i've now been getting shit from all sides (er… well, from brian and nathan, anyway) to get off my ass and post. so here goes…

well the french project is done. i got all the lessons digitized, encoded, and burned to a disc, so now i can listen to it at work without having to drag my cassette player with me everywhere. at this point, i've just worked it into a playlist, set it on random and let it go. so i get my favorite music with french language instruction sprinkled in. i'd thought about trying to run two different music players… one for my music and the other for the language, and trying to get music & french at the same time, but i really don't think my poor machine at work can handle it. especially considering the usual heavy load it's working under. ah well, i think the current arrangement works well enough. now i just need to get off my ass and actually do the damned exercises the way they're supposed to be done, i.e. with concentration and determination. the whole "subliminal learning" thing doesn't really seem to have had any major impact on me.

we (that is, the band) have been playing around with our new recorder the last couple practices, and even the very first "practice" recording is 10,000 times better than what we achieved with that crappy old Tascam 4-track. once we get the hang of tracking out and mixing down songs, i think we'll have some damn good results. keep your eyes here, as we get good recordings, i'll probably upload a couple and link 'em so you guys can give me some feedback. in other band news, i think i may have a professional web designer creating a design for the new band site. my co-worker, proprietor of arteye.com, and all-around kick ass graphic designer Jason has offered to create something for us. quite frankly, i'm so excited i could just shit myself… but i'll try not to.

have you been watching enterprise? no? well, you should be. the new Trek is damned good. i'll be the first to admit that Jolene is very hot. but Jolene is only part, and a small part at that, that makes this show watchable. is it Trek? yes. is it good Trek? hell yes. is it good TV? hell fuckin yes. i can't stand 90% of what's on TV right now, and for about the past 3 years or so, i've hardly watched any tv, Trek included. well, this show has given me a new appreciation for the franchise. (and the fact that Paul watches DS9 like it's going out of style doesn't hurt either)
for a first season show, and a new cast of low-profile actors, this show really fuckin rocks. i would have to say this is probably the best, most consistently well-acted and well-written first season of any i've ever watched. these people have come to grips with their characters remarkably quickly, and there have been some great character development episodes that allowed them to do so. the most notable characters (and actors) thus far, in my opinion, are the doctor (dr. phlox), tucker (the engineer), and reed (the armory officer). of course, Scott Bakula is really good, the only reason he's not on my list is primarily because of the occasionally overly dramatic way he plays his character. he's gotten much better since the first episode, he's definitely becoming more comfortable with the character, but still at times his delivery of lines sounds more like he's reading them than speaking them "naturally." it sometimes feels too much like he's acting the part, not that he is that character.
to sum up this little geek fest here… if you're a Trek fan, you have to watch Enterprise–it's vying for the title of best all-around series in the franchise. if you're not a Trek fan, but you are a sci-fi fan, you should watch the show. if you're not a sci-fi fan at all, but you like good stories & characters (90210 watchers need not apply), then you really should check out at least an episode or two. and now's a good time too! there's a huge buzz surrounding next week's episode. all the actors involved are raving about it, fans are giddy with anticipation (mostly because of the actor's comments, i'm sure), and the episode preview did look very promising. (though, now that i'm thinking about it, i really hope this isn't the long rumored "Malcolm Comes Out of the Closet" episode…)

ok. i think that's enough for one post. i really need to get some better blogging habits… anybody out there have any to spare?