I've been holding off on buying a Nintendo DS, waiting for the announcement of the U.S. release of the Nintendo DS Lite. That announcement is here, and it seems waiting was the wise move, as the DS Lite will be the same price as the original DS, $129. The release date is June 11.

Of course, the question remains, do I need a DS? I hardly play my Game Boy now, and after breaking down and replacing my GameCube, I haven't really gotten much use out of it (I still play Animal Crossing on occasion, but the novelty has worn off). The nice thing about the wait for the Lite to arrive is, it's given me a chance to reflect on whether I need this. But I'll probably buy it when the Lite comes out; games like Meteos and Brain Age seem like things I would play, and then there's the odd games from Japan that make it here, like Feel the Magic, Trauma Center: Under the Knife and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. One reason why my interest in the system may have waned a bit is, the game I was most interested in, the continuation of the wonderful WarioWare series, is supposed to be pretty bad. But there's plenty of good games to counter any one dud.

A map and guide to Las Vegas' mob heritage.

As you may have heard, Napster now offers a free streaming audio service. And today was a very good day for them to debut the service, as I just finished reading through last month's copy of No Depression (I always seem to finish it right when the new issue comes in the mail), and was planning on looking up the music I noted in the issue. Usually, I use Rhapsody for the task (at least for artists not availabe on eMusic), but I instead went to Napster and signed up. Napster's website seems pretty well-designed, though the link to the terms of service on the sign-up page is broken (I eventually managed to find the terms they required me to agree to, though it took some clicking). And in general pages were slow to load, but this is understandable given the news coverage they received today. But in general, the service fuctions smoothly. The only usability issue I had was the inability to create playlists. You can choose to play an individual track, a complete album, or a Napster-produced playlist. But you cannot create a list of individual tracks to play. But Rhapsody isn't much better in this regard, in that it allows you to create playlists to share with people, but there is no simple process to just list tracks to play. And Rhapsody's web interface falls far behind Napster's (and if memory serves, required a plug-in to be installed).

As for the terms of the free service, Napster beats Rhapsody hands-down. Rhapsody only provides 25 free plays a month, while Napster purports to offer five free plays of every song in their library (more on that "purports" below). The inevitable trade-off is that Napster features advertising. Presently, in addition to banner ads on the web pages and on the pop-up player, the player automatically pops up from time to time and displays a five-second ad for Napster's other products. Their is no audio, and in my opinion the ads are reasonable given the value of the service offered. Of course, things could change, but at present the advertising does not hurt the service (in fact, the banner ads reminded me that I'd been meaning to check out Elvis Costello's new album).

I do have two main complaints about Napster. First, it seems to fall behind Rhapsody as far as artist selection. There were several artists unavailable on Napster who were represented on Rhapsody. To be fair, we're talking about fairly obscure acts, and also, I did not check Rhapsody for artists I was able to find on Napster, so their could be some gaps there. But my personal experience has been that most any artists I have looked for on Rhapsody have been present, and the few that weren't on Rhapsody, were unlikely to have been there (for instance, I was not surprised when my search for the Jody Grind proved fruitless). Beyond that, my main complaint is a matter of bait-and-switch. According to Napster's advertising, with their service, "you can listen to every track in our 2,000,000 song catalog." So imagine my surprise when I made my very first search, for The Sadies, and all I could hear were thirty-second samples. For quite awhile, I assumed I was doing something wrong, but eventually I realized these tracks were not available with the free service (or the paid service, for that matter, as the tracks are only available for purchase). Quite a few of my searches were met with similar results. Most of the artists I looked for were fully streamable, but given the hype Napster's putting out today about every track being available, the fact that a small but significant number of songs I looked for were not availabe, was irritating.

So Napster's advertising isn't fully accurate, and some songs aren't avaible. But still, for free, Napster is a useful service, and as long as the advertising doesn't get out of hand, I doubt I'll have much use for Rhapsody anymore.

I never did mention the Adams Avenue Roots & Folk Festival, which is now well over a week past. I had a pretty good time, enjoying some of the carnival food and hearing some good music. The line-up overall wasn't really that impressive, and no one band really made the festival. But I still enjoyed most of the acts I caught, especially on Saturday. I found myself following around mandolin players the first half of Saturday, enjoying sets by both the San Diego Mandolin Orchestra Ensemble and the Portugese Mandolin Duo (which borrowed a player from the Mandolin Orchestra Ensemble). Between the Sicilian sound of the Ensemble and the fados of the Portugese Mandolin Duo, the festival took on a continental feel. Other highlights of Saturday were anti-folkie Cindy Lee Berryhill and Hillcrest Farmer's Market regulars the 7th Day Buskers. There were some evening performances I wanted to see, but was too worn out to stay.

I went back on Sunday, but didn't stay as long as I planned, as I was tired, and still not feeling completely well. The only performance worth noting was Anne Feeney, singing old union songs as well as her own compositions. I picked up one of her CDs, which I didn't care for as much as her live performance, but it's still not bad. I took off not too long after that, and so I missed a few acts I would have liked to see, like Trails & Rails and Los Califorios. But I still heard some good music, and am now anxiously awaiting this fall's Street Fair, as well as next year's Roots Festival.

In addition to the bands I heard at the festival, there was one other musical bonus that came out of my presence at the Roots Festival. The April issue of the San Diego Troubadour doubled as the Roots Festival official program, and in flipping through the program between sets (the beer garden was full to capacity, so I couldn't give up my seat), I came across the monthly calendar of events. And though the bulk of April was past, and I have a tendency to discover great shows days after they occured, it turned out the act I was most interested in was not until the following Wednesday, and at my school, no less. Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster was going to perform as part of Art Power, a performing arts series at UCSD I was unaware existed. I'd seen Natalie MacMaster about five years ago or so, at Humphrey's, performing with Mark O'Connor. This time, it was her and her band, including a bagpiper. I think I enjoyed her a bit more at Humphrey's, when she was just playing solo or with O'Conoor, with the focus on the fiddle. But this was a great show, too, with a good variety of tunes, but focused more on upbeat numbers, lots of jigs and reels. When I first saw her, I remembered our reaction to her at the Humphrey's show, remarking on how scrawny she is (no surprise, given the amount of calories she must burn jumping around on stage as much as she does), and thinking how it's just as true now. So when she added early on that she'd just had a baby, you can bet I was a bit surprised (she had the kid with her, and he made a brief appearance on-stage). Anyway, the important thing to note is, it was a great show, and she is an amazing fiddler in the Cape Breton tradition. And for myself, as a UCSD student, it was only $15. Not a bad deal. Though I was a bit miffed that I was unaware of the Art Power series, as I would have considered a subscription had I known of the series in advance. I've considered driving to Los Angeles in the past to see Art Spiegelman, and he was part of this series. I had considered going to individual shows in the series, but decided ultimately to pass on the Kronos Quartet for some reason, and John Cleese sold out before I could get tickets. But I look forward to the announcement of next year's series.

This weekend, I saw Peter Case, another great artist brought to our town by Acoustic Music San Diego. He didn't draw much of a crowd, unfortunately, but those of us who were there had a great time, and Case tried out quite a few new songs. If you ever have the opportunity, don't miss him.

