manic

hello.

it is just after 3am. and i am going to bed.

it has been a long & arduous few weeks.

but i am going to bed.

here’s a preview of my review for the new DMB album:

“am i the only one who actually liked the last album, Stand Up?”

intriguing, no?

but i am going to bed.

oh, oh, oh. wait. here. look at these pictures of the little owl in our backyard. he paid us a visit this past afternoon.

click the picture. hoot hoot.

yeah. he was cool.

but i am going to bed.

———

g’night.

lots of lil’ bits

i’ve been thinking about the blog lately, and i realized i was starting to miss when there were topics thrown into the air for discussion and there would be lengthy debates about (insert whatever here).

oh well.

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i tweeted this earlier tonight…

i just had an epiphany: i’m ok if certain elements of #LOST aren’t explained away by science, like an episode of ‘House’ or something.

it came to me after reading the latest entry on lostpedia about who Jacob’s nemesis is and what that’s all about. i was reminded that way, way back that Darlton stated that everything in the show could/would be explained (at the very least) by pseudo-science, and i thought how cool that was. but the latest kink they’ve thrown here (Esau, Mr. X, whatever) seems to really, truly border on going anywhere past science.

and i really am cool with that. it seems that they’ve been sliding towards some sort of religious element in the course of this past season. now, whether that’s an attempt to sort of cover for the science and dress it up as religion/mythology/whatever, i dunno. but if Jacob and whoever his un-friend is are some sort of supernatural, omnipresent beings… that’s cool. it would actually annoy me a little bit if they felt this intense need to explain it away like some super stupid ridiculous disease on House.

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tomorrow night is Coldplay night!

we’ll be traveling with the Mielkes to B’ham to meet up with Cassie, Jacob, Jenna, & Kevin. i’m really excited about it and cannot wait to see the show they put on.

[btw, if you haven't grabbed the free live EP from them, hop on over here to grab it. it is excellent.]

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last week, i wrote that i had come across (eh hem) a whole load of new music and that i would write about it.

so, in short form, here it is…

• The Boy Least Likely To, The Law of the Playground- this is an odd one. its incredibly shiny and sounds like sparkly pop plastic toy (along the same lines as Apples In Stereo), but the lyrics have some really dark undertones. but its really entertaining and makes for good summer time blasting. just, you know… ignore the lyrics.
• Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown- i’m still working on this one, kinda’ like i’m still working on the last U2 album (No Line on the Horizon).  American Idiot was such an incredible album and a brilliant, watershed moment for the band that anything deemed “less” will have a hard time impacting anyone. there are some good moments throughout, but… i dunno. its hard for me to not think, “i want American Idiot part 2,” and in a way, 21st Century Breakdown is. there’s a story, there are characters, disaffected youth, yada yada yada… but at times it seems they’re not so much reinventing as they are rehashing. more listening required.
• Manic Street Preachers, Journal for Plague Lovers- i am completely new to this band, so i’ve nothing to really base this album off of (as far as comparisons go). judging by what’s available on iTunes right now, it seems they’ve been sorta’ out of the game for awhile. anywho, i’ve really enjoyed this album. its just rock. a little bit… weird… at times, but its good rock. so i like it.
• Howling Bells, Radio Wars- this is the band opening for Coldplay tomorrow night. meh. they’ve a good sound and i can see why the boys picked ‘em, but… meh.
• Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix- yes, they’re French. yes, the album title is a bit self-aggrandizing. but its fun, in a Nada Surf pop sort of way. its fun pop rock, and seriously: is there anything the world needs now, more than ever, than some good, fun pop rock? yeah, i didn’t think so.
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It’s Blitz!- i’ve never been a big fan of Y(3). don’t get me wrong: i loved “Maps.” but i’ve never made the effort to jump in on their bandwagon. however, i felt compelled to after seeing them on SNL earlier this season and also because the cover for the album is of someone breaking an egg in their hand and its kinda’ cool looking. its very 80s, very discotheque, very dancy. therefore, i thoroughly enjoyed it. check it out.

other things i haven’t gotten around to listening through:

• Sparklehorse, Dark Night of the Soul
• Pet Shop Boys, Yes
• Depeche Mode, Sounds of the Universe
• Conor Oberst, Outer South

more on those at some later date.

