zilker's revenge and other things

i'm sick, and not like the skater kids

I've been coughing up the remains of 65,000 smelly, dirty hippies from the Austin City Limits music festival. The temperature was 105+ for three days, dust clouds created an impenetrable fog, and Liam Gallagher was barely sober enough to stand. I don't know what I got, but it's nasty. I'm slowly healing, but I don't seriously expect to live past 35 or so at this rate.

test pattern

There is literally nothing that I'm watching on a schedule. Honey and Clover got all weird and non-funny, in the same way that Karekano started taking itself too seriously.

I find myself particularly attracted to unusual and poignant set-piece sequences. Honey and Clover has a few of these, most of which involve either Mayama or Yamada. Clearly, the writer has a real affection for both Maison Ikkoku -- which is a default influence for just about any anime relationship drama -- and American slacker cinema (or HK 20-something flicks).

I found this book of anime posters in a used book store. One of the posters advertised Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies playing first-run on consecutive weeks. Imagine being one of the first audiences in the world to ever see both of those finished products in a span of two weeks. How unfair is that?

on mute

I've realized that some of the best anime art in the past 10 years is probably from Utena. I don't really like the show, but if you just look at some of the production stills and marketing assets for it... I mean, holy shit, that's some really wild visual design.

a question for doctors

If I keep slamming my fingers, forearms, fists, and such on my piano in the style of a pro wrestler, will I be at a greater risk for arthritis later in life? What about small bone fractures? How bad are those?

a memory from childhood

I need some ideas about a project I'm working on. What's your favorite childhood memory of something simple and tangible? Catch #1 is it has to be something that could be "reproduced" today, given enough effort -- effort best described as moving a mountain with a teaspoon. Catch #2 is that the reproduction can't be one-for-one. An example would be something like, oh, painting a mural that looks like the view from a childhood bedroom window.

computer no crashy

I finally found out that the MS Certified drivers for my onboard Marvell NIC have been crashing my compy. It wasn't the power supply, floppy drives, RAM, or anything else like that. I'm blaming this one on Xel. I hereby blame all future problems with any Wintel system on her. Finally, I get on with work without random lockups.

a loser by process of elimination

If you were dating someone and broke up, and a few months later you met their new significant other by chance and found out he/she was a total spaz, does this indicate the light in which this ex-person of yours saw you? You laugh, but it's true.

A side question: at what point does the average person give up on what they really wanted and just settle for what's in front of them? I don't know a single person who ended up with what they really wanted. Isn't there something inherantly sad about settling for a suitable alternative?

contacts take too damn long

Aside from the brilliant light show I get at night when I stick pieces of plastic in my eye, these just take too much effort. I can grab my glasses in about 5 seconds on my way out the door. I would have gotten the thick plastic frames, but I don't think I can pull of the indie pop thing without going on a shopping spree in an antique clothing store and being generally fake and full of myself.

I can handle being full of myself, but I can't really deal with pretending to be cool by wearing someone else's Goodwill shit.

i'll be the one to listen to your radio

I have some problems. If you've got the answers we could solve them.

Brain dump complete!