well i'm doing everything i can to avoid doing automata homework, so i figured i'd post.
i was talking to rick today and i came up with a realization that it's one thing to have senioritis (i'm kinda sick of that term so i'm not gonna say it much more) but it's like so much harder when everybody you talk to everyday has it too. hell, i wish i had a bunch of fish friends or something to motivate me to really kick ass in everything.
it comes up fairly often. i'll be talking to somebody about something academic i'm having trouble with, and their reaction is often: "why do you care, man?" and i can't come up with a good reason other than to help my ego. most of the time i'm only really putting forth effort in a class this semester just to please other people: parents, employers, colleagues, etc. it's no big secret that i don't really care what grades i make in classes at this point, but i have to care a little bit just to make sure i don't come out looking like an ass. i'm not even really completely slacking off, i could do it a lot worse i think.
like when i have a hw due in a class now, and i try to ask somebody for help, they don't care. they're graduating like me, they've got a job lined up, why should they struggle over an assignment at this point? i can't really disagree with 'em.
the only reason i care that much is i'm just making sure it doesn't show a really negative characteristic about me, like i quit too early or something. in high school i did it way worse than most people, it was pretty awful. i just sat down one day after being accepted to A&M and calculated what scores i could get in classes to still be in the top 100%. as soon as i figured that out, i went and purposely flunked my calculus course. i knew i'd be in cal 1 freshmen year anyway, and i could fail the class without dropping out of top 10%, so i did, and i had fun doing it. i made a 15 my last 6 weeks and like a 50-something in the class for the year, and the teacher knew what i was doing and yet had no control over it. i ended up somewhat easily within the top 10% and went to A&M without really ever thinking twice about it.
my biggest reason for not going that far again is that i can't -- employers might look at it funny, parents would have a right to be mad cuz they're throwing in the cash for the education, etc. but i've done what i can to slack off within my means this semester. i've put everything i could off to the last minute, i've turned in assignments late, i've skipped like 3x more classes than ever before, and what's gonna be the consequence? i might get lower letter grades in a few classes, sure. but beyond that, how is that going to impact my life at all? will raytheon suddenly tear up my acceptance agreement and forget the great job i've done for them for 3 years? will my girlfriend dump me over it? will i lose the respect of family and friends? no to all those.
i ended up with a 77 in speech. i should have gotten a B, but i did bad in the class the first few weeks. it'd be nice if the prof had a little sympathy and bumped me to a B, but honestly, how much am i gonna remember about that class 2-3 years from now? i'll prolly vaguely remember my grade in there, but will i remember what i spoke about, the names of people sitting around me or what the professor looked like? prolly not. i think it's unfortunate, but i just think i'm that kind of resourceful person where if i'm given a scenario that i'm allowed to put forth effort less than absolute best, i seize it. the way i look at it, the worst case scenario for slacking off a bit is i pull off a 2.5 this semester, and my GPA is still pretty similar to what's on my resume already, a number that my employer had no problem with.
i'm not really even sure if this situation is ever gonna arise again. when else in life am i gonna be in a position where what i do right now doesn't impact what i'm gonna be doing in the next few months? prolly not very often. it strikes me that nobody wants to see me struggle or stress out over any of this undergrad shit anymore, so why should i disappoint them and bust my ass for nothing? so that i can put on my resume 3.3 instead of 3.25? i really doubt that will ever impact the rest of my life in any way. you only go to college to get a good job anyway, and you only bother with a high GPA to try and make yourself look better to get that good job. then once you've worked for a few years, nobody's ever gonna care what your GPA was.
at my graduation and related events, my whole family is gonna be extremely proud of me graduating from college, especially those that never went to college themselves. but they're gonna be proud of that whether i have a 3.25 or a 3.75. i'll spend more time telling people about my job in the next few months than i will about the last 4 years. it's just like when we're in college we don't sit around and talk about our successes and mistakes in high school. you complete one era of your life, you move on. you have funny stories to tell about each era now and then, but you've changed since that time, thus, it's not entirely relavent anymore.
i feel a bit guilty saying it, but hell, this semester is awesome in a way. i still go ace tests her and there and work my ass off for an assignment, but i also spend a lot of time just doing whatever i can that's not academic. i can do some things now that in my middle years of school i was too busy to do, so it's kind of vindicating now. some people would disagree, but i say if given the opportunity at the beginning of the semester to be given automatic C's in all my classes i prolly would have taken it, just to sorta live here and enjoy life a bit.
it's painfully obvious, but school's a bitch. sure a year from now i'll be saying work's a bitch, but for now and the last 4 years, school gets in the way of a lotta cool shit. we always say "college would be great if it weren't for all those classes and shit" and it's kinda true. living this way is fun for me. but school just invades on your personal life constantly. there are times when alayna and i are hanging out and i can tell she's having fun and doesn't wanna go, but she has to cuz she has an 8am class. or when i sit and wonder why i never go out on thursday nights like everybody else, then realize 9 times out of 10 i have something due on friday or whatever. they're just examples of how school prevents us from having as good a time as we can. yeah, the only reason we're really here is to get an education, but we also gotta live our lives here for 4 years. that's why it's meant a lot to me my senior year to go out of my way to make sure i don't spend too much time stressing over academics and do what i can to have fun. i've slept in more weekends and gotten drunk much more often just to make sure i come out of here knowing i enjoyed the college lifestyle like i was supposed to.
instead, i'll bide my time anxiously awaiting all my FedEx and UPS packages in transit right now. then we'll have some fun building a PC. as my ex-gf said, eeeeeek. as my current gf says, eeeeee.
--the damaja
Friday, April 30, 2004
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
well it's been almost 2 weeks since a fresh post, so i guess i'll go maaaad stream-of-consciousness style and blab about some sheeit.
i guess trivial stuff first? survivor's been at least decent lately. not really spectacular but i guess worth watching at least. a new episode of friends finally came on, we had almost completely forgotten what had been happening. nobody cares anymore, just end the damn show already and let the syndication rake in profits, like seinfeld. ER's been a little humdrum lately, still overall entertaining but it almost seems like it's ready to end within a season or so too. a few of my other season pass shows have ended, the john henson project's season is over, who knows if that'll come back or not. home movies is done [as of right now] forever, completely cancelled, which sucks. only good thing is there's about 50 total episodes of that show (over 4 seasons) to enjoy, so i can't complain too much. scrubs has been alright lately, i'm kinda glad it's only got 1 episode left for the season, marginally funny but season 3 wasn't nearly as good as season 2. MST3K got yanked from sci-fi a while back, but you can find episodes somewhat easily online so it's not that big of a deal anyway. i'm looking forward to another season of reno 911!, i'll most likely get the first season on dvd when it comes out, even though i've got all the eps. airline wrapped up season 1 a few weeks ago, not really sure when the 2nd season starts, although i wouldn't be heartbroken if i missed it. big brother 5 will start up in july as usual, that'll be something to look forward to. i'm kinda right in the middle of watching tivo'd band of brothers. i've got 4 episodes left, kinda savoring 'em i guess.
