fish) and their non-sushi selections are glamourous. Good sized plates of teriyaki and tempura baskets, and good effin’ unagi, man. Good prices, for sushi, I guess.

Octopus Bar in Manhattan Beach is a bit on the fancy side. Everyone yells, welcome in Japanese when you walk in. Really, it’s like that place I just mentioned, with less pleasing interiors and a little pricier. But it’s closer to my house, damn it.

The California Roll Factory in Westwood is probably the least authentic of the three here, but it does have its fair share of interesting rolls. The non-sushi fare is a bit on the skimpy side, but the unagi is good. Sushi is so damn expensive in Southern California, though.

Quickly, my picks for Italian: Mama D’s (Manhattan Beach) for the service and the warm complimentary chocolate chip cookie at the end, La Vita Bella for their Vodka Marinara, C&O Trattoria for the atmosphere and to get drunk.

Also quickly, some randoms that necessitate mentioning: Asian Noodles in Chinatown has some damn fine Filipino food. Great lechon (roasted pork), siopao (a few different kinds), and hot damn desserts, including halo-halo, and ube ice cream. The Chicken Katsu Loco Moco at King’s Hawaiian in Torrance? Or is it Hawthorne? Either way, it’s good. Artery clogging good. THAT good.

Still looking for teriyaki and good Thai, Indian in the South Bay.

Best Produce:
Marina Farms in Marina del Rey/Mar Vista I dunno where exactly that place is, but it’s right on Centinela near Jefferson. Whole Foods is expensive and I haven’t been to the grocery store in months, but can still safely say that Marina Farms produce will beat that crap. Also, the Hermosa Beach Farmer’s Market kind of sucks.

More Randoms:
You Shall Know Our Velocity was a good book I read last year. I read some more, but right now I can’t really remember any. Traveling 6000 miles back and forth from Los Angeles to Bellingham twice was fun, too.

Really, there were so many random things I liked about last year, that this list has become pretty pointless. I liked everything, all right? Is that what you wanted to hear? Damn, gimmie a fucking break. At least I updated this spot, dookie-face.

all right this isn’t the full update ’cause i got work to do, but i just had to absolutely drop every-fucking-thing to tell you to drop absolutely everything and listen to these three revolutionary hydra songs off the new album out soon on skrocki records. listen and be amazed.

Binary Thoughts (4:35) 6.3MB

Misfortune (4:01) 5.6MB

Frenchies (2:55) 4.1MB

now go order it at skrocki right now or head down to your favorite local store and buy, buy, buy!

your favorite and mine, patric m. verrone, has been nominated for a writer’s guild award for best animated show writing for “the sting” episode of Futurama. i swear, one of these days, logan and i are gonna grow some cojones and go down to that wga animated show writers meeting and tell him how much we love him, which, in turn, will directly lead him to hiring us as writers for some hilarious new show where we will shine like the brilliant writers we are. nootch.

check out the other nominations for the wga awards.

-the anime appleseed is getting a cg makeover. the trailer looks pretty hot, but don’t bother looking much at the site if you can’t read japanese. but the trailer does look pretty hot. check that shit.

-ever wonder what the origin of cobra commander was? yeah, me either, but now, gi joe is getting all serious on your ass in the comics, check a few pages and the plot synopsis for the comic that’s coming out. i’d buy it, but i stopped buying comics years ago, and if i started again, i’d be even more broke than i already am.

-speaking of being broke, i finally dropped the cash on a tivo last friday, just waiting patiently for you it to arrive so i can get my tivo on. BUT what is really disappointing is that there’s going to be one less show to tivo next year, as Ed has been moved to fridays to die. yeah, it looks like this is the final season because rating shares have dropped so they’re going to get rid of it and replace it with some shite like the apprentice. fuck those fucking fucks at fucking nbc. may that network rot in hell, excepting, of course, the west wing. and maybe scrubs.

anyway, if you’re looking for some tivo deals, check out servicedvr for philips authorized refurbished series one tivos. seriously, a 120 gig (hour) tivo for 180 bucks? i didn’t go for that one, i figure 80 hours is decent. 80 hours? 150 bucks.

