welcome.
If you're curious, crazyknee.com is:
a personal Web page (a blog, even) created by Leanne H. Milway. The page was launched Nov. 1, 2000, the day she had ACL/meniscus repair performed on her right leg.
Hence the "crazy knee."
This page will be updated in some weekly way.

27 february 2002 . 11:41 pm PT
Apparently, my parents are worried about me after reading about all this "depression" and "misery." Well, I'm here tonight to tell you that things are on the upswing. Even the darkest night will end and the sun will shine yadda yadda. It's 70 degrees in the afternoon sun and I've been wearing skirts. Look how lovely it is on the street where I live:

I hobbled downhill to the record store yesterday and purchased:

1. The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious (after a recommendation from Nathan). Fast garage rock; the Strokes go punk. Thumbs up.

2. John Coltrane, Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording. I'd been looking for this one awhile and it finally came up used. It's . . . hardcore. Over my head. I'm at the "Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (Charles Mingus) level. Which isn't for babies, either, no way. This Coltrane concert is aggressive and (for me) impossible to follow. (note: The notoriously finicky critics at Pitchfork gave this album a "10.")

3. Avalon Blues: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt. Featuring Gillian Welch, Ben Harper, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and the one the only Beck. Excellent!

Note to the rock snobs: I was at the Haight Ashbury Music Center today, a store packed with shiny guitars, drums, amps, etc. As the dude rang up my blank cassette tapes, a call comes in. Someone is requesting a Gillian Welch songbook. The guy announces this to his coworkers saying how he's "never heard of her before." The other four people behind the counter give blank stares in agreement. I find this ASTOUNDING — your livelihood depends on selling guitars and you don't know who's out there playing them? And the clerk gave me attitude when I politely tried to educate him. Punk.

25 february 2002 . 02:15 am PT
I have no links. Again. I'm absolutely no good. But I've learned to deal. You will too! You deal or you die!

In the shadow of surgery: Crazy knee #2 is now bending, but I still have trouble negotiating things like stairs and hills. And just about every step I take creates pain. Ah, well. I hear cripples are big this season. Here's a gross swollen knee pic I know you're excited don't lie aren't scars sexy:

Warning: Don't go see "Dragonfly." Yeah, I know, you wouldn't be caught dead paying for that film. Well, I had free passes so I went because free is good. I'm here to report that Kevin Costner's career is absolutely without a doubt completely utterly over. Man, how this movie SUCKS.

Sad but true: The lovely Gretchen is driving away today, heading to Chicago. We wish her luck, but why do all the great cities have to be so far apart? It's really not fair (but, then again, nothing is). Bye Gret. You'll be missed.

The Olympics are over, huh. Too bad I saw just about NONE of it. We don't have cable, see, and our NBC affiliate recently switched channels so all we get is static. Can you believe it?! Life without "Friends"! No wonder my life is such misery. Oh, ha ha. Actually, strike that. Things are looking up now that I've developed a routine of "Cheers" and "Taxi" reruns late at night. Every night. This can't be good, right Alex? Norm? Help?

21 february 2002 . 06:44 pm PT
It's official, I can't connect my camera to the computer. At the moment. We're working on it. But this might be the final push that makes me buy a new model.

Let me buy a new camera! Despite the unemployment, the new knee injury, the empty fridge, the pile of bills.

It's also official that I have gone stir crazy.

This is not a good thing.

I'm stuck in the apartment, limping (my other knee went kaput), making mix tapes, strumming the guitar, not writing award-winning poetry.

Hello, depression? No. Depression can't answer the phone.

So! *shakes it off* I've Velcro-ed my shoes, and I'm off to Dalva with friends. It's Thursday night, folks. Cheers.

21 february 2002 . 11:33 am PT
Hi. I'm testing some new things. Things that won't make any difference to you at all, sorry to say. I have stories to tell and maybe even pictures to share but you'll have to wait a few more hours. Until then, here's my cat (again):

14 february 2002 . 11:29 am PT
As my Valentine to you, here are some "fun" pictures. Enjoy!

11 february 2002 . 09:55 pm PT
I finally saw "Wet Hot American Summer" this weekend, the summer camp parody written/directed by/starring members of The State. In case you don't know, The State is a skit-comedy troupe that had its heyday on MTV in '93-94. I love The State. In fact, I'm helplessly obsessed with The State. I'm going to keep capitalizing "the" in The State. I was so infatuated with their absurd comedy that to this day the words "I love pants!" or the sight of a cast member (one is the funny dude on "Ed," one is the prof Joey is kissing on "Dawson's Creek"), will make me scream in joy and clap my hands.

In other words, I loved it. Laughed and slapped my thigh repeatedly. In my estimation it's smarter and funnier than "American Pie"-esque movies by Olympic leaps and bounds. But what do I know, except all of Capt. Monterey Jack's monologues by heart. Most critics didn't really like this film, in the least (Salon is particularly brutal and Ebert writes a (lame!) song in protest). But most "critics" wouldn't know good comedy if it sat on their face. Look, the W.Post says "this is a movie best suited for people who like it when kids get tossed out of cars." Is that a bad thing? Bring it on!

p.s.: "Entertainment Weekly" gave this film a 10. EW is also the only US magazine to select Beck's "Mellow Gold" as best album of 1994. Perhaps I should renew my subscription?

Speaking of The State, cast member Thomas Lennon has a small role in "Memento" and do you know that I saw "Memento" edited in chronological order this weekend? Yes, I did. And it is very very good. I was afraid it wouldn't be as interesting or exciting in real time. But it is. Sure, there are still a few shady lapses in character and believability. But isn't the story based on memory? And isn't memory so very unreliable? Great film.

No member of The State appears in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" but it is still a fantastic movie, all high-spirited rockenroll, wigs and tormented love. I might just have to buy the soundtrack because I ENJOY SHOWTUNES and am not afraid to admit it.

In the limo with Babaluga and co., circa New Year's Eve:

04 february 2002 . 12:40 am PT
That football game had to be fixed. The underdog wins at the very last second, before two million tons of redwhitenblue confetti suffocates everyone. But the Patriots have won! These proud men, who bear the American flag on their helmets, fought for nothing less than Freedom today. How could they not prevail?!

p.s.: I saw "Black Hawk Down" this weekend, and it is a very disturbing film (good!) about gung-ho U.S. soldier types who try to win some battles in Somalia. The tension, violence, and ... harshness ... of people shooting people with guns ... doesn't let up for two hours. So, anyway, I might need more puppies and daises in my life right now. Hey how about a cat picture:

More Bowl: Didn't Mariah Carey sound just, like, bad? I liked her final bray-ay-ay-ay-ay-ave thing, but ... that's not gonna save it. Did Bono need to have the American flag stuffed in his armpit? Why was Paul McCartney commentating? Where are the AMERICAN ARTISTS? Hawking beverages I guess? And as if it weren't hard enough already, now we've all got to get a fricking mLife. Thanks to Kevin & John & other great people for an Afternoon. It is so key to have friends with a big tv and cabinets full of food.

Starring you: Pictures of NYC beer drinking, right after a rockin' new years, right before I got sent to the hospital (it's a good line. I can't not go with it)!

The gossip in Bel Air, Maryland, is that Holly and Tim (my sister and her boyfriend) think I'm "mean" because of the picture I posted of them last week. In retaliation, they're going to mount a site featuring bad pictures of ME (reports my mom)! I really hope it doesn't come down to that. It would get very ugly. Look, I'll try to make up. How about this picture of all of us in which I look totally stoopid: