I just finished the book Ugly Americans by Ben Mezrich. Last year I read Bringing Down the House, also by Mezrich. They both kicked ass. And considering I don't read books very often, that's saying something. I suggest to all that you read both, especially if you like nonfiction books, since both are essentially true stories (the names of many of the characters had to be disguised to protect their identity.) If your stingy and don't want to buy the books, then you can borrow them from yours truly. Bringing Down the House is the better of the two, but their both good.

The reason why I'm bringing up two books is because of their topics. They're about real people doing crazy ass shit. These people live lives I could only dream of, and yet they come from seemingly normal backgrounds. And what I'm getting at is that sometimes people just write off their lives, claiming they will have no influence or power in the world. But I'm here to contradict that. Look at the people in these books. If one guy can single-handedly bring down the largest and oldest bank in England, thats saying something. If one person can but down $100,000 bets on a single hand of black jack, and end up losing $500,000 in the night, and wake up the next morning to make it all up and then some- thats saying something.

Question of the week:
If only the fit survive, does one have to be physically fit to stay alive?

I have a story for all- the best Christmas story ever:

How Nikesh Patel stole Christmas, then gave it back two days later


George Carlin is back in rehab
Coolest Addiction possible: Mai Tai's with OxyContin

Nikesh's Annual...

Audio Guide

• Seks Bomba - Somewhere in This Town


• London Symphony Orchestra - Morphine Mambo Jazz Club


• Various Artists - Secret Agent S.O.U.N.D.S.


• Propellerheads - Decksandrumsandrockandroll


• Ursula 1000 - The Now Sound of Ursula 1000


• Thunderball - Scorpio Rising


• Thievery Corporation - Mirror Conspiracy


• Tiki Tones - Play Songs for the...Suburban Savages


• Amon Tobin - Permutation


• Nicola Conte - Bossa per Due


• Omega Men - Spy-Fi Sounds of Omega Men


• Various Artists - Vegas Swings!


• Various Artists - Coming Home


• Various Artists - Bombay the Hard Way: Guns, Cars, and Sitars


• Various Artists - Deep Note: Music of 1970s Adult Cinema


• Various Artists - Vampyros Lesbos Sexadelic Dance Party


• Anything by Riz Ortolani


• Anything by Curtis Mayfield


• Anything from the Eighteenth Street Lounge Music (ESL) Record Label


• The Ultra Lounge Series

Howdy! Bowling has been moved up to THIS friday, meaning the 17th. I missed the debut of Ocean's 12... as some of you may have noticed the countdown timer on the stuff page. Fuck.

Meanwhile in the land of bliss and non-existance:

Super Bowl Party is at my place- not at Julian Siedel's house, not at yoru g-pa's house, not at anyones house, except for this one. No fucking excuses. And don't forget to start training for the 24 hour DDR dance party. Question: Do the Germs have a dvd out?

"We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen" Trailer

We have to see that when it comes out.

Friday, December 24: Were going Bowling.

Hitting you on the 9 spot- my plans for the 24 Hour DDR Dance Party.

Summer 2005:
24 Hour DDR Dance Party!

Let's Lay it down:

Jazz leads to the birth of Bossa Nova. This influences the sound of modern jazz musicians, and spurs downtempo trends. This leads to the birth of present day Lounge music and Acid Jazz, along with the rebirth 1950s/1960s -esk Modern ("Mod") culture. An eclectic range of other techno/electronica musical genres also arise during this time.
It is through Modern culture and living that moksha shall be obtained. That's right, through a musical transmutation into nirvana.

I realized that conservative religious fundamentalists breed conservative religious fundamentalists. And no, not through procreation. Through hate.
Let's take a look at terrorism. The majority of mainstream terrorist sects have some sort of conservative religious fundamentalist background. While this may be a generalization, let's stick with the example. Let's take the oh-so-familiar al Quada. It is clearly based on a radical interpretation of the Quaran, and is a good starting point for our quest. Why do members of this organization hate the United States? Because of our society. And our society influences our relations with Israel. And conservative religious fundamentalists influence our society. Cause and Effect. Bad ideas create more bad ideas.

Here's a question: Quispe Huamani is a worker for the Del Monte company in Costa Rica. He works on a banana plantation, and on average swings his machete 5,000 times a day to cut down bananas, etc. He earns $0.70 an hour, and works from sunrise to sunset everyday. He recently received $46.20 from a job he did. How many times did he swing his machete over the course of that job? First person to figure it out gets a pat on the back and some chocolate covered orange bingleberries. This problem might take some research to solve it. And there is enough information to solve it.

News:

• Did you know there is a DDR dictionary? They have this term called 'bar raping', which is when someone refuses to let go of the bar while playing the game. The arcade version has this metal bar for support behind the mat.


• Top Secret: check it out- look up Josh Agle aka. Shag. He's gotza the loungy groove.


• Once I get my project started I'll dedicate this blog to it, but until then this its just my daily escapades. Did I let everyone know Daniel deals X now? That shit fucks you up like the drunk PoPo in Beverly on prom night.


• I'm gonna be updating the music page come the holidays, so stay tuned.

Turns out that someone can actually live off of shit only from IKEA. They've got all your living necessities, plus swedish meatballs. Who could ask for anything more? I'm gonna turn my room into a lounge sometime in 2005, so I'm gonna hold a think tank there once its finished. I would like to thank DDR for bringing the "Hell" out of "Hell Hole" that was once Phil's house. God bless the Japanese.