25 February 2002
[First day of Ermine Central's benevolent existence.]
- Ermine Central Homepage created.
- Dame page created.
- Links page created.
I had two tests today and I have one tomorrow. Barbarous, I say!
The Calculus test surprised me a little bit. I thought I was well prepared but still had a problem figuring out how to solve several of the problems. Hopefully I do well enough on it to raise my overall grade to a B, but that may not happen.
I studied German for 1.5 hours this evening. I hope the oral exam goes well tomorrow. It would be nice to get an A in that class, but it won't happen. It would be nice to start out with the expectation of an A and then have to work for it, rather than having to start with the expectation of a low B and have to abuse myself in order to get an A. Maybe I will just stop caring about grades.
I stayed up late again tonight as evidenced by the time stamp below this entry. However, I will sleep in until 11 tomorrow so it shouldn't be too detrimental to my studying/working/being a person. I think the only time I need more sleep is if I:
- get sick
- get unusually bad grades
- can't control my actions
Alright, that's it for today.
26 February 2002
- Information page created.
- Tribute pages created.
- Online Confrontation added.
Regina 62 IMS 53
Karl Yoder 3 2-2 8, Jon Miiller 1 0-0 3, Nathan Miller 4 0-0 10, Torey Miller 0 0-0 0, Nolan Yoder 2 0-0 4, Garrett Yoder 2 0-0 4, Luke Yoder 7 2-4 20, Rylan Miller 0 4-4 4, Brylee Miller 0 0-0 0, Cody Negrete 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-10 53. 3-point goals - L. Yoder 4, N. Miller 2, Miiller. Total fouls - IMS 21. Fouled out - N. Miller.
It is indeed too bad that the basketball team did not advance any further in the postseason. However, they have a bright
future to look forward to.
I think my German test went alright this morning. At the least it shouldn't alter my solid B in the class. I did homework and slacked off the rest of the day. It was as cold as a witch's teat, by the way.
And that, as they say, is that.
27 February 2002
Yes, I aced the Calc test. And by aced I mean an 88. After 13 points had been added. OK, so it's not a world-beater, but it'll raise the overall grade nicely to approximately an 84. Which isn't a C. Thankfully.
With not much else to say, I will leave you with this:
Terrorism in perspective | Over the last six years, approximately 25,000 people have died from acts of terrorism, worldwide. Over that same period, 52 million people have died from preventable hunger; about 24,000 people per day.
1 March 2002
My German composition is done and I don't really have anything major to do this weekend. Except the Calc project but that's not really due for another nine days. Next term I get German 103, Microeconomics, Writing Seminar and maybe Badminton [waitlist]. It won't be an amazing term but it shouldn't be too bad. Only 16 more days until Second Term is over and the Singers leave for Chicago. Then the bus ride home and ten days of nothing. I'd better sleep then because I certainly won't next term.
All the previous updates have been removed to the Archives mainly to keep the front page small because that's how I want it.
Peace.
10 March 2002
This is my earliest update ever. In fact, the sun is still in the sky. I'm not sure if I will able to concentrate fully but I will valiantly attempt to do so. It seems to have been about nine days since I last updated. Even so, I have managed to keep quite busy. And then there is class. I've already worked on Calc for five or six hours and I project another three at least this evening, but it has been enjoyable. I suppose I deserve it for putting off two projects until the last possible minute. This week I have to write my final Philosophy paper and study for German and Calc and move upstairs. And there is other stuff. But at the moment it seems manageable. Hopefully I will also manage to find time to sleep this week, or if not over break. Going to bed at an average of 7:05 am and having a 9:50 am class may be slightly less intelligent than walking around outside naked and blindfolded, but probably less cold. Sleep is good. But not as good as having a very good reason to stay up that late, those kinds of reasons aren't very common. Hopefully the near future will provide many similar exciting opportunities. It would be a shame if they were over.
Maybe if I get sometime between sleeping and watching basketball over break I will make the site interesting. Time will tell. Speaking of basketball, the two late games today were very good. Oklahoma and Hollis Price dominated Kansas, but not quite as completely as the Ohio State Buckeyes did to Iowa.
Enough for the update, maybe I will even do so two days in a row. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ~ROFFLE.
11 March 2002
NO MORE GERMAN 102!!!111>>> EVER!!!111>>> I am finally done with the classes for the term. Now I can become nocturnal or whatever I want. I will get my stuff done for this week and not worry about a thing until the month of April.
I lost my beard.
13 March 2002
Last night was Late Night Trivia. Paul Letendre, pride of 1st Goodhue, displayed the number 24 [1st Goodhue's team number] to the judges in an effort to score points for the team. The number was located on Paul's scrotum. Your humble narrator in the 36 hours leading up to about 11:00 pm that night had his toenails painted, his beard shaved, a mullet cultivated upon his head, and makeup applied to his face. This resulted in twelve points for the team. But alas it was not enough. The valiant efforts of 1st Goodhue resulted in a tie for sixth which team member Summer Allen correctly predicted minutes before the actual announcement. However, finals were collectively avoided for a solid five hours by a large percentage of the students on campus. Huzzah.
I am now a full-fledged member of the Carleton Moustache Club. We had our 2nd annual meeting tonight at the Late Night Breakfast. Names were collected and pictures were taken. T-shirts are pending, to be sure.
I moved plenty of stuff up to Goodhue 335, my home as of April 1. I have everything I need in room 103 for the trip to Chicago and home. I have yet to start my Philosophy paper [7-9 pages] for Saturday. It looks like studying from now until 5:00 pm Saturday with a little sleep thrown in here and there.
Finals suck.
15 March 2002
I have some German studying and Philosophy paper revising left. Tomorrow I will take the test at noon, move everything upstairs by 4, turn in the paper by 5, work, then clean out the room. At that point I will watch basketball which I haven't been able to do enough of at all this weekend. Then finals will be over. I will be in Chicago for choir trip and then home to sleep for ten days in a row. Hopefully I will also find time to make the site prettier and more exciting. Just like me. Now that I have no facial hair or any hair longer than one inch on my head. Maybe 1 April will occasion a grand reopening of Ermine Central and maybe not. The world will just have to wait and see.
My head is going to explode.
1 April 2002
April fools.
Oh wait, this is a real update. I changed the link style to make it simpler for me. I also [this time] successfully implemented a Cascading Style Sheet to take care of how the pages look. Since not all browsers support CSS, the site may not look quite the same in IE or Netscape. However, I like CSS far better than my other options, so either live with it or make your life easier and switch to Mozilla.
Spring Break was everything it should have been. Choir trip to Chicago was interesting: not perfect but full of positives here and there. Iowa was Iowa. I saw friends and my family. I hit a deer with my car. I donated blood. I avoided mental exercise for 10 days. It was good.
The review section of the site is now up and running. Although available to all, this is mainly for me. Check it out if you like. It's at the top and bottom of the page between the Online Confrontations and the Tribute Pages.
I believe that is all for now. Have an enjoyable third term. Except for those bastards at normal colleges. To you I say, have a horrible fifteen days or whatever ridiculously small amount of school you have left.
2 April 2002
I won the Tecmo Bowl.
The first day of classes was pretty good. I am now rapidly building up my sleep debt. Good night.
3 April 2002
It needs to stop snowing and be spring. I think today was as cold as it will be for a while but it is kind of depressing. Hopefully I will be wearing shorts next week.
Maryland beat Indiana 64-52 to win the national championship in case you live under a rock.
I started my spring term video game conquest in style last night beating the New York Giants with my Los Angeles Raiders. Marcus Allen took MVP honors but Bo Jackson deserves special recognition as well. He scored at least 5 touchdowns against the Cleveland Browns in the first week of the playoffs. That was the first game I beat, and I am now working on Marble Madness. Hopefully tomorrow night's update will include another picture of my victorious Nintendo exploits.
Go home.
4 April 2002
I got the power up and won the game.
And got the high score.
I think I will attempt a real video game next [not emulated] so there will be not pictures but I will still be excited. I don't want to type anymore.
5 April 2002
Sadly there was no game winning tonight. I am hard at work on Tetris Attack Puzzle Mode but that may take a while. Hopefully I will be able to add all the games I beat to the review section, as I should know them well enough by then.
We went to Petricka's tonight and I picked up 20 oz. of cheese puffs [Earl's!], 8 Cadbury eggs and a York peppermint patty for $3.87. Hopefully I will get sensations from all products and not just the last one. Now it is time to turn our hearts and minds to something a little more serious:
Super Nintendo.
9 April 2002
Yesterday was indeed my birthday. I ate cake and talked to my parents and played badminton and defeated Tetris Attack puzzle mode. That however only opened up the extra second half so I shall keep playing.
I slept through German today and it was wonderful. I also discovered a new version of Tetris. Entertaining, to say the least. I am done with my homework. Yeah.
