My Addled Brain

I am not a “meme” kinda guy. They all seem either hackneyed or self-absorbed to me, for whatever reason. But this one got my attention, so I thought I’d toss it out here and see if I can’t get any of the locals interested, because we all love teh jams.

Total volume of music files on my computer: 9.20 Gb.
This is my work computer. My home system is frightening.

The last CD I bought was:

• “Make Believe” by Weezer.

Song playing right now:

• “Fu Manchu” by Frank Black

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

1. “Apocalypse Please” by Muse
2. “High and Dry” by Radiohead
3. “Shake Your Rump” by Beastie Boys
4. “How Soon is Now” by The Smiths
5. “Birdhouse In Your Soul” by They Might Be Giants

Five people to whom I’m passing the baton:

• Gax
• Tommy
• Andy
• Dave
• Sarah

Ok, I pulled the last one from the random link in the TBBF section. Kinda glad I did though, I’m enjoying her odd topic mix of tech and bad pop culture.

Urban Meyer, bitches!

Yes, the final formal gathering of former Rawlings elite (all three of us) and assorted friends came to a close over this weekend. Once again, it was good to see both Flex and Gina, along with Stacy, James (congrats again on your upcoming nuptuals), and assorted others who’s names got shrugged off my syrupy brain like rainwater. I’m not blaming you people for being forgetful, because you’re not; I still count my blessings I can remember the way to work every day, and I ride with Teh One. A good time was had by all, despite two troubling revelations:

1. Gina has begin dating again. You poor bastard.
2. My former roomate Flex, with whom I occupied a space no larger than an oversized bedroom closet for a semester, had no idea that Palpatine was the bad guy.

I expected the first one would happen sooner or later, I mean, if someone on this planet can find me dateable, then there’s absolutely no excuse for the rest of you. But for Flex, a man as steeped in geekdom as it gets (the man makes video games for a living, people!) - I find your lack of knowledge…disturbing. I know you avoided all the trailers and reviews you could, to your credit. But that was the worst kept “surprise” in all of cinema history! You’re a smart guy. Don’t make me revoke your nerd rights to science fiction.

Yes, I have pictures. All four of them. I don’t know why I suck with remembering to take pictures, but there you go. I’ll post them tonight, after I get home from meeting and greeting with a certain new football coach for a certain state college…

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

His last scene, did Sam
wanna say Does Yoda look
like a bitch to you?”

I chose that line because I couldn’t fit “I’ll be glad the Emperor’s dead, and I hope he burns in hell!” in 17 syllables. Ah, Sam Jackson, you provide the world with a myriad of bad ass quotes that people can overuse for every other role you play, and for that I thank you.

Best of the I-II-III cycle, without question. Better than Jedi. IV and V, however, are still the best. Having said that, there are a couple of places where I could absolutely strangle Lucas for trashing what might otherwise be a critical scene with his complete and utter disregard for decent scriptwriting. And I think even James “I don’t want - your life” Van Der Beek would have made a better Anakin than Hayden Christiansen - he’s certainly a better actor. Here’s a tip, Hayden - take all that Star Wars cash, and buy some acting lessons with them. Better yet, take it and quit acting altogether. You are a pox on the silver screen. You make any drama on the WB watchable in comparison. Please, please, go away now.

You people need a hobby. Perhaps you should take up watching DVD’s. I hear a good one came out this week…

Tomorrow is the big day - the third gathering of former Rawlings Hall elite for the purposes of watching astounding special effects played all around wooden acting and horrendous dialogue. Yes, Episode III starts tomorrow, and Teh One and I will be in sunny Orlando for what promises to be the last gathering for our clan - at least under these auspices. There will be the usual two or three photos that I’ll remember to take at the beginning of the day, before the camera once again lays dormant for another six months. Maybe I’ll take a picture of the house before we leave as well…

As previously mentioned, I’m heading back to school. Classes start next week, and I’m taking two courses, one one programming logic, which looks to be everything I thought it was, and one on management information systems. I went ahead and bought the books for class, partly because I was curious on this topic, and partly because Teh One has been badgering me to get HER book since we paid them our tuition. (She’s taking two classes, but they’re both Econ classes, and they share the same book.)

