New years party was good! The first thing our hostess said to me when I got there was "You cannot smoke pot in my apartment." The last thing was asking me to steal someone's girlfriend. At least that last bit was half-jokingly proposed, but still. Perhaps I should attend to my reputation a bit more in the New Year. Perhaps I should just run with it. That seems more likely.

Also, though I've read several books that explain -- both mathematically and sociologically -- why things like this happen, it still weirds me out when people in my extended social network, who I've never met before, knows and works with other people (on other coasts and continents even) that I also know and work with. It makes me feel more disconnected with the world, actually. Swimming in my own fishbowl.

And it makes me nervous when people say, "very well said," to things that I say. I mean, I like it, but that's what makes me nervous.

Finally, the Bulgarian bar just isn't what it used to be. Or maybe it's not quite as cool at 1am on Jan 1st as on a random summer friday. At any rate, there wasn't quite the dancing scene I was hoping for. Should have stayed at the party. C'est la vie. Still a good night in all.

I can't wait for this war to be over; can't wait for things to change. We're getting there. It's going to happen. Going to be a while yet I think, but overall I'm cautiously optimistic about the new year and the 21st Century in general. I still expect near-catastrophic upheval to roil the globe, but I generally think I'll do ok for myself.

It's the year of dropping the hammer, a year to start building. I have project plans in the works, business plans, creative plans, etc. Thinking about trying to make something immenseley popular or visible. It's time I started putting my skill-blend to use. I don't want to be building websites for other people for the rest of my life.

Gobby

For serious nerds only. THIS IS THE MF SHIZ! It promises to revolutionize my workflow.

Thinking outside the box is something I like to try around the new year. I don't really do resolutions, but I do do plans.

I'm a little aimless at the moment. Back in early 2003 I wrote myself a little document, a personal manifesto/plan of sorts, which turned out to be decently inspirational.

It's time to start digging in for the year of dropping the hammer.

Getting ready to watch Oregon vs. Oklahoma, and it prompts some interesting questions about rankings. Everyone's got a gripe about the BCS, yeah, but I'm not going to to get into that. What I want to know is how Oregon can be in the top 10 of every poll and the BCS rankings, and Oklahoma can be unranked, and yet OU is favored on the betting line by three points.

That's a pretty significant disagreement in terms of team quality between the oddsmakers and the other ranking systems. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that the bookies have money on the line and the top-25 polls are more about marketing and bragging rights. Interesting.

Go Ducks!

----

Conclusion: Vegas is smart. They called it correct: Oklahoma by 3. Also, my pithy comparison of overall rankings and individual game odds is a bit apples-n-oranges. As this game showed, player health can impact an individual game quite a bit. A healthy Kellen Clemens would have made a big difference for Oregon.

Farsheed and his friends are talented. That's him on the typewriter, drums and keyboard.

Oh man. The art jonze.

New Pew Study: US internet-using population has more woman then men. In fact, 86 percent of women ages 18-29 are online, compared to 80 of men.

The internet: just like theater school? Well, not quite, but it's an encouraging statistic, especially when it comes to the all-important odds of my getting slutty chicks from myspace to IM me.

Some hepcat with the juice to post on Josh Marshall's TPM Cafe -- which means he's someone with a respectable job in DC -- has written a counter-wonk piece describing the biased way in which the US newsmedia, even the wonkishly-legit Foreign Policy, treats Hugo Chavez:

In its zeal to create an imaginary "dictatorship" in Venezuela, the Foreign Policy article ignores this anti-democratic role of the opposition, supported by Washington. It is also worth noting that the opposition can pursue such tactics that would have no chance of success in most other democracies because it still controls most of the Venezuelan media.

It's really quite unfortunate that the US media seems so relentlessly partisan on Venezuela.

Shit, how did I miss this?

Blue Language is a live double-album from some of the most talented people I've had the distinct priviledge to hear perform in the great underground cultural mecca that is Portland, Oregon. If you have any sort of taste for acoustic music with wit, you should
give it a listen on CDbaby. Then buy it. I did.

Via the bliss of Bittorrent, I watched Hustle and Flow last night. It's good! MTV films is a hit-or-miss operation, but this is a real winner. I've been meaning to see it since I met (rather was picked up by) the assistant location manager in Memphis on the road this summer and los Vagabenderosos spent a day with her parents (her mom was the Memphis location hefe), but never got around to it.

The movie essentially rests on the shoulders of Terrance Howard, and he carries it with style and grace. He really makes you believe that a Pimp can be a good man, and really makes you want to pronounce "man" like he does, kinda like, "main." The rest of the cast is quite good as well, even the token nerdy white kid producer. It's a bit of a cinderella story, and the Moral Majority would see it as bedrock proof that hip-hop, MTV and "those people" are out to ruin the US of A, but it's thoroughly enjoyable and even a little bit moving.

It's also really nice to see a little bit of the Dirty up on the big screen. I think the rising cultural gravity of the South is a good thing overall, CMT included. Regionalism helps drive innovation, quality, etc, and frankly I think the old-line cultural centers (NYC, Hollywood) need competition. They're getting fat and lax. I also appreciate the re-appropriation of the verb "to hustle" and the noun "hustler," which I think have a lot of potential in postmodern America.

Hustle and Flow, people; thoroughly worth your netflix/rental dollar.

Back in the heady days of Deanism, one of the things I was harping on was how one of the problems we have in governance these days was the ratio of representation. Congress is currently 666,000:1, up from 50,000:1 back in 1800.

Makes for an interesting graph, if I do say so myself.

At some point there will be a realignment of these ratios if representation is to continue to be effective.