If all goes well, I'll be driving a brand new Nissan Altima this weekend. My Volkswagen Jetta has served me quite well. 10 years, almost 235,000 miles. It's time for retirement.

AAA

I knew there was a familiarity to the "War Photographer" video. Joel Trussell is responsible for "The Illness" video for Kid 606. I love the way he coincides the music and images.

Now I know you're thinking that's what any director should be doing, but Trussell seems to accomplish this at a microscopic level. If there's a bleep, bloop, glitch, or any other seemingly random non-reoccurring sound. He's likely to pair it up exactly with imagery of the same ilk. His style is perfect for this sort of music.

I still get lots of traffic due to the amount of GTA: San Andreas on this site. I haven't posted on Liberty City Stories, since, well I just don't have it. I've got a PSP sitting here sealed that I originally bought in order to sell, but The U.S. market was never clamoring for the device. So here it sits, with its lovely shrinkwrapped outer membrane.

But it does not surprise me that edisoncarter is up to his old tricks again, this time handheld style. He's developed "CheatDevice v0.4 for Liberty City Stories".

The video must be Joel Trussell's commentary on all the rock bands coming from Scandinavia in recent times. Or is that old history dating back to 2001?

His video for Jason Forrest's track, "War Photographer" is lots of fun. Vikings, guitars, robots, cowbell, what else do you need?

Joel has some development sketches on his blog as well.

How To Make A Hip End of the Year 'Best Albums' List from My Blog is Poop

And yet I may still post a "Best of" or "Top Ten of" 2005 list. If it was of the readers of this blog,I know the "Top Ten" would not be possible. And no it wouldn't be because there were too many to choose from, just the fact that 3 people, the Google cache, and a few blog aggregators still don't add up to 10.

But a hint for bands out there that want to actually appear on these lists. Be sure to schedule your "breakthrough", "overnight success", "buzz" to take place in the second half of the year, if at all possible.

This way the imminent backlash will happen in the following calendar year. Thus, your presence on someone's end of the year list will be secured.

I know there are essays out there about "Another Girl, Another Planet" being the greatest pop song ever. (Although my Google search hasn't come up with any, perhaps that theory's dead, and it's still the first sentence of this post.) People have professed their love for this song (scroll down, kid), regardless of the fact that it barely charted. And I will give them that, it's a great song. Catchier than the common cold in a kindergarten classroom.

When I first heard this song, I had no idea it was by The Only Ones. I had some compilation CD that contained a version by The Mighty Lemondrops. And although the Mighty Lemondrops never really caught my interest previously...well, Damn, if it wasn't the best song on the entire comp.

I've since heard a live cover by the Replacements that sounded like it was disintegrating and patched together with duct tape, but that added to the charm. And I can't find fault with the original.

I actually thought the song was built in such a way that no matter who covered it, it would remain intact and brilliant. A piece of perfect pop.

Enter Blink-182, or Blink182 or Blink 182 (spaces, hyphens, whatever. and is it Kid606 or Kid 606? My iTunes gets confused sometimes.)

Anyway the Blink boys come along and pour too much powdered sugar over the top and just ruin things. I could hear it in one listen. Maybe they should have had the nasally guy sing more. There's kids out there who have never heard the song and this is what they get, the NutraSweet version on a greatest hits compendium. Granted, Blink182 is a watered down Green Day, but I liked "Dammit". And Travis Whatshisname is a good drummer. They chose a good song to cover. And I'm not one of those crotchety folks that think every cover sucks, and that covering this song or that song is blasphemy. And if someone samples of mashes it with something else, so be it. I think if there was a demo version of this cover closer to the Dude Ranch/Cheshire Cat days, then maybe it would have sounded a bit better.

At least Limp Bizkit didn't cover it on their greatest hits collection.

Snowman yesterday. Snowfort building today. Snowballs thrown both days.

More snow tonight. 3 - 6 inches. We'll see if they're right.

