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--I remember when I first heard they were remaking Battlestar Galactica a few years ago. I thought, �what a waste, why even bother, why not do Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon too?� I was WAY off base. I gushed about BG last post, but I just got done watching another episode and was blown away again. This show has more depth, humanity, dynamics, impact, and thoughtfulness than virtually anything I�ve ever seen on television. I eagerly await the commercial-free miniseries and season one discs. Spellbinding�

--I placed my first three ads on ebaY, which you can look at HERE. I like the ebaY interface and attention to detail. I hope to at least sell the Korg recorder. I�ve got some more items to go on the list: Dreamcast + several games, Tascam CD recorder, boots that don�t fit, and probably a few others.

Meanwhile, I won another auction, for a Sony 200 CD changer and Kenwood 120 watt/channel receiver. Not bad.

--I went through the eHarmony.com personality profile. I think I failed. No matches. Here�s the problem: they asked me several questions about how attractive I thought I was, and of course I answered a 2 or 3. Females, meanwhile, are answering counterpart questions by saying that they�re looking for someone attractive. I like the fact that eHarmony takes a deeper approach, but in so doing I�m also highly disappointed that they ignored the BASICS! I mean, I would have thought �hobbies� would have been in there somewhere in the sixteen pages and hundreds of questions, but NOPE.

So there�s nowhere for me to write that I�m into responsible sport riding, or what my favorite bands are, or the last five good books I read, or that kind of thing. They may think those things are superficial, but you could end up with a �match� who shares almost the same values as you but in essence has absolutely nothing in common with you!

In addition, there seemed to be an inordinate number of questions that were biased toward conservative/reserved/religious belief systems. A basic example would be something like the statement �strong core values are important to me in a person� which you then rate on a scale of 1 to 10 (disagree/agree). I certainly would agree with that statement, EXCEPT that in light of the tone of the whole thing it sounds like the REAL statement there is �strong convervative Christian values are important to me.� The implication is that those who aren�t spiritual/religious/Christian conservative must not care much about morals/values/strong convictions, etc. I avoid church religiously. I think the fact that, in 2005, this service does not accept listings for �female seeking female� and �male seeking male� is also an indicator of its stance.

Anyway, I�m a �male just trying out the service but loosely seeking female.� Here�s the problem: I�m friggin� 30 years old!! But I fit into about a 22-23 year old state of being � small apartment, entry-level job, small economy car, lingering acne, school loans, very low body fat, not much interested in kids, like video games and Battlestar Galactica and motorcycles and listening to music obsessively� Hell, some of my co-workers think I graduated from high school four years ago! I remember going with Ivan to his singles group a couple times in 1999 and the middle-aged (30 or so? Hahaha) forlorn folks there depressed the hell out of me. I never wanted to seem that old or downtrodden or desperate, and I don�t think I do now.

I doubt I�ll get any matches. That�s acceptable. I don�t think I�d have the nerve to actually meet someone in person this way anyway. It�s just not right. I have no confidence in my own skin about myself. I�d feel so apologetic to the poor girl who thought she was meeting a normal person.

--Nintendo released all the information on the new controller for the upcoming console and let journalists demo it even. My gut reaction was that they had lost their minds � it looks just like a small remote control for a CD player or something � only a few buttons, no analog. But it actually sounds kind of neat. You control it by moving IT. A sensor detects the movements in 3D space. Hmmm! Sounds gimmicky, but if it�s actually quick and well-done than we may have the first viable replacement for the mouse/analog stick interface. We shall see. I still think Nintendo should stick to handhelds and just make software for the PS3 and 360. Imagine if they could bring the next Zelda to all five consoles!! Cha-ching.

--The CDs are coming in too fast for me to listen to them. I�ve made some great discoveries recently. For instance, the Sheila Divine�s singer/guitarist/writer/driving force has a new band called Dear Leader with two albums and an EP and another album on the way. I ordered the first album and am counting the days. TSD has made some of my favorite songs about growing up middle-aged, and Aaron Perrino�s all-conquering larynx is right up there with Cinjun Tate�s sweet golden pipes among my favorites.

I found a little-known band called Citizens and fell instantly in love with their sample tracks. I crave the hyper-melodies. CD Baby is a great place to find things you�ve been looking for for years or things you just heard about. Very nice sample interface.

Mars Volta�s demos similarly stunned me, in a different way. The De-Loused album is on the way. Okkervil River did another number on me, and their most recent release is headed my way. Sleepwell is one part of Remy Zero (the orther parts became the unspeakably gorgeous Spartan Fidelity and the iffy Isidore) and took a dozen years to complete, so they say, but two of the three songs they made available are excellent. On the way. Perhaps the one I�m looking forward to the MOST is the The Life and Times featuring Allan Epley from Shiner. Some of the stuff I�m finding makes the rest of my music collection look pretty stale.

Mighty Purple let me download a few songs that quickly got under my skin. This is certainly headphone music, because it sounds SO good through headphones. The vocals ring out like the singer is standing right in front of you staring straight at you. Jadie�s Lantern is something I tried out on a whim at CD Baby, and it wasn�t long before I had to hit �add to cart.�

I also found stuff I�ve wanted for a long time. I picked up a Pop Poppins bootleg concert recording from 1993 � the same year I saw them several times. On the same note, CD Baby had Too Much TV (by Broose of Pop Poppins) too. I ordered the highly acclaimed but rare Le Carillon by one of my favorite bands The Autumns, and an old Geneva EP. I�m still waiting for the Unbelievable Truth album to arrive, and still searching for Misc Music, the B-sides collection.

Can music save my life? It can certainly change it. I go through phases in my life when the music is like the best-tasting cake that I can hear, or goodness that I can almost feel with my hands. This is one of those times.

The CD most blowing my mind these past few days is Super Furry Animals' Rings Around the World. This is ear candy for Mensa members. This is the ultimate headphone music (not driving music, not something you care to hear live, etc.). I don't know how one even goes about "writing" this kind of music. SFA cares very little for the "verse-chorus-verse" structure. The songs are ever-changing in all the elements that make up song structure, but the transitions are so smoothly done that it's just awash in musical beauty. This is glorious, accessible, sprawling. A phenomenol listen.

Don't laugh, but I decided to order one of those "beauty sleeping masks" for headphone listening so I can just zone out lying on the couch and see the images in my head.

--Triumph has the 675 coming, a 675cc triple with a wide torque curve and a good top end hit, combined with incredible narrowness and decently low weight. Kawasaki weighs in with the ZX-14, a bike which will surely surpass 200 mph with the right wire snipped in the EFI/ignition system. There�s some new anti-tamper law that says you�re subject to a $25,000 fine if you remove the exhaust system on a bike that has catalytic convertors in the exhaust cans. So the new FZ1�s gigantic system (which we thought was a joke when we first saw it in pictures) is permanently affixed, by law. That makes me want to jam a pencil in my eye.

It�s surely a very disappointing year for new motorcycles, 2006, but I�ll still be going to the show in November and snapping plenty of pics and probably buying the Speed Triple (which was redesigned before the totalitarian EPA rules for 2006s began to exert their strangle hold).

--Cultural dimunition: Magazines instead of books. Internet browsing instead of games. Radio instead of CDs. TV instead of DVDs.

--No politics, not today.