# Will gain you instant acceptance beyond your comfort zone
# That's a good thing

This song is consuming my mind. It's making me feel optimistic yet at the same time scared. It is, at the same time, eerie and uplifting. This is a near-perfect song. Fuck that, it's perfect, especially as the first track on the album. At least that's how I feel about it as of now.

Jack White's side project with lead singer of the Kills: The Dead Weather



The singer, Allison Mosshart, has a very haunting and beautiful voice. I feel like she's in my head. I feel like I've written the music in my head before, but it was stolen from me. Everything is so congruent with my music sensibilities. This shit is spooky. This shit is sexy. I wish I had written this song. I want to form a new band just to cover it.

Why do I split things into such extremes, when the only thing I'm certain about is vagueness?

Here's an actual music video of theirs...although it's described as a "short film." I think they cut a little bit out of the song for this video, but it still kicks ass. It's a little cheesy, maybe...but isn't everything cheesy? This song has a little more of the Stripes feel to it, although when the Stripes had a female vocalist in their songs it would usually be Meg, and while I enjoyed her voice also, she never appeared even half as confident behind the mic as Allison is on every song on this album. (I think there's one song that only Jack sings in though.) The abrupt change in the middle is epic...and I'm not one of those douchebags that abuses that word.



I think Jack and Allison have way more chemistry than he and Meg do. With the Stripes it seemed as if Jack was pulling 90% of the weight most of the time.

I will never ever get used to the sound of people crunching ice in their mouth. Why the fuck do they do that?

I got the Criterion Collection version of Brazil a week or so ago. Still haven't watched it. I was attracted to it by the imagery (of the movie, not the box itself). I have no idea what it's about. But it's Terry Gilliam and at least in the case of Fear and Loathing I think he let the imagery muddy up the story...but that's because the imagery was so intense and memorable. I'm a more visual person anyway.

I went to the Auburn homecoming football game over the weekend. May have actually gotten a tan...yet I was so claustrophobic in the car and so agoraphobic in the stadium that I really felt quite, unstable and almost snapped at a complete stranger for bumping into me, but he apologized very quickly. It was fine. I don't follow football at all, but for some reason watch Auburn play and kick ass is somewhat exciting. Really the only reason I care is because my dad graduated from there, and that's a stupid reason to feel the slightest bit invested in something you're usually never a part of at all. I liked watching Georgia Tech games for a while too.

I really can only watch tennis, they don't show enough of it though.

A guy I knew has gone into gay into gay internet porn. He fucks dudes for money now It's...odd.

The video mentions a website...http://www.faceyourstorm.com/yourstory.html
where you post your testimonials about how the book has inspired you

I submitted this...good lord, please let it get published on the front page. Although I may have made it a little too absurd:

"Dear Glenn, I could not have survived without this book. I have impregnated (at least) 27 women throughout the United States, and since reading this book I have bought 2 Christmas sweaters and alternate them in my wardrobe to remind me of the redemptive story of your life. I am now trying to contact these women and make things right. You were there, right in the eye of the storm, and now I have the courage to face it myself.

You see, I used to live a life of sin...I was a Satanist priest conducting rituals in a basement in Akron, Ohio. Living with a woman I barely knew. No she is not one of the 27 women I impregnated, but she very well could have been. From there I joined the Hell's Angels and for the next 5 years I only found solace deep within the bottle, so to speak. But thanks to you, I've realized that bottles can run out of that sweet liquor, but your mind never runs out of that incredible wisdom and courage.

I surely have a long row to hoe...but I can now use my two sweaters as armor for what lies ahead of me...both metaphorically and literally, as I'm sure the winter will be a cruel mistress on its own.

The book and one-man show combo is more moving and significant than Mr. Holland's Opus and that Kevin Costner movie about Indians combined.

Mr. Beck, I salute you."

I can always count on Ebert. Except when he gave Jennifer's Body a good review...but whatever.