New Jersey's getting more snow each year. It reminds me of when I was a kid, we always got a lot back then, too.

I've been sleeping on Strong Bad's latest creation at Homestar Runner.

Teen Girl Squad. No description necessary. Watch and laugh.

Thanks, Ted Leo. I've been sleeping on Homestar Runner for awhile. Now I can lose some sleep and catch up.

I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into the fray in the world of mp3 blogs, but I heard about the recentdeath of Shonen Knife and DMBQ drummer Mana "China" Nishiura in a car accident, and was surprised to see no mention in any of the mp3 blogs over at The Hype Machine. (If there were any comments, no mp3s were posted.) "China" was currently touring with the band DMBQ. She apparently was a session and touring drummer that played with a number of other bands (Teem, Rashinban, Droop, Slower Traffic 5), in many styles.

I will not pretend to know a lot about her, and if you are interested in learning more about Mana "China" Nishiura, then I suggest visiting some of the links in this post.

The only CD I own by Shonen Knife is Let's Knife, but my favorite track is on the soundtrack to The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains movie. The Shonen Knife contribution is "Buttercup (I'm a Super Girl)", and The Ramones influence is way beyond obvious. But that's okay. The song is a lot of fun.

Shonen Knife - Buttercup (I'm a Super Girl)

Rush Limbaugh has the rocks to charge people $49.95 to donate a 1 year subscription to his web site and newsletter. Considering that he's going to be doing the content anyway for people who subscribe to it, basically he's war profiteering under the guise of charity. Nice job, Fatty.

Ultra-conservative to insane viewpoints are one thing. Doctor shopping for prescription drugs is another. But please, oh please give me one good reason why I shouldn't send troops some non-perishable food that no matter the trans fat content will taste infinitely better than rations, or perhaps the much reuested clean underwear and socks (Mom wasn't kidding when she said to always make sure you have clean underwear. Particularly when you're thousands of miles from home and finding a laundromat not your top priority.), but instead give them access to a web site, since the guys on the front line need to know how you think Clinton is still responsible for today's problems. Because that's exactly what they need when they're picking up pieces of debris off the ground to weld on to their humvees. You know, the one's that use the armor.

I heard about this on Howard Stern this morning, and then read more online. I visited Rush's site hoping that it was already taken down with an apology for letting greed get in the way of charity. Perhaps if Mr. Limbaugh owned an oil company or weapons manufacturer this would not have happened. But since he doesn't he aparently needed some kind of way to cash in.

I noticed he wasn't on the air this afternoon. Hopefully someone was trying to talk some sense into him about this. There's no picture in this post because I don't want to look at him. But here's the obligatory link to his "Adopt a Soldier" program.

And here's a couple e-mail addresses that are attached to the site. In case you want to send "fan mail":
eibcollection@rushlimbaugh.com
memberservice@rushlimbaugh.com

I've never watched Trading Spouses, but I've seen that recent commercial with that woman screaming her head off quite a few times. You have as well. And it has scarred your brain like the maze etched onto the screen of an old Pac-Man machine that's never been unplugged.

Now is she or is she not the bus driver from South Park? Her name is Margaret, as far as I can tell? I don't know the name of the bus driver though?

Can't find pic of her now. Sleep calls me, so I leave. But if you've seen South Park, I'm sure you'll agree. And that picture up top doesn't do Margaret justice, the commercials showed her screaming her head off, but not screaming, "SIT DOWN, KID!" Fox will probably switch up the pictures on their web site by the time people read this in the late morning, and readers will just scratch their heads.

Is it just me or is Yoda flipping us the bird in this picture that was on the front page of ebay this morning? Dora the Explorer looks completely unfazed by the obscene finger gesture.

My son and I just gathered up cousins Miso and Twinkle as We Love Katamari continues to rule our PS2. I bought the original game originally (there's probably a word for that use of grammar, right there, I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure any style guide will tell you not to do it), so I'd have an alternative to games like GTA that I only play when the kids are asleep. Namco came out with a great game (and a great sequel) that anyone can enjoy, that just happens to be nonviolent.