———

hopefully you caught the season finale of SNL this week with Will Ferrell hosting. it wasn’t the best episode of the season (that award collectively goes to everything pre-election in one lump sum), but it was fan-freaking-tastic to see reprisals of old roles. not only did we get Harry Caray on “Weekend Update,” and not only did we get Celebrity Jeopardy… we also got the return of the brilliant Norm Macdonald as Burt Reynolds (for all of 30 seconds). and of course, we also got Artie Lange in the last sketch (which was brilliant, btw).

[quick aside: the return of Artie Lange was fantastic. i never knew the guy's history until he popped up one day on 'Fresh Air' on NPR. dude has seen/been through alot.]

catch some of the stuff on Hulu if you can.

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that’s about all. g’night.

blech

haz a happee

i feel like i have a 20 ton boulder laying on me right now. i’m playing catchup like a crazy person at work and i just can’t seem to keep everything in order.

hence… i am up right now, having finally put work stuff away for the night.

yes, its after 1am.

yes, it’ll probably be like this until after Annual Conference is over.

———

i loved the LOST season finale. like, for reals. i initially had a pretty major beef about it (which i won’t expound upon here because i have no idea who all has seen it and who hasn’t), but since last night, i’ve come to terms with it and actually appreciate it.

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not only was last night (er, Wednesday night) the LOST finale; it also was a day for celebration and fun. my great friend William Jones came through for a visit. he’s home on vacation from Niger, where he is stationed as a PeaceCorps worker. i hadn’t seen him in nearly two years, so it was great to visit with him and see him doing well.

he’s doing some great work way over there, and i’ve kept up with him via his wonderful blog (which you can find in the sidebar) and Google Chat (when he is somewhere with decent internet access). he wraps up his “tour of duty” in September, and after that he plans to travel around Europe for a bit before returning home.

he’s a great guy and such a dear friend to both me and Jackie. we already miss him. safe travels, good friend.

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in case you hadn’t heard, HB373, aka the Free the Hops bill, passed! all that’s left is for Gov. Riley to sign the bill into law, and it seems a sure thing seeing as he just signed a fortified wine bill (meaning, higher alcohol content) in yesterday afternoon. i’ve written him an email already, detailing why this is the right move for Alabama.

fingers crossed!

———

i know i don’t update much on the progress of The Baby, and i feel a bit guilty for it. truth be told, there just isn’t too much to report on past sharing that everything seems to be going very well.

we got through the first trimester just fine, and Jackie seems to be past all the exhaustion that plagued her to begin with. now she’s starting to deal with the bigger body changes that include random cramping all over her body.

i’m hoping for more days off for her in the future. i’m a bit biased, but Jackie’s likely the hardest working mom-to-be i’ve ever come in contact with. while this is good, in that it ensures that constant, steady flow of income, i feel that she’s sometimes missing out on the “fun” part of expecting, namely choosing & shopping for all the things we/The Baby needs: nursery stuff, colors, clothes, etc etc.

its sometimes nigh impossible to pull her away from her responsibilities with her work and even on her days off, she’s busy doing stuff that doesn’t always involve babies. and the lack of a weekend is a pretty big damper, too; her off days don’t really ever coincide with mine.

i dunno. i’m hoping that things will start to work out soon. its frustrating.

———

i’ve gathered a whole bunch of new music in the past few days, and i’ll write more about it later. i’m proud of myself for keeping up with that little New Year’s resolution so far.

———

g’night.

shaking off the rust

its been quite awhile since i’ve had a good Micro$oft Sucks rant. but i’ve finally found a good one to latch onto.

and amazingly, it doesn’t involve the brain-dead stupid Laptop Hunters ads of “regular people” going to buy an HP or a Dell or Sony laptop. my biggest reaction to that, thus far, has been a big ol’ look down my nose and a shrug.

no, this one involves the Zune vs. the iPod.

yeah. its dumb.

and so completely far fetched and misleading that it screams for someone to tear it limb-for-limb.

i’ll do it.

