Things are coming in twos this weekend. Two movies (”Cowboy Bebop” and “Someone Like Hodder“). Eating food from two Chinese restaurants, over two days. And eating at two restaurants in one day (should probably cook something myself today). Hanging out with two Daves. Watching the two disc extended edition of “The Fellowship of the Ring“. As well as two, or maybe it was four, classic Buffy episodes. Bumping into two long-lost, and then two more recently-lost, friends. Two visits to the Tea Garden. Playing at two playgrounds, in two cities. Two of the little man’s shoes, totally filled with sand. Buying two pairs of little sandals for the little man (naturally one pair is slightly too small, the other too large).

I am trying. So hard. Not to. Read the. Spoilers. Yesterday I was poking around MeFi and noticed a Matrix thread. Which linked to a Wired article. I skipped the comments and clicked through to the story. After skimming it a bit I realized they were giving away a little too much. That I didn’t want to know. I want to be surprised. Spoilers=bad in my book (which makes whedonesque.com one of my more dangerous haunts). So I quickly closed the browser window. But lo and behold…I went down to the mailroom this morning, and what should I find staring up at me? A hard copy of Wired magazine, the new issue featuring the Matrix sequel(s), with Jada Pinkett Smith on the cover. And beautiful, glossy photos to go along with the article I’m avoiding. Must resist. The urge. It doesn’t help that I watched the latest Animatrix installment this morning. Which had a good, gritty quality to it. The writing left something to be desired, but Carrie Anne Moss did the voice of Trinity…which left me wanting more. Just a little over a month to go. Hopefully I can remain spoiler-free in the interim. Wish me luck.

Oh my beautiful, fickle child. According to the forecast, “a fantastic stretch of weather is shaping up, and oddly enough, it should last right into the weekend”. So naturally the little man would choose this warm weather day to wear a winter hat. That I bought him over two years ago. That, prior to today, he’s always refused to wear. But that’s all changed now (or for the moment). Suddenly the urge to wear the unworn was too strong to resist. He insisted on donning the ill-fitting garment before walking out the door. He even christened it the “cookie mouse” hat. I guess the name sorta makes sense. The hat is blue, kinda like cookie monster. And it has mouse ears. But it’s still a bit strange. Like my child. And myself.

Bad news. Not the worst news, granted…there’s plenty of that to go around. But still. Very bad. Tom Hanks is seeking to remake the classic “Ikiru“. Akira Kurosawa must be spinning in his grave.
Also heard some odd news. Sleater-Kinney is touring with Pearl Jam. Arena rock riot grrrls. Could be worse.
And finally, a couple of things in the better news category:
1) Yo La Tengo’s new release, Summer Sun, came out today. I’ll have to wait ’till pay day to pick up a copy…but it’s something to look forward to; and
2) there’s more on the way from the fantastic Philip Pullman. The author has more planned for Lyra…thankfully he left the last book wide open for sequels.

Needed a double mocha this morning to make me feel human again. Not quite as strong as trucker speed, but close. I’ve been dropping about $150/week at the co-op, and have still failed to replenish my personal coffee supply. Go figure. But even with the caffeine in my bloodstream, I’m still feeling the wear and tear of yesterday’s rollercoaster ride. The day started out well enough. I arrived at the office to find Happy Friday! signs posted in the elevator bay…and two women from office management riding up and down in one of the elevators, along with a table piled high with breakfast food and beverages. Naturally the work day had nowhere to go but down after that. Missing and/or conflicting information and confused communication caused consecutive headaches. The day was anything but happy. Eventually I fled, to meet J for dinner. The little man was having his own evening out with grandma, so we took advantage of the free time to catch a movie. Unfortunately our first choice, Cowboy Bepop, was sold out. But plenty of seats were available for the runner-up, “Bend it like Beckham“, and it turned out to be the very thing I needed. It was sort of John Hughes meets “Monsoon Wedding“. And managed to pull me out of my funk. Temporarily. The good mood lasted long enough to retrieve the little man, but dissipated on the drive home. The weather’s turned nasty again, and glare ice on the roads made for a white-knuckle drive. It didn’t help that we had two cars, and that J was tailgating me the last leg of the journey. Especially as my tires seem to have less traction than his. Fishtailing downhill is not my idea of fun. On the bright side, we made it home safe and sound after all. And today is Saturday. And now it’s about time to get back to some serious lounging…interspersed with various chores, meals, and monkey-cuddling.

