things that need to be over as quickly as possible:

–the writers’ strike, because the daily show is much better with a team of talented people than just one poor guy trying to wing it. seriously, would it be that terrible to pay some people part of the profits from their work?

–as a corollary to that, the networks’ belief that they can bandage the wound with more scraping the bottom of the barrel of reality tv ideas. plus, even those people need some goddamn writers; have you heard hulk hogan on american gladiators? it’s embarrassing.

–the primary season, because they need to get over the stupid infighting when they should be focusing on who is going to do a better job at fixing america’s real problems.

–as a corollary to that, the bush presidency. with voter turnout breaking records left and right in the primaries, can we just call it now and save ourselves the final painful year of him trying to save the world for jesus, or whatever he thinks he’s doing?

oh, and also, my stupid cold. i’m tired of coughing up goop, it’s gross.

and lest i forget to remind anyone who cares enough to visit here, there happens to be a certain someone’s birthday coming up. i’m not saying you HAVE to come to the party — although you really should. or even get me a gift — although i won’t stop you. i’m just saying there are good times ahead and another thing that needs to just end already is this week, so it can be next friday sooner.

okay, so in the interest of getting my too-long, not-interesting-to-others post about new years resolution as far down the page as quickly as i can, let’s talk about music real quick.

my 2007 best of lists will be coming soon, but don’t expect much. i have to say, in all three categories i usually post about, 2007 was pretty lackluster. but i will make one 2008 prediction right now, and that is that two of the best albums of 2008 will be out in the first quarter this year. one is the new hot chip album due out in february.

the other is the new mountain goats album, also due in february, and from which the first track has been let out in the wild via their site. yeah, i know, i always boost them pretty much on faith more than evidence. but i posted the track here as the pay day song because i like what it should mean for the rest of the album. after get lonely, a good if very solemn record, this track is showing a little more fire and passion. and if past records are any indication, this being track one means there’ll be even more yelling and drama further in to the album. i am excited for this one. especially since it’s called heretic pride, a topic near to my heart. anyway, check out sax rohmer #1 if you’re interested and wait with me the next six weeks until there’s something to get really excited about again.

[oh and side note: i picked up the full muscles album from amoeba this weekend, and although it won’t blow your mind or get any best-of recognition, it is surprisingly fun and enjoyable end to end, not just pure novelty. although i’ll admit part of me sees a close kinship between these songs and the cheesy fluff tracks on the old reggie and the full effect albums by his euro-pop alter ego ‘fluxuation’ — oddly some of the best tracks to come out of that project.]

normally rattled off in the first week of the year, i decided none of my new years resolutions should be expected to take effect until the week that included the big new years party/rose bowl celebration type business was fully behind me.

so, in the first FULL week of 2008, time to look at last year’s resolutions and update them for the new one. i really like my — what are they, 9 categories? yes. so i’m keeping them all. but i think this year i need to be a bit more specific within each one so i can really say to myself, ‘yes, i am doing this,’ or ‘come on brian, you said you would do this and you totally did not.’

anyway, the list:

–be smart
last year: fell slightly short on my 1.5 book/month (18) goal again this year. i was close. we tried to start a small reading club discussion, but that fell apart after one book. i think my crossword habit even fell away. shame on you brian! i read almost all day every day at work though, and i do get a sense of increasing general wisdom somehow, so it can’t be all bad.

this year: hit that book goal for the first time in several years (that means if three weeks go by, better finish that damn book already). get back on the crosswords. talk about the books and films i see more often. easy.

–be social
last year: i declared, probably for the first time on paper, i really no longer felt the need to go out of my way to make new friends. i did want to make sure i didn’t get too settled down though just because i had a steady girlfriend and lots of buddies. for the most part i think it worked, i still had a lot of fun times. sure, moving in with her meant more nights at home, but they were really good nights so it’s okay. and i did make some new friends anyway, so check me out, it works better when i don’t try to hard.

this year: tough one. i’m so pleased with the circles i’m in, i don’t really need to work at this. i guess the one thing would be to stay in better touch with the friends that aren’t as close by.

