Letters from my dead father who was in ZZ Top.

Chubby (person) on the scene.

Tue, 13 May 2008 10:52:36 GMT

I feel like I got punched in the guts. Literally. Ugh.

expect some Naked Trucker and T-Bones soon.

Mon, 12 May 2008 02:44:26 GMT

We watched BSG Razor the other night. I liked it. I hate those damned Pegasusians (of which Jon probably loves... to spite me). I wish I had watched it months ago before season 3 though. I didn't notice ANY Season 3 spoilers, and the story definitely fits better between 2 and 3. anyway... not bad. i wish every episode was that revealing and grand on the action scale.

We watched 'The Amazing Screw-On Head' tonight. It was pretty great. I wish it were more than a pilot, but as mignolia said, thats all he wanted to do and probably couldnt top it... so i'll just be happy with what i've seen.

been watching Venture Bros season two again... great.

Fotini's family came over for lunch today. Her papu is in town. Andrew KICKED 'Space Ship's ASSSSSS. He got like 7 million points or something. holy smokes. Then later tonight Fotini straight up boned the ass out of Whirlwind. Over 10 million... w.... t.... f....

i blame my vicodin for my pisspoor showing.

also, puma and ramey got in a sick ass dogfight. puma has never fought back before, so usually i just pull ramey off of her and she runs off and the problem is diffused. today however... i grabbed rameys collar and it snapped off. so she went nuts on puma, and puma went nuts right back. well... my left arm got in the way of pumas mouth and she bit the hell out of it. its still as swollen and hurts.

puma got the worst of it though. ramey bit her neck drawing blood. she bit her front paw drawing blood on the top and bottom of the paw. she bit the PISS out of her back foot... drawing blood all over the joint.

so puma is JACKED. when she stands up, she falls right back down. its opposite front and back paws that hurt, so she cant stand. its pretty sad. i hope its ok. if its not kosher in a day or so, i'll take her in. she doesnt cry when she does have to step on it, or when we touch it, so i dont think its broken, just hurt. poor kid.

I don't talk much, but I'm such a good talker. Oh no.

Sat, 10 May 2008 06:38:14 GMT

you know you're getting old when you have tickets to see one of your favorite bands in concert, and you would rather stay home playing Wii.

***

That said... I went anyway... and saw Wilco tonight. Neil got us some badass seats in the eighth row... naturally, there was one empty seat next to us until the SECOND Wilco hit the stage, and then it was occupied by a grossly overweight, drunk, piece of shit, who yelled and did that two-in-the-stink whistling thing FIVE TIMES A SONG... until the 12th song or so, then he only did it twice a song. thank heaven for little girls.

the setlist...

Hummingbird
Ashes of American Flags
Sunken Treasure
Remember the Mountain Bed
Company in My Back
You are My Face
Pot Kettle Black
Handshake Drugs
War on War
A Shot in the Arm
Side With the Seeds
Jesus, Etc.
Impossible Germany
Wishful Thinking
California Stars
Walken
I'm the Man Who Loves You

___Encore Break____
Hate It Here
ELT
Heavy Metal Drummer
Kingpin

____Second Encore Break___
The Late Greats
Red-Eyed and Blue
I Got You (At the End of the Century)
Casino Queen
Hoodoo Voodoo
Outtasite (Outta Mind)

That's right... 27 songs... sheeeeesh...

My hetero-man-crush Glenn Kotche needs a haircut. He looks like a Silverchair second stringer.

Overall, they played a lot more of the songs of theirs that I don't much like than the last show I saw. (that setlist can be found here) The highlights were easily 'Impossible Germany' (still one of my favorite solos ever), 'Company in my Back' and 'Casino Queen'. I was SHOCKED that they played even one song from 'A.M.'. I was hoping to hear 'Theologians', as that was the song they did last time that finally got me into 'A Ghost is Born', but no dice. Either way, they were great, as usual, and they seemed to be having a lot of fun up there.

and yes, i had to google the lyrics to about 5 of those because i wasnt sure of the exact song titles... and that woody guthrie crap never really won me over.

It was nice to see Neil and Micah again. I hardly ever see them anymore. We had a good dinner at Saggios, ran into some BIG NAME CELEBRITIES (Dick Knifing anyone? Larry Barker much?), and I got to breathe garlic breath into Neils face all night. That was nice.

