I'm not really an MST3K fan, but I got an e-mail at the MISFITS e-mail about a proposal for a MST3K convention

The 11th Hour has been on my web reading agenda for months, and I recently came across its sister zine Sequential Tart, which is to comics what the 11th Hour is to Sci-Fi/Horror in general.

Geek women are cool.

Slate has an interesting column on what should be done in Florida. I also agree that it's probably against Gore's -- and certainly against Democrats -- long term interest to contest this election for too long, and I voted for him. Bush will largely be impotent when he becomes president, and then it can become an issue in the 2002 and 2004 campaigns.

says I'm an Experimenter.

I put my e-mail (michaell@michaell.org) on it, for what it's worth.

News Askew says that the next Kevin Smith film will be called Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. They also have information about the enhanced Dogma DVD, which makes me very glad that I had passed on the already released version of Dogma on DVD.

Found an interesting Buffy Log!

Wouldn't a working desk made out of LEGO be really cool?

A new edition of N-Pop!, the unofficial newsletter for November Project, is on-line. I had to dig up the URL, so I thought I'd save it here.

One of the things that I'm quite excited about is how both November Project and Marillion have gone to their fanbase online to help fund in advance their upcoming albums, and in return make sure that they get some sort of unique CD (or additional items) in return. With bands that aren't superstar acts that can rake in the millions, I think this allows bands to create something that appeals to them and their fanbase instead of the mass market.

Doctor Who: WHOvivor is hysterical, and episode 11 has just been posted.

I think we need international observers at our elections from now on. I'm not sure whether it would be better in the long run for people to think Bush stole the election or that Gore stole it. It's amazing, really, and this will definitely make this an election to remember....

I'm now listed on Blogger as one of their new blogs -- I don't know if that means anyone new will see this, but if so, hello! My main home page has the basics about me, and as far as what this is all going to be for...well, I'm still experimenting, I have the web space, might as well do something with it.

Trust me, as I told friends months ago, the Republicans liked Bill Clinton so much they had to get one of their very own..... The Smoking Gun: George W. Bush's Wedded Dis

I feel like I've spent a lot of time on the political race --- which I suppose is only natural, considering recent events. But that's not what this column is normally going to be about, obviously.

The signs of winter are now definitely here.... I have to finish up some various winter preperation tasks, like cleaning out the gutters, and the arrival of holiday lights. Last year was my first winter in this house, and I'm still adjusting to home ownership. It's nice to have the greater space, and to not throw all of my money away on rent, but instead to interest payments. It's a little lonesome at times -- which is perhaps one of the reasons why I've started this column, but all and all I think it was a good decision.

Have to start getting X-mas stuff taken care of.

I'm listening to my CD of songs that I made that I considered as an ordered list of songs, based on how much I like them, how much "historical impact" they had in my life, and so on.

I just reached #83, which is "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac. It's very much Bill Clinton's theme song -- not only the "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" bit, but also the "I never meant any harm to you" bit as well, which has a bit of a sad tone as well.

I'm going to miss him.

It's funny -- you know that they tried to prepare the strip such that it would work in almost any circumstance -- but Doonesbury got it wrong.... it *isn't* over yet....

And I'm very glad I went to sleep.

Regardless of who wins, it's going to be so close they can't possibly do anything controversial. And because of the way things work, if Gore ends up the winner, then the Republicans will pick up more seats in congress in 2002, and visa versa if Bush is there.

So we'll just have to wait and see.

I think I'm going to give up and try to go to sleep now. It's 246 Bush 242 Gore. It's all down to Florida.

This is a crazy night of results. I don't think I'll get to sleep anytime soon, and my stomach is bothering me now as well.... crazy, crazy stuff!

Buffy was very good tonight -- I'll admit that I'm going to have my share of Tara/Willow fantasies... wow! that was intense.

And it provides for a nice distracting image from the political returns...

Winter looks like it has arrived in Minnesota -- it's snowing outside. I'm not looking forward to the drive home, and I'm really glad I voted before work today.

I voted. I was about the 94th person to vote at my polling location this morning, but the line wasn't too long.