And that gets me up-to-date, I suppose, on my recent music outings. It was a pretty good week for music in San Diego, I'd have to say.

John Kenneth Galbraith, dead at 97.

Areba Koala needs a cult following.

[Adult Swim]'s two-week experiment of showing classic episodes of Saved By the Bell every day at midnight has ended, and the midnight time slot will apparently be next filled by Small Wonder, followed by Mr. Belvedere. I found the whole idea of live-action sitcoms on the Cartoon Network rather weird, and figured it was a joke, but the angry conjecture on the internet is that live-action will continue to intrude on the cartoons, due to money. But as stupid as this new programming strategy seems, I'm pretty psyched to be seeing Small Wonder again. I loved that show as a kid. In fact, I remember having a friend over, and insisting that we watch Small Wonder, which he had never seen (he was the son of two college professors and didn't watch much TV). I think he thought I was mildly retarded after that.

I got to my evening class a bit early yesterday, and was lounging about outside on the second floor of the building, waiting for the previous class to adjourn. I was looking out towards the handicapped parking lot, when I saw a big black SUV pull in, and park in the x-ed off section set aside for those needing a ramp to get into their vans. I was already mad because someone almost ran me over on the way to class, so this made me even more angry. I noticed that one car was parked legitimately, but that another did not have any visible handicapped placard visible from my vantage point. My attention shifted to the third car parked in the lot, and again I saw no placard or anything else suggesting they were parked legally. But as I looked, I noticed someone lying in the reclined passenger seat. No sooner had I noticed her then, as if on cue, she rolled over and proceeded to mount someone in the drivers-side seat. So apparently, the handicapped parking spots on campus are the new hot make-out spot. For people who can only get off while being an unbelievable asshole, apparently. I found myself wishing I had a cinderblock to heave over the railing, but sadly I was empty-handed. I should start carrying one in my backpack--I might end up with some fused vertebrae, but I'll always be able to express my anger in wildly inappropriate ways.

Rush Limbaugh arrested, makes deal. If he keeps receiving drug treatment, they'll drop the charges in 2 1/2 years. It's tough to be a rich white guy in trouble, let me tell you.

I do wonder if his legal woes are over, though. This sweetheart deal, as I understand it, only covers state charges. Limbaugh allegedly used structured withdrawals to get the cash for his drugs, while avoiding reporting guidelines designed to catch money launderers. Taking money out of the bank in a series of smaller withdrawals, to avoid the $10,000 reporting threshold for cash transactions, is a crime. It doesn't matter why you did it. No criminal intent needs to be proven, beyond the desire to avoid the filing of a CTR by the bank. And it is a crime that in the past has been vigorously enforced. So I don't know if Limbaugh has a deal that would cover any federal crimes, but if not, he might have more problems down the line.

Inside the Disney Vault. That's a "T.V. Funhouse" scetch from Saturday Night Live, as is this clip, "Conspiracy Theory Rock," which only aired once before NBC realized they don't like to laught at themselves, and edited it out of re-runs.

Las Vegas Police refuse to release location of beating. Another reminder of who the LVPD work for.

You have to love a public access preacher that has to have his video labeled "NSFW."

The Village People and Average Homeboy.

News flash: I'm still alive. Just lazy. Decided to take a spring vacation from the blogging biz, I suppose. I'm sure you've all missed me terribly, and I promise never again will I leave you, my loyal reader(s), in the lurch.

Not that I had much to say, had I posted here. School is school. I'm running out of classes to take (I suppose I could graduate, but that's crazy talk), and am finding rather odd things to fill the void as I try to get the final classes I need to leave the hallowed halls of academia behind (and take up the cyber-halls of distance learning grad school, if that is indeed the path I choose). I did stumble upon a class on information technology and computer literacy, which I am taking this quarter, and which I think will teach me some basic skills that might be useful in grad school, pursuing a degree in library science, as is currently the plan (either that, or be a cowboy). And I have found the class useful at times, as I pick up some random computer skills I've previously lacked. And I had to learn how to use PowerPoint, which I was mad about, because my basic copy of Microsoft Office didn't include PowerPoint, so I had to buy a new copy ($100 with the school's site license) in order to get PowerPoint. But it actually is a pretty good program for people like myself with no skills vis-a-vis graphic design. I doubt I'll use it for presentations, but for real basic visual projects, I might take advantage of it from time to time. In any event, the class seems pretty basic, but I think it will have some value.

Beyond that, not a hell of a lot to report here. Just doing school and wasting time. Went to some concerts, most recently Ronny Cox. He's better known as an actor (Deliverance, notable guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation), but is also a gifted folk singer. You can download most of his songs from his web site. I saw some other shows, I've forgotten to mention (not just since my last post, but in the last couple months, several have slipped through the cracks). George Jones, Elana James, and Arlo Guthrie are probably the most worthy of note, seen at Pechanga, Acoustic Music San Diego, and the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, respectively. I'll try to pass along my opinions on fine shows I've seen, since I'm sure you all care. The Adams Avenue Roots Festival is this weekend, I'm sure there'll be a few quality acts to tell you all about. And if not, I can tell you about how much funnel cake I had to eat before getting sick.

Actually, I'm a bit under the weather, so I'll probably lay off the carnival food. I thought I was feeling better today, but my lunch wasn't sitting well. I think it's the constantly-changing weather, and interrupted sleeping patterns. And the weight gain couldn't help--I got lazy as far as exercise was concerned the last two months or so, and am back where I started the year. So hitting my end-of-year goal of 200 pounds will be more difficult. But I was getting back in a decent fitness routine these last two weeks, until I got sick, and hope to pick back up where I left off tomorrow, if I still feel well in the morning. I'm relatively confident I will reach my goal.

I'm also trying to get more stuff done. I have a side project, I hinted at a while back, which completely fell by the wayside with school burdens, but I hope to get back to working on that. I've also fallen somewhat behind in school this quarter, but not very far, and I should be caught up by next week. I've decided that from 2-5 every day (when I'm not at work or in class) is my work time. No television, no e-mail, no web surfing, just getting stuff done. In the past, I've tried just setting a goal for the day, and getting it done whenever. Which usually meant late evening, which is a good time for me to get distracted. Afternoons, on the other hand, are a time I often waste, but if I really focus, I tend to stay on task and actually get things done. So I'm going for a time-based system, rather than goal-based. Three hours isn't a really long time to get everything done, but if I make a habit of it, I think my productivity will skyrocket. I'll do better in school, and Mike's Mysterious Web-Based Side Project might see the light of day eventually. Maybe I'll even post here on occasion (which probably falls into the category of time wasted, but whatever). We'll see how it goes.

From the creator of the wildly inappropriate trailer Shining, we now have Something Blue.

Franz Ferdinand frontman shot by Gavrilo Princip Bassist.

Buddy Blue, aka Bernard Seigal, dead at 48.

