I'm introducing my new pronto pup rating system. I just watched Y Tu Mama Tambien, and it gets 8 prontopups (out of 10). I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it definitely surprised me (in a good way) at the end. Anyway, if you want a synopsis type of review, you can check out Roger Ebert's review. For the most part, I'm not going do to "full reviews". I think I'll just stick with a simple rating and maybe a few comments if I can think of any...

Other stuff for today...

Personalization software isn't always what it's cracked up to be (as I know). Here's one guy's story of how his TiVo thought he was gay.

Bored this weekend. Here's a couple of games for you to play. Tobaggan Jumping and Defender.

British girls are two-faced.

Both sad and ironic. Man falls into compost grinder. His name? Kielbasa.

At least Apple has a sense of humor. Now they're starting to parody their own switch ads. These feature Will Ferrell as Santa Claus.

Over the years, some folks at work have tried (in vain) to start a softball team, a volleyball team, and a couple of others to play in some leagues around town. I'm not much for that, but THIS sounds pretty good.

Here's a very interesting flash cartoon that explores German Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, & Dadaism among other things.

Forget Barbie's Playhouse... Get a forward command post instead. Military combat gear, toy weapons, American flag, chairs and more...

Playwright Jim Sherman wrote this when Hu Jintao was named chief of the Communist Party in China last week. It's about George Bush and Condi Rice doing the classic Hu's on first? routine.

David Letterman's list of Top Ten Least Impressive James Bond Gadgets.

I'm really looking forward to this (seriously). Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are making a remake of Starsky & Hutch. About damn time! Oh, and even better? You know who's going to play Huggy Bear? Snoop Doggy Dogg. Word up.

Paul Westerberg makes the #11 spot on Amazon.com's Top 100 Editors' Picks of 2002.

Ugly web site, but interesting content. Bizarre record covers.

And finally... Are you bored with doing laundry? Well, try Extreme Ironing... (hint: go to the galleries section)

You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather... Some day, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But uh, until that day -- accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day. -- Vito Corleone

Today, I too, became The Godfather. I didn't get to "whack" anybody, but I did get to fill my cheeks with lasagna and do Brando impersonations most of the afternoon, which is pretty fun in and of itself... Anyway, without any further ado...

Let me introduce you to my goddaughter, Gretchen Ann...

Miss your favorite TV show this week? Worry not. Visit Television Without Pity for a recap...

Latest FBI report: Muslims residing in the U.S. are involved in a widespread plot to develop nuclear families.

All I ever needed to know, I learned from John Cusack.

Favorite link of the day: A short movie on what the film industry is REALLY like. The Reel Truth. It's a bit long, but oh so worth it... And besides, it's Friday. Like you were going to be working anyway.

Here's what I'm going to be doing this evening (most likely) -- Buttaball. This annual local-music tribute/food-shelf benefit at the Turf Club is charitable but never a charity case--a rock hootenanny that lets you hear the Minnesota canon as defined by other regulars. Naturally, the Replacements are a primary object of scraggly homage for the Westerbergian/Stinsonian outfit the Rakes.

Live 'Mats music... It should be a good time, and for a good cause.

I got an e-mail from an old high school friend who's currently living in California. He told me to knock if off with my 'liberal crap', so today's postings: liberal-crap-free... Now for a limited time.

Yet again... Those wacky Dutch!

The Supreme Court is taking on its toughest case yet. The People Vs. The Red-Neck T-Shirt. Here's what the T-shirt actually says.

New Strong Bad e-mail, where you get lots of good tips for designing your web site. Plus, an interview with the guy who created my favorite online 'toon -- Homestarrunner.com

Some site's list of the best 100 albums of the 1980's. It's not right, but at least the Replacement's "Let It Be" (currently the most played CD in my car) beat our U2's "Joshua Tree". At least there's that.

More about TV shows that I like, including Corey Feldman's wedding from the upcoming show "The Surreal Life", with MC Hammer ministering the ceremony. You may now kiss the bride, can't touch 'dis... baaahm ba-da baaaaahm...

My favorite link of the day. 10 useful hints for everyday grammar. It's not only informative, it's funny.

Fill out the form and send an electronic e-mail to your congressperson urging them not to pass the Homeland Security Act with the CSEA provision in it. The page is sponsored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. By adopting the provisions of CSEA, the Homeland Security Act would allow any government entity (federal, state, or local) to request email and voicemail from your ISP or telephone provider without a warrant or probable cause.

Is this really important? Here's the 4th amendment to the United States Constitution.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Bush's America, man. This stuff just keeps getting better and better.

Add a new banner ad to your web site. Fun selections galore...

And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture. New commentary on the Bush administration's mandate from Bill Moyers.

The ACLU's plea on Bush's Orwellian Total Information Awareness project.
Also, take note that this Total Information Awareness project was initiated BEFORE 9-11 (see Appendix A, with initial draft date of May 1, 2001)... I think this is not so much about terrorism as it is about control.

