And finally… I added a script from yaysoft that automatically pings weblogs.com to add me to the recently updated list. Unfortunately for most people, it is done in PHP. Nonetheless, it is cool and every time I blog people will know.

Yes, videogames. I have two points to share.

1. Although some of my friends and neighbors doubted me, the gamecube is indeed selling better than the other consoles. It sold out of its initial batch of 750,000 consoles and beat the Xbox almost 2 to 1.

2. I finished my second article for the Badger Herald and it ran today. You can find it at their website. Look forward to more good shtuff.

College basketball is annoying. I always hate this time of the year because it makes watching the score ticker on ESPN incredibly frustrating. College basketball is in full swing and there are about a million teams playing against each other. This results in the ticker getting held up on the college b-ball scores for about 5 minutes at a time. This is not good when you just want the score of a football game. I think ESPN should break it up into two or three segments on big game nights. Yeah.

Alright, fine. I’ll back off a bit. Yes, I do now remember talking to you about hating to shelve potter books, and your disdain for the series should have been apparent. Nonetheless, you nor your other Madisonian dissentors have seen the movie or read the books. You chose to hate the game before you’ve played it. Well, it’s your loss my friends. The Harry Potter series is amazing and has been great especially for kids but also for adults. Sometimes things are hyped for a reason.

It’s war. I don’t mind penis talk and moustaches are cool both ways, but when you take on Harry Potter, you’re in trouble. Yes Jannelle, my roomie, you cannot get away with dissing harry potter in the digitial form before you diss him to my face. I have mentioned the fine young man many times and you just said “ok.” No no no. Speak up or prepare for a blog war, one that you will sorely regret.

Yeah, I’m back. I tried to post on Sunday but my computer at home and blogger were having a little fight. So, here I am, rocking like a hurrican.

NYC was great. I saw some fam, bought some CDs and went to Ground Zero. I’ll have more stories when I’m not exhausted. Until then, find out how many TV theme songs you know.

I’m off. I’m heading to NYC tomorrow for thanksgiving, so the likelihood of posts is slim. Just thought you should be forewarned.

p.s. I have a new project on the horizon that may be unveiled as early as december 1st. stay tuned.

Oh yeah. I completely forgot to mention to that I went to see Harry Potter this weekend. It was definitely a good time. Here’s a few thoughts I had after walking out of the theatre.

1. Read the book first. One of the great things about the book is JK Rowling’s attention to detail. You are completely immersed in the world of Mr. Potter. The film does not replicate this completely. There are a lot of things that could have been extrapolated in the film, for instance the wand scene. In the book they went through about 100 wands, which could provide for some amusement, while the movie does three and he moves on. The book has depth you can’t replicate on screen. 2. For the amount of money spent on this picture it skimped out on some CGI stuff. The faces were just alright and they cloaked a lot of things they could have cone with CG. Not a big complaint, but worth noting. 3. I thought the acting was awesome. Harry, Ron and Hermione were great and so were all the support characters. I hope they can keep them all and get the movies done before these kids get too old. 4. I will see it again. Once all the hype dies down a bit I’ll be out seeing it again.

So read the books and then go see this movie. You won’t regret it.

Yeah, so sue me. It’s been one of those weeks for me. One where my head is not screwed on right and I can’t seem to understand the purpose behind responsibility. These weeks are always bad. Fortunately, this one is just about over. After tomorrow morning I will be on my way home, which will eventually lead me to NYC. It’s time to visit the fam for turkey day. Honestly, I can’t wait. I’ll bring my Gameboy Advance on the plane and just sit and veg out. Hopefully I’ll work out some of the kinks in my highly flawed responsibility mechanism.

On another note, I had a very nerdy weekend. On Friday I was able to score a Nintendo Gamecube, which was two days before it was scheduled to come out. It provided another wonderful, incredibly fun way to be useless. I love videogames folks, it’s a fact. That reminds me, I started writing a weekly videogame article for the Badger Herald that starts today. I’d link you directly to my first story but it hasn’t been posted yet. So find one on campus or check back online later today. It’s in ArtsEtc.

And now I have to finish reading/writing all the stuff that was/is due. It is depressing.

Updates in the morning. Honest.

Some interesting consipracy theory relevant to the recent plane crash in NYC.

Oh man. A plane crashes in NYC. They don’t know if it was a terrorist act but 12 buildings were affected and 255 people were on the plane. I really hope this was just an accident.

The last binary day until 2011. All hail 111101.

A look at the recent terrorist bill. I’m assuming you all know that the U.S. Congress just passed a bill to protect the rights of Americans and fight Terrorism, also known as the Homeland Security Act. Well, it passed in the Senate 98-1, with the sole dissentor being Russ Feingold, Wisonsin’s wonderful senator. A lot of the sections in the bill significantly affect our liberties and the government’s right to impinge upon them. Below are some excerpts from the Bill Summary that are…interesting.

