Hitler Vs. Stalin

I don't really need to preface this with a comment. (But by typing this, I did. Deep, right?)

http://www.comics.aha.ru/rus/stalin/1.html

Cartoon Rating Guide For The Smart Adult, V2.0

I did not write this.

Without further adieu,

Cartoon rating guide for the smart adult: v2.0, 3/31/2007



Why watch cartoons if you're an adult? Because cartoons have the best scores, most interesting plots and/or most humorous dialogue, and the best "cinematography" of any visual media. The best are stunning works of art and imagination.



This is a rating guide, not a review book -- hit up Google & Wikipedia, then Amazon and IMDB forums for extended analyses. Its purpose is to quickly alert you to animation you may never have heard of. It is also skewed from the perspective of an adult animation fan -- a lowly-rated show may be immensely enjoyable for small children and even competently-made, but was of little interest to me; a highly-rated show will be competently-made, and may or may not be enjoyable for or even marketed to small children. Lastly, if a show has English-language versions, those are the versions I have likely watched (and I appreciate good dubbing and loathe bad dubbing).



This list covers mainly animated television series, although many films are included. I have not seen every episode of some shows rated 7 and lower and many episodes of shows rated 5 or lower; indicated ratings may change if I see new episodes of better or worse quality than those previous, or if many better or worse episodes of other shows alter the landscape.



Anything rated at least "5" is in the category of "average show worth watching, provided you have time"; you probably won't watch re-runs, however. A typical "5" cartoon features arch-type characters and villains, with serviceable if unexceptional dialogue, animation and plots. "4"s and lower feature too much bad animation, one-dimensional characters, lousy voice-acting, plot-holes, dumbed-down or just plain stupid writing and spastic slapstick for this adult reviewer to stomach -- although kids will like many of them. "3"s and lower will have the smart adult scrambling for the remote. "6"s and "7"s feature more charismatic characters, more innovative drawing and intelligent scripting than average, and anything rated "8" or better is likely to pull you in to watching a re-run while you're channel-flipping, even if it's well-memorized already. Anything rated "9" is truly exceptional, and perfect in nearly every way. "10"s are reserved only for those shows which, IMO, will become or already are timeless classics. Highly-rated shows generally have unique and memorable musical scores associated with them. Make an effort to see every "9" and up before you croak, and most 7s and 8s.



- "3D" indicates a computer generated style as opposed to a 2D cel-painting.

- "adult" indicates overly lewd sexual references and/or foul language. Some adult-oriented cartoons are superlative witty parodies or taut thrillers; many are rancid, fast-buck trash.

- "cards" means the show is a marketing vehicle to sell trading cards; most of these involve children with strange monster pets or summoned creatures who fight each other.

- "comedy" describes humorous shows that are neither toons nor spoofs.

- "DCAU" refers to the "DC Animated Universe" created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.

- "east" denotes an oriental-themed samurai or martial-arts cartoon.

- "family" indicates a show with very broad appeal; it isn't specifically written for any age group, and is neither "dumbed down" nor "sophisticated humor".

- "fantasy" indicates the presence of magic or "chi" and/or spirts, gods, demons, undead, fantastic animals, etc, but the setting is in an otherwise more or less realistic world.

- "Ghibli" indicates the acclaimed Japanese animation studio, or to anything prior involving its founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

- "girl" indicates the presence of important female protagonists.

- "kids" means the show is appealing to small children (whether or not dialogue is dumbed-down).

- "mecha" indicates giant robots.

- "movie" means a single, stand-along show, regardless of whether it played in theaters.

- "realistic" indicates real-world physics are observed, nobody has superpowers, and animated characters are essentially like real people and don't take inordinate risks, speak "one-liner dialogue" or "mug for the camera".

- "scary" means weird monsters may frighten very small children and give them nightmares, even if it's a comedy otherwise popular with kids. I afix this term only to shows marketed toward family or children's audiences (I take it for granted that teen- and adult-oriented shows are filled with imagery guaranteed to frighten toddlers, especially anything rated "violent").

- "series" means plots span multiple episodes and even seasons (so they are best watched in order); lack of this term doesn't mean, however, that all of a show's episodes are "stand-alones".

- "spoofs" parody cultural or other-show references which younger persons are less likely to be aware of; a kid's cartoon which is also a spoof is likely to drag up this reviewer's rating due to intelligent writing.

- "superhero" means some characters have extraordinary abilities or "mutant" powers which permit them to cheat real-world physics which others have to obey in an otherwise more or less real world. While many cartoons feature characters who trend in this direction, superheroes are invariably costumed protagonists who are (in)famous for their abilities.

- "toon" means real-world physics are expressly NOT observed, animals talk, characters have "three fingers & thumb" hands, gravity is defied until noticed, etc.

