I finally bought an Iron Maiden album today (The Number of the Beast). Maiden totally rocks! How have I not been listening to this for the last 20 years? Seriously. I also finally finished Harry Potter 7, which also rocks, but in a totally different way (much less awesome bass lines and uber-dramatic vocals and more teenagers with magic wands).

http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1339911.html

An interesting Op Ed from Nick Coleman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You might need to log in to read it, but it's free to sign up.

I haven't liked driving since the novelty wore off when I was 18, but yesterday I discovered that driving around while listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at high volume is an enjoyable experience. Even Elvis Costello seems to agree on some commercial.

An interesting article on the recent trend of books criticizing religion (Harris, Dennett, Dawkins and now Hitchens). This has become almost a little sub-genre of its own the last few years. One thing I like about this article is that it questions how effective such books really are compared to the gentler approach used by Hume (one of my ( Read more... )

I can't sleep so I guess I'll post this question I've been thinking about the last year or so ( Read more... )

Since I read her beautiful collection of short stories a few years ago, I've been wanting to read Jhumpa Lahiri's novel, The Namesake. Then I saw a preview for a movie that's being made from the novel, so I thought I should read the novel before the movie comes out. So I read it, just finishing it a few minutes ago. Anything I write seems trite ( Read more... )

Eh.

This is pretty hilarious. Yay for computer programs that put your interests together for humorous results!

In 2007, ( Read more... )

I have this crazy high-tech alarm clock that includes the two-digit year set for the whole 21st century (mostly so it can keep track of the date and day of the week, I think, or maybe just to look cool to nerds like me). So, of course, if the power goes out, I have to reset the whole thing, because, although you can put a back-up battery in it, I ( Read more... )

The Lost Room, which may star my back for approximately two seconds and (less importantly) Peter Krause of Six Feet Under fame, will be on the Sci-Fi Channel on Monday. I was an extra a few months ago. I wore a jacket that said "Forensics" on the back and carried a giant flashlight while walking into a house. We only had to do it about six times ( Read more... )