randomness personified

resources for the anally retentive blogger

Reger.com bills itself as a site promoting "activity-specific web logging." They're not blogs, per se. They're literally logs with some pre-formatted charts. They've even created some handy templates for you to use. Here are some of my favorites and their descriptions. These are entirely serious. There are even specific fields in each template suited for specific tracking.

Aircraft Spotting Log - Use this log to track all of the aircraft you spot.

Sex Log - Ah, sex. You've gotta love it. So keep track of it. Which partners are the most passionate? Who usually initiates? How many orgasms do you have? Do you have more orgasms when you initiate? Dig into your sex life with the Sex Log.

Pot Log - Keep track of your pot smoking with this log.

Bowel Movement Log - You can tell a lot from your bowel movements. Just ask a doctor. Better yet, log your bowel movements for a while and then take the charts and graphs to your doctor. The Bowel Log allows you to keep track of color, consistency and other fields.

(I KNOW you want to click that link up there. Go ahead.)

Dumpster Diving Log - Record the best places to go dumpster diving. Note trends in trash freshness. Guage (sic) security concerns.

all the news that's fit for randomness

You may recall that I watched untold hours of speechmaking during the Democratic National Convention. You may wonder if I'm watching any of the RNC just to see what the opposition is up to. Nope. They take my blood pressure every day at the hospital (yes, I'm still going to the hospital daily). If I were to watch even a minute of their spinning, inappropriate 9/11 references and flat-out lies my favorite nurse would certainly see the results.

Nope. All of my coverage is going to come from Michael Moore's column in USA Today (you should also check out the bizarre incident between he and McCain last night. Continue to watch the interviews of delegates after the speech clip. The ignorance is mind-boggling.) and Jon Stewart.

media overload

Thanks to my absurd buying habits and swell gifts while I was in the hospital I have a horrible backload of things to listen to/watch/read. I know. I know. It's not really a "problem" per se. It's just annoying. Here's what I have in process or needing processing.

CDs
Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts... Now
Elvis Costello - Almost Blue (Rhino 2 disc re-issue)
Elvis Costello - Goodbye Cruel World (Rhino 2 disc re-issue)
Elvis Costello - Kojak Variety (Rhino 2 disc re-issue)
Drive-by Truckers - The Dirty South
Bjork - Medulla
Various Artists - Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo (2 discs)
David Garza - A Strange Mess of Flowers (4 CD/1 DVD box set)

DVDs
The Station Agent
Purple Rain: 20th Anniverary Edition (I'm finished with the damn good special features disc)
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary

Netflix
My Voyage to Italy
Good Bye, Lenin!
Nights of Cabiria

Books
A gigantic stack at my bedside

Someday I'll slog through it all...

dining with the devil

I once gladly shook the hand of Zell Miller. Once I even voted for him. That was a long time ago and he was an entirely different man. Now as a zealous, lame-duck senator he is a Democrat in name only. The transformation is jarring and frightening. Watch this video. I find the tenacity with which he attacks the GOP and Bush the Elder to be inspiring. Now he simply makes my skin crawl.

Most of my readers are in Georgia, a very solid red state. Is this even being discussed there or has he become some sort of folk hero? He was once called Zig Zag Zell for wavering on positions when he was the governor. If they only knew...

randomness song of the week - 082904

In response to the rousing success of the mixtape project I've decided to do a little something weekly. Every Sunday I'll post the randomness song of the week. It might be new, it might be old. You might love it, you might hate it. For that matter, I might hate it. I'll simply post the song information and let you have at it.

All you crazy kids have to do is download the track and post something in the comments about what you thought of it. You must, however, post a comment if you download it. Them's the rules. I'll chime in with my thoughts each Friday. Sound like fun?

randomness song of the week - 082904

"The Man Who Loved Life" by The Jayhawks. From the album The Sound of Lies (1997)

(right-click, save target as)

a grain of truth

"You can't claim you're for peace unless you're willing to disturb it."

Bill Maher is and always will be a genius. I'm surprised that the media hasn't started a frenzy over last night's episode of Real Time. Bill urged the protesters next week to, well, riot. Yes. He thinks they should riot. It's called satire, people, but methinks that there's a grain of truth in it somewhere.

