another week, samo samo.  went on a bit of a credit card binge and ordered up some posters from AllPosters.com, dvd's/games from buy.com, and games from half.com.  the posters are just for more wall-filler for my extra bedroom/study/den/computer room, i should be able to fill post of the space i've got left with the 6 i bought.  i also finally ordered coupling series 3 and the entire series of the office.  due to some pretty good price selection i also ordered tony hawk underground and prince of persia, a couple of games i'd wanted for a while but didn't wanna spring for 'em... but for like $20 each it's too good to pass up.  i also tacked on used copies of sega soccer slam and eternal darkness for decent prices as well.  for those games i was just happy to get them used, i've tried several times to auction on them on ebay but the bidding just starts to go behind what i wanted to pay for used games.
 
haven't even played GC much lately, only some soul calibur by myself recently.  lately i seem to be watching more tv, although i'm watching maybe 5% of it live at this point.  and because of my scenario right now where the tivo's in the bedroom, i'm actually watching more tv from torrents than live or from tivo.  i guess at this point i no longer really care whether i watch something off the tivo or through a torrent, the quality loss with the compressed torrented video rarely bothers me much.  i'm still trying to come up with a more automatic system where tv torrents that i want are automaticaly downloaded to my linux box and fed over the wi-fi to the HTPC at night or while i'm at work.  i'm still researching how to do it tho.
 
lately i've spent my time mostly watching:
 
big brother 5 US -- you saw my rant last time, right?
big brother 4 australia -- i'm about 2 weeks behind, gotta catch up
amazing race 5 -- best show of the week
PTI -- yes, still tivo'd religiously
MTV2 rock -- currently tivo'd daily, about to stop cuz it's starting to just recycle
reno 911! -- just as good as last season, if not better
good girls don't -- uneven, but still worth watching
the 4400 -- a little hokey, but a drama with mild sci-fi mini-series is a good change of pace
the grid -- good series, authentic feel
samurai champloo -- hoang referred me to a new fresh anime, good so far
the assistant -- looks funny, haven't started yet
i love the 90's -- typical vh1 trendytrash, but lauren turned me onto it, oddly addicting
extreme dodgeball -- get it on tivo now and then, dodgeball just rocks
airline -- a little better than last season, decent reality show [no dating :)]
 
so yeah i guess i've pretty much been spending most of my free time tv'ing instead of gc'ing, pc gaming or dvd watching.  i've been meaning to watch shrek 2, but haven't gotten to it yet.  as far as actually getting out and seeing something in the theater, i prolly should have bothered more to check out i, robot, technically it does look like my kind of flick i guess.  i'm interested in the bourne supremacy and the village for the next couple weeks, maybe i can see at least one of those.
 
well this weekend's all about moving alayna into her apartment in plano.  and thus, a new era begins...
 
--justin

oh, 'ello. it's been about 10 days, figured i should post.

same-o, same-o lately, been trying to listen to some newer stuff lately. hoang and i both agree the new prodigy is surprisingly catchy, listened to that a lot lately. also burned franz ferdinand, jet, some other stuff. the secret machines are worth a listen. radio seems to be on a bit of a high lately, so take advantage while you can. also trying to catch up on a bunch of dnb vinyls, so been slowly pullin those in from #dnbmp3 on efnet. i got "samurai champloo" that hoang recommended and it's pretty good, something different. i'm currently torrenting the shrek 2 dvd since i didn't bother to see it in the theaters.

i'm on day 65 now of big brother 4 australia. i gotta say i think that's pretty impressive that i've stuck with a tv show that long that i don't even technically receive here. that's over 60 episodes i've watched of that show, and it's been pretty good, no regrets with getting into it. i'll be happy when it's done with though, just cuz the series starts to drone after a while. i'm usually about 10 days behind the live shit the aussies see over there, but i can't really completely download every single episode up to the second cuz i've gotta burn newsgroup quota just to pull 'em in. unfortunately, as i knew would happen, it's now overlapped with big brother 5 US.

