BrewBlog

Mogwai - Mr. Beast

This latest effort from Mogwai is good and if you're a fan of any of their previous work, you'll definitely want to pick this up.  It's not a departure by any means and that's a good thing.  It's moody and dark as you'd expect.  They are rocking more here than lately and that is what makes it better than average for me.  A few songs are heavy and get my head bobbing in appreciation.  I love the opening track, "Auto Rock".  It would make great opening credit music for a movie.  My favorites are "Glasgow Mega-Snake" and "We're No Here", along with the opening track.  I'll likely forget about a bulk of the middle of this CD but we'll see what the lasting power is.  For an additional dollar or so I got the bonus DVD.  It was worth a dollar or so but it's mostly forgettable. 

FINALLY there was a new CD I was interested in this year.  So I must thank Mogwai for giving me a new release in a so far weak as hell 2006.  Fortunately there are some releases coming up that have some potential. 

Immigration Controversy?

This reinvigorated controversy regarding the immigration debate has me confused about our priorities as a nation.  Since when do we condone and reward blatant, illegal activity to the magnitude of these millions of illegal immigrants.  We have citizenship for a reason.  It has much to do with how our society works.  Do people not think at all about the implications of tossing aside the importance of citizenship.  The fact that immigrants do work that our citizens are unwilling to do is not reason enough to grant them amnesty and is not the sole argument.    It's a big slap in the face to those here on a work visa, going through the process legit.  Does congress really think illegal immigrants are going to show up to court or wherever, pay a fine, and fill out the paperwork to become legal on their own?  Of course not. 

The people of this country want something done.  Let's ask the voters, the registered voters, not the random people walking the streets.  We vote for real reform, end of debate.  Of course illegals are opposed to it.  So what!  Do we need to take into account the opinions of the law breakers in this case?   Nope.  US citizens vote and write laws for the US.  What's with these protesters cutting class, running around, and waving the Mexican flag?  We have a flag already in this country. 

Doing a better job of controlling the border (more border patrol, fences, etc.) and deportation seem like the only reasonable solution.  Otherwise we've given up on the importance of citizenship and will prove that it can be stolen.  This problem is totally out of control and that is no cause to throw in the towel. 

My buddy Matt has a good post about this too

Kitty + Baby = Poop on the Floor

Every few months I complain about our cat Barley because I'm always amazed at his ability to keep our lives just that much more interesting, which is probably better than blending into the background.  Lately, we've felt a little badly for Barley because baby Jackson is getting almost all of our attention.  At first, Barley was miserable with the family addition.  The day we brought Jackson home, Barley carefully approached him, intently sniffing the babies head.  "What the hell is this?", Barley would have said if he spoke English and had a brain bigger than a Whopper.  Since he doesn't, he just looked stunned and a bit annoyed.  Tip-toeing away, Barley came back into the room a few minutes later, hoping the baby invasion was just a bad kitty dream. 

At first, Barley was horrified by Jackson's crying, running up the stairs to go hide for hours, his body language speaking volumes.  An initial concern was that he was going to approach Jackson the same way he approached my first cat, Dresden (RIP).  When Dresden and I moved in with Barley a few years ago, Barley was curious and cautious at first, just like he is with Jackson.  Before long, Barley attacked Dresden on a fairly regular basis, all the way up until Dresden's final hours.  Here is my sad little old cat Dresden, on her death bed and along comes Barley, attacking her relentlessly, wielding all twenty claws accompanied by the kitty death yell.  Hopefully, Barley will realize that Jackson is a human and pay the proper respect or there will be hell to pay when Jackson is able to walk and gets the crankies.

A few months have passed since bringing Jackson home and Barley is adjusting well, although still not well adjusted.  He is not as concerned about the occasional "Jackson meltdown", mostly just annoying and not so much scared anymore.  We've decided to stop his medication since it no longer curbs his desire to shit on the floor.  We've pretty much accepted the fact that Barley will shit on the floor until Jackson moves out in twenty years or so.  Since Barley will likely not break the worlds record for kitty lifespan, he'll be pooping on the floor pretty much the rest of his life.  That's a good kitty.