- "ultra-violent" shows so wallow in gore that many would consider them completely depraved.

- "violent" means there's realistic combat with injuries and blood, and/or on-screen death, and the show is usually inappropriate for small children (the lack of this term, however, doesn't mean that a show lacks fighting).

- "WMT" indicates Japan's "World Masterpiece Theater".





10 - 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother - series, family, adventure, realistic, WMT

10 - Adventures of Prince Achmed, The - movie, family, fantasy, girl, adventure

10 - Cowboy Bebop - series, sci-fi, violent, girl

10 - Future Boy Conan - series, family, adventure, Ghibli, girl

10 - Kiki's Delivery Service - Ghibli, movie, family, girl, fantasy

10 - My Neighbor Totoro - Ghibli, movie, family, kids, girl, fantasy, adventure

10 - Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water - family, girl, violent, adventure

10 - Oban Star-Racers - series, adventure, sci-fi, girl

10 - Popeye: Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp - toon, family, fantasy, movie-short

10 - Romeo's Blue Skies - series, family, adventure, realistic, WMT

10 - Samurai Champloo - series, spoof, violent, adventure, adult, girl, east

10 - Venture Bros., The - adult, spoof, violent

10 - Whisper of the Heart - movie, girl, family, realistic, Ghibli



9 - Avatar, The Last Airbender - series, fantasy, adventure, girl, east

9 - Beauty and the Beast - movie, Disney, fantasy, girl, family, scary

9 - Courage the Cowardly Dog - toon, family, spoof, scary

9 - FLCL (Fooly Cooly) - series, comedy, girl, sci-fi, fantasy

9 - Gauche The Cellist (Sero Hiki no Goshu) - movie, Ghibli, family, fantasy

9 - Grave of the Fireflies - movie, drama, realistic, violent, Ghibli

9 - Laputa (Castle in the Sky) - Ghibli, family, movie, adventure, girl, sci-fi

9 - Lupin III (or the Third, English dub version) - comedy, adventure, girl, spoof, adult

9 - Mysterious Cities of Gold, The - series, kids, adventure, girl, fantasy, educational

9 - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Ghibli, movie, girl, fantasy, adventure

9 - Pom Poko (The Raccoon War) - Ghibli, movie, fantasy

9 - Porko Rosso - Ghibli, movie, adventure, girl, fantasy, family

9 - Princess Mononoke - Ghibli, movie, fantasy, adventure, violent, scary, girl

9 - Rocket Power - kids, comedy, girl

9 - Rocky & Bullwinkle Show, The - kids, spoof, toon

9 - Spirited Away - Ghibli, family, movie, fantasy, girl, adventure, scary

9 - Superman, The Animated Series - superhero, DCAU, girl, family

9 - Teen Titans - spoof, superhero, DCAU, girl, family



8 - Akira - movie, sci-fi, violent

8 - Batman Beyond - superhero, DCAU, sci-fi

8 - Batman, The Animated Series - superhero, DCAU

8 - Cat Returns, The - movie, Ghibli, fantasy, girl, family

8 - Full Metal Alchemist - series, fantasy, violent, comedy, east

8 - Futurama - adult, spoof, sci-fi, toon

8 - Gargoyles - series, fantasy, mecha, violent, girl, Disney

8 - Ghostbusters, Extreme - fantasy, scary, comedy

8 - Ghostbusters, The Real (seasons 1-3 only) - kids, fantasy, scary, comedy

8 - Heavy Metal - movie, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy, violent, adult, girl

8 - Howl's Moving Castle - Ghibli, movie, girl, fantasy, violent

8 - Iron Giant, The - mecha, comedy, family, movie

8 - Jackie Chan Adventures - family, fantasy, girl, comedy

8 - Justice League, Unlimited - superhero, sci-fi, DCAU

8 - Kappa Mikey - spoof, toon, girl

8 - Lilo & Stitch (animated TV) - kids, sci-fi, comedy, girl, Disney

8 - Mulan - movie, fantasy, girl, Disney

8 - My Life as a Teenage Robot - kids, toon, sci-fi, spoof, girl, superhero

8 - Pinky and the Brain - kids, toon, spoof

8 - ReBoot - toon, fantasy, spoof, 3D

8 - Static Shock - kids, superhero, DCAU

8 - Star Wars: Clone Wars - series, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, violent

8 - Valhalla - movie, kids, fantasy, girl



7 - Afro-Samurai - series, east, adult, ultra-violent

7 - Batman, The - series, superhero

7 - Ben 10 - kids, sci-fi

7 - Big O, The - series, mecha, sci-fi, violent

7 - Bleach - series, sci-fi, fantasy, violent, comedy, scary, east

7 - Case Closed (Detective Conan) - series, family, mystery, adventure

7 - Daria - girl, comedy, realistic, adult

7 - Dexter's Lab - kids, toon, spoof, sci-fi, girl

7 - Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig - series, sci-fi, violent, girl

