I have oodles of video from SE Asia. Oodles. I'm still learning how to properly compress the information for optimal web-viewing. I was also trying to figure out what video to put up first, out of the 1400 or so clips, and then suddenly it was obvious: Crossing the Saigon Street. Keep your eye on the woman in the green pantsuit. Insane.

It's Friday. There are many diversions below, none as cool as these 'games of the future'. But still, please! Do no work! And for the love of god, have a happy New Year.

I hear that once you go truly fresh, you never go back. I think I've had fresh coffee before, but I guess I'm going to have to investigate. I also need to know how to handle lobsters. Surf n' Turf is on the menu for New Year's Eve. What are you doing?

Finally got around to listening/watching to the Beck session from KCRW and wow. It's the folky raw versions of The Information, a great interview, and all of it is fantastic. I wish I was in that room when it was all going down, but I'm quite pleased the internets give me a chance to peek inside the contents of that room, that day, that music. However, the internets are unwell today. The quake near Taiwan disrupted the undersea telecommunications cables and parts of Asia could be affected for a week.

In the midst of Beck's interview and random googlings, BoingBoing led me on a trail of strangeness that ended in this wikipedia page about a literary-scene hoax that sounds more like a group delusion or perhaps a work of art played in real time, with real people as characters. As though on some level, the people who were swept up with JT LeRoy decided to become a part of this network that would perform for the world a real-time play of mix-ups and morality. And that whole 'craigslist experiment' thing is just creepy.

But a flightless pigeon taking BART is just good clean fun.

Festivus was a complete success. We laughed. We cried. There were feats of strength both mental and physical, and in the end, Marty was the winner. Although he lost as part of the "Girl's Team" in Trivial Pursuit (see The World According to Gnarliness for key TP questions) he did beat me in Thumb Wrestling in a best of 3 series, and, most importantly, he took home the pot in a game of Texas Hold'em. I got bumped at 4th place with pocket 7s to his pair of 8s. Brutal. You better believe that was a Grievance that was loudly Aired.

A great present to the family this year was the announcement that my brother and his wife are pregnant. I think it's going to be awesome to be an uncle and yes drums and an archery set sound like great presents!

Almost done with 06 and here's a little recap of the year via Ropeadope from some of their favorite musicians. Check it out.

The Grievance Line is now open. Fix the email address here and send'em on in. All grievances will be read aloud at the party on the 24th. Yeah yeah yeah I know Festivus is supposed to be celebrated on the 23rd, but hey, you're not in charge of my Festivus!

Shortest day of the year. It felt like we never even really got past dawn before it was night again. It just went from early morning gray to leaden afternoon rain to twilight ash to utter dank darkness in about twenty five minutes. But it only gets better from here!

I missed a lot of Morning Becomes Eclectic shows while we were traveling and here are two I'm particularly excited to listen to: The Flaming Lips and Beck. I can't wait to find out what else I like that I didn't even know about. KCRW is good like that.

But it turns out Divshare isn't. A buddy tried to use it last night and spent hours wrestling with it and still had to go back to Sendspace. Divshare! Go back to Russia!

I just spent way too long playing "Shooot" and a few other games on this site. Some of them are really addictive. Some are just weird. The menu is definitely odd, but it is perfect for the Friday before Festivus since even if you are at work the last thing you should be doing is anything productive. Enjoy.

And oh yeah my awesome wife rented a cable modem and got it all hooked up this afternoon so we are back online and AT&T free. Woohoo!!

Thank you AT&T for sucking, and goodbye. We're going to Comcast for our 'internets' from now on. All you had to do was give us a new cable modem to replace the one that simply stopped working for no reason 2 days ago, and you'da had us for life. Just $1 from every bill we've paid you over these last 3 years would have covered the replacement. But no. You wanted to charge us nearly $200 to reconnect and then another bill every month. Instead, though, you get no more money from us and we get to tell everyone we know to use other companies for their phone and internet services, because you, AT&T, suck. The whole thing kinda makes me feel like this poor little hamster.

Once Comcast has us up and running, I'm going to go through all of these songs and find out what I like that I don't already know about. For now, though, I'm simply going to stare at this image from Scott and let the cool blues wash away my AT&T anger. It was taken in Casa Battlo, Barcelona, Spain, shot through a glass, and I think it is awesome. (And a little thank you to who'sever wireless connection this is. We promise to be good net users while we are borrowing this week.)

You thought they were just good for eating, but no. They're art, too.

And speaking of art, one might question whether random home movies or movie trailer mashups really count, but I say they do. This thread on Daily Kos is a rather long list of some funny videos on YouTube. I considered going through them and picking out the best for you, but a) our net connection is hosed at home, and b) it's the week before the holidays, probably really really slow at the office and you need distractions like these videos so that you don't start eating tinsel and screaming mangled Christmas carols at the top of your lungs to drown out the thumping bass of the little drummer boy.

For more distractions but this time of a musical variety check out The Hype Machine. Tons of tunes and lots of links to blogs discussing said music. Enjoy. (thanks Craemer!)