so we've finally reached that 3-month period of the year in which big brother is on, and starting last year for me, amazing race as well. so we're now on the 5th series of the show, and i've actually never missed an episode of any season. i'm not really sure i can pinpoint which season exactly has been the best, but it was certainly one of the first two. in my opinion, generally the 2nd series improved on the 1st, and the 3rd in some ways improved on the 2nd, but the 4th started to go downhill and unfortunately so far i think series 5 has continued that fall.

i'm always a little lukewarm at the beginning of every BB season though, but this time around it's been a little tough keeping interest with it. i understand that CBS wants to do everything they can to keep viewers coming back every season, but it's just gotten ridiculous now. well, i mean it had kinda gotten ridiculous starting last year, but now... man they're just hitting some new lows really. a lot of times i give alayna a hard time about watching those god-awful lovey-dovey reality shows that i absolutely can't stand and now and then with BB i'm starting to feel the same way about it.

i've always been a big fan of the show because it's always been interesting to see the mindgames people play and to see how things pan out and who ultimately wins. sure, there's always been a bit of cheese to wade through, and it's prolly a combination of my tv tastes evolving a bit and the show really piling it on, but now and then i'm embarrassed to be watching.

some of my specific complaints so far:

--"Project DNA"... that is the lamest fucking thing i have ever heard of in my life. it stands for "Do Not Assume" and i'm only *assuming* the crack BB staff took 3 whole minutes coming up with that little gem.

--"the twists"... the DNA comes from the fact that a couple of the houseguests were unknowingly related and several of the houseguests have identical twins. see below:

--"two housemates related"... god, are you serious? this was so goddamn stupid, man. i feel bad for them that they had to find out that way, and it's a stupid idea for a twist, really. i think putting people together on a tv show like that is just starting to fuck with people's lives just for higher ratings, which comes across as utterly lame.

--"the identical twin theme"... either 3 or 4 of the hamsters have identical twins, and according to what CBS has aired so far, at least one set is going in and out of the house without telling the other housemates that they're 2 different people. as goofy as it is i've now known of a whole slew of big brother setups from 3 different countries, and this has to be the most unfair setup i've ever heard of. i dunno where they send the other twin when the other is in the house, but whatever they're doing they shouldn't be allowed to win the fuckin game that way. from what i've read online people are hating this idea a helluva lot more than liking it, that's for sure. zing on another whiff, CBS/endemol.

--"the lamest cast yet"... unless i just haven't warmed up to them or something, this has gotta be the worst damn cast yet selected for the show. they're really getting pretty stereotypical with their selections and it's hurting the entertainment value of the show. my brief opinion of each:

jase -- give me a goddamn break. he's listed as a "volunteer firefighter" which means he doesn't actually have a job, and you can kinda see why when he opens his mouth. i dunno if i can even say he's a good lookin guy or whatever, he's got semi-cool hair but is a complete dick in the house. the guy never puts a fuckin shirt on, and lauren was right on the money when she said his chest was as smooth as her ass. he's completely full of himself and he'll be long gone halfway through the show.

scott -- just as bad as jase really, only that he didn't win the first HoH and thus comes across as less of a dick. then he won PoV though, and he's almost just as bad. he's a little more rational than jase and not quite as surly, but i still hope the asshole's gone in a few weeks. and while i'm on it, soul patches suck. either grow something or don't, you pussy.

michael aka "cowboy" -- overall not really a bad guy but it's so damn hard to take him seriously. like i said i feel bad for him that he learned he had a half-sister in the house like that, but the guy's mostly a joke. why do they always have to have some idiot from oklahoma? i don't really have any friends from OK, and i'm sorry if i offend anybody from there, but why the fuck do you all come across as such goddamn morons? hell i'm from texas, i thought that was supposed to be our job to come across as half-wits. but somehow the accents are twice as thick up there then they are down here. for future reference BB, pick somebody from another state. any other one.

mike -- he'll be evicted the first week, for being "the don." yeah, which is crap. unfortunately he seems like he'd be somewhat entertaining due to his extreme political views and representing the older crowd in the house, but no point in waxing it, he'll be gone tomorrow i'm betting.