i've been pretty slow to watch shit off my computers, but lately i've watched eps of the office season 1 and enjoyed the few episodes of significant others that i have. i've been bad about not really watching anime as much as i should've, i prolly should have finished off a few series by now but i haven't. oh well, it'll save something for later i suppose. big fish and ER season 2 dvd's hit the shelves today, i'll prolly lumber out and pick those up within the next couple days. only things holding me back are my complete lack of rackspace and glaring fact that i've only watched a few ER season 1 episodes in the last 6 months. kill bill vol 1 has been an excellent dvd, but i'll be damned if i know what to do with my matrix revolutions dvd. at some point i plan to sit down and watch all 3 movies back-to-back-to-back. i still say i got the 3rd flick just to say i had all of 'em, errrr.
i've still been a little lazy getting back to being gamecube-addicted too. i enjoyed some f-zero gx the other day for a little speechwriting break of loud fun, but not much more than that. i finished a little more of wind waker a couple weekends ago when i brought the cube back to dallas, but i think i'm tired of beating the game to death and need to just beat it without blowing hours and hours on semi-useless sidequests. i still plan on upping my GC playtime, but might not be until i'm in my new apartment.
i'm not too far from finishing my dnbMD project. i've just got 5 MD's left to master to have what i consider the best tracks of '98-03 off the hard drive and onto the more-likely-to-get-airplay MD's. thus far i'm still planning on sticking with my plan to get MD happy and almost completely blow of portable mp3's at least for now. the top-of-the-line sony Hi-MD unit (which sony kinda has a monopoly on right now so that's all that will be available) was posted on minidisco for $380 available in mid-may, although i've seen it listed for $325 elsewhere. i prolly won't get it in may, but i'm still planning on getting that for my portable music, which in the last 5 years has been a big deal to me, but i'm not sure yet how big of a deal portable music will be for me in the next couple years post-school. my POV is that i won't really need portable beats for transportation anymore (bus/bike) but i'll be sitting in a cube for prolly 7 of 8 hours in my workday so most likely i'll continue to think it's pretty important. oddly enough those new Hi-MDs will hold about 8 hours (at best quality even) of music so bringing the player with just 1 Hi-MD inside should get you through the day. that's kinda what sold it for me really, the fact that you could have just 1 disc with you and get through many hours of the day without ever hearing the same track. for the last few years i've had a creative labs nomad 20gb that's been cool for some purposes but overall hasn't really been a godsend of a device, so i'm a little leery of HD-based mp3 players.
i'm in no way anti-iPod like some other MD purists, i really like the iPod but i don't think it's what i want. it's got a way better interface than HD mp3 players of a few years ago but carries what i call "the indecision principle." i never realized it'd be a problem having too much music at my fingertips until i had my 20gb player for a while. even with creating playlists and such i just think it's having too much music to decide upon to really enjoy thoroughly. you need a way of breaking down music selection somehow, and i think 8 hour selections of music on each Hi-MD is about perfect for that. so the plan is still to collect full mp3 albums at home, but only put the highlights onto MD's and enjoy those in the car (haven't seen much news yet on car Hi-MD decks, i'm expected expensivo) and portable at work.
i don't really support those that try to find an all-in-one portable music player for transportation, cube-sitting and working out. i just don't think the concept exists, at least not right now. i'm not sure yet, but prolly before 2004's over i'll go buy a flash-based mp3 player just for working out. what i keep hoping for (and is prolly within 1-2 years of reality) is some goddamn bluetooth based headphones already. my biggest beef with any portable players lately is the damn wire. i listen to headphones going to classes fairly often, and now and then i get pretty tangled up in the stupid cord. with all the wi-fi insanity and rapid tech cycling lately, you'd think wireless portable music would catch the fuck on here soon. technically i could do it already, i could run my iPaq as my music player with bluetooth on and some expensive bluetooth headphones, but the price and battery drain aren't worth it quite yet. i think that'd be perfect for working out though -- a flash-based mp3 player with integrated bluetooth and tiny bluetooth earbuds or something, you could wrap the player around your arm and never have to worry about dangling wires.
lately, whether i'm sitting in class or not, my day seems to revolve around planning out my apartment move-in the middle of next month. my parents mentioned over the weekend that i could get a DLP HDTV for my graduation present, so that's pretty goddamn cool. i'm leaning towards a 50" samsung DLP monitor, or if not than prolly it's 46" or 43" counterpart. it's got everything i "need," 3 component inputs, DVI input, VGA input, 720p handling, etc. so selection of the tv isn't really that tough of a choice thus far.
the satellite vs cable thing is the toughest to decide so far. obviously with a shiny new HDTV, i've gotta find some way of getting HD signals, which in 2004 is getting easier and easier but is still certainly in its infancy. digital cable is a bit more expensive, but the advantage there is that you can pretty easily get the broadcast HD channels delivered to your home thru cable, including ESPN-HD and HBO-HD/Sho-HD/Max-HD if you want 'em. the only problem there is that comcast offers a shitty PVR for recording them. still, it's nice that you can record HD at all, no matter what the interface looks like. from what i've heard it's really nothing like tivo, it's more like a digital tapeless vcr, with no season passes or suggestions or anything. but i figure i can still use my standalone tivo (which are most likely going the way of the dodo within a year or so) to record non-HD stuff, which is mostly what i'll record anyway. i really like what satellite has to offer, and it is cheaper, but the problem lies in their inability (due to bandwidth) to carry local HD signals, or (due to legal issues) national HD broadcast feeds. there's a small chance you could get CBS, fox, NBC and ABC HD national feeds here soon, but a lot of that is still being battled in courts. so with DirecTV i could get digital quality feeds on all channels, plus ESPN-HD, DiscoveryHD, HDnet and HDnet movies for an extra $11 a month. the thing is you can get over-the-air HD signals with the proper antenna and such, BUT being in an apartment i'm a lot more limited as far as just throwing a big antenna up on the roof, which is what most homeowners do. i'd need a medium-sized directional antenna to reach the towers downtown, but it'd have to face about 200 degrees southwest to get the signals and with my apartment alignment i'm really not sure if i can do that. unless the front office can hook me up to a good feed or something i think i might be shit outta luck on OTA HD. so at least right now (and my opinion changes upon the hour) i'm leaning towards comcast digital cable since i can prolly still use my own tivo and get all the major networks in HD. it'd just be a shame to spend so much on an HDTV and not receive HD feeds.
