2/18/05 5:45 AM: "If you have any understanding of hip hop, you realize it's the same thing as comic books. It's a bunch of guys into power fantasies about characters with outrageous names." -- Reggie Hudlin

Busy. Makes me quite a "bloser" for not keeping the 'blog updated, but oh well. Onwards.

THE FAIRER SEX: So I'm not gonna give you any specifics about my love life, because I don't see the profit in it (although I do so love writing/talking about it, and have let some stuff slip on a "secret" blog I have somewhere in the world). I'm very busy and very happy in this regard (which of course is bad news for somebody, since I'm irredeemably evil) so that's that. Oh, the photo here is included just because it's cool -- even average looking girls are hot when they kiss each other.

MANUSCRIPT: I'm so freaking late. My dawg Dana edited The Crown's first book and seven chapters of the second, and my dawg Chinedum came back to life like Soul II Soul, chipping in with the foreword. I just gotta go through it all, one last time, and start firing it off to the publisher. Which I haven't done because I've been all about the females for a minute and all about sleeping the rest of the time. I don't think I'm depressed, I'm just enjoying my rest more than I need to right now. Which isn't helped by ...

MUSIC TO DRIVE BY: ... the fact that Cowboy Jon sold me his copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for fifteen bucks (gotta remember to update my gift list). I was worried, reading the strategy guide (which he also sold me for fifteen bucks) that the game would be dull. I was so wrong. I drove down a near-perfect replica of Santa Monica pier and blew up a bunch of people. The freeways on the game are spectacular. I barely even need to cheat -- I'm a natural. As I feared, it's eating into my productive time, but less than it could. I have that under control ... for now.

WAIT A MINUTE, MISTER POSTMAN: SBC DSL decides to block "port 25" and close SMTP access to any server they don't own. That means my outgoing mail (CBR and my own Operative.net stuff) has been out of commission for ... going on 2 days now. I filled out a form and requested this be lifted, but they're taking their own sweet time. I'm deeply displeased, and debating whether my laziness in switching DSL carries is warranted.

CHEMISTRY: Why is Aqua Teen Hunger Force such a masterpiece of absurdist character interplay? Why is Joe Kelly's grim angel of death in Space Ghost so eerily effective? Why haven't I written the rest of "Inscrutable" and "The Pie Song" so I can have a lot to do when I go to the recording studio? Why is the space key on my keyboard starting to stick? Why does the 550 PowerBook (now used exclusively for iPod management) still so &$#@ slow to start up, even running OS 10.3.8? Why am I still thinking about auditioning for the INXS reality show Rock Star knowing that nothing good ever happens to Black people on reality shows?

COMPETITOR: The three-month contest at my job drones on, god help me, but I gotta admit the crowds know how to tip. I qualified in a much shorter contest for a Vegas trip at the San Franciscan, just because, singing "Wherever You Will Go" by the Calling, which works well in smaller rooms. I'm debating whether "The Scientist" (new "stay in love" 3.0 mix) is right for the finals or something flashier. I believe my chances in that contest are good if I put on a really good show and sing well, but time, as always, will tell.

I'd love to do more "done in one" contests, where I show up, compete and know everything that night. Maybe a $50 prize. Qualifying, returning weeks later for a finals ... blah. Too much drama for me. I much prefer KJing, and the money is more consistent.

UH OH, IT'S MAGIC: Constantine hits theatres today. I reviewed it for CBR. It's a 6.5. out of 10, but I expect modern horror film fans will enjoy it. It's really gorgeous visually, if that helps.

If you know me and hang around me, ask me offline about why the word "Constantine" is extra funny to me, right now. K-tunk.

OUTRO: I'd love to go on about more -- being bothered with persistent images of exes from the 605 to Western and 42nd, how late I am on my Jamar Nicholas project, trying to scam a new hosting gig near my house, and so on -- but I have a long weekend ahead of me (and Valentine's was a grueling experience as well), so you'll just have to wait for more blog ... but know I am out there, doing wrong, torturing retarded children for my own amusement and chanting down the relative Babylon (since, well, Babylon was technically a Black city ... never mind). Hasta.

"The way I've lived my life, I've always believed homicide was what God has planned for me." -- Alan Shore, "Boston Legal"