Forsooth! A final week of 2009 meme!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Saw the boy off to start school; dealt with cancer in the family; saw Neil Young live; celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss; rebuilt a front page in about 10 minutes to get Michael Jackson's death in; visited Melbourne, Australia.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make the things. Less grief.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
Valiantly trying to stay awake but likely failing.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just crossed the ditch to Melbourne in Australia. Also went to South Island which is kind of like another country. Hoping to visit the ol' American homeland in 2010 but will see...

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Peace of mind.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
April 17 was quite nice as we were on our South Island trek and had a fine, if incredibly curvy driving, journey going up the hill from Motueka over to Farewell Spit, on the very very tippy northwest corner of the South Island. We got to this very remote and gorgeous hobbity beach and it was nearly deserted, and a whole school of baby fur seals were playing in water pools just a few feet away from us. Awesome.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finally getting our house into decent shape by painting every room, building a nice trellis outside and buying the last furniture we lacked.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Controlling the devil temper.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The usual minor aches and pains for someone suddenly pushing (urk!) 40.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
The flash new LCD TV and a new sofa set. Also the most expensive things we bought!

12. Where did most of your money go?
The mortgage, of course. Also big ticket items like new gutters, new couch, that kinda thing. Lots of little dribs and drabs onto the usual comics/movies/music of course....

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?
"Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear; "Zero" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga.

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing/drawing. Also exercising.

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Lying on my back bein' a bum.

16. What was your favourite TV program?
We totally got into watching Showtime's "Dexter" this year and have ripped through the first three seasons. Michael C. Hall is so great he makes me forget "Six Feet Under."

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hrm... no, hate is a strong word. "Tired of" is better.

18. What was the best book you read?
Even though I technically started it in 2008, I read the bulk of Roberto Bolano's "2666" this year and dug it a lot.

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Old music: I'd never really listened to the 13th Floor Elevators/Roky Erickson prior to this year and really got into their utterly batshit psychedelic rock. Newer music: Finally got into exploring the Eels and their great discography. Newest music: The superb Grizzly Bear's evocative gem "Vecktamest."

20. What was your favorite film of this year?
Still an awful lot I haven't seen, but so far -- a tossup between "Inglourious Basterds" and "Moon," I think.

21. What did you do on your birthday?
Ate yummy noodles at a noodle bar with the family and watched Kenneth Branagh smoulder in the BBC's "Wallander."

22. What kept you sane?
Wife/boy/sunny days. Some days boy did the opposite though.

23. Who did you miss?
"All my friends" living in the US of A.

24. Who was the best new person you met?
Not to put him on the spot but it was a pleasure to meet Bob, a NZ comics nut/ blogger/journalist whom I have a lot in common with.

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Nothing stays the same.

Feels like the first time, feels like the very first time

Stolen from Samurai Frog, an enjoyable meme I thought:

First Job: Cleaning up outside some apartments behind my old house in Grass Valley, Calif. I think I got paid a few bucks by a family friend.

First Real Job: Six weeks at McDonald's, summer 1988, at the end of which I was rather ignominiously fired for failing to turn up to work because a friend had rented a video camera and I thought that was a more entertaining way of spending my time. Hilariously, for some reason the rumour went around that I showed up at work drunk and hung over and vomited all over the place before being thrown out. Mind you, I didn't even touch a drink till college. But that would've been a much cooler way to be dismissed, I guess.

First Favorite Politician: Poor sad doomed hangdog Mike Dukakis, whom I identified with in 1988, the first presidential election I took a real interest in (one year too young to vote though)

First Car: The 1971 Jeep Wagoneer my parents bought in Alaska a few months before I was born. A monstrous green hulk of a machine, the "Avocadomobile" was truly dangerous in the hands of a 17-year-old, proven by the engine throwing a rod and exploding in cataclysmic fashion while I was driving my girlfriend around on a date.

First Record/CD: Men At Work, "Business as Usual". Unhealthy Colin Hay obsession continues to this day.

First Concert: Howard Jones, 1988, and he really wasn't very good I thought. His keyboards kept breaking.

First Encounter with a Famous Person: Burgess Meredith sat in front of us at a play when I was a kid; his child was involved in the production apparently.

First Brush With Death: Choked on peppermint as a wee lad; remember my dad hanging me upside down and whacking on me. Still don't much care for peppermints.

First House/Condo Owned: The house we live in right now -- which we cleverly managed to buy about 6 months before the real estate market crash. Sigh.

First Foreign Country Visited: England, when I was 7.

First Favorite TV Show: "The Brady Bunch." And I sadly admit to this day that I have most episodes committed to memory. A childhood well spent!

First Favorite Actor: Harrison Ford, of course.

First Favorite Actress: Lea Thompson, circa "Back to the Future" and "Howard The Duck". Yeah, it's more than a little embarrassing I was romantically attracted to anything to do with "Howard The Duck," isn't it?

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: Cindy and I went roller-skating in 6th grade. It was bliss. That was about as far as things went, too.

First Film Seen: Not sure. I think it had Dick Van Dyke in it.

First Favorite Radio Station: FM 102, Sacramento. I still remember the chirpy tones of their call sign, long after I stopped listening to the radio -- "FM 102!" And the mysteries of Rick Dees' weekly top 40.

First Book I Remember Reading: Good lord, no idea. Kind of like asking "first water I drank." There are too many thousands of words massed up between then and now. Probably something by Charles M Schulz though.

First Meme You Answered on Your Blog: Apparently this one, which has a really wacky table format. I don't even remember doing it!

25 Random Things courtesy of Facebook

I am in a random kind of mood and thus will steal a Facebook meme I have been tagged with like 150 times to fill the vast and empty space that needs to be filled. So.... Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Steal this if you like, or not if you don't!

25 Random Things About Me

1. I was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. I've been back once, when I was 30.

2. I was born with a condition called craniosynostosis; basically, I had no soft spot on my skull and had to have one surgically put in. If you x-ray my head you will see wee little metal staples. Good times!

3. From toddlerhood to about age 25 or so, I had an unearthly fear of bullfrogs. I still don't care for them much.

4. All my grandparents died by the time I was 4 or so, so I barely remember them at all.

5. I am left-handed, just like our shiny new President.

6. I got sent to the principal's office for hitting a girl when I was in second or third grade.

7. My all-time favorite movie is "Annie Hall." I think.

8. Famous people I have interviewed include Dave Matthews, Alice Cooper, Richard Ford and former California Gov. Jerry Brown. I stepped on Jerry Brown's foot accidentally.