–be active
last year: played very little volleyball last summer, my bike got stolen, but i did have a short spurt of tennis enthusiasm. perhaps i’ve gained a few pounds — my profile is slightly softer than it was, i’ll admit — but it’s not too late to escape pudgy status if i act now!

this year: act. NOW! i don’t have a scale so i can’t make a weight-loss goal (get a scale, you say? fah!), but i can commit to a goal of thrice-weekly activity of some kind, and accept the requisite guilt when i succumb to laziness. should get back into tennis too, that was fun.

–be adventurous
last year: wanted to go on a cool trip, and went to tokyo with jessica. did go to several new restaurants and other LA things. did not go on any exciting road trips. i did make the big jump of moving though, a year after i thought it would be a good idea, on the fluke of jessica needing to vacate her condo-converting apartment building. and it worked out great! that is one adventure i couldn’t be happier with.

this year: need to go snowboarding once. need to go on an overdue road trip (possibly in an RV to austin city limits or SXSW?). need to finally make my first trip to new york city. and otherwise keep hitting up yelp for new local adventures, but that’s basically a given.

–be better
last year: wanted to do well at work and i did. a promotion and a raise, at two separate points in the year. that’ll be hard to top no matter what i do. i think i’ve written more on the blog this year too, at least in spurts. and i’m getting more on top of my finances, so overall i think i’m proving fairly responsible and capable. go me.

this year: do a kickass job in my new role at work, shoot for another promotion, and put a big fat dent in my debt. not that lofty, but totally doable.

–be romantic:
last year: this will sound sickening, but every day since we’ve moved in together has been really sweet and effortlessly great.

this year: with things going so well, my main priority is to keep them going as well or better if that’s even possible. and i guess not get too into a routine where we aren’t excited about how lucky we are. (okay i’m going to stop sounding so lame now).

–be creative
last year: i wanted to try to do something outside of work in some sort of entrepreneurial endeavor just as an experiment, or try to create something original. umm, i didn’t really, despite having a few decent ideas that just never got started.

this year: honestly, something new, even if it’s small and hobbyish. i need to put one new thing out into the world this year. that’s my goal. perhaps easier said than done.

–be conscientious
last year: i wanted to smoke less, eat better, give more… well, i probably should have realized that everyone does and been a little more realistic.

this year: i promised to be done being a regular smoker this year, so, well, i’ll be working on that (if somewhat gradually), mostly because i don’t like that other people don’t like it. i would also like to be more generous and supportive of my friends and family. i’d say i should volunteer but i’m going to be honest with myself and say i’m just not at a volunteering point in my life. sorry orphans!

–TOP PRIORITY: DON’T SLOW DOWN.
last year: well, i definitely went to tons of parties and hosted my share of them as well. maybe i don’t stay up as late, but i do pack it in when i can. i’d say this is going well and i don’t forsee a drastic stall in my social calendar any time soon, so as far as fun goes, i’m all set.

this year: umm, keep up the good work?

alright, and it begins well. i’m blogging, i exercised, i was proactive about things at work today, and i’m making my girlfriend dinner. 2008 is going to be fucking excellent.

some good writing i’ve come across lately…

i’m not quite halfway through jonathan lethem’s fortress of solitude, which is a good story made spectacular by the occasional sentence that’s pure brilliance in its simplicity and/or humor. two examples i can’t help but record here in the simple hope of better remembering them:

fathers, fathers, why so grim? today you emerged from your houses, your hiding, and were warmly welcomed. smile, fathers. relax. today this world wants you in it.