The visit to the Children’s Museum was a success after all…in spite of J mocking me, for taking too many photos. And despite the disorientation I experience there…with dozens of little voices shouting “MOM!” with great frequency. Some maternal instinct filters them out, unless they are clearly identified as the cries of my own offspring…but the urgency makes me look nearly every time. My little man wasn’t shouting for me much, though. He was too busy exploring the recently added exhibits.

Having an exceptionally sleepy and spacey day. Listening to Low isn’t likely to help this. Except, perhaps, for the slightly rocking track “Just Like Christmas“. But hearing the sleigh bells just reminds me I’m cold and tired. The gloominess outside seems to have seeped into the office, so it is chillier than usual in the curvicle that is my home away from home. A little while ago I was in our kitchen area, grabbing a warm beverage and heating up a toaster tart. While waiting for it to toast I noticed that the dishwasher is really warm when it’s running. And so I continued to stand next to it longer than was strictly necessary. Now I just feel like curling up on the floor…and I find myself wondering if I really am up to chasing the little man around the Children’s Museum this evening. But it would likely warm me up just a tidge.

Thurston Moore and the Sonic Youth webmaster, Chris Habib, have just launched an interesting project (found via Pitchfork).
The short of it: ‘[Protest Records] exists for musicians, poets and artists to express LOVE + LIBERTY in the face of greed, sexism, racism, hate-crime and war.’
The long of it: ‘most people understand the sentiment that this graphic expresses, but a few have requested an explanation and i’m happy to provide one. i know that a lot of people will simply see this image as a punk gimmick, but sincerely, it’s not. i think that what thurston and i are doing is one of the most patriotic gestures anyone could make. we are working to huddle together the voices of those who have something to say about the aimless direction in which this country is tumbling. as it becomes increasingly more apparent that this government for and by the people is becoming increasingly more comfortable ignoring said people and sacrificing them on the battlefield for resources and empire, we need to speak up and we need to speak out. contrary to the opinion of a man we never elected, we are not a “focus group.” we are the government. we are this country. our rights are being trampled. our working class and poor are being led to slaughter. our privacy is becoming evermore a diaphanous myth. corporations, the lobby groups who represent them and the courts have more control over the power structure in this country than any electoral college could ever dream. this state of affairs is not a part of the country that sits stitched in Old Glory. i think that my flag imagery supports these statements and buttresses the efforts of this site. i say “fuck the flag” because it’s lost its meaning. it’s devoid of all that it once stood for. desecrate it and start afresh. take it back, renew its meaning and then return it to the glory of old. it’s not disrespectful at all. it’s patriotic. too many people who wave it and rally behind it do so as a consumer convention. it’s an icon that people buy and sell and buy and sell into. the lapel pins, the window-clings, the tshirts, bags, skateboards and fluttering graphics that mar the lower-third of my television… it’s become a crass tool of accessible conspicuous consumption. it saddens me to see these flags. it saddens me completely. the stencil is my way of saying, “if this pisses you off, ask me why i did it and then help me make it right.” i will neither wave, nor salute, nor hide behind an icon that has been hijacked by an administration of pirates and poisons. i will not have them wrap my mind in a fabric of a nationalism that i neither condone nor identify with. thnx & peace, chris habib - protest records‘
Check it out.

Yeah, I know. I’ve been slacking. Hadn’t posted yet this month, because I’d been wanting to roll out my redesign in April. Whoops. April 1st came too quickly. And brought with it some amusing April’s Fools Day jokes…most notably, ThinkGeek.com’s George Foreman USB iGrill. As well as an interesting looking “War is for Fools” celebration at the U of M, sponsored by Students Against War. That I didn’t make it to, naturally. Too busy working, then hanging out with my boys after work. Then being an ebay-addicted freak waiting for an auction to end. But I did win it. That’s the important part, right? Or how I played the game. Wait a second…I’m rambling. The point is, things keep getting in the way of rolling out my redesign. But I’m giving myself a deadline of April 30th. At that point this weblog will have existed in its current format for just over one year. A year’s enough. So it’s time to eschew ebay, clean up my code, and get down to business.