11 April 2002
I saw Ghost World tonight at Film Society, loved it, and reviewed it. Tomorrow is the first German test of the term. Hopefully it also starts out with a bang, and not a whimper. Classes go well, life goes well, being 19 goes well. Not perfect, that would be boring, but I can't say I have any major complaints with the universe as it stands at the moment. Oh, and I invented time travel today. Sort of.
Two updates in one day! Actually this is just occurring because I changed the way in which I date my updates. But I digress...
It was rainy and not warm today but I still enjoyed it. It's nice when it's gray, not least because no one thinks it's weird not to be outside instead of inside. The Singers did a mini-concert for the Accepted Students, as we will next week. It went pretty well, we sounded good thanks in part to Great Hall acoustics, and the rest of the term doesn't look too bad, especially if Wintermesse is decent. Afterward I picked up new CDs like Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine and The Fragile along with Black Sabbath's Greatest Hits, Violent Femmes' Greatest Hits and Deftones' Around The Fur. $34. Not bad. I am done with my homework, though I could do more. I think now I shall transcend.
Mmmmm. That's nice.
13 April 2002
Today was good. The weather was good. Little Shop Of Horrors was good. Hedwig And The Angry Inch was good. Dinner, not so much, but that's expected. This weekend looks like a lot of homework but hopefully that will be leavened by enjoyable times as well. To the weekend.
14 April 2002
An interesting day to be sure. Two hours of procrastination that included buying tickets for Twins vs. Indians next Friday and downloading the finalized version of the new Weezer. Homework, work [156 minutes!], pool with Liz and Allison, Balderdash in the Room, and Gods and Monsters with Summer. Finally an engaging evening [1:30-3:30] of conversation. Work is approaching soon so I will probably sleep or something. I also added some reviews to the review section and changed the scale which you can note at the top of its page. I think this is the latest update of the term.
I am glad that my Writing paper pretty much wrote itself. Hopefully it will also revise itself and turn itself in before 9 am tomorrow morning. Luckily in Writing we have a sub on Wednesday and no class on Friday. The class is pretty decent and the professor interesting but variety is, after all, the spice of life. A trip to Ragstock with Summer and Max was foiled but I did manage to pick up some music at the library. I have to say the fact that the Simpson's was a rerun was a little disappointing but this season is so good that it doesn't even matter that much. To video games!
17 April 2002
18 April 2002
19 April 2002
22 April 2002
This was an awful post in which I displayed four pictures of my desktop.
23 April 2002
The room is finally in order although more changes may be in the near future. The couch is in place as well as the video games. Sadly, though, I think my streak of nights sleeping on the couch may end at two. It was not quite as comfortable last night as it was Sunday night.
Hopefully I will be cleaning up the code for the site today, so although no one else may notice it, I will be a lot happier. Here is a nice image for today:
24 April 2002
Hmmm, it seems as if I have lost Sunday 21 April 2002's update. I don't know why I got rid of it, but I did. Much of the site has been overhauled but still much of it is not fully functional. I think this weekend I should have some time to finish it off as I won't have too much homework. Tonight I will still have to study for Microeconomics, which sucks because I am terrible at studying. Hopefully I figure it out.
The site is now teal. It may return to olive at some point in the future. If you feel like it, send the color or background of your choice to me and I may decide to use that instead.
I think I will commence my studying now, so for further enjoyment, head over to Cliff Yablonski's Vault of Loathing and see how many pages you can sit through at one time. I dare you.
25 April 2002
Continuing my string of random deletions, I accidentally got rid of 17 hours of music from my computer last night. Download.com only offers file-recovery programs that limit themselves to 64kb files. I only managed to recover about 6 and a half hours sadly. I am now going to mourn.
26 April 2002
Today was moderately uneventful. The econ test went. I got my homework done. I surfed the web. I played Popeye, Dr. Mario and Lost Vikings II. Tomorrow is Hogan Bros. The forecast for the weekend is delicious. Mmmmmmmm...weekend. Enjoy this game, or this one and the source of the image below. Why not just play all the SeeThru games. I only had time for two.
27 April 2002
The weather sucks. Last night was fun. Today has been interesting. I haven't much to say. But the Guardian does.
28 April 2002
I finally got the entire site cleaned up. The links are all good, the code is clean and the background is indeed teal. If you can find any problems, send them to me.
Tonight, despite the weather, was absolutely wonderful. I would take every day with weather ten times this bad if only they could turn out like today. You only wish you knew. Goodnight, and here is another image from Lomography.
I got Paint Shop Pro from Max today. That is how I got the new background which utilizes a reduced contrast and the new banner which utilizes a great many features of the program. Homework and laundry are done, first floor study break was tasty and good. I ate Sun Chips today, they were good.
30 April 2002
I can't believe I just studied three hours of German. I better get at least a B on that test. But studying is not bad with company.
Here it is, with surprisingly little fanfare: The Wesley Willis Song of the Day. Just click the link at the bottom to get the .mp3 file. Try it. You may like it. [Obviously it's not there anymore.]
5 May 2002
Ay carámba, mis amigos! Hoy está Cinco de Mayo!
On an unrelated note, this is a long weekend. I am enjoying the time off but certainly anticipating a return to normalcy, whatever that is. Wesley Willis now has a new song below the time. [Not really.] I am yet again feeling rather closelipped so I will leave you with this. Yes, it is the 16th inning. Of a 6 inning Little League game. And no, I did not change pitchers. No applause necessary.
6 May 2002
I have seen five movies in the past 36 hours. They are, in order: Rushmore, Office Space, Toy Story 2, X-Men and finally The Big Lebowski. It is overly late right now to update the review page but someday soon these and more may all be added for my pleasure and enjoyment.
This weekend has been about what I had hoped it would be, and will be especially nice if my homework tomorrow does not take overly long. Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day. Maybe I will update and maybe not. You will have to check anyway. I don't have too much more to say right now. Maybe one of these days will a be a full state-of-Ermine Central update but who knows. It's bedtime or thereabouts. Oh, and don't check out the newest Wesley Willis selection below. [Because it's not there.]
7 May 2002
Here is a short emergency update:
9 May 2002
I saw Otesánek tonight, so go read the review.
My parents are coming this weekend, not so ironically for Parents' Weekend. So hopefully I will get to go golfing on Friday and maybe something else interesting on Saturday.
The look of the site has been changing little by little recently. That's because it has an identity crisis. Don't make fun of it, or it might require extensive therapy. Download the nonexistent Wesley Willis song down there and leave. Or stay. I don't care. The others will be removed soon because I have limited storage space. [They've all been removed.]
10 May 2002
The site looks quite new today. At least the main pages do. I don't know if it will stay like this or whether it will continue to change. Most likely there will be minor revisions forever.
It is now the weekend even though I have to work three times before I go back to class. Things are looking good, for the most part. 18 more days of class. No Wesley Willis. Woohoo.
12 May 2002
Try this design on for size.
This weekend has been pretty good so far. Friday I didn't have Writing and I went golfing at Willinger's Golf Course about 9 miles west of Northfield. It was a good course, and a little tricky the first time around, but very fun to play. We also went to the Byzantine Deli for dinner. Saturday was bowling and Target. I also saw both SUMO features, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Wedding Singer, which should soon be up on the review page.
I am finally finished with Marriott for the weekend. Working there anyway. I will probably eat dinner there today. I need to revise my paper for Writing and do some German. Hopefully that won't take too long.
13 May 2002
The archives have been compressed into monthly digests. They still aren't that huge, and it's much easier to maintain. I also decided to get started on the music reviews so Silver & Gold by Neil Young and No Code by Pearl Jam are both in there now. Sooner or later, sooner hopefully, the whole site will be upgraded to blue and silver.
I have seventeen days of class left. I will be very glad to be done.
New Yablonski for every man, woman and child.
14 Mai 2002
Das Wetter ist schließlich nett und schön! Ich las Biedermann und die Brandstifter heute für meine Deutschkurs. Ich habe ein Diary-X jetzt. Es ist nicht wirklich, aber es hat viele Farben. Auf wiedersehen!
16 May 2002
Well, this has been a relatively good day, for me anyway. I have completed the room draw process and I will live across the hall next year in room 309. It is much like my room first term except it has a balcony. That will be cool.
In other news, I completed my homework nice and early and have read many periodicals. Tomorrow looks none too taxing, so hopefully the weekend will also go well.
I tried an N64 emulation today but it didn't work very well. Maybe it will get fixed sometime and maybe my computer likes to SUCK. I think the second option is more likely. I think I can handle that though, as long as the year ends well and summer goes as planned, i.e. not too busy. Film Society last night consisted of:
18 May 2002
The weather is very nice. Hopefully it will stay that way for a while. Both my nosepieces on my glasses fell off but I have sort of reattached them so that is nice.
The review page has been updated with Burn This and Abre Los Ojos. [ah-bray lohse oh-hose].
Not too much homework do I have this weekend and tonight is the picnic, which should make for an interesting work experience. I am ready to register for next year's classes and be done. 13 days left. The image below is from alexgrey.com.
