I'm excited for 2007, not only because of the promises to come from a Democratic legislative branch, but more importantly that I shall once again live on the yellow line!

I'll try to do some lists for 2006, as I have in years' past. I guess I can start off with the most interesting book I read: Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, perhaps the greatest Stephen/Steven combo since Colbert and Carell were on the Daily Show a few years ago.

Now I'm off to Blockbuster to return some movies that are well overdue.

Spent almost the entire day watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, some of which I had only seen once three years ago in England. Spent the rest of my time eating Davanni's and listening to Air with the iTunes visualizer on. Also spent a few minutes trying to code HTML over the phone - and you know what: I still got it!

Will hopefully be traveling down to Decorah on Tuesday to see G. Edwin, weather permitting.

I was really glad to read this morning that Russ is the only person in the Senate worth his salt. The Bush apologists use the 9/11 defense for the President breaking the law and the other Democrats won't say anything substantial. Feingold is completely right, Bush should be censured at the least for intentionally breaking the FISA laws; they impeached Clinton for far less. Is there a double standard on the right when it comes to holding presidents accountable for following the law? To take a line from Liar, Liar (a terrible movie): "Stop breaking the law, asshole!" That's what Congress should be telling President Bush, and that's basically what a censure is.

If there is fresh snow tomorrow and the weather is good I think I'll go take some photos of this beautiful city.

Phil and I have become obsessed with The Larry Sanders Show, even though we can only find the first season of it. "Hey Now!" Hank Kingsley is of course the best character, but Larry and Artie are always a close second. Is somebody on the speakerphone? ... Goddamnit

A new addition to my music favorites is Feist who is an amazing singer, and a Vixen™ to boot.

The Office continues to be the strongest show on TV, followed by the Boondocks. The thing that blows my mind about the Boondocks is the amount of effort put into the art in the show as well as the direction of action and biting satire.

The Ricky Gervais podcast is the funniest audio found on the internet. Period. I don't care for people that don't like his shows.

Really, really enjoyed Thumbsucker, I'm really considering tacking it on to my top films for 2005 list.

Thinking about moving back to Minneapolis for the summer and fall for the election, but it'd have to be for the right campaign.

The bastard who lives below us is currently pounding on the wall because I don't think he's learned that doing that doesn't solve the noise problems from the neighbors at all.

More to come tomorrow.

I got over my cold from last week in record time, thanks Drixoral! Believe me when I say that it is rare that I get a cold and don't have a nagging cough for 2-3 months [or seasons] after.

The Peter Sarsgaard episode of SNL last night was so-so, but I did enjoy the Jesse Jackson dessert cart bit, as well as the Chuck Lane/Shattered Glass/Cat Fancy spoof. I guess I laughed a little at the pirate convention and the Peter Sarsgaard "SARS Gaurd" bits as well, but two sketches surrounding the host's name?? The man is an amazing actor with many fantastic roles to lampoon. The most recent show hosted by Alec Baldwin had a fantastic Glengarry Glenn Ross/Santa's workshop send-up; they should do more stuff like that.

I usually wait until after the Academy Awards to express my un-ending disappointment with their choices for Oscars, but for the first time in many years, I've shifted my tutting to the Golden Globes. Usually I can count on the Globes to pick the actual best picture of the year, and not Brokeback Mountain or Walk the Line. I did agree with the choices of awards for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Steve Carrell in their respective categories, since they were actually the best. But Walk the Line?? I love Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, but Ray and Walk the Line were two of the biggest disappointments I've had in my moviegoing experiences. Leave it to the Hollywood Foreign Press to pick the cliche musical over quality musicals (Hustle and Flow) or fantastic [dark] comedies (like The Matador or the Ice Harvest). They also are dead to me for picking Geena Davis for her role in the lamest show in a long time, Commander in Chief. I love Geena Davis (usually), but I hate they she has anything to do with this show. We certainly have learned what the White House would be like with a female president: boring and pretentious. Desperate Housewives is a lame, watered down "comedy" and should not have won because there were so many fantastic and hilarious shows from last year. Off the top of my head, there's Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Weeds, Extras, The Office, Starved and Family Guy. They were all much better, but ignored by the HFP. I think I might just start boycotting these stupid awards shows.

I've also upgraded the MovableType software to version 3.2 and slapped on this nice new skin.

I hope to make quite a few improvements over the next few days and weeks. I've started doing a lot of digital photography, so I'll get something set up for that too.

