Aside from a little cholecystectomy this year I haven't been sick. That is despite the best efforts of my roommates and co-worker. My roommates in particular seem to regularly be fighting off some sort of sickness.

I wonder if its coincidence that I have good medical insurance? You ever wonder if the health insurance companies make non-policy holders sick to promote their product?

Glad I'm going to be in Austin till Friday.

As the great philosopher Kant once said: "Your life will be impoverished if you never see Dismemberment Plan perform live."

Holy shit Dismemberment Plan did it again. They made me have a damned good time. They are definitely among the upper echelon of performing artists. They play audience requests, they invite the audience to dance on stage with them during certain songs, they have a light-hearted but quick wit. That would be enough, but to top it off they play some bad ass songs.

Sadly this is only the second time I've seen them in the past year. Also when I saw them at the Ridglea the venue security made everyone get off the stage during dance with the plan. Tonight at Trees people had to climb up four feet to get to the stage but were rewarded because they got to dance on the stage.

Highlights: Playing "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich" after I screamed it out and dancing my ass off to "The Ice of Boston."

Chomsky and Little Grizzly (local Denton, TX band) opened for them. Originally it was going to be Jets to Brazil but they bailed a couple weeks before the show for some reason.

You know this rain DFW has had, yeah you know what I'm talking about. The rain that has been going on for, oh, about a month. It's my fault. I washed my car in early October.

Just wanted to purge the guilt.

I've now lived in Dallas longer than any other place besides where I grew up. The familiarity is suffocating.

Why do I feel like Holden Caulfield? I barricade myself from people I once called my friends because they all seem so phony now. What's wrong with me?

June 24th left Matt a very sad Matt. The car he loved was gone, and the CD/MP3 receiver that had kept him sane through Nevada on the "Loneliest Highway" was homeless. In a daring and moderately bold move he'd snagged the CD player from the wrecked car while it was at the auto salvage place when the insurance adjuster wasn't looking. Technically it was part of the value of the car. Matt knew he loved it in a way no one else ever would and so theft was okay.

Weeks and months went by with Matt walking, hitching with friends and riding buses and trains. The KDC-MP8017 whose sole purpose in life was to play music lay dormant the entire time. Matt's life had grown quite dim during those same months, as perhaps his purpose was to listen to KDC-MP8017 play music.

Today Matt spent $37 in wiring harnesses for his Honda and KDC-MP8017. (He had stupidly not realized he needed to steal the Kenwood wiring harness too) Then an hour wiring them together and installing the unit. Music came forth and there was much glee as they'd each found their missing piece.

Last night I saw War Photographer a documentary about James Nachtwey one of the best in the business. The crew used these special micro cameras attached to Nachtwey's cameras so you can see what he sees when he shoots. They also followed him as best they could with their own camera. They had footage of him in Kosovo, Rwanda, Indonesia, South Africa, Israel and New York City. How he maintains an optimistic view of humanity through all that violence and suffering is a marvel in and of itself.

In Indonesia he spent time with this family who sleeps outdoors on a cardboard mat in the gravel between two railroad lines. The father lost his left arm and leg when he fell asleep drunk one night on the railroad line. An entire sequence is devoted to him in a sulfur mine trying to hold back the need to vomit from the odor as yellowish smoke billows all around him while he's taking pictures of these other guys working there. They don't have masks and neither did he. He had pictures of African famine and Rwanda genocide victims. He gets a bit sanctimonious about how his pictures are displayed in magazines right next to an ad for Gucci or Lexus.

It was interesting to see that yesterday and Bowling for Columbine just the day before. It makes you wonder if we'll ever get rid of all the fear, hate and violence in the world.

Tivo grabbed Birds of Prey the new live action Batman spinoff. In the typical WB vein it features scantily clad, sexy young women using super powers to save the world. Yeah, I said super powers, what kind of crap is that? That's for the Marvel universe, not DC! Remember Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn? She is very well written, and clever in the animated series. In fact, the episode where she and Poison Ivy tear up the town is one of the highlights of the Batman oeuvre. She's in this and she's played by a very, very hot Mia Sara. I have never seen a psychologist who dressed like her though. Although it's not quite as good as her evil dress in Legend, but I digress. To be honest the show is sort of awful. Acting, dialogue, costumes and set design all came from the WB "How to make a hit show" corporate flowchart rather than a creative team.

None of that matters though. The absolute best part of the show is during the final credits when they mentioned Porcupine Tree's new album In Absentia. (That means it also showed up during the show) I've been a fan of the Tree since 1997 and to see my music tastes vindicated by a major media conglomerate and sold to the 18-49 male demographic...well it just brings a tear to my eye. I felt like I was somebody, like my music tastes matter. Even if being somebody meant I was just customer #45267. Hear me now! #45266 and #45268 (if you're out there) I feel like we're brothers united by mother AOL Time-Warner. You can count on me to consume pop culture and make our nation a better place.

The Little Lebowski Urban Achievers have come through week one of Yahoo Fantasy Hockey in style. My opposition had more star players and still had his butt pound into hamburger. Although my super star center, Jason Arnott, sprained his ankle and will be out 10-14 days.

It would be nice if this was just the beginning of nice things to come in what has been a kinda crappy year.

Home alone nursing allergies and thinking through a Benadryl buzz I'm listening to music by Jandek. Jandek has been putting albums out since 1978 and has released 28. They are put out by "Corwood Industries" and consist mainly of two to four minute songs. You acquire them by sending a letter to a PO Box in Houston. In my case, Chrissy gave me one of her duplicates.

A primer of sorts called Mystery Man: Jandek is available online. Here's a clip:

All his albums have a fuzzy photograph on the front cover, of a man or part of a house or some curtains. The back covers have his name, the album title, the track titles and times, and Corwood's address, all typeset in the same nondescript font—except for 1991's One Foot in the North, which uses a sort of Chinese-restaurant font. That's it: that's all anyone knows.

The CD I have, "Glad to Get Away", is filled with his off key but expressive singing and out of tune guitar playing. I find the mystery is more compelling than the music to be honest. It's not bad music, just really weird. Especially when you are aware of the context (or lack thereof) surrounding it. How someone finds the energy to do this for 24 years fascinates me. Despite a reclusiveness that rivals Greta Garbo or JD Salinger folks like Kurt Cobain name-dropped Jandek and Spin magazine named him one of the ten most interesting musicians of the late eighties.

I get back from traveling and came across this gem. The Internet is really great sometimes.

NOSBOIS has a simple organizational goal: Put Bill O'Reilly on a rocket ship headed for the sun. As part of their goal they've been sending him multiple letters every month for almost two years trying to convince he should be flown into the sun. You can read the letters. via quantumphilosophy.net

Salon has a recent speech Bill Clinton gave. Check out the editor's notes:

Former President Bill Clinton delivered the following remarks before the Labor Party Conference in Blackpool, England, on Wednesday. The speech, which ranged from Africa to Iraq to his differences with Bush conservatism, was hailed in the Guardian as the work "of a true political master ... At times, it was as if Mr. Clinton was calling on Mr. Blair to rescue America from Bushism ... What a speech. What a pro. And what a loss to the leadership of America and the world." The Mirror was even more exuberant: "It was a magnificent speech from a man who is rapidly becoming the greatest figure in world politics, second only, perhaps, to Nelson Mandela."

Preston Brown who was drafted in the sixth round by the New England Patriots and went on to play for the Browns and Jets did the financial paperwork on the car I bought today. I asked him if Huntsville has any other ex-NFL players besides hall of famerJohn Stallworth. He cryptically responded Huntsville is one of the best kept secrets in the country.