Here is the first sentence of his review of the Vampire's Assistant, and it's funny as hell:

"'Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant' includes good Vampires, evil Vampanese, a Wolf-Man, a Bearded Lady, a Monkey Girl with a long tail, a Snake Boy, a dwarf with a 4-foot forehead and a spider the size of your shoe, and they're all boring as hell."

It's rare for Ebert to swear in a review, even if it's as mild as a "damn" or a "hell," which made this sentence even funnier.

I can't wait until he goes senile and his reviews start making little sense with random bursts of bitter curmudgeon-isms like "this little bastard Zac Efron thinks his shit don't stink, well I bet I've had way more pussy in my lifetime than he'll ever have, AND, on top of that, he sucks at basketball. You don't know shit about my life, goddammit!"

My cat has fucking bandages covering most of her front legs from getting de-clawed. She's also pretty fucked up on kitty-meds. She has to keep the bandages on for 3 days, what the hell? She can barely walk with those things on, however she seems pretty content just lying around. She's apparently not in pain, so that's a good thing.

"Desperate for more userpics? Paid users can get hundreds of userpics."

Who the fuck pays for livejournal?

"What if they used like stem cell research to like put in the dead bodies of famous musicians and resirect your favorite bands and then have like benefit concerts."

This is from a website that promotes the free exchange of ideas provoked by the effects of weed, called www.highdeas.com

Here are some more:

"They should create a show where a small group of people get high and debate about interesting and controversial topics that are voted on by other smokers. You can get high and listen to these heated discussions"

that sounds so gay

"what if there were miniature bears that you could have as pets like they have miniature horses or shetland ponies or whatever their called"

"Taking a poop when your stoned is pretty crazy. It's a good releasing mechanism yet at the sames time it's just so fucking strange that some energy is coming out your ass. Man...that's just.....that's just too much right there."

"I wish they'd make a DVR or TiVo for my window, because sometimes a cool dog walks by or something cool happens outside. It'd be cool if I could pause it or maybe record it and show my roommate later."


My parents said that Christianity doesn't allow women to pray out loud in the churches. My dad in particular was surprised that I wasn't aware of this doctrine. I knew the Bible was pretty sexist in parts, but...ahh...I'm so frustrated I can't even talk to myself about this.

There is nothing...NOTHING more sexy than a woman who is genuinely funny. It's even better when she's VERY physically attractive. Natasha Leggero is the most appealing woman I can possibly imagine. A little side note though, I think attractiveness kinda detracts from the humor a little bit regardless of gender. You want to laugh at someone with obvious flaws that endear them to the audience. Hot girls just make me nervous and her beauty is a little distracting.

Behold:




"GOD DAMMIT I CAN NEVER HAVE YOU!!!"




it's just unfair, if there were a God...wait, what the fuck am I saying?

Also, in other news, I've been playing tennis at least 3 times a week for the past month or so and have been losing weight. Tennis is also the first sport I've become really engaged in watching as well. There's so much more personality and individual style involved in tennis, way more so than in any other sport (seems that way to me at least).

About the second week of playing, I rolled my right ankle worse than I've ever done in my life (and I had done it quite a few times in the past from skateboarding). Here are some pictures I took like two or three days after the injury. This was like a month ago and, while I can play tennis perfectly fine now, there's still a lot of bruising all the way up to the calves.

My feet are shiny because I had to put this Voltaren gel on them that didn't really help at all:



I swear it looked way worse than this in person, the bruising just got worse and worse. The swelling was awful too, here's a size comparison of my feet:





The world of comedy is in a state of disarray, how do I know? Three words: Jeff Dunham Show. Finally a puppet act the working class man can understand. I'm mad...but being mad is good, as Zack de la Rocha once said "your anger is a gift." Anger compels. It could be a curse too. Wow I sound like a fag.

You know, everyone's always said I'm a good writer, and by everyone I don't just mean my friends. Teachers, elementary, high school, and college alike...other "writers," friends, family, random people. But honestly I don't think I'm that great. I hardly read any books at all, I have nothing to draw from really besides some Kurt Vonnegut and Hemingway (and Joyce I guess). But it's not like I'm using that influence to write this pointless drivel poring over the excruciating minutiae of my boring-as-fuck life. I need to get drunk more. I need a good alcoholic phase, I had a good run for a while there. Every weekend was exciting. Not always satisfying, but exciting.