Well, this was a rather tiring weekend. I had tickets to Carmen on Saturday, at the Civic Center. Pretty good opera, I'd never seen before. I thought the story was a bit weak, and Don Jose was a bit of a doufus, but the music was good, and it was fun hearing so many songs I've heard so many times without knowing their context. The opera got out around 11:30, but it took me about a half-hour just to get out of the parking garage. My car did not move for about ten minutes, which was frustrating, though fortunately I had reading material. So I didn't get to bed until close to one, and then had to get up at 5:00 AM to go line up in Humphrey's parking lot.

Waiting in line was far more pleasant than I anticipated. Last time, I hadn't expected nearly the line I encountered, when I arrived around 9:00. I didn't even bring something on which to sit that time. This time, I brought coffee, water, a sandwich, donuts, cookies, a chair, magazines, my Gameboy, and most importantly, my iPod. And when I arrived, at a quarter to six, the line wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. When they handed out numbers later, I was number 31. And despite the threat of rain from the weatherman, the weather was beautiful, warm even before dawn, with a nice gentle breeze to keep things from getting too hot. I listened to music and caught up on my reading (I was a bit embarrased when an article in Outside magazine about the Himalayan Cataract Project made me misty-eyed), and 10:00 came sooner that I could have hoped. It took me about 45 minutes to reach the front of the line, and I was able to get good tickets for myself. I got fantastic seats for Robert Earl Keen and Pink Martini, and pretty good seats for Randy Newman, back a bit because I requested aisle seating, due to Mom's bum knee. I did feel bad that I couldn't get three seats together for the friend I was buying tickets for, and instead had to get her three seats in a column, over three rows. But overall, I was very glad I waited in line, and didn't give ticketmaster the $60 or so I would have been hit with in Ticketmaster fees.

Sacco and Vanzetti documentary. An internet aquaintance is involved, so I am doing them the courtesy of a link. I still need to see her documentary on the Internationale.

Reading about the Simpsons movie trailer let me to the news that Fururama was returning to television for another season, exciting news that I almost immediately was able to refute at the site linked above. Billy West raised my hopes and dashed them admirably. Still, the DVD movie should be pretty sweet.

Simpsons teaser trailer reveals movie coming July 27, 2007. Also, in case you missed last Sunday's Simpsons, hyped so incessantly for showing the live-action credits that everyone's already seen on the internet, it also just happened to be the episode written by Ricky Gervais. That's what they sould have been advertising ad nauseum. It was pretty good, overall. Actually started out pretty weak, though about average for recent episodes, but things picked up with Gervais' character showed up. And he sang, which is always great. A solid B+ episode, methinks.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, picking his nose and eating it. I've seen similar photos of Henry Kissinger doing the same thing--is it a European thing?

Going out to lunch this morning, some elderly gentleman walking down the street approached me and asked for directions to a nearby street. I didn't know where it was, and my mom was helpful enough to point him in the wrong direction, but I suggested we consult the Thomas Brothers, and the 1993 edition atlas was enable to steer us in the right direction. We offered the man a ride, as it was a bit far and he seemed a bit confused. Soon enough, we were at his destination, he thanked us and got out of the car, and waved at us as he crossed the street. And as we felt all warm and fuzzy inside, a car crested over the top of the hill about fifty feet up the road, and the old man came about one step away from stepping directly into the car's path. Fortunately he looked up and saw the car and stopped, but for a split second we thought the reward for our good deed would be watching an elderly man be struck down by a speeding auto. I suppose the moral of the story is, never help the elderly.

Arrested Development creator quits the show, casting doubt on Showtime deal. At least the article throws us a bone, suggesting that the feature film hinted to in the series finale might actually materialize.

Humphrey's 2006 concert schedule has been announced. I must say, the prices overall aren't as outrageous as I remember in the past. I generally find Humprhey's expensive, but it seems as though they partially subsidize the concert series with the highest profile acts, like Ringo Starr (at $115, the only act to break the $100 barrier), and most of the shows I'm interested in are affordable. But, while I love Lyle Lovett, I doubt I will shell out $95 to see him there again. But I'll definatley go to Robert Earl Keen, Pink Martini, and, of course, Randy Newman (incidentally, his Disney Hall gig has been rescheduled in November, as his wrist has not yet fully healed). Other shows are tempting, such as Roseanne Cash, but I'll probably stick to the three shows that first grabbed me. I'm not real wild about Humphrey's as a venue, as they seem to cram a few too many people in per row. A bit wider seats would make a world of difference. But I understand their dilemma, trying to accomodate as many people as possible with limited space.

The question is, should I go buy the tickets in person when they go on sale next week? In the past, I've bought tickets to shows well after they went on sale, for moderate draws like Paula Poundstone and Spinal Tap, and got decent seats. When I bought tickets for Lyle Lovett a few years ago, I decided to go down and buy them in person. I woke up at 6 AM, thinking I'd beat the rush. Turns out people camp out overnight, both scalpers and individuals, and I ended up waiting about six hours to save on the Ticketmaster fees. The final indignity is that, after waiting in line for hours, I bought my tickets, and was charged a "convenience fee" of a buck or two. I still saved substantially versus buying on-line, but being physically sore from sitting on the sidewalk all morning, things didn't feel very convenient. I was told they had to charge the fee since they use Ticketmaster's ticketing software, and the only way to avoid the fee was to purchase tickets in person the day of the concert. I'm going to enough shows that it'll probably be worth my time to wait in line, and at least I know now to bring a book and a chair.

Snakes on a Plane went back to reshoots in response to an enthused internet response. They toughened up the film to an "R" rating to appease the online fan base. I think this is a mistake. Clueless executives greenlighting a film in which Samuel L. Jackson shouts "I want these motherfucking snakes off the motherfucking plane!" can produce a cult classic; when marketing flacks insert the quote "I want these motherfucking snakes off the motherfucking plane!" because their scouring the internet reveal that that's what fans want to hear, just sounds pathetic.

Buck Owens, dead at 76.

A new exhibit on castrati recently opened in London.

I wonder what kind of message I'm sending to the troops.

I saw Arlo Guthrie last Thursday, performing at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. My parents had seen him there almost a decade ago, and had a great time, so I went with my mother this time around. The large concert hall was about half-full, mostly of long-haired hippie types and their kids. The concert was definitely a nostalgia trip for most of the audience, and while I may not be able to reflect wistfully on the '60s, I heard "Alice's Restaurant" quite a bit growing up, so I was able to get as excited as everyone else there at the thought of hearing "Alice's Restaurant" on this, the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

Guthrie played two sets over two hours, opening the second set with "Alice's Restaurant." In fact, he saved most of his own hits for the second set, but the first set was solid, too, even if I didn't know most of the songs. He played some jazz from New Orleans, and talked about his train tour to New Orleans after Katrina (though he saved "The City of New Orleans" for the second half). He talked a lot, telling stories which were fun to hear, even if you could tell he was telling them for the millionth time (which is fine, but his attempts to make as though thoughts just randomly pop into his head seemed a bit tiresome to me). After playing "Coming into Los Angeles," he recounted a somewhat recent airport run-in with the Secret Service, which concluded with him awkwardly realizing that the officers approaching him were no there to hassle him, but were greeting him as fans.

