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