I am sorry to have to be writing this to you. Any online anecdote about something that happened at the gym always comes off as a thinly veiled excuse for the author to suggest what a rippling, broad-chested and, yes, sexually potent demigod he is. Normally this would not be a problem, but unfortunately I am also incredibly humble.

Despite this, I feel I must say the following: you should really stop doing your bicep curls on the squat rack. I realize that you've paid a lot of money for the privilege of coming to the Y and lifting heavy things. Probably it seems like there ought to be more to it than there is, prompting you to want to stand next to a largeish piece of equipment while doing your exercises. I can understand where you're coming from. The squat rack is one of the largest pieces of equipment in the room, and would by far be the most effective defensive fortification available if we were to suddenly be attacked by, say, a pack of crazed orangutans. But let's be honest: that rarely happens.

Besides, doesn't using that barbell hurt your wrists? The bar is straight. It's not really meant for what you're using it for. Plus it's heavy, so you only put the five pound plates on it. When you count the bar, this is a perfectly reasonable amount of weight. But the effect is still to make you look like kind of a weenie.

Perhaps you could just be a little faster about the exercise. I think you'll find that if you make fewer "OHMYGODTHISISHARD" noises in the course of the exercise it will go by much more quickly. The pauses in between sets where you roll up your sleeves and lean down to examine your biceps (or "guns") could also probably be trimmed from your routine. To your credit, when you do this you never actually kiss the muscle you're scrutinizing. But I can tell you want to. Every time it happens I feel like I am watching a poorly written gay coming of age drama.

But that's not really any of my business. Normally I am content to ignore my fellow gym-goers. Sure, one has to size up which men are physically stronger, which are weaker, and which women one would like to have sex with. But that's just in case the world ends while I'm in the shower, leaving the surviving YMCA patrons to mercilessly fight for survival in a savage postapocalyptic wasteland. By this point the sorting process is pretty much automatic. I usually do it while I'm stretching.

No, the reason I bring all this up is that there's only one squat rack, and it is integral to my ongoing campaign to completely destroy my knees (they know what they've done). I would like to be able to get on with this process, thank you very much.

I guess what I'm saying is that your disgusting indulgence of personal vanity is interfering with my own. Seeing as mine is clearly more important, please knock it off.

EliteTorrents.org, a site I've referred to in previous posts, has been taken down by the FBI and Customs. Coverage here. The notice on the ET site makes it sound like they'll be using ET's database to go after users. Ouch. I'm not too worried; the last time I even visited the ET website was months ago. Still, this highlights the inherent danger of ratio-maintaining torrent communities: tracking ratios means keeping records, and records can be seized.

Maybe more to the point, though, is that some believe this action is a response to ET's posting of a DVD workprint of the new Star Wars movie 6 hours before it hit theaters. I've got some doubts about the timetable necessary for that to be true -- but who knows? Maybe it was the nail in their coffin.

Check out this post of Yglesias's over at TAPPED. Don't try blogging like this at home, kids.

instapundit likes the new pornographers? aren't there laws against this sort of thing? in any case, you can get an mp3 off their upcoming album, twin cinema, here. since carl newman has yet to put out something unlikeable, i'm very excited. just as long as he lets neko case sing lead more...

other cds i've been enjoying: as you know, i can't get enough of the spoon, and while we were doing deck-related repairs last night, charles put on the french kicks' "the trial of the century," which i hadn't heard before and which is very, very pretty. at least the first half - the second kind of loses momentum.

cds i haven't been enjoying: the new stephen malkmus. it's just weird. maybe it's a grower, but as for now i have no blinking idea why pitchfork gave it an 8.7. or why everybody in the world is jocking on it. is it just me that's missing its blinding brilliance?