I'm wearing my brand new purple pin-striped suit today. I can't believe it still fits! I was at 'traveling weight' when I had it made in Ho Chi Min City after over 2 months of hot hikes through foreign cities and endless meals of rice. We're dropping off some Sassy Sweet Treats to some of our clients today and I gotta look the part. However, if more of those treats show up, this suit doesn't have a chance.

If you want better portrait shots, turn the camera upside down. Now, I really don't know how well this works, but it seems reasonable and I'm going to give it a shot.

For all you Lego freaks out there, here are the instructions to every Lego set ever made!

Last bit is similar to a past post, but it's something I'm fascinated with so here we go again. It is a short video that put the planets and the sun in scale to each other, and to other, far larger stars out there. Simple and short but powerfully thought-provoking.

Wake up from your coma, learn how to taste wine, be more green and if you give The Slip a hand, they just might write a tune about you.

That's the most detailed image of the Crab Nebula ever produced. There's more on the image here. With the year ending there's going to be lots of lists, but Time's Photos of the Year are definitely worth a look.

This guy is absolutely ridiculously skilled with his bike. And did you know that the Census has released a new batch of stats? Once again the bicycle is the most dangerous consumer product out there. You'll never guess what's number 2.

Lu loves backgammon, but we don't play much 'cause she kicks my butt with ease. Perhaps this site will give her the backgammon fix she needs.

This is a post I've wanted to make since I heard that he put it out there. On Thursday night before and between Trey's sets, The Information was played. Beck put the videos on The Web. Here are a few of them. Enjoy your humpday.

If you are coming to the festivities at the West Coast Festivus Headquarters then you're going to hear these tunes. If you can't make it then go ahead and download the tracks and put some holiday mash up your earhole. And speaking of the earholes, this past weekend was full of rockn'roll goodness. Trey was fun on Thursday night, but the Disco Biscuits impressed me even more on Sat night, and the latenight New Mastersounds show at 12 Galaxies was off the funky hook. Even though it was after 4am, they kept us moving. The DB's covered this song as their encore and it was hilarious campy fun.

I can't believe people actually use this 'trail', but there it is. Craziness.

Alright! You know what time it is! It's time for Numberwang!!

Last offering is a game that is fast and easy, but utterly addictive: Chaos Theory. Let the explosions fly. Let your reactions be chained.

Got 5 years and a lot of patience?


Then grow some furniture.

Weffriddles is still working the minds of some of my friends. One of them is up to level 50. I'm stuck in the mid-to-late teens, but I intend to progress.

The answers this guy gives during a post-Judy encounter are absolutely insane. You must watch it. "What's the hardest part about being you?"

And if you only have a few minutes left, but you love music, then stick around and watch what can happen in the Fillmore, if the right person is playing. Or vice versa. "I was saved by rock and roll..." (thanks James!)

Tomorrow should be a good day for rock and roll. Trey is playing at the Warfield, and we're going to be on the floor. (thanks DanO!) Hopefully figuratively, as well. We shall see.

To the right is another image from Scott Rosen (Lu's bro). His show this weekend went really well. Sold a few pieces on the spot, and some other people expressed interest, too. This one is a window in Geneva, Switzerland. And remember, framed art makes a wonderful gift!

Via YouTube we've got the Peanuts rocking out. To prevent boredom at work, see if you can solve these networking puzzles, or give bashing hippies and baby seals a try. In German.

And I remember this 'ole chestnut from the holiday season last year, but if you've yet to see it, it's a hoot. Kids are scared of Santa, and these images capture that emotion magnificently.

Salmon and cous cous and broccoli for dinner tonight. The standby Gallagosen meal. This time it was olive oil, lots of pepper, lots of garlic and a bit of maple syrup in the pre-grilling coating for the fish. Broccoli had browned sesame seeds. Cous Cous had a bit of parsely and salt. Including prep, the entire meal took about 20 minutes, and it was delicious. It's so nice to be able to cook at home again. Eating out every night can get tiring, even when it's in amazing places like Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Change the world. Remember--as the NYTimes implores me every day--to help the neediest. Gifts are a big part of the holiday season, too, and here's one that will change the way you listen to music. And when traveling, find the airline with the best meals, here.

Play favorites from the past. Found out how We feel.

If the Beatles are your thing, here's something you may not have seen yet.

First day of work today in months and I'm psyched. It's the smallest company I've ever worked for, but the one with the most potential. And the sunsets over San Francisco have been amazing of late. It has been fogless, so yesterday after a ride through the park, we got to see the huge orange orb dip and flatten and then fall away into the distant Pacific horizon. That's a rare thing is this city. Yesterday was also the last day of my vacation. It was a great way to end it. Now it is time to work hard at everything, including fun.

Little Miss Sunshine at the Red Vic tonight. Such a great place to see a film, and I hear this one is particularly good.

This game is brilliant! "You are an asteroid thats seen many of your brethern destoyed by the evil spaceships in the original asteroids game..."

And I just found a club "I may already be a member of!" Are you? I think some Santanarchy for the holidays sounds mighty fine. I particularly like the bulletpoint "Santification tools (to make others into Santas)." I just hope I don't end up like this poor Santa, back in '95. I'm guessing he didn't tip well.