hey look! it's a new vidya!

hopefully, this video will be as entertaining for you as it was for me.

the mixtape chronicles: 1

okay, so it's not on a "tape." however, this one is going from digital playlist to physical media (cd). i haven't made a "real" playlist in a while. this one has been made for my fellow bandmates in good shot janson. we made mixes for each other so that we could get a better grasp on each others' styles. here's mine:







title: BAND MIX
tracks
1. dillinger four - "noble stabbings!!!!!"
2. bomb the music industry! - "25!"
3. mastodon - "megalodon"
4. chuck ragan - "california burritos"
5. future of the left - "manchasm"
6. lucero - "kiss the bottle"
7. jawbreaker - "bad scene, everyone's fault"
8. cap'n jazz - "que suerte!"
9. hot water music - "one step to slip"
10. mewithoutyou - "nice & blue pt. 2"
11. apollo sunshine - "conscious pilot"
12. the hold steady - "massive nights"
13. 65daysofstatic - "this cat is a landmine"
14. jenny lewis (and the watson twins) - "the big guns"
15. streetlight manifesto - "point/counterpoint"
16. jets to brazil - "lemon yellow black"
17. sleater-kinney - "entertain"

brief response to glenn beck on fox news 5-6-09

1) hey glenn, the acorn voter registration fraud is pointless. no matter how many times a person registers in their state/city, they still only get ONE vote.

2) i don't care how nasty a burger king employee is, bathing in the sink in the back room isn't a health hazard. it's a horrible lapse in judgment, and the employee should be fired for indecent behavior. however, when you asked the viewers, "would you still eat at that burger king?" my answer is yes. hardcore sanitizers and bleach are wonderful chemicals.

meh.

long time no post. yeah, i know it's no good. i've been lazy.

aaaaaaanyway. a lot has happened since my last post. my fantasy baseball team is 2-2-0, and sitting in third in the division. jonathann and i went to north carolina and played a show with our good friend, ash(ley) hopkins. plus, i started working on the next ready, set, machine! album.

i guess that's all for now. i'll come up with a better post later. until then, just check out the image above. it's my listening habits from the past 3 months (according to my last.fm profile).

baseball? moar liek GAYball! amirite?!?!?!?!

t-minus 26 minutes until the uberleague 2k9 fantasy baseball draft. will the nar shadaa smugglers be able to take the regular season title? and will they be able to translate their regular season performance to the playoffs this year? we'll see.

fantasy baseball is interesting, because i don't know anything about baseball. in fact, i actually despise the sport. i think it's boring and lame. the only cool thing about it is the amount of statistics. i wish other sports kept up with as many crazy stats.

however, i've picked up a few tips on fantasy baseball (and sports in general).

1) trust the pre-rankings. if you know some info, then go right ahead and make some changes. but, when in doubt, follow the rankings. example: we had a fantasy nfl league one year, and needed an extra team, so we made a "ghost" team, which just followed the rankings for its picks. that team kicked our asses all season.
2) find relievers. the first season of fantasy baseball kicked my ass. like i said, i know nothing about baseball. the reason i got killed was because i lacked relievers for the first few weeks, and the guys i picked up ended up sucking ass.
3) never draft ryan howard. i've drafted him first for 2 years, and he's sucked (fantasy-wise) every time.

it's kinda funny how much fun fantasy baseball can be even when you hate the sport. i really look forward to it now, and i'm so glad it's almost draft time.

t-minus 12 minutes.

UPDATE! i drafted ryan howard again anyway, because i am a funny guy.

glenn beck - professional douchebag.

3/26/09 (10:57 am) - "the economy: cool that bitch."

3/26/09 (4:05 pm) - i think it's official. glenn beck is a fucking nut-case. srsly.

3/26/09 (4:08 am) - GODDAMMIT, GLENN, STOP TALKING ABOUT THE FUCKING GODFATHER, DOUCHEBAG!!!!!

i think it's hilarious that beck does a horrible italian-american accent, and then has a guest come up that actually has that kind of accent. and why is a high-profile p.i. talking about aig's shit? how is that applicable? could he not get an actual financial analyst?

3/26/09 (4:13 pm) - well, glenn taught me something today. i always thought "bossnapping" was when your boss takes a nap in his office while you do all the work. apparently, i was wrong. the more you know, amirite?

3/26/09 (4:35 pm) - yes, glenn, because volunteering is bad. i can understand being wary of the act, but not because its name includes "volunteer."