Comments now work too, feel free to leave them. I hope it screens out the spam too.

Download the MP3 here (great for a ringtone!)

Enjoy.

Should be a fun weekend, I've started playing WarCraft II again, something I haven't done since high school. I think I like Age of Empires II a little better though, they have a lot of improvements.

Today, I plan on going to Potomac Mills to see Shopgirl. Hopefully it will break the horrible movie streak that Steve Martin has been on. I think the last good movie he was in was Novocaine. We all know the Pink Panther is going to suck, they moved back its opening to February, 2006, you know, the biggest movie time of the year after Thanksgiving and Labor Day. I think that's when they released Electra last year. Quality. (I haven't actually seen Electra, so I don't know how fair it is for me to say that about it).

I must say that I am proud that Norm Coleman ACTUALLY KEPT HIS WORD FOR ONCE. Well, it was convenient for him to do so, the ANWR drilling bill had 52 yes votes, so he was safe to vote against it without pissing off the Bush admin. I bet he was worried there, or he would not have been softening the ground for the eventuality that he might have to vote for it. Now, in 2008, when Bush's approval rating is hovering in the low 20s in the Minnesota, Normy will be waving this bill all over the place, saying, "Look, I actually disagreed with the President once! Look!" He pretty much made it clear that he would vote yes if it looked like the bill was in jeopardy, but what does that say about Normy, that he does the right thing only when convenient? Well, we knew that already.

I cannot wait for this Sunday's Times and the live West Wing Debate, and of course, the highlight of my week, Curb Your Enthusiasm!

Make sure to check out this awesome video he made for Amazon.

Nothing will ever beat the splendor of the cheap Aldi Corona-esq Guatemalan beer called Monterey Bay or Yuengling.

I must say that after seeing two full episodes of Commander in Chief that I'll never watch it again, at least until it becomes a serious show. The show is 10 percent decent politics and 90 percent bad writing and bad drama. It has none of the flair that early West Wing episodes had.

I absolutely love The Colbert Report after just two episodes. Stephen Colbert deserves his own show, the man is hilarious and talented. Jon Stewart (as anchor) is funny, but he lacks the satirical genius that Colbert has in his performance. Colbert has nailed Bill O'Reilly, but it isn't a one-joke show. I hope his show can keep this up and really get the "good guests" instead of the second or third-rate people that come on Stewart's show far too often. The biggest difference for me between the Colbert Report and The Daily Show is that with Colbert I don't feel compelled to turn it off after the first segment or two.

I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but I think I agree with most of the recent tax reform proposals made by the Bush administration's tax advisory commission. I agree that we need to simplify the tax code. I strongly believe in a progressive flat tax with very few deductions (these two proposals are a step in the right direction).

I think that I've listened to OK Go's new album Oh No at least three dozen times, second only to The Who's Tommy or Van Morrison's Moondance.

Only a few weeks (11/10/05) until I see Ben Folds with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, I'm very excited!

Now I'm off to sleep!

Action from Coleman?

Why am I not surprised that Sen. Norm Coleman is getting ready to roll over on ANWR drilling ("Coleman wavering on Arctic drilling," Oct. 1)?

Coleman's spokesman said he's done everything he could to keep it out of the budget bill, but is that true? Has he stood on the floor of the Senate and demand that the matter be taken up separately? Has he organized senators who oppose the prodrilling language in the budget bill?

I wonder if Coleman actually wants to stop the drilling.

I remember when his Senate seat was held by a man who actually acted on what he promised -- Paul Wellstone. It is times like these that I miss him the most.

Micah W. Clemens, Minneapolis.

I've recently spent a ton of time sitting around the apartment, waiting for class at night, and I've been watching a lot of TV. I should clarify, I've been watching a lot of television shows but usually not live when they air. I've been doing a lot of "time-shifting" and DVD viewing, and there is so much good stuff out there among the midst of the crap that seems to top the ratings. I've been spending an equal amount of time with both great shows that were canceled prematurely and great shows that probably will be axed soon.
Great canceled shows:

• Freaks and Geeks
• Undeclared
• Firefly

• Arrested Development (Fox is just itching to cancel what is probably the funniest show on television)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (Luckily HBO recognizes talent and quality)
• Entourage (same story as Curb)
• The Office (Americano)
• Veronica Mars (My new guilty pleasure replacing Las Vegas)
• Weeds (Probably the best new show)
• Starved