7 - Infinite Ryvius - series, sci-fi, drama, girl

7 - Invader Zim - toon, kids, spoof, sci-fi

7 - Korgoth of Barbaria - adult, spoof, fantasy

7 - Martin Mystery - sci-fi, comedy, scary, girl

7 - Megas XLR - kids, mecha, spoof, girl

7 - Naruto - series, east, violent, girl, fantasy, comedy

7 - Outlaw Star - series, sci-fi, comedy, girl, adventure

7 - Popeye - toon, family, spoof, girl

7 - Powerpuff Girls, The - kids, toon, spoof, girl, superhero

7 - Robot Chicken - toon, spoof, adult

7 - Rock & Rule - movie, fantasy, sci-fi, girl

7 - Samurai Jack - kids, sci-fi, superhero, adventure, east

7 - Scrapped Princess - series, fantasy, sci-fi, girl, adventure, scary

7 - Shuriken School - kids, toon, spoof, girl, east

7 - The Tick - toon, kids, spoof, superhero

7 - Time Warp Trio - kids, fantasy, educational

7 - Trigun - series, sci-fi, violent, comedy, girl

7 - Tutenstein - kids, toon, adventure, girl

7 - W.I.T.C.H. - girl, fantasy, comedy

7 - Yin Yang Yo! - kids, toon, Disney, spoof, east



6 - A.T.O.M - kids, superhero, sci-fi

6 - Aeon Flux - series, sci-fi, ultra-violent, adult

6 - Aladdin - kids, toon, fantasy, Disney

6 - American Dragon Jake Long - kids, superhero, east

6 - Beastwars - toon, mecha, 3D

6 - Blu Gender - series, sci-fi, mecha, violent, drama, girl

6 - Danny Phantom - toon, sci-fi, spoof, girl

6 - Escaflowne - series, fantasy, mecha, violent

6 - Eureka Seven - series, mecha, violent, sci-fi

6 - Fafner in the Azure (Dead Aggressor) - series, sci-fi, mecha, violent

6 - Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The - kids, toon, spoof, girl

6 - Hercules - kids, fantasy, superhero, comedy, Disney

6 - Hobbit, The - fantasy, adventure, family, movie

6 - InuYasha - series, east, violent, fantasy, girl

6 - Johnny Bravo - toon, spoof

6 - Kim Possible - comedy, girl, sci-fi, Disney

6 - Legion of Superheroes - kids, superhero, DCAU(?)

6 - Mar - toon, fantasy, comedy, east

6 - My Dad the Rock Star - kids, spoof, girl

6 - Ninja Scroll - movie, adult, ultra-violent, fantasy, east

6 - One Piece - kids, toon, adventure

6 - Paranoia Agent - drama, violent, comedy

6 - Recess: School's Out - movie, kids

6 - S-CRY-ed - sci-fi, mecha, superhero, east

6 - Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! - kids, toon, mecha, superhero, scary