9. I was really short until my freshman year in high school, when I shot up to over 6 foot in about six months. It kinda hurt.

10. I love eating fish but I hate cooking fish.

11. Top country I want to visit I've never seen: Thailand.

12. The first date I ever went on with a girl was a school roller-skating trip in sixth grade. It didn't go anywhere.

13. The first concert I ever went to was Howard Jones, nerdy keyboard master supreme, in 1988 or so. His equipment kept breaking down. I'm rather embarrassed about the whole thing now.

14. The older I get the more eclectic my music tastes are getting; when I was 21 I thought punk was noise and actually briefly owned a lot of Billy Joel CDs.

15. My wife and I were pen-pals for a year or two before we actually met; we finally married in 1999. I find her handwriting curiously sexy as a result.

16. I am color-blind, which basically in my case means I have trouble differentiating shades of blue and green. And a few others.

17. We named our kid Peter mostly after his grandfather, but have to admit that Peter Parker slipped in there too as an inspiration.

18. The one song I probably listened to more than any is Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." Yeah, there was a girl involved.

19. I wore braces and/or headgear for like six or seven years when I was a kid. I had really crooked teeth.

20. If money wasn't an object I think I would like to run a bookstore.

21. I still regret selling most of my original Kenner Star Wars action figures at a yard sale when I was 10.

22. I hate the word "creamy."

23. I self-published a nifty little book of some of the 200 or so newspaper columns I wrote from 1994-2004, mostly as a keepsake for myself and the family. But hey, if you wants one....

24. My favorite part of America is the Pacific Northwest, and if we ever move back there that's where I want to go.

25. Nik is actually my middle name.

The one in which we repeat old sentences

Stolen (or is that tagged?) from bloggers Roger and Gordon, a meme of the year that just was: you randomly select a line from your blog - one post per month for the past year - and then post the lines (and links) publicly. So consider this a Spatula Recap of 2008; and later this week I'll post my final thoughts on 2008 stuff and then we'll finally move on to 2009!

January 2008: (Sir Edmund) Hillary was a remarkable soul, and while there's been the typical amount of hyperbole one gets when someone this famed dies – let's rename mountains after him! let's declare a national holiday! (all ideas he would've hated from most accounts) – there's also been a fair amount of soul-searching as to what being a Kiwi means.

February: Now he is a mighty four-year-old and the baby days are rapidly fading into the past...

March: The Conchords on the other hand are particularly Kiwi as they focus in on the idea of the Kiwi man, a stoic "bloke."

April: Underneath everyday doings like feeding your cat and playing a jazz record lie the potential for strange abysses indeed.

May: It is perhaps the finest moment of Cher's life.

June: Spidey uses fists, webs, construction equipment, even, in a dazzling sequence illustrated by the young John Romita Jr., a loaded gas tanker.

July: Clark's biggest foe is the general impression she's "had long enough" and even though NZ has done pretty well under her, it's been a dismal year with the economy slowing and a steady drumbeat of violent crime and gang worries.

August: It was strange coming back to my homeland after nearly two years away, and seeing what had changed and what hadn't.

September: What I wouldn't give to be working at my old paper for that one day!

October: Biggest regret in life: When I interviewed Alice Cooper a couple years back, I didn't ask him about "Muscle of Love."

November: When he spoke of 106-year-old Anna Nixon Cooper tonight, and her journey from "a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky" to today when "she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote," for a moment I felt the quivering membrane of history, and how quickly something can change.

December: Running across some of the few remaining giant kauri is a bit like coming across a solid wood wall in the middle of the forest.

A Film for Every Year, Part II

Action! Here's my part the second of the meme of the moment, where you pick your favorite movie released during each year you've been alive. Part one was 1971-1985. Part two is from 1986 right on up to this very second. Hang on, it's a long one!

1986
Favorite: The Fly -- No contest for me; David Cronenberg's creep-fest easily is among my Top 10 of all time. It's a scary horror flick with more uneasy subtext than most, boasts a career great performance by Jeff Goldblum, and one of the saddest love stories you ever saw.
Runners-Up: Blue Velvet, Aliens, Hannah and Her Sisters, Labyrinth (It's David Bowie, darn it).
Still haven't seen and really should: Platoon

1987
Tie: Evil Dead II, Raising Arizona -- One a comedy, one a horror movie, but not sure which is which. Both madcap fun that are like live-action cartoons, tremendously innovative and kooky fun, and I could watch them both endlessly.
Runners-Up: Robocop, Full Metal Jacket, The Princess Bride, The Untouchables, Dirty Dancing (Not a bad year!)
Still haven't seen and really should: Fatal Attraction

1988
Favorite: Die Hard -- It's a close call this year, but with a bit of time this seems like the utterly perfect red-blooded ultra-violent American action movie. Yippee-kay-yay!
Runners-Up: A Fish Called Wanda, The Last Temptation of Christ, Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Still haven't seen and really should: Bull Durham
Never liked as much as everyone else: Working Girl

1989
Favorite: Say Anything -- We all wanted to be Lloyd Dobler my senior year of high school, and all the women wished we were, too. Dare I say it's the best teen movie ever made? At the very least, the most idealistic – everyone here is a little bit smarter, wiser and wittier than real life, of course.
Runners-Up: Do The Right Thing, Crimes & Misdemeanors, The Little Mermaid, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Henry V, When Harry Met Sally (Another damned good year, at least in my memories.)
Not nearly as good as I remember it but still a sentimental favorite: Batman

1990
Favorite: Ghost -- I really have no defense for this one. But poor Patrick Swayze died, y'know, and came back but Demi Moore couldn't see him till the very end and... Excuse me, I seem to have something in my eye.
Runners-Up: Goodfellas, Darkman, Total Recall
Never liked as much as everyone else: Home Alone

1991
Favorite: Silence of The Lambs -- What I said about "The Fly" for horror movies, this applies to this one too, except it's not about gooey monsters, but the kind of monster that lives next door.
Runners-Up: Point Break (which really should have been nominated for an Oscar too, but I digress), Terminator 2: Judgment Day, What About Bob?
Still haven't seen and really should: JFK

1992
Favorite: Unforgiven -- Clint saddles up for the western to end all westerns. The nasty side behind the western myth, and an inspiration for "Deadwood" and all the revisionist westerns since.
Runners-Up: Dead-Alive aka Braindead (Wikipedia: "currently holds the world-record for the most fake blood used in a single movie"), Glengarry Glen Ross, Hard Boiled, Reservoir Dogs (The year of blood, bullets and bad language)
Never liked as much as everyone else: Batman Returns. Pfeiffer's Catwoman, yes, pretty much everybody else, no. This is when it all went wrong.