I made a post-show dash to the merch table... bad move. They should have a line for just people who know what they want and are paying with cash. Instead, they have a mob of people who need to see every shirt in every size and are paying with a credit card, or trying to borrow money from their friend, who is standing with their back to the table just out side of earshot. I stood there with my exact change for what felt like ages.

***

Also... I played the Austin Powers pinball table in the SUB game room. It was going well, I earned a free game, but then my second ball got stuck in the toilet (literally). So i went to the attendant to see if he could reset it, but he said it did the same thing yesterday and gave me my money back. Oh well. The backglass was so bright it made a huge glare on the upper playfield anyway.

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:00:40 GMT

What should be an interesting and exciting video (a tour of a pinball machine factory) is apparently created in the spirit of a 'Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!' skit. That is to say... horrible.

My afternoon.

Fri, 09 May 2008 02:11:13 GMT

This time, it's for real. There's money on the line. No more freebies. No more second chances. No more third, fourth or fifth chances. You get three shots and that's it. Then, more money on the line. Not much money, but enough to remind you that it could be gone in ten seconds if you're not focused. Time to concentrate. No more practice runs. This is what you've been training for. This is the moment you find out what you're made of... and you've not on home turf anymore. No, this time, you're in the wild. In a foreign environment. Every twist and turn is new. Every shot is a shot in the dark... sometimes literally.

It was fantastic.

Tweets for Today

Thu, 08 May 2008 21:04:16 GMT

12:35 NO WOOT. I WILL NOT FALL TO YOUR LUSTFUL GAZE. I AM MAN. So, WOOT OFF, Woot-Off! #

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Thu, 08 May 2008 01:40:47 GMT

Imagine my surprise... the new Nintendo Channel is actually pretty neat! It ranks a lot of games and gives geeky stats about them, you can download DS demos and it has videos of most wii, ds and most importantly, virtual console games. now i dont have to guess what the hell crazy japanese VC games are... i can watch a video of them.

very cool... although the download is MASSIVE.

***

i didnt remember her until recently, but as a kid, i had the hots for the female Pinbot.

***

we watched 'Teeth' tonight. its everything you'd expect a movie about vagina dentada to be. that is to say... pretty decent.

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:49:27 GMT

we finished Battlestar Season Three the other day... yawn. worst. ending song thingy. ever.

the whole season was a MAJOR letdown. season two had me enamoured, and in love, with the series after a rocky start. the honeymoon is over. i guess i can start into season four now. OH! i need to add Razor to my netflix LIKE NOW...

***

we finished Oz Season Five tonight. man... the ending to that was sad, but kinda perfect. Augustus has a knock out final word and the closing shot is a stunner. cant wait to dig into season six... to finish out the series.

***

did i mention we watched 'Bull Durham' the other night. it was a bit of a letdown too... i think i was expecting Caddyshack, but with more heart. instead i got porkys for adults. it was ok.

***

cd updated

The Weepies - Hideaway
The Kooks - Konk

talk about your bad album titles.

and i got Dov's record... i forget the name or his last name... i'll write it down soon.

***

i'm in love. more later. much later.

***

my back is still dead.

***

i'm rambling because i'm trying to remember what i wanted to write about in the first place... wtf was it? justin reminded me of something... but now i'm at a loss... the new Interpol unofficial video is pretty neat... 'Rest My Chemistry' is probably my favorite song from LP3, so it has that going for it.

This is no Bridget Jones.

Tue, 06 May 2008 20:38:22 GMT

I'm sure everyone has heard it by now, but the new Weezer single... it's actually good! I'm as shocked as you are.

The lyrics aren't completely awful!

The melody is fantastic!

The composition is interesting!

It almost kinda sounds like old Weezer. It sounds like what Old Weezer would probably sounds like at this point in their career, had they survived.

I'm stunned.

The new Scarlett Johansen song isn't completely awful either... wowzers. I wouldn't buy it, but it's not awful. not awful. and shes engaged to ryan reynolds. i thought he was still with alanis.

welcome to my new blog... i'm going to spill gossip on all the hottest young celebrities. I'm like Perez Hilton, only fatter and with a worse haircut (yes. both are possible.)

***

I'm digging the Wombats too. I'm officially a 13 year old girl.

Olivia Munn, I want a piece of your bunn(z).