jennifer aka "nakomis" -- yeah, you're a fuckin joke. too bad for alayna she's from san antonio, yeesh. it'd be one thing if she had weird tattoos and freaky hair but was kinda cute and quirky, but yeah she's not. she's not interesting at all and i think she was only brought in just cuz of the twist i mentioned above. i'm sorry, but i wouldn't fuckin call her by that indian voodoo name she likes to be called or whatever.

holly -- yeah, one of the worst BB selections i've ever seen. i could justify it more if she had a bit more sex-on-a-stick appeal to her, but she just doesn't. she has an alright body but if they really wanted guys to fawn over her CBS should have covered some huge fake knockers or something to make up for the idiocy that comes from her mouth. i know she's playing up the ditzy blonde thing but for christ's sake, what a waste of a housemate.

drew -- thus far i really have no other options but to root for drew. he's a bit of a prettyboy and all, but he doesn't really do anything all that awful. he's 22 and just graduated so alayna and i relate to him pretty well... if he makes it more than halfway i think we'll root for him.

adria -- you have a cool name, you do not have a cool ass. i can't believe anyone associates you with fitness, cuz you may have muscle but i know for a fact i would have trouble carrying you over any threshold. your accent (alabama) is just awful and the less you are on my screen the more i love you.

diane -- kinda hot i guess, but she doesn't bring much. as far as i know i wouldn't mind her lasting till the later stages, just as long as she doesn't play up the girls vs guys crap too much.

lori -- she's kinda hot and all (she's basically just a lisa [bb3] or erika [bb4] stand-in. i half no idea why she took the $10k bribe but whatever. can't believe she wasn't nominated for that crap.

karen -- another i wouldn't mind going far in the game, i like how she's somewhat subtle and not all up in our faces.

will -- token gay dude, looks like he came straight off of the set of 'queer as folk' with that hairstyle. not an overly bad guy (especially for a tosser, bunky and marcellus were far more limpwristed) but still annoying enough to not really rally behind, mostly due to that god-awful gay fashion he loves.

marvin -- i still think he's kinda creepy. he's funny in a... black way, i guess? is it wrong that i think he might be a registered sex offender somewhere? and what kinda mortician wears a spiked necklace? you're in your mid fuckin 30's man, lose that shit.

--"our fair hostess"... oh, julie, what have you done? alayna calls her the lollipop, which is pretty accurate. i find it difficult to take the woman seriously. i dunno if she picks her own clothes for the show but she has worse style than will does. after watching BB4 australia i realize what a host should be, and she ain't it.

don't get me wrong, if i really think the show is all that awful, i wouldn't watch it, believe me. the biggest part i like about it is that alayna, lauren, my mother and myself all watch it religiously, which makes for something good to talk about for a while. at this point i think it's a complete guilty pleasure... nothing on it is genius, i watch shit like arrested development or the office for that kind of brilliance. we'll get through the season, don't worry. unless everybody else loses interest, that's when i say fuck it and give up on our old summer mainstay.

amazing race is awesome though, i look forward to that more actually. i won't go all into it like BB, but it's really easy to watch. the characters are interesting and aren't on screen long enough to really bug you, and the challenges are clever and well thought-out. tuesday nights this summer rock, yo.

so this is pretty much the downtime before alayna moves to her apartment up here next weekend. we'll prolly end up pretty busy getting her settled and all that, but it's well worth it to get her up here.

work's been a lot more slow than busy lately, which kinda sucks. the days have been going by semi-slow, so i know i'll be happy when the week's over. if things are slow enough in a week or so i'll blow a few days of PTO to help alayna out with her place instead i guess.

we actually made time last weekend to hit up kathryn's surprise birthday party. i can't really tell if she wanted one thrown for her or not, but she's pretty good at not showing that to anybody. thank god she just left for a trip to the bahamas so we don't have to keep hearing about her goddamn birthday, heheh.

guess that sums up enough for now, eh?

till next time,
justin

another 4th done with, this one was as good as most. first time i've ever actually stood between 2 firework shows simultaneously, so that was the cool part. still scratchin the damn mosquito bites, though.