6 - Tenchi Muyo! - series, fantasy, girl

6 - Legend of Tarzan - kids, toon, girl, adventure

6 - TaleSpin - kids, toon, girl, adventure, Disney

6 - Thunderbirds - series, adventure, comedy

6 - Totally Spies - comedy, girl

6 - Witch Hunter Robin - series, fantasy, girl, violent

6 - Wolf's Rain - series, fantasy, violent, sci-fi

6 - Xiaolin Showdown - kids, toon, fantasy, comedy, east

6 - Zeta Project, The - kids, girl, superhero, sci-fi, DCAU



5 - Beavis and Butthead - toon, adult, spoof

5 - Berserk - series, adult, violent, fantasy

5 - Beyblade - kids, east

5 - Blue Submarine #6 - series, sci-fi, realistic, violent

5 - Buzz Lightyear of Star Command - kids, toon, sci-fi, Disney, 3D

5 - Digimon - kids, toon, cards, adventure

5 - Dragonball Z - series, east, violent, fantasy, comedy

5 - Duck Dodgers - toon, spoof, sci-fi

5 - Duel Masters - kids, cards, spoof

5 - Get Ed - toon, kids, sci-fi

5 - Gigantor - kids, mecha

5 - Goof Troop - kids, toon, Disney

5 - Gotham Girls - series, girl, superhero, DCAU

5 - Gundam Wing - series, sci-fi, mecha, violent

5 - Hey Arnold! - kids, comedy

5 - Horus, Prince of the Sun - movie, Ghibli, fantasy, adventure

5 - Johnny Quest, Real Adventures of - adventure, girl, fantay

5 - Metalocalypse - adult, spoof, ultra-violent

5 - Mobile Suit Gundam - series, mecha

5 - Proud Family, The - comedy, girl

5 - Pucca - kids, toon, girl, east

5 - Record of the Lodoss Wars - series, fantasy, violent

5 - Reign: The Conqueror - series, fantasy, violent, adult

5 - Rocko's Modern Life - kids, toon

5 - Sailor Moon - series, kids, east, girl, fantasy, comedy

5 - Silverwing - series, kids, scary, adventure

5 - Samurai Deeper Kyo - series, fantasy, violent, east

5 - Shinzo - series, kids, fantasy, cards, east

5 - Skyland - sci-fi, adventure, girl, 3D

5 - Speed Racer - adventure

5 - Spongebob Squarepants - kids, toon

5 - Swat Kats - kids, toon, fantasy

5 - The Secret Show - kids, spoof, sci-fi, superhero

5 - The X's - toon, sci-fi

5 - Time Squad - toon, spoof, kids, educational

5 - Timon and Pumba - kids, toon, Disney

5 - Trinity Blood - series, vampires, violent

5 - Wizards - fantasy, movie, violent

5 - Xyber 9 - mecha, sci-fi

5 - Yakkity Yak - kids, toon

5 - YuYu Hakusho - series, east, girl, fantasy

5 - Zatch Bell! - kids, cards, comedy



4 - Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The - kids, toon, 3D

4 - Animaniacs (without Pinky and the Brain) - kids, spoof, toon

4 - Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo - toon, kids, spoof

4 - Camp Lazlo - kids, toon, girl

4 - Class of 3000 - kids, comedy, sci-fi, girl

4 - Codename: Kids Next Door - kids, toon, girl

4 - Corneil & Bernie - kids, toon

4 - Dragon Booster, kids, fantasy, cards(?)

4 - Dungeons & Dragons - kids, fantasy

4 - Emperor's New School, The - toon, kids, Disney

4 - Family Guy - adult, spoof

4 - Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - toon, kids, fantasy

4 - Growing up Creepie - girl, fantasy, comedy

4 - Idaten Jump - kids, toon

4 - Johnny Quest (original) - kids, adventure, violent

4 - Kong: The Animated Series - kids, fantasy,

4 - Little Mermaid, The - kids, toon, fantasy, Disney, girl

4 - Lord of the Rings (Fellowship, Return of the King) - fantasy, movies, violent

4 - ¡Mucha Lucha! - kids, toon, superhero

4 - Mummy, The - kids, adventure, scary

4 - Pepper Ann - girl, Disney

4 - Pokemon - toon, kids, cards

4 - Rugrats - kids, comedy

4 - Scooby Do - kids, toon

4 - South Park - toon, adult, spoof

4 - Special Duty Combat Unit: Shinesman - sci-fi, comedy

4 - Super Milk-chan Show, The - toon, kids, spoof

4 - The Secret Show - toon, kids, spoof

4 - Thundercats - kids, fantasy, girl

4 - Voltron - mecha, sci-fi, kids

4 - Yugi Oh! - kids, toon, cards



3 - Aqua Teen Hunger Force - toon, adult, spoof

3 - Dora the Explorer - kids, toon, educational, girl

3 - CatDog - kids, toon

3 - Dragon Tales - kids, toon, fantasy, girl

3 - Ed, Ed & Eddy - kids, toon

3 - Fantastic Four - superhero

3 - Flintstones, The - kids, toon, girl

3 - G.I. Joe - kids, action

3 - Grossology - kids, toon

3 - He-Man & Masters of the Universe - kids, fantasy, superhero

3 - Inspector Gadget - kids, toon

3 - Kenny the Shark - toon, kids

3 - Krypto the Superdog - toon, superhero, kids

3 - Legend of the Dragon - toon, superhero, girl, east

3 - Magic School Bus - kids, fantasy

3 - Mike, Lu & Og - kids, toon, girl

3 - My Gym Partner is a Monkey - kids, toon

3 - Prince of Tennis, The - series, girl

3 - Proud Family, The - toon, Disney, spoof

3 - N.A.S.C.A.R. Racers - kids, girl, sci-fi

3 - Spider Riders - fantasy, kids

3 - Spiderman - superhero

3 - Superfriends - kids, superhero, girl

3 - Superman: Brainiac Attack - movie, superhero

3 - Top Cat - kids, toon

3 - Tracy McBean - kids, toon, girl

3 - Transformers (various) - toon, mecha

3 - Ultimate Avengers - movies, superhero, sci-fi, girl, violent



2 - Amazing Chan Clan - kids, toon

2 - Captain Planet - kids, toon, superhero

2 - Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos - kids

2 - Frisky Dingo - adult, spoof, violent

2 - Home Movies - toon

2 - Jabberjaw - kids, toon

2 - Little Bear - kids, toon

2 - MaggieBeast - kids, toon, girl

2 - Sealab 2021 - adult, spoof



1 - Assy McGee - adult, toon, violent

1 - Gary Coleman Show - kids, comedy

1 - Squidbillies - adult, toon, violent

More Audioscrobbler Info~

Like I said before; this is not accurate, but it's kind of cool.

