I'm really writing this on 9/8, but let's just pretend shall we?

Today is Jim's birthday so I am giving him a birthday kiss. Hubba hubba! His real birthday present was a Diamond Rio Portable MP3 Player, with which he seems very pleased. Also, I got him a Carvel ice cream cake. And we went to see his favorite band, Jethro Tull, in concert. Hopefully he will write a review of the concert soon, but let's just say that he had misgivings going in, and was pleasantly surprised at how good the concert was. So was I.

I haven't written in a while, so I'm not sure where to start. Jim and I went to see 13th Warrior on Friday night, or as I like to call it "the Poor Man's Braveheart". It's actually an adaptation of Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead", which is itself an adaptation of Beowulf. Anyway, the movie has been sitting on the shelf for some time, and I can see why. It looks like it may have once been a cohesive story (I haven't read Crichton's book, so I can't compare) but has been chopped into bits. There are subplots that go nowhere and implausibilities and historical inaccuracies abound. That said, lots of people get their heads chopped off or get killed in other gross ways. So if you like that sort of thing, it could be a rental.

We were wandering around the mall waiting for the movie to start and went into Electronics Boutique so that Jim could buy a game. They had a new Sega Dreamcast machine set up, so we played a fighting game. And I won! I am really bad at fighting games, and Jim is pretty good, and I never beat him. But I did! I thought we were the only people in the store besides the guy behind the counter, so I did a little dance and said "Winnah! And still champeeeeen!". Then I noticed that there were other customers in the store, and they were looking at me strangely. Oh well.

Saturday, all day we played Monster Rancher 2 pretty much. I did a little reading for school. Monster Rancher 2 is a Pokemon style game for the Playstation, meaning you raise monsters and then fight them in tournaments. It's strangely addictive, and I spent hours raising my little Arch Deluxe (what I named my monster). The way you generate new monsters is through any CD - you stick it in your Playstation and it generates a monster somehow. Some CDs generate rare monsters, like Bob Marley: Legend makes something called a Raggae [sic] Plant. Or if you make a monster using the game Dead or Alive (by the same publisher), your monster looks like one of the characters from that game. Anyway, it's pretty interesting. It's the first time in a while that I have gotten into a Playstation game, at least until Final Fantasy VIII comes out.

Saturday night we went to see supergush at Coleman's. It was good to see them play again - it's been a long time. However, it soon got very crowded and Jim's allergies were acting up, so we left after the second set. The boys sounded good though. I'm excited for their new CD to come out.

Sunday we went over to Jim's parents' house and played Hearts. I won all 3 games! This never happens, so I was pretty excited. In fact, I did a little dance and yelled out "Winnah! And still champeeeeen!"

Weekend to be continued tomorrow.

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Cybill Shepard for President? I'm going to vote no right now.

The Dreamcast comes out on 9/9/99 - same day as the MTV Video Music Awards. I am personally more excited about the latter.

Speaking of the Video Music Awards, Guns 'n' Roses is supposed to debut a new song during them. Does anyone really care anymore?

I don't really have any desire to GO to Burning Man, but I like reading about it.

I kind of like soundtracks, when they are more than just a re-release of songs you've already heard. Like Friends Again. Bad title, though.

Someone recognizes Andy Richter, who is leaving Conan early next year.

I agree mostly with this article about how to improve some TV shows for the new season.

Alec Guiness needs to lighten up. No one ever claimed Star Wars was Shakespeare. Actually, someone probably has, but that person was wrong.