-it’s late, this post is late, and i’m hitting the mutherfucking sack.

kaz sasaki’s leaving the mariners next year, mosreports say because he has some personal issues that are calling him back to japan. one has to wonder whether or not the death of his father this last year has him wanting to movei back and be with his family.

while this is a good thing for the mariners, i, personally would have appreciated sasaki’s announcement much earlier, allowing evern more fodder for mariners fans to hold against GM bill bavasi and his lack of planning this offseason. by that, i’m talking about the huge loss out on vlad guerrero.
at this point, i’m very wary to hope for anything to come of this 9 million dollar lottery the m’s just won, but a nice offensive addition– a considerable offensive addition would include free agent pudge rodriguez or even eric karros, or trades for magglio ordonez or carlos beltran.

regardless, i will miss kaz. i missed him all last season, especially when he was just not there when he was pitching. i’ll miss his bows to ben davis at the end of a saved game, and i’ll miss his scared-as-hell look every time he came into the ninth, and his ecsatatic glad-to-be-alive-and-pitching when he made that last out. dozo, sasaki san.

-well, the iowa caucuses are over, and kerry won. i was trying to figure out what happened there, and one explanation is that dean and gephardt’s attacks basically destroyed each other’s campaigns. gephardts attacks on dean slowed his momentum considerably and basically destroyed hi own campaign which enabled kerry and edwards to pull ahead.

kerry’s earlier campaign persona has taken turn and i haven’t been exposed to much of what he is doing now, having vets speak for his integrity. while i can’t say that will make me like him any more or less, i can say that edwards positivity is refreshing. what really sticks out for me most about kerry the botox and the “bring it on” speeches, which i can’t say are very endearing.

-saw along came polly this weekend and have to say that i was mildly disappointed, but it did have quite a few good moments. lots more fart jokes than i would have thought, which in itself isn’t a bad thing because most of them worked. i was, though, more excited by a couple of the trailers, namely starsky and hutch and dawn of the dead. the latter kind of blew me away, but i think it may have been partly a benefit of being the kicker to a long line of comedy trailers then being hit with a zombie one out of no where. check out the site for the trailer and let me know if i wasn’t just being a big wuss.

-not much in the way of links today, mostly commentary, which is funny, since you probably know that already if you’ve read this far.

there’s some wacky shit going down with the server, but it’s getting resolved slowly. i got the day off today to celebrate mlk’s birfday. hope you’re not working, because i’m not.

i know i’ve mentioned the new prius before, but chris got his older model recently, and regardless of what you say about looks, i’m still jealous, especially seeing as it would be downright priceless in los angeles traffic. though the new priuses (priuie?) prii have so many gadgets, including the crazy bluetooth stuff and the remote control keys, push button starting (do the old ones have this?), and all the other stuff, check out the 2004 prius here), they give them a relatively hefty pricetag.

-i watched this video with tetris masters fucking shit up because i thought i was pretty okay, i mean, i got up into like the 120’s in lines, but dude, this shit is INSANE. i’m not kidding. nerdy or not, still insane. watch it. i’m not kidding around here.

-have you seen that saddam’s an outkast flash animation yet? kind of clever, but it made me laugh aloud, regardless of what i really thought (or wanted to think). it was bound to happen.

-some kid from princeton made a rap song making fun of other rap songs. i had to stop listening after all the terrible out of tune falsetto. i didn’t really find it all that funny, either (most of it was downright stupid and could be construed as offensive) but the discussion about it has been pretty tame over at mefi.

-remember that piece wired ran about all those superpowers and other weird sci-fi stuff? here’s a list of weird inventions that i snagged of mefi. go ahead and poo-poo it, like every other science thing i post.

-the stranger has an article on seattle bars where you can go get healed from SAD. there’s quite a few watering holes to visit, they hit on some really good ones. i really miss the college inn and the cha cha ain’t so bad either, but if you want cheap drinks, i’d recommend hitting up flowers for daily specials. sour night rules.

this week marked the return of new episodes of home movies to adult swim. you probably missed it because it was on at 11 on sunday night. i did. anyway, that won’t matter soon, because the tivo will pick that shit up. all the suckas who can’t do shit about it can watch a clip of home movies over and over again.

-mark hamill’s comic book: the movie is out on dvd january 27th. there’s a bunch of stuff going on in LA about it, but i’m too lazy/not nerdy enough to do it. check out the happenings at toonzone, which include to screenings at the laemmle tomorrow.

-oh snap! the rocket is playing for the rockets, and vlad is an angel. i bet steinbrenner is fucking pissed. too bad i don’t have bragging rights over the yankees because the mariners are fucked, too. fucking bill bavasi letting vlad into our division. boo! argh. what a terrible fucking winter.

-youlookgoodinblack.com is selling framed prints of his pictures and donating the money to a worthy charity. take a look around and do something good with your money for once. christ.

-an old ad from wired in ‘97 talks about saving apple. jason zada breaks it down and explains why steve jobs was such a godsend for the company. i’ve never owned a mac until last year (thanks mom and dad!) but have always felt a little tug from them. besides, how much cooler does it make you to be in bed with apple than microsoft?

