Well, it was catchy the first three times

I already blew the (instantly uber-hot) Cee-Lo track "Fuck You" for myself by listening to it like five times today. Now it's gonna get played everywhere by everyone for the next six months and it's gonna drive me nuts. Why did I do that to myself?

Disable Hotkey

If you've been wondering, as undoubtedly many of you have, when I will finally accept that for all it's time-saving convenience, and despite the (undeniable, surely, and inherent) cool factor enjoyed by the practitioner in its casual utilization, it is not a good feature if it causes even the rarest of closings of a table wherein lie the nuts (or the near nuts, or, really, any hand of near any value), wonder no more. I have now disabled the TableNinja (TM, I'm sure) one click table close feature. Not without sadness, but with, barring the unforeseen, a strong sense of determination towards finality.

Reason To Believe

Way back in the day, I used to always forget that the song 'Reason To Believe' is on Nebraska. I think it just seemed too upbeat to me to fit on that record. For some reason I never really gave the words enough consideration to realize that it's one of Springsteen's darkest songs. Once I did, the upbeat, practically jaunty, vibe just drove his point home all the more. Taken in context, the 'people find some reason to believe' line (which, superficially, sounds positive) is practically spiteful. The song is hopeless (at best), sarcastic and bitter, misanthropic even (at worst). If it belongs on any album (which it does, because it's great, but which I wish it didn't, cause it's depressing) Nebraska's the one. According to biographers, Springsteen was in a fairly significant depression when he wrote and recorded these songs (by himself, cut off from his usual musical co-conspirators). Whatever. I guess it's his blue period, as it were.

Anyway, I was thinking about that song (which I still, years after letting its meaning sink in, have a love/hate relationship with) because of this one verse:

"Take a baby to the river, Kyle William they called him
Wash the baby in the water, take away little Kyle's sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord won't you tell us, tell us what does it mean
Still at the end of every hard earned day people find some reason to believe"

I remember, as a teenager in my Toyota Supra, the moment I realized it's Kyle William in the whitewash shotgun shack too. Heavy, man!


The last two times I've been in church, both in the past month, have been for a baptism and a funeral. I feel kinda messed up by my Dad's death. And tho it wasn't my son being baptized, he's of that age. I feel this lyric has come to life for me, in ways that I couldn't have imagined in the Supra. If only the thing had a shred of hope to it.

Preview Review V

Inception is a stunner, by the way. If you haven’t seen it, do.


WALL STREET. Man, Michael Douglas is looking a lot like Kirk. I guess it makes sense, you know, genetically speaking. But sometimes it’s like spitting image material. Overall this will probably be a fun movie, although the time that Oliver Stone was considered an ‘important’ director seems long gone. From the looks (or sounds) of the trailer, this will be absolutely riddled with clichéd dialogue. But you know, maybe that’s what these people actually talk like. Upside Score (US) 5. Secret Score (SS) 7.

TRON. I didn’t see the original, and maybe if I did this would be more exciting. Also, maybe the secret score might be lower, cause I might have had more than the vaguest sense of what’s going on. I mean, I know he enters a video game or whatever, but that’s about it. Still, looks good, as far as movies I’m not that interested in go. US 5. SS 8.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK. Having been burned a few times now in these Preview Reviews, I am developing a good sense for when the preview will actually be better than the movie (I’m looking at you, Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood). And this preview was almost functional as a self-contained ‘story of Facebook’. It did make the movie look quite good, but I’m suspicious that the picture proper will disappoint. Still I remain, always, hopeful. US 7.5. SS 5.

DUE DATE. On paper, it’s can’t miss. Robert Downey Jr and Zach G from the Hangover in a road comedy. On film, it sadly looks likely to miss. Maybe everything’s much funnier in context. US 3. SS 3.

THE TOWN. How does Ben Affleck not suck? Doesn’t it really seem like he should suck? Goes to show you never can tell, I guess. US 7. SS 5.