The Washington Post's article on this nightmare Homeland Security Bill.

Is it time for me to move to Australia yet? Do they have broadband cable access down under?

Hopefully, you're a little riled up... So ahead... Poke the penguin...

Here's a pretty frightening op-ed piece by William Safire of the NY Times on the further erosion of our civil liberties by this Homeland Security Act.

The lamest lunchboxes ever.

Marketing God.

Ooooo. Pick me. I could win a blind date with Vicki, from the original Love Boat. For the ladies, you can win a date with Screech.

What your sleep patterns say about you.

Always trying to be informative here. I got this e-mail from my friend Keith, who used to work at Net Perceptions, a company that develops "recommendation engine" software, about yesterday's weird Amazon.com post...

Interesting! --

The recommendation engine that Amazon uses is based on a reverse-engineered Net Perceptions collaborative filter. When someone shows interest in at least two items (in their cart, looking at details, or whatever they program), the engine will find all other people who have bought that combination of items. It then analizes everything else this group (neighborhood) has bought and percolates the most popular items to the top of the list. At times the results seem bizzare, but they are ususally pretty accurate. In a test done at a mail-order catalog in England, phone order takers were using the NetP engine to upsell called in orders. One recommendation had bras recommended when someone was buying pillows. When the cashier made the recommendation, the customer bought the bra. So, your observation speaks to the buying habits of the Amazon customer.

~Keith

Basically, I think Keith is trying to say that either I'm a freak, or people "like me" are freaks. Did I mention that Keith also was the guy that hired me for my very first job, oh-so-many years ago?

Let's see, what else. Oh, I e-mailed the Star Tribune yesterday after reading this article. I questioned their data, which stated "The street value of the 2,250 pills was at least $731,250." Some simple math indicates that this would be a street value of $325 per Ecstasy pill. That sure sounds a bit high for a single pill, so I asked if they "double-checked" their math. Here's what they said:

Mr. Lebakken,

The story looks like it only ran online, not in the printed paper. But your math appears to be correct; the DEA says ecstasy pills sell for between $20 and $40, not $325. I will contact the Associated Press about correcting the error. Thanks for noticing it!

Reader Rep

Not that I'm into Ecstasy, mind you. I'm more of a Claritin man myself, but this just didn't sound right... Don't trust the press, man... Fight the power! (In fairness, the Strib was just posting a story pulled from the Associated Press, so it really wasn't their fault.) Still. Dudes, get a calculator...

Mmmm. What else. Oh, I've been kind of hooked on that new Carlos Santana song, Game of Love. Go check out the video on his site (high bandwidth version) ( low bandwidth version) if you want a little bubble-gum pick-me-up this morning... I know, I know... Typically, I don't like much "pop" music, but I've always like Santana. He's kind of a hippie throw-back, but that's not (always) a bad thing. I mean, this guy wanted to go play a concert in Baghdad to help heal the situation. It's pretty naive, obviously, but thankfully somebody still believes in stuff like that.

Before his most recent revival, I was fortunate enough to see him play at the State Fair, opening for Bob Dylan. Black Magic Woman, played live under an open sky... Wow, what a show! (drifting off to that State Fair Special Place that I sometimes go to)...

But, that was a few years ago when you could actually see a pretty decent concert at the fair. Not that Har Mar Superstar isn't decent, but...

oh... wait...

Last night I was checking out Amazon.com's new apparel store, and, uh, I think it still needs a little work. They claim to have Earth's Biggest Selection. Yeah, maybe. Earth's Biggest Selection for gay clothing... When I was browsing for men's shirts, for example, it would recommend some nice lacey undergarments to go with my plaid button-down shirt...

And that's not all. They also had this gay pirate shirt, gay stretch biker pant (which looks FABULOUS with the Pirate shirt, I might add), and to top it off, a nice gay leather swashbuckler top. Fantastic. Anyway, Mom, if you're reading this, now you know what to get me for my birthday...

Who would buy that stuff anyway? Maybe the costume designer for Steve Martin's new project -- a gay Hart to Hart, in which a pair of interior decorators stumble upon a murder each week. Who says Hollywood's out of ideas...

Also, I was searching some wish lists on Amazon on found this entry which "coincidentally" has the same name as one of my coworkers. Just in case you want to get him some special to go with his Pirate outfit...

Oh, and how about John Cleese? He's writing a new Superman comic. Seriously.

And speaking of ripping off things in Hollywood, take the Winona quiz...

Which Winona Are You?

Heh heh heh... For those of you that remember my pictures of Har Mar Superstar from this year's State Fair, you might find this pretty funny. He was arrested in Oklahoma on obscenity charges. Apparently he said something naughty on stage and the red-neck bible-belt cops didn't like it too much. John Ashcroft would be proud. Damn citizens exercising their first amendment rights... in PUBLIC no less. Filthy animals!