(Sec. 106) Modifies provisions relating to presidential authority under the International Emergency Powers Act to: (1) authorize the President, when the United States is engaged in armed hostilities or has been attacked by a foreign country or foreign nationals, to confiscate any property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of a foreign person, organization, or country that he determines has planned, authorized, aided, or engaged in such hostilities or attacks(the rights to which shall vest in such agency or person as the President may designate); and (2) provide that, in any judicial review of a determination made under such provisions, if the determination was based on classified information such information may be submitted to the reviewing court ex parte and in camera.

So if the president thinks an imigrant looks funny, or if hesneezed and it sounded like “anthrax,” then he can have his life taken from him. Awesome.

(Sec. 210) Expands the scope of subpoenas for records of electronic communications to include the length and types of service utilized, temporarily assigned network addresses, and the means and source of payment (including any credit card or bank account number).

And now they have our credit card numbers. “Why does my bill show me buying 3,000 gross of cipro?”

(Sec. 217) Makes it lawful to intercept the wire or electronic communication of a computer trespasser in certain circumstances.

Hacking is illegal, unless we say it’s ok.

(Sec. 219) Amends rule 41 of the FRCrP to permit Federal magistrate judges in any district in which terrorism-related activities may have occurred to issue search warrants for searches within or outside the district.

Oh, that one’s great. I don’t know who did it so I’ll just search everyone in a 5 block radius until we get this figured out. Hey! That guy’s skin is brown! Get him!

(Sec. 412) Provides for mandatory detention until removal from the United States (regardless of any relief from removal) of an alien certified by the Attorney General as a suspected terrorist or threat to national security. Requires release of such alien after seven days if removal proceedings have not commenced, or the alien has not been charged with a criminal offense. Authorizes detention for additional periods of up to six months of an alien not likely to be deported in the reasonably foreseeable future only if release will threaten U.S. national security or the safety of the community or any person. Limits judicial review to habeas corpus proceedings in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, or any district court with jurisdiction to entertain a habeas corpus petition. Restricts to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia the right of appeal of any final order by a circuit or district judge.

Now the gov’t can keep people with or without a valid visa for at least 7 days without any reason and up to six months if the person isn’t going to be deported. Yes, the courts can repeal, but do you think they will? Honestly? And how long will that take?

(Sec. 1002) Expresses the sense of Congress condemning acts of violence or discrimination against any American, including Sikh-Americans. Calls upon local and Federal law enforcement authorities to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law all those who commit crimes.

Okay, we will even condemn any discrimination against Afghans in the US. But keep in mind, they are an afterthought.

Those are just the highlights. I suggest you read the whole thing for yourself. It is good to know the kind of liberties we are taking away in order to protect the ones we have.

The Law & Ordies. Late last night I was watching Conan and he had one of the funniest bits I've seen in a while. He had an awards show called the Law & Ordies where the only nominees were the three L&O shows. Some of the categories were "Best time, date, place screen," "Best sarcastic comment by a Cop," and "Best opening shot of cast." They topped it all off with a montage of Cops drinking coffee. It was brilliant and I am just waiting for the day until that awards show actually takes place.

And here is what's being known as...the Friday Five [Thanks Jejune.]

1. What toothpaste do you use? Mentadent Crystal...I'm not even sure. It's Mentadent though. Obviously I don't pay attention to these things.

2. What color/brand is your toothbrush? I use a Crest toothbrush, the kind with the colored grip on it, and it is white with purple trim.

3. Do you use mouthwash? Rarely. I own it and I have no real rhyme or reason as to when I use it. Sometimes I'll see it and it just feels right. Most of the time it sits under my sink.

4. What gum/breath mints/breath spray do you use? Do people still use breath spray? That seems so junior high to me. And back then it was more of a joke than anything else. Binaca. Ha ha. I don't use either of these, but I love starlight mints (both the band and the candy). So tasty.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend? The same as usual. Saying I really have to study and then doing nothing until monday. Ah, apathy.

I’m sitting around. If you are too, then let’s chat. I’m bored.

I am a teacher right now. I’m sitting in my teacher’s office planning to do interviews with people for a research project. The thing is, I am the only one here so people come and ask questions and I can’t help but wonder if they think I’m a prof, or at least important. When I think about it though, I know I wouldn’t think I was a prof.

More photoshop tennis.

I think it’s funny that guys like this just sit around blogging all day. It is essentially their job. Luckily they all provide really interesting material and aren’t shmucks because they would be sitting in front of the computer anyway.

Lots of posting to do. Here goes.

1. On Tuesday I went to see James Sturm speak at the University Book Store. For those of you that don’t know, he wrote a graphic novel (long form comic) called The Golem’s Mighty Swing. It’s historical fiction and is an awesome story. Anyway, the first part of the talk was just him doing the usual thing: answering questions, explaining a little bit about the book and “reading” from the book. What made this event stand out was part two; he presented a slide show of a lot of his old work as well as some of the comics that had inspired him. It really gave a glimpse into how he works. I think everyone should have slide shows. So, if you have 12 bucks then you should go buy the Golem’s Mighty Swing.

