Hello World

Happy new year, internet pals.

Okay, I wrote some disjointed stuff about tonight's season-ending episode of Lost. ( Let the spoilers begin. )

So what did you guys think?

Lost spoilers... ( now )

So those are my rambling, disconnected thoughts on tonight's episode. What did you guys think?

Oh man you guys, what the F happened on Lost last night? I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT.

( spoilage ho )

Lost!

( Lost! Spoilers! )

It's been a while, friends. I've been around, reading the internet, but I think my muse must have been doing Pilates or something for the last month or two.

So what have I been up to? Nothing really. Working a lot, watching a lot of Battlestar Galactica, running a pathetically-small amount three times a week, and socializing occasionally. But I know you've come to depend on me for inane and shallow opinions about Top Chef and Lost, so here we go.

Top Chef:

Sad to see Fabio go, but he's clearly going to be fine. He'll shamelessly market himself based on his heartwarming run here (I hear he's already got a tv show in the works). So don't worry about him. Now let's discuss the contestants still in play.

Carla. Wow. The producers did a good job of portraying her as a lightweight (a quirky caterer with crazy eyes) early on, but it's clear that Carla is actually a very good chef. I still don't see her winning it all, but I've been wrong about her before and nothing would surprise me at this point.

Hosea, meanwhile, has had the opposite journey. He started out looking like a serious contender, but up until last week he'd been on a streak of mediocrity that made him look pretty bad (more creative editing, perhaps). Considering how poorly he's done on most seafood challenges (all while he's a chef at a seafood restaurant), he hasn't comported himself too well. But he has made it to the finals, so I guess you can't completely count him out. (Sidenote: the way he and Leah acted was sooooo annoying. You're adults, stop acting like middle schoolers. You both have people at home who are going to see this--be responsible and cheat on them after the cameras are off.)

Obviously I've got my money on Stefan. He is an arrogant foreigner, that's true, but arrogance doesn't matter as long as you put out great food. He hasn't looked too great for the last couple of weeks, but I think that's as much about how he's been edited as about what he's actually done. For example, you think he was the only chef to take a smoke break last week? I don't. I suspect it's a combination of Stefan dialing it down a bit, just trying to get by without taking any risks, and a need for Bravo to create drama (and judging by the promos for the finals next week, they aren't planning on abandoning that strategy anytime soon). But when it comes down to it, he's been the best chef in just about every challenge, and I think he'll rise to the occasion next week.

Predicted finish:
1. Stefan
2. Carla
3. Hosea

On to Lost:

I'm not sure what to say. I haven't written anything about it all season, I don't think, so way too much has happened to sum up here. Basically, though, I think this season has been really, really strong. It hasn't always made much sense (why do they have to reenact the flight that got them there in the first place, other than that the weird British lady said so? And why is it good enough to kind of reenact it, but not exactly?) but it has been riveting television. What I really like is that they have clearly decided to reward people who have been obsessively watching from the beginning--at this point, they're not picking up new viewers, so they can stuff the last two seasons with callbacks to characters and events only Lostpedia regulars will remember.

Speaking of which (and not at all germane to this season's episodes), I just want to say that I don't think the show will ever be more of a revelation than it was at the end of Season 4, when we learned that those crazy bear cages (the setting for a number of truly boring episodes) were actually used to train polar bears to turn the wheel and move the Island. That was so awesome (and so understated--nobody on the show even hinted at it). Still, without approaching that particular moment, this season has been pretty great.

Watching each week's new episode has been really enjoyable, is what I'm saying (although I mourn the tragic loss of Charlotte, who was the smokin'est cultural anthropologist to ever suffer from Time Sickness). I'm excited to find out more about what the hell this show is about (although I also kind of dread the numerous reveals of who is related to whom, which appears likely to be a dominant theme going forward).

And this may be kind of dumb, but I am REALLY looking forward to buying the box set once it's complete, and watching the entire thing all over again.

Predictions:
1. We'll be seeing Charlie again (Charlie Pace, I mean--although I suspect we'll be seeing more of the other Charlies as well)
2. Ben did not kill Penny last week. He tried to, but she and/or Desmond fought him off. Now Desmond knows that Penny won't be safe until Ben is dead, so he's gonna sail back to the Island to fight it out. They'll both die.
3. Kate is totally preggers. Sawyer is going to be super pissed when he finds out.
4. Dead or alive, Locke will continue to be an overconfident moron whose legs keep getting hurt. Seriously, I'm getting sick of watching everybody manipulate this guy--and I wish he would just stay in that coffin.
5. Charlotte will come back to life and time-jump to my apartment and marry me. I'll let her have cake before dinner if she wants.

I guess those predictions are probably all wrong, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Time, that is, to change every single password I use. I've been stuck on some variant of the same one since... holy crap. 1996 or so. I have changed it to some degree over that time but it's basically still the same. Well it's time for me to move onto a password that I have never typed into Pine or ICQ.

