finished beowulf last night, finally catching up one more step with hundreds of thousands of high school students past and present in reading great works of classic literature. my favorite part was when beowulf hung the dismembered arm of grendel from the rafters of the mead hall. now THAT’S a fucking trophy.

i realize i used to be understated about my video game playing on here, and have recently shed those inhibitions entirely. i think because i’ve picked up two new consoles in the last 4 months so my enthusiasm for games has come back with a vengeance, as it has resurged with past new generations of machines. anyway, my second text-based adventure on the new DS is going great, and i’ve been playing lots of phoenix wright this week and loving it. it’s making me realize that the only games i really care to play any more are ones with a decent story pushing me to finish all the way to the end, even if it’s a cheesy hollywood action story. this one’s actually a really good young lawyer story, though. very funny and well-plotted. highly recommended.

i also bought my first full album on itunes this week because i don’t like the idea of importing albums i probably won’t be able to find at amoeba and paying double for shipping from the UK. so i’ve been playing the debut album from a cool band called windmill a lot this week. kind of a mercury rev/flaming lips-sounding solo guy with lots of piano and touches of big percussion and sweeping strings that result in some very the soft bulletin-esque moments. check out the pay day song, fluorescent lights for a fun sample. maybe if you’re real nice i’ll share the whole album with you.