Happy Leap Day. Happy Oscar Day. Today was also D-Day - my manuscript was due at the publishers today. Why a Sunday? Well, I arbitrarily picked the date February 29 about nine months ago when asked when I could deliver the finished book. I guess I never even looked at a calendar, and didn't realize it was a Sunday until a few weeks ago. Anyway, the point is moot; I called them Thursday and, sweating bullets, asked for a few days extension. Turned out this was no big deal - they were surprised I even bothered to call. So now the plan is to send this puppy off on Thursday. I can't wait.

Here's an early contender for 2004's 10 Worst List: Twisted

What’s Thursday? Why, it’s Survivor predictions day, of course! I know I’m always wrong, but I’m on a winning streak so far this week. First I showed some slam poets the meaning of the word Pictionary, and last night I walked away from the poker table with a fistful of dollars.

On the other hand, I have no idea what’s going on this week. There’s a twist of some sort in store, and judging from the previews it will involve a tribal shakeup. I’m assuming the three tribes will be scrambled into two, but there’s no telling who will end up where. Be that as it may, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that Ethan will be sent packing tonight. As a prior winner, he’s still a big target. And it would be especially sweet if he ends up on a tribe with his Africa allies Lex and Big Tom, and they help send him on his way.

This is mere speculation. I have not seen any Internet lists from disgruntled ex-cameramen or any of that crap. I’m living in a spoiler-free world.

Look for a full review down the line, but I'm here to tell ya, if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind isn't the movie of the year, I'll eat my flat hat. It's goddamn brilliant.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to track down Kate Winslet.

Oscar Predictions

NOTE: The management of Moonshine Mountain will not be held responsible for any financial losses incurred through wagering on the following predictions in office pools or at Oscar parties. However, if you win, you have to buy me a beer.

PICTURE: Return of the King
DIRECTOR: Peter Jackson
ACTOR: Sean Penn
ACTRESS: Charlize Theron
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tim Robbins
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Renee Zellweger
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Mystic River
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Lost in Translation
ANIMATED: Finding Nemo
ART DIRECTION: Return of the King
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Master and Commander
EDITING: Return of the King
COSTUME: Return of the King
MAKEUP: Return of the King
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Capturing the Friedmans
DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Asylum
MUSIC (SCORE): Return of the King
MUSIC (SONG): "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," A Mighty Wind
FOREIGN: Barbarian Invasions
SHORT (LIVE ACTION): The Red Jacket
SHORT (ANIMATED): Destino
SOUND: Return of the King
SOUND EDITING: Master and Commander
VISUAL EFFECTS: Return of the King

Be ye Yankee or Dixie?

I am apparently 53% Dixie, which comes as something of a surprise. Looking over all my answers, they seem tilted toward the northeast, which would make sense as that's where most of my formative years were spent. Maybe all the time I've been spending with the redneck movies has rubbed off on me in ways I haven't even noticed. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to warsh the corn squeezins out of my overalls.

(apologies to ill-sorted ephemera for swiping the link)

Special Mardi Gras Edition

In honor of Fat Tuesday, we here at Moonshine Mountain are honored to present our three favorite Cajun hixploitation movies:



3. Poor White Trash (1957) Originally released as Bayou, this piece of swamp schlock was re-edited to include newly shot gore footage and became a drive-in classic. Yankee architect Peter Graves travels to New Orleans and falls for a Cajun queen. His rival is none other than the completely bugfuck Timothy Carey (pictured above). The movie itself is nothing much, but every second Carey is onscreen is riveting, and his bizarro swamp boogie is the stuff rewind buttons were made for. Savor it over and over again.



2. Gator Bait (1976) Ah, sweet Claudia Jennings, queen of the hick flicks. Here she is Desiree Thibodeau, the sexiest coonass in all the swamp. When rednecks kill her sister, she becomes a one-woman revenge squad. Sure, her Cajun accent is a little shaky, but nobody wears Daisy Dukes like Claudia. (Well, except Daisy Duke, I guess.)



1. Southern Comfort (1981) National Guard troops get lost on maneuvers in the Louisiana bayou and run afoul of the locals. Yes, it’s basically a Deliverance knockoff, and it’s never going to win any awards from the Cajun Anti-Defamation League, but this lean and mean Walter Hill action flick builds to an unbearably tense and suspenseful finale.

So there you have it. Happy Mardi Gras!

Late-breaking news!