"we are gladly becoming slaves." - you know, plantation owners should've called their workers "volunteers."

3/26/09 (4:44 pm) - okay, glenn, i'll give you that one. while "global war on terror" was a stupid name, so is the new one. see? we can find common ground.

wait......45 seconds later, and you just blew it. "kill them faster than they kill us" and "kick their ass"? you fail.

fifa 09 - linguine!

date: 1/4/09
league position: 1st (49 pts)
league record: 16-1-0

it's the january transfer window, and we've been doing extremely well. we're first with 49 points, 18 ahead of modena in second. however, i am currently not a very happy manager.

the last few weeks have been pretty frustrating. we got knocked out of the cup by genova in the second round with a aggregate of 4-1. we lost the first leg at home 1-0 because of a total bullshit goal in the 93rd minute. we played so well in that first leg, controlling the run of play and defending well even after going down to 10 men around the 72nd minute. the return leg ended 3-3. we went ahead early due to a great half-volley by ventucci, but soon found ourselves down 3-1 at the half. we crawled back scoring our second goal around the 75th minute, and then getting the equalizer in the 89th. but, it wasn't enough. absolutely frustrating. we then drew the next league match, adding to my poor mood.

so, here's a quick list of problems i'm going to be tackling:
- weak defense: while our defenders have played well (mostly), we're still technically weakest in the back.
- midfield cluster-fuck: this is a two part problem. 1) we have some minor fitness problems. pisanu, ventucci, budel, and morrone get tired way too quickly, and it is becoming a bit of a problem since...2) we have a serious lack of depth in midfield. my options off the bench for the wings are ventucci and reginaldo, while my options for the middle are ventucci, papadoppoulus, and parravicini. those last two are defensive, parravicini being a defensive mid and papadoppolous being a center-back. so, we have no real offensive option for the middle of the pitch.

hopefully, these issues can be fixed during the transfer window. we'll see.

slashville

dun dun dun.......

geeks shouldn't write reviews.

i'm normally one of the first people to tell you to trust the geeks/nerds/dorks/etc. usually, they're incredibly smart, or, at the very least, knowledgeable about their subject of choice. however, after reading this on io9 this morning (and having just watched the episode they're discussing), i've come to the conclusion that geekdom hates anything that isn't battlestar galactica or related to stargate. seriously, io9 bashed heroes into the ground, and now they're nit-picking kings. granted, each show has faults, but.....come on. seriously. a culture that loves shit like flash gordon and the original star trek is going to get all tiffy and extra-harsh about plot points and character faults? give me a fucking break.

parma - fettucini!

league position: 1st (12 pts)
league record: 4-0-0

okay, so here's a recap so far.

bullet points!
- lucarelli's finishing looked like shite during the first friendly, but might not be as bad as i thought.
- switched to a 4-3-3 (my old stand-by) during the second friendly, and i like it better.
- upgraded my medical staff, scout, stadium, and negotiator.
- lost leon (an attacking mid playing as my left striker, and currently my leading scorer) due to injury until the end of december.
- apparently, paci (right back playing left back) has a laser cannon of a long-shot.
- aquired papadopoulos (cb) and venitucci (cm) off of free transfers.

pre-season friendlies
brandby if 0 - 1 parma
nottingham forrest 1 - 4 parma
parma 4 - 1 chicago fire

not a bad start. theoretically, we should win serie b. parma's rating is the highest in the league, but we'll see.

fifa 09 - spaghetti!

i had a nice manager mode going with borussia moegjdsadadblach, but fifa decided to crap out on me at the beginning of the third season. so, i have moved on. i am now the manger for parma in serie b. this was a tough decision (since i hate the italian league), but i think it'll be fun.


board expectations
- secure promotion
- reach quarterfinal of the domestic cup
- upgrade medical staff
- extend i player's contract to 3+ years

so far, i can see this team has a lot of fat that needs to be shed. a lot of old, under-performers; plus, a lot of untalented (meaning 55 or under rating) players. unfortunately, the "fan favorite" is an aging right wing-back named Zenoni, who i wish i could off-load. i've got a lot of selling to do. i hope to find a few gems on the free transfer side of the market.

however, i've got a few decent players. lucarelli is an older striker (and our captain) who has the highest rating. he should be a pretty solid target man. troest is a great young centerback, who should do well in the future. i remember he was on some of my prospect lists in my other seasons, so that's a good thing. our other striker, paloschi, is going to be amazing. that's all i can say.

