I fell asleep very early last night, probably before 11pm. I got up at some point after that to turn off the computer, television and lights but must have done that in a near-sleepwalking state. I had some really weird dreams too. Like the one where, in the dream, I discovered that the way I had wrapped burritos my entire life was dead wrong, and was shown the “authentic” way to wrap a burrito. Awake, I see that this method was completely bogus, but in the dream it was a revelation.

I found the coolest thing ever in the attic today. My firstborn will be wearing this on halloween whether he/she likes it or not.

This weekend my father and I were in the backyard thawing a pipe when we decided to take a closer look at the crater.. The ground was frozen solid, so I felt a bit more comfortable getting in there a bit closer. Later that day, came over to do some backyard spelunking with me. I shot a bit of super-shakycam video.

As for our analysis: There is man-made structure deep down in the cavities of the collapse, so it is pretty clear that this crater wasn’t a “natural” event. As you can sort of see in the video, there are several vertical “walls” which outlined some kind of chamber. What kind of chamber, exactly, however was indeterminate. We tried moving some rocks and dirt to get a better look, but the ground was frozen solid. Perhaps after the thaw we will revisit the crater and see if we can discern any more information about it.

The video is available at sean-graham.com as well as CSH, so choose whichever is faster for you. If you don’t have Quicktime installed, I recommend VideoLAN Client.

Update: I also added an image to the gallery of the wood down in one of the cavities. It was a very thin wood, and you can see some veneer peeling off. My guess is that it was some kind of panelling, or some very thin plywood.

“Thank you for your interest in a career with Red Hat, Inc. At this time, we will not be taking the interview process to the next step. We will keep your resume on file for future reference. Again, thank you for your time and interest. "

I did a bunch of chores around the house today, like bringing down the outside christmas decorations, which included getting up on the roof to take down the light-up bear. The bear has been up on the roof year-round for like 3 years or so (only lit-up during xmas, tho), which drove me crazy, cuz that’s pretty ghetto. But this year the bulb finally burned out, so I had an excuse to go up and take it down for the year. Next year I will put it up with a new bulb.

called me early tonight to see if I wanted to go to the Blue Coyote with him, Johnny, and Calmie later on. I told him to call me when plans were a bit more firm, and when he did call I was on the phone with . I told him to give me a little while to finish up that conversation, which he did. The Blue Coyote sucked ass. First of all, it was Karoake night, which is god-awful. They had this salsa that tasted like marinara sauce, and they had SEASONED FRIES! A complete abomination, and I don’t think I will be going back, but definitely not on karaoke night. We didn’t stay long and retreated to Johnny’s to hang out and eat ice cream.

I am sitting down with a nice cup of Earl Grey, which is probably not the best nighttime drink, but it is so GOD-DAMNED COLD outside that I need a warm-up drink.

I’ve been playing alot of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga on the Gameboy (Advance|Player) lately. The second RPG in less than 3 months, should I be scared? I never thought I would fall into the land of hit points again, but apparently I have been sucked back in.

Art & Joe woke me up pretty early today, hanging drywall, which is a pretty noisy operation. I actually left the house to go to the supermarket cuz we were out of soda, which was refreshing. I gave Maude a drink too, because she was getting pretty dry.

Not Fooling Anybody is a photo-archive of storefronts that have been so cheaply converted from one business to another that you can tell, for instance, that this Chinese Restaurant used to be a Pizza Hut. (via boingboing)

Someone commented on how many movies I put in the previous post. I decided to try and list all of the movies I saw this year, both in the theater and on TV (dvd, hbo, etc.). I pulled this list from memory, from email archives, and by stepping through every post I made to LJ in the past year. I am going to try and keep a more accurate list for 2004. I figure if I start now I can have a pretty accurate model of what I see this year.

• Most surprising film of the year: Rivers and Tides
• I really expected this one to be a complete snoozer, but it was so beautiful I watched most of it with my jaw dropped.
• Most disappointing film: Spider
• I was disillusioned with Cronenberg after eXistenZ, but this film was just ho-hum.
• Saddest film: Lost in La Mancha
• I love Terry Gilliam and it is so sad to see his creation squashed by various forces. This documentary does a great job of putting you in Gilliam’s head.
• Most surprising B-movie (non-horror): Poolhall Junkies
• Sure, it’s a cheesy mix of Rounders and The Color of Money, but a campy Christopher Walken performance makes the film a must-rent
• Most surprising B-movie (horror): House of 1000 Corpses
• Hey, I have to admit that I didn’t give Rob Zombie a fair shake. I expected him to pooch it and he completely delivered.
• Best Christopher Guest Movies: A Mighty Wind and Spellbound
• Sure, Spellbound might not have ACTUALLY been directed by Christopher Guest, and it’s not a mockumentary, but that doesn’t change the fact that it very well COULD be.
• Best coming-of-age film: Whale Rider
• You just gotta love those Maori!
• Best Use of Digital Video: 28 Days Later
• DV gave this film the immediacy of a nightly news report, and contributed to the overall spooky nature of this film.
• Best Use of Johnny Depp: Pirates of the Caribbean
• Come on, he rocked.
• Film which made me feel guilty for not surfing: Step Into Liquid
• I never got into Endless Summer, but Step Into Liquid is a masterpiece and makes a part of me wish I grew up in California.
• Best Horror Film: Freddy vs. Jason
• This is definitely a biased category for me, but fuck it.
• Best use of Bill Murray in ages: Lost in Translation
• I didn’t see Charlie’s Angels 2 because Bill Murray wasn’t in it.
• Best Kids Movie That Adults Should See: School of Rock
• The people behind School of Rock took a formula that has been done over and over and over again and turned it into something fresh.
• Best referential homage-fest: Kill Bill Vol. 1
• Quentin Tarantino did an amazing job of distilling his thousands of sources and inspiration down into a hip, fun, exciting movie. I can’t wait to see the second half.
• Best Reissue: Alien: Director’s Cut
• It was tough picking between Alien and Scarface, but really, Alien is the scariest movie ever made, and doesn’t feel dated one bit. Scarface is just as amazing, but I am simply more attached to Alien.
• Best completion of a Trilogy: Return of the King
• Peter Jackson has made some of my favorite films (Bad Taste, Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles…). When I heard he was going to be tackling LotR, I really didn’t think he was up to the task. He showed me.
• Worst completition of a Trilogy: Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions
• I liked the second film, and enjoyed the third film, but Corinna summed it up perfectly when she said that if they felt the need to make a sequel they should have combined these two films into one. I love the first film, but the two sequels released this year were a disappointment (if not still enjoyable).
• Worst film of the year: Gerry and Friday Night (tie)
• I just can’t pick. Both of these films are complete wastes of time.

Us kids took my parents out to celebrate their 31st wedding anniversary last night, and I had a bit to drink. Over dinner, the subject of my great-grandfather’s Cow Coat came up. See, apparently back in the day my great-grandfather and a friend acquired a cow, somehow, and decided to have coats made from the Cow’s hide. But instead of leather, they had Cow Fur coats made. And not just any coat, but a full length trench (looking at the pictures, I guess it isn’t quite a trench. It was much more trench-like when I was 8). When we got home, I decided to put the coat on, and we made Aimee put it on. Don’t worry, pictures were taken.

p.s. I am not pro-fur, or anything like that, so don’t try jumping down my throat for it.