-this guy watched one too many star trek episodes. hey, i can be a borg, too! of course, not the trekkian sense, because of course, mann wants to fight The System. anyways, dude totally reminds me of that crazy-ass guy from project grizzly. hahaha, that movie was so fucking funny, especially when that huge log is dropped on the guy in the suit all ewoks style and shit.

i can’t stop laughing thinking about it. you can buy it but it’s damn expensive.

-ah, tv. how i love to bask in television’s warm glowing warming glow. new chappelle’s show starts this week, tomorrow to be exact. along with the comedy (did i tell you that “killing me softly” was hi-effing-larious™?) there’s gonna be some good music, too. slated for this season: DMX, cee-lo,
anthony hamilton, erykah badu, ludicris, timbaland & magoo,
lil jon with the eastside boyz, and common.

-damn it, i been trying all day to put my order in for cellar door over at barsuk (thanks catbirdseat) but either it’s down or i’m an idiot because i can’t find the freakin’ checkout button. i want that fuckin’ signed photo though and OH YEAH, thanks for that ASS that bought the last built to spill print i wanted for christmas, because now the fucker is sold out. i’m telling you, i’m breaking out the blackjack and coming door to door for that shit. WATCH YOUR BACK.

i didn’t watch any of the apprentice the other night, save for the few seconds i caught when we were checking if er was on, but those few seconds featured an early thirtysomething asian woman in business attire standing on a streetcorner complaining about how much her feet hurt. make your own punchline. or read shaviro’s review if you’re too lazy to make any hilarious jokes yourself.

-freaks and geeks, of which is of distant relation to newsradio (the creator, judd apatow played the goofy ball in the first season) is coming out on dvd in april. hardcore fans can visit the website and sign up for a mailing list that will let you order a limited edition collector’s version of the dvd. it’s supposed to contain all the episodes plus an eighty page yearbook filled with photos and fun stuff from the show, and a bunch of other extras. sign up at freaksandgeeks.com”. mike white also wrote a few episodes, as far as i can remember, it was a good show.

-if you haven’t heard yet, the newsradio dvd that was set to release in february has been delayed, which, for patient ones is a good thing. tvbarn.com report that due to a clerical error of some kind, no one at sony told paul simms, the creator, about it. the dvds were supposed to be pretty bare-boned, but now there’s a possibility of commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, bloopers, and other crazy stuff.

and now, you can keep an eye on all of it by reading the newsradio blog! you can also check out cover art at tvshowsondvd.com.

-singingfish.com is probably the best sound search engine i’ve seen for a while. check it out, that’s how i came about posting dcfc’s secret stars cover last week, i had no idea barsuk had it up at their site.

-the continuing coverage of CES over at gizmodo is great, make sure you stop by and drool over all the shit you can’t afford and don’t need.

-speaking of things we don’t need, i’m pretty dead-set on buying a tivo on friday, barring any unforseen circumstances. i came pretty close to putting together a computer that can handle mythtv and linux, but then decided it wasn’t worthy of my time or money when i can drop a 150 on a tivo and cancel my netflix account, which i can never make worth my money, to pay for tivo subcription fees.

-short weekend made a tiny bit longer by staying in bed for so long this morning. panicked when i realized my car could have been towed because they’re doing some shitty road work on our street outside. bought a fender rhodes this weekend, finally, and from the bassist of dios no less. good guy, good band, good piano. smiles all around. gonna try to keep the shit rolling this week, i expect everyone to email or comment a swift kick in the ass if i don’t. hell even if i do.

every town has a diner, where i’ll meet you and your friends, too. things are just a bit nicer over some coffee, you can tell me all about your day. i don’t know much about you, not that i want to. not that i want to. sometimes i can’t escape from my room, so excuse me, i’ll be just a little late.

every town has a corner, where i’ll see you and your friends, too. hanging out looking cool, saying the same things over and over again. sometimes we all feel stupid, we say the wrong things, you’re not the only one. sometimes we all get left behind in a race of style. it’s a dumb thing.

you will wait for me.

all right, seeing as i’m here and all and am thereby deciding that this is going to be pretty much an off week, i’ll offer a small peace offereing and let you all know that i re-recorded drums to one of my songs and have posted it in the music section, or you could just listen to it right here: general advices against.

things will get rolling again soon, swear to bejesus.

hey everyone, i’m not dead, either just busy or lazy, i can’t tell which yet. i’ll let you know as soon as i find out.