Tue, 06 May 2008 02:25:41 GMT

so i officially tore the piss out of my back. i pulled it again today lifting a case of chocolate covered raisins. i went to urgent care because i thought it was just something i did... but the doc said it was workers comp... a case of overused muscles or something. so then i had to go to my works doctor... that took all gotdamned day. i took a vicodin, 800mg of ibuprofen got a shot in my ass and went to physical therapy.

naturally my work doctor cleared me to work... so i'll be back in the saddle tomorrow. it hurts when i think. but i was jacked up on enough drugs today that it was ok for the bulk of the day.

***

i played A LOT of Williams Pinball Hall of Fame for the Wii. A lot. i love that game. i can't quit you WPHOF!

Tweets for Today

Sat, 03 May 2008 21:06:14 GMT

22:12 Fracking sleepy. Want. More. GTAIV. #
22:12 @Shipwreck R-Type is a strategy? Forget that... I was kinda looking forward to it too... Bummer... #

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Sat, 03 May 2008 18:28:20 GMT

My complaining about Animal Crossing two years ago.

The game I love to hate.

Sat, 03 May 2008 14:27:42 GMT

'Great DJ' by The Ting Tings is the Free Download on iTunes right now. Just go to the iTunes homepage and there is a link to it right in the center of the page.

It's one of the better tracks they've offered recently.

Also, I think iTunes turned five years old today. Word.

Tweets for Today

Sat, 03 May 2008 07:05:25 GMT

21:12 Fracking sleepy. Want. More. GTAIV. #
21:12 @Shipwreck R-Type is a strategy? Forget that... I was kinda looking forward to it too... Bummer... #

Here's my junks via LoudTwitter

Fri, 02 May 2008 14:41:21 GMT

Color me shocked... the 'Kung Fu Panda' game is actually pretty good! I mean, its still really easy, it's a kids game after all, but for what it is, its great. The combat and action works well, the graphics are really pretty as is the animation.

When I booted up the demo, I was hit with the 'Luxoflux' logo... creators of one of my favorite games, Vigilante 8... an admitted 'Twisted Metal' rip-off, but they actually did everything right and it was a great combat driving game.

They haven't released anything that great since then, but it's nice to see they're still around.

If you have kids, or like simple games and collecting coins, give 'Kung Fu Panda' a look... i don't know if i can say the same for the movie... that looks pretty bad.

***

hung out with matt and tamara last night and pretty much just talked tv and movies for a couple hours. it was fun and we never got around to playing any games or anything.

***

I also gave the 'Sega Superstars Tennis' demo a look on the 360. I hated the PS3 demo, but when I found out it was made by the same group that did Virtua Tennis, I decided to give it another look. It works much better on the 360, much easier to control, oddly enough. I figured they should be about identical. It's still a bit too simple, even for a tennis game. they have you push XA or AX to do lob shots or whatever. you dont use Y or B at all. why not put lob on Y like every other tennis game? it's frustrating. And when you charge up for a special shot, you only get to keep it for one point. its not timed, I guess it would be useful if you're only up by one, but its awkward to initiate as well. the ball has to be in play for you to use the charge, so you cant do it on a serve.... frustrating.

***
cd

Nerf Herder - IV

Ben Wants You!

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:14:40 GMT

in a strange twist of fate... my top 2 most anticipated games are both released this week.

GTA IV (duh.)

and

EchoChrome!!!

yup... its hitting PSN today for just ten bones in both PSP and PS3 flavors. i think i'll go for the PSP version. hot damn!

i stumbled through the japanese demo and loved it. i'm sure to get to the fourth level and pull my hair out though.

***

also... looks like we're doing two podcasts today. or something.

***

and!

cd update

Lyrics Born - Whatever dumb title his new album has
David Crowder Band* - Remememedy Deluxe Edition

***

my back was pretty jacked today, so i came home early. watched 'before the devil knows you're dead'. it's good. better in some aspects than i expected and worse in some others. the story is good and its a pleasure to look at (and not just the naked parts), but the acting was... bonkers. i wasnt feeling it. worth a look though. really, the story is great.

i wont spoil it as much as the trailer does, but two brothers rob a jewelry store... their parents jewelry store. the heist goes bad...

***

an mfing spider was just crawling on my ear! how did it even get up there?

hell... now i feel them all over myself. ugh.

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:42:28 GMT

HAHAHAHA!

Man... I just love it when GameSh!t fails. Really. I LOVE IT.