21 May 2002
Fate is indeed a cruel mistress. However, as far as my weekend went, except for a brief period Saturday night, things have been going smashingly well. Citizen Kane should be reviewed in the near future. I am up late, as I was doing German homework [only 4 more TA sessions], but my procrastination was easily worth the extra time.
Next term I should be taking Intro to CS at 8:30, English Lit I [with Max] at 11:10 and German 204 at 1:50. That will be followed by Calculus III, Data Structures [with Max and Keith] and, if I am lucky, Film History and Criticism. I will probably be declaring a major in either Math, Computer Science or Economics next year. It all depends how classes go and how I feel then. Maladroit was released one week ago.
Two updates in one day. I have joined elite company.
German was better than normal today, Econ was as good as usual. A lot of homework was completed, songs were sung, Scoville was visited. Econ was studied and much fun was had. Go Econ!!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow includes an open period due to lack of Badminton and a viewing of The Man Who Wasn't There.
Maybe if you are lucky Badly Drawn Boy's Hour Of Bewilderbeast will soon be reviewed on review. [Incidentally, this album will be listened to in Goodhue 309 approximately seventy times during Fall 2002.] You are dismissed.
23 May 2002
I had a nice talk last night [early Wednesday]. Part of it made me sad but I ended up happy and am still that way. Today was nice for the most part. I watched The Man Who Wasn't There at Film Society.
25 May 2002
Nine more shifts at the dining hall. That's only 18.5 more hours. I think I will be happier to finish that than anything else, except German.
There is a new links page. It has fewer or different links. There is also a monster.
27 May 2002
I had plenty of homework today but nothing I couldn't handle. And we went to the snackbar tonight. I ate two ice cream sandwiches, Cheetos and I drank a Zenergy Fantasia. That was good. My hall is insane. People sprayed shaving cream everywhere and the custodians will have to clean it up tomorrow morning. I'm sure that will start their week off well. Maybe next year Max and Margie will restore law and order. [Well, they will try.]
I reorganized my own links page today twice so now all the columns curve slightly inward. I will update the universal links page sometime later. I also stole a Velvet Underground lyrics page today. I chose not to give a shout out to Ron, nor do I give him any thanks. I hope he is not sad.
I will now attempt to watch the part of The 39 Steps that I didn't see on Saturday. I was not quite able to finish it in the previous time frame. That should be all for now. Oh, and my random image. It's a gamma ray image of ice on Mars.
28 May 2002
Cliff Yablonski has updated again. It rained today. The Onion has also updated. Clyde has updated.
30 May 2002
I have found the world's smallest website and a cool Flash soccer-type game. Pixelsurgeon is repository of high quality links.
Clyde updated and the weather is hot.
1 June 2002
8.00 pm Skinner Memorial Chapel
Music and stuff.
3 June 2002
Summer has lent me her CDs so that I may rip them onto my hard drive. Thank you very much Summer.
I have inquired about the Music Department webmaster job for next year. Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't. Time will tell.
Hopefully I study well this week and my tests don't go too badly. If everything goes off without a hitch I will be very happy. Maybe I will soon learn when I am going home. I don't have anything else tonight. Goodbye.
4 June 2002
I have completed my homework. I have to study for tests this week and that should be it. I also discovered this evening that I need only one more paper [no length requirement] for my writing portfolio for which I will need to observe something. This was good news because it means I will hardly have to think about it at all.
I think I heard somewhere that this picture is copyrighted. I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that the person who owns these is a Star Wars fanatic.
16 June 2002
I have graced tripod.com with the presence of the one and only Ermine Central. Sadly, tripod.com will not allow me to show my images to you right now. Hopefully this will be remedied in a short while and all the pages will be fully functioning.
16 June 2002
The image problem has been fixed and Ermine Central is fully operational.
That is all, you may go about your business.
11 July 2002
Blogging. Blogging has taken over the front page of Ermine Central. In hindsight, it seems inevitable, blogging being so simple and quick. Admittedly, it took a while for me to complete the transaction, but the front page is now, dare I say, as good as or better than ever. I faithfully restored the much lauded Ermine Central banner with a clearer background and a larger typeface. It is also has the same dimensions as the Tripod ad which appears near the top of the page. I have made use of a derelict blog which I didn't want to delete. I may, in the future, put my other blog as well as Clyde's on my Tripod server, since I have 19.5 megs which are currently going unused and I have an appetite for consolidation, which leads to ease of use and quicker access. In breaking news, I will see Weezer in less than 24 hours and I will [finally] start work Monday at 7 am.
13 July 2002
I went to Weezer and it was pretty good. I saw Gosford Park last night. I donated blood this morning and went to the library and to the video store where I picked up Unbreakable and Traffic.
16 July 2002
Horrible Band Obviously Not Listening To Its Influences
SAN DIEGO- Puddle Of Mudd, a dreary nü-metal rock band that cites Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Metallica as influences, is obviously not listening to those influences. "Zep, Sabbath, Metallica, Maiden, Aerosmith-growing up, that's what we listened to, and that's what shaped our sound," said lead singer Wes Scantlin, whose mopey, monotone vocals in no way bear the stamp of Robert Plant, Steven Tyler, or his other idols. Scantlin, who made the comments during an interview Monday with Spin reporter Charles Aaron, failed to say which part of Puddle Of Mudd's atrocious new ballad "Drift & Die" resembles "When The Levee Breaks" or "Sweet Emotion."
- The Onion
20 July 2002
I finally finished my first week of work. 54 hours and it was hot. I have defeated Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3 and am now working on Sonic & Knuckles on my Sega emulator. I am using Mozilla.
21 July 2002
Tomorrow I go back to work at 8:00, which is nicer than 7:00. I don't know how long I will be working in the new field where I can show up an hour later. Last week wasn't too bad, and it felt like 110 degrees. This week should be better, and if I am lucky, I will get some time off due to a storm or two. I only have one or two more Saturdays left to work and then I will have real weekends. I would like to go to the Tool concert after Labor Day but that is uncertain. I took a long nap today, so I don't know when I will go to bed.
27 July 2002
I am going to work in the post office next year. I watched Magnolia last night, and tonight I am going to a minor league baseball game.
31 July 2002
I spent some of last night co-producing a momentous new CD, tentatively entitled Raised Uppar Lip. Hopefully it will be finished up before long with an exclusive initial pressing of 2 copies.
1 August 2002
Check out the new home of Clyde. It will soon be updated to HTML.
2 August 2002
Razed Uppar Lip has reached production and a complete tracklist will soon be available. I saw Minority Report last night, and was not as impressed as I'd hoped I'd be. It felt a little predictable and the plotline and details were spoon-fed. It was still better-than-average, but not quite as good as last summer's Spielberg science fiction offering, AI.
I watched Clerks tonight. I am not sure if it raises my opinion of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but Clerks was genius.
Minority Report
2002
Steven Spielberg
1 August 2002
Cinema 6 Sycamore
Not quite as good as last summer's AI. A good movie, though there weren't any outstanding actors and the plot was spoonfed to the audience. It had no greatness.
Clerks
1994
Kevin Smith
2 August 2002
DVD [PC]
The best moment is when the bystander outside the Quick Stop quickly follows Veronica away from the store after Dante cautions her not to suck any cocks on the way to the car. This was closely followed by the scene in which Randal orders something like 20 hardcore porn titles on the phone in front of a woman and her kid before trying, not terribly hard, to recall which title she wanted. The DVD looked kind of nasty on my computer which enjoys making large areas of black look blotchy.
3 August 2002
I got to sleep in today. I did laundry and other things. I dusted off my burned copy of Badly Drawn Boy's Hour Of Bewilderbeast and was reminded of how good it is. I also watched Good Morning, Vietnam. It surpassed my modest expectations. Tomorrow should be uneventful.
Good Morning Vietnam
1987
Robin Williams
3 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I remembered seeing this on TV numerous times and was therefore hesitant to get it as stations will only rarely broadcast a good movie. I was pleasantly surprised by a movie that, while not terribly creative, did an admirable job. The horrors of Vietnam were left to the viewer to piece together for the most part. There were a few graphic depictions but that wasn't the theme of the movie. It took more time to detail the heavy-handed direction of the Armed Forces and Robin Williams trying to interact with people despite his need to go his own way. The characters and settings were mainly familiar but the movie still managed to come off without looking unoriginal.
4 August 2002
Today was nice. It featured a great lunch at which I consumed enough food for the rest of the week and a nap that I may or may not have needed. I listened to Iron Maiden's Best of the Beast last night. I figured since they were such a classic metal band I had to get something by them. It wasn't too bad. Tonight is Willie Nelson's Great Divide, which I was disappointed about when I saw it was mainly a collaboration CD with numerous dubiously talented modern artists. It sounds pretty decent, though I need to pick something else up just by Willie.
It seems like Bush will be storming Iraq sometime soon to declare the US a complete wildcard in the realm of international politics which it seems he would rather not acknowledge. Politics are so very interesting.