i'm gonna build a home theater PC for the living room to play dvd's, mp3's on the main speakers and games on the big tv. my main computer (with its trusty linux box brother next to it) will be in the study for proper computer use, like spreadsheets, websurfing and email, but the HTPC will be responsible for playing all my music and videos out on the big speakers and tv in the main area. i had thought about running a dedicated media server to just stream mp3's out to the speakers over wi-fi, but i don't think that'll be very practical. instead i'm just gonna build a PC for pure entertainment purposes in the living room and let it talk to the other machines over wi-fi. the way i see it i was gonna hafta buy a new dvd player anyway (present sony's a few years old, lacks progressive scanning or a DVI output) and a media server to play mp3's properly (i.e. loud), so an HTPC for under $1k is the best solution.
i've put ridiculous amounts of time into planning and researching for my new apartment, but i'm not really burned out on it. everything from measurements to making sure i buy the right products, i'm trying to have it all planned out before i move in ~may 16th. i can't really afford (both monetarily and time-wise) to make a bunch of mistakes in putting this place together (locked into living there 14 months) so i'm trying to do it right. so far rick's given a lot of advise on his take on a lot of equipment and setups i've mentioned, plus he helps point out things i didn't think about before. i'm not quite sure yet but i will most likely order all the HTPC parts while i'm still here in CS and build the box here since i've only got 3 exams total. plus i don't wanna move in and have to build a computer while i'm just trying to find a fuckin couch or something.
i don't really know much about furniture, so i'll be using help from alayna and my mom to decide what the hell to buy for that part. i'm inheriting some furniture from my parents, so that'll help. i hope the stuff i gotta buy (couch, bed, etc) doesn't cost too damn much though, at 22 years old i really don't care about having like awesome furniture or anything. i'm about 90% sure i'll go with cable over DSL for internet, DSL would be cheaper but i think 784/256kbps down/up isn't really that spectacular. i had thought about going DSL to help motivate myself to stay off the net more but i think that'd be a mistake. i still want to keep shit downloading while i'm at work during the day. i had wanted to avoid getting landline phone service but for various reasons i'm almost positive i'm gonna hafta have one, at least for a while. i'm gonna toss a couple things on my cell service though, i'm not gonna pay like $40 a month for landline and $50/mo for cell coverage, i don't need all that.
moving on...
i hadn't really realized it but i really am almost done with every academic for my degree. i gave my last speech last thursday, so that's totally done. i have no more networking classes, all i take is the final. just 1 more homework due for automata and then the final, which i'll have to reschedule cuz i'm lined up for 3 tests on the same day. i gotta prolly make at least 1-2 more appearances in my 489 class that i only go to like once every couple weeks just to make sure i don't get fucked and get a B just for being a dick and not showing up. gotta write one last quick paper for ethics this friday and then all that's left will be the final in there too. i've done enough in every class to at least pass them all so it's a good feeling to know that nothing else really stands between me and graduation. i'd imagine the next couple weeks will be filled more with various tasks and shit around here (moving out, admin type shit, etc) than actual academic work, which is how it should be.
it's pretty obvious that i'm not gonna be able to properly wrap things up with a lot of people i've met here throughout the years, but i guess that's to be expected. i understand people are just as busy as i am, especially those that are graduating, so it's really just a shame i guess that we'll all part our separate ways. i have a lot of graduating seniors in several of my classes and we all sorta have the same look. most of us seem ready to leave, i guess i'm really talking about comp sci majors here. it's mostly a good vibe in classes i suppose, kinda like the last week of school in the elementary days or something. nobody wants to say it but everybody knows as long as we remain y'know, like enrolled in the university we're gonna get our degrees. we only kinda care about really acing classes, and everybody, including my parents, really understand that. and who can blame us?
luckily, alayna got a job interview for a school in richardson so we're hoping that comes through, so she can move to dallas this summer like we want. more and more it looks like everything's falling together.
there's prolly other shit i could get into, but i've already blabbed plenty i know.
--the damaja
i guess trivial stuff first? survivor's been at least decent lately. not really spectacular but i guess worth watching at least. a new episode of friends finally came on, we had almost completely forgotten what had been happening. nobody cares anymore, just end the damn show already and let the syndication rake in profits, like seinfeld. ER's been a little humdrum lately, still overall entertaining but it almost seems like it's ready to end within a season or so too. a few of my other season pass shows have ended, the john henson project's season is over, who knows if that'll come back or not. home movies is done [as of right now] forever, completely cancelled, which sucks. only good thing is there's about 50 total episodes of that show (over 4 seasons) to enjoy, so i can't complain too much. scrubs has been alright lately, i'm kinda glad it's only got 1 episode left for the season, marginally funny but season 3 wasn't nearly as good as season 2. MST3K got yanked from sci-fi a while back, but you can find episodes somewhat easily online so it's not that big of a deal anyway. i'm looking forward to another season of reno 911!, i'll most likely get the first season on dvd when it comes out, even though i've got all the eps. airline wrapped up season 1 a few weeks ago, not really sure when the 2nd season starts, although i wouldn't be heartbroken if i missed it. big brother 5 will start up in july as usual, that'll be something to look forward to. i'm kinda right in the middle of watching tivo'd band of brothers. i've got 4 episodes left, kinda savoring 'em i guess.
i've been pretty slow to watch shit off my computers, but lately i've watched eps of the office season 1 and enjoyed the few episodes of significant others that i have. i've been bad about not really watching anime as much as i should've, i prolly should have finished off a few series by now but i haven't. oh well, it'll save something for later i suppose. big fish and ER season 2 dvd's hit the shelves today, i'll prolly lumber out and pick those up within the next couple days. only things holding me back are my complete lack of rackspace and glaring fact that i've only watched a few ER season 1 episodes in the last 6 months. kill bill vol 1 has been an excellent dvd, but i'll be damned if i know what to do with my matrix revolutions dvd. at some point i plan to sit down and watch all 3 movies back-to-back-to-back. i still say i got the 3rd flick just to say i had all of 'em, errrr.
i've still been a little lazy getting back to being gamecube-addicted too. i enjoyed some f-zero gx the other day for a little speechwriting break of loud fun, but not much more than that. i finished a little more of wind waker a couple weekends ago when i brought the cube back to dallas, but i think i'm tired of beating the game to death and need to just beat it without blowing hours and hours on semi-useless sidequests. i still plan on upping my GC playtime, but might not be until i'm in my new apartment.
