I Suppose It's Obligatory To Post.........

So, a few months ago I was expecting there to be nothing at all to this Christmas.
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My dad and brother were away in Iraq and were not going to be home until January. This meant that I would be doing nothing, there would be no real family stuff, and it would be cool b/c I knew that all I would be getting would be a new Carhartt hoodie and some sleep pants, so no need to do anything anyway.

Well, my dad and brother got home last week. So at one point there was to be a bit more hoopla (such as an extra helping of chicken & dressing). But then my grandmother got really worse and my grandad wasn't up to snuff either. And, my dad's family stuff got pushed to New Year's Eve. So, Christmas was probably just going to be a couple of days at home....now watching DVDs (b/c I kinda helped my mom pick out DVDs for my brother and she got me some too).

Well, Saturday (Christmas Eve) my grandmother died. She was in bad shape and it was going to happen at any time. So, now my mom and dad were in and out Saturday night trying to arrange things and just do stuff in between the constant barrage of people bringing food and wanting to visit for a few minutes.

(Oh, and don't comment with an 'I'm sorry' post, b/c everything's cool. Really....she's better off, we're all fine with it, nothing's dramatic and out of place here. I will say that I saw her Friday afternoon for the last time. That was kind of freaky b/c she couldn't talk and didn't really respond. And, I felt kind of bad b/c I sorta wanted to hit on the Hospice Nurse.)

So Sunday my brother felt compelled to wake me up at freaking 7:30am to open our presents. Mind you.....I wasn't going to say a damn word about presents and sleep in b/c I didn't think it was appropriate. But nooooo.....he's got to open them. And, btw......he did NOT give me that Lyra.

But he DID, however, announce that he is getting married. He gave her the ring Friday. .........Wonderful. Now, for the next 40 years I get to hear the good old adage "So, when are YOU getting married?"

So I'm not looking for sympathy here, but it's the oddest thing: My Christmas (though I'm alone and self-loathing anyway) has been spent almost in solitude, yet with people constantfuckingly stopping by and calling on the phone; And chaotic with all of my mom doing the funeral planning......yet boring as heck.

Now, normally I would have called one of you to go do something.....but it's freaking Christmas. I know, that at least 3 of you are going to say "You should have called me," but NO, you don't mean that.......at least not on Christmas.

You were too busy watching 'LOST' or reading your 'College Sports Encyclopedia' or.....or........OK, maybe there's only 2 of you.....but you know who you are (and you have the same names.......weird).

I wanted a cold beer and a pack of cigarettes.

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So that's my story. I love Jesus, he's my Lord and Saviour and this is his birthday. But if things keep up like this..........

I fucking hate Christmas.

Giving & Receiving...

Yeah, I think this year, all of my gifts have been something that I will get/use in return. Not really in a re-gifting sort of way.........more like a 'watch a DVD more than the person who got it' or 'just borrow and make a copy of CDs' that I gave someone.

Oh and yeah, there's probably also a 'I'll watch your new TV while I make a sandwich' gift in there too.

There's definitely a 'hey, remember we used to watch this Canadian show together on CBS when I was still in school and now it's on DVD?....even though I'll have to give you a DVD player so you can watch it' gift as well.

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That's all for now, I got distracted on MySpace and now I have to do some actual work. Peace out, I'll finish my thoughts later.

Inspector Cluseau Mode....

Dude, tonight when I got home I found a box brought by FedEx.

My first thought was "What tha $&*# have I ordered?"

I opened it and to my surprise it was an RCA Lyra.....a portable MP3 player.....a 20GB portable player at that!!!

So, there was NO shipment invoice.....NOTHING to show where this came from. All I know is it came from 'Topstar Exports' in Los Angeles. It is a refurbished unit, so it seems like it came from eBay.

But the major question is: "Where tha fuck did this come from???!!"

There are several theories: One is that some credit card company sent it to me.....in an effort that I'll open it and become obligated to sign up for something. The second is that someone stupid hacked into my eBay account....bought it.....but sent it to ME instead of to THEM.

The third is that someone is really really thoughtful and sent it to me as an incredibly expensive and over elaborate Christmas gift, to which I am extemely grateful and undeserving. If this is the case: whoever you are please identify yourself b/c you must have owed me a TON of money, or you are a really cool person.

(oh, and no one own up to it just so you don't have to buy me a present....I want to see a receipt!)


Otherwise.....just wanted to share that bit or info....b/c I'm kind of freaked out about it right now.

Ok Ok......first things first:

Wright And Pegg will be at it again! (Click the link!!!)

Secondly.......

In case you dind't bother to click on the link, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have the 'greenlight' to make "Hot Fuzz," their 2nd film--and a follow up to "Shaun Of The Dead."

Thirdly.......

In case you don't know who Wright/Pegg are........you can go away and never ever talk to me again.

The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

First of all.....yeah, "Sweeney Todd" is an f'ed up musical.

Which, I forgot to mention.....I saw "Rent" last week. It was good, and as joked about in 'Team America'......everyone did in fact have AIDS. Well, except for the one Jewish guy. Oh, and I guess the lesbians were fine too. But other than that, yeah, AIDS all around. AIDS and smack.

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On that note, I'll say this: My mom is down in Hattiesburg b/c my dad just got there, and she's waiting till Thursday to see if my brother comes in then or not. So.......I've got the house to myself till then. I'm thinking of making a stop somewhere Tuesday night for some provisions. If anyone is interested in staying over Tuesday night.....come on over.

I shouldn't be alone......watching musicals.....without any alcohol.