I've never had the typical male experience of "hooking up" with a girl. Okay maybe once, but that resulted in a "serious" relationship later on. I went to a frat party one time with this girl I didn't really like, she was supposed to help me meet other girls but we just ended up getting way too drunk and making out and...ewww, that's the sleaziest thing I've ever done, besides posting this in my livejournal. When I'm drunk I became a different person. I start simultaneously ridiculing and trying to befriend every stranger I come across. And in this case I actually DANCED! I got to be pretty hammered to do what some may say would pass for dancing. Even then it has to be a darkly lit room and I'm usually doing it in a somewhat ironic way.

I remember her ending up at our apartment. We didn't have sex. She later explained it was because she was on her period. That was courteous of her, because she was a bit of a floozy and I was not in my right mind at all. Alcohol = desperate juice. Which may be why I don't partake much any more.

The only other "hooking up" story I have never actually happened. I was told later that it could have happened if I wanted it to, but I felt bad because I had someone else on my mind. I'm such a fucking sweetheart. Awww self-hugs!

Oh yea, there was also an incident in which I was given the moniker "Captain Caveman," I think because I was pretty much trying to knock this girl out and drag her back to my cave. I don't remember a single second of this story, which is amazing to me because no matter how drunk I get I can always remember pretty much everything, but I was like 18 and drinking in Savannah was like Shangri-la for me so I guess I took the over-over-overkill approach. I think all I did was yell at her a lot until she had enough and left.

I don't know what made me think about that stuff. My life used to be way more interesting. I'm not saying the only way to make my life interesting is to fuck girls. Sometimes I think my dad thinks I'm gay. I haven't had very many girlfriends (compared to many people I know), and when he was my age he was already married. I don't know if I'll ever get married. It's stupid to say but I don't believe in love, or at least the fact that there is just ONE person out there meant for you. I think there are thousands of ONEs for everybody. But proximity plays a huge role in the selection process, because we're lazy I guess.

I don't need a girl friend. I need a friend who's a girl, who's actually a good friend. I don't know to keep female friends without turning them into girlfriends. It's one of my biggest flaws. But I don't know how to keep that many male friends either.

Sometimes I imagine the perfect girlfriend though, and I come to the conclusion that there probably isn't one for me, I think I'm too goddamned crazy to trust anyone enough to let them into my life.

There's a girl I know. She used to have a huge crush on me, a long time ago. She was gorgeous, as she still is...but I thought she was too young (I was 18, she was probably 16). I should have just gone for it. Turns out she likes all the comedy I like...great sense of humor(Tim and Eric, David Cross, etc.)...oh yea, she also happens to play videogames as much as I do (and she's proud, when you're hot you can flaunt nerdiness).

Even in an alternate world where I could date her, I'd probably still find some minute flaw and dwell on it. Like if she liked the Decemberists too much. Pretentiousness kills me. And yet here I am livejournaling.

I have a twitter...needforswede is my name on there as well. I have it mostly so I can "follow" my favorite comedians and basically stalk them...or see when they may be coming to Atlanta (David Cross, Oct. 17.) Yea, twitter is stupid, but the internet has made us all incredibly self-indulgent so I'm not gonna fight it. I like reading Doug Benson's so stupid-they're-funny marijuana puns. And Tom Green making fun of his ex-wife Drew Barrymore's directorial debut ("Whip It," looks horrible by the way) and demanding child support payments for "little Billy" as he hasn't eaten in weeks.

I got three "free" audiobooks from audiblepodcast.com. (Use the code word "never"). Two of them aren't actually books, but comedy albums in audiobook form. Comedy Death Ray and Invite Them Up. Comedy Death Ray is way better, but they are both fucking gold...I live for this shit. I also downloaded David Cross' new book "I Drink for a Reason," which is 6 hours long and read by himself (thank God) with preface read partly by Jon Benjamin (Coach McGuirk). I've listened to some of it so far and I already knew this man was a genius but god-damn. He's way more than just a comedian.