i mean, that last sentence — only seven words — just nailed me. pure poetry. and then, of course, there’s this:

the [disco] enforcers go first. they’re an all-black crew, ‘enforcers’ compensating easily for any faggy associations in the first part of their name. similarly, all their partisans dance on roller skates – ‘uprocking’, that’s what they call it – and nobody’s laughing. they balance knee-bends and one-heel spins against a series of crotch-grabbing and fist-clenched poses, an in-your-face aspect. one mimes feeding you an endless firehose of dick.

oh MAN did he get me with that one. this time nine words, but with enough punch to be worth its weight in laughter. precious golden laughter.

in other places, an article spencer sent me a link to about the wire creator david simon, which is both about how incredible the show is while revealing how dark the man behind it is in one fascinating essay.

the angriest man in television

and this is a bit old, but they mentioned it in the rose bowl broadcast on new years and it reminded me that more people should have read it — basically it’s a lengthy profile of pete carroll and why he’s probably the most amazing football coach ever.

23 reasons why a profile of pete carroll does not appear in this space.

please, do enjoy.

first day back to work after… wait for it… 14 straight days off. two full holiday fun-packed weeks! oh dear, it’s making you jealous already, i can tell.

but what did i do in those two weeks? well let’s see. i flew to illinois without incident and was welcomed with cold. i had my first opportunity to throw a snowball at my girlfriend. i had white castle twice, pizza twice (deep dish and thin crispy), italian beef once, and more holiday appetizers at more parties than my waistline would care to admit. i’m fairly sure i had a beer 12 out of 14 of those days, often many many more than one. i did NOT puke this year. i lost games of poker, ‘catch phrase’, simpsons’ pictionary, and bowling (on two different nights), but won games of pool and darts and wii tennis and beer pong — although i lost a couple of those as well — and had a ton of fun regardless. i saw high school friends, college friends (one who counts as both!), cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and the movie walk hard, which wasn’t very good. i introduced jessica to the glories of the godfather, and my sister to the joy of getting ‘drunker than i’ve ever been!’ — her words. i got lots of presents and hugs and eventually came home.

once back, we were greeted with warm weather but not our luggage, a long shuttle ride home, and our couch while the luggage got to travel an extra day. we went to a party (in the hills), bought a new computer (at the apple store), fired pistols, rifles and a shotgun (at a gun range), threw a great new year’s party (at our place), made breakfast and cleaned up a big mess (also at our place), then watched the trojans destroy in the rose bowl (still at our place; we were spent).

overall, i could hardly have asked for a better break. it felt so long, i almost didn’t mind going in to work today — i was starting to feel guilty having so much fun.

now that i’m back at a desk during the day and eager to use the shiny new imac at night, all that new years/end of year list/party and trip photo stuff to come in due time. happy new year internet.

As you can see, we've had a very relaxing holiday in illinois. Time to head home tomorrow and get ready for a great new year.

well, it’s about that time. finishing up the last few little tasks at work this week so i can hop on a plane tomorrow morning for a nice long relaxing visit to the homeland. really looking forward to seeing all the friends and family i only get to see a couple times a year, and giving and receiving some sweet presents. oh, and lots of beer drinking. and homemade cookies. and and and… yeah, it’s just gonna be great.

meanwhile i’m liking the rush of holiday covers that always pops up around this time of year. as someone who graciously suffers through ‘a very country christmas’ and other such fare around the holidays, i brighten up whenever i hear jimmy eat world or rilo kiley or whoever doing their much more hipster-friendly versions of holiday tunes. i even, i’ll admit it, enjoyed hearing this dusty old blink 182 track on kroq the other day. i almost fear to go on record as saying this, but as a person who went through high school right during their heyday, a lot of their tracks have aged pretty well. i mean, this one’s cheesy and juvenile, but hey, so is christmas, and i love that too.

anyway, thought it would make a fun pay day song since i couldn’t find it anywhere else on the net and had to pull out an old, old mix cd just to hear it. enjoy and happy holidays if i don’t make it back to a computer through my sugar-and-alcohol-fueled haze before the big day.