You can watch it here (Warning: in Real format and a bit sluggish to load. Highly worth it, though.)

blue light special

You know, I really like that tune by the Ravonettes that Kmart is using in their new commercial that I can't seem to escape. The only problem is that I really liked The Ravonettes a lot more in the '80s when they were called The Jesus and Mary Chain. I mean, seriously. That song's the most blatent rip-off ever.

thankfully uncommon

One of the finest pieces in A Case for Song was Mr. Goldstein's deconstruction of Pulp's "Common People". Well, he's been outdone. Bill Shatner's deconstruction of the Britrock classic (with a little help from Ben Folds) sounds like a complete spoken-word nightmare. Take a listen.

Oh, and send me more A Case For Song pieces!!!!!

i hear the train a comin'

The Johnny and June auction at Sotheby's isn't open until the week after next. However, the American Gas Association has managed to buy their way into hosting a GOP party inside the auction house. Some are planning a protest. Sounds like a great idea to me.

As I've mentioned here before, I'd love to buy something from the auction. Just anything, really. While I'd love a nice item like this, something insane like this or something jaw-dropping like this, I'll probably have to settle for trying to win something like this.

say it ain't so

A couple of days ago I was amused by a Page Six blind item that Gawker picked up on regarding a Hollywood starlet who has developed a teensy little crack habit. A few days later people seem to think they have the answer.

MY BELOVED PARKER?! No. I'm refusing to believe it. It can't be.

Sh*t. All of the clues do make sense. If it is true I'll be the first to put the blame squarely on that unclean young man she's partnered with. He was a fine fella in the Whiskeytown days but now he's hooking angels on the rock.

It cuts like a knife, Ryan. It cuts like a knife...

rock of aged

First, join me in raising a glass to Elvis Costello in honor of today being his fiftieth birthday. No longer the angry youth, I guess.

Second, go here and listen to the new r.e.m. single "Leaving New York." I like it muchly. The layered Stipe vocals and the Pete Rickenbacker chime are back. None of that can be bad. A lot of people are comparing it to "Drive" which I don't hear at all. Maybe "Find The River?"

Addendum: The track listing for Elvis' new album, "The Delivery Man," was released today. It's pretty disappointing, actually, for hardcore fans.

The new album is set for release on Tuesday, September 21. The list of songs:

1. Button My Lip
2. Country Darkness
3. There's A Story In Your Voice (featuring Lucinda Williams)
4. Either Side Of The Same Town
5. Bedlam
6. The Delivery Man
7. Monkey To Man
8. Nothing Clings Like Ivy (featuring Emmylou Harris)
9. The Name Of This Thing Is Not Love
10. Heart Shaped Bruise (featuring Emmylou Harris)
11. Needle Time
12. The Judgement
13. The Scarlet Tide (featuring Emmylou Harris)

Tracks 3, 6, 7 and 10 are all songs that he's been playing on and off on tour for quite a few years. I'm thinking the first time I heard "Heart Shaped Bruise" was 1996. Track 4 was written for Howard Tate and has been a constant live show fixture for the past few tours. Track 12 was written for Solomon Burke and has also been featured at least the last six times I've seen him. Finally, track 13 was penned for the "Cold Mountain" soundtrack. Elvis has taken to playing it on ukelele ever since.

It's just frustrating to wait for a new album and have very little of it really be "new." Maybe I'm just jadedly deep in the Cult of Costello, though. One thing I am assured of, though, it'll be better than "North".

come along for the ride

I've been slightly disappointed with the last two Los Lobos records ("The Ride" and "Good Morning Aztlan") but that's perhaps just because I love the previous three ("This Time," "Colossal Head" and "Kiko") so much. Well, we wolves have mended fences now that I picked up a copy of their most recent EP.

"Ride This - The Covers EP" is a brilliant effort. It works on so many levels. It's a bit of a tip of the hat to the artists who collaborated with them on "The Ride" and, as the title implies, is composed of seven covers. The selection and the execution are both amazing. Choosing to cover Waits ("Jockey Full of Bourbon"), Costello ("Uncomplicated") or Thompson ("Shoot Out The Lights") may sound like odd choices for a Latino rock band but, man, do they smoke. The live take on the Blasters' classic "Marie, Marie" may be more obvious but is equally welcome. The only miss to me is when Cesar Rosas takes over the lead vocals for a shot at "It'll Never Be Over For Me," a soul ballad from '60s Latino rock icons Thee Midniters. But again, that may just be because I'm a David Hidalgo fan.