My stomach hurts so fucking bad. I haven't dipped tobacco in like 6 months or something. But still one of my molars is hurting. Going to the dentist soon. The Watchmen really is a great movie, I don't care what anyone says. The book's great too, and I believe it did deserve to be made into a movie. I hated 300 but Snyder hit it out of the park with Watchmen.

Other movies that I hear are amazing this year and want to see but have yet to see:

The Hangover
Inglorious Basterds
Star Trek (kinda iffy)
Funny People (reaallly want to see this one)
Whatever Works (limited release?)
The Invention of Lying
The Informant (little iffy as well, but heard good things)

Usually I'm only compelled to see like one movie a year. I'm not a big movie guy, never have been. I appreciate great movies, but there are so few good ones that I can't stand being disappointed by the mediocre majority. And the ones that are good are usually too emotionally exhausting. Stomach's feeling worse. I may have ingested too much acetaminophen.

My last relationship was a train-wreck, and didn't even last that long. I keep thinking to myself "what the hell was I thinking?" I'm too open-minded in relationships. I need to be more firm and assertive, I guess in everyday life as well. Stomach feeling better. To this day I've only had one relationship that I truly enjoyed, one that changed me for the better, made me want to become a better person, and changed my outlook on life for the better. I would thank her, but my thanks mean nothing.

And old girlfriend I hadn't spoken to in years (like 5 or 6) e-mailed me out of the blue asking if I smoke weed. What the hell?

I think I have one of those faces that is either very attractive or very repulsive, depending on your taste. Or maybe it's just average, who the fuck knows. My last girlfriend would never shut up about how "beautiful" I was, it started to sound like a joke. She couldn't believe I was going out with her, but how can I trust her taste? I'd like to, but in a way I don't want to be attractive. I want to be funny.

Ultimately I want to make a living being funny. My stomach feels shitty again.

Apple has spent so much money trying to make PCs look uncool, when all they had to do was tell people to watch this video:



This isn't the only video, on youtube there are many others talking about specific features. For an hour or so after watching the above video, I didn't know what the hell I had just watched. I didn't know if it was a joke or what. Seems tailor-made for Tim and Eric actually.

even the stuff I like I don't really like

I'm becoming addicted to tennis, I finally bought my own racquet. I'm actually not that bad either. I've been playing pretty much every day (except when it's raining). Endorphins kick ass.

" I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. ."


-Thomas Paine

Age of Reason, 1794

More videogame bullshit

E3 happened this week, lots of cool new stuff. I hate it...because it means I'll end up spending more money.

I really wish sometimes that I didn't like games, and I know it's strange to not always take pleasure in something that's greatly enriched your life throughout the years. It's not because it makes me feel like a nerd, I'm okay with being a nerd, that hasn't in any way gotten in the way of me getting a girlfriend or achieving other social milestones. I think it just comes down to the fact that it's an expensive hobby.

Gamestop makes it a little easier because of the ridiculous trading deals they've been doing, but I still hate the fact that I had to trade in Skate 2 and Call of Duty 4. I never played them, but I always regret selling them soon after.

I actually sold three games to get...the new UFC game. I've never had any interest in the sport, but the demo of this game had me hooked. It's just a damn good game, and if it's a good game it really doesn't matter what it's based on.

The only complaint I have about it is the music (well and some of the menus). Just as you would expect it's just a ton of rap-rock and nu-metal. When you have the most testosterone-fueled sport imaginable, for some reason the logical soundtrack is the dumbest most immature music you can think of. But the music only plays during the menu screens anyway, and I just plug my iPod and listen to the Sword.

Someone recommend some great music for me to listen to, I've been in a real slump...for like months. Usually I default to Wu-Tang when I have nothing to listen to, but now I really don't listen to anything except classic rock on the radio (and that gets really old, although I've kinda gotten into Steely Dan because of it).

