>> My new laptop has arrived. Sadly for the [soon-to-be] Mrs., hers hasn't shipped yet. We're sure it has something to do with her having a bluetooth card included. Her and her desire to turn a laptop, a Wii-mote, and a white board into a smart board.

>> I'm gearing up for another year of Bumbershoot. For those not educated, Bumbershoot is the yearly festival that takes over Seattle Center during the three-day Labor Day weekend. I've reviewed it the past two years, so this will be my third year. Sadly, they've cut back on handing press extra tickets, so the year that friends can actually come and keep me company, they only give me one ticket per day. It's probably for the best considering I'll be doing press-only things that exclude non-press.

Bands I'm looking forward to seeing: Asylum Street Spankers (may I recommend the track "Beer" for those who want to hear the Spankers--they're similar to BR5-49), The Walkmen (to hear the new tracks live), Man Man, The Black Keys, Ravens & Chimes, The Whigs (to hear if they're decent live--their debut album is a guilty indie rock pleasure of mine), Neko Case, Lucinda Williams, Lee Perry, Stone Temple Pilots (I saw 'em in 1996--it's hard to believe it's been 12 years and while that seems so long ago, I was a just a Junior in HS), Nada Surf, Blitzen Trapper, M. Ward, Monotonix, and Dan Deacon.

No, I won't be seeing Beck or Death Cab for Cutie. I've lost my loving feeling for Beck's music--he just isn't that good these days. I don't like DCFC--not my kind of music. I like my sad bastard/sappy bastard music to sound, y'know, bastardy? I'm sure I won't end up seeing every band I want and I'm sure I'll end up discovering a few artists/bands just by happenstance. I suppose that's what multi-staged festivals are all about.

>> College football season!!! I really don't have a team to route for beyond Ball St. and Cincy (where I went to college). One's good and the other hasn't been decent in a decade. A cute story: my freshman year of college I attended U of Cincy. The football team lost their first 7 games (in the midst of a near 20 game losing streak) under my watch (the football field was underneath my dorm, so I could watch the games from my dorm room window when the game was sold out and/or I didn't feel like paying). They finished the season 2-9 but it was a horrible season.

The next year I was a transfer at Ball St. and needless to say, Ball St. was in the midst of a 20+ game losing streak. They didn't win any games that year--it wasn't until the following year that they won a game. I endured so many CFB loses that I think it soured me a bit on CFB. I still love football, but I can't invest too much into my college teams for fear of long, long losing streaks.

>> I'm stoked to see Burn After Reading. Should be solid. The same goes for Choke. Other than Fight Club and Survivor, it's the only other Chuck Palahniuk book I enjoyed when I read it. I think the film version of Choke should be stellar in no small part due to Sam Rockwell. He's an underrated actor. Watch Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and tell me you don't dig the man. I'm still hoping for the day when I can shit out the perfect screen play for Rockwell and my other acting man crush, Ron Livingston. People would watch a great indie film starring them, wouldn't they?

>> I hope you enjoyed these ramblings. It'll probably be the last I do for awhile. It's just my nature.