i'm not too far from finishing my dnbMD project. i've just got 5 MD's left to master to have what i consider the best tracks of '98-03 off the hard drive and onto the more-likely-to-get-airplay MD's. thus far i'm still planning on sticking with my plan to get MD happy and almost completely blow of portable mp3's at least for now. the top-of-the-line sony Hi-MD unit (which sony kinda has a monopoly on right now so that's all that will be available) was posted on minidisco for $380 available in mid-may, although i've seen it listed for $325 elsewhere. i prolly won't get it in may, but i'm still planning on getting that for my portable music, which in the last 5 years has been a big deal to me, but i'm not sure yet how big of a deal portable music will be for me in the next couple years post-school. my POV is that i won't really need portable beats for transportation anymore (bus/bike) but i'll be sitting in a cube for prolly 7 of 8 hours in my workday so most likely i'll continue to think it's pretty important. oddly enough those new Hi-MDs will hold about 8 hours (at best quality even) of music so bringing the player with just 1 Hi-MD inside should get you through the day. that's kinda what sold it for me really, the fact that you could have just 1 disc with you and get through many hours of the day without ever hearing the same track. for the last few years i've had a creative labs nomad 20gb that's been cool for some purposes but overall hasn't really been a godsend of a device, so i'm a little leery of HD-based mp3 players.
i'm in no way anti-iPod like some other MD purists, i really like the iPod but i don't think it's what i want. it's got a way better interface than HD mp3 players of a few years ago but carries what i call "the indecision principle." i never realized it'd be a problem having too much music at my fingertips until i had my 20gb player for a while. even with creating playlists and such i just think it's having too much music to decide upon to really enjoy thoroughly. you need a way of breaking down music selection somehow, and i think 8 hour selections of music on each Hi-MD is about perfect for that. so the plan is still to collect full mp3 albums at home, but only put the highlights onto MD's and enjoy those in the car (haven't seen much news yet on car Hi-MD decks, i'm expected expensivo) and portable at work.
i don't really support those that try to find an all-in-one portable music player for transportation, cube-sitting and working out. i just don't think the concept exists, at least not right now. i'm not sure yet, but prolly before 2004's over i'll go buy a flash-based mp3 player just for working out. what i keep hoping for (and is prolly within 1-2 years of reality) is some goddamn bluetooth based headphones already. my biggest beef with any portable players lately is the damn wire. i listen to headphones going to classes fairly often, and now and then i get pretty tangled up in the stupid cord. with all the wi-fi insanity and rapid tech cycling lately, you'd think wireless portable music would catch the fuck on here soon. technically i could do it already, i could run my iPaq as my music player with bluetooth on and some expensive bluetooth headphones, but the price and battery drain aren't worth it quite yet. i think that'd be perfect for working out though -- a flash-based mp3 player with integrated bluetooth and tiny bluetooth earbuds or something, you could wrap the player around your arm and never have to worry about dangling wires.
lately, whether i'm sitting in class or not, my day seems to revolve around planning out my apartment move-in the middle of next month. my parents mentioned over the weekend that i could get a DLP HDTV for my graduation present, so that's pretty goddamn cool. i'm leaning towards a 50" samsung DLP monitor, or if not than prolly it's 46" or 43" counterpart. it's got everything i "need," 3 component inputs, DVI input, VGA input, 720p handling, etc. so selection of the tv isn't really that tough of a choice thus far.
the satellite vs cable thing is the toughest to decide so far. obviously with a shiny new HDTV, i've gotta find some way of getting HD signals, which in 2004 is getting easier and easier but is still certainly in its infancy. digital cable is a bit more expensive, but the advantage there is that you can pretty easily get the broadcast HD channels delivered to your home thru cable, including ESPN-HD and HBO-HD/Sho-HD/Max-HD if you want 'em. the only problem there is that comcast offers a shitty PVR for recording them. still, it's nice that you can record HD at all, no matter what the interface looks like. from what i've heard it's really nothing like tivo, it's more like a digital tapeless vcr, with no season passes or suggestions or anything. but i figure i can still use my standalone tivo (which are most likely going the way of the dodo within a year or so) to record non-HD stuff, which is mostly what i'll record anyway. i really like what satellite has to offer, and it is cheaper, but the problem lies in their inability (due to bandwidth) to carry local HD signals, or (due to legal issues) national HD broadcast feeds. there's a small chance you could get CBS, fox, NBC and ABC HD national feeds here soon, but a lot of that is still being battled in courts. so with DirecTV i could get digital quality feeds on all channels, plus ESPN-HD, DiscoveryHD, HDnet and HDnet movies for an extra $11 a month. the thing is you can get over-the-air HD signals with the proper antenna and such, BUT being in an apartment i'm a lot more limited as far as just throwing a big antenna up on the roof, which is what most homeowners do. i'd need a medium-sized directional antenna to reach the towers downtown, but it'd have to face about 200 degrees southwest to get the signals and with my apartment alignment i'm really not sure if i can do that. unless the front office can hook me up to a good feed or something i think i might be shit outta luck on OTA HD. so at least right now (and my opinion changes upon the hour) i'm leaning towards comcast digital cable since i can prolly still use my own tivo and get all the major networks in HD. it'd just be a shame to spend so much on an HDTV and not receive HD feeds.
i'm gonna build a home theater PC for the living room to play dvd's, mp3's on the main speakers and games on the big tv. my main computer (with its trusty linux box brother next to it) will be in the study for proper computer use, like spreadsheets, websurfing and email, but the HTPC will be responsible for playing all my music and videos out on the big speakers and tv in the main area. i had thought about running a dedicated media server to just stream mp3's out to the speakers over wi-fi, but i don't think that'll be very practical. instead i'm just gonna build a PC for pure entertainment purposes in the living room and let it talk to the other machines over wi-fi. the way i see it i was gonna hafta buy a new dvd player anyway (present sony's a few years old, lacks progressive scanning or a DVI output) and a media server to play mp3's properly (i.e. loud), so an HTPC for under $1k is the best solution.
i've put ridiculous amounts of time into planning and researching for my new apartment, but i'm not really burned out on it. everything from measurements to making sure i buy the right products, i'm trying to have it all planned out before i move in ~may 16th. i can't really afford (both monetarily and time-wise) to make a bunch of mistakes in putting this place together (locked into living there 14 months) so i'm trying to do it right. so far rick's given a lot of advise on his take on a lot of equipment and setups i've mentioned, plus he helps point out things i didn't think about before. i'm not quite sure yet but i will most likely order all the HTPC parts while i'm still here in CS and build the box here since i've only got 3 exams total. plus i don't wanna move in and have to build a computer while i'm just trying to find a fuckin couch or something.
i don't really know much about furniture, so i'll be using help from alayna and my mom to decide what the hell to buy for that part. i'm inheriting some furniture from my parents, so that'll help. i hope the stuff i gotta buy (couch, bed, etc) doesn't cost too damn much though, at 22 years old i really don't care about having like awesome furniture or anything. i'm about 90% sure i'll go with cable over DSL for internet, DSL would be cheaper but i think 784/256kbps down/up isn't really that spectacular. i had thought about going DSL to help motivate myself to stay off the net more but i think that'd be a mistake. i still want to keep shit downloading while i'm at work during the day. i had wanted to avoid getting landline phone service but for various reasons i'm almost positive i'm gonna hafta have one, at least for a while. i'm gonna toss a couple things on my cell service though, i'm not gonna pay like $40 a month for landline and $50/mo for cell coverage, i don't need all that.