Batman Arkham Asylum
Metal Gear Solid Rising
Zelda Spirit Tracks

are games I'm really looking forward to, I know there are more, but I forget

Tekken 6
BlazBlue (actually have the limited edition pre-ordered, I may not but it though)
the new King of Fighters maybe

InFamous is already out, but I don't have a PS3, big problem there. MGS4 wasn't enough for me to get a PS3, but this game might be...who am I kidding, it's really just the money that's keeping me from getting it.



I take my A+ certification test next Thursday

I'm gonna be moving soon, probably to live by myself, getting a cat of my own and naming him either Dr. Katz or Cat Stevens

nothing exciting

I still feel like a kid...

I barely even look my age.

Sometimes I see people that are my age, or sometimes even younger, and just assume they are years older than me. Like if I'm watching a dumbass show on MTV where 5 dudes are dating the same bitch or some stupid shit like that...it'll introduce the guys, and most of the time they are 18-20 years old...but I never would have guessed from looking at them. It's almost like the media is shouting "this is how people your age are supposed to look."

I don't think I'll feel like an adult until I get married...not that that's the milestone I feel I'm destined to achieve...I just can't imagine feeling any differently after reaching that point. I can't imagine feeling like I do now when I'm married.

This mindset will disappear when I get married, and that scares me. Not that it's even that great of a mindset, it's just that I don't think I'll be the same person once I mind-meld with a member of the opposite sex. As I am right now, if I'm ever unhappy, I usually know the reason why. I'm afraid of getting to the point again where I'm unhappy and I have no idea what got me there, or how to get out of it...it just comes and goes, doesn't behave by any logic, doesn't give a shit about the order of everyday life. It doesn't respect anyone or anything.

I guess if 30 is the new 20, then 22 is the new 12...if that's the case, then I'm all set. Yet I know it doesn't work that way.

I'd like to see if someone can stump me with this.

I want anyone out there to give me names of two people in show business, or the music industry or whatever and see if I can link them or associate them in any way.

I won't allow myself to check Wikipedia or anything else that might help me. I'm just trying to put all my useless knowledge to...use.

An example would be:

John Mayer and Alyssa Milano

John Mayer was on an episode of the Tim and Eric show,

Tim and Eric were interviewed by Tom Green on his web talk show,

Tom Green is good personal friends with Andy Dick,

Andy Dick played himself in the terrible movie "Double Dragon,"

Alyssa Milano was also in that movie, I believe as a villain.

So there's an example,

with whatever two names you give me, I'll try to explain their connection using the most degrees of separation possible. If they're connected in a closer way, like for an example they were in a very obscure movie together, I'll try to ignore that and take the most roundabout route.

'"Monsters vs. Aliens" is possibly the most commercial title of the year. How can you resist such a premise, especially if it's in 3-D animation? Very readily, in my case. I will say this first and get it out of the way: 3-D is a distraction and an annoyance. Younger moviegoers may think they like it because they've been told to, and picture quality is usually far from their minds. But for anyone who would just like to be left alone to see the darned thing, like me, it's a constant nudge in the ribs saying never mind the story, just see how neat I look."

I haven't seen the movie, but this is exactly how I feel about 3D-animated movies, which always claim to be great for all ages. I haven't been able to watch on of these kinda movies since Toy Story.

I was actually surprised Ebert felt so strongly about this, because in the past he has praised Kung Fu Panda, Wall-E, etc. I was expecting him to give this a perfect score...I was beginning to think Pixar or whatever was bribing critics, because whenever a movie like this would come out, the reviews would be unanimous, and I would always have a hard time ignoring the fact that they seemed like they were struggling to find so many good things to say about it.

I saw Watchmen for free the other day...I was gonna say something about it...I'll do that now. Hopefully I can make this short.

I was at home and I forgot to bring the book with me, so sadly I couldn't finish it before seeing the movie. Now I feel discouraged to read it. It's not that the movie's bad...pretty damn good actually.

But as far as I can tell, the movie recreates pretty much every event exactly how the book presents them. I myself have only read up to chapter 3, but many people say that the movie follows the book very closely until the very end.