Those reservations they shove up your ass everytime you set foot in their stores? Meaningless.

Way to be.

I saw my dad today at my work about an hour before I got off. He said that on the news they said GTAIV was selling out everywhere. I didn't bother with a pre-order because I'm a cheapass and I always wait until I know all my options before I commit to one place or another. When he told me it was selling out though... I got scared.

I ran to Best Buy after work and they still had some left... but not many. WTF? Seriously, I expected copies of GTAIV to be choking the aisles. It's the biggest title of the year, and is already being speculated to be the fastest selling game ever. I figured supply would STILL out rank demand. When Halo 2 was so 'rare' at launch, every store I went to had stacks and stack everywhere for weeks. There was no shortage in my area at all. That was a few years ago, so internet orders were smaller even...

Did GTAIV short ship or what?

of the 10 'friends' logged into their xboxes when i was playing (at a peak... i'd say at least 15 users showed up while i was playing, maybe more) EVERY single one of them was playing GTAIV. one guy did Halo 3 for a while, then went GTA. When Halo 3 launched i had 11 friends on at peak, and only 3 of us were playing halo. just to give a comparison.

***

So what do i think of it?

WELL...

I love it.

BUT.

It really really is more of the same. It's not a revolutionary leap to the next gen. Certainly the graphics and physics are much much better than in previous titles. and there is a ton more swearing and sex talk. but its a fine tuned version of GTAIII really.

not that that's a bad thing. GTAIII is one of the best games ever made and was a massive innovation and landmark title. Everything about GTAIV is better, but pretty much the same as you would expect.

Anyone try the multiplayer? I did just for a bit around dinnertime. I did a Team Deathmatch game. I'm hoping the other gametypes are better. the level sucked and the screen was a mess. you're dressed like some guy or whatever, and there is no team colors. i mean... i dropped in and there was an orange team and a purple team. i was wearing jeans and a navy jacket. uh... who do i shoot? as i was trying to find my bearings, some thug ran up next to me. i aimed my pistol at his face and he said 'what's up man?'... ok... we're purple apparently, or he's just as clueless as i am. he didnt fire at me, so i took off running towards the nearest orange blob on my radar.... he followed my every move constantly asking 'what's up man?'. then i got sniped.

i took down 4 guys with my pistol in 3 minutes and was ranked #1 on my team. i think everyone was confused as hell.

***

also.... the moment i booted the game... i mean... THE MOMENT. the freaking title screen had not even come up yet.... i got an invitation to play. wtf? its 2 in the afternoon on launch day for a historically single player game. please hold off on the invitations a day or two. did anyone really jump right into the multiplayer right away? the beginning of the game is a 10 minute cut scene... peoples...

he sent me 3 more invitations throughout the day. i messaged him and said i wanted to spend some alone time in liberty city. he said that was fine. and then proceeded to send invites anyway. i guess he's just excited.

i have 14 more multiplayer types to try... so i'm sure i'll hit him up soon.

I think i'm about 8% through the main storyline. something like that. i just got an email account in the game. achievements are pretty random. i think i have 4 or so, for pretty random things besides finishing levels.

***

cd update

The Roots - Rising Down or something
Portishead - 3

If you don't know, now you know.

IV

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:00:51 GMT

reason number 50 bizillion that I'm in love with GTAIV:

CHELSEA PERETTI does a radio voice! The fuel the fires my loins...

Jim Norton too! allegedly Norm MacDonald is in there as well, but I haven't seen his thingy yet... so to speak. Iggy Pop is probably the biggest DJ, Femi Kuti is another. (besides Lazlow).

with every GTA game, the first thing I do is crack open the instruction booklet and see who did voices and radio time in the game...

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:30:33 GMT

So we saw 'Expelled' tonight. But I'm not going to talk about it, you'll just have to listen to the next episode of the SuperCandid Podcast for details! Not that anyone gives a sh!t.

***

Also, I sold Brawl. They gave me $30. That's about $8 more than I expected.

***

GTAFTW!!!!

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:04:51 GMT

WTF?

They've got this and a German language track called 'German Studies', both from the new record... I thought Fotini put one of her greek cds in my playlist at first when this came on.

***

and what's up with imeem? Does ANYONE just surf around there listening to stuff? I really only use it to share music via the little player. I have just shy of 19,000 total plays in my account! I don't promote it anywhere but here, so ... weird. How is it that we have a full blown blog with a bi-weekly podcast, that's over a year old at that, and it's got less than a tenth the plays that whatever crap I put on imeem does?