i'll probably play parma's default 4-4-2. it seems solid enough. we'll see if i change my mind after a couple of games.

we've got pre-season friendlies lined up: brandby if, nottingham forrest, and the chicago fire.

wish me luck!

bionicle

yes.....i still play with legos. no, i'm not ashamed. i love legos, and will always play with them. so, there.

i've had this bionicle set sitting around since christmas, so i decided to finally put it together. while bionicle and technic aren't my favorite, i'm never going to refuse a lego gift.

beagle dance!

wasting time and taking names.

if you get bored, here's a new time waster for you: omgpop! fun games, and good times. if you join, add me.

my profile: click!

i've been wasting so much time on this site over the weekend. so much fun, fo real-reals.

bracketology for the rest of us!

it's that time of the year again! time for the ncaa tournament, and i bet many of you out there find yourselves staring at a bracket, having no idea what to do. you haven't watched a game of college basketball pretty much ever, and the only thing you remember from that one game you watched was the color of the uniforms.

well, this post is for you! visiting espn.com or some other sports website takes too much time, has too much information, and includes concepts and information that you don't care about and takes too long to read. i'm here to give you a few simple rules to help you fill out that bracket.

1. follow the rankings. theoretically, if the people in charge did their jobs, all four number one seeds should make it to the final four. this, of course, very rarely happens, but it's a good rule of thumb. if you don't know anything about basketball, these rankings were created by people who (supposedly) do.

2. like/hate. if you're having a hard time choosing between two teams, choose the one you like or hate less based on location, name, team colors, or mascot.

3. speaking of mascots... this is one of my favorites. when in doubt, check out the school mascots. either choose the one you like the most, or choose which one would win in a fight. (a panther will eat a bulldog in one bite. FACT!)

4. flip a coin. while it's true that higher ranked teams are generally better teams, anything can happen in the tournament. ANYTHING. so, when in doubt, don't be afraid to just flip a coin.

and that's it. some simple rules for all you non-sports fans who have decided, for one reason or another, to fill out a bracket. my mom used similar concepts last year, and came in third. so, there ya go.

have fun!

"if it's water"

3/13/09 (6:39 pm) - watching icarly. i typed in "aggressiveparenting.com" after hearing freddy's mom mention it, and it takes you to the icarly website. haha. also, i want the giant newton balls set-up spencer built with bowling balls.

3/13/09 (6:45 pm) - tennessee tech has a neat little commercial where a chick uses a robot to send a not to a guy in the library. it would've been better if it was a break-up letter.

3/13/09 (6:47 pm) - the icarly "ilookalikes" don't really look like sam, carly, and freddy.

3/13/09 (6:53 pm) - okay, so i think spencer is my favorite part of icarly. "OH GOD, I'M AFRAID!" hahahahaha!

3/13/09 (6:59 pm) - d'aaaaaaaaaaaaw. wesley crusher helped save his mommy. how cute.

3/13/09 (7:03 pm) - just read that xerez omitted jozy again. really, it's getting fucking ridiculous. why did they agree to this loan deal?

3/13/09 (7:25 pm) - my tv watching has taken me into all kinds of territory today. from 20-something sports fanatic to 12 year old girl to sci-fi dork circa 1992.

on a side note, visa has a new commercial with a smashing pumpkins' song. really weird.

3/13/09 (7:49 pm) - i love the dick's (*snicker*) sporting goods' commercial with jimmy rollins. it makes me laugh everytime.

3/13/09 (8:28 pm) - you know, that irish spring commercial might be more effective if the irish "lasses" didn't look like dirty prostitutes.

3/13/09 (8:40 pm) - damn. henderson just picked up 2 fouls in the opening 2 minutes. that's not good.

3/13/09 (8:55 pm) - the commentators are discussing things you can do in an hour and a half. my favorite: "eat a pound of chocolate." really? wow.

3/13/09 (10:07 pm) - apparently hot dogs are important. more important than replaying a questionable foul call.

3/14/09 (12:09 am) - watching gangland now. "and he used murder.........as a tactic."

3/14/09 (12:48 am) - google image search for "poop". you'll thank me later.

3/14/09 (12:58 am) - only half-watching the tv is kinda fun. especially when you hear a dramatic voice-over guy say, ".....and was found dead in his underwear."

post the first

hi, i'm shawn, and this is my new blog. basically, this place will cover whatever thoughts don't really fit in with my band's blog. so, anything from footbal (a.k.a. - "soccer"), star wars, legos, music, literature, etc. etc. etc. so yeah......that's it.