moving on...
i hadn't really realized it but i really am almost done with every academic for my degree. i gave my last speech last thursday, so that's totally done. i have no more networking classes, all i take is the final. just 1 more homework due for automata and then the final, which i'll have to reschedule cuz i'm lined up for 3 tests on the same day. i gotta prolly make at least 1-2 more appearances in my 489 class that i only go to like once every couple weeks just to make sure i don't get fucked and get a B just for being a dick and not showing up. gotta write one last quick paper for ethics this friday and then all that's left will be the final in there too. i've done enough in every class to at least pass them all so it's a good feeling to know that nothing else really stands between me and graduation. i'd imagine the next couple weeks will be filled more with various tasks and shit around here (moving out, admin type shit, etc) than actual academic work, which is how it should be.
it's pretty obvious that i'm not gonna be able to properly wrap things up with a lot of people i've met here throughout the years, but i guess that's to be expected. i understand people are just as busy as i am, especially those that are graduating, so it's really just a shame i guess that we'll all part our separate ways. i have a lot of graduating seniors in several of my classes and we all sorta have the same look. most of us seem ready to leave, i guess i'm really talking about comp sci majors here. it's mostly a good vibe in classes i suppose, kinda like the last week of school in the elementary days or something. nobody wants to say it but everybody knows as long as we remain y'know, like enrolled in the university we're gonna get our degrees. we only kinda care about really acing classes, and everybody, including my parents, really understand that. and who can blame us?
luckily, alayna got a job interview for a school in richardson so we're hoping that comes through, so she can move to dallas this summer like we want. more and more it looks like everything's falling together.
there's prolly other shit i could get into, but i've already blabbed plenty i know.
--the damaja
Thursday, April 15, 2004
riiiiight, so i predicted the stars in 7 games against colorado, but i wouldn't have predicted they'd do it by coming back from a 3-1 series deficit. and hey, guess what? i still don't! yeah you gotta be fuckin kidding me, no goddamn way we win the last 3 games in that series, we'll be lucky to win one. last postseason was more frustrating though, cuz i thought we were a better team, hell we were the #1 seed. this year, eh, bad start screwed us over too much, we should have been able to seed higher and play somebody worse like st louis or nashville. colorado's rocky (eh, bad pun) but at this point they've still got more weapons that dallas, so it's not shocking that they're damn near schooling us. i'll be a bit disappointed when we get knocked out in the first round (i'd say there's a 95% chance of that happening) but can't say it's too surprising, it'd actually be kinda fitting for this season. so eh, fuck.
"no time! there's never any time!" --- jessie spano
yes, that infamous saved by the bell quote ("i'm so excited, i'm so excited, i'm so.... scared!") adequately sums up how i've felt lately. it's not even academics, at least not this week. it's mostly just wanting to accomplish or do things. yeah yeah i know, what a sad fuckin problem to have, but a lot of times i just can't decide what to accomplish, so i end up accomplishing nothing, heh. gamecube games, tivo, shows on my computers, movies, etc. i've always had problems of "more, more, more" where i just have too much coming in and can't handle it, but now it's more like i can't decide which 'thing' i wanna spend time with. i think tivo always wins, cuz i schedule enough shit to record so that i gotta watch an hour or so each day to make sure i've got decent space. but it's kinda good i hafta do that, cuz if i didn't i'd never watch any of what i record.
i can't tell yet what's burning me out, if anything. i'm definitely burned out on something though, it's just really hard to care about *anything* right now. i was gonna take my digicam around with me for everything i did on campus and shit, but i don't think i'm gonna bother. just the sorta mood i'm in (and plenty other graduates) i don't think i care enough to take pics of anything on campus.
it's funny, when you can just easily record whatever's on tv at basically any time, like sometimes you feel like you're overdoing it. i check the schedule for like the next week and queue up a good 3-4 shows a day which seem like a great idea at the time, then after they've recorded i'm like "cool... when the hell am i gonna watch this?" i do that all the damn time. there are so many funny shows, dramas, events, etc that i record that i really enjoy, but when you have like 12 hours of good tv on a menu just waiting for you to click on it, ya don't know what to watch.
i tivo PTI everyday. that's a great damn show. but have you ever noticed no matter what show it is, if you watch enough of something, you just get tired of it? with PTI, i watch it every fuckin day and i start to get sick of the same shit they argue about every damn day. might hafta take a break or something for a while. i'm just not really that great at watching 1 show over-and-over-and-over until i'm blue in the face. lately, alayna & jessica have watched like several dozen back to back episodes of sex & the city. that show's great, but i couldn't sit and watch 6 episodes with like 1 bathroom break in the middle, it just gets boring. i've got more of an attention span than most, but even i can't just beat a show to death. hell i've got like 10 episodes of the larry sanders show on the tivo right now, you think i can sit down and watch those in 5 hours? shit, more like a week.
i think i suck at just relaxing sometimes. i'll sit on a computer for hours on end interacting with the machine, talking to people, downloading, etc. but for some reason it's tough for me at times to just sit down for 20 minutes and watch a show. i end up checking every 30 seconds how much time is left cuz i can't wait for it to be done so i can get that feeling of accomplishment. same thing with playing gamecube, like i'll play for an hour getting things done, then i'm like, alright, time for something else. that'd just be funny if i really stuck with something and people wondered what the hell i was up to for like 4 days. like it turns out i've just been watching noir for 4 days straight, no sleep or food or anything. "i dunno man, i just felt like it."
i signed a 14 month apartment lease starting in may up in allen, i've signed my job offers, i've made progress in making plans for when and how to transition things from college to house to apartment, etc. it just feels like that's the only stuff that really matters, and the rest of this stuff is just bullshit. that's not entirely true, but that's kinda how i treat it. i've said to people lately it would be kinda sad if i got really great grades this semester, cuz if i lived like this every semester and got real solid grades, i tried too hard too often.