So in review, it's short. It's cheap. It's great. Go pick it up!

viva la revolution

I managed to make it in to see the reading of Steve Earle's play "Karla" on Sunday. It was a very powerful piece of work and the acting was simply phenomenal. It was, I guess, much more than I expected.

I also got to spend a few minutes with Steve to chat about his new album and radio show and whatnot. He bemoaned the fact that the NY Post gave his new album a four-star review ("I usually just try to piss 'em off") and told me that he's taping episodes of his Air America show in rapid succession before he sets off to tour in support of the new album.

More importantly his new album, "The Revolution Starts... Now" is released today. As politically charged and urgent as some of his past work has felt, this album is clearly born of frustration and rage. It's also damn brilliant.

yeah the revolution starts now
in your own backyard
in your own hometown
so what you doin' standin' around?
just follow your heart
the revolution starts now

-Yours for the motherfuckin' revolution,
Steve Earle

Fairview, Tennessee
May 2004

going mooobile

Landline phones are so 1980. As of tonight mine will be disconnected. The cell will be the only way to get me. If you have the home number but not the cell drop me a note and I'll get it to you. If you have neither and want the cell send me a note and tell me why you should have it. Creativity will be rewarded.

That is all.

a new attitude

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that I often get a determined New York attitude when I'm in the City. I simply abhore tourists and their gawking and dawdling and oohing and not knowing how to cross streets and the copious bad shorts. They also really, really stare at me and I don't think it's because I'm hot.

Well, guess what I just realized? This Thursday I have to go to a client site. Where might that client site be? Oh, Midtown. About four blocks from the GOP Hatefest. It ain't gonna be pretty, kids. It ain't gonna be pretty.

ADDENDUM: Clearly I'm retarded. I thought the convention started THIS week. It's next week. Whew.

not a swift one among them

I'm beginning to buckle with anger and frustration with all of the hand-wringing over Kerry's did-he-or-didn't-he save a life with his Swift boat leadership in Vietnam. Here are three facts that should open and close the discussion. Three facts that Kerry should be going nuts about rather than continuing to defend and try to describe his actions.

1. There's no longer any plausible denial. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are a shadowy Bush campaign creation.

2. Rove and his crew have been using this tactic forever. Watch this ad. Remember that? Look at the bewildered look on Bush's face. Now McCain hugs him. I don't know how he sleeps at night.

3. Um, last time I checked Bush opted out of Vietnam. Opted out of Vietnam, out of the Texas National Guard, out of serving his country. No URL on that. It's from the archives of WTF.

how'd she do that

Last night I was watching the last segment of the wonderful BBC documentary "Lonesome Highway" (thanks for the tip, Dennis) when the simply luscious Gillian Welch game onscreen performing "Time (the Revelator)." They then cut away to Gillian who said -

People come up to me all the time and tell me that my music makes them cry. I've learned to take it as a compliment.

It was at that precise moment that I realized that I was crying. No. I'm serious. My excuse is that I was extremely tired and that "Time" reminds me of a very specific moment in my life. Whatever the reason, though, it was pretty damn bizarre.

If you should have a spare six plus minutes do yourself a favor and watch the video for "Time (the Revelator)." Go here and click on the video link. For some reason both the video and Gillian leave me spellbound.

hurts so good

Hey, fellas do you "crave a decent bout of testicular pain, but have no-one to administer it to you?" If so BlueCaller has some fantastic suggestions for you in his fact-filled essay "12 Ways To Crush Your Own Testicles In Your Own Home."

This is apparently a real fetish. The mind boggles

(via memepool)

still on the case

I was revisiting A Case For Song the other day and realized that it was still getting hits and still getting comments (including some spam that I need to get rid of). I also remembered that there was some really brilliant stuff going on there and decided we need more.

So I'm officially opening the door for submissions. The rules, to review, are incredibly simple. Write a little piece, a little prose, a little essay, some scribbles, compose a diatribe, just write anything about a piece of music that means something to you. There are some great examples there to get your creative juices going.

If you've already written one it's time to write another. I've got three possibilities in mind for my second attempt. If you haven't written one yet, what the heck are you waiting for?!