Recent Tracks Plugin ID: foo, Version: 1.2.4
1	Daft Punk - Robot Rock (Album Version)	22:05:43 EST, March 24 2005
2	Daft Punk - the prime time of your life	22:01:07 EST, March 24 2005
3	Daft Punk - Human After All	21:56:16 EST, March 24 2005
4	Fugazi - Promises	21:49:35 EST, March 24 2005
5	Fugazi - Provisional	21:46:45 EST, March 24 2005
6	Fugazi - Burning Too	21:44:15 EST, March 24 2005
7	Fugazi - And the Same	21:41:10 EST, March 24 2005
8	Fugazi - Glue Man	21:04:03 EST, March 24 2005
9	Fugazi - Suggestion	21:01:39 EST, March 24 2005
10	Fugazi - Give Me The Cure	20:57:35 EST, March 24 2005

Weekly Artist Chart Week prior to Mar 20, 2005, 07:00 1 Beck 17 2 Grandaddy 5 2 Simon & Garfunkel 5 4 Daphne Loves Derby 3 5 Fires Were Shot 2 5 fivehead 2 5 Nas 2 5 Film School 2 5 The Notwist 2 5 Communiqué 2

Weekly Track Chart Week prior to Mar 20, 2005, 07:00 1 Grandaddy - A.M. 180 5 2 Daphne Loves Derby - Closing Down The Pattern Depar 3 3 Simon & Garfunkel - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) 2 3 Floyd Domino - Riff City 2 3 Flametrick Subs w/ Satan's Che - Egg Suckin Dog 2 3 Fires Were Shot - hollow 2 3 Beck - Send A Message To Her (Bonus Track For Japan) 2 3 fivehead - South American Summer 2 3 Film School - Harmed 2 3 Communiqué - Perfect Weapon 2

Here is what I did on Sunday:

I woke up between 10 and 11. I did some sit ups. Then, I got in the car and went to the Newark Farmer's Market. It was pretty empty, because they probably just opened. I walked around there for a while, and asked some guy who ran a computer shop if he had something I would want. I wanted something I could put into one of my 5 1/2 inch bays that would allow me to plug a pair of headphones into my computer on the front side, instead of going around to the back. He had no such product. I looked at some clothes, but they sucked. I left. I got to the Kirkwood Public Library at like 12, but they didn't open until 1pm. So, I went on a walk. I walked a bit further than the entrance to Delaware Park. I walked past Murray Manor and Murray Manor II, and then I couldn't walk any more; the sidewalk was closed because of construction. I wanted to walk around all the construction stuff and see the water, but I couldn't do that. There was too much mud, and my shoes sunk in pretty far. I turned around to walk back, and a medium-sized dog came out of a trailer and ran to a tree to urinate. Some young guys came out and called the dog a fucker. I asked them if they wanted me to get the dog, and they didn't respond. I shrugged my shoulders and started on my way back to the library. On the way back, I made a point to stick my feet into a couple of streams of water flowing down the street (it was an incline, and had rained the previous night) in order to clean the mud off a little bit. I'm sure I looked crazy to people who drove by, standing in the gutter and whatnot. I became hungry, and tried to stop at a pizza / italian eatery on the way. It was closed. I got back to the library, and there I checked out the 2004 Johns Hopkins Whitepaper on Depression and Anxiety disorder and a book on Hitler called "Hitler: The Pathology of Evil." I got a new library card too. I haven't had a Delaware Public Library card in years. I'm glad I have this card now / again.

Late At Night

Sometimes, cool things will happen late at night that cannot, or for whatever reason do not happen during the day. Note: This is a very short entry.

My Threadless.com Order Came In Today

Below are the three shirts I got from Threadless T-Shirts. I bought them just 2 days ago because Threadless.com is having a sale on all their shirts until monday: $10 for each. It's a pretty cool company that allows anyone to submit a t-shirt design. Then, they allow anyone to vote on the designs, and if your design gets enough votes, they will produce the shirt and give you $400 in cash and a $100 credit to Threadless. There's really something in it for everyone. For example, those pictures I posted below? I am getting a $1.50 credit to the website for each of them.

If you click here and make a purchase I get a $3.00 credit. You can get in on this action too, either by submitting an awesome design if you're an artistic person or even a terrible artist who gets lucky and has a cool idea, or just by spreading the word through links and taking pictures of stuff you buy there. Even if you aren't interested in any of this, I think you should still browse the site and see what they have there.