My understanding is that Guthrie retired "Alice's Restaurant" a few years ago, but this being the 40th anniversary tour, he brought it back, opening the second set. He added some asides about the draft not being as far away as some would have us think, but basically it was the same song we've heard on the radio every Thanksgiving. He also performed "The Motorcycle Song," "City of New Orleans," and other hits, along with some new stuff. For an encore, he performed a "new" Woody Guthrie song, "My Peace," which Arlo had set to music, and which he explained was one of the last songs Woody had written while his handwriting was still legible. To paraphrase Arlo's explanation, the song is about the little peace that we all can have inside of us, which makes kids and dogs like to be around us, and if we all cultivate that peace, the big peace will work itself out. Earlier, he also performed another of his dad's songs, "This Land is Your Land," including a verse I wasn't familiar with, and rather liked: "Nobody living/can ever stop me/as I go walking/by the freedom highway/nobody living/can make me turn back/this land is made for you and me." He interrupted himself repeated during that tune, telling a circuitous story which turned into a retelling of the story of Joseph, a sort of watered-down version of Lord Buckly's schtick, which actually worked pretty well.

Overall, it was a great show. I was surprised that Guthrie had such a strong stage presence. The crowd seemed to love him, and he really fed off that positive energy. One other nice thing to note, my mom and I had great seats. Her knee had been bothering her, and luckily we had requested box seats, and received them, so the two of us had our own box, so she could turn her chair to the side and have all the leg room she could want. Me, I found the leg room nice, but the chairs weren't quite as comfortable as the normal theater seats. Moreover, being right up against the edge, I felt a touch of vertigo sitting there (though being so high, and almost over the stage, I sort of felt like some omniscient being looking down on Arlo, which was kind of cool). Still, I think I will request box seats the next time I go to a show there; several boxes looked empty, so I don't think there's a huge demand for them.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing Elana James in concert at Acoustic Music San Diego. Formerly Elana Fremerman, she is the former fiddler of the former Hot Club of Cowtown, one of my favorite bands, which sadly broke up last year. Whit Smith was in my opinion the superior vocalist within Hot Club of Cowtown, but Elana's fiddling was really the star attraction, so I hoped the band's charm would remain with Elana's new group. The show was advertised as Elana James and her Hot Hot Trio, but by the time they made it to San Diego, they were calling themselves Elana James and the Continental Two, the Continental Two being Beau Sample (formerly of Cave Catt Sammy) and Luke Hill.

To my relief, Elana James and the Continental Two captured much of the joy of a Hot Club of Cowtown show. They're not completely at that level yet, but I imagine they sound much like Hot Club of Cowtown must of sounded with only a few months of experience playing together. Probably better, as James has the knowledge she gained with that band (and from playing in Bob Dylan's band last year) under her belt. They played two sets, made up of western swing and jazz classics, original songs written for Hot Club of Cowtown, and new material. Hearing Hot Club classics like "Secret of Mine" and "Forget-Me-Nots" (the song which first introduced me to the group) gave the evening a familiar feel, even as they tried out new material which mostly worked well. Their set included ample opportunities for Elana to burn up the place on some western classics like the instrumental "Draggin' the Bow" and some tune about barnyard animals, the name of which escapes me, set to the tune of "Froggie Went Acourtin'" or "The Crawdad Song." Quite a few jazz numbers were also included in their performance, including a cover of Duke Ellington's "I Don't Mind." Another swinging jazz number, "Atomic Cocktail," gave Beau Samples a chance to show off his voice, and he nailed it, making the song a high point of the evening for me. I assumed "Atomic Cocktail" was a product of 1950s nuclear testing (it seemed an appropriate ditty to spout out in some club on the Las Vegas strip for the atomic sightseers), but it was actually recorded in 1945, scant months after Hiroshima. The new songs written for the new group were somewhat more hit-or-miss, but mostly hits, including the beautiful "Eva's Waltz." All said, it was a fantastic evening of music, and I'm just sad it didn't go on for another hour (they had an early plane to catch in the morning, so they could record with Willie Nelson the next day).

There is no official CD of Elana James and the Continental Two yet available, but they were selling a "Top Secret Illegal Bootleg Sampler." I've been enjoying my copy very much, but as their first CD will be coming out in Europe very shortly, and, one can only assume, will have no trouble finding an American distributor, you might want to wait for the full album (especially since five of the eight songs on the sampler are currently on their website). But I didn't think to bring any Hot Club of Cowtown CDs for her to sign, so it was nice to have something for her to autograph. I always feel uncomfortable meeting artists I admire, as I never know what to say, but I found Elana as charming in person as she is on stage, and was instantly at ease with her. As sad as I am that Hot Club of Cowtown is no more, it was quite heartening to see that Elana James' musical career is still on track.

Peter Tomarken, dead at 63. I remember how excited I was as a child, when my family got our first VCR, and at long last I could tape Press Your Luck and watch it every day, not just when I was home sick from school. Loved them Whammies.

Issac Hayes quits South Park, citing religious bigotry.

Cryogenically frozen millionaires are now creating trust funds so they don't have to return to life as a pauper. My favorite quote, from David Pizer: "It's money that I've earned. It's not a greedy or selfish thing." Well, actually, I think that's pretty much the definition of selfish: Refusing to share any of your possessions because you feel that you alone, having earned them, are entitled to them. But whatever. I just hope, when says he's being frozen with his wife and dogs, he means after they too expire from natural causes.

The original Nintendo Entertainment System is 20 years old. I had forgotten about Battletoads, that was a sweet game.

Randy "Duke" Cunningham sentenced to eight years, four months in prison. I can't help having a smidgen of sympathy for anyone who is most likely going to die in prison, but I thought it was pathetic the way his supporters, including, oddly enough, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, called for leniency because of his charitable works. If I stole millions of dollars, I could afford to give money to a folk singer's charitable work, too. In any event, it's nice to see that my congressman remains his strongest supporter. The problem wasn't that Duke wrote a menu of bribes on congressional letterhead, the problem was that prosecutors released a copy to the press. Thanks for the clarification, Duncan.

I had to go to school for a midterm, while waiting for the sentence to come down, and was trying to find something on the radio, but all I could find were nationally-syndicated talk radio shows. When I got out of school (don't think I did particularly well on the exam), I did catch the tail-end of a report that Cunningham had received a harsh sentence, but then moved on to discussing some punk kid who ratted out his teacher for talking politics in the classroom (I never understand why the students claim they're too cowed by their teacher to argue with him in class, but have no problem discussing it in great detail on talk radio). I didn't find out the details until I got home. I often see the CEO of Clear Channel Radio on financial shows, talking about how Clear Channel is going to compete with satellite radio with their quality local content, which always strikes me as absurd, as the entire philosophy of Clear Channel was always destroying local content and offering up canned talk. I'm sorry, but local traffic reports aren't enough to save radio.

The futures market sounds so adorable.

Most of the La Mesa City Council appologizes for threatening letter. Art Madrid failed to appologize, and said that he would send the letter again. What a horses' ass. Actually, my opinion is that he's just getting old and confused. But whether senile or corrupt, he shouldn't be in office anymore. I never got around to writing him a letter, but after seeing the council meeting on the news last night, I immediately typed up a rather nasty letter.

Showtime is rumored to have picked up Arrested Development for 26 new episodes.

