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I broke down and bought Guitar Hero II. I'm well on my way to a Zumaya-esque injury.

Between gifts, visits to two used stores over the holidays, and picking at the bones of Tower Records before it closed, we have about 40 CDs sitting around waiting for their debut spins.

My mixed team this year earned a berth in our club's biannual mixed bonspiel. Tired of getting passed around by oldsters, Andrea and I decided to curl with a rookie couple this year, and it paid off. We went 3-2 in our league, and handed the champs their only loss.

And Movie Log 2007 #2: Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price - I'm the choir here, but it was nice (?) to see the problem addressed from so many angles: if you're anti-union but also anti-corporate welfare, all the subsidies WM soaks towns for may disturb you. Or the way the company was using government programs as its healthcare plan. The amateurish production quality was noticeable; in particular, the music was always mixed too loud (which led to unintentional comedy when a Springsteen song popped up: Kirsti: "I used to be a successful small-town singer/songwriter until Bruce Springsteen came to town and drove me out of business..."). In general, the pseudo-word "Mart" in any place name indicates seediness to me.

Some friends of mine are in a band, and on Jan. 1 they launched a new venture, TheSongofTheDay.com. Which is just what it says it is. The first two songs are scene-setters, the second one being a real dud IMO, but the third finds its legs.

Deciding I'd help them out a bit, I sent a note about the site to a pal at Gapers Block. To date GB has posted nothing about TSotD.com. But Andrew did post about a Chicago-area guy who just finished his own song-a-day project in 2006, and was featured on the local NPR station. I advised the Beatnik Turtle folks that in order to get proper GB love, one of them needs to get associated with either WBEZ or Coudal Partners, or start crafting.

Movie Log 2007: #1
Curse of the Golden Flower - Our New Year's Day movie was the new Zhang Yimou epic. Of course it was lush, colorful, well-acted by beautiful people, and cinematically flawless. It also rankled politically. CoGF was critical of the ruling classes, and whims and petty grievances which sent thousands of pawns to their deaths. Something which should be criticized, to be sure -- but I couldn't reconcile that with Zhang's earlier Hero and its blatant nationalist (and slightly less blatant pro-Communist) messsage. Troubling, but worth seeing on a big screen.

Movie Log 2006: #108-110
yeah, I'm backdating...
The Prestige - Kirsti didn't care for this much, but I found it very engaging. Does Ricky Jay need to show up in every magic/con man offering?
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - I enjoyed this a lot, but was still disappointed. It came about two years late, for one thing.
Cars - Admittedly much of the problem here had to do with the dying television I watched it on: the brightness kept fading in and out. Still, it was pretty clear that this was the weakest Pixar feature.

the start of a new tradition?

We forgot to bring one bag with us to MN. Unfortunately this bag contained nearly all of my gifts to Kirsti, as well as something I picked up for her on Mom's request. So yesterday I boxed and wrapped some random household items and attached notes describing the actual presents. I think this has a lot of potential. It is silly, of course, for us to buy each other gifts at home, travel 400 miles with them, wrap them, unwrap them, and then take them 400 miles back home. Plus, the joy of watching my beloved open a box containing three cans of lawnmower oil is going to be a Christmas sight that's sure to melt the heart of even the Grinchiest Grinch.

Is there a sticker for older listeners?
My grandma is 88 and is more or less in good health for her age. She really likes Johnny Cash. So in finishing up my shopping today I got her his last album, American V: A Hundred Highways. As this was a used copy, I gave it a listen myself. I'm glad I did because three songs in, I'm considering getting her something else. The first track is a Kris Kristofferson cover whose first lines are:

Lord, help me walk
Another mile, just one more mile
I'm tired of walkin' alone

Then later on there's "Down on the 309," the last song Cash ever wrote. It's about taking the pre-emptive measure of getting placed on that last train...

Take me to the depot, put me to bed
Blow an electric fan on my gnarly ol' head
Everybody take a look, see, I'm doin' fine
Then load my box on the 309

Man. Grandma's tough as hell; she still lives at home and works at her town library. Still, I don't know if she needs an album's worth of reminders of mortality from the Man in Black. I mean, I'm pretty healthy and I was getting a little depressed. I'll probably stick with this present, but she can't have so much as a cold when listening to it.

Movie Log 2006 #101-107
I have nothing to say about this batch. Rules of Attraction was the worst of the bunch; it happened to be on IFC when we were at the in-laws'.
The Last Detail
The Year of the Yao
V for Vendetta
The Rules of Attraction
You Can't Take It With You
49 Up
MST3K: Overdrawn at the Memory Bank