I decided to crack the MIS book open, to get a feel for what I’m in for. The book, Essentials of Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, is an attractive looking hardbound, with a soothing image of what appears to be a sunset over a flat, endless desert; an image that evokes Luke standing outside his hut, looking out at the horizon for the rogue droid that ran off looking for some old crackpot, and this will probably cost him that trip to the academy he’s been wanting for so long, and his aunt and uncle are so unfair, like they forgot how to be kids, spending all their time farming moisture. Moisture! Who’s stupid enough to attempt to make a living farming water, in the middle of the damn desert! God, but I hate it here! I wish I could just fly away, I wish…

Oh! Uh, sorry. Anyway.

Anyway, a relaxing cover is required for this book, because cracking it open is like reading a blueprint on how to design a corporation in the 21st century. Acronyms like SOP are mixed with definitions for obvious terms like computer software. I was unaware that anyone with even a passing interest in computers, taking a college level course, wouldn’t know what software was - thankfully, we have Laudon and Laudon to save us from our own ignorance. This book reads like a corporate manifesto, and I can already tell this class is going to be excruciating. This is not a good thing, and my attention span will probably be rather limited as a result. I’m sure I’ll muddle through, somehow, because if I don’t I’ll never live up to my reputation as a B-average student.

Kingdom of Heaven

The slow beginning
is made up for by boring
you until the end.

Quite possibly the most dispassionate movie about religion and conflict ever. I guess the circumstances of most of the characters is supposed to make you feel for them, but Ridley Scott actually manages to make the Christian/Muslim tensions in his film as cold and distant as possible without resorting to mannequins in the lead roles. And I officially declare my non-interest in any more Scott-style action sequences. He’s used to great effect previously; however, I’m at the point where, if two people are fighting each other, I’d really like to know who those two people are, even if battle is swirling around them. For all I knew, Terrance and Philip were trading blows with Gomer Pyle and Harry Potter, between all the shaky camerawork and flying dirt. I get the point - in battle, things are hard to focus on. But you can still show me what the hell’s going on without giving me a headache.

I think the biggest problem with this film is this: about halfway through the film, there’s a scene where Balian’s (teen heartthrob and master of the English accent Orlando Bloom) small band of men-at-arms charges the Muslim army to prevent them from wiping out civilians who are trying to get to safety. As they charged, I turned to Amy and said “This is the part where the cop car drives up and arrests them, right?” Her laughter was about ten times as entertaining as anything I saw on screen.

One of my more favorite pasttimes these days has been clicking the random link on the TBBF listing here. Not only does it give me occasional valuable insight into the minds of fellow local bloggers, it adds my referral count to the pages that I see, a win-win if ever I heard. Sometimes, I run across a long-forgotten site. Sometimes, I read something I can’t possibly relate to. But sometimes, I run into gold, my friends.

It is with this in mind that I happily thank Seminole Heights, a blog dedicated to - well, I would tell you, but that would spoil the surprise. (Hint: It’s bloody obvious what it’s about, now isn’t it?) He mentioned El Taconazo, a mexican restaurant in the heart of the little district that could, and since I’m a sucker for that sort of thing, I decided to pop on down for lunch.

To say it’s the best mexican I’ve eaten since living in Houston would be an understatement. It would be more apt to just post my reaction to their steak burrito, stuffed to the gills with grilled asada, onions, and real pico de gallo, but one cannot properly post grunts and moans of delight without conjuring images of badly written web erotica, so suffice it to say that it has replaced Vallarta’s as my new favorite place to get my tortilla-wrapped grub on.

In addition to having good culinary taste, he also runs a damn fine blog in it’s own right, and I wholeheartedly applaud his efforts to make his neighborhood a better place to live. I am genuinely jealous of the fact that he lives in a real, honest to God community of people who work together, instead of people who sequester themselves in their homes, only knowing their neighbors from distant waves. (There’s a rant on this subject brewing in me somewhere in the future.) Welcome to the regular lineup, and if I see you at El Taconazo (I assume you wear a name badge at all times bearing the name of your site, just like me), I’ll buy you a Jarritos lime-limon.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

A tad bit sappy
otherwise surprisingly
good. Needs some more towels.

No, H2G2 fans, the world did not end with this movie, no matter what some might say. Chances are, anyone who is not my brother will enjoy this movie. Apparently, I scarred him for life on this book when we were growing up.

Someone posted a glowing review* of my website, and I just felt inclined to share.

* This review brought to you by Andrew, The Red Meat Construction Kit, and the letters F and U. Actual glowing review not necessarily included.