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• “at a buck a song…”- ok, seriously? $30,000? this, of course, presumes, you’ve never purchased any music before. at all. ever. that if you were to go out and buy an iPod today and came home, you suddenly realized that you’ve never purchased a CD. this completely misses the mark that has been one of the beauties of the iTunes/iPod revolution: the ability to take whatever music you already own and dump it into iTunes for syncing with your iPod. not to mention that with the new tiered pricing scheme, there is actually a good chunk of good music available for $.69.
• “to fill the latest iPod…”- (BZZZZZT) wrong. the iPod Classic, which has the ability to store up to 120GB of info (music, video, photos, notes, etc.) hasn’t been updated in ages. its sat at that number for quite awhile. the latest iPod, the Shuffle, holds a whopping 4GB of music. yes, its a small point, but a valid one. let’s face it: no one is buying the Classic anymore. everyone is shifting to the Nano and/or Shuffle and/or iPhone/iPod Touch.
• “i don’t have 30 grand layin’ around for music…”- no, of course you don’t. no one does (well, almost on one). no one buys $30k worth of music in one sitting. no one goes to the music store and buys $30k worth of CDs. over your lifetime… maybe. and you know what? since iTunes is now DRM-free, you own the music after you purchase it. its like… magic! leading to the next point…
• “consider… ZunePass”- this is just laughable. at first blush, a subscription service sounds nice, but in the end, you get your ass bitten. ZunePass is especially chuckle-worthy: at the end of every month (wherein you pay M$ $14.99), you get to keep 10 tracks, DRM-free (errrr, if available that is) forever. after that, like every other retard, manipulative subscription service endorsed by M$, if you quit paying, all those other tracks you got your hands on suddenly switch off and are unplayable.

might i show you the door, Microsoft? oh, and please: don’t let it hit you on the arse on the way out.

the Savannah wrapup

things i learned…

• John Wesley had a miserable time in Savannah (as i previously noted)
• Wesley had no desire to make Methodism a full-fledged denomination (it wasn’t established until after his death)
• the Washington Post is staunchly anti-religion (don’t ask)
• The Methodist Church likes to re-brand things a whole bunch
• Rethink Church is a really cool avenue they’re pursuing
• we have a commercial (that never aired) that had a woman’s voice as the voice of God
• Mike Dubose (our official photographer, not the coach!) is a really cool guy and has a fantastic talent
• i need to work more on my social skills, insofar as opening up to folks a bit more
• Holiday Inn at the Historic District has the best hotel service i have ever encountered. i mean that: ever
• however… they have the worst WiFi connections ever. truly awful
• Savannah is really cool place… provided its not ass-freezing cold all the time
• Savannah has some god-awful rush hour traffic (oddly)

and that’s about all i can think of for now… on that.

———

other quick bullet points…

• Jackie’s still in Florida; won’t be back until Monday. so that sucks.
• after the release of new iMacs and Minis this past week, i am totally ok. according to multiple benchmark testings, there’s near-negligible difference (speed wise) between these new ones and the one i picked up last week. if there’s one thing i’ll miss out on, its the extra RAM that the new ones will take.
• Mom has an iPod Touch now. the halo effect is an amazing thing.
• this week’s LOST was pretty good. not nearly as mind blowing as past episodes, but still quite good. especially the OMGWTFBBQ moment about two minutes in.
• as infuriating as it was to shoot with only our old point & shoot this past weekend, i wound up getting some decent stuff out of it. i just wish the shots i was able to get were a higher res. there’s so much noise and so little room to crop that it almost feels like a waste.
• i’m rebooting an old quest to switch over to Aperture, leaving iPhoto behind. this is mostly because Jackie’s gonna have to switch over completely in the coming months, so i need to be on the same page. yes, i bought a book.
• new Neko Case: fantastic. get it.
• new U2: i’m still working this one out. its all over the map, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. there’s much more attention being paid to the sound of the music than in the past couple of albums. it makes me want to pull some older material out and relisten.
• i somehow got embroiled in a political debate (yes, on facebook; where else?). in my defense, though, it was more out of frustration that people still aren’t researching on their own behalf. subjects: the Fairness Doctrine, Abd al-Rahim, and health care. c’mon, folks. a 10-second Google search will learn ya a whole lot.

i’m exhausted.

night night.