I've seen a number of bad reviews (but more good than bad) and at the theatre there were apparently many people that were disappointed with it. The ticket lady even advised us not to see it, stating that it's too long and boring.

I think those people were expecting something entirely different...like a new Batman or something. If you want more of the same in terms of superhero movies, this isn't really your thing. The story itself obviously pokes fun at the idea of masked vigilantes in general. The characters themselves usually point out how ridiculous it is as well (moreso in the book however). And it definitely isn't PG-13. I kept forgetting that in the middle of the movie and would be shocked every time I saw another inventive murder. It's clear throughout the whole thing that Zack Snyder isn't trying too hard to please anyone, and definitely not trying to appeal to people who crave superhero movies. He's just doing all he can to do the book justice. I think this is what many would call a "labor of love."

Watchmen isn't nearly as linear a plot as most comic-book driven movies are. It's far more surreal as well. It's very long, drawn-out, and encompasses everything. It's kind of like the "Interview With a Vampire" of superhero movies. It's not so much an interesting story as it is a depiction of a world going out of control. There's so much madness in this movie. The idea of telling a story like this on screen is very strange to me. It's almost not about making you care about the characters, but instead making the concept of imminent doom seem very real to the audience (at least for those three hours). It's also funny how this movie was supposed to be made back in the mid-80s, when the book was new. The success of the original Batman movies was what got studios interested in putting this story on screen. But they just sat on it forever, until I guess around when Batman Begins came out. I don't know how they would have made this movie in the 80s.

I think some people complained that Rorschach was the only reason to watch it, and that he "stole the show." I can almost agree with that, but the movie is so rich that I can find many other reasons to watch it again. He does have some of the best lines in the movie (some of the best ever), and is one of the most interesting characters I've ever seen. This is a performance that rivals Ledger's Joker...perhaps even more engrossing and real. I think I laughed after he said "I'm not locked in here with you, you're all locked in here with me" because it was so fucking awesome. If something is unbelievably awesome to me, my first reaction is to laugh, but after that line I actually had to sit back to take in exactly how awesome it really was. I can already tell that Jackie Earl Haley's performance as Rorschach will be my favorite this year, just like Ledger's was for me last year. It sucks that it's these kinds of movies that affect me more than others...but I think they're very good movies in general...and I don't see too many movies in theatres anyway (that reminds me, there are at least two movies coming out this year that I really want to see...one being Inglorious Basterds). The only thing that threw me off with Rorschach was his mask that constantly changes appearance. In the book, the mask is a different pattern in every panel, which I thought was just a visual trick to imply how unstable he is...but apparently the book explains it in great detail later on.

That's another thing the movie misses out on. While it uses Rorschach's journal as voice-over narration (works surprisingly well) there are other things like Nite Owl's autobiography at the beginning of certain chapters that you simply couldn't put in a movie. I guess having the book in your lap and reading at your own pace helps you experience the story in much greater depth, on a more intimate level...and I liked reading it slightly more although I really appreciated the movie as well.

I'm not gonna say one format is better than the other in this case. And I'm definitely not going to say you have to read the book to enjoy the movie...although it helps. If you like movies and you don't usually read graphic novels or books, just see the movie...you aren't required to read it. But if you simply like great fiction...read the book and see the movie.

Even if you end up hating the movie, you probably won't see another like it in a long, long time.

Although anyone who was planning to see the movie has most likely already done so. If you haven't, I would have to agree with Ebert and say that this is one movie you shouldn't experience for the first time on DVD...see it in the theatre first, if you are able.

This has never happened, but I just tried writing a comment on Andrew's lj that apparently was too long. Evidently, the character limit for comments is 4300...this was like 4413 I think...so I gotta make it its own post. Andrew's probably the only one who still reads this anyway, so read away:

Green Day is about as immature as Britney Spears, etc. I never liked them, but I noticed they got more popular when they started dumbing down their lyrics even more...and wearing eyeliner of course. If you need an example of how immature they are, just listen to the lyrics of that song American Idiot. It sounds like the shit every 13 year old was saying once they got their hands on a NOFX cd.