1993
Favorite: Groundhog Day -- It's amazing that a Bill Murray/Ivan Reitman comedy could have such longevity and existential angst, but hey, wherever you go, there you are, y'know?
Runners-Up: Singles, The Fugitive, The Piano, Army of Darkness

1994
Favorite: Pulp Fiction -- It's as if a movie were patched together with IMDB Memorable Quotes, but hey, it works. "I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd."
Runners-Up: Clerks, Forrest Gump, True Lies, Ed Wood

1995
Favorite: 12 Monkeys -- Terry Gilliam's most underrated movie, I think, and I loves me a good time-travel yarn.
Runners-Up: Toy Story, Babe, The Usual Suspects, Heat
Never liked as much as everyone else: Braveheart
Still haven't seen and really don't plan to: Billy Madison

1996
Favorite: Jerry Maguire -- Cameron Crowe crafts a top-notch romantic comedy that simultaneously subverts and embraces genre conventions. I know Tom Cruise is radioactive now, but I think he really gets it in this one, making a jackass seem genuinely likeable.
Runners-Up: Bottle Rocket, Fargo, The Rock, Star Trek: First Contact

1997
Favorite: Face/Off -- I know, I'm really betraying my love for genre popcorn fiction here, but again, like Jerry Maguire, it's a shiny piece of mainstream entertainment that's kick-ass fun. An utterly absurd plot, I know, but I'm a big Nicolas Cage fan and think this is one of his best pieces of acting -- and John Travolta is even tolerable in it.
Runners-Up: Chasing Amy, Waiting For Guffman, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Boogie Nights

1998
Favorite: Rushmore -- There are just a handful of movies I watch every year or two religiously. Wes Anderson's tale of quirky, good-hearted and arrogant Max Fischer, teen supreme, is one of them.
Runners-Up: Dark City, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, The Truman Show
Still haven't seen and really should: Pi

1999
Favorite: Being John Malkovich -- As strange as it is, it all makes perfect sense in the end.
Runners-Up: The Matrix, American Beauty, Fight Club, The Talented Mr. Ripley

2000
Favorite: Almost Famous -- The second Cameron Crowe movie that's a favorite, and an open-hearted, nostalgia coated and utterly huggable ode to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. I am a golden god!
Runners-Up: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Unbreakable, X-Men

2001
Tie: The Royal Tenenbaums and Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Both very different movies, but both fantastic, novelistic epics with big talented casts.
Runners-Up: Donnie Darko, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Moulin Rouge!, Ghost World
Never liked as much as everyone else: Shrek

2002
Favorite: Spider-Man. In the post-"Dark Knight" era, perhaps Spidey looks a little, well, corny. But I still think this is one of the most accurate and elegant comic book adaptations we've yet seen, and Tobey Maguire is the perfect Peter Parker.
Runners-Up: Minority Report, Adaptation, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Never liked as much as everyone else: Chicago

2003
Favorite: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Hey, I live in New Zealand now. I have to vote for this one by law.
Runners-Up: Lost In Translation, American Splendor, Whale Rider, Kill Bill Vol. 1, X2: X-Men United
Never liked as much as everyone else: Mystic River

2004
Tie: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Spider-Man 2. A third title for Wes Anderson, who is easily my favorite director working in film these days. Sure, his films are kind of precious objects, but the worlds he create fascinate me.
Runners-Up: Kill Bill Vol. 2, Million Dollar Baby, The Incredibles, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hellboy
Still haven't seen and really don't plan to: The Passion of the Christ

2005
Favorite: A History of Violence -- A return to form by "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, with an amazing performance by Viggo Mortensen and Cronenberg's distinct mix of queasy realism and horrible detail.
Runners-Up: Brokeback Mountain, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Walk The Line, Elizabethtown, Batman Begins, Sin City

2006
Favorite: Casino Royale -- After 40 years, they finally made a James Bond movie I really want to watch more than once.
Runners-Up: The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Borat, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth.

2007
Favorite: There Will Be Blood -- The year is a little too fresh to settle on this one for me, but the amazing imagery and fiery passion of "Blood" is the movie that sticks with me the most of 2007's crop. And Daniel Day-Lewis, channeling John Huston, is a bloody marvel.
Runners-Up: I'm Not There, No Country For Old Men, Spider-Man 3, Into The Wild, The Darjeeling Limited
Still haven't seen and really should: Juno

2008
Favorite: (So far) The Dark Knight -- The "Oscar season" is yet to kick off and there's some movies I'm very interested in, like Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Quantum of Solace and Revolutionary Road, but so far, Heath Ledger's terrifying Joker is the most indelible image of the year for me.
Runners-Up: Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, Hellboy II: The Golden Army

A Film for Every Year, Part I

Needed: Blog content. Solution: Meme! Saw this one floating around at Tom The Dog's nifty blog and the Onion AV Club, and thought I'd give it a shot.

The deal: You pick your favorite movie released during each year you've been alive. So let's give it a go. Source for all movie release data: Wikipedia, naturally. Here's part one, from the year of your humble scribe's birth in 1971 on up to 1985.

1971
Favorite: A Clockwork Orange -- Stanley Kubrick at his glacial, eerie best, with a never-better performance by Malcolm McDowell. Still as disturbing today as it was nearly 40 (urk) years ago.
Runners-up: Harold and Maude, Escape From The Planet of the Apes
Still haven't seen and really should: McCabe and Mrs. Miller

1972
Favorite: The Godfather -- The obvious choice, but who am I to argue with the mob?
Runners-up: Last Tango In Paris, Play It Again Sam

1973
Favorite: Sleeper -- The best of Woody Allen's "funny" movies and while it's rather dated and silly now, I still have a soft spot for any movie with an Orgasmotron in it.
Runners-up: Westworld, Charlotte's Web (OK, I grew up on the cartoon)
Still haven't seen and really should: The Exorcist

1974
Favorite: Young Frankenstein -- "That's Frankensteen!" Nearly every line a classic, and as a fan of the old Universal horror flicks I always liked this (slightly) better than Blazing Saddles.
Runners-up: Blazing Saddles, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation

1975
Favorite: Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- For a movie that feels like it was slapped together for about $50, this sure holds up, doesn't it?
Runners-up: Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon, Picnic at Hanging Rock
Never liked quite as much as everyone else: Jaws

1976
Favorite: The Man Who Fell To Earth -- I wrote about this one a few years back, and think it's a hugely underrated, trippy gem. Every time I watch it, I find a little more hidden inside. And it's got David Bowie's all-time best film role.
Runners-Up: Taxi Driver, Silver Streak, Rocky
Still haven't seen and really should: Network