Jon... we need to dig for gold via imeem ASAP.

***

We recorded and released a demo podcast... a THIRD podcast... it actually turned out better than i thought. we were not really confident on the pacing and format, but we got the recording nailed down and halfway through it sounds great. we also didnt have a need to censor ourselves, so its a lot more entertaining than supercandid... not that i'm hating on supercandid or anything.

as soon as we get another show in the can, i'll post a link... unless you want to hear it, just comment and i'll send you the link. its really rough as far as content... it involves mainstream movies though. It's 'The Stupid Podcast for Jerks'... a nod to such an obscure movie, even we haven't digested the pop culture hipness of it.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:45:24 GMT

The look on Jason Priestleys face makes me want to play MarioKart Wii RIGHT NOW. He looks so full of joy. It's like he's thinking 'HOLY SMOKES! I've never in my entire life had this much fun ever!'

If it had come out a month ago, or maybe in a month, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. But as is, on the dawn of the most exciting moment of my entire life, no dice.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:35:14 GMT

In XXIV hours from right now, I will start playing GTAIV...

I'm seriously WAY excited. Believe it or not, I'm literally more excited about my upcoming excursion in Liberty City than I was about my real life vacation last week. I'm really not joking... I haven't been this excited about a video game since... I don't even know when.

I was really excited about Orange Box, but this... this is something else...

Maybe the last time I was this excited was when I got my Wii at launch and it was just a pandora's box of mysteries.

even then... GTAIV is the reason i bought a 360. Remember at launch (*cough*still) how they sucked and had no good games and were not really that happening? well, i waited 9 months. then GTAIV was announced. that was in 2006? i thought it was coming out THAT christmas, and i saw the rare 360 in stores and bit. i didnt know they actually meant christmas 2007 (which became 2008). yes. i, in essence, paid $400 for this game already.

of course everyone knows that i love my 360 more deeply than i could ever even love my own child. so it worked out in the meantime.

Also, I rode a Segway.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:21:20 GMT

crappy vacation photos is up!

for some reason... they all loaded small on flickr.

the stream: http://flickr.com/photos/callmesteam/sets/72157604767662377/

California Explanation

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 23:29:53 GMT

So our trip was fun, but busy... blah blah... everyone writes this kind of stuff, so I'm just going to nail down some highlights before I forget them.

***

I finished two books:

Preacher Collection 1 (if that counts)
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

and I started the first Constantine collection.
Also, we listened to the audiobook for 'The Ruins'... There were no ruins actually visited in the book... SPOILAR~!!!

Preacher is badass and I can't wait to read more.

***

We went to Amoeba Records twice. I felt a lot of emotions while there. at first, i was pissed because i was (again) incredibly overwhelmed. then i started coming into my own, finding albums, having fun, etc. then i got pissed again because i was finding too much stuff and i had still just barely scratched the surface. i decided to stick mainly to the used and clearance sections just because if its still there and new, i can probably still find it somewhere else.

I passed on a damaged copy of 'Meat Bob' by Bobcat Goldthwait... although i really wanted it and nearly paid the $15 for it.

the haul was small... but also dirt cheap. i think i bought 5 sealed cds, and two of those were EPs... most of the stuff i got are things i've been wanting to hear, but didnt feel like paying full price for, or were so cheap i just wanted to try them. clearly, i hit the comedy section pretty hard as comedy records are hard to come by in ABQ.

here's the rundown.

Sarah Shannon - City Morning Song
Starlight Mints - Drowaton
Interpol - Live EP
Neon Neon - Stainless Style
IllLit - Insound tour EP
ELYK Records Comp
Judd and Maggie - Subjects
Greg Behrendt is Uncool
Love Arcade
Athlete - Beyond the Neighborhood
James Kochalka Superstar - Spread your Evil Wings and Fly
Chromeo - Fancy Footwork
Mark Gross - Meet Mark Gross
Neil Hamburger - Raw Hamburger
Robert Kelly - Just the Tip
Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
Luaka Bop - The Sound of Sound Comp
We Are Standard - 3.000V - 40.000W
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
+/- - Let's Build a Fire
+/- - +/-
The Guggenheim Grotto - ... Waltzing Alone
K-Os - Joyful Rebellion
K-Os - Collected
Fun Lovin' Criminals - Livin' in the City
Duran Duran - Thank You (Import)
Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone - Blowin' Up
The Subways - Young for Eternity
Everclear - Welcome to the Drama Club
The Maccabees - Colour It In
The Naked Trucker and T-Bones - Live at the Troubadour
Fountains of Wayne - Out of State Plates
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - #3
Creeper Lagoon - Take Back the Universe and Give Me Yesterday
Hovercraft - Experiment Below
Isobel Campbell - Milkwhite Sheets
Spoon - Don't You Evah EP
REM - New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Special Edition)

I thought that last one was a collection of 7" es... but its the cd with a cool box and a giant book.

