First, Scientists have recently discovered that my favorite herb, cilantro, contains a compound that kills the salmonella bacteria. There is hope that a new food additive that will help fight food-borne illness. I'm not quite sure why this makes me so happy other than another excuse to put cilantro in everything that I cook. More effective at relieving the cabin fever is this story about a dog and a monkey who have become an inseparable pair in northern India. Take a look at the kick-ass pictures, and then tell me that wouldn't make a great half-hour animated TV show.

Thats right, the Universal Karmic System (UKS) shows its sick-o sense of humor by infecting me with the illness, which caused a raging fever delirium the night before what was probably the biggest interview of my life. But I soldiered on this morning and met with the President of The DR Group, a multifunction "media services" business here in lovely H'wood. They, of course, loved me and offered me the job of "Digital Sales Assistant" for more money that I can fully comprehend right now. Suffice to so it is more than I've ever made, and twice what I'm making at my current employer. Not to mention is it actually in the "industry."

I was going to start on Monday, but now I'll have to wait until my, "sores crust over." The MD at Doc-in-a-Box Rxed me some killer anti-viral meds (800mg 5x per day) so they will hopefully help the Pox run their course quicker. Until them I'm quarantined at home, awaiting the imminent itching phase.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

So here is the super distilled 10 word version:

Cast, visuals, scope=good. Script, story, camera=bad. Worth seeing.

UPDATE: I just found a snipped of the conclusion from the long review, so I figured I would post that as well:

"It is ironic that the entire [film] industry is built upon the teachings of the ancient Greeks and yet it cannot produce a compelling film from ancient Greek source material."

Sure, the Lakers have Shaq and Kobe, and Malone, but for the past couple of years, I've been telling everybody who would listen that Derek Fisher, on any other team, would be THE star player. Fisher had a few things going against him, first he is a team-player. He passes, which isn't something you always see the guys in gold do. Second, he isn't huge, flashy, or thuggish, which doesn't help him escape the shadow of Shaq, Kobe, or Fox. But he can sink 'em downtown like nobodies business!

Maybe NOW people will listen to me. Maybe Fisher's at-the-buzzer shot, which Marv Albert called "one of the greatest shots in franchise history," will get him some very well deserved recognition.

A physics student at Case University is working on a down-right brilliant invention: The Keg Cooler. The idea is to use a thermo-electric wrap that is powered by a standard AC outlet or a 9v DC cigarette lighter. Sounds like funky black magik to me. But regardless, this would kick ass for obvious reasons.

What do you call:

Violent resistance to an illegal invasion force
A) insurgents
B) Terrorists
C) Freedom Fighters

Physical and psychological pain inflicted on political prisoners
A) Abuse
B) Interrogation
C) Torture

Non-governement paramilitary forces fighting for money
A) Independant security contractors
B) Mercinaries

A government that flaunts the laws of the global society, the Geneva Convention, and Amnesty International
A) A rogue nation
B) America

C) America

Actually, to show my utter geekery, the new feature I'm most excited about is the new blog templates by web-guru Jeffery Zeldman. Though the Post-by-email feature will be quite useful for bypassing the friggin firewall at work.

In other news, Pastrami. Specifically, I ate some of the best pastrami I've ever had last night at Canter's Deli in the Fairfax district of H'Wood. I swear the beast was 5-inches high, but there wasn't a shred of fat to been seen. Just lean, mean, sweet-cured 'strami on Rye so good we bought a loaf to go. I also ordered a bowl of matzo ball soup, and, on first glance, I thought there was a softball floating in the broth. Turns out it was just a big-ass ball o' the matzo. And damn-fine soup it was.

I'm about 30 pages into the first "phase" of my re-write, and though it has been slow going, I think I'm making some real improvements. The proof will be in the pudding though, and we'll see what happens with my self-imposed May 31st deadline rolls around.

One more post, then I gotta get cracking on the rewrite... Heavy Little Objects is the brilliant blog of a pack-rate junkphile who is documenting all of the flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in a lifetime of junk-drawers and tool boxes.

I too am a pack rat and have always found a strange enjoyment in looking through the crap that has collected in cupboard or storage-box. The details of experiences-past that can be brought to the forefront of the mind as my fingers play over forgotten treasures has a magic akin to reading old journal entries.

Mack, the "curator" of the site, makes each object precious as he gives meaning to the randomness of his collection. I simultaneously think of the found-object sculpture of the AI of Gibson's Sprawl book and events from my own life, recollection sparked by Mack's poetic descriptions.

Sometimes I get bored with the WWW. Then something like Heavy Little Objects convinces me that all of the juicy chunks of meat haven't been picked out of the cyber-soup yet.

As if that weren't enough, I get a call this morning from Andrew to inform me he has finally cleared all of the logistic hurdles and proposed to his long-time GF, Jodi. I've known Andrew since the very beginning of my time spent in Santa Cruz, but the funny thing is we spent 2 years as neighbors before we realized, (and only through his then roommate Jason) that we were kindred spirits. After he joined the on-going Deadlands RPG campaign in the fall of 1998 we became fast friends and have had many adventures since. I've actually known Jodi longer, and if you had told me, 5 years ago, that the two would be getting married I would have stopped mixing you drinks. But now I see that there is really no better match for the two of them, and I couldn't be happier!

So, to the four of you, I raise my glass of eChampaign and propose a toast:

True love is a rare and splendid thing, and though marriage in America has become the butt of jokes and the battle-ground for fundamentalists, the wedding is a sacred and powerful rite, even in the most secular examples. It will forever change your life and your perceptions of the world, and I hope that you all find the love, support, comfort, and adventure that I have found. Put on some comfortable shoes, cuz you've got a long and marvelous journey ahead of you!

Salute.

I do as much as possible on-line... Bills, travel arrangements, shopping, all the good stuff that people use the net for. I was so very excited when we moved to the big city because it meant being able to order pizza on-line.

But, did you know you can now go to Traffic School on-line?

Hell yeah! From what I hear it only takes about 2 hours to burn through the course and take the test. The only downside is you miss the comedic stylings of wannabe stand-ups working the captive audience in a sweaty room at the courthouse. Oh wait...

What is next? Serving 8-10 in #attica from the comfort of your iBook?
Let the crime wave (or at least bad-driving rash) begin!

But now it is back to the litigation support game for me this morning. I've got moer to say, but I'm afraid the corporate fire-wall will eat my post if I take too long, so the rest will have to wait.