Miracle of the Cards
2001
Bad Actors
4 August 2002
VHS [Church]
Not good. The accents were bad and the theology was worse. The characters were horrible and the story was neither inspiring nor miraculous.
5 August 2002
Work today was soggy and muddy because the field got 1.5 inches of rain last night. We will get more rain tonight. Hopefully I can work inside tomorrow. I still have to work for Al. Al is boring.
I lost at Scrabble tonight and at Mario Golf. That was too bad.
6 August 2002
I watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight, but was disappointed because the DVD was somewhat out-of-order. Hopefully I will see the ending sometime soon.
I've decided that the only upside of an attack on Iraq will mean the triumphant return of Tommy Franks to the media. Donald Rumsfeld and George W are the only two politicians I know who can be so funny while being so serious.
Today was all mindnumbing work in the lab washing out bags with bits of pollen in them and transferring the pollen to plastic bottles. For seven hours. I hope to not be in there all day tomorrow.
I took a two hour nap today. I should sleep at night, but it's just so hard.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975
Tim Curry. Susan Sarandon.
6 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I got this from the library and it wound up not being able to play the last 20 minutes. Therefore, my opinion can't be quite accurate, but what I saw was pretty good. Tim Curry was suitably fascinating as a transvestite alien. The madness was definitely palpable, and everything fit very well as a whole. The picture was great, while it lasted.
7 August 2002
Today I got to do some data entry, and then field work. I had a BLT at home, and then I went to the house of Elias Ortiz with Brian Rumsey and Willis Buckles, where Mark Blum already was. We watched Fellowship of the Ring and ate Sweet Italian Sausages. I drove home very quickly because I felt like it.
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
2001
Ian McKellen. Elijah Wood. Ian Holm.
7 August 2002
DVD [TV]
I didn't actually watch the whole movie this time. I was at Elias's house with Rumsey, Willis, and Mark Blum. Willis was trying to "explain" the whole movie even though none of us had trouble understanding it. I had seen it once at Coral Ridge Mall with William and once at Orr Theatre with my brother and my aunt Katie. The movie was absolutely perfect. The casting was great, the special effects amazing but not overdone. The sound was superb and the cinematography and landscape were outstanding. The script was obviously solid as it was, by some accounts, the greatest book of the century. This is one of my all-time favorite movies without a doubt.
9 August 2002
More data entry and more pollen-bag washing. I hope tomorrow isn't a very long day, because it looks boring. Today I went to the library and Sal's Music Emporium. I stopped by Kum and Go where I saw Aaron Lehman and got 64 oz of Gatorade for $1.04, tax included. I went with Rumsey to Best Buy where he got the fullscreen version of Fellowship of the Ring, as well as Citizen Kane. I purchased The Last Waltz and High Fidelity, along with the White Stripes' White Blood Cells and Pedro the Lion's Winners Never Quit. After that we stopped by Mercer for frisbee. We ate at Taco Bell and saw Attack of the Clones. It is late and I am tired.
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
2002
Hayden Christensen. Natalie Portman. Ewan McGregor.
8 August 2002
Campus III
I didn't expect much from Attack of the Clones. This allowed me to enjoy the film as best I could without criticizing it too much. The acting is obviously lacking and the script is less than sharp, but it all works in a cheesy sort of way. Although I never really cared about the characters or really anything that was going on in the movie, once I figured out that George Lucas was just screwing around, I felt like I understood it. I got the idea that Lucas was just having fun and even mocking himself by making the story even more cliched. At that level it worked for me and I was able to scoff at the characters without despising them. The special effects were fantastic and the action was good.
10 August 2002
I took off early from work on Friday, a little before 2:00, because there was basically no one there. Most of the people who were actually working went out to eat wearing Novartis Seeds hats. Take my word for it, we knew we were cool.
I didn't do much after I came home. I must have been more tired than I realized, because I laid down to take a nap a little after 7 pm and didn't get out of bed for another 12 hours. The only reason I woke up was to go golfing. I could have definitely slept longer, as evidenced by the fact that I took an unplanned 1.5 hour nap after I got home. I watched The Postman and played Mario Golf. That was all.
Il Postino: The Postman
1994
Massimo Troisi
10 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I remembered hearing about this movie a few years ago and decided to check it out from the library. Mario, the postman, got on my nerves at first because he seemed to not fit very well with the townspeople. He matured during the movie and became a more likeable character. The story was an enjoyable little vignette of life, but nothing incredible. I'd say the rating sums the movie up pretty well.
12 August 2002
I slept a ridiculous amount this weekend. Today I worked inside washing pollen bags, entering data and packeting seed. After I came home, the electricity went out for 1.5 hours because of a storm, so we went out to eat. I didn't do much, except read more of Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut. Tomorrow is a surprise birthday dinner thing for William. I am not sure whether he is surprised or not, but I will enjoy it anyway.
14 August 2002
It is deliciously late. I just arrived home from the surprise birthday party of one William Leichty, which included eating hamburgers and dessert, listening to KCII, getting a burned copy of the Rentals' Return of the Rentals, playing the Farming Game and watching some bad late-night TV. I will be tired tomorrow.
I finally killed all the plastic bags of pollen today. Because Al is an idiot, I don't get paid until next Friday. I watched Malcolm X tonight and tomorrow my parents and brother leave for Ohio.
Malcolm X
1992
Spike Lee. Denzel Washington.
14 August 2002
DVD [PC]
This movie just kept unfolding. Because each part of Malcolm's life was treated differently, I kept thinking I understood the point of the movie, and then something else was revealed. It wound up being fantastic and very worth the 200 minutes it took. It was inspiring and, yes, powerful.
16 August 2002
Matt Sharp, former Weezer bassist, is the brains behind Return of the Rentals which is very good, what with all the synthesizers and weird vocals and stuff. The library, frisbee in the rain, Rockadiles and 64 oz Gatorades for 99 cents. The show at Gabe's was good and I saw numerous people there I haven't seen for a while.
17 August 2002
Last night I ate pizza and watched Chasing Amy. Today I will get some stuff done and then go hang out with William for a while.
Chasing Amy
1997
Kevin Smith
16 August 2002
DVD [PC]
I am now a huge Kevin Smith fan. Though Chasing Amy was more focused on relationship and less on comic profanity and the ridiculous, it certainly succeeded. The interaction between Holden and Alyssa was great, even though I didn't really like Joey Lauren Adams. Jay and Silent Bob were perfect; and Banky describing the porn mag to the kid in the train station was easily as good as Randal frightening customers in Clerks.
18 August 2002
William and I went to the laundromat and played some interesting pinball games, then to CD Warehouse, where I got Fugazi and he got Cranberries. We went to a car show in Cedar Rapids with Nevin, where we saw the coolest Honda Odyssey known to man. We rented Resident Evil [the movie]. I played San Francisco Rush 2 and Perfect Dark with William until 6:15 in the morning. Then we played the Farming Game which I won: $293k to $53k or something.
Resident Evil
2002
Paul WS Anderson
17 August 2002
VHS
It was about what I expected. With no story at all, a group of gun-toting security guards and three scientist-types start fighting zombies and getting slaughtered. The movie actually wasn't hard to get through, but the dialogue was ridiculous and there wasn't a plot.
21 August 2002
I haven't really done anything since Saturday. I inadvertently went to bed at 7 pm last night. I have been making music with my computer. I have also been reading Cat's Cradle and Neil Gaiman's American Gods which I started last summer.
23 August 2002
I played Ultimate again, for the last time this summer. I also drank 64 oz of Gatorade in 10-15 minutes and then ate raspberry stuff. That was a lot. I saw Conker's Bad Fur Day for the N64 and it looked good enough that I might have to get it.
Tonight I watched LA Confidential. I only have five days of work left.
LA Confidential
1997
Kevin Spacey. Kim Basinger.
23 August 2002
DVD [TV]
This was as good as I expected, which is to say very good. However, it didn't seem as strong as other people said. A few bits of needless dialogue driving obvious points home. Overall, it was very well done and I have no complaints.
25 August 2002
I went to Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium to watch Iowa State play Florida State in the Eddie Robinson Classic. It was a tremendous game. It was easily worth the price of admission and the driving time. I also got a fruit-topped waffle, sausage and an iced tea at Waffle House due to some calculation error.
Fargo
1996
Steve Buscemi. Frances McDormand.
25 August 2002
DVD [PC]
A solid movie but not outstanding.
26 August 2002
I ate Mongolian tonight.
30 August 2002
What has happened since Monday 26 August 2002? I went home early on Tuesday and slept. I grilled Wednesday night and made apple dumplings at Kate's house. I finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I started Christopher Hitchens' Letters to a Young Contrarian. I finished working and got paid. That was pretty much all.
1 September 2002
September! I went golfing and drove well but scored as bad as I have in three years. My aunt, uncle and cousin [plus dog] are here until Monday. I played Monopoly and lost.