E-mail them to me at mike at mikewolf dot net and I'll get them posted ASAP.

rust never sleeps

I know I've been awfully quiet since being released from the shackles of the hospital. Rest assured, though, it's not just here on randomness. I'm not saying much period. It's just that my new life of running around to various medical appointments has really been a drag. That and the fact that this new antibiotic may not kill my white blood cells but it does make me very, very sleepy. Between all this and working late it's been a bit of a drag.

So much so, in fact, that my shiny happy attitude that everyone in the medical profession seems legally obligated to comment upon is finally starting to wane. It's been a long haul and it just keeps getting longer. So instead of making my life and, by extension, randomness a litany of my foul attitude I choose to just shut up.

Perhaps this weekend will be better. Saturday I'm simply going to stay home and sleep and watch movies. If you need me that's just too bad. I won't be answering the phone. On Sunday I'm actually taking my little vacuum friend to Manhattan to see a reading of Steve Earle's play entitled "Karla." I'm treating myself and, damn it, I deserve it.

That doesn't mean I can't get behind this, though!! (Ed. Note - MRW abhores Star Trek. Don't believe him)

final countdown

Well, some people seem to be streaming the MP3s and sucking up all of my allotted bandwidth. I have 40 gig a month but it's going at about 8 gig/day right now. The whole mixtape is only 50 meg. That's a lot of streaming...

Next time I'm going to have to zip the MP3s so people can't do that. Lesson learned. This time, though, the mix is going to have to come down at the end of the day today. So, if you haven't gotten everything march your little butts over here and download 'em!

discuss amongst yourselves

* Yesterday forty-eight mp3s were downloaded but no one's discussing! C'mon people!

* I'm not a big Olympic watcher (except when I lived in Atlanta and was afforded the opportunity to literally attend at least one event per day) but every time I turn them on there is nobody in the stands. What's that about?

* If you love bald women (and I know you do), you'll certainly want to spend some time looking at the handiwork on display at this site. You can imagine my relief upon seeing that my beloved Parker actually looked tolerable sans hair.

* There goes the neighborhood. The completely out-of-place massage parlor in the upstairs portion of the diner across the street from me is being forced to close.

at long last - mixtape 0804

mixtape 0804 is now up. Just click the icon below.

I had planned on writing more but, alas, I'm worn out.

Hope you enjoy it. Post any comments about the songs here!!

like a hurricane

Well, I'm back. Thanks for all of the kind words and well wishes. I very sincerely appreciate each and every one. Special thanks to the two crazy cats who stopped by to keep me very entertained. A jaw-dropping thanks to my cow-orker who showed up with the most absurd bag of gifts ever (think Gameboy Advanced, games and DVDs).

So what happened, you ask? Well, it seems that the antibiotics that I was on decided that they were really hungry. They did a really fantastic job of eating all of the bacteria in my system and my white blood cells. A normal white count is 4.1. When I was admitted on Tuesday my count was at 0.8. In other words, something as simple as a cold or cut could have seriously become life-threatening.

With proper care my count bounced back fairly quickly but I must admit that I was pretty much a disaster for the first day. The symptoms (high fever, a bit achy) weren't really that bad. The psychological trauma was, however, pretty intense. I was on a oncology floor and kept in a so-called clean room. Anyone who came into the room had to gown up and I was constantly being poked and prodded. Like I say, though, that all ended pretty quickly.

They kept me a few extra days to monitor me (they were obviously more than a bit concerned, too) and to get a new piece of hardware. That's right. A new one. No longer do I have to carry my friend the CADD Plus (although I do still have to go to the hospital every day for IV meds). Now I have the absurdly absurd V.A.C. Freedom attached to my foot. Yes, it's supposed to be the miracle cure for my foot. Yes, I'll do anything to be done with all of this mess. However, allow me three complaints. It's the least you can do.

* It's heavy and bulky. There's no way it only weighs 3.2 pounds. It's easily 5-6 and it has about 6' of tubing coming out of it. There's literally no way I'm going into Manhattan until this thing is off. There's really not much at I can do with it.

* I have to have a home health nurse come two days a week to change it. Those of you who know me know exactly how crazy that makes me.

