To the Man Who Would Be King

It's been a while, got a lot to catch up on.

First, this past weekend Steven Colbert was a speaker at the White House Correspondent's Dinner - and it has to be seen. Head over to Crooks and Liars to see the vast majority of the speech. I love his show, it's great. I love the way he can rip at somebody and so excellently cover it with a comedy veil. I'm a registered Republican, but like most of the country, can't stand what's going on right now. I'm ashamed to be affiliated with a party that just seems to be feeding on corruption and greed. I know that when the Republicans took Washington years back that they had the right ideals, but that's sure as hell not the case now. Big business's deep pockets have influenced far too many votes and dictated policy. Constituent interest has far been snubbed for special interest. Now I'm not here to rip Bush or the entire Republican party - the Democrats are just as corrupt. Case in point is the Hollywood lobby, which has been pushing anti-American laws like the DMCA and the Broadcast Flag for years under both Democratic and Republican leadership. I really hope that there are some people in my generation that are watching all this and getting sick, and sick to the point of actually getting out there, running for office, and reforming this system.

Alright, enough heavy stuff, let's get lighter-hearted.

School is done for the semester, GPA took a slight hit due to my devotion of gobs of time to the MCAT. I did somehow manage to get a 110 on my Biochem exam last Monday, but probably at the expense of my Animal Diversity final later that day. Oh well. Summer semester starts up a week from today, and I have no clue what I'm going to take. Maybe Vertebrate Physiology and Organic Chem Lab. Or Psychology. Though I'd really like to take a Math class. Any suggestions for somebody who's taken Calc 1-3, DiffEq, and Prob/Stat? Something fun and not ball-breaking hard would be nice. (Yes, I must be sick to want to take a math class).

The Sox/Yankees game tonight was sick. Ortiz hitting a HR to ice the game? I love it.

Movies!

Arsene Lupin (1932): I love this old movie. A story of a clever thief and his capture. I've seen this movie quite a few times - try to catch it on AMC or TMC one night.

The Ninth Gate (1999): This movie, along with Stigmata and Stir of Echoes, make up a trifecta of 1999 movies that once I start watching, cannot leave and must watch the whole thing. Depp is amazing in this one, and since it's a story involving religious and demonic rites, ancient literature, strange symbols - those things pretty much will guarantee I'll go see a movie. Hell, I saw 13 Ghosts (ugh). Probably a reason why I loved Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons" and "The DaVinci Code" so much. Can't wait for the movie.

Speaking of DVC, check out the game that is on Google. Google for it. Neat puzzles, get them all and you're entered to win a trip. They're pretty easy but require a bit of (shock) Googling.

There is NOTHING on TV at 315 in the morning. Except Distraction on Comedy Central. Thank goodness for that.

Oh, I've got to chime in Nintendo renaming their new console from its codename "Revolution" to the actual product name "Wii". Frankly, I don't care. Some people are getting their panties in a tremendous twist but me, I don't care what it's called. Yes, I will pay for Wii. And probably laugh when I do. I will invite friends over to play with my Wii. Want to see my Wii? Just come up to my room. Yeah, the jokes are endless, but the product should still be good.

I really really can't wait for The New Super Mario Brothers on the DS later this month. That, and I want a DS Lite. Come on, first sidescrolling SMB since SMB3? How can you not get that? Easy choice here. I've been loving Tony Hawk on the DS, far more than the Tony Hawk I had when I owned a PSP. Glad to have that brick out of the house.

Speaking of getting things out of the house, the old laptop is up on Ebay. If I can swing $280 then my new computer from earlier this year will be all paid for via selling older stuff. Which is a sweet deal. Next computer purchase will be a Mac Mini duo core some time right before I start med school. I'm still trying to think of how many/which of my computers are going with me. Considering that at the moment, I've got 2 PC towers, a G3 Mac tower, 2 laptops (one after next weekend), and 2 Xboxes. Yay computing power.

Still have to wait until sometime in late June for my MCAT scores. Hurry up and wait indeed.

Now to music. Up to this point, I hadn't really heard too many 2006 albums that have taken hold of me other than the admittedly far-too-whiny Panic at the Disco album which actually was released in September of last year. So I went looking for some real new releases.

"Educated Horses" by Rob Zombie: Typical Zombie horror rock. Sure there are some great tracks on here, but it's no "Sinister Urge" or "Hellbilly Deluxe".

"For Blood and Empire" by Anti-Flag: Best album of the year for me so far. A good punk album with great harmonies and intelligent lyrics. An example from a song about the terrible job the press is doing: "They don't want to talk about it/they want to tip-toe walk around it/wave the flag and mindlessly salute". Great punk rock. Easily Anti-Flag's best yet.

"Donuts" by Jay Dee (JDilla): This is not so much an album as it is a collection of various beats and hooks that Dee put together in the years up to his death. Sure, there's some sick talent here, but this just wasn't listenable for me. Minute and a half long drum and vocal loops just isn't enough substance.

"Garden Ruin" by Calexico: For a band known primarily for being an "indie mariachi" band, Calexico sure doesn't sound like it on this record. I loved the split with Iron and Wine last year, and this doesn't disappoint either. "Roka" is to die for.

"Keep Your Heart" by The Loved Ones: Decent punk, but nothing particularly special or something I haven't heard before. Good harmonies on most songs, but some songs just seem boring. "Arsenic" is a great track though.

"Never Trust a Hippy" by NOFX: An EP put out earlier in the year, this is a rockin' 6 tracks in typical NOFX style. "Golden Boys" is an old Pat Smear song, and NOFX does it pretty well. "Everything in Moderation (Especially Moderation)" is quite possibly one of my favorite song titles ever. Overall this EP is great, better than the album that followed, but not quite up to the level of 2003's "War on Errorism"

"Wolves in Wolves' Clothing" by NOFX: The album that followed the above EP one month later, this album starts really strong and then just loses something along the way. I mean, I enjoyed it, but I don't know if it'll really break into my NOFX rotation all that much. "Punk in Drublic", "War on Errorism", "The Decline", and "White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean" are pretty well locked-in.

"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" by The Arctic Monkeys: Ugh, another bland, cocky sounding British band. I've heard it before, and it sounded better from Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines, Bloc Party, and hell, even The Strokes whom I don't particularly like. Sure this has some good tracks, but I can't force myself to listen to it. I just get bored. What's the big fuss over this band anyway?

I've been watching a lot of podcasts lately, and one of my favorites is Liam Lynch's Lynchland. That guy is so talented it's just sick. Songwriter, illustrator, TV host - it's just a treat to watch that man's genius at work. Go check it out.

Oh, I tried out the Mont Blanc pen "hack" over at Instructables and I'm somewhat impressed by the quality that my altered G2 now writes with. For those too lazy to click the link, all you do is buy a Pilot G2 rollerball pen and a Mont Blanc rollerball refill, remove the original G2 ink, trim 1/8" off the plastic end of the MB refill, and put the MB refill in the G2. Writes beautifully, end result a $7 pen that writes like a $200 Mont Blanc. Why any pen in the world is worth $200 is beyond me. Personally the G2 is my favorite pen in the world, but one huge advantage I see with the MB refill is that it doesn't smear like the G2 does (especially when the ink is still wet). Very useful in legal and hospital situations. No wonder so many lawyers and doctors use those things.