2. I continue to experience extreme apathy. I’ve been doing nothing all the time. This is not good as I have a lot of things to get done. So if you have any ideas about how to rid myself of my uselessness then I would love to hear them.

3. I hope you’ve all been following along with the Microsoft/DoJ settlement. It has been a rollercoaster ride. Brief Summary: DoJ does not break up Microsoft but instead just places a bunch restrictions on them. I think this is bulldang. The other option would have been to seperate the browser (some said seperate Windows) from Microsoft. I would have agreed with this decision. Right now Internet Explorer has a ridiculous command in the browser market and its being facilitated by its integration into Windows. If they are split up it will create some true competition. Thankfully a number of tech-heavy states (NY, Cali, etc.) have said they will reject the settlement, which I hope will send them back to the drawing board.

4. This Gamecube v. Xbox thing is heating up. Everyone is debating which will do better when everything shakes out. You can debate about software lineups and hardware specs, but the real measure is the eBay factor. Which ever systems goes for more is the clear winner. Right now the Xbox is losing out to the Gamecube. At first it may seem Xbox is up but that’s only because it costs $100 more to start. So my prediction in the console war: Gamecube by a nose.

5. Today one of the higher-ups at Pixar came to speak on campus. He was brought through the Computer Science department, which meant he was talking about the technical stuff more than the “fun” stuff. Nonetheless, it was really interesting. He went through the process they use to make the films and showed a bunch of shorts as well as an example of the different stages of development. Here are some interesting facts he mentioned:

   a. They use 3500 computers in their “Renderfarm,” which turns all of the computer data into actually video. b. It takes 10 minutes to render every second. c. Each frame is half a gigabyte. d. The blue monster from Monsters Inc. has 3 million hairs on him. e. It takes at least three years to complete each feature length film. f. Everyone there was incredibly nerdy and it ruled.

   That’s all I got for you folks. Bye.

Has it really been that long? So it has now been over two years since I began keeping an online journal. My first entry ever was on September 30th, 1999. That is a long time ago. This was before I realized there was a whole world of blogging out there. In fact, my one year anniversary with blogger will be coming up in less than a month. This page never caught on big and I am kind of happy about that. I want people to read my page but I feel like you have continuously offer up like-minded comments in order to get a consistent reader base. Either that or be exceptionally cool. Anyway, I don’t want to be limited by one subject. So, those who do read this page, I will continue to write for me, unless money is involved.

Sorry dudes. Yeah, I know I have been a little slow on the posting but that is usually because I am livin’ life. In this case that is half true. This weekend I lived life and went to my uncle’s wedding, which was really nice. My cousins “really like me” and are going to fix me up. Great. No, not really. I don’t know how much I trust getting “fixed up,” but that’s another story for another day. I also got to go to the Bears game, which was provided another wonderful outcome. It was awesome except for the fact that I left before the hail mary. They won though, so I am happy.

Today I didn’t post because I was busy doing nothing. I did zero, ziltch, nada. I had no motivation and I sat and watched Indiana Jones, Monday Night Football and Naked States. I have a ton of crap to do too.

Now I will offer up some ways for me to spend my summer and I invite you to post your thoughts on what sounds the best.

1. Stay in Madison, get a crappy job and relax. Just enjoy my last 3 months of freedom while I look for a “real” job.
2. Look for an internship that might be relevant to my future in a convenient location (i.e. somewhere that i could live for free or where i already have a lease).
3. Go on a long-ass roadtrip with no plans and anyone who feels like coming.
4. Go back to Chicago and look for a real life immediately.

Now the third option would be where my heart is, but there are other factors at work. How am I going to pay for this? What about my apartment in Madison? I would kind of be screwing over my roomie. Shouldn’t I start looking for jobs/grad school? Let me know what you think, even though I have a few months to think this one through.

Some quick notes, ‘cuz I’m in a hurry.

1. I got a winter jacket and it is hot and on fire.
2. I got a new cell phone b/c it was cheaper than getting a new battery. $35.
3. I am going to the Bears game tomorrow and I am freakin’ pumped.
4. I need to get in the shower. I’m leaving in 35 minutes.
5. Things are good.

Time for a change. I’m going to be redesigning this site for the new year. I figure if I give myself two months to accomplish this goal then there is a pretty good chance of it happening. I’m also going to look into using Movable Type instead of blogger. It runs completely on your own server and gives you a lot more freedom than Blogger. I love the Big B, but it’s always nice to try out some new technology. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m home. Uncle Stan is getting married on Saturday. Tomorrow I will get my hair cut, look for a winter jacket/clothes and see Monster’s Inc. Following this, I will spend time with Papa Judge. Home is nice.