1977
Favorite: Tie: Star Wars and Annie Hall -- I know, two more different movies you could not imagine, but I can't choose between. Star Wars is Star Wars, and lit up a whole world of fantasy for me, but Annie Hall was just as important for me in illuminating the so-called 'real world' and the tricky realms of life between men and women. Honestly, I couldn't tell you which one I liked more of the two, but they're both stone-cold classics I've pretty much memorized.
Runners-up: Eraserhead
Never liked as much as everyone else: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Still haven't seen and really should: Saturday Night Fever

1978
Favorite: Superman: The Motion Picture -- Forget Jackman, Downey, Bale or Ledger -- thirty years on, Christopher Reeve is still the best superhero casting ever. I slightly like the more action-packed sequel more (ZOD!!!) but the original is still one terrific adventure, and the one every comic book movie since has reached to equal.
Runners-up: Dawn of the Dead, Animal House, Days of Heaven, Gates of Heaven
Still haven't seen and really should: The Deer Hunter

1979
Favorite: The Jerk -- Sentimental favorite for me. As stupid comedies go, it's pretty darned smart.
Runners-Up: Alien, Apocalypse Now, Manhattan, Monty Python's Life of Brian

1980
Favorite: The Empire Strikes Back -- A given.
Runners-Up: 9 to 5 (I know, it ain't cool, but I always rather liked this loopy satire), Airplane!
Never liked as much as everyone else: The Blues Brothers

1981
Favorite: Tie: Superman II and Raiders of the Lost Ark - "General Zod, would you care to step outside?" I will never if I live a million years get to deliver a line half as cool as that.
Runners-Up: The Evil Dead, Time Bandits

1982
Favorite: The Thing -- This has slowly become canonized in the years since its original underwhelming reception (in the year of E.T., arm-chomping slime things weren't going to win out). It really is an amazingly effective horror movie, with an ending that's still as chilling as they come. Gory as hell but all the goop and blood is mere window-dressing for the existential hell lurking beneath.
Runners-Up: Rocky III, Star Trek II, Blade Runner

1983
Favorite: Return of the Jedi -- Sure, weakest of the first trilogy, but still, Leia in a bikini trumps Ewok weakness, know what I mean?
Runners-Up: A Christmas Story, The Right Stuff, Zelig
Still haven't seen and really should: Scarface, but the whole gangsta rap hipster quotient has kinda turned me off of it.

1984
Favorite: Ghostbusters -- A bit dated now, but as great as big-budget New York City-set 1980s sci-fi comedies ever got. And Bill Murray at the top of his game. Very nearly beaten by Spinal Tap, though, but Tap has Fran Drescher which automatically knocks anything down a notch.
Runners-Up: The Terminator, 1984, This is Spinal Tap, Sixteen Candles
Never liked as much as everyone else: Beverly Hills Cop

1985
Favorite: Pee Wee's Big Adventure -- It's creepy and kooky and odd, but also one hell of a lot of fun and not quite like anything else. Tim Burton's wild ride starts here. And Pee Wee Herman's ride pretty much started and finished.
Runners-Up: Rocky IV, Back to the Future, Witness, Better Off Dead, My Life As A Dog, Return to Oz, Weird Science. ...I was 14 in 1985 and apparently every movie that came out that year I loved as a kid, hence the explosion of flicks this year. They ain't all great cinema, but man, I had some great times at the movies this year.
Still haven't seen and really should: Rambo, First Blood Part II
Never liked as much as everyone else: The Goonies. Sorry, Internet!

Next: 1986-2008

...In which I get all William S. Burroughs on your arse*

(*The cut-up technique, that is.) Surfing randomly I found this nifty book meme which I rather liked:

1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph:

And thus...

"Run here, my towhead grandchildren, and let this geezer dandle you upon his knee. 'Whaddaya think one of these babies would fetch?' a worker asked me, running his hand licentiously over my VCR. Your sister told me the other day that Noboru Wataya raped you. The girls wear skirts and black leather jackets. The bitch is dead now."

...How disturbing a casserole that was, frankly. Picked at random from the library wing -- (1) "Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung" by Lester Bangs, (2) "Near-Life Experiences" by Jon Carroll, (3) "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami, (4) "A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers and (5) "Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming.

Tag, you're it, anyone who wants to play along.

30 Days of Bloggery: A books meme I found on the Internets

1. One book that changed your life?
"1984" by George Orwell, one of the first "adult" books I read (coincidentally in 1984 or so). The sheer ferocious, razor-sharp intensity of Orwell's prose captivated me (and still does), and its vision of a world where human freedom is repeatedly stomped upon created the first stirrings of a kind of political principle in me, and a sometimes-healthy, sometimes-counterproductive dislike for being told what to do that's lasted my entire life. It was also a glimpse into the adult world at age 13 or so when I read it, dazzling in its detail and grim reality, and from there it was off to the races and reading was my life. (Well, part of it.)

2. One book you have read more than once?
Many, many, but one I've read a good 3-4 times is Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," which is dense enough to be like a half-dozen ordinary books, and another one of them tomes that's a little different every time.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
A tricky question, but one series I find myself returning to every 5 years or so for a re-read is John Updike's marvelous "Rabbit" series, which reveals different layers to me every time I read it. The chronicle of one man's fumbling life from 20s to 50s, it has new messages for you depending on what age you're at, with Updike's lush, dangerously erudite prose like a warm bath you leap into.

4. One book that made you laugh?
Mostly recently? The surprisingly funny "I Love You, Beth Cooper" by Larry Doyle, a teen satire that read like the long-lost great John Hughes 1980s movie. Books that TRY to be funny rarely work for me but Doyle, a former Simpsons writer, has a knack for wry witticisms and laugh-out-loud over-the-top hijinks.

5. One book that made you cry?
Hmm. I am not a big crier, but I'll admit that one book that choked me up is (perhaps curiously in a list full of Updikes and Nabokovs so far) Stephen King's "IT," which is 1,000 pages or so about the death of childhood and while it's full of the usual King gore and grim, it also has a hauntingly sad message at the end about what we lose as we grow older. Each time I read it after going through so much with these characters I get a little taut inside at how we all forget what childhood is really like.

6. One book you wish had been written?
Well, more than a few by me, I guess, although I do have that nifty collection of my newspaper columns 1994-2004 that I'm very proud of as a kind of summation of things so far.

