what really bothers me is when i see kids my age that should know better and elect arnold. i was on the plane back from san francisco and saw some guy with a “join arnold” shirt on, and i couldn’t tell whether or not he was serious about it, i mean, it’s the worst when if he simply thinks it’s cool to wear the shirt, but fuck man, the bastard rescinded the car tax, and now it looks like he might restrict school spending. it’s as if he doesn’t realize that money needs to be made in order to get out of a deficit, cutting alone from all the places he promised he wouldn’t isn’t gonna do it. argh, that fucker is infuriating.

-did you see rudolph last night? i missed it, but luckily someone is hosting realmedia clips of it online. i just opened one up whilst listening to people under the stairs but forgot i had opened it up and thought they were sampling rudolph. they weren’t.

-this doesn’t work on macs and isn’t work safe, so don’t even try it. interesting concept, though.

-i spent an inordinate amount of time checking out the new feature over at metafilter, ask metafilter. there’s a lot of good questions and responses already, including themed gift ideas, which wasn’t all that impressive by itself, but the a-team themed presents made me laugh out loud. but there’s also very practical information, including starting your own business or becoming self-employed and how to know whether your timing belt needs to be replaced.

-it looks like jerry seinfeld is going to do a movie that is all cgi, written, produced, and starring himself. i wasn’t initially a big fan of seinfeld, but in sydication, i learned to love it and am now thoroughly pissed off that tbs doesn’t show it half as often as they used to. and i don’t EVER see myself becoming a big fan of the steve harvey show.

-hahahaha, they’re eating lego-size figures of themselves like cereal! yeah, that’s puffy amiyumi, the same ones that do the teen titans theme and were featured on all things considered the other day.

-and lastly, bill murray still remains the coolest old guy in hollywood. i’d say i didn’t give a fuck about the oscars, and i don’t really, but to be in the running and not give a shit? and you know he doesn’t, because he wasn’t even PLAYING a character in fucking lost in translation, man, that’s probably the way he really is. anyway, i dunno. it’s santori time.

-sorry for such a late post, but you bastards will just enjoy it tomorrow anyway, but you can’t say i didn’t post shit today, because i did. by and by, that new explosions in the sky album rocks fucking ass, man. drums never sounded so huge. i’ve never been a big fan of instrumental albums, i like to listen to them every now and then, but this one gives me chills.

three interesting items from the northwest:

krist novaselic is thinking about running for lt. governor in washington next year. he used to come into the metro all the time when i worked there, all tall and shit. governor gary locke used to hit that place up, too, i sold him three tickets to see rush hour with his son and wife. when nate and i worked at the concessions stand, he used to ask people if they wanted butter on their cockporn.

when i first heard this story on npr this morning, i was wondering why dave grohl was driving a taxi. really, it was dave groh, elvis impersonator driving a taxi. i guess it’s legal to wear costumes in taxis now, which i guess is a good thing, but don’t know how much it’s going to increase business for taxi drivers. would you be more likely to ride in a taxi if your driver was dressed as elvis? or, more importantly, like robert deniro, from taxi driver?

there’s a ton of interesting links on boingboing today, including this one about the mushroomhouse in whistler, canada. my brother’s going up there to do some snowboarding in january, i’m gonna tell him to throw down the cash to rent that place, although i don’t think they take rentals, but if you flash the cash (and my brother has LOADS), you know….end sarcasm.

-that novaselic link was stolen from burned by the sun, for your los angeles indie rock needs. the link to bbts was from lhb. credit where credit’s due.

-also from boingboing, here’s a taco sign gallery. james would be happy to know there’s a taco del mar in california somewhere. i kept looking to see if they had a picture of that taco place at the top of the hill in weed, california that brandon and i vetoed for taco bell, but 50 pictures in i gave up. this unknown looks like the taco bell on washington in marina del rey. now hiring all shits.

-i’m not usually a big fan of traditional christmas music, but vince guaraldi’s charlie brown christmas stuff and certain cool jazz christmas songs are more my style. john coltrane’s site has some nice tunes combined with flash design that i enjoyed earlier today. move your ass on over thur.

-i haven’t even seen the third matrix yet, and i’m not a big fan of human action figures, they just tend to be boring, but the mech stuff kicks ass. the sentinel and mifune’s exoskeleton are ill.

-lots of nice writing about everyone’s favorite filipino food, adobo, over at the wilyfilipino.com– ang sarap! pacific islanders represent.

-last samurai? what’s next? funny shit.

-i love the north bay. leave it to them to get all presumptuous on your ass. do you know how many people still don’t know what blogs are? how about how many people don’t care? here’s a hint: LOTS.

-lots of great auctions going on over at the stranger. you should get an ad in the hot box to tell everyone how hot you are. there’s also a little blurb on sonic boom taking over the record business in seattle. and they have my permission, spread the mf’n love. sing it jt!

-i got shit to mail, work to do. more christmas present ideas for everyone: for the indie rock loving record toter, indie rock record tote bags! quite possibly the worst intro for that i could have done.

here’s an interview with the aqua teen guys. i haven’t had the time to read it yet, but will as soon as i get home.