I think that's about it... besides stuff that Fotini wanted. Kate Nash is hers as well as some Chieftans stuff. I also got a couple copies of Surrogate and some other gifts. All that for about $200 i guess. so... around $4-5 each?

Last time I seemed to favor Astralwerks records... this time Minty Fresh was the repeat offender.

***

We spent a lot of time with Ted, his wife Becca, and their daughter Riley... and their friends a bit too.

Here's a photo of Ted's house:

The Mickey toilet paper was a little unsettling, i mean... wiping with a pillar of your childhood is unusual (insert NKOTB joke here).

Still, we had a good time... lots of Catan and they gave us a ton of information about Disneyland. So much so that I actually ate TWO meals in the Disney park where I didn't feel totally ripped off. The other meals were ripoffs though, and Cafe Uva was so much of a ripoff that it neglects any perceived savings from the two reasonably priced meals.

I saw the Cafe Uva menu posted and fries were $6, a cheesesteak was $9, and after days of having insane prices drilled into my brains, these actually seemed like a 'good deal'. what we received was FIVE french fries. thats right... FIVE. they were like steak fries, but still. FIVE. and the cheesesteak. take an Olive Garden Breadstick, cut it in half and throw one onion slice and a slice of roast beef on it. there's your $9. I AM NO EXAGGERATING. It was literally the size of an OG breadstick.

***

we went to church with the Ted's as well. They go to church in a punkrawk venue. it was black as night and the only lights were christmas lights strung across the ceiling. during the service they turned on some chinese lamps. it was very hip. i'm surprised i didnt fall asleep. it was the perfect setting for an indie show. the church was cool though, and the people nice. the pastor wore jeans and welcomed us. word.

***

we did two days in Disneyland. open to close.

I wore a hole in my insoles. we both need wheelchairs now because our legs dont work. but it was great. a real disney animator taught us how to draw Tigger.

The Bugs Life 3D show thingy is just about the best thing in both parks. i loved the hell out of it. even though they did spray RAID all over us in the audience.

The Muppet 3D thing SUCKED. The preshow was 10 times better than the actual show. You know how the Muppets are famous and have lots of big characters. Kermit, Piggy, Fonzie, etc? well, they decided that all those beloved characters are bullsh!t and instead most of the show revolves around 'The Spirit of 3D'... an annoying CGI bug thing that flies around. it looks like something Pixar would have made 25 years ago as a tech demo. its not even made of FELT. nice.

I've never seen Bugs Life or Monsters Inc... or a ton of other films apparently... but the Monsters Inc ride is pretty great too.

The Jungle Adventure ride thing is still the best thing in the Disneyland park.

The Enchanted Tiki Room was the only 'neglected' attraction we went too. everything in disneyland is PERFECT. clean and trimmed and everything.... really amazingly perfect... except the Tiki Room. damn near everything in there is dusty as hell. half the robots have broken parts. its a room full of birds and singing flowers and stuff. even the walls sing. everything sings. its really great and a big time capsule for what disneyland started as. there are more robots in that one room than on most of the other rides period. that said... many of the birds had half broken beaks, or one eye worked and the other was lazy. its a shame... but i'd imagine its not that big of a draw anymore anyway.

next time, we're paying for a tour guide. no contest. its $50 or something, but you get lunch so thats like a $300 savings right there.

the freaking submarines were always broken or buried under lines.

the longest wait we had was probably about 25 minutes... and it was for the lamest ride ever.... Storybook Land. you sit in a boat and look at miniatures for 3 minutes. i thought it was another robot ride. the second longest wait was for the Casey Jr train... 20 minutes. its identical to the Storybook Land ride except its on land and not sea... i wish i had known they were identical.