Contractor who bribed Randy "Duke" Cunningham also made illegal contributions to Katherine Harris. Apparently, she pled ignornace when the same thing happened in 1994, so she's decided ignorance is a good plan this time around, too. It seems a good plan, as who could possibly believe that she knows anything?

Apparently, the Trio television network recently ceased to be, but they now exist as a broadband pop culture outlet. I was always bummed when I'd hear about various things being shown on Trio, which I didn't get on my cable system, so hopefully a few of the cooler things will eventually pop up on the website.

First, your critically-acclaimed sitcom gets cancelled, and then, out of all the possibilities, your celebrity feud has to be with Larry the Cable Guy.

Don Knotts, dead at 81.

With apologies to Johnny Cash, Dick Cheney's new hit single, "Go Fuck Yourself" (The audio plays automatically upon loading the page). I made a conscious decision not to mention the whole Dick Cheney thing here (it seems that making fun of this story is no more sporting than what Cheney was up to on that ranch, hunting "Quail-tards," as The Daily Show put it), but I thought this was pretty good.

Avenue Q leaving Las Vegas in May. The writing's been on the wall for some time; the play makes money, but not enough to make it worth Wynn's while to build a second theater for Spamalot. On Gambling With Mike Pesca suggests the conservative nature of the play led to its downfall (he also mentions that the Republican-bashing was way toned-down for Vegas). I think that class issues are more to blame: A $100+ Vegas show tends to draw an audience of financially-stable individuals, while Avenue Q tells the story of young people trying to get established in the real world. I suppose the same could be said about the audience at a typical performance of La Boheme, but then I don't think that opera contains puppet sex. In any case, the audience when I saw the show didn't seem to connect with the material; the elderly couple dressed to the nines seated next to me were not there after intermission. Of course, the detachment between the intended audience and the actual audience might have had some positive effect. For instance, see this review, from someone who was horribly offended by this show, which she felt was like an R-rated Sesame Street. This, of course, is the standard metaphor that pretty much everyone uses to describe the show. So apparently, this woman paid $110 or so to see a show without asking any of the hard-hitting questions like, "What's that?"

To reiterate my own review of the show, I found it somewhat amusing, and liked some of the individual numbers very much. But I found the whole thing rather smug about it's daring, while really saying nothing new. I'm sure they're very proud of offending a TripAdvisor member from Bridgewater, MA, but I think most people just appreciate the validation they receive from the show for being such edgy people. Vegas will get by without Avenue Q, and now maybe Avenue Q can reach an audience that will better appreciate its veneer of daring.

Toll road through San Onofre State Beach approved. Ruin the environment and build a costly toll road, when the other toll roads in Southern Califronia have already proven to be boondoggles. Idiotic.

David Irving sentenced to three years in prison for denying the Holocaust. I don't see how putting him in prison will do anything but turn him into a martyr, and cause more people to seek out his hateful writing. But while the civil libertarian in me may be disappointed in the sentence, Irving's willingness to try to stifle free speech himself, through his libel lawsuit (which he lost, despite Britain's harsh libel laws), allows me to take a little satisfaction that the bastard got his.

I also was amused that he caved like a little bitch, claiming that he now believes millions of jews were murdered. "History is a constantly growing tree," he said in court. "The more you know, the more documents become available, the more you learn. And I have learned a lot since 1989." Gee, that's swell. If only, somehow, there had been some shread of evidence, available in 1989, to suggest that it was possible that the Holocaust happened, Irving could have went on to have a steller career as a historian, denying the Crusades or something. He goes on to offer up what could be his epitath, or at least that of his career: "I don't know the figures. I'm not an expert on the Holocaust."

La Mesa threatening to sue a resident over comments made at a city council meeting. Apparently, the speaker hurt Mayor Art Madrid's feelings, and he went crying to his lawyer. Of course, every lawyer the paper talks to confirms that it is almost impossible to sue someone for slander for speaking in a council meeting. And they don't mention California's anti-SLAPP legislation, which would force the city to pay the defendant's legal fees for using a lawsuit to quash free-speech rights. And, of course, the whole thing just makes it look like the mayor and his cronies really do have something to hide, if they're so eager to hide behind their consiliere rather than letting this pathetic slight go.

I can assure you I won't be voting for Art Madrid in the future. And he and his associates on the city council will be getting a stern letter from me about a little thing called the first amendment. And maybe I'll bitch about those annoying "It's our neighborhood, slow down!" signs. They didn't have those when I was a kid, and I survived. If their parents wouldn't break for me, I'm not slowing down for their kids.

My sister's home got robbed this afternoon. The burglars kicked in the back door, and then apparently took their time going through the house. They took most of her jewelry, including the earrings she made out of our grandma's wedding ring's stones. They stole credit cards (which they proceeded to try to use at a jewelry store--but went over the card's credit limit and were declined), and Michelle's disability paperwork, which includes her social security number. Beyond that, what they took seems rather random. They left a lot of stuff, though, and didn't ransack the place, so that's something. A friend of Michelle's walked by during the crime, and saw their car (a white BMW with dealer plates), and they might have surveillance footage from the jewelry store, so maybe the police will have a little to go on.

One more thing to add to the list of disturbing developments my mother has been harping on. There was a plane crash over La Mesa last week, and the airplane landed on the house of the daughter of someone from Mom's church. Fortunately no one was home (and they were thus spared the sight of a dead body sprawled in the lawn), but the house is a total loss. And a few weeks ago, the son of a family friend was on vacation in Argentina, and was run over by a car, getting his ear ripped off in the process. The strangest thing being, apparently the driver intentionally ran him and several others over, killing at least one. And now Mom has this to fret over, too.

Burbon Street Casino imploaded.

Democratic leadership still clueless. A look at a 2005 In These Times profile of Brown reveals him to be a strong progressive, and Hackett's attempt to turn a vote by Brown in 1998 into a vote for the Iraq war seems a cheap shot. But still, this could have been handled better.

The Elements of Spam.

People's ability to accurately interpret the tone of on-line communications no better than chance. And let me say right now, I'm so, so happy you've taken the time to read this blog. It really made my day.

Paul Collins on the origins of "non-fiction."

Major American casino interests unsure on how to procede on on-line gaming. On the one hand, they'd like to outlaw the competition, but on the other hand, seeing as prohibition seems futile, they'd like to get a cut. The end result is they've remained silent, leaving anti-gambling interests unopposed.

I was just puttering about on the internet, with Celebrity Poker Showdown playing on the TV in the background, when I heard what I assumed was another commercial promising "natural male enhancement." Then the guys switched from talking about how great their sex life was, to how great the food was. I looked over, and realized it was actually an ad for Nutrisystem. Apparently, the male dieter is the next untapped market for weight loss companies. And apparently they've decided the way to reach that market is to tout the sexual powers to be gained by using their product. Because in the cutthroat world of the diet industry, where a company's reputation for integrity is key to winning over skeptical customers, what could be a better plan than making your commercials resemble, as much as possible, ads for pills that make your wiener bigger.

