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I can’t believe I watched this whole thing twice just so I could see what happens if I made the other choice. via

There was a time when I absolutely loved Jonatha Brooke’s music. I listen to those songs now, and I just don’t hear them the same anymore for some reason.

And the new album, Back in the Circus ….. Well, yeah. That’s too bad. Although “Better After All” does kind of grab me. I think it’s just a few oddly specific phrases more than anything. “Less Than Love” is kind of cool too, but it feels like it could have been so much more.

She’s coming to concert in Southern California in April. I saw her once before, and she’s great live. Good crowd interaction, it could be fun. I’m tempted to check it out, but I don’t know. I may have changed too much. It’s sad.

Where’s the new music that’s going to grab my soul? I’m so ready for something to grab me (as I listen to the same songs over and over again on my iPod because radio is so… well, just so)

You know I’ve heard English is a confusing language to try to learn, but I had No Idea (MP3 File)

Via

For the past two weeks, I’ve been trapped inside a lot, so this weekend, I was pretty eager to get out and get some fresh air.

With that in mind, I grabbed my camera and headed off to Topanga Canyon. Except, I got tired of driving well before getting to Topanga Canyon (probably had something to do with losing PCH around Wilshire and driving around in circles trying the pick it up again). So, when I saw the turn off to Temescal Canyon, I was like OK — Good Enough.

It’s a nice park with plenty of hiking trails. I was looking for something with a mild gain, but for some reason, when I saw a trail leading up with a bunch of stair carved into the dirt, I figured yep — this is for me.

This hill started out steep, and very quickly got worse and worse and worse. Before long, I swear the incline must have been about 180 degrees. Of course I realize that 180 degrees would normally be perfectly flat, but in this case, I’m using that to indicate a grade that is 2 times steeper than a 90 degree, perfectly vertical wall. What can I say? Euclidean Geometry completely falls apart in the Santa Monica mountains. It’s weird.

So, before too long I was panting and wheezing and so red and sweaty, I think I may have started bleeding from my eyeballs for a minute there. It probably would have been a fantastic workout if I didn’t ruin it by going directly for a giant piece of the most decadent chocolate cake imaginable afterwards. Seriously, each forkful of this delicious treat would keep an African village AND Sally Struthers fat and healthy for like a month. Mmmmmm.

So, I took some photos. They’re OK, but probably not worth the $60 I’m going to end up paying for them after taking care of the parking ticket I got — a ticket which I got because the sign explaining where and how to pay was (I would argue) deliberately invisible in this place.

Now I’m thinking it’s nap time — or maybe time for more cake.

Citizen Kubrick is a fascinating look into Stanley Kubrick’s home. He was quite the hoarder, and Jon Ronson spends some time describing the meticulously archived and cataloged documents he found when invited to visit Kubrick’s home. More interesting than that description might sound. Via

What do you suppose is worse?

1. The fact that my dentist accidentally left a stitch in today.
2. The fact that I accidentally pulled it slightly out before I realized what was happening
3. The fact that I deliberately pulled it about half way out before realizing that it really didn’t want to come out
4. The fact that I went for my leather man knife with the intent of finishing the job before realizing it might be better to ring my dentist up tomorrow and let them do it

Yep, with cool headed thinking like that, it’s clear that I should have been a doctor.

Who knew Legos could be so thrilling?

Requires Quicktime. If you don’t have broadband or a LOT of free time, seriously don’t bother.

Kind of an interesting analysis of Eye Placement in Paintings. It seems to be more uniform than I would have suspected though I can’t speak to the quality of their sample set or their math for that matter.

When I saw The Latest Episode of Madness Combat, I thought it was a continuation of this series.

Boy is my face red to realize there were two series where simple animations kicked some major league booty. Also, what’s with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference in the middle of that thing? Improbability Drive indeed! Maybe I should go get a towel. You know — just in case.

It turns out there’s a weird convergence of planets going on right now. If you time it right, you can see Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury with the naked eye. That won’t happen again for more than 30 years. I may need to take a trip into the desert next weekend and do a little star planet gazing. More Info

By the way, if anybody has any pointers on how to go into the desert without you know dieing, that would be great. Just drop me a comment or something.