The Snow White ride.... WTF? its like... here's all the bad stuff that went down... snow white is done-skis, the dwarves are boned, prince charming is AWOL... RIDE'S OVER KIDS! HOP OUT! it doesnt even wrap up... it was funny how bad that ride was.

Pirates was excellent. i was never a huge fan, it was always ok, but its really good. i mean, you've got ships shooting over your head, and water splashing everywhere... it was awesome.

i'm not going to describe everything... but we loved our time in the magic kingdom. if you go, check the galleries out... we saw a Jane Seymour original!

we also watched a ton of movies. we did pretty much every attraction in both parks that wasnt a crazyass roller coaster. thats a ton. no matter how boring it looked, we did it. and nothing was really THAT bad.

I'll post photos soon.

***

mick bought a freaking '08 BMW... gotdamn man! its nice. his new place is pretty nice too... he's still the same old mick... and dani is the same old dani. we stayed there for 2 days but our schedules were pretty opposite.

***

we saw a big ass dead seal on the beach. its face was all bashed in, but the rest looked ok. must have it a boat blade. weird seeing something that big, that close, that dead.

hung out with my uncle and met his girlfriend. shes 60 and very nice. also checked out the maritime museum... they have the second largest collection of bone ship models. that is to say, models of ships made out of bones. prisoners in the 1700's made them out of their food leftovers. they were REALLY nice too. we saw some maps that Whistler did. before he did his mom. he got fired for drawing on the maps. very cool. my uncle has at least 5 models in that museum... they were really nice.

***

everyone knows how much i hate my Kia, and some of you will remember that the last time i tried to drive to LA my gotdamned KIA broke down two hours outside of ABQ on my way there and i spent my two week vacation in my room with my gamecube feeling sorry for myself.

our rental car was a Kia Sephia.

it got amazing gas milage. i mean... in the 40mpg range. i'm very pleased.

***

i saw Tommy Lee in California Adventure with an incredibly hot blonde girl. it was him though. tats and bad haircut and all.

we didnt go to the free Flight of the Conchords concert, but i did see them driving by Amoeba as we walked in.

as previously mentioned, we saw Norm MacDonald doing standup and he was wonderful. it was a great surprise. we met my friend Jason and he said there was a good comedy club near our hotel in Tempe. he called to see who was performing and we just lucked out! we sat in the balcony, front center. great seats.

there were two hecklers in the crowd... and no joke, they were literally sitting right next to us on both sides. the comics reamed them though and they pretty much shut up after the first comic.

***

we listened to several podcasts, Random X, Penny Arcade, CAG Foreplay, Leo LaPorte, Hijinks Ensue, SModcast... and about 6 hours of the Stern show... most of which involved Arties departure and comeback. nothing like bear porn and ejaculate eating for sustenance talk to start a vacation right.

***

We also watched 'Juno' today.

I was torn because part of me wanted to really like it because everyone does and everyone told me that I would love it. For those same reasons, I wanted to hate it. I wasn't interested in watching it before because it looked like a pretentious hipster movie. I think I liked it better when it was called 'Ghost World' like 10 years ago.... but it was ok. It's the kind of movie that people who haven't seen 'Ghost World' or the like would probably find hip. It was kind of like a Wes Anderson movie, but without the heart. It probably sounds like I hated it, but I didn't. It was just... there. and exactly what i thought it would be. a movie that thinks its more clever than it actually is, but it had some zingers in it as well. JK Simmons and Michael Cera were excellent. Her stepmom was really good too.

I think its funny that someone who calls themselves 'Diablo Cody' and names their lead 'Juno MacGuff' takes the time to make fun of the name 'Madison' in the script.

Also. no one says 'Swear to Blog' or whatever the hell. no one. really. except the 13 year old girls who saw Juno and say it now.

a lot of people said i would like it because i talk just like the characters in the film. apparently i'm a bigger asshole/douchebag/tard than i thought.

i didnt think i needed to say it, but when i write things like 'SPOILARZ!' and 'omg lollerz! and the like... thats not ME, thats me making fun of people who say those words. i'm fueling the fire i guess, and for that i'm sorry. its like if i were 19 and wearing a phil collins t-shirt. word?

(i do say 'word' and 'dig' sans irony however.)

anyway... if you havent seen it... rent 'Rushmore'.

***

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:06:01 GMT

Watched 'The Brave One'. it sucked, but the ending was ok.