Issue #3 of The High Hat has finally arrived! Check out my year-end edition of The Bottom Shelf, 10 Worst Movies of 2003. And I’m sure there’s lots of other good stuff too, but I haven’t had time to dig through it all yet.

Touch of Evel

Any day now, I shall be released. The final week of redneck cinema – well, this phase, anyway – has begun. I spent a big chunk of the weekend immersed in the loony world of Evel Knievel. Like most kids my age in the mid-70s, I thought Knievel was a real-life superhero - I collected all his press clippings, had the little toy stunt cycle, attempted daring backyard feats on my bicycle, etc. Looking back on it now, it’s kind of embarrassing that we all idolized a guy who was basically famous for bungling almost every one of his big jumps and virtually grinding his bones into dust in the process. But hey, it was the Seventies, we were young.

I dimly remember seeing the 1971 biopic Evel Knievel, probably a couple years after its initial release. At the time, I had no idea how ridiculous the casting was – George Hamilton as Evel? That’s like hiring Woody Allen to play Billy Carter. The movie itself is a little dull, but ahead of its time in its use of a fractured Pulp Fiction-like chronology. Of course, its use of this device is extremely haphazard and irritating, but it’s something, anyway.

Viva Knievel, on the other hand, is some kind of a camp classic. Evel as himself, Gene Kelly as his hooch-swilling mechanic, Marjoe Gortner as his junkie rival, Red Buttons as the corrupt promotor and Leslie Nielsen as the evil drug lord planning to smuggle a ton of heroin over the border in a replica of Knievel's trailer. Oh, and Lauren Hutton as the photographer who falls for Evel's reptilian charm. It's hard to pick just one highlight, but I think I'd have to go with Gene Kelly's freakout in the nuthouse after he's been doped up by the bad guys. All this and the finest collection of leisure suits ever assembled on the motion picture screen.

To top it all off, I’m reading “King of the Goons,” the lengthy article about the ill-fated Snake River Canyon jump and surrounding hoopla that Joe Eszterhas penned for Rolling Stone in 1974. Truly this was the epicenter of redneck Americana in the Seventies. Time stood still while some crazy shitkicker strapped himself into a homemade bottle rocket, blasted his ass into the middle of nowhere and somehow managed not to kill himself. Take that, Jackass!

Awwwwwwwww!

(That's right, I am stooping to posting cute photos of my dog. What are you gonna do about it?)

Eurotrip

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen

Not sure when I became the Star-Telegram's one-man teen beat. Perhaps my youthful enthusiasm is to blame.

Tonight’s Survivor predictions:

Rupert will be in the doghouse when his ill-advised underground cabin fills with water, but will redeem himself in the immunity challenge. Chapera will suffer their first loss and head to tribal council. If that happens:

What they should do:

The smart move would be to split up Amber and Boston Rob, who have made their alliance a little too obvious. They need Rob and Amber is useless except as eye candy, so send her packing.

What they will do:

Sue is clearly driving everyone crazy and would seem to be the obvious boot.

If Mogo Mogo goes to TC…

What they should do:

The two women should grab Richard by the pixilated blur and split up Colby and Lex, who seem pretty buddy-buddy. Colby hasn’t really been the challenge monster this time around, so they should send him packing.

What they will do:

The predictable path would be voting off the previous winner, which means Hatch. But that would suck.

If Saboga goes to TC…

What they should do:

Rupert and Ethan should team up for their own good, otherwise one of them will be left as the odd man out with Jerri and Jenna. But that would only get them a tie vote, which everyone wants to avoid. If Rupert continues to go nutty, they should probably cut him loose.

What they will do:

They’ll stick to the plan and Ethan will have to be content with the first million he won.

The movie studios are really going nuts over this whole Internet piracy issue. I’ve had easier times getting onto international flights than I did getting into an advance screening of Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen last night. They were practically conducting strip-searches at the theater entrance. And this movie opens in two freakin’ days! There won’t be any damn security then – you’ll be able to walk into any matinee showing with a camera crew if you want. These people are nuts. I feel like I should automatically deduct a letter grade in my review, but the movie was bad enough that that won’t be necessary.

On another topic: Shittin’ nickels.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Spirits are high, who knows why.

Say, does anyone remember Sylvester Stallone? Were you holding your breath for another Rocky sequel? Well, that may never happen, but how about a Rocky reality show? Ol' Sly could be next Donald Trump. But he needs his own version of "You're fired!" Maybe "You're the disease and I'm the cure!" Just trying to help.