Today with people around my age, the term "like" in terms of music is even more vague. I don't know what it is with people ironically embracing certain music. People think it's funny to say "I like Foghat" or something, and might even go as far as to wear one of their shirts. I think I told you this before but once I went into Record Heaven in Griffin wearing my Iron Maiden shirt. The guy that works there has always been a douchebag, but most of the time he doesn't say shit. But that time he was like "nice shirt, are you wearing that as a joke or something?" He still seemed unconvinced when I told him I wasn't. Pretty pricey for a joke I think. I could see why he would assume that, actually that's probably the first thing I would have thought too, and that sucks.

I judge people based on their musical tastes too, I hate that I do that but it's involuntary...I really can't help it. I also hate it when people take taste too seriously though. When I was writing reviews I got a lot of that . So many people who seem to owe their whole lives to music, when they didn't make any of their own. I'm not saying you should make music to be able to enjoy it, but these people would invite friends over to drink and just sit in the living room listening to an album all the way through, enjoying it passively...I can't seem to enjoy anything passively, which is probably why I first decided to get a guitar. Things like that made me realize it wasn't for me. I didn't feel like talking about music all the time and dissecting it. It's way too subjective for that. No one's right, and no one is ever going to have my exact tastes and sometimes it's hard for me to accept that. It's like what I call the "Seinfeld syndrome" (actually I just made that up). But it's basically what comes from taking other people's taste into account, like an episode where Jerry feels conflicted about dating a girl just because she likes a Dockers commercial that he finds incredibly stupid.

And now that we have MySpace, and the internet in general, you'll find more and more people defining their tastes with tools like that. Music is popular because it's on the radio, and it's on the radio because it's popular. People like the music on the radio not necessarily because they like the music, but because they like the radio. If they were more specific about their tastes, they wouldn't just listen to songs that were picked for them. The same phenomenon happens with MySpace. People may not necessarily like the Flaming Lips, Wolf Parade, Muse, etc. they probably just like MySpace and will accept any music MySpace reccommends for them. Because it's in their face, they don't have to do any extra searching, if they liked music in general more they would be out searching for it themselves. This is apparent when someone predominantly likes one type of music, like country...probably because their parents would always play a country station while driving them around. They don't expose themselves to music, they wait for it to be exposed to them, so then they might like country as well as some strange aberration from their usual taste like Outkast or something simply because a relative introduced it to them at one point in time.

I guess I'm just saying we're probably different from most people we know because we seem to actively search for music all the time. Other people just live their lives, and whatever music comes along will satisfy them because it becomes their soundtrack. I'm just not satisfied with everything that comes along, and more recently I'm not even satisfied with what used to satisfy me, or the new stuff I try to discover.

In other news, Ebert gave the Watchmen movie 4 out of 4. I haven't seen it yet, because I just found the book again and want to read through it before seeing the movie. Just because the author says he disapproves of having it adapted into a movie because there are things that can be done with graphic novels that can't be done with film.

IN ADDITION:

To be fair, I'm aware that people can certainly enjoy the more "immature" music genuinely and not ironically. I never understood this really until a few years ago...when a very mature friend of mine would constantly listen to stupid stupid music. I could have judged her, but I didn't. She definitely found the humor in the music, but she still listened and enjoyed...I guess it just put her in a good mood...and in most cases she could at least find it danceable. That's another thing that separates me from many other people. I don't dance, so that limits my enjoyment of certain music...unless I'm really drunk, but that never happens anymore so...

Maybe I just need to drink more to get enjoyment out of music again. I also made way more music myself when I was drinking steadily.