But at least I'm watching "Into The Woods", so it's not like it's a lame musical.

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I hope most of you got the email I sent out with David Cross' open letter to Larry The Cable Guy. Incredibly funny. If not.........go HERE and read it!!!!

VERY FUNNY!!!!!

Yeah, I Listen To Moby.........So What?

It's official......Hollywood has gone the way of the leftist liberals. In an attempt to be more politically correct, the name of the third X-Men movie has been released:

"X3: We're X-Persons, Thank You Very Much"

When asked to comment, X-Person Jean Grey stated, "Yeah, I think it's a good move. The 'X-Men' made it sound like the guys were controlling the show. But, I promise I didn't use my telepathic powers to make the Hollywood Executives change the name. .......Promise."

Jean Grey immediately died and came back as the Phoenix.
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Yes.......I'm thinking of writing for "The Onion." I made all of that up by myself. You can tell b/c it's NOT FUNNY.

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In Other News:

"The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" is FAN-tastic.!!!


Plus, it has Centaurs in it.

I'm not going to half-assed review it b/c there's no point, besides I hate typing and typing and typing. But what I will say that apart from great acting and outstanding special effects, there is a great deal of Christian imagery. Just amazing. Plus, there is a special cameo by Santa Claus himself.

I thought that a bit odd myself.

Frankly I would have let Galadriel come in and give the kids their magical gifts.....but that's just me. I'm sure Tolkien would have let C.S. Lewis borrow a character.

But for the most fun out of a PG-movie where you see a talking beaver.....rush out to see 'Narnia.'

For a more adult-oriented movie with a talking beaver........I'll let you borrow a few special DVDs.

Hooray! Or, As Nick Frost Would Say: "AEEEEE!"

GO HERE AND DROOOL!

Artist of the day, people!

Andrew will be soon....I promise!

New Fun "Please Resond" Thing I Just Invented:

Ok, first of all: I flipping LOVE "The Muppet Movie." So much fun....check it out, but if you read this, I'll probably be letting you borrow it.

NOW, ON TO BUSINESS:
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Heres what I want you to do if you care to do such things: I'm going to post a soundtrack to a movie that basically shaped my teen years and how I got into music (it's EVERYONE'S teen years that they develop their taste and love/preference of music.....sorry Andrew this is going to piss you off.). THEN.....I want YOU to comment by posting the same kind of thing, but it has to be a soundtrack. And, if the comment space is too small, just email me and I'll post it.

Neat.....here we go:

THE BATMAN FOREVER SOUNDTRACK

1. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2 - Kind of my first introduction to U2....I was thrown off by the weird orgasmic-sounding vocal at the end, when I started to hear that 3/4 of U2 were into Christianity in their youth at the time of forming the band. But I thought the song rocked out.
2. One Time Too Many - P.J. Harvey - I could never figure out if P.J. Harvey was a dude or a girl (girl indeed), but this is why I leaned more to the rock&roll genre.
3. Where Are You Now? - Brandy - Sucked then....sucks now....but I still listened to it.
4. Kiss From A Rose - Seal - I didn't like this as much as everyone else...yet it's the most popular song on the disc.
5. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game - Massive Attack With Tracey Thorn - Really cool vibe, and I dug Tracey Thorn. I think it helped develop my fascination with British stuff, and made me wonder if all British women were a bit mannish.
6. Nobody Lives Without Love - Eddi Reader - Again, another chick song...but I like the Adult Contemporary feel to it.
7. Tell Me Now - Mazzy Star - Flipping Mazzy Star. This is kind of what I would later get into music-wise. I just didn't know it yet. It's kind of a slighty off-tuned guitar simply strummed with a very slow drum beat. Sounds like very few instruments and kind of like basement-produced is how I would describe it.
8. Smash It Up - The Offspring - Intro to kind of punkish rock. This was before "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)", thank goodness.
9. There Is A Light - Nick Cave - Nick Cave is a weird dude. This was also about the time I knew him from the X-Files and Dumb&Dumber...."Red-Right Hand," you know....the 'I got robbed by a little old lady in a motorized cart' music.....also loved by X-Files creator Chris Carter.
10. The Riddler - Method Man - Yeah.....never liked rap music. It's just blatant soundtrack-rap-song that puts a character from the movie into it. Listening to it now, I have to wonder, "Did Method Man have a cold when he recoded his vocals?" You know, it sounds like "Duh Riddwer."
11. The Passenger - Michael Hutchence - I never liked INXS, but it was electronicish and kind of creepy (Nick Cave wannabe). It was before he killed himself.
12. Crossing The River - The Devlins - I used to stand in front of my mirror singing this....but I would stand so that you could only see half of my face......kind of like a music video.
13. 8 - Sunny Day Real Estate - Ahh yes, years later when Andrew was getting me into his music, he asked if I knew Sunny Day Real Estate. I was proud that I did. This stuff rocked...and was almost too random to be on a Batman soundtrack, b/c they seemed like then what would be an indie band now.
14. Bad Days - The Flaming Lips - Quirky.....and I didn't know what to expect from a band called "the flaming lips" back then. I do now. Now, though, I can picture a TV-7 promo with Matt using this song.

So there you go....in my opinion a good soundtrack, even today. It's a little on the nostalgic side, but I listened to it the other day and can remember the feeling I had when it was one of the single digits of CDs in my music collection.

Obviously I just bought it b/c it was Batman....NOT b/c of the Seal song.

But, without this, I would be listening to Billy Joel to this day.

Now, please.....humor me with a comment.

:)