Saint 

Evil King 

Flowers In The Attic 

Some (mis)information courtesy of Audioscrobbler

Some of the information contained herein is kind of wrong, some of it is old, and other pieces of information are downright unintelligible. I thought it might be nice for someone to read though. A note: the Weekly Artist and Weekly Track lists are a week behind, as it says. So they do not in any way reflect what I've been listening to after March 13th. Just something you should know, even though it says it pretty explicitly in the chart itself. Anywho, now that Blogger is working again (It would not let me publish for the last 15 minutes) I thought I should edit this entry. The only information here that I actually trust / believe is the Recent Tracks, and even those screw up sometimes. Even though this information is not reliable, it is kind of nice to see statistics on what I do (Even if they are wrong as Hell), and I thought others might like to see them too.

Recent Tracks Plugin ID: foo, Version: 1.2.4
1	Grandaddy - A.M. 180	13:18:26 EST, March 18 2005
2	The White Stripes - Your Southern Can Is Mine	11:44:22 EST, March 18 2005
3	The White Stripes - Your Southern Can Is Mine	09:56:42 EST, March 18 2005
4	The White Stripes - Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me?	09:53:46 EST, March 18 2005
5	The White Stripes - Jumble, Jumble	09:51:08 EST, March 18 2005
6	The White Stripes - Let's Build a Home	09:49:12 EST, March 18 2005
7	The White Stripes - A Boy's Best Friend	09:46:02 EST, March 18 2005
8	The White Stripes - Truth Doesn't Make a Noise	09:42:14 EST, March 18 2005
9	The White Stripes - Sister, Do You Know My Name?	09:39:10 EST, March 18 2005
10	The White Stripes - Little Bird	07:18:07 EST, March 18 2005

Weekly Artist Chart Week prior to Mar 13, 2005, 07:00 1 Elliott Smith 14 2 The Mars Volta 11 3 Radiohead 8 4 Black Sheep 7 4 MC Paul Barman 7 6 El-P 6 6 Metroid Metal (Stemage) 6 8 Her Space Holiday 5 9 Behold... the Arctopus 4 9 Enon 4

Weekly Track Chart Week prior to Mar 13, 2005, 07:00 1 Bobby Brown - on our own 3 1 Elliott Smith - Ballad of Big Nothing 3 3 Elliott Smith - Say Yes 2 3 Black Sheep - Try Counting Sheep 2 3 El-P - The Nang, The Front, The Bush And The Shit 2 6 Boyskout - Jesse James 1 6 AJ Croce - Don\'t Let Me Down 1 6 Bloc Party - Helicopter 1 6 Bloc Party - Banquet 1 6 Bloc Party - Like Eating Glass 1

The Skin Condition

He shuffled to the mirror hanging over the washbasin to see how far the malady had progressed. His face looked mostly normal. As he gently dragged a fingernail across the bridge of his nose, the skin gave easily and revealed a dark oily substance under the top layer of skin. He squeezed his nose, and pus quickly came to the sensitive, newly-exposed surface. Fearing his whole face would fall into the palm of his hand, he carefully crawled back into his bed and wept, but was careful not to shed any tears. He did not want to quicken the spread of disease.

The Greatest Game Ever Played

Apparently they put something in the water supply during the superbowl, or the gatorade, or something. The players were all fighting at first, and then it was like they all became retarded. Sitting down and rocking back and forth on their legs. Taking off their helmets and just screwing around, running in circles, dancing. This was terror. This was the true meaning of fear. This was everything gone wrong. I saw this in a fancy restaurant, and everyone was silent as it happened. When people grew silent and stared at the television, I stared too. First, nothing seemed wrong, the players were all there. I thought there was a shooting in the stands or something. The announcers ceased to talk as well. I thought perhaps there had been a terrorist attack, like what had been thought of as a possibility during big events in the past. Then, Andy Staples punched Brett Huckleberry in the head, very hard, and I knew things couldn't be right. The fighting continued, and it looked like they would go back to the game for a few seconds, and then all hell would break loose. Soon afterward, they turned into clowns. It was like a bunch of fucking broken toys who couldn't figure out what their main function was any more. As funny as it was, we couldn't laugh because of the fear. How did this happen? Who would do such a thing? Were we susceptible to such an attack? We had none of the answers, and every conceivable question. We had our heroes turning into children on the television screen in front of us. Everyone in the nation was watching a nightmare unfold before their eyes, a nightmare they never even knew existed.

On the plus side,

I am down to one remote, pretty much.

Other stuff on the plus side: not much at all.

Wait, so how does this work?

