Yikes!

I'll say it again, "Yikes!"

oh fuck

I just got home from work and had the television on when across the bottom of the screen flashed 'Seahawks in Detroit Car Crash'. Good Lord. I sure hope it was minor. We'll know soon enough I suppose.

update: Word is that it was minor.
update: Oh, here's a link. I thought it would've been bigger news on the Yahoo!Sports site, but it was buried a bit down the page. That's a big 'Whew!'

Nice

The redesign looks good man. Also: that's a good pic for you in the profile.

Op-Ed

It's rare to see such concise clarity in a letter to the editor; a refreshing find.

update: A link to the letter that the above letter references.

Stupid

LInky takes you to the Spider Man cover that apparently unveils his new costume-which is apparently built by Tony Stark (aka Iron Man).

What's wrong with it?
1) It's full of technocrap. Whomever came up with the idea of giving Spidey extra mechanical arms is a fucking moron, and should have his mouth duct taped. The person who approved the idea should be subject to genital duct tape. Why? Because these gadgets are so far removed from what the character is about.

2) It's red and gold. Gold is not a Spidey color-they've just disassociated the hero from part of what makes him an icon, and associated him with a different icon. Bad. Plus, the color scheme blows, if only because it's so very, very ordinary.

3) It's stupidly uninspired. This could've been so cool: supergenius hero makes a new costume for Spiderman. It could have nanotech to repair rips in the cloth, or be like some of the new body armor the military is using: very light, but superdense, and thus bulletproof. There could even be things done to the hood, an HUD, or maybe a special seal to bind it to the suit, so the mask didn't just come off. It could have fabric that interefered with electronic surveliance devices (suppressing body heat, using the anti-radar tech from the Air Force, crazy shit like that).

I don't know: I'm just throwing ideas up there; my point is it could've been subtlely cool, and instead we get this abomination that the next writer will have to explain away in his/her reboot of the series, because everyone will look at it and go: What the fuck? This isn't Spiderman. He's supposed to change, but like this?

No. Marvel: you fucked up.

I'm a follower

Now I just need a pic.

Albums I'm Glad I Listened To Recently

Viktor Vaughn | Vaudeville Villain • I've always liked this album and when I recently listened to it a new level of appreciation arrived at my ears.

Joanna Newsom | The Milk-Eyed Mender • An album that sounds different everytime I hear it. This album whirls about my living space begging to be adored.

Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot • This album continues to reveal itself after I thought I had it.

The New Pornographers | Twin Cinema • I love the drums.

I'm having one of those very good days where I should be surrounded by lucious women and lackeys to do my whims...but there are none.
But that doesn't mean the universe shouldn't cater to my whims! It just means I've had enough alcohol that I know I need to stay home.
Goddamnit.

Happy Birthday!!

To Me!


update Thanks Dan!

it's a long way to the top

By the time this is read, it will be A.Ho's birthday.
Happy birthday. Even in my buzzed and desperately horny state, I'm remembering it now, so that tomorrow, when I'm stupid and hungover, I don't have to make excuses.

Unjustify My Love

Well it's fixed, but I'm not sure why the problem was a problem exactly. The offending code was contained in the post re: the nine.thirty.eight blog. All I did was remove the "div" tags. Hmm.

I could've had a V8

But no, instead I listened to The Killers. You see, SPIN has given them Band of the Year status. Thinking to myself that this was absolutely retarded I read the article to see if there was any justification of this. Well the article basically went on to say how 'massive' The Killers have become, that you don't just break into the hip-hop dominated charts with anything less than phenomenal songcrafting chops. So, I ventured another listen of Hot Fuss, perhaps I missed it before. Remember I was a bit slow too latch onto the Arcade Fire. The difference is that I liked Arcade Fire even if I didn't think they were all the shit everyone was saying they were, and The Killers just don't make my cut. It occured to me that I could be listening to Interpol. So I did. My ears feel much better.

Sidebar Aside

The sidebar is working fine on the comment pages…hmm? I didn't mess with the template previous to this curious affect but I spent a bit of time browsing it to see if, somehow, something was blatantly conflicting. I didn't find anything so further dissection may be in order. I'm going to let it be for now - priorities.

& an aside - You know those rare occasions when the phone rings at extremely inappropriate hours and you have to answer it because it's probably urgent, that happened to me last night.

It was the best phone conversation I've had in many cycles of our planet around the sun. The time of day was nearly integral to that enjoyment. The spontaneity and disregard for my slumber cohered pleasantly, providing multiple smiles throughout the course of my workday. Thanks.

Addendum: Oddly enough the sidebar issue grants further joyous amusement, being crooked and all.

