throw away your television, take the noose off your ambition

i curse our horribly partisan media coverage of everything. the information they give out plays far too important a role in people's decision makings for them to be so irresponsible in their reporting, first with the faked memos on bush's service record, and now with the horribly incorrect stories of stolen explosives in iraq. the spin the media puts on everything, be it intentional or inadvertant, is just down right appaling in the way it skews stories one way or the other (yes i'm linking fox news in with cbs, abc, nbc and cnn). kerry couldn't ask for a better campaign boost than this phony, lazy journalism.

what did you bring me, my dear friends, to keep me from the gallows pole

nfl.com has some very good reasons why marvin lewis should keep starting carson palmer over kitna this season. as the analysts point out, palmer's stats are right in line with most rookie QBs (which he essentially is), even greats like aikman, manning, and elway. at this point we're 1-4, so chances of getting into the playoffs even with kitna starting are slim to none, so we might as well stick it out with palmer to give him the experience. boomer has the best take on the situation, "The Bengals should stay with Carson Palmer the rest of the season and trade the entire defense for Ray Lewis. A quarterback can't do it all by himself."

now i just hope, like everyone else, that we can at least put up a fight against denver tonight.

have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head

penny-arcade is running their child's play charity again this year. basically last year they started this charity for gamers to donate toys, games, and money to the seattle children's hospital. it turned out to be a huge success, so this year they've got five hospitals throughout the country that they're sponsoring. it's a really awesome idea. check out to the pictures from last year to see what an amazing success this was. you guys should check it out and spread some love.

the mouths of babes scream revolution

it's official now, november will indeed be the greatest month of all time. for three weeks we have nonstop goodness being released every tuesday. halo 2 kicks it off on the 9th. half-life 2 has been confirmed for the 16th, which means if i get halo 2 on time it will only have one week till it gets sidelined for the time-being (unless i can't run hl2). then on the 23rd we've got nirvana's "with the lights out" box set, and the return of the king extended edition. throw in jess' birthday on the 17th and the velvet revolver concert on the 7th, and i will be both very happy and very, very poor.

speaking of the concert, i bought two tickets yesterday. right now jess said she would go with me since no one else gave me a definate "yes". however, she said if i find someone else that wants to go, then they can buy her ticket ($35). so if anyone still wants to go, it's not to late to change your mind.

i walk the line

i think chad johnson is going to need to send ME some pepto bismol if the bengals keep playing this awful. catch the freakin' ball.


oh yeah, and someone needs to tell the ref that just putting your hands on the qb's shoulder doesn't count as unnecessary roughness. some pass interference calls wouldn't hurt either.

fell too fast your wings won't hold

velvet revolver is coming to 5/3 arena on sunday, november 7th at 8pm. tickets are $35, plus whatever charges ticketmaster will probably tack on. any takers? i've got austin and doug as maybes right now. ticket go on sale saturday, so i'll probably get them by monday or tuesday at the latest. so let me know right away if you want in.

if you're free you'll never see the walls

friends, my pc gamer exclusive first review of half-life 2 has arrived. it made me want to cry for joy. my anticipation of this game has soared to new heights. it seems it will be worth every second of the wait.

highs: everything: graphics, gameplay. it's what experts have been predicting for this medium.
lows: squadmates sometimes get in your way; low-res textures in huge outdoor scenes.
bottom line: Surpasses Half-Life in every way. Arguably the greatest game of all time.
Editor's Choice
98%

the world is a joke when out of love

an official setlist of the concert last night by an incubus fansite:

halo theme song
pistola
nice to know you
idiot box
wish you were here
just a phase
stellar (police cover)
beware! criminal
here in my room
drive remix
priceless
hiphop jam
vitamin (drum solo)
everything in ebb
talk shows on mute
made for tv movie
are you in?
sick, sad little world
megalomaniac