And speaking of the Donald, I must make a bit of a retraction. Having caught a couple more episodes of The Apprentice I gotta admit, the guy is good at this. I dunno if he was shaky at the start or I was just too hard on him because he's Donald Trump, but he's an excellent interrogator and browbeater. And the "You're fired" hand gesture is already a classic.

Things to remember:

1. This too shall pass, but not necessarily on my schedule.

2. What's done is done and there ain't a damn thing I can do about it now.

3. It could be, and will be, worse.

4. It could be, and will be, better.

5. Lions don't live in the jungle.

6. Everything happens for a reason.

7. Always keep a sock full of manure handy in case someone tells you, "Everything happens for a reason."

8. The famous person wears the same size waterskis as me. She's got three cars, as many years I've lived in this city. Her hair is blonde and mine is brown, they both start with a 'B'. But when the phone inside her ribcage rings, it's not for me.

9. One billion Red Chinese don't give a shit.

10. Repeat as needed.

It’s not often that I feel gratitude towards Dubya; as a matter of fact, it’s a safe bet this is a first. But I’ve been struggling with wrapping up my racing chapter, and he’s given me the perfect kicker in the form of his appeal to “NASCAR dads” at the Daytona 500 on Sunday. It never fails –NASCAR keeps trying to revamp its image and take on the mantle of “America’s sport,” but if you checked out the papers on Monday, all the pictures were the same – shirtless, beer-swilling rednecks! Yeeeee-ha! And the funniest part is, some of these guys are actually pissed at the Prez over all those pesky disappearing jobs in this country. Hope springs eternal.

Well, this is more funny peculiar than funny ha-ha, but it will have to do for now. It’s a game of some sort, obviously highly conceptual and way over my head. I did better the second time I played, and if I had bothered to take notes or even pay attention to what I was doing, I might have been able to figure it out. As it is, I don’t really know what constitutes a high score, how you win, or even if you win. Feel free to give me a hint.

Should be sleeping, not blogging, but it just ain't happening. I'm too simultaneously depressed and exhilarated to catch any Z's. Exhilarated because I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with this project that's been consuming most of my waking hours for who-knows-how-long. My deadline is two weeks away and I actually think I'm gonna make it. Today was huge - I cranked out a couple thousand words and crossed that invisible psychological barrier between "impossible" and "a big pain in the ass, but do-able." On the other hand, depressed over the personal stuff I can never go into detail about here. Still don't see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. Well - that's not entirely true; sometimes I do, sometimes not so much. Tonight is a big not-so-much. As much as I tried to assure myself that it's nothing but a devious plot concocted by Hallmark in collusion with FTD and various teddy bear manufacturers, Valentine's Day was rough. And what with this damn Internet, it's all too easy to figure out things ya don't really need to know, especially if you're a clever boy like me. But goddammit, I know I deserve better than this. I dunno what exactly - an apology? An explanation? Some sort of remorse or sympathy or even just an ounce of human feeling? Fuggedaboutit. I believe it was Confucious or possibly Clint Eastwood who said "Deserve's got nothing to do with it." If only I could bring myself to believe in karma, I'd probably be feeling a lot better about things.

Well, I'm sure this has been like reading the last words of Dutch Schultz to most everyone, but it makes sense to me, and that's all I'm trying to do. Make some sense of things. Sorry - tomorrow I'll post something funny.

That's the view across the street on Saturday morning. Proof that it does, in fact, snow in Austin. Of course it was all gone by noon, but wouldja look at that winter wonderland?

Hey, my buddy and sometimes editor Merle got a mention in the local rag's film column this week. Which is cool, since this guy usually only mentions the same three friends of his every week. But if you follow the column's link to Alternative Cinema, it won't really do much good, since they haven't updated the magazine's site since fall 2001. Anyway, I'll have a piece in the next issue and will of course announce it here at the appropriate time.

Highwaymen

Is this movie even playing anywhere outside Texas? There's like 8 reviews total on Rotten Tomatoes.

This just in from the Splitting Hairs Department: Stroker Ace is a better movie than Days of Thunder. I mean, they're pretty much the same movie, right down to the hero using the exact same maneuver to pass his blow-dried rival in the final lap, (and both movies spawned creepy celebrity marriages between star and leading lady) but Thunder is such a pompous piece of Bruckheimer bluster, it makes Stroker look more charming than it actually is. True, Thunder has the better racing footage, and Robert Duvall trumps Jim Nabors as the mechanic sidekick, but does it have Tom Cruise in a chicken suit? It does not. Plus, Thunder has that vacuum-packed Bruckheimer non-atmosphere, while Stroker is unabashedly redneck. Where are the shirtless, beer-swilling yahoos in Thunder? Feh.