Often times I think about life, and how cheap this all seems. I was born into an era with no great mysteries. All things are attributed to science. What is not known is already on its way to becoming clear. The people of this country...no, rather, the intellects of westernized culture have come to an understanding of most things. I agree with most of the things they say, but not all. There are things I don't get, mostly about my life, and what I am to do with it. I'm supposed to go to school for 16 years or more in order to get a job that will probably be unimportant, except in the respect that it will allow my boss to get more things, or I will be producing or taking part in the production of things that people buy. In exchange for this work that I do that allows people to get things, I am given currency that allows me too, to purchase things, the only stipulation being that in exchange for the things, I give them my currency, and the only way to replenish this currency is to perpetuate this cycle of things. Once this gets boring, I look for something more. I look for a mate which in this culture is ideally one that I take for life, and share my things with. This mate and I, we are to make one or more offspring. The number of offspring we create may or may not be up to us, depending on our level of intelligence, responsibility, belief, cosmic dice, and a lot of other factors. We are to bring these children into this world, into this culture where they too may discover all of these things that they are being allowed to have, but ultimately ending up nowhere, and just working for things all over again.

Another Short Piece of Fiction...

As Jacob Sizemore laid on his deathbed, he recounted all of the important moments of his life. His first woman, the first time he had one hundred dollars in his wallet, his first car. His first jet, his sixty-ninth automobile, his first bank, his twelfth wife. He recalled all of these things, and fondly. He had figured it all out, and now he was just waiting for the next big adventure, because after all, he had everything one could possibly desire. Jacob could never see or truly know that for every excessive possession he allowed himself, he was denying another man a fair life. He could never feel this, because his sense of happiness was so dulled by all of his things. Only the strong survive, after all. It's a crazy world, and one must cut throats to survive. Nice guys finish last, after all. He never once took time to regard those outside of his circle: a "circle" which if given physical form would have been arguably as small as his own silhouette. As he exhaled his very last breath, he saw a brilliant blinding light. The light became dimmer and dimmer at an alarming rate; it was being reflected by all of his gilded belongings.

This is a crazy world. I'm glad you're in it,

Is what he said to his quiet new friend with the long straight hair as they sat by the campfire. He looked toward the ruins of the city that stood proudly not twenty hours ago, still in disbelief over the confusion, chaos, and death that followed the events that morning. He meant what he said completely. The world had been crazy before, but it was much crazier now. Or was it? The man with the too-brown eyes who seemed to be larger than the space he occupied had put into action something horrible, but what made this any worse than a person living an arduous, troublesome life and dying without ever reaching their goals? He could not properly answer this question, but he certainly felt the current situation was more important for a few reasons. First, people see the end of unfulfilling lives every day. Second, most folks don't see the vast majority of Metro City replaced by constructs of humongous gnarled bones and grey flesh and its denizens chased down and destroyed by impossible creatures.

A Weekend In Review: More of a short piece on nothing in particular

I'm not really sure what to say here right now, so I'll just say anything and everything that comes to my mind. This weekend was overall not bad. It was even good, I did not do a whole lot. I enjoy the company of people a lot, and I enjoy the company of some more than others. I feel like I'm getting a better grasp on what kind of person I am and want to be. Also, I feel like I'm learning more about the kind of people I like to surround myself with and spend time with. No matter how well we do in life, we always have issues and things to overcome. There are always things to overcome, no matter how rich, poor, happy, or loved you are. Everyone has to make decisions, and decisions are often difficult. Some people cower away from decision making through various mediums, and they avoid decision as long as possible. That's cool with me though, because a decision will only lead to more decision making. There is no one decision we can make that will make the other decisions in life easier, as long as we do not look back in pity at the decisions we made, and wonder "if only I made the other choice." It's really all about looking forward. Looking forward and being around people who you like. I wish it could stay this way, and stay this simple, but if I'm going to fit into this culture I'll have to spend large periods of time around people who I do not want to spend time with, to make a check in order to support my lifestyle. Once I figure out how to do that blindly, I will have "gotten it."


I find some people extremely interesting. It is not a surprise that the interesting people are also relatively new.


I feel very at peace. I want to talk to someone about this good feeling.


I want to solve more mysteries about life, and what I'm doing, and mysteries of human interaction; sometimes I think it would be much easier if I could just know what anyone was thinking at any given time in order to do the most desirably reply / action at any given time, but then I wonder if that might take a lot of the magic out of life. Okay, maybe I don't want to know what people are thinking at any given time, but I just wish I had a little bit of guidance in some situations. It's rough being a clod.


There are a lot of films I want to see. A lot of films indeed.


There are five kinds of people in this world for me, right now: People I want to meet, people I want to spend more time with, people with whom I am content as far as our interactions go, people I want to see less, and people I never want to interact with.

The above statement could very well be a lie, as I am somewhat torn on the idea of not wanting to meet some people. I say this, because sometimes I feel like everyone has something interesting to contribute, and something to teach me, regardless of how vapid they may be.