Although the downside is that now my son, who's nearly five, asks me about playing daily, and it's kinda hard to say no, because (1) yeah I kinda would like to play, and (2) my gimpy back makes playing video games easier than pushing trucks across the hardwood and tile floors down on all four.

I grew up with video games, yes they are quite a bit different today than when I was a kid, but it should better prepare for raising kids in this era than those parents that never "got it".

Besides, at 35, I've got a really small window before he crushes me at every game.

Are these pictures of the first ever KatamariCon? Or just a bunch of otakus? or is it just otaku? or otaki? kinda like octopi?

And a Japanese Katamari commercial.

The nearby picture tells me that my son & I aren't the only two people who love the new Katamari game.

Vote early and often, kids. Polls are not open at 4:20 AM, but will be open at 4:20 PM naturally. If this is the first time you've heard of Ed Forchion, I guess you didn't look at the ballot you received in the mail.

Ed is only running for governor of New Jersey, for those of you who were wondering about the NJ preceding WEEDMAN.

Did anyone else click on the "priceless" link in the previous post? You know, besides me since I put it there. Life must be pretty good if you don't find yourself in any of the pictures. Very intriguing and sometimes frightening look into the world of Google Image Search.

Brown corduroy pants: $ 24.99.
Chicken salad sandwich: $ 5.95.
Chicked salad on new brown corduroy pants: $ #@&%!

Not using "priceless" in above example: PRICEL...(Oh shit! I almost slipped up, my bad.)

Yeah...It was somewhere around this time last year, that this blog started. I find myself at a seminar in Atlantic City again, but this time I'm not watching the hitting prowess of David Ortiz against New York Yankee pitching. The seminar was a bit later this year, so baseball's over, and the only sports I've seen down here are the Sixers, which I could do without.

A lot has changed in a year. I've lost a father and gained a son. I've gotten a crash course in estate taxation, tenant/landlord relationships, probate, and all other kinds of financial shenanigans. I've mostly resisted my urge to buck all responsibility, but these things have a way of following you around so that won't do me any good.

But it's my last night in AC. I'm only $ 50 in the hole. I've got a full stomach, and I'm staying at the Tropicana which I highly recommend. You won't go hungry or dry at this place. But I tire of posting, there are other matters at hand. Like calling for a wake-up call, packing, and arranging for room service breakfast.

When I tire of my son's Lincoln Logs, Thomas trains, and the other 7 milion items I step on, trip over, sit on, duck from, get run over by, and last but not least, get hit in the head with. I'm glad Hi Fructose is out there, so I know there's toys for me too. These are toys that more often will just sit on a shelf with many collectors, but I'm sure I would let them go toe to toe with the Thomas trains, and the whole fleet of trucks that cause traffic jams in my front hall, just to see if artists and designers can make toys that withstand the punishment that only Tonka and Bruder can dish out.

I've enjoyed the first issue of Hi Fructose. It's a nicely designed/produced magazine, that could suck a reader into a world they didn't know existed and may not have cared. It's definitely something for the Juxtapoz crowd. I can't justify subscribing, but I have a strange fascination for well-crafted magazines, so I'm sure I'll pick this up again.

Particularly of interest is the photography of Brian McCarty. If you're spoiled daughter wanted to hire a photographer for Barbie and Ken's wedding, he probably wouldn't be the one to hire, he'd be busy taking the candids of Skipper shagging a bus boy next to the dumpster, or capturing a drunken Care Bear puking in the parking lot. McCarty has a knack for capturing the real life of toys. He has a gift for reading between the lines on the packaging copy, and goes beyond what the Saturday morning commercials let on.

Oh and he's got Master Shake cavorting with some bikini clad babes.

...then catch it. And maybe do it again. Lovely pics. Lovely technique. I'd like to get a new digital camera soon anyway, so if things don't go so well, oh well.