Today's Doonesbury says it all.

Now we just have to wait and see..... (though I'll be watching Buffy and Angel first -- one must have priorities.

That was really was quite an impressive, down-to-the-wire football game tonight, and as such was a lot of fun to watch. I spent enough time in Wisconsin that I'm not too upset when they win, especially when it is a good game to watch like this one was. (Green Bay-26, Minnesota-20, in over time).

Oh, I agree with Tim Wick about Charlie's Angels -- it was good fun, and I was very pleasantly surprised.

Well, I went ahead and completed the Essential Michael Lee Collection which has all of the various songs that I either like or somehow fit into the soundtrack of my life. I still have to burn the cd -- I'll probably do that tonight, while I watch the Vikings-Packers game or put away laundry.

Well, I watched tonight's new episodes of Futurama, The Simpsons, and the X-Files. I think X-Files is still not the show that it once was. I hope that the change of cast will make it a fresh start -- we'll see once the series really gets started and we're out of this inital story line.

It is two days to the election, and so I picked up today's newspaper when I went to the grocery store this afternoon, because I want to get some more information about the various judicial and ultra-local campaigns. I'm still not 100% sure on those, and probably will still have the shock of not being sure about issue on the ballot, but I think voting is important, especially in an election like this.

Politically, I'm a liberal to moderate if you have to put me anywhere, with a pragmatic streak as well. So therefore, it's not that surprising that I'm going to vote for the Democrats, including Al Gore for President and Mark Dayton for Senator from Minnesota. I considered James Gibson, because I am sympathetic to his third party -- I voted for Ventura for Governor two years ago -- but I can't stand Rod Grams, and I don't casually vote for third party canidates, as our current voting system is unfortunately not well-suited for them. I would never vote for Ralph Nader, and I think most people are illadvised to do so, even if they think Nader aligns with them more than Gore does. As far as the rest of the ballot, I'll stick with the DFL all the way down the ballot -- it is my "default", unless the case can be made to vote otherwise on a canidate by canidate basis.

Well, this morning I watched the Badfinger Behind the Music on VH-1. Behind the Music is oddly addictive regardless of the band, but I think with this one they don't need to make any more -- death, financial mismanagement, drug abuse, it has it all.

I've been working on a CD filled with mp3s that are sort of "the essential musical guide to Michael Lee", and I'll put the 100 or so tracks that make up the disc on the site when I'm done. It is fun to go through an entire cd collection and try to pick out songs that are either meaningful, "important", or that I really, really like. Usually when I make comp tapes -- or more recently comp cds -- they're either snapshots in time or are particularly event driven. With this many tracks, I'm not quite as driven by those requirements, but I've still had to do a lot of ranking, especially if I want any order to this list. (Is it obvious that I've both seen and read High Fidelity this year?)

And yes, there might be a bit of angst in those lyrics, or something, but it's appropriate. Now I Must Get Some Sleep.

Hi. Well, since I have my domain now, I thought I'd have something to put on it. And well, this seemed as good a thing as anything, and I thought it might be a fun new toy to play with. The idea is that this will be a place for me to go on about anything I want, and provide pretty much whatever useless commentary that comes to mind in a public place. Obviously, I was able to do science fiction reviews on the MISFITS site, but I wanted a place where I could be more general than that.

I chose the title of this column as a reference to, of all things, the a-ha song on the album "Hunting High and Low":

And his thoughts are full of strangers
And his eyes to numb to see
And nothing that he knows of
And nowhere where he's been
Was ever quite like this
And his thoughts...

And since emode described me as an observer, this means I should go ahead and write something down based on what I see and go through in my life. I'm not sure if this will be at all interesting to anyone, so why not especially in the middle of the night. But it'll make for something interesting.

I just got back from both the MISFITS Karaoke Night and then the Scrimshaw Brothers show. Introducing the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack as a possible Karaoke title in a group of science fiction fans is a bit like putting gasoline on an open fire, of course.

Well, it's nearly 2:30 AM, so that means it's time to sleep.