2 September 2002
Today marks a return to Blogspot hosting, at least for a while. I will get everything sorted out once I return to Northfield with my beloved ethernet connection. Today also marked me finishing Letters to a Young Contrarian and starting Michael Moore's Stupid White Men. The introduction, at least, is loud and obnoxious, but I hope the book is decent anyway. I liked Letters but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.
The Princess Bride
1987
Cary Elwes. Robyn Wright.
1 September 2002
DVD [TV]
I got this DVD 20 months ago as a Christmas present. I've seen it a few times. This time I noticed the music and how it was used in conjunction with the characters and the plotline. It was very interesting.
Alphaville
1965
Jean-Luc Godard
2 September 2002
DVD [PC]
Commentary on conformity and progress, as well as love and intelligence. The conclusion was a little, well, sixties, but it was very thought-provoking all the same.
Brazil
1985
Terry Gilliam. Michael Palin. Robert Deniro.
2 September 2002
DVD [TV]
Bureaucracy as monolithic evil. Hackneyed love story, somewhat awkward, but admirable.
3 September 2002
I made some nice HTML today, dominated at TriBond [1vs2vs2 I might add]. I listened to Joe Jackson's Look Sharp! which is outstanding as well as Pink Floyd's Piper At The Gates Of Dawn which is an acid trip all by itself. I watched Brazil which was only okay. I also took a nap from 7:30-10 pm which really screwed me up because I dreamed about waking up at night in some other strange place, probably a dorm room, I dream about them all the time.
4 September 2002
I bought a lot of cheap food and other things today. I spent some time at the library and had a Matt Swanson sighting at the mall. I also watched Road to Perdition. I melted my York peppermint patties so now they are in the freezer. I also bought and listened to Sonic Youth's Murray Street, which I found used, even though it just came out. I think the store was illegally selling their demo CD from the record label, as that is what the sticker on the front said, but I don't mind.
Crooklyn
1994
Spike Lee
3 September 2002
DVD [TV]
A rather sad story leavened by a good sense of humor. A family goes through some hard times living on an interesting block in Brooklyn.
Road To Perdition
2002
Tom Hanks. Paul Newman. Jude Law.
4 September 2002
Coral Ridge 10
The story of a mobster's loss and revenge. Dark, beautiful and thought-provoking without overtly bringing up the topic of violence or crime.
5 September 2002
I golfed twenty-seven holes today for only $20 and I used a cart. I got a 131 with an average of 44 per nine holes. I was disappointed by my putting but pleased with nearly everything else. And Clyde is back.
The Last Waltz
1978
Absolutely Everybody
5 September 2002
DVD [TV]
And by everybody I mean the Band, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Neil Diamond, Emmylou Harris, etc. This would have been an amazing concert to be at, but watching the DVD was good also. Some of Martin Scorsese's dialogue with the Band seems a little awkward, but the music is superb, and that is what it's really all about.
6 September 2002
I got up nice and late today. I didn't do very much. I have so far listened to The Band's Moondog Matinee, Cake's Comfort Eagle, and Morphine's Yes. I also watched Rebel Without A Cause to which I had mixed reactions. I also played Classic Concentration from 1988. I won 15 times in a row.
Rebel Without A Cause
1955
James Dean
6 September 2002
DVD [TV]
This was definitely a quality movie but it was also one in which I could hardly abide the stupidity of the characters, who seem to not understand at all that they don't have to constantly do idiotic things to endanger themselves. That said, it was a worthy movie and deserving of
8 September 2002
I managed to get 3 games from 5.25" disks onto my computer, in addition to Concentration. Jill of the Jungle and Card Sharks work, but as of yet Cosmo does not. I watched Doctor Zhivago which I didn't like. Tomorrow may include my first visit to Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City.
Roma
1972
Federico Fellini
7 September 2002
DVD [PC]
Too abstract and surreal for me, not having seen anything else by Fellini. A series of very loosely-related vignettes set in Rome between 1931-1972.
Doctor Zhivago
1965
Omar Sharif. Alec Guinness. Rod Steiger.
8 September 2002
DVD [PC]
No. No, no, no. Another movie with people acting like fools, except this time I am compelled to care about them even less. Sure it's an epic, the cinematography looked just fine and the music was good. The camera did tend to pan to the side randomly for reasons I couldn't understand. The acting was fine, but the story, which is what I supposed was the movie's greatest feature, fell flat for me. Even after 3 hours, the only character I was even remotely interested in was Alec Guinness's brother of Doctor Zhivago, and he didn't even do anything.
Die Hard with A Vengeance
1995
Bruce Willis. Samuel L Jackson.
28 August 2002
DVD [Mac]
Full of quotes and gunshots and action.
10 September 2002
I managed a 44-50 which, while not impressive, was solid and included some good putting. I also went to hear Robert Siegel, editor-in-chief of The Onion in Iowa City. He wasn't a great speaker, but he was interesting. Today I got my bicycle back after paying $1.00 for repairs. I also put my CD cases back into alphabetical order, as finding exact release dates for chronological order proved too difficult. I also finally watched High Fidelity, many weeks after purchasing it.
High Fidelity
2000
John Cusack
10 September 2002
DVD [TV]
I have to admit that the movie was just a little better the first time I saw it, but then again, what isn't? It took me until today to get the double entendre in the title. I understood everything a little bit better this time through and Todd Louiso was still awesome, especially when he tossed the AC unit onto Tim Robbins.
Artificial Intelligence
2001
Steven Spielberg. Haley Joel Osment. Jude Law.
11 September 2002
DVD [TV]
Even better than the first time. Initially I could see why some people thought the movie was too long, but I understand why it needs to be that long, or at least deserves to continue at such a pace after the movie seems basically over. It reminds me why I was so disappointed about Minority Report, because AI had set the bar so for new Spielberg scifi.
12 September 2002
I found some demos sitting around on a CD from Dell so I played some stupid little puzzle games, a soccer game, a motocross game and a pinball game. I also made my triumphant return to Kalona Golf Course where I managed a 45-46.
Today was bombarded by music as follows: Hard Candy by Counting Crows, De Stijl by the White Stripes, Is This It? by the Strokes, Weezer's first, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band by you-know-who, Winners Never Quit by Pedro the Lion, This Desert Life by Counting Crows and finally Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits: Volume II. Hard Candy was a big disappointment, though not unexpected. I had to listen to the other Crows to make up for the bad one.
In other news, I packed a few more things tonight. Tomorrow I will wash all bedding and Saturday clothes. I will also pack up the computer and everything else, in anticipation of a mid-Sunday departure.
27 September 2002
It has certainly been a while but I am finally back on the Internet after a drought of nearly two weeks. That is all.
29 September 2002
So far this weekend I have finished CS and English and started on German. I have gone to the store and watched Fellowship of the Ring for the third and a half time. I am enjoying the second night of my single-occupancy weekend. I am still working to get Ermine Central back to its intended glory.
30 September 2002
I got up very late today, in attempt to catch up on sleep. I was foiled in an attempt to do laundry. I did German and submitted my first CS project. I also wore the same Goshen College shirt I wore yesterday. I watched football and discovered that my radio show will be from 7:30 - 9:00 am Tuesday mornings this term. That is early, but I am glad to have a radio show. I think it will be interesting to experiment with.
Classes were OK. I have 22 German classes left. That is both my least favorite and most burdensome class, but at least it isn't truly terrible. I have only German homework left tomorrow, along with my radio show, work and Singers.
1 October 2002
My radio show went pretty well, although next week I will make sure to take all my music and will hopefully have the volume more under control. I also managed to record it as a wav file and convert it to a 90 MB mp3 file. I handled a boxed, noisemaking amphibian today at the post office. I also took a long nap and finished my German. I declined the German movie, so I will have to attend some other event of that sort before midterm break. The Who are Sell-ing Out.
2 October 2002
Last night was interesting, but it resulted in me getting too little sleep so I made up for that this afternoon. Not much has gone on today although I did read the Nun's Priest's Tale for English to leave mainly German for tomorrow. I have finished Who's Next by The Who and am on the extra tracks. Long live the remaining half of The Who!
4 October 2002
I stayed up until 5:00 am. I am very tired but not sleeping. I may be in a little bit. Max will tell you all about it sooner or later.
5 October 2002
Friday I took two naps. I also took the German test and read the newspaper and saw Donnie Darko and apparently missed some sort of enlightened conversation. I also got Wesley Willis's rendition of Amie which I will hopefully be playing soon on the radio show. Today I worked and went to choir practice and Dogma at the Chapel. I have a lot of homework as well as the quiz tournament tomorrow.
6 October 2002
Fourth out of 15 at the IM Quiz Tournament. It was fun. I also did a lot of reading for English and a project for CS which leaves a paper for me to rewrite tomorrow before German. Now it is time for nothing, and lots of it.