(Sorry, this is all I got at the moment. My life is one long redneck movie these days. And me without a trucker cap.)

LINER NOTES: Mix CD Challenge and Round Robin, Version 1

The premise here is that there are 24 categories (as seen below). You must pick a song for each category, then compile a mix CD of the songs (they must be in order). I'm actually doing this with two different groups, so there will be a slightly different version for Group 2 (#6, for instance, will be different).

1) If you were making a soundtrack for your life so far – this song would have to be on it.

"Screenwriter's Blues," Soul Coughing If I had to pick one song to represent the L.A. years, this would be it. It is 5 a.m. and you are listening to Los Angeles.

2) A song from one of the CDs currently in your 1) car stereo 2) portable CD player 3) stereo

"Satan is my Motor," Cake I haven't listened to it in years, but for whatever reason decided to give Prolonging the Magic a spin this morning. So here it is.

3) A song from the first album, cassette, or CD (whichever was first or the oldest that you still have access to) that you purchased for yourself.

"11:59," Blondie Sadly, I no longer have access to Hall and Oates' Voices or Foreigner 4, so this track from Parallel Lines will have to do. (Sorry it's so much quieter than the rest of the disc - obviously a CD in need of remastering.)

4) A song without a word in its title. (i.e. numbers or acronyms)

"2:19," John Hammond See what I did there? From 11:59 to 2:19? Huh? Pretty good, huh? Of course, it's not the smoothest transition when you're actually listening to it, but give me a break. Anyway, this is Hammond's version of a Tom Waits song never released by the man himself.

5) A song from the year you were born (we’ll take written, recorded, or released)

"Odds and Ends #2," Bob Dylan and the Band. From the Genuine Basement Tapes bootleg, recorded in 1967.

6) A song with the name of someone in this music swap in it

"Lee Harvey," Asylum Street Spankers Does Lee Caulfield have an alibi for November 22, 1963? Who was that well-dressed Englishman on the grassy knoll anyway?

7) A song in a language other than English.

"Ina Mina Dika," Kishore Kumar Okay, I can't really defend this transition, but I don't think anyone will mind too much. A little Bollywood never hurts.

8) A song with a city or state/province name

"New York City," They Might Be Giants It was either this or "Washington DC" by the Magnetic Fields, but somehow this works for me here...

9) Say you're planning a multi-day road trip, this song could go on every mix you make for the trip.

"Yeah! Oh, Yeah!" The Magnetic Fields ...so let's go with the Magnetic Fields here. Such a happy little ditty, unless you actually listen to the lyrics. Good for any occasion.

10) A song by a local artist.

"I Don't Want to Go Out Tonight," Li'l Cap'n Travis A cautionary tale. This could happen to you.

11) A song with a color in the title

"Red Wine and Whiskey," Katrina and the Waves I like the way it complements the previous song. "We'd love to take you out tonight, but we haven't got a dime."

12) It’s 5 a.m., your alarm is going off, this song would still make you smile.

I ran out of room on the CD and never did come up with anything for this category. Come on, 5 a.m.? It would have to be the "Scott is Going to Find a Big Bag Full of Money Today" song to make me smile.

13) Either a cover you thought was an original or an original you thought was a cover

"Corona," Damnations This fulfills both obligations, sort of. When I first heard it, I thought it was an original. Then I didn't listen to the CD for a while, and when I did, I said, "Hey! It's the theme from 'Jackass'!" Which it is, but later still I found out it was a Minutemen song.

14) A song that is about a specific movie or book or at least mentions a specific movie or book.

"William Holden Caulfield," Too Much Joy About both a book (Catcher in the Rye) and a movie (Sunset Boulevard), which should get me bonus points, plus the title contains the names of two other participants in this round robin. I say I win.

15) WILDCARD

"Chief Wampum's Trading Post," Victor Banana From the Velvet Glove Cast in Iron soundtrack. It's true.

16) A song that has reached number one on a Billboard chart (state which chart and when).

"Convoy," CW McCall Number one on the Billboard pop and country charts in January 1976. You knew I had to do it.

