i'm having a hard time being productive at work today. it's monday, i'm exhausted from my study-free weekend (school's out, yay!), and i'd much rather be preparing for christmas and new year's than tracking revenue. needless to say, i've been the fish-eyed web-surfer today, and satan's laundromat has been my savior. it's a blog of some really terrific photos of new york. there's a photo taken in my town (carroll gardens) that i can't place for the life of me. web diversions, they're a good thing.

this site really has me wishing i had bought one of those yaschika cameras when they were mad cheap years ago so i could take a stab at photography. i would like to have more art and photography on my walls, but i just can't afford to pay for original stuff or good cindy sherman prints.

my cat is absolutely terrified by the street cleaner that goes down our block a few times a week. the vehicle makes this kind of low vibrating noise as it eases down the road at like, 5 mph, so there is a bit of a rumbling in the bedroom when it's outside. but dude, if you were a cat, and you spent 24 hours a day in the same relatively small area, i would think certain things wouldn't surprise you after a while. perhaps you'd come to certain conclusions, things like "the street cleaner is not going to eat me" and "the vacuum cleaner is not going to eat me" and "i am never in any sort of danger at all, i always have food, water, and comfortable furniture to sleep on, so i should stop being such a fraidy cat". this just will not do for no-alarms-and-no-surprises larry, good thing she's the cutest cat in the world. :)

in case you're wondering, even when you're older, there's nothing that brings out the hardcore procrastination techniques like having to study for a final.

as someone who plays videogames occasionally (like when it's cold and snowy outside) i often disagree with a lot of discussions about violence in games. although i tend to not play violent games (i prefer games like zelda where you figure out riddle after riddle), i don't think shooting games like doom or halo are going to give birth to a generation of sharpshooting trenchcoat mafiosos. the fun in those games is more of the have-fun-while-you-kick-your-friend's-ass variety. and, i was a huge fan of the controversial grand theft auto 3. it was simply an amazingly crafted piece of work, not unlike the sopranos, which is also noticeably violent. as long as this stuff is kept out of kids' hands, i don't have a problem with it.

however, the producers of grand theft auto have just released a new title that severely crosses lines of decency for any medium; manhunt. in manhunt, you play the part of a character that is for some reason or another coerced by a snuff-film maker into performing a series of very very sadistic murders for his videos. there is a six minute video of footage from the game circulating on the net now which i will not link to, because the visuals are simply too deranged. if grand theft auto is the sopranos, manhunt is faces of death. we're talking disemboweling individuals with a chainsaw here.

where's the fun in that?

so, the foo fighters have done a cover of prince's "darlin' nikki", and i really don't know what to think about it. well, first off, prince really wailed pretty well on this song, and dave grohl just can't cut it. i really can't believe my parents let me listen to lyrics like this when i was was nine, but hey, i turned out ok. (this song, by the way, was a huge focus of tipper gore's pmrc campaign in the 80's)

it's a shame what's happened to prince though. in the 80's he was so darn prolific he was giving away amazing songs to other artists; vanity (and appolonia) 6, the time, sinead o'connor, the bangles, sheila e. now he can't seem to release anything all that memorable.

this also seems to have happened to a lot of bands since the 90's, with the popularity of import singles and b-sides increasing. look at radiohead, some of their best stuff has been hidden away on b-sides that the average person will never hear. now with this new record they just sound tired and going-through-the-motions-ish. the same could be said for oasis and smashing pumpkins.

so the moral of the story is, if you're on a roll, be patient young jedi!

hey, wait a sec, what's the mary jane girls' "in my house" doing on that pmrc list?

good news everybody, new wilco in the spring!

i also don't understand why companies hold back on vpn. this is basically the jist of my story.

them: "we're going to need you to do some testing for us late at night and on the weekends to ensure the conversion goes well. here's your laptop, beeper, blah blah blah"
me: "ok, i have dsl at home, so this won't be too bad"
them: "well, actually, you'll have to dial in. we wont' be able to give you vpn"
me: "uh, but i have dsl, how can i do anything over a 56k connection"
them: "well, you can check your e-mail"
me: "but receiving and sending attachments is going to take forever, not to mention everything else that i'll need to do"
them: "...."
me: "so, basically, the laptop is worthless, and i'm going to have to come in on weekends now"
them: "..."