Just listening to The Essential Cheap Trick has been a revelation for me. Sure, it’s been 25 years since I bought “If You Want My Love” on vinyl, but sometimes it takes me a little while to get around to things.

Put simply, these guys are great. It’s like they took my favourite elements of the Beatles, hard rock, punk and New Wave and created something smart and ironic in the process. For me, it’s the ultimate guilty pleasure that I don’t need to feel guilty about.

They’ve definitely made my list as one of those groups to become obsessed by.

Tonight is my birthday party.

Tomorrow is my birthday.

By this time tomorrow, I’ll be 30.

I’ll probably feel about 40, however.

I just saw the latest Futurama movie and all I can say is “Brilliant!”

It’s quite disturbing at times and the commentary on religion (especially Christianity, if not directly) is sure to offend many, many people, but this is all what makes it so great. The humour is often quite dark as well, such as a brief scene involving the Robot Devil which ranks as probably the most hilarious Bender scene in the entire series.

In a lot of ways, I enjoyed Bender’s Big Score more (since I’m a sucker for the Fry/Leela story arc and time-travel plots), but overall I think The Beast with a Billion Backs is more daring and pushes Futurama closer towards its true cinematic potential. These DVD movies are possibly the best thing to happen to the show, even if it meant years of languishing in TV limbo in the interim.

David X. Cohen will forever live on in my pantheon of personal heroes from this day forward…

Man in wheelchair charged with drunk driving:

Police in Australia have charged a man for drink driving in a motorized wheelchair after he was found to be six times over the legal alcohol limit, local media reported on Monday.

No, that will be me on Saturday night instead…

Sure, we’re not in the middle of winter yet, but yesterday was the winter solstice, so the days will only be getting longer for the next six months. Thank goodness; I hate winter with a passion.

Today, however, marks the start of the last week of my twenties. I’m actually looking forward to my thirties—l’m sick of having to feign hipness, so maybe being 30 will remove some of that burden—but I should probably appreciate being in my twenties while I can.

As I type this, I’m downloading the free trial of the Spore Creature Creator.

Spore, for those of you not in the know, is the forthcoming open-ended simulation game by mad genius Will Wright, the man behind SimCity and The Sims. To quote Wikipedia, Spore “allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through development as an intelligent and social land-walking creature, to levels of interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture.” In other words, it’s a game by godless atheists, for godless atheists!

Loads of fun, obviously.

Today I bought tickets to see Def Leppard and Cheap Trick live in Sydney in November. How great is that? (It better be great—it’s costing me over $300…)

I’m really excited about this gig. Of course, it might end up being a huge disappointment, but even if Cheap Trick turn out to be the best thing about the night, I’ll still walk out of there with a smile a mile wide…

If you’re ever really, really, really bored, search for “cockatiel masturbating” on YouTube and you’ll get to watch dozens of videos of our avian friends finding solace with everyday items.

Fun for the whole family!

Okay, so tomorrow is my Java exam and Tuesday is my Perl/CGI exam.

Mmm… In 48 hours I’ll be so relieved… to be quickly approaching another semester!

No, most of these aren’t current tracks, but they were my favourite tracks during autumn this year:

1. “The Lady Don’t Mind” - Talking Heads (from Little Creatures, 1985)
2. “Refugee” - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from Damn the Torpedoes, 1979)
3. “Sledgehammer” - Peter Gabriel (from So, 1986)
4. “Down Under” - Men at Work (from Business As Usual, 1981)
5. “Trouble” - Lindsey Buckingham (from Law and Order, 1981)
6. “Waiting For a Girl Like You” - Foreigner (from 4, 1981)
7. “Rosanna” - Toto (from Toto IV, 1982)
8. “Original Sin” - INXS (from The Swing, 1984)
9. “Four Chords That Made a Million” - Porcupine Tree (from Lightbulb Sun, 2000)
10. “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2″ - Pink Floyd (from The Wall, 1979)
11. “Walking on the Moon” - The Police (from Reggatta De Blanc, 1979)
12. “Serengeti Long Walk” - Stewart Copeland (from The Rhythmatist, 1985)
13. “truenorth” - no-man (from schoolyard ghosts, 2008)
14. “Heroes” - David Bowie (from “Heroes”, 1977)
15. “Avalon” - Roxy Music (from Avalon, 1982)

There you go: tracks spanning 31 years!

*cough* (Mean: 1985, Median: 1982) *cough*