what i haven't addressed too much to anybody is that i'm actually kinda nervous not about starting work, but about being able to adjust to semi-regular sleeping hours post-college. raytheon has flexible hours and you can pretty much work when ya want, but it's not like i can wake up at noon and stroll into the damn office. i think in any setting your body just adjusts to a particular cycle of sleeping and waking hours, and over 4 years i've adjusted, probably too well. if you asked me to sleep any hours of the day and i could pick like any 6 hours, i'd prolly go for 4-10am. that's just when i like to sleep the most, really. somehow i'm gonna hafta get away from that though to work properly. it's harder than you'd think. ideally what i'd like to do (given that i'm living on my own by my own rules) is kinda start off somewhat civil and work like 9am to 5:30pm with a 30min lunchbreak, although you rarely end up with the same length days. we have the option of working 9 hours mon-thurs and only coming in half of friday, or taking every other friday off. i'm not really sure how often i'll do that, cuz sometimes i think that's a bit of a waste. as a guy living alone (single, at least in the not-married sense) i'd kinda like to just work 10 hours some days assuming i've got plenty to do, then adjust the rest of my schedule accordingly. it's actually really cool sometimes when you put in 10 hours for the day, like even going out and getting a fast food dinner, cuz the other days of the week you can come in late or get out early. when you're living by yourself, really, who the hell cares when and where you eat? that's kinda how i look at it, like so what if i put in long hours and eat up at work? i may have less of an evening to have fun, but who cares when the next day i'm going home at 2pm and shit? i guess having every other friday off would be nice, but it's not worth working 9 hours every single day you're at work just to be able to have a 3 day weekend every other weekend. i just think they give us enough PTO for that shit really. if i remember right you get about 10 hours of PTO for every calendar month you work, so you work the whole year and you've got like 15 total days you can take off all year. all you gotta do is juggle your hours and combine it with PTO and you can take 3 day weekends pretty damn often actually, i've seen it all the time.
somehow i'll hafta make myself hit the damn sack by midnight. add copious amounts of tylenol PM to the grocery list.
that's enough for now.
--the damaja
"no time! there's never any time!" --- jessie spano
yes, that infamous saved by the bell quote ("i'm so excited, i'm so excited, i'm so.... scared!") adequately sums up how i've felt lately. it's not even academics, at least not this week. it's mostly just wanting to accomplish or do things. yeah yeah i know, what a sad fuckin problem to have, but a lot of times i just can't decide what to accomplish, so i end up accomplishing nothing, heh. gamecube games, tivo, shows on my computers, movies, etc. i've always had problems of "more, more, more" where i just have too much coming in and can't handle it, but now it's more like i can't decide which 'thing' i wanna spend time with. i think tivo always wins, cuz i schedule enough shit to record so that i gotta watch an hour or so each day to make sure i've got decent space. but it's kinda good i hafta do that, cuz if i didn't i'd never watch any of what i record.
i can't tell yet what's burning me out, if anything. i'm definitely burned out on something though, it's just really hard to care about *anything* right now. i was gonna take my digicam around with me for everything i did on campus and shit, but i don't think i'm gonna bother. just the sorta mood i'm in (and plenty other graduates) i don't think i care enough to take pics of anything on campus.
it's funny, when you can just easily record whatever's on tv at basically any time, like sometimes you feel like you're overdoing it. i check the schedule for like the next week and queue up a good 3-4 shows a day which seem like a great idea at the time, then after they've recorded i'm like "cool... when the hell am i gonna watch this?" i do that all the damn time. there are so many funny shows, dramas, events, etc that i record that i really enjoy, but when you have like 12 hours of good tv on a menu just waiting for you to click on it, ya don't know what to watch.
i tivo PTI everyday. that's a great damn show. but have you ever noticed no matter what show it is, if you watch enough of something, you just get tired of it? with PTI, i watch it every fuckin day and i start to get sick of the same shit they argue about every damn day. might hafta take a break or something for a while. i'm just not really that great at watching 1 show over-and-over-and-over until i'm blue in the face. lately, alayna & jessica have watched like several dozen back to back episodes of sex & the city. that show's great, but i couldn't sit and watch 6 episodes with like 1 bathroom break in the middle, it just gets boring. i've got more of an attention span than most, but even i can't just beat a show to death. hell i've got like 10 episodes of the larry sanders show on the tivo right now, you think i can sit down and watch those in 5 hours? shit, more like a week.
i think i suck at just relaxing sometimes. i'll sit on a computer for hours on end interacting with the machine, talking to people, downloading, etc. but for some reason it's tough for me at times to just sit down for 20 minutes and watch a show. i end up checking every 30 seconds how much time is left cuz i can't wait for it to be done so i can get that feeling of accomplishment. same thing with playing gamecube, like i'll play for an hour getting things done, then i'm like, alright, time for something else. that'd just be funny if i really stuck with something and people wondered what the hell i was up to for like 4 days. like it turns out i've just been watching noir for 4 days straight, no sleep or food or anything. "i dunno man, i just felt like it."
i signed a 14 month apartment lease starting in may up in allen, i've signed my job offers, i've made progress in making plans for when and how to transition things from college to house to apartment, etc. it just feels like that's the only stuff that really matters, and the rest of this stuff is just bullshit. that's not entirely true, but that's kinda how i treat it. i've said to people lately it would be kinda sad if i got really great grades this semester, cuz if i lived like this every semester and got real solid grades, i tried too hard too often.
what i haven't addressed too much to anybody is that i'm actually kinda nervous not about starting work, but about being able to adjust to semi-regular sleeping hours post-college. raytheon has flexible hours and you can pretty much work when ya want, but it's not like i can wake up at noon and stroll into the damn office. i think in any setting your body just adjusts to a particular cycle of sleeping and waking hours, and over 4 years i've adjusted, probably too well. if you asked me to sleep any hours of the day and i could pick like any 6 hours, i'd prolly go for 4-10am. that's just when i like to sleep the most, really. somehow i'm gonna hafta get away from that though to work properly. it's harder than you'd think. ideally what i'd like to do (given that i'm living on my own by my own rules) is kinda start off somewhat civil and work like 9am to 5:30pm with a 30min lunchbreak, although you rarely end up with the same length days. we have the option of working 9 hours mon-thurs and only coming in half of friday, or taking every other friday off. i'm not really sure how often i'll do that, cuz sometimes i think that's a bit of a waste. as a guy living alone (single, at least in the not-married sense) i'd kinda like to just work 10 hours some days assuming i've got plenty to do, then adjust the rest of my schedule accordingly. it's actually really cool sometimes when you put in 10 hours for the day, like even going out and getting a fast food dinner, cuz the other days of the week you can come in late or get out early. when you're living by yourself, really, who the hell cares when and where you eat? that's kinda how i look at it, like so what if i put in long hours and eat up at work? i may have less of an evening to have fun, but who cares when the next day i'm going home at 2pm and shit? i guess having every other friday off would be nice, but it's not worth working 9 hours every single day you're at work just to be able to have a 3 day weekend every other weekend. i just think they give us enough PTO for that shit really. if i remember right you get about 10 hours of PTO for every calendar month you work, so you work the whole year and you've got like 15 total days you can take off all year. all you gotta do is juggle your hours and combine it with PTO and you can take 3 day weekends pretty damn often actually, i've seen it all the time.
somehow i'll hafta make myself hit the damn sack by midnight. add copious amounts of tylenol PM to the grocery list.
that's enough for now.