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
Well, the whole genre of right-wing Let Me Tell You Why Liberals Suck books by O'Reilly, Coulter, Limbaugh, et al I guess. I find them bankrupt as literature and usually preaching to the converted anyway.

8. One book you are currently reading?
As seen in my sidebar, "Brother Ray," the highly entertaining autobiography of Ray Charles, unapologetic, ribald and refreshingly candid so far.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Sadly I have what started as a stack and has since ended up as a bookshelf full of unread books next to my bed. Last count it was up to 25+ books which means I really need to not buy any more new books for a while. But one of these days, I am going to give James Joyce's "Ulysses" another go - tried it in college - I swear!

10. Now tag five people.
Hmm, if anyone wants to give it a go --
Arthur
Gin
Jay
Will P.
Roger

The seven-songs-I'm-enjoying meme

Tag, I'm it! Lefty Brown asked me recently to provide “7 Songs You Are Enjoying This Week“. The rules are: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

So here we go –

1. All My Friends, LCD Soundsystem (Sound of Silver) From James Murphy's utterly captivating 2nd album (which I really must do a full review of soon), this drifting reverie and ode to times past is one of the highlights. Bittersweet and beautiful; "You spend the first five years trying to get with the plan / and the next five years trying to get with your friends again." Life in your late 30s when you start wondering what it's all about, Alfie.

2. History Lesson Part II, The Minutemen (Double Nickels on the Dime) - Great classic 1980s punk rock road trip song, a break from the racheting guitars to deliver a mellow manifesto. "Our band could change your life," the song says, and it's a nice affirmation of how music really does matter.

3. After The Garden, Neil Young (Living With War) - Protest songs are hard to do in 2007, hard to pull off without seeming like a bedraggled, unironic hippie. But "Living With War" does a good job of channeling anger at Bush's world into some taut, hook-filled and righteous tunes. This anthem looks to a hopeful future. Inspirational but not cheesy, and it just feels good to have someone saying these things.

4. St. Elmo's Fire, Brian Eno (Another Green World) - From one of Eno's classic '70s albums, where he began combining electronic textures with his fractured found-art vocals. This one builds up a gorgeous head of steam with its soaring chorus, backed by ragged guitar riffs by Robert Fripp and shimmering keyboards that circle around in a beautiful daze.

5. Imitosis, Andrew Bird (Armchair Apocrypha) - Another blearily lonely tune, anchored by Bird's Jeff Buckley-meets-Nick Drake deadpan tone and some clever instrumentation and percussion that has a vaguely Spanish feel. A song that makes loneliness almost seem desirable.

6. We're All In Love, New York Dolls (One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This) - The concert from a few weeks back still echoing in my head, and this kickoff to the Dolls' first disc in 35 years or so rocks like it was 1973. Blaring harmonica, wall of guitars and David Johansen does a combination scat-rap snarling delivery. Chewy good fun.

7. Fidelity, Regina Spektor (Begin To Hope) - I spotted the kooky video to this song on NZ TV and had to download the single from iTunes. She seems a bit like a Russian Tori Amos/Fiona Apple hybrid, and this song boasts a ridiculously catchy wordless chorus hook. A fragile and lovely little number; I might just have to check out her album next.

I won't tag 7 others because I'm too busy brain-dead after a week with Peter and no naps, but if you read and are inspired, meme away!

In which my iPod does the writing for me

A meme, a meme, nicked from mean mean Roger Green (who's really not so mean):

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...
7. When you're finished tag some other people to do it!

Right, since the iPod's up to 5200+ songs (and nearly full - ack!), I figured I'd give this a spin:
THE NIK DIRGA STORY (A Spike Lee/Martin Scorsese joint)
Opening credits: "Autumn Almanac," The Kinks. I didn't recognize the title of this one right out, but it's got a nice goofy Kinksy bounce to it ("Yes yes yes it's my autumn almanac") and I can see it setting up my movie life story as a kind of Peter Sellers/Woody Allen tragicomic deeply profound yet amusing epic. Or perhaps not so much. Either way, good track.
Waking up: "Heaven Sent," INXS. Hey, my iPod has a good sense of timing – a fuzzy up-tempo rocker from one of my fave '80s acts. Not profound, but peppy.
First day of school: "Heroin," Lou Reed. OK, I swear to god that's what the iPod picked, not me. Makes me wonder if Mount St. Mary's Catholic School was more out there than I recall back in 1976.
Falling in love: "Do Me Baby," Prince. *Choke* Good god. The iPod is conspiring to make me look foolish. Falsetto Prince doin' it about doin' it at his best, though.
First love song: "Lookin' For Jack," Colin Hay. Ah, I love this tune, melancholy and restless, acoustic and wistful.
Breaking up: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr," Sufjan Stevens. …Although really, "Looking For Jack" might be a more appropriate song than one about a serial killer for breaking up. Although this is an utterly beautiful, strangely empathetic tune if you haven't heard it.
Prom: "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out," The Smiths. Yeah, Morrissey's morose sadness pretty much sums up all my high school prom experiences - broke up with a girlfriend at one, had to watch my ex with a guy I disliked at another one. All in all I should've stayed home and worn black and listened to the Smiths. "And if a double decker bus crashes into us / to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die."
Mental Breakdown: "Subway Train," The New York Dolls. The Dolls rock. And you'll be hearing more about 'em on this blog real soon - I'm going to see their reunion tour March 24 in Auckland, whoo-hoo!
Driving: "Early Morning Cold Taxi," The Who. Hmmm, I can't remember ever having heard this song (on The Who Sell Out) until now. Curious.
Flashback: "Gone Daddy Gone," Gnarls Barkley. It's got a nice psychotic beat to it, don't it?
Getting back together: "Another Woman," Moby. Hmm, this trippy number might've been better for the breakup.
Wedding: "Keep On Runnin'," Cat Power. I've been listening to You Are Free a lot lately. However, this song is only appropriate for a wedding which ends with everyone dead or heartbroken, I think.
Birth of Child: "Danny Says," The Ramones. Would've been better if it were "Peter Says," innit?
Final Battle: "Keep Yourself Alive," Queen. Rawk. I'm fighting 723 CGI-generated zombie Nazi turtles, and I am going to win!
Death Scene: "Stop!" Erasure. Crap, the turtles got me. Whatever happened to Erasure, anyway? I'd rather "A Little Respect" if I had to have an Erasure tune playing while I died, though...
Funeral song: "Two Of Us," The Beatles. Yeah, I can see this being played at my funeral.
End Credits: "Instinct," Crowded House. Ahh... Fitting it ends with a Kiwi (well, Kiwi/Aussie) band, eh mate?