9 October 2002
The following comes from moby.com:
just fyi...
u.s representative dennis kucinich:
"During the Administration of Ronald Reagan, 60 helicopters were sold to Iraq. Later reports said Iraq used US helicopters to spray Kurds with chemical weapons. According to the Washington Post, Iraq used mustard gas against Iran with the help of intelligence from the CIA. Intelligence reports cited the use of nerve gas by Iraq against Iran.
Iraq's punishment? The US reestablished full diplomatic ties around Thanksgiving of 1984.
Throughout 1989 and 1990, US companies, with the permission of the first Bush government, sent to the government of Saddam Hussein tons of mustard gas precursors, live cultures for bacteriological research, helped to build a chemical weapons factory, supplied West Nile virus, supplied fuel air explosive technology, computers for weapons technology, hydrogen cyanide precursors, computers for weapons research and development and vacuum pumps and bellows for nuclear weapons plants."
so at least the weapons inspectors will know what brands to look for! technology sold to iraq by american companies with the blessings of the u.s department of defense...
-moby
10 October 2002
I saw Songs from the Second Floor at Film Society tonight. It seemed to me, surprisingly, to excoriate Europe for leaving the church behind. They have traded the tyranny of mother church for that of big business. They are peasants living dull, dreary and terrible lives, albeit with more money. They push and push and get nowhere because they don't know where to go or how to get there. They sacrifice their kids, their lives, their minds to work 30 years for a company and get nothing in return but fat, ugly spouses who simply mirror their own repugnance. Beloved is he who sits down...
I was also underwhelmed by the Sierra Club president. I was hoping to hear something new and exciting but I didn't.
I bought ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's Source Tags and Codes and Nick Drake's Bryter Later today at Fine Groove. Trail of Dead is very good in a harder-edged Radiohead sort of way. I know the Nick Drake will be fantastic because his other two albums are. I also borrowed Exile on Main St by the Rolling Stones and an Elvis Costello greatest hits collection from the Northfield Public Library. I anticipate listening to both greatly.
I took a nap from 8:25 to 9:25pm. I felt horrible upon waking. I should probably sleep more at night but the 1a laughs at me whenever I suggest that to myself. I make a stand of solidarity with my snooze button.
Today I got Rolling Stone from the Recycling Bin at the Post Office. I was also able to not return for 2-4pm because they were overstaffed. Therefore, I both took a nap and finished my homework before dinner. This evening the Singers sang with the other choirs, Iraq was talked about in Great Space due to Amnesty International and Kid Dakota played the cave. It is now teatime.
17 October 2002
I got a 22 on Mini-Putt today. I also had quite a dominant game of Batting Practice in its new incarnation, which I heartily recommend you check it out, even if you have seen the previous version.
I have also "screwed" Kyle.
Yesterday was nightmarishly full of things to do, but today included a three-hour nap, my first on-time issue of Rolling Stone, and snow. It was nice because it wasn't too windy or cold. I also did laundry. I only have to go over vocabulary a little before Friday and then I have the weekend off.
Commentary on the situation in Iraq by Woody from Cheers.
21 October 2002
This has been an event-filled weekend. I was too tired to really enjoy the play at the Guthrie. The concert was good and my ears rang long afterward. The trip to Iowa was successful though fraught with peril or something. Tomorrow entails reading and the snow.
I slept in very late. I have done some homework and will read more John Donne. I don't have very much immediately to do for tomorrow. I have gotten a 20 on Mini-Putt.
23 October 2002
I was in bed from 9:41 pm until 8:18 am. I was out of it until German class and now the sleep cache is kicking in and I feel better. I'm not going to update anymore until my site is better.
26 October 2002
Guess who is ready to begin updating once again? It is me! The entire site should be running smoothly, especially if you've got Mozilla.
This weekend has been OK so far. Friday night featured the concert where the Singers performed admirably, in my estimation. We sang "Cantemus Domine", "Blagoslovi Dushe Moya" and "Clap Your Hands". The symphony band played three numbers and the orchestra performed Beethoven's 4th Symphony. The concert lasted less than one hour. Afterward we walked to Page House, Goodbye Blue Mondays and Central Park. There was conversation until 5:30. This morning I ate a chocolate Pop Tart on the way to work which was nice and Saturday-slow. The lunch was ok, but especially nice because I wasn't sure I would be able to eat any after 1:00. I watched the end of a few blowouts and then Ohio State beat Penn State without scoring an offensive touchdown, 13-7. I had a normal dinner and then attended "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" which I found enjoyable except for the few times it pandered to the audience, failing to entertain without seeming labored and intentional. After fireworks, while everyone else attended the ball, I played Simpson's Road Rage on Xbox with Nate Ackerman in the lounge. It looks as if Anaheim has forced a Game 7 in the World Series. I will watch that if I finish my CS project early.
27 October 2002
There is a new splash page but if you didn't see it, I'm not telling you where it is.
I went to bed and got up very late so I need to do homework until the computer labs close.
How to organize your record collection, page 38.
28 October 2002
I made it through my German show and tell with the help of a little Batting Practice. I will finish As You Like It by dinner and might even make German flashcards for tonight. It is time for the term to end!
I finished my CS project and the fish appeared. I read some Shakespeare and learned new German words about baseball. That was all.
30 October 2002
I took a 3.5 hour nap today that was vital to my continued existence. I also finished CS for Friday and got a lot of English reading (Andrew Marvell) done for Monday. I created a death penalty fact sheet for the Amnesty International table at the Civil Liberties event in the chapel on Saturday evening where I will be from 8 to 9 pm. The Iraq panel was over capacity so I didn't stay there. Luckily I have been keeping up on the situation anyway. There is also a lot of blinking.
2 November 2002
I don't really have anything to say but it's been a while since I posted. Here are some links somewhat related to tonight's event. One, Two, Three.
3 November 2002
If you like IMDb, here is a music equivalent that, while not perfect, does provide a lot of good information.
4 November 2002
I will simply direct you to one of my favorite new bands. Source Tags & Codes has some of the best album art in a long time.
8 November 2002
Yesterday I attended Nicholson Baker's reading of his The Mezzanine, along with an essay about reading The Mezzanine in public, and at cake and drank lemonade and bought his The Size of Thoughts and asked him to please sign it and asked him about urination techniques in crowded restrooms.
I also asked Max to sign me up for classes because I had to attend the final Singers practice of the term. He did well:
MATH 211. Calculus III: Introduction to multivariable calculus: vectors, curves, partial derivatives, gradient, multiple and iterated integrals, line integrals, Green's theorem.
COMPUTER SCIENCE 127. Data Structures: An introduction to abstract data types, classes in C++, recursion, searching, sorting, stacks, queues, linked lists, trees, graphs and hash tables.
MEDIA STUDIES 114. Film History and Criticism: From the Edison primitives to the contemporary Hollywood blockbusters, we survey the evolution of the film form and style in the U.S. and abroad, paying particular attention to eras dominated by German Expressionism, Russian Formalism, French New Wave and the omnipresence of Hollywood. Historical examples and current strategies of film criticism provide a second, coordinate part of the course.
Film History and Criticism easily has the chance to the best and most interesting class I have yet taken at Carleton. I think right now Introduction to Sociology holds that title with the great lectures and the interesting books.
Tonight is the choir concert.
And now it is time for Nicholson Baker's convocation.
16 November 2002
I know I tried to update on Wednesday but I don't remember what I updated with. I definitely talked about Pinball for NES.
A nice-looking porftolio which is hosted at NeonSky and another interesting site by some web designers.
19 November 2002
I am listening to The Beatles' Abbey Road, Neil Young's Harvest, Beethoven's Third Symphony and
Pedro the Lion's Winners Never Quit.
Winter break is approaching and as such I have decided to freeze Ermine Central at the end of the
term until January, so I have this space to bring sensibility to the Internet and the world.
21 November 2002
I wore my slippers to dinner.
I started my CS project by looking at a calculator program and figuring out how to modify it to fit
my needs. At work I read periodicals for 2.5 hours which included Sports Illustrated (the College
Basketball Preview issue!), a Cambridge SoundWorks catalog, a Facets Film DVD/Video catalog and the
Times Literary Supplement.
Last night I started to watch Xavier vs Stanford basketball on ESPN2 but fell asleep then slept for
12 more hours in my clothes on top of my covers. I think I was tired.
Before that I went to FleetFarm after Khan's. This was because classes had finished. They are still
finished.
22 November 2002
I got up just in time for lunch today. I will also make progress on my CS project and study for
English.
I went to bed at 12:40 last night and then went to Max's room for 1.5 hours at approximately 4:30.
I just barely got to sleep again before the sun came up.
I got the interface for my CS project basically working and today I need to figure out how to make
the player move through the game.
I wore my slippers to late night breakfast and got 2 superballs.
"Washington last year spent 85 percent more on defense than all its 18 allies combined," according
to today's Christian Science Monitor.