ENCORE
pantomime
southern girl
under my umbrella

i forgot to mention the halo theme song before. when they were starting to come on stage they had the music from the halo main menu playing (the music that sounds like monks chanting). it was a sweet start. i also forgot about "vitamin", which is another song from science.

under my umbrella i'm an accomplished exile

incubus concert at uc was last night. pretty sweet. opening band, whoever they were, was alright. your basic retro, post-grunge act. not that great, but they were a little better than my initial impression led me to believe they would be. they played from about 8 till a little after 8:30.

incubus came on around 9. i think they must have played for at least an hour and a half. obviously they played most of their new album, which i only listened to once or twice, so i know some of the songs too well. they played two from science, two from make yourself, and five from morning view. i know they played at least seven from a crow left of the murder that i recognized, but there were plenty others i didn't recognize that were probably also from that album. they opened with "pistola", one of the tracks from crow that i did like, so that was a good start.

they covered most of the hits: "stellar", "nice to know you", "wish you were here", "are you in?" "megalomaniac", "talk shows on mute" (which i can't stand). they played a different version of "drive" which was AWESOME. instead of playing the acoustic guitar the guitarist played the keyboard, and the bass player played a much more prominant part. it's kinda hard to explain, but it was sweet. i almost think i liked it better than the original. "idiot box" from science was good, but the version of "nebula" was just alright. a few other older songs would have been nice, especially something like "the warmth" or "new skin". "just a phase" was good as well, but i was kind of surprised they didn't play "warning". they had a long drum solo which was pretty cool, but nothing too awesome. what i did like a lot was a long, solo-filled version of "sick, sad little world" from crow. it was excellent. i decided i'd have to burn that cd and give it another listen. they closed out the regular set with "megalomaniac" which i wasn't too big on as a single, but it was an awesome closer.

of course they waited around for five minutes while everyone cheered and banged on chairs before they came back out for the expected three song encore. i think we were all expecting "pardon me", seeing as it was their first big hit and they hadn't played in their first set. they started with a song i didn't recognize from their new album which was pretty good. then a slower song from the new album which was alright, but not that great. i thought they should have stuck with the more fast-paced songs for the encore. brandon boyd finally had to blow it right before the last song. i'd been expecting all night to hear stupid anti-bush comments from him, and he made it all the way till the very end without saying anything. right before the end he told everyone to "go out and vote" and "make some change" and then something i couldn't hear, both because people started cheering and the guitar started playing, so it's probably better that i couldn't hear. then the final song, and we're all waiting for "pardon me". but to my surprise they launch in to "under my umbrella", which was both a disappointment because it meant no "pardon me" and a bonus because i completely forgot about the possibility of them playing it, and i LOVE that song. one of my favorite from morning view. the live version was awesome, i thought it was one of the best songs they played.

overall i thought it was a real good show. my only complaints would be a few more old songs, a few less new ones, and "pardon me". oh, and hearing "aqueous transmission" would have been sweet, but i figured that was a little unrealistic to expect.

with the lights out it's less dangerous

amazon now has a listing for the nirvana box set, but unfortuneately there's no tracklisting up yet. it's due out nov. 23, which gives my finances time to build back up after getting halo 2. i suppose i can wait till christmas for return of the king. now the only question is whether or not half-life 2 comes out then, and although there are reviews coming out now for the game, i wouldn't be surprised if it slips into december.

i got books from amazon today, including miller's new one, searching for god knows what. i've only read past the first chapter, but so far i like what he's saying. he also rips on france, so you can't go wrong with that.

i also got billy corgan's poetry book, blinking with fists. i was a little hesitant to get it, but i've always loved his lyrics so i thought i'd go ahead and pick it up. i'm looking forward to hearing his solo album which he just finished recording and should be out early next year.

karma police, i've given all i can

alright, if you need any more evidence of how horrible a leader john kerry would be, or how much he has changed his opinions to fit what many people want to hear (ie, flip-flopped), then here's a nice video for you to watch. at least this way you don't have to read more of my ranting.