Come this past Monday morning, still laid up at home with a nasty cold, i found that Tivo had recorded The Animatrix on the Cartoon Network on Halloween night. Just as i'd instructed it to do ten days earlier, thankfully Tivo has a better memory than i do. The cutely titled film is a collection of nine animated shorts revolving around the world depicted by the brothers Wachowski in the Matrix movies. I still think those flicks are classic sci-fi, although Revolutions spent entirely too much time in Zion and not nearly enough time in the Matrix. Anyhow, like their source material, the components of the Animatrix have their ups and downs. The two part "Second Renaissance" gives an interesting background of the history of human-machine relations that led to the cataclysmic war. "Kid's Story" is a fairly ho hum account of a teenager's realization of the Matrix, made enthralling by the sketchy, art book animation style. However, there's also duds like "Beyond", a boring haunted house-type yarn about a house where the Matrix is faulty, and the failed Matrix detective story, aptly titled "Detective Story". But on the whole a nifty slice of anime and some interesting thoughts on the Matrix mythology.

And The Venture Brothers just keeps getting better. When i saw "Tag Sale - You're It!" a few weeks ago i'd found my new favorite episode ... supervillains attending Dr. Venture's yard sale to get discount laser death rays is priceless. Not to mention the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend debating the sexuality of that guy from Depeche Mode. The next week i had a new favorite in "Past Tense", but the week after it was back to the hilarious Monarch and his breakup with his second in command Dr. Girlfriend. The references in this show are fantastic, particularly in the latter episode where the Monarch is thumbing through a tell-all biography written without his knowledge by one of his henchmen: "Why, there's even pictures! Here's one of me at Danceteria making out with Stiv Bators and Lydia Lunch!". You go, Cartoon Network. And keep the Family Guy coming too.

And i thought "American Idiot" was bad ... the new Green Day single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" makes it look like Hotel F@$#ing California. How many different ways can Billy Joe say he's alone? Let's see ...

1. "I walk a lonely road" ... check.
2. "... but it's home and i walk alone" ... got it, you're alone.
3. "... i walk this empty street" ... yes, it's empty! You're alone!
4. "... my shadow's the only one that walks beside me" ... so ... that would make you ... alone?
5. "... till then i'll walk alone" ... grrrr.
6. ... oh, f@$# it.

As if that's not bad enough, i think he rips off about eight different Johnny Cash songs over the course of three minutes. Ack.

I'm basically resigned now to the fact that we've got to sit through another four years of Bu**sh**. Better kiss abortion goodbye since in all likelihood Dubya will get to appoint between two and four Ashcroft-esque religious nutjobs to the Supreme Court. And don't bank on gay rights advancing in this country anytime in the near future. Also, might want to visit a national park soon ... might be your last chance to see one free of mining operations. And add foreign travel to your to-do list, before the rest of the world starts the "I hate Americans" club. Bad news people, bad news.

On to brighter subjects ... as you may have surmised since the title of house photo album has changed from "Our new house (hopefully)" to "Our new house", we got the house. We closed escrow last Friday, and our realtor Joe dropped the keys off with me while i suffered with a sinus infection. The sellers will live there until the end of November, so we've got a month to say goodbye to the San Mateo Village. I'll miss it here ... i'll always remember walking Cobi around the neighborhood on Saturday mornings and holding the first SMFA Cup.

Speaking of video games, the new FIFA 2005 is good, but it hasn't been able to hold my attention since Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came out. Rockstar has hit another one out of the park. Detractors will point to the still blocky graphics, pop up, and less than brilliant AI, but they can't claim that it's not a totally immersive experience. San Andreas covers an unbelievable area and includes reasonable representations of Los Angeles (ie, Los Santos), San Francisco (ie, San Fierro), and Las Venturas (ie, Las Vegas). And each is separated by an expanse of wilderness pockmarked by a few small towns, so that getting from one city to another involves a lengthy drive through the country. I've got my banger outfitted in blonde cornrows, gold chains, and Timberlands, always ready to throw down with his SMG should a few Ballas find themselves in the wrong neighborhood. Booyakasha. God knows what sort of video game time-sharing i'm going to have to put in place when Halo 2 comes out next week.

Chelsea put the embarassing loss to the Mancs behind them, stringing together back to back four goal performances in the Premiership against Blackburn and West Brom (the cellar dwellers, but four goals is four goals), as well as back to back wins in the Champions League giving us a perfect four for four start to our European campaign. Better yet, Arjen Robben has returned from his ankle injury to put in several glittering performances, validating his enormous potential. Better still, Damien Duff has for the second year running emphatically underlined his case for a starting spot by demonstrating the kind of spark he can provide to the squad. And best of all, we've proven we can field a truly frightening attacking team featuring Duff, Lampard, and Robben together. Add a healthy Drogba to the mix and the Arse better watch the f@$# out.