This does bring up a very interesting point, however. I guess it's okay to overtly sexualize young teen-age girls (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, etc.), but it's just downright obscene if you take a 30-year-old man and let him prance around the stage in his underwear and say suggestive things. Nice.

And, as long as we're on the topic, let's all give Christina a face lift...

Sweet. The Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame is finally getting their act together. Last year they voted in The Ramones and the Talking Heads. This year, it's The Clash. I recently got their DVD documentary Westway to the World, which isn't great as far as documentaries go, but still interesting. I wonder if they'll re-unite?

Heavy coffee drinking lowers risk of diabetes. The way these studies are going, I'm going to be immortal pretty soon.

Seen Apple's new switch campaign? Well, here's a good parody.

I went to a riot, and a hockey game broke out. Not quiet, but Canadian fans of Guns N' Roses started rioting after Axl missed his plane and they canceled the concert. The Replacement's bassist Tommy Stinson is in the new GNR... sadly.

The Replacement's drummer, Chris Mars, currently is an artist and has a new exhibition just down the block from where I work. I might go check it out, but... dude, it looks kind of depressing.

And finally, the band I'm currently listening to is the new face of punk -- The Donnas. Like the Ramones, each member is a "Donna" and they play straight-ahead 3-chord garage rock. Only their 23-years old, have produced 4 albums to date, and they could kick Britney's ass in a bar fight.

I've posted on this before, but I just saw it again the other night on IFC and it deserves more attention -- American Movie. It's a documentary about a dude, Mark, who's living in a trailer park outside of Milwaukee. His dream is to make a film he scripted called "Northwestern", his magnum opus. But, in order to raise a modest $40,000 budget for that movie, he decides he needs to finish his short horror film called "Coven", started 7 years earlier but never finished. So, together with his stoner sidekick and a weirdo crew, they set off to make the movie with $3000 in backing from Mark's 80 year old Uncle, Bill. It's funny and sometimes sad, but it really captures the pursuit of the American dream... Occasionally, life is just more interesting than fiction. Anyway, I'm recommending it.

Salman Rushdie wins prestigious London International Writers Award.

James Carville tells us what happened with the Democrats...

The election is over. The Replicans (heh, heh... honestly, that was an accidental typo, but I rather like the sound of it) swept the race, with both Coleman and Pawlenty winning the senate and gubernatorial races, respectively. In related news, new study links lack of exercise with dyslexia.

For the morbidly curious, I voted for Mondale and Tim Penny, and for the remainder of the ballot I voted Green and Independent wherever I could... Sigh. Here's complete election results (crank up the volume).

Other stuff

Tom Petty thinks corporate radio sucks, that the RIAA is a sham, that record companies screw recording artists, and that musicians are greedy.

Have you registered for the Minnesota State Do Not Call List? Over 10% of all residential phone users signed up... on the first day!

Johnny Cash is putting out his 70th album. He does covers of Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails. He sings with Nick Cave, Fiona Apple, and Don Henley. Who's the man NOW, dog? Must get this disc...

Lobsters, man. Luscious lobsters.

And since the Republicans swept last night, here's another Onion story for you. Republicans mount campaign to rename Alzheimer's 'Reagan's Disease'.

Gratulerer med dagen to my nephew, who turns 5 today... These are some pictures from his birthday party on Saturday.

and this picture doesn't look as good now because I had to "shrink" it to the web page. Viewed at full size it looks pretty cool because actually the Spiderman dude is in focus, and it looks like both of them are fighting the candle fire...

Anyway, I'll be voting today after work. Last Friday night I went to dinner in St. Paul with some friends, and we ended up sitting at the table next to Roger Moe. How cool is THAT? I mean, I sure hope that guy wins.

What would YOU do if you found out that a guy you went to school with was running for State office? And what if this guy was running as a family values type of Republican? And what if you had some really good dirt on him, like how he used to spend almost every Saturday night playing Dungeons & Dragons with a few other geeks? And what if you were one of those geeks?

Exactly. So, he's a Dungeons & Dragons tribute to our next representative, Joe Hoppe.

Joe will not only CUT taxes, but he'll put a cloak of invisibility on them!

Why you should vote for Joe Hoppe:

• Joe was a 12th-level druid; his opponent claims to be god fearing, but can he cast any spells?
• Joe is well suited for congress -- he used to belong to a thieves guild and was an excellent pick-pocket.
• Joe will be good for transportation; Like, this one time, he managed to steal 20 fine white steeds on one occasion by putting a stink charm on a band of Orcs. He could do the same for you.
• Joe has more hit points than his opponent, and he will wear chainmail underwear if elected.
• Joe slew the feared dragon of Ankgonk-wa'ar called Democraticus Overspendius, taking his booty and redistributing it to his guild members.
• Joe will protect your gun rights. And your rights to carry crossbows, maces, and spears.