17) It’s a little bit country/it’s a little bit rock and roll – this song doesn’t fit a category as far as you’re concerned.

"Hick Hop," Wammo I guess it does fit the category of hillbilly rap, but that's a narrow field as far as I know. Seems an appropriate choice, all things considered. (Listen close towards the end.)

18) I hate the artist, but I love the song.

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)," Kenny Rogers & The First Edition This was a tough one, since I don't generally collect music by artists I hate. And I can't really summon any white-hot hatred for Kenny Rogers, but this song is the only one I'd listen to voluntarily. (Okay, maybe "The Gambler" if it came on the radio.) Due to time constraints, I left this off the final mix. If you really need it, it's on The Big Lebowski soundtrack.

19) Wha? If anyone can tell me what this song is about, give me a call.

"Walking the Cow," Kathy McCarty Cover of a Daniel Johnston song about something or other. I detect some vague yearning for times gone by, but...walking the cow? What? Is that some kind of yo-yo trick I never heard of?

20) Guilty Pleasure

"Goodbye, Earl," Dixie Chicks I'm not sure exactly how guilty I should feel about this one, but it is a mainstream contemporary country song about spousal murder, so I figure there should be some guilt attached. Sure is catchy, though.

21) TV theme song

"Journey of the Sorcerer," The Eagles I warned you! Actually, I didn't know this was the Eagles for a long time, and it doesn't sound like them at all to me. It's the theme from the radio and TV series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

22) An unrequited love song

"SOS," The Meat Purveyors Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart of late, so I'll go with a track from my current favorite wallow, All Relationships Are Doomed to Fail. And it's an ABBA cover to boot!

23) A song you love just for the title

"Piss Up a Rope," Ween Okay, not just for the title, but you gotta admit, it's succinct.

24) Stump the group

"Toolshed," Grand Moff Tarkin GMF was an L.A. band of approximately '93-'95 vintage, made up of my friends Tim, Pete, Bebe and Chris. This one is the perfect closer.

My big accomplishment this weekend, besides managing to sit through both Country Cuzzins and The Pigkeeper’s Daughter: moving a new queen-size bed into my bedroom. Well, not new exactly; my landlady was getting rid of it for reasons unknown to me and I took it off her hands. This task first involved manhandling my old bed out of the room and into the spare room, which I guess can now officially be considered the guest room. My phantom roommate will no doubt be pleased.

One problem with the new bed: it’s a little high for my poor doggie. He used to be able to make a running jump onto the bed, but this one’s a bit tougher. So I attempted to do some dog training yesterday. I was trying to explain the method by which he could first jump up onto a box at the foot of the bed, then make the transition to the bed itself. This was not as easy as I'd imagined. I figured I’d show him once and he’d get the hang of it, as he is a smart little guy. He didn’t seem too impressed with my demonstration, though. I thought I might have to cover the box in a tasty meat sauce or something, but I think he had his own plan already in mind, because later in the day he managed to get up there on his own.

Wasn’t that fascinating? Maybe tonight I’ll do the dishes and write about that.

It's Hick Chicks weekend here on Moonshine Mountain. On tap: a couple of Russ Meyers (Mudhoney and Up), a fistful of Claudia Jennings (Gator Bait, Great Texas Dynamite Chase, Moonshine Country Express and her final film [directed by David Cronenberg!], Fast Company), and a pair of Harry Novak softcore barnyard epics (Country Cuzzins and The Pigkeeper's Daughter). What a treat renting those last two. Good thing the cute chick wasn't working the counter or I woulda done a 180 right back out the door.

Oh, and the immortal Shanty Tramp.

Okay that creepy Sopranos poster is now up on the official site. Also, this juicy new video promo.

Poor Rudy! It was a tearjerker of a Survivor last night, with the 75-year-old Navy Seal getting the heave-ho from his tribe. I guess you can’t really blame ‘em, but I’m bummed nonetheless. At least he was Rudy to the end. “Dey better watch out fer me, I got friends! Sleep with one eye open! I know 17 ways to kill ya with my fingernail!”

For longtime fans, it’s interesting to see how the new dynamics change the characters. Ethan pretty much got a free ride in Africa, and consequently came off as a dull whitebread nice guy. Now he’s on the hot seat from the start, and he’s much more interesting – he’s got a nasty streak after all. Meanwhile, if you hadn’t seen the Outback season you might be wondering why Jerri was so hated at the time.

