What's on your i-pod?

I love comedy and humor, but as much as people say I'm a "funny guy" (no, not like that) I can't ham it up or be spontaneous on stage or put on a show. Any perceived humor on my part is based or more witticism and such. So when I saw Steve Kardynal's post on his Ipod (Steve is a member of the Dirt Humor troupe) on youtube, I wanted to reply but there is no way I could stand in front of a camera and lip sync. So I had to figure out a way to do it "my way" and here it is. Watch his version first and then watch my reply.

Steve Kardynal (dominater005 on youtube):


My video reply (mx4789 on youtube):

Funny Games

Just saw the American remake of Funny Games (or at least most of it, I couldn't finish watching it - I saw the original German version so I knew how it was going to end) and I had to think: what's the point? Naomi Watts did an excellent job of acting in it, and at first I was absolutely amazed at the similarity to the original but a quick check of IMDB shows that Michael Haneke (writer/original director) actually directed the remake as well. Which really makes me wonder "what's the point?" Was it just to make an English language version? The remake was almost identical to the original they may as well just have dubbed the first one in in English. Hmm.. actually I was wrong the remake wasn't almost identical it was identical (the below was taken from IMDB):
*Director Michael Haneke also directed the Austrian original: Funny Games (1997).
*The production crew used the blueprints from the 1997 original. The set of the house in the 2007 American remake has the same proportions as that of the 1997 set.
*The film is a shot-by-shot remake of the original.

Now don't get me wrong, the film is good and well done, but if you are going to watch it, do yourself a favor and watch the 1997 German version. Something about it being in a foreign language (and reading subtitles) makes it all that much more creepy. I just don't see any point for reinventing the wheel.

...and this film is creepy. *shudders*

Roadrunner, FML (almost)

Thanks to all those years of ninja training and cat-like reflexes I narrowly avoided munching a roadrunner yesterday while zipping along on the bike at 20mph. Sucker ran right out in front of me and was almost toast. If it had run right across the track it wouldn't have been so bad, but instead it ran down the track at an angle. Whew. Close call. Coulda swore I saw the bastard smirking as it ducked into the brush. Do birds smirk?

Somewhat related... logged 325 miles this month on the bike so far. Max speed 28.7 mph - and that's actual hammering under a load (not coasting down some steep hill or something.) Average speed yesterday (over 28 mile ride) was 17.1 mph, not too bad for a fat guy on a mountain bike...

Mountain Biking at St. Edwards Park

Mountain Biking at Saint Edwards Park in Austin, Texas. The park is located in the Bull Creek watershed. It is the first place I ever mountain biked in almost 19 years ago. We've logged thousands of miles on those trails over the years. Sadly, many of the trails no longer exist since much of the original tract of land (about 95%) is now off limits to practically everyone due to endangered species habitat. Not that there's anything wrong with that..

Spring! Bam!

According to the rose bush, winter lasted exactly 2 months (and that's fine with me.)

I just got "spanked" by YouTube..

Dear mx4789,
Your video, Mountain Biking at Saint Edwards Park, Austin TX, may have content that is owned or licensed by WMG.
No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.

Sincerely,- The YouTube Team

Okay.. the "No action is required on your part.." part means "we've just deleted part of your video" but we've worded it in such a way that you won't freak out and go check your account. I knew something was up when it took almost an hour to upload a 2 minute video. Wow! They must have some kind of carnivore-type of software. My video was up less than an hour and only had 1 hit before it got flagged. Anyway.. be warned, big brother is here.

CD's that have accumulated in my truck.

I'm really good about getting things "out", such as dragging out old cassette tapes to listen to, pulling photo albums off the shelf to peruse - I'm just not so good at putting things "back". Here's a list of the CD's that have slowly accumulated in my truck over the past months...

Currently in the player: Owl City - Maybe I'm Dreaming



CD's loitering amongst the rubble in the floorboard:

*Farewell - Isn't this Supposed to be Fun?
*Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer
*Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit
*U2 - Boy
*Echo and the Bunnymen
*The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
*Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled his Feet
*Ochestral Manouevers in the Dark - Best of OMD
*4 Non Blondes - Bigger Better Faster More
*Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
*Paul Westerberg - 14 Songs
*Johnny Cash - American IV the Man Comes Around
*The Wall Flowers - Bringing Down the Horse


Other things of interest include: bike helmet, backpack, 4 pair of bike gloves (!), sleeping bag, pillow, life jacket, no less than 3 fishing rods/reels, 1 pair of underwear (don't ask), water shoes, sunscreen, a big container of Morton's salt (handy for ice days), 2 pair of shorts, laptop computer, big heavy coat (no longer needed, same for salt), tackle box, 3 baseballs and a nerf football.