Tagged: I'd be quite interested in reading Greg Burgas' take if he wants it – do it!

Honestly, I have no better ideas

Busy busy busy and still recovering from the plague virus here, so I'll steal from the inimitable Roger Green and post a list of

Random Personal Questions.

1) Do you have a crush on somebody?: Oh yes
2) Do you hate more than 3 people?: Truly hate, probably not
3) How many houses have you lived in?: Approximately 16, if you count just places I've lived in more than 2 weeks
4) Favorite candy bar?: New Zealand has a vast variety of Kit-Kat variations (cookie dough! honeycomb!) that I am just beginning to explore.
6) Have you ever tripped someone?: Oh yes
7) Least favorite school subject?: Trigonometry, which I managed to fail twice (!) in college.
8) How many pairs of shoes do you own?: 5
9) Do you own a Britney Spears CD? No, but I've considered her greatest hits CD if I can get it for next to nothing... I like "Toxic," what can I say.
10) Have you ever thrown up in public?: Does in a stranger's bedroom count?
11) Name one thing that is always on your mind: The boy, the future, books
12) Favorite genre of music?: Really couldn't narrow it down, although 1970s proto-punk punk-pop post-punk punkesque rock (Bowie, Ramones, Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Iggy, XTC, etc.) is probably my favorite general school of music right now.
13) What's your sign?: Scorpio
14) What time were you born?: Around 5 a.m. in a very cold place in Alaska
15) Do you like beer?: Moderately
16) Have you ever made a prank phone call?: Failed prank phone call, yes
18) Are you sarcastic?: Yeah, right
19) What are your favorite colors?: Blue
20) How many watches do you own?: One, which I bought just last week for $14 after the really fancy watch I got as a wedding present 7+ years ago finally kicked it
21) Summer or winter? Fall is my favorite
22) Is anyone in love with you?: Peter says he loves me very very very very much so I'll assume he's truthful
23) Favorite color to wear?: Tan
24) Pepsi or Sprite?: Pepsi
25) What color is your cell phone?: I don't believe in cell phones
26) Where is your second home?: Technically, don't really have a FIRST one these days
27) Have you ever slapped someone?: Sadly yes
28) Have you ever had a cavity? More than one
29) How many lamps are in your bedroom?: Two
30) How many video games do you own?: Zero
31) What was your first pet?: Ruffles the poodle which was technically my parents
32) Ever had braces?: For far far too long
33) Do looks matter?: They are a factor
34) Do you use chapstick?: Not really
35) Name 3 teachers from high school: Mr. Lehman, Mmme. Onesto (who loathed me with a fiery French passion), Mrs. McD
36) American Eagle or Abercrombie?: Huh?
37) Are you too forgiving?: More the other extreme
38) How many children do you want?: The one we've got will do
39) Do you own something from Hot Topic?: I'm so far out of this loop that I think it's a line
40) Favorite breakfast meal: These days, toast with hummus or pseudo-butter healthy stuff
41) Do you own a gun?: No way
42) Ever thought you were in love?: The answer to this question is infinite
43) When was the last time you cried?: Honestly, 1991 or so, I think. I prefer to bottle things up into occasional explosions of rage.
44) What did you do 3 nights ago?: Celebrated my wife's birthday
45) Olive Garden?: Don't have 'em here
46) Have you ever called your teacher mommy?: No, but I called my mommy teacher
47) Have you ever been in a castle?: Yes
48) Nicknames?: None that I particularly care for
49) Do you know anyone named Bertha?: Yep
50) Ever been to Kentucky?: Hurtling through in the dead of night on the way to Ohio.
51) Do you own something from Banana Republic?: No
52) Are you thinking about somebody right now? I'm thinking this is really a lot of questions
53) Ever called somebody Boo?: Not unless they scared me
54) Do you smoke?: Brief attempt in college didn't take
55) Do you own a diamond ring?: No
56) Are you happy with your life right now?: It comes and goes
57) Do you dye your hair?: Nope
58) Does anyone have a crush on you?: I'm sure this woman at the beach today was giving me the eye, but then I think it was because my swim trunks were coming off
59) Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Donuts trumps Moneybucks
60) What were you doing in May of 1994?: Preparing to head to an internship at Billboard magazine in New York; convincing my girlfriend at the time we would survive a summer apart; shaving my head
62) McDonald's or Wendy's?: I have a weakness for McD's on rare occasions
63) Do you like yourself?: Yeah
64) Are you closer to your mother or father?: Depends on what the topic is
65) Favorite physical feature of the preferred sex?: Eyes
66) Are you afraid of the dark?: Nope
67) Have you ever eaten paste?: Yes, and rubber cement is even worse
68) Do you own a webcam?: No
69) Have you ever stripped?: I drew a comic strip for 18 months in college... Is that the right answer?
70) Ever broke a bone?: No
71) Are you religious?: "Agnostic" is the closest word I can use to describe where my head is at
72) Do you chat on AIM often?: No
73) Pringles or Lays?: Pretzels instead
74) Have you ever broken someone's heart?: Yeah, sorry about that
75) Rugrats or Doug?: Huh?
76) Full House or The Brady Bunch?: I regret to admit that "The Brady Bunch" was one of the defining icons of my youth and I think I've seen every episode at least three times and own Barry "Greg" Williams' autobiography
77) Do you like your high school guidance counselor?: She gave me next to no guidance that I can recall
78) Has anyone ever called you fat?: Nope
79) Do you have a birth mark? Nope
80) Do you own a car?: Yes
81) Can you cook?: My repertoire is limited but expanding since the wife returned to work
82) 5 things that annoy you: 1.) Peter's mood swings 2.) My own mood swings 3.) Bad drivers 4.) The amount of graffiti in Auckland 5.) That I don't have a job
83) Do you text message often?: Honestly, I had thought this would be easier than a real post but I think it's the other way around. I don't believe in text messages. Dey R illeter8.
84) Money or love?: If you're a hooker you have both, right?
85) Do you have any scars?: A nifty appendectomy one that they said would go away in a few months; they lied, they lied!!
86) What do you want more than anything right now?: Security
87) Do you enjoy scary movies?: Sure, long as they're not sadistic crap ala "Saw" and the ilk
88) Relationships or one night stands?: Relationships
90) Do you enjoy greasy food?: Yes, and leaving Mississippi was a good move on that count
91) Have you seen all the Rocky movies?: All but the latest one
92) Do you own a box of crayons?: Yes, but Peter still likes to eat them
93) Who was the last person that said they loved you?: My boy
94) Who was the last person that made you cry?: See question 43
95) Who was the last person that made you laugh?: Peter
96) Who was the last person that instant messaged you?: I am a virgin in this regard
97) Who was the last person that called you? A man about a conversation we shall have later this week

Shamelessly stolen from Greg "The Burg" Burgas –

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Today I am a nerd!

