Canned Goods

I was listening to some of Brian Eno’s ambient music (Thursday Afternoon) which in my iTunes is followed up by his “Prophecy Theme” for David Lynch’s DUNE on the motion picture soundtrack (which includes the rest of the music by Toto) which led to me to a search for it on YouTube (not sure why, just a whim) which led to finding a video of the Toto song “Take My Hand” (taken from the movie’s credits) which led to this amazing, acoustic, solo version of their song “Africa” (and, I might add, the music video for “Africa”) [add: yes, I own the soundtrack to DUNE; one of the signs of a g33k]:

Kate and I were awoken around 2:30 last night to the sound of a large crunch and a woman’s scream (the kind that makes me think it’s programmed into our genetic code to instantly recognize sound like this). Crunch! Scream! (The time it took to read those two words is how fast it happened.)

Drowsily I walked out of the bedroom, grabbed my glasses and cell, and parted the living room curtains. A car was sideways in the road, directly in front of my Willy St. house — its right front corner smashed in and the bumper lying down the road. A few other people were already at the scene, and from the way they were acting, I thought one of them was in the crash and walked away okay. There wasn’t anyone in the car. And there weren’t any women out there. From whom did the scream come?

The car had apparently veered from the east-bound center lane of Willy St into the outer lane, where cars park during off-peak hours, hitting a minivan (the neighbor says it’s totaled), scraping along the side of the next car, and finally spinning sideways and rolling backward across the street into the rear quarter-panel of another car (no more than 30 feet in total).

Where was the driver? Witnesses saw him running away from the scene. The police, still haven’t found him (I’m assuming they can from the registration, unless it was a stolen car). And, as far as I know, no attribution for the scream.

All that’s left are bits of plastic and glass.

Books I’m reading this week:
1. Zizek (Sublime Object) - as part of a reading group with Scot, Adam, and Tim
2. Rickert (Act of Enjoyment) - also part of a reading group with Scot, Adam, and Tim
3. Jenkins (Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers & 3.5. The WOW Climax)
4. Selber (Multiliteracies for a Digital Age)
5. The Rhetorical Tradition

Books I wish had time to read this week:
1. Dick (Ubik)
2. Boulle (Planet of the Apes) - found a $.65 copy at Vinny’s; always wanted to compare it to the movie
3. Jeter (Noir)
4. Allen (Projecting Illusion) - Would make a nice edition to reading group: Section I, Althusser, Lacan, and Film Theory
5. Nunes (Cyberspaces of Everyday Life) or Weinstone (Avatar Bodies: a tantra for posthumanism)

5 movies I’d like to see (but know I’d be disappointed, so I’ll just wait to Netflix them):
1. Spiderman 3
2. Transformers (okay, I’ll go see this one . . . with Scot, Adam, & Tim(?))
3. Harry Potter 5?, 6?
4. The Simpsons Movie
5. Ocean’s 13

5 movies I know I never need to watch but want to anyway:
1. Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2. Live Free or Die Hard
3. Pirates 3 (still need to see 2)
4. Superman Returns
5. Ghost Rider

5 things I (recently) watched and recommend:
1. Zizek
2. The Worlds Fastest Indian (K. still liked it a lot, even though she was expecting it to be about a Native American rather than a motorcycle)
3. Lost (finale)
4. Heroes (finale)
5. MIT CMS 2006 Futures of Entertainment Conference (video podcasts)

5 things I wish I could watch (but I don’t have cable):
1. Season 3 of BSG (x 5)