Fortunately, Richard Hatch is forever Rich. Whatever they’re paying the poor bastard who has to blur his naughty bits every week, it isn’t enough.

More Hitchhiker's Guide casting. I don't remember if I mentioned the somewhat surprising choice of Mos Def as Ford Prefect, but consider it mentioned now. And looks like they've found their Zaphod Beeblebrox, too.

Awright, no one wants to read anymore of my bitching today, least of all me. Let’s make it a lazy links day:

ER to excise 80-year-old woman’s breast. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I mean they’re editing out a shot in which some octogenarian booby is seen because of the Janet Jackson controversy. This may be the single stupidest thing to come out of the whole ridiculous event, but it’s hard to say since there are so many to choose from.

I’m a few days late with this one, but my imaginary Internet friend Leonard Pierce had a piece in McSweeney’s a couple days ago. It is to laugh, especially if you like mob humor, and you know I do.

Speaking of which, here’s the Bada Bing Blog. It seems to be mostly concerned with other appearances by the Sopranos actors, but if you’re consumed with the minutiae of Tony and the gang and their upcoming return, as I am, it’s a good link to have. It led me to discovered some stuff on the HBO site, such as the new Carmela-centric video promo and the titles of the first four new episodes: Two Tonys, Rat Pack, Where’s Johnny and All Happy Families. It’s a mere 31 days until season five begins, dontcha know.

I'm sure everyone's been on the edge their seat waiting for the resolution of the key saga, but I'm afraid it's not terribly exciting. I took my broken key to a bona fide locksmith this morning and got two new keys cut, one of which went into my wallet forever and ever or until the next time I do something stupid. Then I called a cab and got a ride back to the HEB parking lot where my trusty steed still awaited my return. Car started, lesson learned, end of irritating incident.

Other irritations remain that are not so readily repaired. But we do what we can here on Moonshine Mountain.

So I do my grocery shopping and I put my groceries in the car and then I get in the car and prepare to start the car but I cannot start the car because it seems my key is snapped in half. But since I got the hatchback open, I know the rest of the key can't be far away. And indeed, I find it. I call a friend to come get me, then walk over to the automotive place, but they don't make keys. They direct me across the highway to the Fiesta Mart, but they don't make car keys, only house keys. They direct me to the 99 Cent store, where a woman is buying approximately one gross each of 43 different kinds of candy. Eventually she's done and I explain my predicament to the man and he does make a valiant effort to make a new key from the two halves of key, but the man is clearly not a professional locksmith, he's a guy who works in a 99 Cent store. So we pile the groceries into my friend's car and he brings me here and now I'm about to turn the house upside down looking for the spare key I vaguely remember having at some point years ago.

I was already in a shitty mood today, but now I'm just irritated with myself. I could easily have been carrying the spare key in my wallet all this time. But no.

Dammit, now I’m in a funk again, and it’s the worst possible timing. I should be in a white-knuckle sweat about my deadline, which is less than four weeks away. I’ve still got a good chunk of work to do, but for some reason I have this confidence that I’m going to easily finish on time, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And now here I am again, obsessing about things I don’t understand and can do nothing about when I should just be burrowing into the work and getting it done.

Seems to me now like my good mood of the past couple weeks was basically conjured out of thin air. But aren’t they all? I just gotta batten down the hatches, put the distractions out of mind and get this damn book done. Easier said than done, of course.

I did manage to get through that batch of Ron Ormond’s Christploitation movies. It is some of the craziest shit I’ve ever seen. Ed Wood’s got nothing on this guy.

Sigh. Sometimes the Site Meter is not my friend. Oh well, can't be in good mood every day.

My dog seems to be developing a sock habit. Lately I've been finding chewed socks in the living room, and just now I caught him with three of my dirty socks. What is this all about? Is there some vitamin deficiency that might account for this? I dunno, the boy has enough neurotic habits already - he has to spin around like a top before he can take a dump, for example. (No offense to anyone reading this who might have the same ritual.) I don't think he should be eating my socks.

Okay, so my Survivor predictions were a little off. Well, except my comment about the Rudy and Rupert alliance – how ‘bout that? I’ve got a sentimental spot for Rudy, but I gotta say, at this point I’m rooting for Richard Hatch. Maybe not to win the whole thing, but I don’t want him deposed too soon. As Shii Ann said, what fun would that be? Favorite line of the night – Boston Rob on his teammates: “I didn’t know I was gonna be on the buffoon tribe again.”