---

Unlucky in Luck

In an unbelievable anomoly of the laws of probability I, once again, have a losing Lotto ticket.

I have a unique system that I just know is going to bring me results, it's all about patience. My retirement plan is infallible.

What the hell is up with my sidebar?

someone elses favorite songs of 2005

I found nine.thirty.eight via my last.fm recommendations. I dig. Her write-ups are simple but engaging and make me want to hear all the stuff I haven't gotten around to yet. I'm going to make a playlist of all those songs that I have and listen to them with her thoughts in mind. There's also some stuff on there I hadn't considered, or heard of, that I'll be looking into.

Pink

Scroll down to see the KISS costume.

These boys make the good beer.

I first had an Elysian beer last summer, at the Down River Grill, when Dan was in town. That evening we were treated to their porter. Tonight I tried their Wise Pale Ale. Tasty.

Gamecubing

Dan will be glad to know that I've resumed my adventures in Resident Evil 4. I'm currently fighting 'it'.

And those Regenerator's need some DNA restructuring.

The Iron Maiden, in particular, was my Everest.

For some reason I like to make things hard on myself. I will often save items for use later in the game, they may become essential, only to still have them in my inventory when I finish the game, e.g. Splinter Cell. In this game I like to stick w/ guns I have until they are no longer upgradeable, and even then I'll stuck with them longer than most probably would. I wasn't going to buy a Tactical Vest, 30% less damage, but have given in.

I may not be as tough as you think I am.

I have to use my camera for something.

Here's a photo of my newest CDs.

I didn't recieve ANY music for Christmas this year. My heart was shocked. And awed.

So, I had to buy myself a little something to bring this lack of expected new music in line with reality. I chose to go with the Blossom Dearie self-titled album that I posted about last week, Johnny Cash's At Fulsom Prison, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, and, for something contemporary, Deerhoof's The Runners Four.

I was chosen for a 3-month trial membership of Amazon's 'Prime' service. This lovely service gives you free two day shipping on any order. The annual membership is, I believe, $79. If you shop Amazon frequently it certainly seems worth it.

Anyhow, the Blossom Dearie is quite nice and sure to get regular listens. The Johnny Cash is just plain essential. I thought about buying the 'Legend' boxed set, but decided that the essential was a higher priority. Would you believe that I've never, to my knowledge, even listened to Joy Division? I've given Unknown Pleasures one casual listen and I certainly see how it was such an influential album, but more listens are needed to see if I can find the essentialness of this one. I haven't listened to the Deerhoof yet. All I've ever heard of them is a download I have from Apple O' and I'm not quite sure what to think about it. I like having something to listen to that I have no expectations of how it will sound. Though I do have the expectation that it will be quite good, based on all the year-end acclaims.

I'm currently listening to June of 44's Four Great Points. Good stuff.

Steve Jackson interview.

Ever play Car Wars? That was a Steve Jackson Game (SJG). Looks like old Steve is venturing into MMORPGs. Found this interview via Evil Avatar. Here's an excerpt:

GG: Who would be your target market for a SJG MMORPG?

SJ: Adults with a sense of humor and a desire to interact on a level other than "Pwned!"

And I keep hearing about this Puzzle Pirates (mentioned in interview). Perhaps I should delve.

Short & we're done

I'm not going to be taking a break from the blog-but where I ususally like to talk about what's going on in my universe, events of late have been less than good. They are the kind of events that I, at least, feel a bit crass refering to except in a most general sense.

This is especially true since while events have been disappointing, and saddening, I bear no malice. Nobody is angry with anyone; the goodness of everyone was present, even when things went badly. I have no desire to present a bad impression of anyone here-or in my other internet writings. Even in my personal writings. Hopefully, that intent speaks well enough to how I feel about the person and how things went south.

In the meantime, I've promised myself more personal writing time, and I've a Legacy tournament to prepare for. Plus, I make a noodle casserole thingy tonight. It's apparently mac & cheese, but you don't bake gooddamn mac & cheese, I don't care what they say.

New Live Pixies

Looks like I'm going to have to go revive my eMusic subscription in the near future. For a limited time.

And a trip to PDX or SeaWA, near the end of February, could materialize. Or not.

I did revel.

Well here it is, 2006. I spent the evening over at my brothers house with a few of the guys. A few beers, a couple shots of the hard stuff, and I was legitimately more drunk than I've been in quite some time. It was a mellow good time.

I'd like to thank Kris and Katie for the invite to their party. I really, really appreciate it. If I weren't transportation challenged I probably could have gotten the day off work and been able to drive over. And I certainly would have. Thanks again.

I hope y'all had a fabulous and safe evening and I hope that I get the chance to see you all sometime this year.

A.Ho