Kant said that oneself and others should be treated as ends, and never as means to an end. What if people are both the means and the ends? Right now I feel as though I need to meet more people in order to find out how to interact with and read people, so people are both the means and the end.

I ate a lot of Japanese food.

I know I said this would be about a weekend in review, and it kind of is. The question about interpersonal interactions is one that has been plaguing my mind all weekend.

Also, if any of you read the post I made about the SXSW festival and the large torrent, I haven't listened to a lot of the songs. Not nearly as many as I wanted to anyway. I'm only in 'C' now. Only song #110.

A Short Comment about the SXSW Music Festival, and a Large Torrent

This is A Short Comment about the SXSW Music Festival, and a Large Torrent. A large torrent that is legal, and contains songs from many of the artists that are performing at SXSW Music Festival this year, coincidentally. The festival itself really is quite an awesome thing. You can read about it here. The torrent is cool because it's legal and free, and it is fucking huge. I downloaded it a couple of days ago, and I now find myself on song #91 by Brent Palmer. I think I'll be lucky if I make it to song #756 by Zykos, because basically





basically I have 665 more songs to listen to before I get to the end. It's cool though, because a lot of these songs are pretty awesome and most definitely from a good amount of different genres. If one was trying to start a music collection or looking for a place to get stuff to put on their iPod or iWhatever Portable Music Player they fancy without being prosecuted by the RIAA, this would be a good place to start. Especially if these people are wanting to listen to stuff they might not hear on the radio or on MTV, and things they might actually enjoy for their quality, not because their friends enjoy them (because their friends in turn happen enjoy them, and no one knows who likes what and why and most of it is actually full of suck).

Anyway, if you're interested, there is a Wired article here that you can check out.

That article in turn, links to the site where the torrents are available, which can be found here.

This is 2.6 Gigabytes of music, folks. It won't be done quickly, but if you're lucky it'll be done overnight and I think it's highly worth it. If you're looking for a Bittorrent client (How else will you download the music?), I recommend Bitcomet. Some people find the idea of torrents to be a bit daunting because they are not quite as simple as point at what you want and click it to download. It's more like "point at what you want, click to download the torrent file, and wait a few hours for the torrent to do the legwork, and then be a good neighbor to other people downloading the torrent by seeding it for a while", but once you get into it, it is not very complex.

Anyhow, this is longer than I was expecting, and I've made my way all the way down to a band called Buried at Sea. They have a 15 minute-long song in this collection that is not really my style, so I'm considering skipping it.

Just a few quick notes:

First, my week is almost over. By tonight, all the hardships of this week will have passed, and I will only have two classes tomorrow to endure. No kind of examination in either, so that is very welcome.

I was in a bad mood last night, and two things saved me. The first was nudity; my own. The second was my cell phone.

Nevermind why I was in the bad mood, the important thing here is that I was pissed off, and a little off-center, so I set my phone alarm (I usually just use the alarm on my computer in a Foobar2000 plugin called foo_scheduler), stripped down to bare skin, and got in my bed. It was probably the most comfortable sleep I've had in months. It isn't something I plan on doing regularly, but man, was it ever good. I wasn't able to sleep long, but I didn't mind. Also, the cell phone woke me up in a pretty nice way. The beeping did it. Something about that incessant beeping made it easier for me to wake up. I firmly believe that if people walked around naked more, there would be less stress about physical perfection, and people wouldn't spend as much time trying to look like what they see on TV. Also, I think if people spent more time nude, they would end up in better physical shape, because you see more of yourself more often and think "Wow, I really need to fix this shell up."

Anyway, I went to bed like that. I slept for about 4 hours, then woke up and did homework I neglected to do the night before because I was angry enough that I couldn't concentrate. The dreams were once again, quite strange. It's been a long time since I first slept, but since I only got about 4 hours of sleep I went back to bed as soon as I got home from my first class. I don't know which topics happened in which dreams, but all together I had dreams that combined all of the following in the last 14 hours or so: Transvestitism, Baltimore, Martial arts, and my friends. Apparently some of my friends went with me to a place where we could learn some martial arts. We were there accused of being transvestites and / or transsexuals. I believe the place was in Baltimore, Maryland. Anyhow, I just wanted to say those things before I forgot them. I have had some other things I've been meaning to write here, but they've taken a back seat to life that has become much more chaotic in the last few days.

A Somewhat New Desktop

I had gotten feedback from an individual that my last desktop was ugly and terrible. I didn't think so (not in the slightest, actually), but I guess this one is a little bit more neutral. I'm not really expecting feedback, as I haven't done anything except change the theme to something else that someone has already created, and added a background that once again, is not something that I have created. The two have probably been used together by some other person somewhere else in the world. Anyway, when I showed my last desktop I believe I said I would be changing it soon, so here it is.





Tekken 5 is fucking awesome.