....for fans of Metallica and Heavy Metal music, this post's for you...

http://metallica.com/index.asp?item=14828

...that bearded guy there look familiar? It's freakin Rick Rubin! That's right, Metallica's NEW producer. I can only imagine what the next album is going to turn out with him in the mix. I can guarantee that it'll only be a positive thing.  Not only that, but this will be the first time for Metallica's newest bassist; Rob Trujillo, to show what he can put on the table as well. I'm definitely psyched!

Random Stable Song

Netflix penalizes frequent renters (link)

Best Buy Wall numbers (link)

dealing with a counterstrike cheater (video)

flying dogs (video)

rock & roll douchebags (link)

ball trap (game)

fake gun prank (video)

what's the deal with Internet Explorer 7 (link)

book crossing (link)

superfriends do office space (video)

yellow fever (video)

arm wrestle my ego (game)

As many of you know, I attend the Comic-Con international every year. Well, the first "event" started yesterday. Trying to get a hotel room. The Comic-Con offers discounted hotel rates if I go through them in reserving some nights, but ofcourse the hotels themselves can only reserve a certain amount of rooms for the attendees. That's where the problem lies, because by the first few minutes of when the reservation time began (2/15 9AM), most of the discounted hotel rooms were already filled up. Now, it's just a cat and mouse game for me, as openings can open up at any time, since people will mostly likely drop their reservations. In fact, just about five minutes ago, an opening at a very ideal hotel was available for my requested dates (7/19 - 7/23), but I must have been slow in clicking the option because it was already taken by the time the next page loaded. Oh well, I got until the next four months or so, before things get really dire. Hopefully I'll get lucky sooner than later, or I may just consider trying to reserve a room through it's regular hotel rate.

Another year, another Valentines Day. Usually, this is one of those holidays I don't think much of. I mean, I give my girlfriend a gift or so, but most of the time it's roughly a non-event. It does make me realize that it's been awhile since I've been single though. In fact, I don't even know what it feels like to be single anymore, especially since I've been in this commited relationship for a really long time. To think that before when I was much younger, I'd hope or anticipate someone out there would be my surprise valentine. I've got to say, this is one of those changes in my life, that turned out for the better.

Random Soldier Side - Intro

Los Angeles KROQ now streaming online (audio)

bouncing bear (video)

station wagon on a drag strip (video)

sponsor an african child magic trick (video)

U.S. plans massive data sweep (link)

what a honda feels like (video)

fainting goats (video)

singing dog (video)

McDonald's fries, much fattier than previously thought (link)

news bloopers (video)

most uncomfortable interview ever (video)

micro retro games (game)

movies I've seen recently...

the New World (2005)  B+

Hypnotic. Poetic. Artistic. Meditative. Beautiful. These are some words that describes writer/director Terrence Malick's
"the New World." What we have with this movie is something that
transcends most other movies, because it really shows the craft of what
film making is all about. At first, the pacing of the movie is rather
quick, with scenes that seem to go by way too quick. But at the same
time, there are scenes that move in a deliberate slow pace that it drew
me into the experience of the story even more. There are even minutes
in the film where no dialogue is being said, and all it has are these
wonderful cinematic sceneries that move the story along. The story
itself is epic in scope but very dramatic in how it portrays the world
of that time long ago. This is really not a movie that everyone will be
able to enjoy, because of the way it's directed. For those of us who
this movie is made for, it's almost like a religious experience
watching it. One thing that has to be said though, is that Q'Orianka Kilcher definitely deserves accolades for her work here.
*this film has been added to my top 20 films of 2005*

Munich (2005)  A-

Wow, what a powerful and incredible movie this is. This fictional story
is the result of the historical events that happened at the 1972
Olympics in Munich, when Arabic terrorists caused the deaths of 11
Israeli athletes. The story follows the aftermath of the attack, and
Israel counters by sending a covert team to eliminate those
responsible. The movie becomes kinda like a thriller in that we follow
the journey of this covert team assassinating their targets. We also
follow Eric Bana's
character "Avner," who is the team leader. Avner is struggling with his need to
serve his homeland, the pain of being away from his family, the questions
about whether vengeance is really the path he needs to take, and the consequences of his actions. "Munich"
is very uncompromising and thought provoking in execution, but it needs
to be that way to properly tell it's story. This is definitely one of Steven Spielberg's best work, and it deserves all the recognition that it's been getting.
*this film has been added to my top 20 films of 2005*

here's an update to yesterday's post.

I got a message on my answering machine from the aunt of the woman I
had a traffic collision with. Oddly enough, despite my fears of a
lawsuit, it seems like they are the ones who fear me suing them. Also
apparently, the woman is still feeling some pain and was inquiring if
there was something I could do to help her, BUT they did not want to go
through insurance. I was thinking "hell no." I feel bad and all about
what happened, but I'm not going to go outside official methods because
of it. If I was filthy rich, I probably wouldn't care much about
offering to pay for the medical bills, but unfortunately I'm not filthy
rich. I have insurance though, so if they want to go through that
method, I'll obviously go along with that.