* The coup de gras? It makes farting noises. No. I'm not kidding. It sounds like somebody's grandpa after a big bowl of beans. Not constantly, mind you, rather at completely unpredictable intervals. Once it starts, though, you can count on it lasting for five or ten minutes. Yep.

Really, though, who am I to bitch? I'm alive. I have great friends. I can almost see some light at the end of the tunnel. It's just been a lot, though, ya know?

but i put up a good fight

Well, I'm currently packing a bag for the hospital. I'm being admitted this afternoon. There are several of you I would have like to have called but I simply don't have the time. I'll have a private room so I might be able to use my cell. I have no idea, though. Hopefully it's just for a couple of days.

Chin up. Chin up...

you made me promises, promises

I know I promised randomness mixtape 0804 today. However I still have yet to make my daily hospital trip (yes, I have to go daily for about nine weeks) and I feel like crap. I'm probably just going to watch movies all day (read: sleep).

I have a playlist all made. All I have to do is make the page. Due time, due time.

notes on a lame friday night

* When one is on massive amounts of antibiotics you simply cannot ingest enough yogurt to balance out your "good" bacteria. The only way to prevent serious nausea? Acidophilus. If you forget to take it before you eat the whole eating thing will be a waste. I'm medically bulimic!!

* The woman from $40 A Day on Food Network? Most annoying woman on television EVAH.

* Amish folks have the freaking strangest accents. Oh, and reality tv still sucks.

there's always shuffle

I happen to really like the debut record from The Killers. Is it ground-breaking? No. Is it brilliant songwriting? No. It's simply a fun summer record that takes me back to last year's Ok Go and Hot Hot Heat records. I mean, they wear their '80s influences on their sleeve more than even stellastarr* (if that's humanly possible) but they write much better hooks than any of the plethora of recent bands of their ilk.

Well, all that stuff isn't entirely true. I happen to really like the first five tracks on "Hot Fuss." I'm not sure what the hell happens after the INXS meets Joy Division of "All The Things I've Done." Seriously. It's the worst sequencing I've ever heard. It makes iPod listening disturbingly easy, though.

there's better days shining through

Before I completely crash (which could happen at any second), I just wanted to make sure that everybody took a minute to read Springsteen's op-ed in today's NYT.

Like Vernam said, it makes you proud to be a fan.

(via Vernam and Linus)

between rock (and a bit o' twang) and an infectious place

So my little IV and the super fatigue it gives me has claimed its first two victims. Tonight I would love to be seeing my beloved Allison Moorer (w/ Bobby Bare, Jr. whom I also enjoy) at the Merc. Normally I would also have myself planted at Joe's Pub to see Slaid Cleaves tomorrow night. However the price of a ticket isn't really worth it if it's merely a different place to nap. At least I didn't already have the tickets.

I'm not letting this thing stop me from seeing Nick Lowe at the end of September (solo acoustic at the Bowery!!!). I'm also debating the sanity of seeing the Weakerthans, the Decemberist, Puffy AmiYumi (just for Deano), Sam Phillips, Kasey Chambers and a return engagement by Allison opening for Drive-by Truckers. The Weakerthans show is going to prove very tough to pass on. The Decemberists and Puffy are both at the awful Webster Hall which will make them much easier to skip.

calling dr. freud

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," Bush said.

Truer words, methinks, have never been spoken.

spiked from the get-go

I was considering seeing Spike Lee's new film "She Hate Me" this weekend. I still might just because these reviews are just so bad that this might be a film that simply is so bad that it has to be seen.

Spike Lee's She Hate Me is his worst movie ever-even worse than Bamboozled, his self-serving indictment of modern minstrelsy, which at least was worth arguing about. - New York Magazine

She Hate Me manages to be at once racist, homophobic, utterly fake, and unbearably tedious. This time, it's Spike Lee who's doing the bamboozling. - Entertainment Weekly

The mélange of plots, subplots, reveries, gags, cartoons, dirty bits, and hissy fits points to a work that is structurally modelled less on the classic narratives of cinema than on, say, a portion of Russian salad. - The New Yorker

Long after "She Hate Me" has exhausted its material, it refuses to give up. In the last interminable third of the movie, Mr. Lee and his screenwriting collaborator, Michael Genet, throw in a lesbian Mafia princess, Simona (Monica Bellucci), whose father, Don Angelo Bonasera (John Turturro), does an extended, tedious parody of Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." - New York Times

post #1000 - the state of randomness

When I first started these humble pages in July of 2002 I had little clue and little compass. I had been in the Tri-State for a little over six months, I missed my Atlanta crew, my only New York "friend" wasn't speaking to me and I thought all of my cow-orkers hated me. It was a time where the WTF feeling of "I live in Connecticut?" was still a daily occurance.