if you’re bored — as i sometimes get, despite how cool and constantly fun-filled my life must seem if you read this regularly — you should take some time to check out this this funny column written by a friend of ours. no, you know what, even if you are never bored, you should make time to check it out. i know it’s on suicide girls, so some of you with more big-brother-ish site blockage at work may not be able to, but rest assured that if you do, there’s nothing naughty to get you in trouble on his page. well worth it.

oh, and also we did a rare thing and went out to a weeknight movie this week…

juno – 4 stars

this is one of those movies that looks so cool — not necessarily great or profound, just really cool — you want it to be pure goodness. sadly, it’s not quite that, but at the end of the day, it’s fully worth seeing. if you were interested in seeing, you definitely should, even if most of what follows is a litany of things that could have been slightly better and pushed it from really good to really great.

the good parts are that it’s clever, the main character is adorable and funny, all the supporting characters are really good, and you want everything to work out for everyone in the movie.

the major flaw, i thought, was the choice of focus. maybe it’s just me, but when you have michael cera in a movie, you damn well better use him. he’s too good to be wasted. but instead of giving a fair share of screen time to his relationship with juno, as the source of the pregnancy and her maybe/sorta boyfriend, i think they made a mis-step by instead putting so much focus on the adoptive father played by jason bateman. not that he’s any slouch either, and i did like that dynamic, but it seemed almost like the movie got distracted from itself by leaving the teen romance card mostly off the table. heck, you could just extend the movie, which wasn’t that long, by 15 minutes and build up that relationship a little more without losing any of the existing scenes. you’d get a much stronger, fuller story.

and of course, i’m nitpicking now, but the same goes for the father, played by the guy who fucking ruled as both j jonah jameson in spider man and the tobacco executive in thank you for smoking. he’s a scene-stealer, a home run hitter, why not put him in the game more?

and i agree with the LA times review i read as well, that occasionally the writing is just so whip-smart, it almost sounds like the actors are having a hard time spitting it out. no human can be that pithy that often, you know? normally i’m a sucker for that kind of super-humanly clever dialogue (i really like kevin smith movies AND watched studio 60 through to the finish), but there were a few times it felt awkward instead of witty.

in the end though, i really did enjoy it. ellen page will be one to watch. not a single person in the movie did a bad job. and even through the obvious flaws, it was still a success. jason reitman’s looking like a director to keep an eye on, and i certainly plan to.

so, after getting together with gino and brendan friday night to try out that rock band game all the kids are talking about, i realized that guitar hero was but the tasty morsel of an appetizer to the grand multi-course feast of possibility. we played for several hours, rotating instruments and generally kicking ass.

the weak-willed person that i am, the next morning’s christmas shopping excursion to best buy rapidly became an excuse to indulge my desire to have this marvel for myself, and bring its sweet joys into my own home. many hours were lost over the course of the next few days to its pleasures.

the funniest part was when stacy dropped by to play and we decided to tackle the ‘tour mode’, where you start a band and play various venues and cities to gain more and more fans. her suggestion of ‘no douchebags allowed’ as a band name (shortened to the first two words for brevity’s sake), was met with this hilarious message:

and so the world will never know the antics of the rock superpower that is no douchebags. alas.

oh, and we also went to one of the best parties of the year at amanda’s on saturday night: the kind where everyone brings a bottle of wine apiece, we gorge ourselves on her decadent cheese plates, and i wake up feeling, as i told jessica, ‘like my brain is full of pudding’.

overall, a lovely weekend.

i found this fun blog about being allergic to cats. man, i hate cats. i can totally relate to this.

i also found this fun video for the new hot chip single, which gets me really excited on several levels. one, i like the song (even though it rocked more live). two, that means the album is on its way soon. and three, he’s dressed as the joker which is hilarious when combined with the line ‘you’re my number one guy’, which you may or may not recognize as related.