new I think it may be time for some of our elected legislators to roll up their sleeves and get some of the kinks of the intellectual property and copyright laws sorted out before our economy goes down the toilet.

The new Jane’s Addiction album is a mixed bag. There are some songs that really rock, and there are some that merely move. I don’t know what exactly I was hoping for, considering the fact that the band was so strung out recording Ritual they don’t remember it, but this album is pretty good. I suppose it will be one of those albums I have to listen to a few times to get into (see: Songs for the Deaf, Turn On The Bright Lights, Vespertine) but overall it’s not too bad.

Slashdot had an entry on the art of Machinima, where you take the in-game engine of your favorite first-person shooter and “film” a script or some other story. Apparently there’s now a contest for the best of this year’s clips; that link took me to the Red vs. Blue site, where a couple of guys have taken the familiar Capture the Flag scenario and asked the question: If the bots in the game were real people, what would they talk about? This is a distinctly Kevin Smith/Quentin Tarantino approach to the subject, and howlingly funny for anybody who’s been in the military, played a lot of FPS style games, or just likes offbeat game humor. Worth a look, guys.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any funnier. The Scout’s ignition module burned out at work today, so the juice won’t get from the battery to the starter motor. It doesn’t click, grind, or catch. Not a thing. I caught a ride with Nate into town to pick up Jen (remember, the Scout is the one running vehicle we have) and then to Jen’s house to where the Tortoise is parked. We say good-bye to Nate (he doesn’t need to get involved in this insanity, and it would be our luck for his car to break down too) and hop in the Tortoise to try to make it down to the mechanic’s. About a quarter of the way there, she gives up the ghost—there’s a hole in the return line from the radiator about the size of a dime that I didn’t see when I looked over the engine. We get a tow from a nice young guy and drop it off with my mechanic, who so far has saved us roughly $500 by proving that the Saturn’s alternator wasn’t dead, just the battery. So that car isn’t heading back to the dealership anytime soon.