23 November 2002
I took a nap after dinner. Before dinner, which was very full, I took my English final, which went
fine. I watched Ohio State beat Michigan for the second year in a row, but this time to send them to
the Fiesta Bowl. I hope Maurice Clarett is actually at full strength by that time, because he was
obviously not today and he still ran for over 100 yards and caught one of the most important passes
in the game. Work went very slowly but I had pancakes and football afterward. Last night was boring
but I got some CS done and I did study a little bit for that English final.
25 November 2002
I emailed my text adventure game to myself after lunch after I came back to the room after finishing and submitting my game after taking the German test after sleeping for something less than 3 hours after staying up for 4 hours after working on CS and studying German and getting up late.
26 November 2002
I am sitting in my room at my repositioned computer so it can be hooked up to television. The RF
connector is not working at the moment but I did at least see that it is possible. I sort of
unpacked everything (onto previously empty spaces in my room). Driving home went well after I ate at
Taco Bell and purchased a used copy of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti at Fine Groove Records.
I was determined to use my coupon for 20% of their used stock before it expired, but it wasn't hard
because they had a far better selection than during my last trip there. Last night I ate at Perkins
and watched Bowling for Columbine, which was excellent. I already knew or agreed with much of what
was presented, but it still managed to elicit a strong reaction, so it was well worth the money and
the effort expended to actually find the theater in endless suburbs around Minneapolis.
27 November 2002
I haven't done anything since last night except watch television and eat custard pie and sleep a lot.
I did laundry and took a shower and packed because we are going to Ames, Iowa for two days and that
is all.
30 November 2002
I organized my CDs (including data CDs) tonight after finally unpacking everything after taking a
nap after coming home from Thanksgiving and eating and making the RF connector with which I finally
hooked my computer up to cable. I am listening to the Smiths. I drove home from Ames today and that
wasn't as fun as it could have been because it was very windy and our van is wobbly. I didn't sleep
very well in the bed I had there. All the food was good but it was mostly desserts and that was
sickening after a while. I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey (I enjoyed it more than the first time -
I was too tired the first time), The Rookie (shudderingly predictable plot and characters.
the soundtrack was surprisingly good), and other things. I only listened to Sigur Ros's Agaetis
Byrjun on the way because it isn't a very long trip and I don't like listening to headphones when
I can hear the music outside of them as well. I received Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Belle and
Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister and the Strokes' Is This It? Now that I think about it I
should have tried to find a third question-titled CD but they are fine selections nonetheless. I will watch a movie now or something.
Today is the first World Day Against the Death Penalty.
I am watching Saturday Night Live on my computer while surfing the Internet. I also watched college
football today and ate pizza and pancakes. I burned CDs and read the installation manual for Red Hat
Linux. That was interesting. It is cold. I watched Spiderman, and it was one of the better action
movies I have seen in quite a while.
2 December 2002
There is a man
a certain man
and for the poor you may be sure
that he'll do all he can
who is this one?
[whose favorite son?]
just by his action has the traction
magnets on the run?
who likes to smoke?
enjoys a joke?
and wouldn't get a bit
upset if he were really broke?
with wealth and fame
he's still the same
I'll bet you five you're not alive
If you don't now his name
I had a long discussion with my parents and brother this evening after watching the Simpson's. I took a long long nap. I stayed up late last night.
5 December 2002
Blogger has not been publishing well lately.
Monday I went to the bank. I read a story about a canine gentleman in a post-technological future.
Tuesday I partitioned my hard drive and installed RedHat Linux 8.0. I haven't yet dialed up to the
Internet with it or gotten the soundcard working yet. I read a story about a future where ocean
level has risen appreciably, everywhere has drought and Indian reservations are being squatted upon
by white people. I also read The Size of Thoughts. I read a story in Spanish about a letter to God.
I did not go to a basketball game.
Wednesday I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows to clean out the junk that had
accumulated over the last while. I also downloaded and installed Mozilla 1.2.1. For skinning I
recommend Pinball. I read more of The Size of Thoughts and a story in Spanish about a robbery,
a murder and a waiting room.
I also see that Nicholson Baker's The Fermata is being cinematized by Neil Gaiman. I absolutely must
see that.
I have also been blowing my nose a lot and watching Red Dwarf.
Sounds of 165 dB would cause a person's hair to catch fire.
6 December 2002
I watched the end of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and three Seinfeld episodes about the wink and
a funeral and a softball game and napkins and one Simpsons episode about Sideshow Bob's final
revenge. I got a haircut removing nearly two inches from the back and evening out the sides a bit.
I read a story in Spanish about an Uruguayan rancher who spent fifteen years in jail. I listened to
Tool and Weezer and Belle and Sebastian and the Strokes and Trembling Blue Stars. I sneezed and blew
my nose.
Fin.
This week’s diet, for daily consumption:
- (2) cups of coffee
- (8) cigarettes
- (2) glasses of champagne
- (1) ‘everything’ burrito
MoveOn.org
Democracy in Action.
7 December 2002
I got to level 20-something in Jardinains even though after reinstalling Windows the game sometime
just kills me or shuts down for no reason, not even an on-screen notification (I was used to that).
If you haven't completed a Christmas list yet, you need to go here. I also played MS Pinball. I got
the all-time longest hit on the latest version of Batting Practice last night. I read some of The
Size of Thoughts. I have started on the Lumber section. It is so far better than the card-catalog
section. I am going to the dentist. I am going somewhere else:
-----------------Trip to BEAUFORT, SC-------------------
12/12/02 02:45pm BTW-1307 * Depart IOWA CITY, IA
12/12/02 03:50pm BTW-1307 * Arrive DAVENPORT, IA
12/12/02 04:25pm BTW-1408 * Depart DAVENPORT, IA
12/13/02 12:35am BTW-1408 * Arrive INDIANAPOLIS, IN
12/13/02 01:00am GLI-0579 * Depart INDIANAPOLIS, IN
12/13/02 07:20pm GLI-0579 * Arrive SAVANNAH, GA
12/13/02 08:10pm GLI-1090 * Depart SAVANNAH, GA
12/13/02 09:05pm GLI-1090 * Arrive BEAUFORT, SC
I watched Pi and the Simpsons and played Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I listened to Sigur Ros
and Aberdeen.
Seinfeld yesterday feature softball uniforms that said, "Friends O' Clyde".
"Left-handed women are sitting pretty. Except, of course, for the left-handed woman who buttons
Barbara Streisand’s silk blouse every morning. Her life sucks."
8 December 2002
Today was the most action packed yet. There was a Carleton admissions event at the Iowa City Public
Library at which I saw no one of note. We watched an admissions video from 1999 and then there was a
panel of students. I was a student and Lacy Spraggins '06 was a student and Sarah Park '02 (?) was a
recent student. Sadly, Eric Smith did not make it and no one else large was there either. I got a
kickass Carleton Alum button there. I read Spin Magazine while at the library. Most of their 2002
wrapup was pretty good. They said the Strokes were the band of the year and the White Stripes
followed closely behind. That seems to be the general consensus as well. There were many other
interesting features. It was all very uplifting. I also got CDs by Stevie Wonder, Dan Hicks,
Carl Perkins and T Bone Burnett. Burnett has produced many fine albums including Counting Crows'
debut. He also put together the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?. I checked out Evil Dead,
Hamlet and Ghost in the Shell in addition to the CDs.
I then picked up my Greyhound ticket for my upcoming sojourn to ice-ravaged South Carolina. Because
I got stuck in the left lane I went to Sycamore Mall on the east side of the City of Iowa City, Iowa
and made sure that there weren't any movies there I wanted to see. I then entered CD Warehouse.
It was there that I picked one cool item (a small black and white Interpol poster on the wall that
had come as an advertisement from Matador Records), one less-than-impressive sampler CD and one copy
of Southern Devils by the pride of Ft. Worth, Texas, Pimpadelic. I own it and it is mine and I have the whole CD. It is possibly the trashiest item I will ever own
in my entire life. I still haven't quite gotten over the gravity of the situation.
After that I traveled to Iowa Mennonite School where they were playing basketball as they have for
many years. Pekin played Lone Tree and they were as good as expected (read: not good). IMS got
stomped by Danville. They should still be a great team for the next three years and this is
Danville's last year of their current reign of terror.
After the game, at which I saw many varied acquaintances, I ate a caramel apple pie at Perkin's in
Iowa City with one current senior and two current juniors. It was unexpected and enjoyable, not
least because we rode in a 1987 Audi that had a seat heaters. And yes, the Perkin's had a massive
American flag. We neglected to steal it.
I also listened to Nirvana's Bleach and Trail of Dead in the car today. This reminds me that I
stated on Max's BB that my records of the year are Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights and
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes and it is still so. I listened
to the bad sampler as well and it was, well, bad.
I did not much today. I received a pair of red and white snowman Christmas socks. I took a long nap. I watched the Simpsons which was just a rerun of the Halloween Special. I watched the second episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I played Jardinains. I ate carrots.
9 December 2002
In response to an email from one L Garrison, I am never ever online before 11:30 pm eastern and
usually not until 1:00 am. Then again, I'm not usually on AIM even when I am on the Internet.