I rarely watch TV these days, but when I do it's usually only [adult swim] because it's great late-night TV and I like to fall asleep to it. It's even easier than falling asleep to music. Most of the shows on there I can at least tolerate (when it's not anime of course), but I usually dread when they play 2 or more episodes of Family Guy in a row. I've never been a fan of the show, but I've seen two of the newer (I'm assuming, anyway) episodes and I thought they were pretty decent. This is a strange word choice, but I'd go as far as saying that from what I saw, the show's getting "classier." Family Guy episodes have always seemed like a tug-of-war between trying too hard and not trying at all. They always seemed like they were severely lacking in focus or direction (and yea, that is important to me...I'm not the kinda person to laugh at non-sequiturs and giggle about how "random" things are). I guess I could play devil's advocate and say that since the story of the show takes a backseat to the constant flashbacks and sidetracks, it's presented in a very non-linear manner...almost qualifying it as surreal humor, which is something I love. But that's being as nice as I possibly can about it. These newer episodes definitely had more focus, and I was more engaged in what was actually going on. There were far fewer (if any) jokes that relied heavily on pop-culture references. That's a good thing because, well...think about it: Monty Python has always been funny to Americans, even though some of the material had to do with British popular culture and current events. It was great because you didn't have to understand all the references to find it funny. I can think of one example in a past Family Guy episode...they were pointing out the fact that so many Harrison Ford movies involve his character running around saying "where the hell is my family!?" to everyone...or something like that. That's one of those "it's funny because it's true!" jokes, and those usually suck because comedy shouldn't always rely solely on the audience's recognition of or relation to things. Mediocre comedians do this a lot too, and you can tell when you hear more applause than laughter. It's like some comedians only want people to agree with them, and that's when the audience is more likely to clap than laugh out loud. And it's easier to get people to like you if they can relate and agree with what you're saying, and therefore should be less satisfying and less admirable. It's far more difficult to have people disagree with you but laugh anyway. Ray Romano and Jerry Seinfeld both had jokes about the difficulty in finding the right water temperature while taking a shower. I thought both of these were funny, even though I hate Ray Romano's show and love Seinfeld's show more than his stand-up. So I started thinking "is this only funny because I can relate to it? I know exactly what they're talking about, and I share their frustration...but is that the only payoff here? Would I think it was funny if I was totally satisfied with my showering experiences?" Probably not, and therein lies the weakness of jokes that rely heavily on recognition.

Demetri Martin's Important Things is alright...I kinda have mixed feelings about it. I love Demetri Martin most of the time, but I was wondering if venturing into more sketch-oriented stuff was the right move for him. I never should have doubted his versatility, though. He's great on many different levels. Some of the between-sketch jokes fall flat compared to the pre-filmed segments and his earlier stand-up work. Yet, the fact that the show has already featured H. Jon Benjamin several times, as well as Slovin and Allen and David Cross certainly doesn't hurt it at all. And I'm glad Comedy Central is giving it a chance because it'll help counter all the blue-collar shit they show all the time. And earlier while I was watching the show, I thought "this is the polar opposite of Mind of Mencia," and that is some damn high praise. Well, Tim and Eric's Awesome Show is probably more opposite, but Important Things is probably as different as Comedy Central will allow. Also, I haven't heard anything about Chocolate News recently so hopefully they abandoned that shit and have the brains to never look back. I mean really...David Alan Grier is one of the least black black guys that can still fool people into thinking he's black as hell. I say that because I once saw him on Tom Green's internet show playing an acoustic guitar and singing some Dave Matthews shit, and he wasn't doing it in a satirical way at all. In fact, I think it was a song he wrote himself...that's too white, even for me.

Tim and Eric gets better and better every season. Theirs is one of the most polarizing shows ever. So many people seem to think they're responsible for "ruining adult swim," or "killing comedy," while people like me love the show probably a little too much. I've always thought Bob Odenkirk was a genius, but I now regard him as a god for discovering these sick fucks. Sometimes I think adult swim tries to push them to make their show "weirder" than they would have originally intended. I admit that there is usually one or two things each episode that I don't totally "get," but even then I'm still laughing my ass off. However, the 15 minute time slot probably encourages them to have a higher-than-usual concentration of insanity in each episode. The two most recent episodes are probably the best so far, in my opinion. They do shit that NOONE else could pull off. Tim and Eric find comedy in everything imaginable.