Also, they seem to be aiming at an older audience, with lots of older men discussing thier fantastic sex life. You know, Nutrisystem, their might be younger men who need to lose weight, who might not be receptive to ads featuring men old enough to be their father, bragging about how much action they're getting. News flash: Young men find older people discussing their sex lives disturbing. Thought that might be a good weight loss plan, actually. Judging from the reaction on snarky pop culture TV shows (The Soup, The Best Week Ever, et. al.) to this legendary clip from Dr. Phil, perhaps the new Nutrisystem ad will serve as a better appetite suppressant than any product they have to sell.

The anti-communist folk stylings of Janet Greene are on display in mp3 form here. "Although we've used the fascist name/Communism is just the same/It's plain to see these two are twins/And freedom dies if either wins." Meanwhile, CONELRAD has an interview with the lead singer of the legendary folk combo/politcal stunt The Goldwaters.

Film footage of Werner Herzog getting shot during a BBC interview.

As for why this short film of dogs in super-slow-motion is called "Birds," your guess is as good as mine.

Turko's still going after the Parkway Bowl. I almost went over there to play pinball the other day, but decided not to because of Turko's strong words. Ended up going to class instead.

San Diego CityBEAT had some interesting revelations about Turko in this undated article. Between him and Coleman, Weather Channel founder reduced to mid-market weatherman, KUSI really does employ some colorful characters (fun is fun, but I should add that KUSI is the only local channel producing local news of substance, so don't think the Pagentry of Turko takes away from their hard-hitting coverage).

Stephen Colbert profiled in Newsweek. When the show first premiered, I thought it was hilarious, but figured the joke would wear thin fast. Surprisingly, I find The Colbert Report funnier than The Daily Show on more nights than I would have ever imagined. Comedy Central finally has found a late-night line-up that makes me (almost) forget about Adult Swim.

I filed my taxes this evening. Only took about 90 minutes, and was relatively painless. I owe the state an awful lot, but am getting a hefty federal refund, so I came out ahead. I filed federally using TurboTax, via the Tax Freedom Project. They offer free federal filing, if your income is low enough, but they really gouge you on state taxes ($24.95). And they are constantly trying to get more money out of you with various add-ons. But I shouldn't complain; I've used their program to file for several years and am always impressed by the ease of use, and can't blame them for wanting to make money off it. Last year, I had free access through my retirement provider, but this year they were charging me for use of the service, a modest $5.99, if memory serves. But they wanted $10 more for state filing, so I just went for the free state-only option. California offers free e-filing via their website, and while that program was fairly primitive, it got the job done in about fifteen minutes. So now I just have to wait for my federal refund to arrive, so I can go squander it on hookers and blow. A joke, of course, I'm going straight to the casinos with my refund.

Randy Newman broke his wrist. The Disney Hall performance I'm attending is the only show he hasn't cancelled, but depending on whether he needs surgery, that could be gone, too. Get well soon, Randy!

Just a quick word of thanks to the good people at Animal Planet, for giving us another Puppy Bowl. And for yet again casting an abundance of canines with beagle backgrounds to cavort around for my amusement. Tanner has been known to pay attention to the TV in the past, including during last year's Puppy Bowl, but when I got home from work tonight and turned on the Puppy Bowl, he just flipped, bounding up and down and nearly knocking the DVD player to the ground. I try to distract him during the Pedigree ads about shelter animals, no need to traumatize him.

As for the real game, word on the street is Vegas took a bit of a hit...all the dough was on the victors. Not may people say, "Dude, I have to get to Vegas and lay down all my cash on Seattle!" And to answer your question, I didn't have any money on the game. Though I did hear some online bookie was taking bets on weather the Burger King mascot would score a touchdown in their advertisement. I would have liked to have gotten some action on that; sometimes it's nice to know that, whether your bet wins or loses, you will feel like a tool.

I think someone at the Egg Advisory Council has finally snapped. Catchy, though.

Natalie Maines interviewed in Entertainment Weekly.

Stephen Colbert interviewed by The Onion's A.V. Club.

Betty Friedan, dead at 85 (on the nose).

Al Lewis, dead at 95, or 88, depending on who you ask. This article notes his earliest political experience came working for the Sacco and Vanzetti defence committee, so unless he was 9 when he worked for them, 95 sounds a bit more plausible.

He did seem to live quite an interesting and well-rounded life.

Quality Paperback Books, or QPB, sucks! I'd actually been a member for several years. I joined to get one of those sign-up bonuses, six books for a dollar, or something like that. But I actually bought quite a few books from them over the years. But I hadn't bought any in some time, so when I got a shipment from them in November, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and after returning the book, I cancelled my membership. But even though I returned the book, they've been trying to collect the cost of the shipment (lucky for me, the credit card they have on file was recently involved in fraudulent activity, and the account number changed, so they couldn't just bill my card). And despite replying to my e-mail requesting cancellation, and even sending me a "please re-join" mail offer, they are still sending me books. I returned the last one, and then e-mailed them that I would consider any future books received to be a gift. They replied by saying, "Well, you never send in the card that you didn't want the book," which of course I didn't because I had cancelled my membership two months prior. And today I got another e-mail trying to get money out of me. So now I'm having to send them a letter under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to demand that they not try to collect any unvalidated debts from me in the future. Wankers.

Stay far, far, away from Quality Paperback Books. And while I'm on the topic, the customer service at McSweeney's leaves a lot to desire. Their book club is a pretty good deal ($100 for the next ten books they put out, shipping included), but I think I'll just buy the ones I want through Amazon in the future.

Cute Overload

The Turko Files goes after the Parkway Bowl for discriminating against a disabled bowler. Not surprising at all, given the atrocious customer service I've experienced there over the years.

Conan O'Brien plays some 1860s style baseball.

Kinky Friedman video from his Texas gubernatorial campaign.

The horrible truth of G.A.T.E.: Bitterness of eventual defeat directly proportional to early potential.

Oprah apologizes, Frey admits Smoking Gun report "pretty accurate."

Financial tip o' the day: If you're looking for someplace safe for medium-term savings, you might want to know that I Bonds are paying 6.73% interest until April. No long-term guarantees as to the interest rate is adjusted semi-annually (they pay 1% plus the rate of inflation as calculated by the consumer price index), and furthermore you can't make a withdrawal for the first year, and withdrawals within five years are subject to a two-months-interest penalty. But still, this seems a good place to park some money you don't plan to need immediately (I keep the savings I budget for medical emergencies in I Bonds). And with a $25 minimum investment, one can start small.

Of course, the reason they pay 6.73% is that inflation was up 5.73%. So basically I'll make an extra dollar on my savings, because I have to pay an extra five bucks every time I buy a tank of gas. So I guess I should really hope the interest rate plummets the next time the inflation adjustment is made, as that means my daily commute has become more affordable.

Direct-to-DVD Futurama movies greenlit.