You are Will Riker
At times you are self-centered
but you have many friends.
You love many women, but the right
woman could get you to settle down.


Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Test

I actually did better than I thought. Thank god I'm not Will Pfeifer!

LIFE: The Meme of Four

LIFE: The Meme of Four

Saw this meme at both Will and ADD's blogs and thought I'd give it a spin:

Four jobs you’ve had in your life: McDonald's cashier monkey for all of 6 weeks, sophomore year of high school (and yes, I got fired, and yes, I'll tell you all about it some time); a drug store prescription delivery driver; copy shop drone (c'mon Lain! let's reminisce about Raouf!); newspaper editor and writer at far too many places to count.

Four movies you could watch over and over: The very first "Star Wars," of course; "Annie Hall"; "Almost Famous"; "The Royal Tenenbaums." Could easily add a dozen more, but those spring to mind first.

Four places you’ve lived: Fairbanks, Alaska; Oxford, Mississippi; New York City; Grass Valley, California

Four TV shows you love to watch: "Lost"; "Arrested Development"; my DVDs of "Firefly" and "The Young Ones"

Four places you’ve been on vacation: Europe; the Bahamas; New Zealand; Mexico

Four websites you visit daily: Besides my own blog, he said vainly, I always go to ComicBloggotron3000, your one-stop comic-blogging headquarters, DVDTalk, which boasts a good movie-centric message board, Technorati, the fun PopWatch at Entertainment Weekly.

Four of your favorite foods: Nothing beats peanut butter sammiches; pad thai; albacore tuna; pizza. I am a man of simple and relatively unhealthy tastes.

Four places you’d rather be: I'm cool with where I'm at today, but in 2006, I predict there will be some changes... (ominious music, theatrical cackle)

Any bloggers reading this, tag, you're it!

MUSIC: All you need is memes

MUSIC: All you need is memes

Because my brain is too strained to come up with an original post, I'm taking a cue from nifty fellow bloggers Lefty Brown and Shane and posting a Q&A music meme making its way around the Internets. I'm in a musical frame of mind because I just got an excellent deal on Lucinda Williams' new "Live At The Fillmore" 2-CD set -- our local Sam "Rip You Off" Goody had it for a whopping $23.99, nothankyou, but I went to Fred Meyer and they had it listed at $19.99 BUT it was on sale for $16.99 BUT they had a coupon in the paper for $3 off any CD over $14 so I got it for a mere $13.99 - $10 less than the "music store" in town. Hurray!

Anyway, I meme --
1. Of all the bands/artists in your CD/record collection, which one do you own the most albums by?
David Bowie, by far, with more than 50 albums and assorted *coughcough* bootlegs.

2. What was the last song you listened to?
"Beautiful Sorta" by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, which is catchy pseudo-Paul Westerberg rawk. The chorus had been sounding to me either like "Beautiful Sword" or "Beautiful Soda" (awesome!) but I looked at the CD and it's actually neither. Oops.

3. What's in your CD player right now?
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, "Cold Roses"

4. What song would you say sums you up?
Damn, that's a hard one. Today I'd go with "Ooh La La" by The Faces.

5. What's your favorite local band?
Unfortunately we have no good local bands here in the hinterlands. In college I was a big champion of Southern roots rock combo Blue Mountain though.

6. What was the last show you attended?
One of the final shows of Guided By Voices' career, back in November in Portland. (Review here)

7. What artist do you consider to be very underrated?
Most of the ones I listen to except The Beatles.

8. What's the worst band you've ever seen in concert?
Smashing Pumpkins gave a godawful show back in Mississippi in 1994.

9. What band do you love musically but hate the members of?
Well, I probably never would have wanted to hang out with Kurt Cobain, but I do love Nirvana.


10. What is the most musically involved you have ever been?
A buddy and I made some awful gawky "Weird Al" style music parody tapes under the name "Abraham and the Dead Slugs" using a cheap keyboard and off-key puberty-afflicted vocals back in the teenage days... Ten-CD deluxe reissue coming sometime soon to an imagination near you.

11. What show are you looking forward to?
With a 15-month-old baby at home, none in immediate future, although hopefully we'll catch some outdoor shows this summer. Gee, and Ted Nugent is playing the county fair!

12. What is your favorite band shirt?
Of all time, I had a great Billy Joel T-shirt from 1990 that I wore for a ridiculously long time before I ended my rather embarrassing Billy Joel phase. (I don't dislike the guy now, but I recognize the hefty coating of cheese that goes with his nice melodies.)

13. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day?
Three-way tie between Bowie, Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel, I think.

14. Metal question- Jeans and Leather vs. Cracker Jack clothes?
What the hell are "Cracker Jack" clothes?

15. Sabbath or solo Ozzy?
Neither.

16. Commodores or solo Lionel Ritchie?
Um, neither again.

17. Blackjack or solo Michael Bolton?
Who? and Are you kidding me?, respectively.

18. The Eagles or solo Don Henley?
I've never really been amazed by the Eagles, and for some reason always loved Henley's tunes "The End of the Innocence" and "Boys of Summer," so I'll go for the underdog.

19. The Police or solo Sting?
Police, man.

20. Doesn't emo suck?
No opinion.

21. Name 4 flawless albums.
Off the top of my head:
Peter Gabriel, "So"
The Beatles, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
David Bowie, "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)"
Guided By Voices, "Bee Thousand"

22. Did you know that filling out this survey makes you a music geek?
Well, duh.

23. What was the greatest decade for music?
Approximately 1973-1983. Does that count?

24. How many music-related videos/DVDs do you own?
Six - "The Beatles Anthology," "The Pixies," "David Bowie: A Reality Tour," "Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks," "David Bowie: Best of Bowie" video collection, "Peter Gabriel: Play"

25. Do you like Journey?
Ummm... In low doses. Never owned an album by them though.

26. What is your favorite movie soundtrack?
Tough call - among my favorites, "Rushmore," "The Piano," "Pulp Fiction," "Say Anything," "Crumb," "Dead Man Walking"

27. What was your last musical "phase" before you wised up?
I don't regret any of the phases I've gone through in the last 10 years or so.

28. What's the crappiest CD/record/etc you've ever bought?
Far too many to remember, although I suspect briefly owning a copy of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" is pretty high up in the list.

