neurological dryer lint

free montgomery inn tonight, mmmmmmm. they had crab cakes - which are excellent, i've never had an actual full one and it was tasty.

wired news has an interview with Rep. Rick Boucher (D, VA) - a politician that actually has problems with the entertainment industry's growing control over legislation (and legislators). it's refreshing that a government representative is paying attention, and is willing to fight the lobbyists and protect the consumers. he hits the idea of the industry's stubborn clinging to a medium that's quickly becoming obsolete - and describes it in a way that's very approachable and understandable to the non-geek.

i started on a couple of books today. i'd heard much babble over steven johnson's everything bad is good for you, where he counters the 'pop culture is making people dumber' idea with a fascinating claim that entertainment has gotten more sophisticated and is causing us to demand more and more complex brain-food in our entertainment media (music, movies, video games, tv, etc).

i'm only a little ways in - he's begun with the idea that people who knock video games as a carnal, violent, aggressive flashing-light-fest (1) are biased against 'new' media because they're used to 'old' media (books and black and white TV, essentially) and that (2) people generalize these types of statements without having any real experience. i.e. people who knock video games have only seen some screenshots of GTA - and their only hands-on experience with 'video games' is solitaire for windows. right now he's trying to explain what it's like to be a gamer to non-gamers.

it's very interesting. i'm curious to see how he'll explain the de-evolution of TV to 90% lowest-common-denominator primal-urge fodder and 10% semi-intelligent unoriginal storytelling. i'm not sure how much he's really focusing on content vs.the actual way we experience entertainment, i.e. McLuhan's "the media is the message" angle.

anyway. also picked up a funny little handbook called how to iron your own damn shirt. it's got handy sections like "how to wait patiently for her to finish getting ready" and "how to enjoy a chick flick". and the crucial "how to stop snoring". i need all the help i can get.

i'm writing this from a ubuntu linux liveCD that b hooked me up with. could this be the magical desktop linux distro that just works? we shall see.

brooke's wedding is in two days. i'm a bit nervous about announcing and running the recorded music - it's not super complicated but i always feel like i'll find ways to mess things up. i stopped by to see the man tonight - i hope i'm as calm as he is two days beforehand...

listening to: glen phillips - easier