I should be outraged by this, but I just can't quite manage. Has my sense of moral indignation finally short-circuited? I guess it's just because the music isn't that bad. "Uncontrollable Urge" is the only song I listened to that actually seemed painfully bad. Hard not to tap one's feet to "That's Good," whoever's performing it. The whole enterprise reminds me of that band A*Teens that released an ABBA cover album some years back, which I believe was selected as the least-essential album of the year by The Onion. I do like to think of the music of Devo as having a bit more integrity that that of ABBA (no slight to ABBA, I enjoy both bands very much). But the two cover projects seem related in that it's hard to hate either. But you have to wonder: Why? Especially in this case, as not only does this album not really add anything to the music, but what is the financial motivation? I mean, really, does Disney think that Devo-fever is about to overwhelm the country's eight-year-olds? It just really seems like a hard sell to kids. "Hey, kids, do you like Rugrats? Then buy this album of kids singing songs from the old band of the guy who wrote the theme song to that album, while wearing funny hats!"

The more I listen to this, the more I feel my old friend indignation rising up in my gullet. But hey, I guess this is just part of the path of deevolution. It's no worse than the time American Idol used "Whip It" with crass product placement to sell cars. This time, the motive is just to get little boys and girls dancing to the hits of Devo. Good luck, Disney.

The end of January is nearing, and so far my new year's resolutions are going okay. I've lost about six pounds, and have been reasonably consistent in my workout routine, and hopefully am forming healthy habits. I've even been fairly disciplined about weight training, which I don't enjoy. I did injure myself, however, while trying to adjust the seat on one of the nautilus machines, which can't be a good sign. Bumped my knee against something, and it's a bit bruised and sensitive now. But nothing major. As things stand now, I am confident I will meet my fitness goals for 2006.

The Onion's A.V. Club recently had one of their periodic round-ups of questionable food available at 99 cent stores, and lo and behold, they profiled Tiger cheese. Yes, a preservative-free cheese that doesn't require refrigeration is a tad disturbing, but it really is better than this article suggests. It tastes like my childhood. Trips down to the FedCo, where I would be rewarded for my not-too-horrendous behavior with a wheel of Tiger cheese to share with my sister. It had the same general flavor as string cheese, to my undeveloped taste buds, but a more pleasing texture. And as an added bonus, it came wrapped in foil, which was very exciting.

FedCo has been closed for many years, and so I doubted I would ever again see Tiger cheese, until one day I was at the 99 cent store, and stumbled upon the product, 99 cents a wheel. I bought about twenty. I gave them to my sister for her birthday. I was sure they were just using up the last of the FedCo surplus, and soon Tiger cheese would again be gone from my life. But the next time I was there, the cheese was there again, this time in a cardboard display case (a marketing plan no doubt developed after my purchase led them to detect a sudden upsurge in consumer demand). Having Tiger cheese in my life again was a joy, and I began dropping references to Tiger cheese into my conversation, as though all were aware of this fine product, and refusing to explain what Tiger cheese was to those who asked ("If you have to ask..."). Unfortunately, like Iron Chef, overexposure did in Tiger cheese for me, and I haven't had it in probably about two years. Methinks a trip to the 99 cent store is in order, to rekindle an old affair.

In other Onion A.V. Club features news, they have declared "Summer Girls" by LFO as amongst the best of the worst. Vindication for yours truly, who had the misfortune of getting a cassette single of the song stuck in my car's tape deck. It saved me some cash, as I was unwilling to buy a new car until I could remove the tape, and avoid the embarrassment of trading in my old car with the boy band anthem stuck inside. It really is a bizarre song; when I first heard it, I simply assumed it was a joke (a very funny one), for what else could it possibly be? I assumed it was a dead-on mockery produced by 2gether or someone similar. Yet somehow the fact that it was apparently earnest made it that much better. Sort of the Mrs. Miller of my day. Or maybe it was simply a trailblazer for "Lazy Sunday." Very strange stuff. I purchased the CD on half.com recently for a very low price, since the song is not available on iTunes. I can't say I care for anything else on the album ("Girl on TV" is their other hit), but it was nice to have a digital copy of the tune to replace my old cassette. And I wish Rich Cronin all the best in his comeback from leukemia.

Whisper of the Heart was a delightful film, as you might imagine. I was a bit concerned during the credits, when Oliva Newton-John's version of "Country Road" began playing. I feared that the localization of the film for American audiences had gone horribly wrong. But I was able to ascertain that the song was used in the original Japanese version, and I felt better. Actually, the song has a rather pivotal role in the film, which is somewhat puzzling, but effective.

The film was written by Miyazaki, but is the only film directed by Yoshifumi Kondo. He was apparently being groomed to replace Miyazaki in the event of his oft-threatened retirement, but died of an aneurysm shortly after this film was made.

Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist finally appears to be coming to DVD.

Wilson Pickett, dead at 64.

Apparently Turner Classic Movies is showing Miyazaki films every Thursday this month.

News Flash: I just turned on Turner Classic Movies, and discovered tonight's theme to be Hayao Miyazaki. My Neightbor Totoro is on now. In primetime for us west-coasters, they will be showing Whisper of the Heart, which I've never seen. Guess I won't be getting anything done tonight.

Sittin' on Wicker.

From McSweeney's "Sequel Week": "Clue Confessions," a sequel of sorts to "Goofus, Gallant, Rashomon."

Shelley Winters, dead at 85.

According to Harper-Collins' Lemony Snicket e-mail list, Friday, October 13th appears to be the street date for the final chapter of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Plan your life accordingly.

I only had time to skim this background information on Indian gaming in California, but it looks to be a quite useful resource.

I have begun work on some web-based projects I hope to reveal in the coming months. A new hobby, I hope to actually make a few bucks on, if I can (with hosting/domain registration prices so low, I expect my out of pocket expenses to be quite low). And no, I will not be charging for full-frontal photographs of myself (those are already available in spades for free, I'm afraid...if only I'd listened to Alyssa Milano and defended my image more fiercely). Anyway, it might be awhile before anything is ready for public display, what with school and all, but stay tuned!

Native American tribes already feeling a backlash from the Abramoff scandal. I was unaware Agua Caliente was connected to Abramoff. The Native American Times wonders to what degree tribes can truly call themselves victims.

As the Union-Tribune article notes, a scandal is giving momentum to the foes of Indian gaming. I hope the tribes are paying attention. They face real threats to their political clout from this political scandal. So what will happen, I ask, when a Native American casino is implicated in a cheating scandal? What do I think the chances are of a major Indian casino (I.e., any of the ones in San Diego) rigging games? Virtually nil. Why take risks when you already have a virtual licence to print money. What are the chances of some podunk tribe with financial woes trying to gild the lily? Low, but certainly a possibility. What will be the impact on the major tribes' business when someone, anywhere, gets busted? Substantial, and devestating if their opponents are able to run with the story. If tribes find the legislative impediments that will be put in place due to the Abramoff scandal confining, maybe they should consider accepting tougher regulation of their industry, in the model of Nevada's gaming commission. I doubt they would notice an impact in their bottom line, and they would stand to benefit more from the insurance provided against rouge tribes bringing down an industry's reputation than they would ever be hindered by regulation. Give the California Gambling Control Commision some teeth.

News flash: New Medicare drug plan a disaster. And in other news, water is wet.