-brl sent me a link to the defjux site, which was recently redesigned and includes a ton of new streams of def jux artists (you know, shit like el-p, rjd2, aesop rock, etc.) good shit, but nothing downloadable. also a ton of videos up there, so go check it out eh?

the weekend was so damn short that i didn’t get all the things i wanted to get done, done, and i’ve had so much work to do here, i haven’t had much time to get mess around on the interweb. we did head up to santa monica to see in america which was fantastic, and you’ll hopefully be seeing some oscar nominations rolling in for that one.

did a lot of shopping this weekend and found out that i now want every single cambridge companion philophy book ever published, especially the nietszche, kant, kierkegaard ones. if any of ya’ll wanna buy me one, i won’t complain.

though i haven’t even gotten futurama seasons 1 and 2 yet, a date has been set for futurama season three dvd set. newsradio has got a set release date, too, february 3rd for the low price of 30 skins for the first two season. we is pleased.

-fox searchlight’s got their own blog, but the muthafuckas can’t even throw down a real domain?! anyways, they’re doing a lot of coverage on jim sheridan’s ew movie, in america. dude was on the treatment the other day with the infinitely knowleagable elvis mitchell, check the archived show. searchlight link via broken lull (tweaked mt style!).

-fly me to the moon. looks like the admin wants another moon trip, likely in order to cultivate fossil fuels, spread democracy, and act as a catalyst for regime change against the mooninites.

-holiday advice on getting your motherfucking career in gear. good advice all around, at that.

-miguel tejada a mariner? i don’t know about this, i was never much of a tejada fan, even when oakland was tearing through the AL a couple years back on their insane win-streak, and really, if i had a choice between signing tejada and kaz matsui, i’d pick matsui if it came cheaper. but fuck all that, really, because what they should do is let carlos back in short, let winn and cammy walk and put that money into vlad. vlad, vlad, vlad!

-i’ve seen most of these shows already, but the new year’s lineup for adult swim marathon is up, and if i’m not out watching fireworks or something and decide to do a quiet new years, i will be watching some cartoons. eat that, nerd-haters!

-there’s always a little cynicism rearing its head around here when i mention disneyland (because of its strangely evil cheerfulness), but steve jobs at disney is intriguing nonetheless. i can’t say i’d like the dude to start making hybrid mickey mouse/apple computers. or maybe i would, i don’t know, we might be going to disneyland for new year’s for all i know. shit, i’m all flustered now, i don’t even know what i’m saying.

-shot through the heart and you’re to blame!

-more gift guides for you, this one’s actually good:
nerd gift guide, for those special to your heart whose brains are the size of watermelons. the binary clock is awesome for those that can read binary code, but…the ambient orb is oddly interesting but i could give a flying fuck about the stock market…the usb watch is a little james bondish, either way, some cool/useless stuff here.

-sparked from catchdubs, (so stoked about the return of stereo sounds) i found an interview with them at skateboardermag.com. products will be out soon, including the re-release of the first two stereo videos, including a visual sound which rocked ass, even back in the day. never got a chance to see the next vid (which featured some tortoise music, as well as chris and jason’s stuff), but am looking forward to it.

-it doesn’t seem right to be an 8 out of 10 on the rage level at five in the morning, and i tend to keep it under wraps relatively well when i’m in the car (i said relatively), but one of these days, i’m probably gonna go mutherfucking hulk on asshole drivers’ asses.

anyways, this weekend there is christmas shopping to be done. i’d like to be nice and get everyone i know presents, or even christmas cards, but let’s face it, i’m not rich, or really all that nice. i can’t say enough good things about “we shall all be healed”, shit’s gonna knock your socks off on a slow but sure basis.

have a good weekend.

i’m stuck at home, sick, for the umpteenth fucking time this year, doped up on theraflu and sweating out the baddies. daytime tv sucks, so i sat in bed watching the hulk all day, falling in and out of consciousness. from what i saw, i wasn’t impressed.

-i don’t think i’ve ever sent out holiday cards before, but i gotta agree with ugc that these cards are dope.

i am, however, sporting last year’s wrapping paper from nowwashyourhands as my desktop background. two years ago, i had the trees up. don’t let anyone ever tell you i’m a scrooge.

-the top 10 internet fads. I don’t know if it’s the medication or not, but i laughed out loud during the pointcast explanation.

-i really like the songs i’ve heard off the oranges band record, from all around, but keep forgetting to pick it up, that’s why half of the things that i want to put on my top 10 list i don’t even own and couldn’t put them on because i haven’t gotten some of the records. i don’t really know what to do about that, but i do know that i got a few good chuckles out of the videos on lookout for “finns for our feet” and “ok apartment” (one of the spots looks like the fingernail in richland).