10 December 2002
I went to the dentist today and received an interesting email today. That is all.
11 December 2002
The basketball game included some of the coldest shooting and harshest officiating I have seen in
some time. I sort of watched Ghost in the Shell. I am going to drink some water.
I watched an early Saved by the Bell and two episodes of NewsRadio. I went to stores and ate food
and went to more stores and then I came home. I did laundry. I watched the Spurs beat the Mavericks.
Tomorrow I am going to South Carolina.
21 December 2002
It was cloudy. I got on a Trailways bus at the Iowa City bus station and rode to Davenport. There I
waited until the bus left for Indianapolis. We watched Men in Black II, Space Cowboys and
The Phantom Menace. We made many stops including Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana and
Danville, Illinois. The next bus was a little late in Indianapolis. This bus made stops in
Cincinnati; Corbin, Kentucky and Knoxville where we had to get out and wait in the station.
We then went to Asheville, North Carolina; Greenville, South Carolina; and Augusta and Savannah,
Georgia. The bus was an hour late in Savannah where I ate a Hardee's Monster Burger and a vending
machine insisted that there was a bottle of something to be removed and therefore kept beeping the
entire time. I also had a Subway Cold Cut Trio sandwich in Kentucky and some Lime Green Tea Snapple
in Knoxville. I believe I purchased pepperoni pizza Combos and kippered jerky somewhere else along
the way. I got to Beaufort, South Carolina about 30.5 hours after leaving Iowa City. I slept for
about 10 minutes three or four times on the trip.
** All events hereafter include Brian Rumsey. **
I was then driven to the house of Robert & Lillian Johnson on St Helena Island. I watched the
Hornets beat the Lakers and part of Blow.
The next day was Saturday and I ate breakfast which was usually eggs, grits, bacon and/or sausage.
After that I went to the house of Emory Campbell. He took us on a tour of Hilton Head Island showing
us where the Gullah people live and other such things. I bought a "good-looking" checked suit jacket
at the Gullah Flea Market. We ate twice at Emory's house. We drove back to St Helena for the night
and the Johnson's had numerous people over to commemorate Brian's leaving and the first birthday of
their grandson, Traevion. Carson Palmer won the Heisman Trophy. I agreed with the choice. We ate
shrimp and rice with shrimp and fish and pizza and breadsticks and meatballs and there were drinks
as well. Someone brought a Playstation 2 with Arcade Classics (Ms Pac-Man, Galaxian, Pole Position
II, Druaga, Dig-Dug and Chemix). This was dominated by 2-year-old Tamaric. He especially enjoyed
looking at the virtual manuals and losing the same way over and over again at Pac-Man.
The next day we went to church which include a number of Hallelujah!s, Amens and random bursts of
"song" by the preacher. We had the heat on in the car because it was only 60 degrees. It was cold.
I went to the beach, where we spotted dolphins and palm trees, and the store where we bought 48 cans
and two bottles of Dr Chek. The 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon refused to start in the parking lot. I went
to a Christmas service with much singing. We got the Vanagon to a gas station.
On Monday, with much effort. We moved the van to behind the supermarket, to a lube shop and finally
to a mechanic. We ate at Mr Tata-Head where they served me an Idaho burger and chips and sweet tea,
iced. The mechanics estimate was too high. We bought the parts elsewhere and looked around for
someone to work on it. We tried to drive the van back but it was running very loudly and roughly.
We watched most of American Pie II.
On Tuesday we had the van towed to the house and someone fixed it. We ate at Gullah Grub where I was
served shrimp gumbo, potato salad, cornbread and swamp water. I toured the York Baily Museum at the
Penn Center.
On Wednesday we drove to Evansville, Indiana in only the Acura Vigor because the van never got
completely functional. It will be retrieved at a later time. We watched Andy Griffith and ate at
Huddle House.
On Thursday I got home.
On the way down I listened to White Light/White Heat and the Velvet Underground's third album,
Change by the Dismemberment Plan, Bob Dylan's Live at Albert Hall 1966, Interpol, Pavement's
Terror Twilight, Nirvana's In Utero, Pedro the Lion, Sleater-Kinney, Radiohead, Madonna by
Trail of Dead and Wilco. While there we mostly listened to Pimpadelic. On the way back we listened
to the Doors' Strange Days and Morrison Hotel, Bela Fleck, Eminem's Slim Shady and the
8 Mile soundtrack, Loaded by the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street,
London Calling by the Clash, Mermaid Avenue, Sigur Rós, the Strokes, the Foo Fighters' One by One,
the Who, Trail of Dead and numerous mixes.
Thursday I also went to Iowa City where I took some pictures with Burn of ZSat. We went to his house
and we ate pizza and drank Dr Chek and watched Pleasantville.
Today I finished recording a MIDI song and went to the IMS basketball game where they beat Highland
61-49 due to an outstanding performance by Garrett Yoder who had previously been underperforming.
I saw numerous people there and went to Perkin's with the same people as last time I went to Perkin's
on December. They decided because one of them had recently turned 18 to sit in the smoking section
and smoke cigars. It was a brilliant idea.
I have listened to Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Velvet Underground and Nico, Foo Fighters and
The Colour and the Shape.
It has been 9 days since I posted.
I did some laundry today. I watched Memento and for some reason I liked it a lot more than the first
time. I made mp3s out of some songs from movies, most notably Elliott Smith's cover of the Beatles'
"Because" from American Beauty. I also downloaded a version of Pac-Man.
22 December 2002
System Clock is correct and does not require adjustment.
In Christmas news I received today books by Flannery O'Connor, William Shakespeare and Kevin Murphy
(formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000). I also attended our church's Christmas program and went
to Iowa City with my family. Tomorrow we will go to Ohio for a week.
NAACP, a civil rights organisation, said that Mr Frist's voting record this year closely mirrors the
disgraced Mr Lott, and he has opposed sex education, affirmative action and legislation on hate crime.
26 December 2002
Joe Strummer 1952-2002.
The trip to Ohio was fine. I and my brother are staying with my aunt and uncle while my parents stay
across town with my mom's parents. My aunt and uncle decided to purchase a Gamecube for themselves
this Christmas, so we are working through Super Mario Sunshine. It builds and relies heavily on
Super Mario 64 and is pretty good. I have been reading A Year At The Movies by Kevin Murphy and it
is as satisfying as I thought it'd be. We went to my paternal grandparents' house for a while and had
Christmas today at my maternal grandparents. I got a satchel type of thing, a gift card, some money,
some miscellaneous stuff and a few items to be returned tomorrow before or after seeing The Two Towers I helped shovel the drive this morning as we received about 6 inches of snow last night. It is the
first real accumulation I have seen this winter.
"I was very, very lucky ... I just think, it's like you're asking someone who got hit by a meteor,
'I want to be hit by a meteor. How do I do it?' I don't know. I was walking in a field and the
meteor hit me." - Conan O'Brien in The Onion AV Club.
27 December 2002
Today I sallied forth with my brother in our uncle's CR-V to return gifts to Wal-Mart and Borders as
well as using gift cards. I selected The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Sigur Ros's
(), The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead and Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Reduxe.
I also got a 40 of IBC and a bottle of Gatorade to round out my purchases at Wal-Mart. After dinner
we took our conversion van to see The Two Towers, which I enjoyed. It had normal second act aspects,
with the storylines coming to a head, no exciting beginnings or thrilling conclusions, but it was
satisfying all the same. I will be sad when at the end of Return of the King, I will have no more
Tolkien to look forward to in the theater at Christmastime. It is a very nice present.
I reformatted my grandmother's computer today and attempted to get it back into shape. It was a near
disaster. I discovered that Windows 95 now seems archaic. The system did not like to recognize its
'plug-and-play' hardware nor the drivers on the disks. It wouldn't even install Internet Explorer 5.5. The chair I was sitting in broke during the process, but it got finished. We went out to eat with my dad's family, with whom we shall have 'Christmas' tomorrow. My mom is also insane.
28 December 2002
My entire family is insane. I had a nice time at our reunion this afternoon eating and shooting hoops. The gift exchange was horrible as usual. The basketball game was atrocious but still a nice break from family gatherings. My entire family is insane.
29 December 2002
We sang some Christmas carols at the church we went to but they were only decent. We ate at Burger King and some at both grandparent's and other places. The Browns made the playoffs after an exciting afternoon of football by many teams. I lost at Euchre. We are leaving tomorrow at 9:30.
I am listening to my uncle's copy of Get The Knack, by The Knack, and I enjoy it way more than I expected.
31 December 2002
The trip today was a little slow but fine overall. I listened to my Singers' Practice CD and precious
little else. I got all my music together. Tomorrow I will pack and go to Iowa City and hopefully see
in the new year.
This is my last post from Wayland. I have everything spread out on my bed. I am washing clothes.
Hopefully I will have everything packed soon after dark. Iowa State got trashed in the Humanitarian
Bowl.