--the damaja
Monday, April 05, 2004
man, my first random reboot since i built this machine in december comes right in the middle of my fucking weekend recap. jesus. guess i'll try this again, just a lot more truncated.
friday
saturday
sunday
yeah, it was a pretty standard weekend i guess. it wasn't really good or bad, just average, but that's fine for me. i guess the highs are getting to do shit with friends, alayna being overly sweet, and seeing some movies; the lows would be the interesting sensation of throwing up creme de menthe and talking myself out of doing anything remotely academic.
eternal sunshine was just fuckin good, man. alayna thought it was alright, jessica thought it was pretty good, and i thought it was damn good. it just had the right style i think. the right direction, the right cast, the right length, etc. the ending could have been a bit better, but i still enjoyed it. walking out of the theater i gave it an 8.5, pretty high for me usually, but then got back and saw that IMDb's average for it was 8.5 as well, heh. i just really dig michel gondry's work, and this was the perfect project for his weird visual style. i thought carrey himself did an excellent job in the lead role, and i'm sure as hell glad nic cage didn't get the role as originally planned. kate winslet was good too, but didn't really blow me away or anything. i didn't like the side story with kirsten dunst though. i realized they were an integral part of some elements of the movie, but her character didn't really interest me. if you go see it, see it only partially for a good story but more for some well thought out visual effects. at about an hour and 45 minutes, it wasn't too long, a little slow at parts, but solid nonetheless. i'll prolly grab the dvd when it comes out later this year, i think it was good enough to want to watch again, to try to make more sense of it.
alayna and i both enjoyed school of rock. i wouldn't say it's rare that we both like a flick, but i'd say it definitely happens probably only half the time. i think it helped her that we didn't watch it too late and had a bowl of popcorn to keep us upright. i fall asleep in about 1 in every 100 movies i watch, but she falls asleep at some point in a movie a good 90% of the time, heh. but the movie moved along enough to keep it pretty interesting and there were few real slow parts. honestly, i think jack black is twice as funny when the movie's rated R, but he pulled this part off pretty well. the kids themselves were funny as well, and the songs they played were actually pretty catchy. it came off as more of a feel-good flick than a really funny comedy, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. i did notice a few holes and shite dialog in mike white's script, but they were overlooked for the most part. i do like this writing, but i don't think they guy can really act for shit actually. i'm still convinced being friends with several people in the business is the only way that guy ever gets any screen time. IMDb gives it a 7.5, although i think that's a bit too much JB worship going on there, so i'll give it a 7.0.
i watched wonderland myself today, which was about the wonderland avenue murders that involved the porn king john holmes back in july 1981. IMDb gives it a 6.4 i believe, although i'd put it closer to 7.0 myself. it was entertaining and actually pretty short, so it was easy to get through, but i thought it was lacking for the same reason as everyone else: basically that it didn't tell you who the hell john holmes was. it mentioned that he was a big porn star before the movie even began, but it didn't give you at all an impression of just what a god he was to some people. i think the flick was supposed to leave people more surprised that such a successful guy could get so wrapped up in such a mess, but they didn't adequately explain to us what a fall from grace he had had. there was some good mtv-style edits and cuts, well-directed (in my pro mtv-style [but not mtv-content] opinion), but i didn't understand the casting for shit. val kilmer kicked ass as holmes (he proved he could play a strung-out junkie in the salton sea) and kate bosworth was believable as his girlfriend, but some of the other choices sucked in my opinion. i saw carrie fisher as cast because of her role as a nun in jay & silent bob strike back, and ted levine cast as a detective for his same role in the fast & the furious. it had the mechanic from the italian job as a detective, another weird choice. i have no idea why lisa kudrow was cast as john's wife, as well as janeane garafalo and christina applegate in cameoesque wasted bits.
this movie proved to me that i have a big soft spot for movies with a big emphasis on drugs. i don't really know why that is, but several movies lately have revolved around the LA drug scene of past & present, like the salton sea, boogie nights and blow. for some reason, LA in the late 70's and early 80's is really interesting to me, even bret easton ellis's book "less than zero" was really fascinating to me. i think it's just interesting to see how fucked up people become when their entire lives revolve around drugs and the things they'll do just to get their fix.
this is a pretty shitty week for me, with a speech to give and an automata test, but i'll be home for easter weekend. i guess that'll be about 7 weeks since i last went home, or saw my parents. so the timing on that is probably about right. it also kicks ass that the NHL playoffs start this week, definitely pumped for that. guess i'll throw out some series predictions, to see if anybody surprises me this year.
west
(1) detroit vs (8) nashville - are you kidding me? detroit in 5, only cuz their goalie problems will screw them for at least 1 game.
(2) san jose vs (7) st louis - sj's just too hot lately. i don't think StL should have gotten into the damn playoffs. SJ in 5.
(3) vancouver vs (6) calgary - i think this is the one with the biggest chance for upset. i don't like vancouver without bertuzzi, and calgary was pretty hot at the end of the year. i say flames in 6.
(4) colorado vs (5) dallas - i'm a little pissed that dallas only finished 5th, despite our early season problems. i wasn't impressed with the avs at all the last part of the season, they've got solid goaltending but their forwards haven't scored nearly as much as they should have, and i don't think they're as good as they were in the last 3-4 seasons. i'm not really sure i can pick against the stars, and i think they had a real strong end of the season, despite turco's suspension. i predict it'll be the best series of the first round in the west, a good battle. i'll pick dallas in 7, cuz i think it's gonna be tight.
east
(1) tampa bay vs (8) ny islanders - i still can't believe the always-pitiful lighting are the #1 goddamn seed in the east, man. i'm glad they're a real contender now, but it's still a bit weird seeing those black & white jerseys as a really good team. islanders owned TB in the regular season, so i'll say tampa bay in 5.
(2) boston vs (7) montreal - boston's got thornton hurting with a wrist injury, but montreal was pitiful at the end of the season. bruins in 5.
(3) philadelphia vs (6) new jersey - should be a solid series. the last few years, philly has tanked in the playoffs, but i'm pulling for them to do better this year, mostly cuz i'm so goddamn sick of hearing about the fucking devils and their trap system and "mar-tan bro-du-eh" every sweet fucking year, and i don't think they're nearly as good as they used to be. flyers in 6.
(4) toronto vs (5) ottawa - canada must be loving this series, man. ottawa's fun to watch in my opinion, but the leafs have a solid team, including former stars niewy and belfour. i gotta root for ottawa here, but i think toronto will move on. another tight series, i say toronto in 6.
we'll see how right or wrong i am in the next couple weeks. hope i see some stars car flags when i'm back in dallas!
think that's enough for now...