Read the numbers on your fruit

Link: Read the numbers on your fruit - megnut.com.

"[T]he sticker labels on fruit: The numbers tell you how the fruit was grown. Conventionally grown fruit has four digits; organically grown fruit has five and starts with a nine; genetically engineered has five numbers and starts with an eight."

Is this interesting?  I think so.  I like any kind of inside info type tid-bits, even if it's about fruit.

SlingBox

I don't even have one of these but I love it already.  I'm definitely getting one.  Is this something we even need?  Nope, but it sure looks like fun. 

From their Website:  The SlingBox enables access to your home TV set from anywhere at anytime. It is a device that transfers your TV signal to any computer or laptop with a broadband internet connection. 

Herobuilders.com

I found this website in Giant magazine and had to share.  It's extremely nerdy and a little creepy but it's cool nonetheless.  This company will make a custom action figure in your likeness.  That's right.  Is it narcissistic to want to see your own action figure?

http://www.herobuilders.com/

But I don't use an umbrella

This post may not make any sense.  Yesterday it was raining very hard.  Like most winter days I left the house without a coat or anything warm.  Arriving to work about ten minutes late meant parking a fair distance from the guard shack, which is a short distance from the front door.  Don't ask why we have an actual guard shack.  So I'm sitting in the car, going through the usual shutdown procedure -- turning music down to reasonable level so I don't scare the shit out of myself when I get in the car after work, getting my work badge out of the center console, securing what's left of my coffee from the drive, etc.  As I'm about to open the door and step into the very wet outside world, I paused for a moment to consider reaching towards the back of the SUV to grab my umbrella.  Whoah.

Here's the thing, I don't use an umbrella, ever.  I have an umbrella, the same one for well over ten years, but I have NEVER EVER used it.  Oh, I continue to move it each time I get a new car, but other than that, it gets zero attention or use.  Someone gave it to me so I felt obligated to put it where I would put it if I were to use it.  I don't know why I don't use an umbrella.  I have this funny picture I cut out of a San Jose newspaper that is a wide angle shot of a main walking drag at San Jose State University during a busy time between classes.  It's raining in the picture and almost everybody has an umbrella, of course, because it's raining.  If you look closely at the picture, you can see me walking around without an umbrella, getting soaking wet. 

Umbrellas have always seemed unnecessary to me I guess.  My hair isn't going to get messed up, my clothes will dry fairly quickly, I don't get cold easily, so what's the point?  That just stuck and the idea of using an umbrella simply doesn't cross my mind...at least not until yesterday.  For a brief moment, I instinctively paused to consider grabbing the umbrella that was reliably waiting for me to open it for the first time.  I didn't actually get the umbrella but it crossed my mind for a very brief moment.  Why?  Why would I all the sudden feel the need to get my stupid umbrella?  I thought about this a few times over the course of the day.  Then it occurred to me that this possibly relates to some other things I've noticed about myself lately.  Am I getting soft?  Is it because I'm getting old?  Can I not handle a little rain all the sudden. 

This post is probably not making much sense and may require some further exploration, but it's 5:00 and time for me to head out of the office and get home.  More on this later...

Arrested Development

Arrested Development has been one of my favorite television shows.  It has been on the Verge of cancellation since I started watching it despite the fact that critics love the show and that it   has a strong underground following.  Now it looks like the show is done for with FOX advertising the "series finale".  Sigh.  Arrested Development is a great show, very funny.  It's a kind of smart humor that's tough to come by.  The average number of viewers has been ~6.5 million per episode, which is not so good, thus cause for termination.  Quality only goes so far it would seem.  What are people watching?  Rumors have always swirled around about this show.  The latest is that Showtime may pick it up, which would make for another one of my favorite shows being put on pay TV.  I recommend renting the DVDs of the show.  You won't be sorry.