29. Do you prefer vinyl or Cd's?
Never liked vinyl, and grew up with cassettes long enough to learn to loathe them. CDs.

30. What is your guilty pleasure CD, that being the CD you love but would be ashamed to admit you have in your collection?
Um, I do own a copy of Phil Collins' greatest hits and have been known to rock out to "Easy Lover" alone in my car.

LIFE: Monday meme

LIFE: Monday meme

There's been a lot of the memes floating around lately. Your Monday morning treat is reading me fill out this one! Take it and pass it on if you like.

TEN random things about me:
1. My wife is from New Zealand and my son has citizenship in both the U.S. and New Zealand.
2. I am 6 foot 2 inches tall, left-handed, and mildly color-blind which is why for a long time I had a favorite blue shirt that turned out to be green.
3. I wrote and often drew a small press comic book series from 1990 to 1998.
4. I was determined to be a zoologist as a kid. I would design elaborate imaginary zoos. I was going to have a blue whale in my zoo.
5. I interviewed former California Governor Jerry Brown in college... and I stepped on his foot.
6. I have written 200 or so newspaper columns since 1994.
7. The lead singer of Phish once left an angry message on my answering machine at 3 in the morning after I wrote an uncomplimentary article about them.
8. I own 65 CDs by David Bowie. And I am not ashamed.
9. I had an job internship at Billboard magazine in New York City.
10. My wife and I actually met through letters we both had in the "Cerebus" comic book. We became pen pals and got married 7 years later.

NINE places I’ve visited:
1. New Zealand from the top to the bottom
2. Fairbanks, Alaska, where I was born
3. Most of Europe
4. The Bahamas
5. Ensenada, Mexico
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Austin, Texas
8. The Grand Canyon
9. (Next month!) Vancouver, Canada

EIGHT things I want to achieve in life:
1. I want to write a book, fiction or nonfiction
2. I want us to move to New Zealand for a few years
3. I want to raise a good kid
4. I want to visit Australia, Asia and Africa.
5. I want to figure out that material possessions aren't everything
6. I want to take up drawing again
7. I want to lose 20 pounds or so
8. I want to keep working doing something I enjoy

SEVEN ways to win my heart:
1. Recommend a good book or movie
2. Be interested in learning
3. Have a sense of humor
4. Be decent
5. Be open-minded
6. Look me in the eye
7. Steal it from my wife

SIX things I believe:
1. I believe nobody knows what happens when we die, but I'd like to think this isn't all there is
2. I believe there is life in outer space somewhere
3. I believe you can never read too many books
4. I believe humanity is quite full of itself
5. I believe our brains are our best friends and worst enemies
6. I believe in the future

FIVE things I’m afraid of:
1. Aging
2. Anything bad happening to my boy
3. Frogs (don't ask)
4. Bad drivers
5. Kidney stones

FOUR of my favorite things:
1. The family
2. Kudzu my cat
3. The Amazing Spider-Man
4. David Bowie's "Station to Station"

THREE things I do every day:
1. Read
2. Edit
3. Play with Peter

TWO things I’m not trying to do right now:
1. Spend money
2. Eat breakfast

ONE person I want to see right now:
1. Who else? The person who's asleep in the next room, Baby Peter, superstar!



P.S. Don't forget about my Jay's Days Giveaway contest - the rules were changed and deadline extended over the weekend, so check it out!

This meme's making the rounds, courtesy of beaucoupkevin (who does quite a funny blog I keep meaning to link to one of these days). Because question-and-answers are fun!

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:
Embarassingly low amount, around 20-30 files at any given time. In my defense I keep taking the mp3s I've downloaded and burning them onto discs, as my home iMac has a really tiny amount of free space and my work G4 I try not to abuse.

2. The last CD you bought was:
Picked up Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose" for $9.72 at WalMart (I know, I shouldn't patronize the beast, but they have cheap cat litter) the other day. Really enjoyable, listening to her reminds me of how much Lucinda Williams, a personal fave, was inspired by her. Lynn's voice pairs well with Jack White's crazy blues guitar on this record.

3. What is the song you last listened to before reading this message?
"Across The Sea" from Weezer's "Pinkerton" CD, currently playing on the car stereo.

4. Write down 5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
It changes every five minutes, but off the top of my head today* --
"You Know You're Right," Nirvana
"Oceanographer's Choice," The Mountain Goats
"Starman," David Bowie
"My Son Cool," Guided By Voices
"Mr. Blue Sky," ELO
*Subject to change depending on mood.

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to? (3 persons) and why?
Hell if I know who'll answer it, but Dave Hitt, Rob Rogers, Jason Marcy, Lain Hughes, if you're reading it, go nuts!

This week's internet Meme courtesy of jumpin' Joe Meyer: Take it and examine the minute details of your life --

The \\
Last Cigarette:	Good lord, maybe 1994? For a while I thought beer and smokes went together.
Last Alcoholic Drink:	Glass of wine, last week
Last Car Ride:	To the car stereo repair shop this morning
Last Kiss:	My lovely wife, a few minutes ago
Last Good Cry:	I think the last time I cried for real was around 1990 sometime. Because I'm a man, dammit.
Last Library Book:	"Bland Ambition," a history of U.S. vice presidents
Last book bought:	"Oracle Night" by Paul Auster
Last Book Read:	Reading "Bland Ambition"
Last Movie Seen in Theatres:	"Spider-Man 2"
Last Movie Rented:	"Freaks & Geeks" the complete series disc 1
Last Cuss Word Uttered:	The F word, it's so versatile
Last Beverage Drank:	Strawberry Kiwi juice
Last Food Consumed:	Tuna, lettuce and cheese wraps
Last Crush:	My wife (fantasy crush: Nicole Kidman)
Last Phone Call:	My wife's parents
Last TV Show Watched:	"Arrested Development" last night
Last Time Showered:	9 a.m. this morning
Last Shoes Worn:	Sandals
Last CD Played:	The Mountain Goats, "We Shall All Be Healed"
Last Item Bought:	Gasoline for the car
Last Download:	Fiery Furnaces, "Single Again"
Last Annoyance:	The willfully ignorant
Last Disappointment:	It's all good
Last Soda Drank:	Diet Pepsi
Last Thing Written:	A review of Clinton's "My Life" for the bloggo
Last Key Used:	On this keyboard
Last Words Spoken:	Responding to my wife asking what I'm doing
Last Sleep:	Last night
Last Ice Cream Eaten:	Chocolate Brownie Thunder, and it's as good as it sounds
Last Chair Sat In:	This one
Last Webpage Visited:	Joe Meyer's blog!
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