even though it’s monday i’m feeling pretty good. it seems like the kind of busy day where i feel charged up by it instead of dragged down. besides, there’s a lot i’m excited about today all up and down the board. not least of all that USC finished a perfect season and beat our rivals for the seventh straight year. they get to go to the rose bowl, we got to gather in my crowded apartment and eat nachos. a victory all around.

the same night, and still riding the afternoon beer buzz, we ventured out to bootie LA for shaun’s birthday. it was my first time to the now-monthly night, and i’m totally sold on it. i had a blast and the music was consistently great. say what you will about mashup music, but that was a hell of a dance party, and isn’t that what counts? like some of my friends are fond of saying, maybe it’s better to listen to the original songs instead of two classics (sometimes more or less skillfully) layered on top of eachother, but in the club the mixes were tons of fun. i especially loved the a white stripes ‘doorbell’ vs. jay-z ‘encore’ bit they pulled fairly early on. also really digging this breeders vs. kelly clarkson mix which was on the free cd they handed out at the door, done by one of the night’s hosts. i think somewhere in my deep subconscious there is a kelly fan trying to get out because i’ve always really liked that ‘since u been gone’ song too, covered by ted leo or otherwise…

elsewhere musically, i just found out about pandora today, or rather actually went there and played with it, and it’s brilliant. probably the whole world has already blogged this and i just don’t know that because i haven’t had time for writing or reading the web lately and when stumbling upon some minutes today i chose the former. but how can you not love a web-bot that picks out music you’ll like based on broken down analysis of your favorite bands’ musical qualities? i’ve only used it a little so maybe it takes the spontaneity out of loving a random band, but it sure seems smart.

and so does this movie brick. i heard great things back around sundance time and i guess it got picked up by focus and now they have a trailer finally. check it out — how can a high school noir film not be at least worth checking out just to see if they can pull it off or not?

[oh yeah, last edit to this post: this video of some kids performing super mario themes makes me very happy. i want to play the marimba too now.]