the Dalaverse

So I might have mentioned how pretty much the only thing I intend to spend money on for the rest of the summer is an iPod. One of the higher-end ones, because it'll need to hold quite a lot of music (averaging an album at 12 songs, and conservatively estimating that I have around 200, that's 2400 [and how sad is it that I can barely do that sum in my head?], which doesn't even take into account the several hundered songs on my hard drive and what I intend to copy from my dad. So clearly the Mini, while very attractive, is not going to cut it).

And I just remembered that there's a special U2 edition. 20GB, which is what I intended to buy anyway. Apple tells me, "In fact, after purchasing and downloading 'The Complete U2,' you'll still have enough room for as many as 4600 other songs." And even though I own every U2 album, let's face it, I probably wouldn't be able to resist buying the fucking iTunes set. Which price I can't find, BTW. That's very annoying. If I save $50 by purchasing the iPod, it's probably really pricey.

It's really only $50 more than the regular iPod. It's black. It's pretty. It's autographed. It's U2. I mean, I love a lot of artists, but nobody to the degree of this group, and this is like a special thing for a fan who's crazy-psychotic enough to lay out the cash for it.

I don't know if I'm trying to talk myself into or out of this.

I want it really really bad. I wanted it really really bad when it came out last fall and was going to ask for it for Christmas before I came to my senses and realized what a horrendous thing that would be to do to my folks. But...the price...I'm just staring at it. That is a lot of money to spend in one place, on one thing.

Gahhhhh. I don't know. I should wait for another paycheck, in any case.

On the off chance that somebody else is a weird, freaky whore for vinegar:

Trader Joes has the best vinegar I have ever tasted. Seriously. It makes me cry a little whenever I pour a few precious drops over my salad. It's called Gold Quality, it's Italian, aged ten years, comes in a pretentious-looking bottle, and I'm in love with it.

If you can't share this sort of information here, where can you?

BTW, I have some Star Wars wank meta quietly bubbling in my head, basically about Why the Jedi Coucil Is/Was Dumb. I really need to get in a full cycle of all the films first, though. I'll have to disregard the EU in all but the vaguest sense, because I stopped reading the profic after THE ONE WHERE, HEY! THEY KILLED CHEWIE! (THE BASTARDS), and I've got a mind like a sieve for the stuff that I did read. Anyway.

Anyway, I think I have made up my mind to buy the U2 iPod. Really, what's fifty bucks? ::gibbers in fear::

Of a technological nature. A few weeks ago, the Windows Media Player that came with my computer apparently deleted itself. The icon disappeared from my desktop, and whenever I try to open it, the little exclamation point pops up to tell me that an internal application error has occurred.

I did not do anything to deserve this, I swear. I didn't do a damn thing to the player. I don't even recall if I was playing music with it when it disappeared. Any idea as to what might have happened, and if I can fix it/get a new version? Barring that, how can I burn songs from CD to my hard drive using either the Musicmatch jukebox or WinAmp?

It really annoyed me. I've gotten used to PowerDVD for movies, but I'd still rather play music using the Media Player.

Oh god. You want to know the extent of my dorkiness? I'm watching "Star Wars," the one and only original, and I'm taking notes.

It's actually really interesting in the context of the prequels, particularly the last one. Lots of making connections that simply aren't there. For instance, when Luke first meets Obi-Wan, when he's talking about the man we only know so far as Luke's father, he says, "And he was a good friend." But I heard "Annie was a good friend" (that nickname was why I had such trouble with the novelizations, btw).

It's not what Alec Guiness is saying. It's not, and I know it.

But it could be :)

And then, when he sees the hologram of Leia, he gets this look on his face. I'd always assumed that it was just grave importance because he knew the source of the message and realized that things were coming to a head, but now I've convinced myself that he looks shell-shocked because he sees Padme in her.

Just...just stop me now.

By the way, the free DVD included with the soundtrack to RotS? Awesome. It's basically just scenes from all six (well, mostly five; the one with scenes from RotS is indentical to one of the trailers) cut to several of the themes. The music is really wonderful when it's showcased like that, and it's a fun little refresher course in the storyline, and a lot from the prequels is far more palatable without dialogue and sound. I actually like the one to "Across the Stars," focusing on Anakin/Padme; they're real purty once they shut up.