-holy crap, exit wounds is on not once, but TWICE this weekend on tbs. weekend = set. boy do i feel like crap. be gone computer!

there’s a few songs i heard by a band called some by sea from the seattle area that i thought were pretty nice (the production gets two thumbs up). there’s a few of them at their site. they have a new album out on december 11th which you can get from there–somebysea.com:

some by sea | the winter rush

some by sea | paaale winder with dark eyes

-bill gates vs. steve jobs the stuff’s mildly interesting, but i think they started running out of stuff to say about jobs– number 10 is “he’s a vegetarian.” snoresville.

-wired’s list of geek gifts is out, and i wasn’t totally impressed by the list, but that thing on paris at the bottom waS funny. a lie-detector on your phone?! man, must be a drag to be her.

-i’ve read a few things about p.f. coles’ pastrami sandwiches downtown. haven’t had a chance to get down there yet, the hours are all messed up over there, they close at like 7. i had no idea that had literary events going on down there.

and for those literary types, mcsweeney’s is accepting submissions for sestinas and sestinas only! what’s a sestina? a difficult form of poetry, check out this page for more information on how to write one.

-well, i’ve gone back over to the land of cellphones since my sister and brother-in-law wanted new ones and pawned their old ones on us (free phone + free service = an offer that cannot be refuse). i know i wanted the se z600, but looks like it’s not getting a US release (why is that?), but check this new one out, videophone is a reality, the ericsson z1010.

-one day, i’m gonna need to make a website fast and i’ll be too lazy to write the code myself, so i’ll use layout-o-matic, or more likely the related list-o-matic, so i figured i’d post it here because there’s got to be someone lazier than me.

quit your fucking snickering.

-it’s official, judging by my feeble attempt at sleep last night and the dryness in my throat, i’m sick. it hurts to breath and i woke up with that shitty ass-taste in my mouth this morning from being unable to breath through my nose all night. tylenol pm was in full effect, but that shit doesn’t compare to a nice hot theraflu shooter. i love that drink for the sickies.

yo, when’s someone gonna find some of that new vanderslice shit for me?! i wanna hear that, like NOW.

neil labute’s top 10 black comedies (thank you the morning news!) i’ve only seen about half, but i will say that godard’s great, network was a fine film, though never a big fan of the tv show, M*A*S*H the movie was funny, and crumb was sadly intriguing. neil labute’s films, are for me, one-time watchers.

-there’s a film festival in estonia that got a world-class criminal to be part of a jury at an animation film festival. what happened? lots of great stuff, i’m sure. it’s estonia’s way to try and get the ex-con’s re-integrated into society. the article’s really funny, but what an odd way to re-integrate criminals into society. they should do that with the oscars.

-the new miyazaki trailer for howl’s moving castle is up, i think you need a xvid codec to see it, so i haven’t watched it yet. lemme know, will ya?

-a while back i’d become obsessed with waterson and calvin and hobbes. it wasn’t so much an obsession with calvin and hobbes or even waterson, but the fact that he’d been so effective at completely withdrawing himself from society and living in seclusion. there’s a profile on him at clevescene.com, that talks about his being done with the strip at the height of popularity– jay-z and waterson, like this (fingers crossed). he sent a letter to the paper on dec. 31st 1995 stating the end of the strip. i didn’t remember what the last strip was, but found it here (geocities doesn’t allow outside .gif links, but it’s labeled pretty clearly, you lazy bastard) and was happy for waterson and sad for his fans at the same time.

-rumsfeld won some award that is about the equivalent of calling him a huge dumbass, which is nice. ooh, do i hate you.

-i found that song that matt was going on about by the extra glenns.

the extra glenns | going to marrakesh

-i’m fucking getting sick again, i think. last night i spent way too much time trying to get my christmas list together and way too little time trying to get real shit done, like my 2003 list, which, by the way, is suprisingly short so far. slow year? maybe i just haven’t been on top of my game.

jeese, what a frickin’ day. i ditched out on work early because i had to go help a friend get her broke-ass car to bob’s, THE best mechanic in hawthorne, which prevented me from posting the ever so important links that i had in mind today. really, all i had in mind was a boot in the ass over to indiepages sounds pages for some christmas songs, since those damn things are popping up all over the damn place and hadn’t yet seen anyone point over there yet.

i woke up on thanksgiving day to boston blaring out of my brother’s alarm in his room, UPSTAIRS, whilst trying to get comfortable on the couch, and the only thing running through my head was more than a feeling. “i see my maryanne walking away….” shit was stuck in my head the rest of the day.

this place is no different from all the other sites you been checking, i got big things planned, as usual, but don’t know if i’ll have the time, gall, or motivation to get it all done, but at least expect a year end list, which i usually never do, but for some reason feel some sort of inclination to do. trying to do something a little different as well, but won’t get too much into it for fear i’ll bore you. as if i haven’t already.

we listened to a ton of weezer on the way to the city on saturday, where all we did is eat food, but it just got me thinking about how great pinkerton sounds. the drums are so frickin’ HUGE on that record, every time the snare hits it sounds like something is breaking, like my fist in your face. yeah, take that, sucka! BUT, another thing it got me thinking of– best album closers. i’m working on that list as i compile some good ones, but “only in dreams” ranks up there with the best. any other ideas?