Gradually most of that changed. I grew to love downtown Stamford and continued my lifelong love affair with the wonders of NYC. I realized that my cow-orkers actually really, really liked me. I started to accrue a new posse of friends to spend time with. Perhaps most importantly, I finally wrote off my "friend." Most, if not all, of these things happened directly or indirectly due to randomness.

These pages have proven to be a place to vent, a place to whine, a place to laugh and a place to spout off a snotty opinion. You, my lovely readers, have put up with my ramblings and hopefully had your interested piqued a time or two. For that I thank you. I still can't believe all of the great people that I've met via the blogosphere. You know who you are and you rock.

Here's to a 1000 more.

Now I have to get on that mixtape...

999

Not dead. But oh so sleepy. Oh so, so sleepy.

meme madness

In the extended entry, kids. Play along, fellow bloggers. The results could be interesting. It's already spreading much more rapidly than I would have predicted.

This posting is a community experiment that tests how a meme, represented by this blog posting, spreads across blogspace, physical space and time. It will help to show how ideas travel across blogs in space and time and how blogs are connected. It may also help to show which blogs (and aggregation sites) are most influential in the propagation of memes. The dataset from this experiment will be public, and can be located via Google (or Technorati) by doing a search for the GUID for this meme (below).

The original posting for this experiment is located at: Minding the Planet (Permalink) --- results and commentary will appear there in the future.

Please join the test by adding your blog (see instructions, below) and inviting your friends to participate -- the more the better. The data from this test will be public and open; others may use it to visualize and study the connectedness of blogspace and the propagation of memes across blogs.

The GUID for this experiment is:
as098398298250swg9e98929872525389t99
87898tq98wteqtgaq62010920352598gawst
(this GUID enables anyone to easily search Google or other search engines for all blogs that participate in this experiment, once they have indexed the sites that participate). Anyone is free to analyze the data of this experiment. Please publicize your analysis of the data, and/or any comments by adding comments onto the original post (see URL above). (Note: it would be interesting to see a geographic map or a temporal animation, as well as a social network map of the propagation of this meme.)

INSTRUCTIONS

To add your blog to this experiment, copy this entire posting to your blog, and then answer the questions below, substituting your own information, below, where appropriate. Other than answering the questions below, please do not alter the information, layout or format of this post in order to preserve the integrity of the data in this experiment (this will make it easier for searchers and automated bots to find and analyze the results later).

REQUIRED FIELDS (Note: Replace the answers below with your own answers)

(1) I found this experiment at URL: A Picture of Me

(2) I found it via browsing my blogroll.

(3) I posted this experiment at URL: randomness personified

(4) I posted this on date (day/month/year): 03/08/04

(5) I posted this at time (24 hour time): 20:18:00 EST

(6) My posting location is (city, state, country): Stamford, CT, USA

OPTIONAL SURVEY FIELDS (Replace the answers below with your own answers):

(7) My blog is hosted by: Dreamhost

(8) My age is: 34

(9) My gender is: Male

(10) My occupation is: IT Consultant

(11) I use the following RSS/Atom reader software: SharpReader

(12) I use the following software to post to my blog: Moveable Type

(13) I have been blogging since (day, month, year): 10/07/2002

(14) My web browser is: Firefox

(15) My operating system is: Windows XP

watch this space

randomness presents - mixtape 8/04 - bacteria be damned

Coming this weekend!

monday randomness

* I get to go in for another "procedure" tomorrow under general anesthesia. Shouldn't I be getting frequent flier miles by now?

* There's a really weird sound coming from upstairs. I just noticed it last night. It sounds like a Humpback Whale. I'm not kidding. It's weird.

* My friends totally rock.

* The trailer for the new Batman film leaves me with completely without anticipation.

* The trailer for the new John Waters film, on the other hand, makes me laugh like a deranged looney.

* This is randomness entry #997. I feel intense pressure to make #1000 simply spectacular.