I get a call several hours later after I heard the message, and was
able to talk to her son. He asked me the same thing that was left on my
answering machine, and I politely told him that I am only willing to go
through my insurance, especially if they require me to pay for any
medical bills. I sympathized with him, as he only obviously wants help
for his mom, but what can I really do at this point? He said something
to somebody off the phone, which I couldn't understand, and then just
said "okay, thank you, bye" to me.

I'm hoping that means this whole matter is more or less resolved with
the other party. Now I'm just waiting for the police report to be
available to me (7-10 business days from incident). aarrgghhh

...so I'm driving to work, making pretty good time. About 8:56PM, I get
to my exit's off ramp, the signal light is red, so I stop before I make
a right turn. I was at the light maybe no more than two to three
seconds, which consisted of me glancing left and noticing that there
are no cars going my way (as there are no headlights in sight), and
proceed to make that right turn. BAM! I hear a thud on my car, see a flash of black on my
driver side's window, and immediately thought "OHMYGOD, did I just hit
someone on a bicycle?!" Looking at my rear view mirror, I see someone
on the ground with a bike. I immediately pulled over my car, rushed to
the person (it's a Mexican woman), and with the help of two motorists
got her over to the side walk. She is limping a bit, and the only blood
I could visibly see were from some scrapes on her hand (I don't recall her with any protective gear). I apologized
profusely to her saying that I did not see her at all, which is
unfortunately the simple truth. At that moment, two off duty patrol men
were already there. I requested to one of them to call 911.

The firemen and paramedics arrived, and there were at least EIGHT
police officers at the scene. Ofcourse I had to go through the motion
of giving them my driver's license, insurance, and registration. I must
have given my statement of what happened to at least five of the
officers, while the paramedics were checking up on the woman's
condition. It appears that except for some scrapes, aches, and some
dizziness, she claims to be okay and absolutely refuses to go to the
hospital. The paramedics can't force her to go either, so they let that
be. At that point, the police officers started asking for her statement
of what happened. I should note that she doesn't really speak much
english (although she understands it), so while I got the gist of the
conversation with my limited Spanish, I was completely lost on the
details.

Apparently, the off ramp of a freeway is still considered Highway
Patrol jurisdiction, so while we collided by the crosswalk, the police
officer had to make sure where the impact actually occurred.  I
said it happened a little past the crosswalk, and the woman confirmed
it by saying she was bicyling on the road itself as opposed to the
crosswalk. So, local city police it is. She was asked some more
questions, and the officer found it interesting that she did not have
any identification at all. She had to give them her phone number and
home address, and that's all she could offer. The officers also checked
her bike and my car for any damages, which there was none at all (very
minor scratches maybe, but not even a dent). After several more
questions, we were given an incident number, and was told that we were
free to go.

Considering she is unable to get on her bike, she accepted my offer to
give her a ride to her destination (which was her home). Her bike was
able to fit in my back seat, so that was no problem. Right before we
took off though, the officers had just one more question to ask the
woman. They asked her whether the front light of her bicycle was in
working condition prior to the collision. She said no it wasn't, and
they reminded her that she shouldn't be driving without a light. It
dawned on me at that point why I must not have able to see her (she wasn't exactly glowing in the dark). We went on our way,
and about three miles from where it happened, we got to her home. She told me that she
had a son, and I didn't know for the life of me what he would do when
he is told what happened. To my relief, her son wasn't some big hulking
behemoth, but someone who was actually friendly. I told him what
occurred, and to my surprise he told me that this wasn't the first time
this happened to her (three other times I believe). After thanking me
for bringing his mom home, we parted ways and I proceeded to drive to
work (30 mins late by that point).

Now, I have this dark cloud over me, haunting me about the idea that
this might not be over. Guilt and doubts about why this happened. I'm hoping that she simply gets better with no
complications, and hopefully she won't get any ideas to bring up a
lawsuit (it's the U.S.A. after all). I don't even know if I'm completely to blame or not. *sigh* Just when things have been
looking up for me, this has to happen. Life simply sucks.

I went to meet up with a former co-worker of mine for her Birthday get
together.  A bunch of other former co-workers showed up too, and I
even shamed myself when I blatantly told one girl "you know, I honestly
don't remember you." The common theme to my experience there though is,
"damn I'm old." My friend turned 23, and that's roughly the average age
of the group, with the youngest being 19. What's even funnier is that I
was actually talking to one of my friends there about our ages, and I
happen to mention that I'm turning 30 next year. WRONG! It hit me
suddenly but I realized I'm turning 30 in a little over five months
from now. *sigh*