My plan is to adopt some kind of simple (yet robust) system so that every website has its own unique password, based on some universal root. I'm pretty sure I've read about such frameworks, but a rudimentary websearch isn't coming up with anything. Do any of the nerds out there have a tip?

As for the basic root... I'm going to make sure to stay away from any of the top 500 worst passwords. I'm thinking about my general interests for the starting point. How about "t0Pch3f_harold4pres"? Or "encin0mannum1fan"? Okay, last possibility: "mac&cheese4breakfast".

Am eager for suggestions from the peanut gallery.

2008 was pretty eventful. I'm rooting for 2009 to be even eventfuller. In a good way.

Merry New Year, everybody!

I have been working a lot. That looks to be the situation for the foreseeable future. It is good (I probably won't get fired!) and bad (I'm at work all the time!). After a couple more hours of working I think I may have the rest of the weekend off. That would be quite nice.

Lost is back on tv next month. Top Chef has been good lately. I want to see Schenecdoche, NY, and some other movies. I think Valkyrie ("WE HAVE TO KILL HITLER") looks horrible. I'm almost done watching The Wire, sadly. It is in fact a great show and if you haven't seen it you should see it.

That is what is up.

Update: I spoke too soon. Working all day tomorrow.

1.
Why do cheap optical mice have a weird thing where the cursor starts moving of its own accord, when the mouse is just sitting there doing nothing? I've also noticed this with those little navigation nubs some laptops have. Anyway, it makes me angry.

2.
Speaking of laptops, check out this problem: every time I reboot my laptop, it seems to have cleared all of the firefox cookies. I have to log back in to every site I use, even those I have set to just stay logged in (including, but not limited to livejournal). So every time I log into my bank account, I have to jump through the extra hoops they set up for computers they don't recognize.

I've checked the usual suspects (i.e., Firefox isn't set to clear its cache or cookies every time I run it, or anything--it accepts all cookies, including 3rd-party cookies, and keeps them til they expire) but no go.

For what it's worth, I am running Vista. Thoughts, nerds?

3.
Yesterday, "Black Friday", I went to both the Apple store and the Verizon Wireless store. The Apple store was very busy, but we knew what we wanted to buy and were out of there in about 15 minutes. The Verizon Wireless store was half-empty, but although we also knew what we wanted to buy there it took an hour and a half to get it.

What's up with that?

Oh. I'm thankful for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me in this special season.

Somehow I managed to pass. I'm a lawyer. Soon, I will be a lawyer who has had a bunch of drinks.

I walked the streets with thousands of ecstatic citizens last night. If you ever get a chance to do that, I suggest you go for it.

So yeah. It actually happened. Now we can start working on convincing California to treat everyone (not just chickens) with respect and dignity.

Name an album that blew your mind the instant you started to listen to it.

I'll start: "Tha Carter III" by Lil Wayne, who is a tiny genius. "3 Peat" was the first Lil Wayne song I ever listened to (how I got that far in my life without hearing anything of his I do not know). I even discovered the album late--I had heard about it all last spring, but didn't buy it until mid-summer. That track was put first on the album because it is such a revelation--a slow-developing mad genius announcing his arrival on the world stage. It's everything about Lil Wayne--his weird voice and delivery, his obsession with sex, his "I almost died" story, his giddy joy of language, and his over-the-top caricature of hip-hop swagger--concentrated into just a few great minutes.

There are a bunch of excellent songs on the album--"Got Money", "Mr. Carter", "Playin With Fire", "Let the Beat Build", and "I'm Me" are my other faves--but "3 Peat" is a tour de force. The first 12 minutes (the first 4 tracks) of "Tha Carter III" are basically irresistable. If that had been the only thing Lil Wayne ever did, it would have been enough.* And that's why this album completely rules.

Other nominations:
Flaming Lips: "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" ("Fight Test" is a goddamn awesome song, and the next two tracks are pretty good too.)
Daft Punk: "Discovery" (after "One More Time", "Aerodynamic", "Digital Love" you're like, who are these guys? I'm enjoying this! And then BAM--"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" kicks in and your brain melts into a shallow pool of awesome.)
Old 97's: "Satellite Rides" (From the first song to the last, "Satellite Rides" is basically the best album anyone has ever made. If you haven't heard it, I want to punch you in the face. GO GET IT AND LISTEN TO IT YOU LUCKY BASTARD.)

* Next year in Jerusalem.

Autumn is the best, guys. Totally the best.

Went to a costume store for a halloween outfit. Found it so pathetic/depressing that I decided to get the hell out of there.

I'm going to be Andy Bernard this year. I wonder if anyone will get it. Maybe if I keep mentioning Cornell.

HEY NEW YORK SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND.

Again, I'm not saying anything. Just posting a video.

I'm not saying anything here. I'm just mindlessly posting a video about which I have no opinion.