A State of Trance # 384 - 2008 Year Mix

Armin Van Buuren's Top 20 of 2008 is the one countdown that I look forward to every year but I must say that this year's top 20 just aren't that great. The #1 song of 2008 as voted by the people is Lost by Sunlounger, featuring Zara. My #1 choice would have been On A Good Day by Oceanlab, but that song didn't even crack the list. Luckily for all of us that didn't dig the top 20, Armin releases his 2008 year mix. This is a 2 hour mix featuring the best 100 songs of the year. You can download the mix here.

Merry Christmas 2008

I just wanted to wish everybody a very merry Christmas. I hope all your holiday wishes came true and that you spent some quality time with the VIP's in your life. Go out, enjoy your break, and (as my old HS principal Mr. Smith would say) tell someone you love them.

On the 6th Day of Xmas Canon Gave To Me...

One... Digital Camera!!!Christmas came a little early for Phimmy. I had an old S230 that couldn't take any more pictures. Rather than toss the thing, Headgear told me about the Canon replacement program. I guess a bunch of different Canon camera models have this CCD problem that would cause all the photos that you take to turn out blurry. If you send in your busted camera, then they'll fix it. And when I say they'll fix it, I mean they'll just send you a refurb of a newer model. I got kinda hosed because Headgear got an SD850 and Mr. Fantastic got an SD870 which are way better cameras than the lowly SD1000 that they gave me (leave it to Canon to make 850 and 870 > 1000). But hey, it's better than nothing. If you have a busted Canon camera, then I highly recommend that you send it in. Here's the FatWallet thread that has all the information you need.

Leonard Wu

Kim Basinger has a new movie that just came out December 12th. Here's the plot line to While She Was Out:

Prepare yourself for the ultimate white-knuckle thrill ride trough the horrific trenches of America’s back woods. Academy AwardR winner Kim Basinger (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, 8 MILE) delivers perhaps the most audacious performance of her illustrious career, as Della, a suburban housewife, hell bent on survival as she is mercilessly stalked by a group of teenage thugs let by a manipulative psychopath (Luke Haas of WITNESS). Armed with only a toolbox and the will to survive, can Della make it through the night, or will this pack of rabid predators have their way? Craig Sheffer (TV’s ONE TREE HILL) co-stars in this intense suspense thriller about one women, a night full of terror and the ultimate breaking point that lives in us all.

It turns out that one of the rabid predators is an old UCLA pal of mine, Leonard Wu. While at UCLA I worked on a few projects with Leonard and I could just tell by his dedication and work ethic that he was gonna go places. Since graduating from UCLA Leonard has carved out quite a career for himself. Congrats to my old pal. I get the feeling that we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

The Lonely Island

Chances are that if you've seen anything funny from Saturday Night Live that wasn't a political sketch, then it was probably done by the guys from The Lonely Island. They're the group of actor/filmmakers behind Lazy Sunday, Dick in a Box, and The Natalie Portman Rap. TLI is at it again with their latest video, Jizz In My Pants. This video is actually the debut single from their up-and-coming album called INCREDIBAD.

UCLA vs. USC 12/6/08

UCLA played USC over the weekend. The game was terrible but the tailgate was crazy. We didn't play Caps that much this year but Bean Bag Toss and Flip Cup were just as fun. As always it was great seeing everybody and I'm already counting down the days till the next tailgate. Here are my predictions on what will happen at the next UCLA/USC tailgate two years from now:

- Wu will spend over $75 on his latest, greatest invention
- We'll get to the Rose Bowl at 6:30 am
- There will be two married couples and four engaged ones
- Team NorCal will defeat Team SoCal in the craziest 8v8 game of caps
- UCLA will defeat USC 77-0 en route to the BCS Championship game

Here's a clip of Team Norcal rockin the Bean Bag toss. That's how you do it!