But hey, what's the worst that can happen when people can't get insulin? I was going to complain about how much more we'll spend on hospitalization for people who can't get their preventative medication, but hell, with the price of drugs being what it is, it might be cheaper to fill up the ER than prescribe drugs. Of course, drug program or no, the fact that there are people in this country of plenty in such dire straits that they need to leave their insulin behind because they can't pay a $3 deductible shows that the insurance crisis in this country is just the beginning of our problems.

At long last, I made it to the movies to see Walk the Line. I decided to play hookey from my science class (skipping class on only the second day of instruction can't be a good sign as to my chances of excelling this quarter) to go see an afternoon showing. I went to the Pacific Trolley Cinema, and was surprised that there were some customers there, seniors mostly, for the early show on a Wednesday. I also noticed there was some commotion at the front of the line, where an argument between an elderly customer and an employee was concluding. I didn't catch the substance of the argument, but the gentleman took his ticket and went inside, saying something about how his wife would be following him shortly. The guy in front of me bought his ticket, also yelling at the box office employee for raising her voice in anger (in fact, she just wanted him to be able to hear her), I purchased mine, and went inside.

The trailers had just concluded, and I quickly and quietly took my seat in the back row as the feature began. About five minutes later, an old woman came in, flashlight in hand, and took a seat in my row, shining her flashlight around the theater in the process, and then starts digging in her apparently-velcro-fastened purse for something (cell phone? hard candy wrapped in cellophane? air horn? I couldn't say), and making various noises to accompany the movie. A few minutes later, it is discovered that she is apparently the wife of the old man I saw arguing at the ticket booth, who was sitting on the opposite side of the auditorium. The have a loud and hearty reunion at the back of the theater, discussing in great detail the fact that they both apparently sat in different parts of the theater, but now had cheerfully been joined together to enjoy the film (if they ever bothered to pay attention to it). And joy of joys, rather than she joining him in his quadrant of the theater, they were coming back to my row. Again the flashlight is deployed, with far less care this time, and once seated, their conversation turns to the fact that apparently the woman dropped something. Fortunately, they have a flashlight, to shine up my row, and the rows further up. Why oh why do they insist on keeping theaters dark?

I tried to ignore them, but finally I had had enough. I got up, walked over to them, and told them, "Whatever you dropped, you can find it after the film, when the lights are up. For now, sit down and shut up and watch the movie." Naturally, they were silent at that point, until I had taken my seat further down the row, so that the gentleman could shout his witty rejoinder, "I think YOU should sit down and shut up," loud enough for the entire theater to hear. So I get back up, get in his face, and quietly yet sternly tell him to shut up, lest I shut him up. I sit down, and the woman, sweet cherub that she is, starts shining her flashlight in my eyes, like it's a fucking lightsaber. I briefly considered grabbing the flashlight from her shriveled monkey's paw of a hand, with a triumphant shout of "Now I keep it!" but decided that might be construed as escalating the situation. So I reached the conclusion that I would no longer be able to enjoy the movie, and I went to find the manager and get a pass to return. He offered to speak to the couple, which I encouraged him to do, for the other patron's sake, but said I felt I'd rather just leave. So I got my free pass and left, blood pressure gradually subsiding, to hopefully return this weekend or next week.

This is why I don't go to the movies more often. Yes, having to pay for movies these days (now that I'm no longer in the industry) is a drag, but the main reason why I watch more and more films on DVD is that at least three out of four trips to the cinema, the audience has a negative impact on my enjoyment of a film. Usually not this dramatically, and I've actually been lucky the last few times I went to the movies prior to this, but overall the problem is getting out of hand. Living in a border town, most of our television and radio broadcasts originate from Tijuana, which permits stronger broadcast signals than the U.S. One of the requirements on T.J.-originating broadcasters is to run Mexican public service announcements. Recently, they've been airing one that reminds the citizens of Mexico to treat each other with respect. "Today, many citizens will want to be the first one on the bus, but they will still wait in line." And so on. The first time I saw the ad, it struck me as incredibly odd, and most certainly ineffective. But maybe we need this message spread to our citizenry, as well. With enforced indoctrination on theater etiquette for those found in violation of prevailing standards.

I remember when I was in elementary school, watching filmstrips in the library, the librarian had to explain to me that I couldn't talk while watching the film, because while I thought I was being quiet, I was actually shouting in order to hear myself over my earphones. So let me explain this to you, Mr. and Mrs. Elderly American: I am sorry that you are losing your hearing. I am sorry you are losing your eyesight. I understand this will happen to me someday, and I don't wish to be inconsiderate. But when you whisper to your spouse, it may sound like a whisper to you, but it ain't a whisper. So when you go to the movies, don't speak. And if you can't see in the dark, bring a flashlight if you must, but arrive on time and take your seat before the film begins!

And let this be a lesson to all of you out there: If you're an elderly couple (or a woman holding a baby), don't piss me off, because I'm not afraid to stand up to you.

The long-awaited announcement of the Stardust's fate has finally been made.

Pink Martini's live performance on NPR's New Year's coverage is archived online. I haven't listened to the recorded performance yet (I heard it live on New Year's Eve, because that's the exciting life I live...New Year's with NPR), but it looks like you'll have to scan through the ringing in of New Year's in several time zones to hear it. It's worth it, though, as they perform several songs from their live set that aren't yet on CD. “Dosvedanya Mio Bambino” is brilliant.

2006 is now well underway, and I hope everyone has started the new year on a good note. I went up to Valley View Casino for New Years, where I was invited to a nice buffet. Their buffet is always excellent, and this time was no exception. Due to the crowd and their limited space, we had to share a table with a couple, but they were nice enough. I had no luck at the tables or the machines, unfortunately. Which isn't a big surprise, I've had no luck online, either. But hopefully I can stanch the bleeding in 2006.

This is the time, of course, for making resolutions, and reviewing last year's resolutions. My resolution for last year was to get back to my level of fitness at the end of 2003. I'd gone down-hill in 2004, and I'm afraid I didn't turn things around in 2005. In fact, I gained over ten pounds, after gaining weight in 2004. I weighed in at the gym yesterday at 242 pounds, which is about as big as I've ever been. And the year ended badly, as I was too sick to run for the entire month of December. So I could just make a similar resolution as last year, to get back to a level of fitness I previously had. But I think I learned last year that's a bit too nebulous a goal to easily reach out after, so I will be more specific, and also push myself a bit further. My goal for 2006 is to be running 20 miles a week by the end of the year. As I find it quite an effort at the moment to just run two miles in a sitting, that seems like a lofty enough goal to keep me motivated, but I know from my own history that I am capable of maintaining a training regimen of 20 miles a week, as long as I build to it gradually. And a year should be enough time. People have run marathons with less time to prepare. So by the end of this year, I should be maintaining a rigorous training program, on which I can build for future goals. Also, I hope to eat better, and to graduate from college in 2006.

If you saw Grizzly Man, you might be amused by Grizzly Bear Man.

I recently mentioned a security hole in Windows, with a suggestion for disabling certain features of Windows to protect yourself. Since taking my own advice, I've had lots of problems working with photos on my computer (which really interferes with a project I'm working on), and have decided to take my chances and reactivated the feature. As I neglected to mention how to reactivate it (though the post I linked to had the information), just run the following command, if you also disabled the feature and are now having problems:
regsvr32 shimgvw.dll