Russell & Kimmy

“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.” ~ Bob Dylan All Along the Watchtower

Part of the fun of being in charge of the back up jobs is that sometimes you just get to sit and watch a little number slowly grow into a large number. Unfortunately sometimes those little numbers take the better part of 30 hours to get big. This isn’t surprising because there are several choke points in our network and well part of the fun is finding them; fixing them … now that is another matter entirely. Of course since I am technically working while staring blankly at a screen I get to tell people to piss off, leave me alone, and stop interrupting my vacant staring.

So I find myself plugged into my little shuffle and listening to music as I blankly stare.

It is rather relaxing except I think that there must be something horribly wrong with me; I’ve listened to Bob Dylan crooning and I find it rather …. well enjoyable to listen to. If you have ever heard Bob Dylan sing you know what the problem is. So a few repeats of All Along the Watchtower I am stuck pondering is the man a lyrical genius or a floundering warbler. There is no denying that his voice is not very pleasant (i.e. similar to the sound a cat would make when a belt sander is applied to its back) and the lyrics to All Along the Watchtower don’t actually make any contextual sense yet as I find myself staring blankly at the screen I push the rewind button and listen to it just one more time. Maybe I am a masochist or maybe it just is good … who knows?

So, I saw Speed Racer Saturday night. I must admit, after hearing bad things about it, the PG rating, and the fact it is a remake off of a cartoon that has been dead for twenty years I was a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it. Plus it was a spur of the moment rental from Redbox and the two and a half hour run time at 10:30 on a Saturday night really didn’t leave me gun-ho for it. But as is often the case I was wrong; I loved the frakin movie!

Warning! I am going to ruin the surprise if you keep reading

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If you haven’t had a chance to play around with GoogleLabs I highly recommend that you sign into your Gmail account and take a gander at what they have; you can reach GoogleLabs by signing in, clicking settings (which is in the upper right), then click on Labs under the setting bar.  If you don’t have a Gmail account you are Anti-American and Senator McCarthy Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann is going to ferret you out.
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Ahh it is time to add five more states to my roster; thank you New Mexico, Washington, Maryland, Illinois and North Carolina!  That is ten down, only thirty nine more to go in Russell’s Super Awesome 49 State Challenge!  As an added side note I developed a new drinking game, the rules are simple … for every ! I use you have to take a shot!!!!!! <# include floor>

Other than collecting states and spending an incredibly quite week at work I am proud to admit that I have given up on Nietzsche right now and have been reading the Farseer Trilogy.  That’s right America I am an anti-elite, anti-intellectual Vote Russell 2028!  Political pandering aside I have been pleased wit the Farseer Trilogy, it has been like yummy delicious fantasy candy for the mind; while being deep enough to make it worth reading.  Told from the perspective of Fritz the Bastard the story takes you from his childhood up through his angsty teenage years; were he murders for the King, is a little emo, and in the second book well … you’ll just have to read it to find out.  The author goes to great lengths to make Fritz the outcast/pariah/misfit with out quite crossing that Shakespearean line and turning him into Hamlet; how I hated that whiny bitch.  She also has him screw up several times which is both funny/frustrating as you cheer on the un-loved hero, only to grimace as he goes down in flames.  Instead of covering a set time period she jumps from event to event in Fritz’s life so be prepared for an action packed book that is driven by events.  My one big complaint is some of the characters are a little flat in the first book, but she pumps them up in the second book with surprising depth.

While I wouldn’t put it on par with George R. R. Martin, I still suggest it; so far the series is a good read and I look forward with eager anticipation to the third book which Kimmy is currently reading.  It is a little deep (it dips it’s toe into political intrigue and revenge) but the author manages to keep things simple so the pages fairly fly; it also helps that this is not a huge series the first book weighs in at a slim 464 pages, the second is a little heftier at 675 pages.  But Most important is the trilogy is FINISHED, which gives me closure and doesn’t leave me hanging for two decades waiting for the next book to come out.   Like I said a good read, buy it and enjoy.