I started reading again today. I'm going to try and read a little each day over my lunch break...real books, not magazines, newspapers, or Web zines. The Barnes & Noble down the street has a great "bargain books" section that I will hopefully be raiding from time to time.

Today's selection was a hardcover copy of Michael Crichton's The Lost World for $6. Thank god it's nothing like the movie.

Where the heck did VH1 come from all of a sudden? "Behind the Music" and "Where Are They Now?" are really neat shows. Is it that I'm getting older and moving from MTV's demographic to VH1's? Or is it just that VH1 is just getting more interesting while revealing what we should have known all along: that MTV is too mainstream and "hip" to be timely and relevent.

Oh well....neither one of them plays music videos anymore. Is that good or bad?

Also, while we're on the subject of MTV, they should sell their Real World and Road Rules shows to HBO or Skinemax. Instead of a bunch of people getting on each other's nerves, they could have a bunch of people just plain gettin' it on. Now that's a show.

The premise of the movie "She's All That" is that a boy starts dating the most unpopular girl in school on a bet. Have you seen the woman (Rachael Leigh Cook ) playing the unpopular girl? She's a teen supermodel for crying out loud. She can't look bad, I don't care how ugly her glasses and clothes are. I don't know about you, but the most unpopular girl in my school didn't bathe, didn't comb her hair, had pretty bad acne, a weight problem, and had trouble saying more than three words to anyone.

I realize that these movies are supposed to be crap, but couldn't they even try to find someone that could look and act even a little unpopular?

A new episode of 0sil8 as well. 13.013 words.

Saw The Thin Red Line yesterday; it was very good. I can see why it doesn't have the mass appeal that Saving Private Ryan had though. It's slow, it makes you think, there are no great battle scenes, and it's hard to understand in parts. My favorite thing about it is that it gives the audience a variety of things to think about when they leave the theatre; it's not just "here's the point of the whole film, stupid."

To me, the best thing about being young and alive during a century switchover is that when I get older & I'm telling stories to my grandkids, I can begin them thusly:

"You think that's bad? Why, back in aught-three, we didn't have..."

I'm just really excited about being able to use "aught-three" in everyday conversation.

Here's everything you ever needed to know about calendars.

A review of 0sil8 appears in the St. Paul Pioneer Press today. My favorite quote: "And, by the way, when typing the address, remember that only the 8 is a numeral." Great. Exactly wrong.

Pi is out on video & DVD. I saw this movie in the theatre and didn't much care for it. The music was good and the black & white was quite nifty for a change, but I just didn't get it for some reason. And being a former physics dork and current computer dork, I think that I was supposed to like it. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

Well, I was right, but I'm not too happy about it. The Vikings got beat. Their offense sputtered, and their defense couldn't hold. Just goes to show you that the best team doesn't always win...just about the only thing you can count on is that the winning team wins. Well, maybe the Minnesota fans & media will have more humility next year if the Vikings make the playoffs again; perhaps treating the playoffs like a step-by-step process and not a forgone conclusion would help.

I was helped by the singing cashier last evening at the local grocery store. He wasn't really singing...he was just very melodic. It sure cheered up the toddler with the couple in front of me in line, but it really didn't do much for me but annoy me. Bad singer and wasn't funny, even though he thought he was both.

It snowed here this morning, a noise-snuffing snow. The city was actually quiet for once. It was kinda eerie...like the world of the future in 12 Monkeys. I felt like Bruce Willis exploring unknown territories. The Bruce Willis in 12 Monkeys, not the Bruce Willis that banged Liv Tyler on the set of Armageddon. I doubt that Liv has any unexplored territories.

Also, kottke.org is finally here. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm sure it'll be fun and wacky, whatever it is.

I moved my resume/portfolio onto kottke.org because it really doesn't belong on 0sil8. 0sil8.notes will also probably be moving over here as well, although it will still be linked from 0sil8. You probably won't even be able to tell the difference.

Come one, come all to the Metababy chat on Friday, Jan 15 at 3pm CST. Just send email to [email protected] to participate. It'll be fun...tell your friends.

Oh, the humanity!

I'm addicted to the old school games. Dig Dug, Burgertime, Qix, Donkey Kong, and my personal favorite: Mr. Do. MAME lets you play games ported directly from the arcade machines. Evidently, the ports are pretty good: Brian showed me the "monkey's feet" trick in Donkey Kong...and it worked. Anyone know any good cheats in Burgertime or Mr. Do?

Somehow, my online experience is now complete. Suck for Dummies got mentioned on a site called Big Weenie. Just click on the little illustrated hot dog, and you're wisked away to 0sil8. If only life were that easy.

Like an idiot, I put a (really) cold quarter in my mouth this morning. Guess what? It stuck. Luckily, I realized my mistake before it got too attached...just a little bit of my lip came off with it.

Well, the NBA season is finally on. For the most part, I'm happy. I'll be even happier if Michael Jordan plays.

Some people aren't happy, and I can relate to that. I think the one thing the strike did in the eyes of the public is group both the owners and the players into one big mess of greedy, whining brats. The only difference is that the players are a greedy, whining bunch of millionaires and the owners are a greedy, whining bunch of billionaires.

The Apple Dodge Neon gets some press in the online version of the Red Herring. Turns out my little parody was somewhat of a prediction as well.

I'm playing around with stylesheets a little bit so this page should look a slightly different. But it shouldn't look bad. If it looks bad (worse than normal), please let me know.

I flipped someone off this morning...some bastard in a BMW who didn't yield to my right-of-way in the crosswalk. It was petty and silly, but it felt good and got the new working year off to a good start.

At 4 minutes 'til midnight, they started playing Prince's 1999, just like I had predicted. And I didn't mind....even though I thought I would have. The dance floor was packed and everyone was jumping and swaying and screaming the words to the song.

"Gonna party like it's 1999!"

Actually, it was probably the most fitting venue for the song, the very same First Avenue nightclub where Purple Rain was filmed and where Prince himself used to play.

I did a small piece for {fray}: my resolution for 1999.

• music
• Prince