The Silent Wind of Doom

"Clear your mind of whimsy. Learn to sway like the ginkgo flower." - The Angry Beavers (episode: The Silent Wind of Doom)
The wind is teaching me patience. A cold front was slated to come through around noon with wind gusts from 30 to 40 miles an hour. I hate riding in the wind (and cold) so I got ready and left the house at 9:30 hoping to avoid the whole thing. No such luck. It started to rain and then 4 miles into the ride the front came through much earlier than predicted. The wind picked up and literally blew me all over the place. My normal reaction is to stand up and power up the hills, but the wind was making it impossible. Finally I had to give in, sit back down on the saddle and dump a bunch of gears. As I sat there spinning, slowly winding my way uphill, I began to relearn that sometimes finesse is better than brute force; patience is better than instant gratification. I said "relearn" because this lesson is first thing mountain bikers discover. Brute force doesn't work in the rocks and dirt, you have to use finesse or you will simply spin out. Maybe the biggest lesson in all of this is that I haven't spent enough time in the dirt lately (both figuratively and literally). A little humility goes a long way, but needs to be experienced every now and then for us to remember what it is.

Things to do with tax refund..

Things I might do with my income tax refund:

• Get brakes fixed on the truck


• Buy a refrigerator


• Buy a water heater


• Buy the following CD's: Snow Patrol, The Airborne Toxic Event, Owl City


• Buy a new DVD player (see the old one)

Here's a little "Red Meat" for your diet:

A long and winding post.

I haven't done any old fashioned stream of consciousness blogging in a long time. I was looking back at some of my myspace blogs and I love the fact that I can go back to just about any particular week and tell you what was happening at that time. For me the blogging was/is more of an online diary and notes to myself as opposed to some great proclamation to the world. It's just that the diary is open for anyone who cares to read it, that's all. I quit blogging pretty much about the time I started vlogging and even that seems to be slowly grinding to halt. I enjoy youtubing - I'm sure there's a name for browsing videos on youtube, but I don't know what it is. Anyway... the videos I like the most are the vlogs (ordinary people rambling on about their day) and the sketch comedy clips such as Smosh and ShaneDawsonTV. There's also quite a few how-to or self-help videos on things like repairing washers, or making hot sauce. I only spend about 20-30 minutes on youtube (early Saturday & Sunday mornings) while the coffee is percolating and there is really nothing on TV. I'm not a big Internet surfer. I've pretty much lost interest in maintaining a myspace account because myspace has gotten so bloated with ads, add-ons, apps and flash-esque crap that it is cumbersome, slow and clunky. Pages take forever to load, if at all. Many of their add-on and 3rd party gimmicks set off my firewall and virus scanner so I've all but stopped logging in. Besides, I like the ease of use and styling of blogger much much better. I have my own domain, but don't have a website hosted anywhere anymore. I used to, but it got axed during a round of spending cuts one year. Now I just have the MX record pointed to an email only host for like $5 a month.

It's 11;30 Saturday morning and I'm still sitting here waiting for the temperature outside to warm up. We've had spring-like weather for several weeks now and today is like some kind of cruel joke. It's been 48 degrees for some time now. I'm about to put on the tights and long sleeved jersey and go ride as soon as I put in my contacts and retrieve the two eggs bubbling about in the pot of water on the stove. I like hard boiled eggs because they require no tending to. Just plunk them in a pot of water and let it boil. No stirring or watching or any of that mess.

[several hours later...]

I'm back. Rode for a couple hours and mashed out a little over 21 miles at the veloway (and into the wind). It's now a balmy 51 degrees in Austin, Texas. Got a pot of coffee percolating on the stove and it's starting to make the gurgling and bubbling sounds that tell me I'll soon be smelling that intoxicating aroma of french roast. Okay.. maybe not intoxicating, but it does smell good. My sister-in-law got me that coffee pot for Christmas. It was completely unexpected and totally random. I've had other coffee pots in the past but this one is stainless steel and the whole thing can be disassembled easily and put in the dishwasher. My kind of pot. It reminds me of my grandmother's house in Mississippi. She would often be up as early as 5am cooking breakfast and prepping the kitchen for the rest of the day. As a child I was somewhat frightened by the noisy contraption and it produced a strong, thick black coffee that not even half a cup of milk could temper.

And now for some totally random crap:

On the way home from the track I heard another song by The Airborne Toxic Event - I'm soo getting that CD. I also want to get ones by Snow Patrol and Owl City.

It's Valentine's Day. This time last year I was in love and started working on this poem:

The angels coil in fear
The angels run in fear
The angels refuse to hear
a cry for love the angels refuse to hear
a prayer the angels will never hear


a love that will never be
even though I give you all
a total consumption surrender of me

and in a moment of utter despair
I beg for forgiveness
but the angel refuses to hear

I'm watching Jacques Pepin on PBS whip up some concoction on the stove whilst killing time waiting for the Tour of California to come on in an hour.

Yesterday was Friday the 13th and there must have been some kind of harmonic convergence because my phone which sometimes doesn't ring for weeks suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. We had arranged happy hour with co-workers and former co-workers on Friday. My sister-in-law called to invite me to dinner at Ranch 616 where she had made reservations for no one in particular. I couldn't go since I was already committed to happy hour. Funny part was that Ranch 616 was my first suggestion for happy hour location. It's a bit pricey so it got pooh-pooed by the budget conscious amongst us. Then Nancy called to see if wanted to meet for drinks after work and once again I had to take a rain check. We're gonna meet Monday afternoon at Guero's Taco Bar for margaritas and general loitering on Congress Avenue. It promises to be fun.

PS: spell check didn't like "gonna" (slang for "going to") and instead suggested I use "gonad". What?