--justin
friday
- alayna and i hit up fazoli's with rick G and the weekly top 40
- alayna and i saw eternal sunshine of the spotless mind with jessica
saturday
- alayna made us breakfast
- we tried to get a racquetball court but were unsuccessful due to a handball tourney
- hit up hastings, got pattern recognition (recommended by dustin) and ender's game (recommended by hoang), and rented wonderland and school of rock
- ate at black eyed pea
- watched school of rock
- burned some cd's for alayna
- 100% unexpectedly out of nowhere got completely fucking drunk
sunday
- passed out for about 11-12 hours after vomiting twice
- woke up, made a pizza and watched tivo'd mini golf madness off the travel channel
- put off doing anything academic
- watched wonderland
- continued nothingness...
yeah, it was a pretty standard weekend i guess. it wasn't really good or bad, just average, but that's fine for me. i guess the highs are getting to do shit with friends, alayna being overly sweet, and seeing some movies; the lows would be the interesting sensation of throwing up creme de menthe and talking myself out of doing anything remotely academic.
eternal sunshine was just fuckin good, man. alayna thought it was alright, jessica thought it was pretty good, and i thought it was damn good. it just had the right style i think. the right direction, the right cast, the right length, etc. the ending could have been a bit better, but i still enjoyed it. walking out of the theater i gave it an 8.5, pretty high for me usually, but then got back and saw that IMDb's average for it was 8.5 as well, heh. i just really dig michel gondry's work, and this was the perfect project for his weird visual style. i thought carrey himself did an excellent job in the lead role, and i'm sure as hell glad nic cage didn't get the role as originally planned. kate winslet was good too, but didn't really blow me away or anything. i didn't like the side story with kirsten dunst though. i realized they were an integral part of some elements of the movie, but her character didn't really interest me. if you go see it, see it only partially for a good story but more for some well thought out visual effects. at about an hour and 45 minutes, it wasn't too long, a little slow at parts, but solid nonetheless. i'll prolly grab the dvd when it comes out later this year, i think it was good enough to want to watch again, to try to make more sense of it.
alayna and i both enjoyed school of rock. i wouldn't say it's rare that we both like a flick, but i'd say it definitely happens probably only half the time. i think it helped her that we didn't watch it too late and had a bowl of popcorn to keep us upright. i fall asleep in about 1 in every 100 movies i watch, but she falls asleep at some point in a movie a good 90% of the time, heh. but the movie moved along enough to keep it pretty interesting and there were few real slow parts. honestly, i think jack black is twice as funny when the movie's rated R, but he pulled this part off pretty well. the kids themselves were funny as well, and the songs they played were actually pretty catchy. it came off as more of a feel-good flick than a really funny comedy, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. i did notice a few holes and shite dialog in mike white's script, but they were overlooked for the most part. i do like this writing, but i don't think they guy can really act for shit actually. i'm still convinced being friends with several people in the business is the only way that guy ever gets any screen time. IMDb gives it a 7.5, although i think that's a bit too much JB worship going on there, so i'll give it a 7.0.
i watched wonderland myself today, which was about the wonderland avenue murders that involved the porn king john holmes back in july 1981. IMDb gives it a 6.4 i believe, although i'd put it closer to 7.0 myself. it was entertaining and actually pretty short, so it was easy to get through, but i thought it was lacking for the same reason as everyone else: basically that it didn't tell you who the hell john holmes was. it mentioned that he was a big porn star before the movie even began, but it didn't give you at all an impression of just what a god he was to some people. i think the flick was supposed to leave people more surprised that such a successful guy could get so wrapped up in such a mess, but they didn't adequately explain to us what a fall from grace he had had. there was some good mtv-style edits and cuts, well-directed (in my pro mtv-style [but not mtv-content] opinion), but i didn't understand the casting for shit. val kilmer kicked ass as holmes (he proved he could play a strung-out junkie in the salton sea) and kate bosworth was believable as his girlfriend, but some of the other choices sucked in my opinion. i saw carrie fisher as cast because of her role as a nun in jay & silent bob strike back, and ted levine cast as a detective for his same role in the fast & the furious. it had the mechanic from the italian job as a detective, another weird choice. i have no idea why lisa kudrow was cast as john's wife, as well as janeane garafalo and christina applegate in cameoesque wasted bits.
this movie proved to me that i have a big soft spot for movies with a big emphasis on drugs. i don't really know why that is, but several movies lately have revolved around the LA drug scene of past & present, like the salton sea, boogie nights and blow. for some reason, LA in the late 70's and early 80's is really interesting to me, even bret easton ellis's book "less than zero" was really fascinating to me. i think it's just interesting to see how fucked up people become when their entire lives revolve around drugs and the things they'll do just to get their fix.
this is a pretty shitty week for me, with a speech to give and an automata test, but i'll be home for easter weekend. i guess that'll be about 7 weeks since i last went home, or saw my parents. so the timing on that is probably about right. it also kicks ass that the NHL playoffs start this week, definitely pumped for that. guess i'll throw out some series predictions, to see if anybody surprises me this year.
west
(1) detroit vs (8) nashville - are you kidding me? detroit in 5, only cuz their goalie problems will screw them for at least 1 game.
(2) san jose vs (7) st louis - sj's just too hot lately. i don't think StL should have gotten into the damn playoffs. SJ in 5.
(3) vancouver vs (6) calgary - i think this is the one with the biggest chance for upset. i don't like vancouver without bertuzzi, and calgary was pretty hot at the end of the year. i say flames in 6.
(4) colorado vs (5) dallas - i'm a little pissed that dallas only finished 5th, despite our early season problems. i wasn't impressed with the avs at all the last part of the season, they've got solid goaltending but their forwards haven't scored nearly as much as they should have, and i don't think they're as good as they were in the last 3-4 seasons. i'm not really sure i can pick against the stars, and i think they had a real strong end of the season, despite turco's suspension. i predict it'll be the best series of the first round in the west, a good battle. i'll pick dallas in 7, cuz i think it's gonna be tight.
east
(1) tampa bay vs (8) ny islanders - i still can't believe the always-pitiful lighting are the #1 goddamn seed in the east, man. i'm glad they're a real contender now, but it's still a bit weird seeing those black & white jerseys as a really good team. islanders owned TB in the regular season, so i'll say tampa bay in 5.
(2) boston vs (7) montreal - boston's got thornton hurting with a wrist injury, but montreal was pitiful at the end of the season. bruins in 5.
(3) philadelphia vs (6) new jersey - should be a solid series. the last few years, philly has tanked in the playoffs, but i'm pulling for them to do better this year, mostly cuz i'm so goddamn sick of hearing about the fucking devils and their trap system and "mar-tan bro-du-eh" every sweet fucking year, and i don't think they're nearly as good as they used to be. flyers in 6.
(4) toronto vs (5) ottawa - canada must be loving this series, man. ottawa's fun to watch in my opinion, but the leafs have a solid team, including former stars niewy and belfour. i gotta root for ottawa here, but i think toronto will move on. another tight series, i say toronto in 6.
we'll see how right or wrong i am in the next couple weeks. hope i see some stars car flags when i'm back in dallas!
think that's enough for now...
--justin
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