found by wisn

see it before it gets slashdotted:

Ulli's Roy Orbison in Cling-film site. no pictures, just three brief and charmingly bizarre stories.

the friday five (band-name!)

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?

does the National Symphony count? if not, Styx.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?

that's a tough question. i guess i'd have to say the Beatles,
just because no matter what's going on, listening to the
Beatles will always make me smile.

3. What's your favorite song?

another tough one. right this minute, the Relient K
cover of "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything".

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?

you mean other than the ones i do play? bagpipes!

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?

Beethoven, because i think he must have been fascinating.

a belated plug

my brother's band, Liars Academy, is pretty damn good! (i hadn't heard this incarnation yet, but got the CDs today.)

oh, joy.

HP service gave me a quick turnaround on my laptop. the screen and mic inputs are both fine now.

however, they broke the keyboard -- several keys won't work anymore -- and it has to go back to service. they said i could probably get by with an external keyboard for a while if necessary, but if it had to be in service for a week and a half during this contract job, this is the best time it could be gone. which is not to say this is good -- it's going to put me behind anyway -- but it's better than if it had to go into service in a month.

i am maintaining my equanimity. i am not yelling at the support guy, because i know it's not his fault. i am being very polite about it all.

but i want to kill something. oh, yes. yes, indeed, i do.

and so

i'm finally getting round to reading Lord of the Rings again -- i never finished, the first time round, because it was just too dense for my adolescent and incredibly screwed up head. and i found this:

All the "great secrets" under the mountains had turned out to be just empty night: there was nothing more to find out, nothing worth doing, only nasty furtive eating and resentful remembering. He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all.

i empathize with Gollum more, perhaps, than is entirely healthy.