friday night was kathryn's housewarming party, which in some ways was awesome, just that we stayed prolly longer than we should've. she has a ridiculously nice house for an almost-26 year old, and they had plenty of booze to pick from. a single guy certainly would've enjoyed the eye candy there. hell, i guess a single girl would have too. fuckin meat market in there. it was a lot different than we expected though (i took alayna) in that not that many people showed up from work (couldn't have been any more than a dozen) although a good 40+ were invited from work, so i was a little surprised by that. once it got past 11, midnight though things just totally changed, not completely for the worse or anything but it just completely changed into a rowdy college party. hell those are fun too, just that i didn't really see that coming. kat's friends from florida all came in town for it and they get pretty damn rowdy after enough booze, so we got to the point where we just sorta felt like we didn't really fit in anymore (after a while all we really knew was kat). but it was mostly cool, alayna and kat finally met after many failed attempts and luckily they liked each other. the highlight of the night was kat and laynie salsa dancing on the hardwood floor in the kitchen. i'd easily say that was sex-on-a-stick, heh. we'll hafta see if their desire to go salsa dancing sometime actually comes to fruition. it was a well executed party though, good drinks and food and pretty much everybody i talked to threw out good vibes. i'll be surprised if kat remembers most of it though, heh. and props to alayna for throwing back so many jello shots and not being a pussy with the brew.

at least the gamecube's gettin plenty of love lately. a few weekends now lauren, alayna, sometimes zach, and i break out the mario kart shine thief battle mode and consume the obligatory liquor simultaenously. if people weren't driving afterwards you could easily make a drinking game out of that one, heh. due to how long we can play it straight i'd say it wins as far as everybody's favorite party game, at least from my selection. luckily lauren picked it up today for her cube too, which can only encourage yet more 150cc mirror mode racing and shine thief madness. mario golf has proven pretty damn fun by myself, but thus far nobody really all too interested in playing tournaments with me that much, mostly just cuz mario kart is more engaging. alayna and i have played a lot of SSX3 lately, which is just as fun as tricky. it's pretty hard and a little frustrating (at least in my opinion) but pretty fun, and it's always good when she takes some interest in a game. at least for now i'm not really in the market for any more games, i've got enough to keep me busy for now and everybody seems to request cube playin when they're here.

i'm still at a crossroads on my portable music solution really. the Hi-MD units keep getting pushed further and further back, latest i've heard is late july for the top-end portables to street stateside. i'm still in the air on whether i even wanna go that route, i dunno yet. still semi depends on how much car support sony shows for their newest minidisc shit. sony also just announced their NW-HD1 which is a good idea and quite sexy, but executed all wrong. just doesn't have native mp3 support, only plays ATRAC encoded files and that's just wrong man. hell i've grown up on ATRAC with all my MD fetish, but asking someone to convert all their CDs/mp3s to ATRAC to use the unit is ridiculous. it's awesome how small it is for having 20gb, and it's got better battery life than the iPod (which is the biggest thing holding me back from getting one hands-down) but the mp3 incompatibility is insane for a digital music player.

for now me broadcasting my own shoutcast station to listen to at work (alayna does as well) has worked pretty well. it's a 5 minutes pain to queue it up in the mornings, but i'm working on trying to get it somewhat automated or remotely accessible (through the tricky proxies/firewalls at work). i feel like i still need a good portable unit tho, partly for travel and just general use here and there. might still go for the Hi-MD, but i don't know yet.

other than that, business as usual at home. roughly a week behind in big brother 4 australia, but it's still holding my interest pretty well. only problem is i'll prolly fall behind a bit since BB5US is starting tomorrow, along with amazing race 5. i've watched all those good girls don't episodes, which is hot and cold. have one episode left in coupling season 4, watched a few season 3 eps but then tivo'd dumped the rest when they expired and i forgot to keep 'em. so i need to get coupling season 3 and both seasons of the office on dvd soon anyway. just picked up reno 911! season 1 the other day, that was eagerly awaited.

but eh, should be a decent week with only 4 days of work. alayna will actually be back friday (3rd straight weekend, heh... free tickets, goddammit!) and we'll prolly go apartment hunting to see if we end up getting her her own place up here or not. she actually got her internship with richardson just today, so we haven't even fully digested the good news yet.

--the damaja