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Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Right, in no particular order, except for the Top 3: Rilo Kiley -- The Execution Of All Things [MP3s: 1 2 3] The Shins -- Chutes Too Narrow [mp3] Radiohead -- Hail To The Thief These were the only three records that honestly excited me this year. The Rilo Kiley album is a joy -- it doesn't do anything groundbreaking, but it pisses all over your standard-issue indie pop with its uncommonly inventive hooks, uncommonly powerful (at least to me) lyrics, and uncommonly thoughtful arranging and production. Jenny Lewis's voice charms (and she's cute too -- c.f the video for The Frug), and the album as whole is endlessly listenable. These were the songs that were stuck in my head all year. The Shins record is also not groundbreaking -- it's similar to RK in that it's an intelligent record that has all kinds of nooks and crannies to explore and appreciate. The Radiohead consolidates on their albums of the last few years, but is still operating on a level of invention far above their peers. There, There never fails to get the juices flowing. White Stripes -- Elephant New Pornographers -- Electric Version The Decemberists -- Castaways And Cutouts [mp3] ("July, July" is a long-lost Robyn Hitchcock song) The Strokes -- Room On Fire The Libertines -- Up The Bracket Minus Five -- Down With Wilco Evan Dando -- Baby, I'm Bored Honorable Mentions: Pernice Brothers -- Yours, Mine And Ours Gotan Project -- La Revancha del Tango Goldfrapp -- Black Cherry Belle & Sebastian -- Dear Catastrophe Waitress Didn't hear the whole album, but should've and will: Robyn Hitchcock - Luxor Sloan -- Action Pact Beyonce -- Dangerously In Love Outkast -- Speakerboxx/The Love Below (I know, I know) Twilight Singers -- Blackberry Belle The Wrens -- Meadowlands My Morning Jacket -- It Still Moves SFA -- Phantom Power Josh Rouse -- 1972 Explosions In The Sky -- The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place Ted Leo/Pharmacists -- Hearts Of Oak Disappointments: Rufus Wainwright -- Want One Blur -- Think Tank (a couple of beautiful songs and some drek) Fountains of Wayne -- Welcome Interstate Managers (good for what it is, but they *really* need to do something different on their 4th album...also known as "The Sexsmith Syndrome) Slight Disappointment: Elvis Costello -- North (an album touted as in the vein of Wee Small Hours should swing, even if very gently) I Don't Get It: Broken Social Scene The Darkness Death Cab For Cutie/Postal Service | Monday, December 29, 2003
When I saw that Dean was blaming the mad cow schtuff on Bush, I was a little dubious -- I think it looks a bit petty, as if he's blaming W for everything that goes wrong each day in the US (there's enough stuff that's his fault, without needing to blame him for things that aren't). But after reading How the GOP gave us Mad Cow on DailyKos, I can see he had a point. Republicans repeatedly blocked expanded testing of imported meat, presumably on the grounds that it's onerous for businesses. But how damaging has the discovery of BSE been for profits in the meatpacking industry? How badly is it going to affect profits at McDonalds? How many fast food jobs will be lost? What's better for business, workers, and consumers in this case -- more regulation, or less? At the very least, it's an object lesson in what can happen when real world issues are evaluated with ideological blinders on. Of course, that applies equally to those who feel that any government regulation is good regulation. | Saturday, December 27, 2003
This one's for Bekkah: On The Media interviews Sarah Bunting, of TelevisionWithoutPity (and of Tomato Nation). Sars has a sexy voice. [requires RealAudio] | Tuesday, December 23, 2003
As I lurch towards 30, I can't be arsed with manifestos of any stripe. That said, The Geezaesthetic Manifesto more or less gets it right. It's a vital approach to criticism of art and culture, clearly informed by our experiences with the Innurnet. Some of my favorite bits: 2. We are all about dialogue. We hold that the pub conversation is as high a form of human discourse as any, and superior to most. 7. We place a high value on criticism that makes us think in new ways or about new things. We place an equally high value on criticism that makes us laugh, especially if it makes us laugh at the things we love....We place the highest possible value on criticism that makes us talk more, anything to enhance our conversation. 15. We respect academic learning but don't see it has much to do with Geezaesthetics, except as a source of stuff for us to talk about and perhaps misunderstand, hopefully in stimulating ways. 17. We like feeling strong feelings from our culture, but we don't pretend they always arise from the avant garde. We like novelty but we like comfort too. We believe that a strong feeling generated by the familiar is as stimulating as a strong feeling provoked by the shocking. [via clap clap] | The new Coen Brothers movie is a remake of the classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers, with Tom Hanks in the Alec Guinness role. It looks like they've set it in the American South, to boot. Yahoo has the trailer. [via low culture] | Monday, December 22, 2003
Fundraising Letters that Work: "I happened to see a Bush '04 fundraising e-mail today, from Ken Mehlman, with the heading 'Foreign liberal cash used to defeat President Bush!' ...But there is also one priceless line in the e-mail: Wesley Clark, who was in Europe when Saddam Hussein was captured, criticized the President this week... Wow, what was Mr. Clark doing in Europe, when he's supposed to be an American? Probably judging a Gruyere-tasting contest, or studying up on Swedish land-use planning... You wouldn't really know that he was helping bring another evil dictator to justice, would you?" | Friday, December 19, 2003
Greatest time-waste ever: Norbert's Online Nintendo Emulator. One website. Dozens of games. Three years of my life. | Thursday, December 18, 2003
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Friday, December 12, 2003
While we were in New York over Thanksgiving, Elvis Costello was scheduled to sit in on a couple shows with Lee Konitz at Iridium. We thought about going but didn't, mainly for cash flow reasons. Anyway, it turns out Elvis didn't play the shows, because Konitz's bass player -- the legendary Gary Peacock -- decided to throw a strop at the soundcheck and refused to play with him. Things got worse when Iridium volunteered to fire Peacock if EC agreed to play; and when Elvis refused this arrangement, failed to notify the punters lining up that he wasn't going to play. Ooh, it's handbags in the free-jazz/adult-pop-crossover community! | Thursday, December 11, 2003
From Political Wire: Quote of the Day 'There's nothing I am worse at than long-term planning.' -- National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, in the upcoming Reader's Digest, according to the New York Daily News. Josh Marshall has been on fire this week, analyzing the Iraqi debt fiasco, the appointment of James Baker as "Iraqi debt czar", and what that all implies about the disarray in the Bush administration. | I'm pleased to announce that I have landed a job -- one that it is not at an ad agency (huzzah!), and which will allow me to feel like I'm doing something positive for the world. Don't want to use any company names on the Innernet, but it's a good position at what looks like a good company. I anticipate a little dropoff in the blogging for a bit...my first day is Monday. We'll just have to see.... | Those of you in NYC need to go and see Li'l G'N'R at CB's Gallery this weekend. Five year olds playing Guns n' Roses material? Look at little Slash! A must see, surely. [via clap clap] | Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Love, Actually. Rubbish, actually. The worst film I've seen in ages. The Mrs and I spent hours last night going over every last ridiculous plot device and insultingly sloppy piece of writing. I estimate at least 1/3 of the screenplay consists of the following: Character: Right. [bemused pause] Right. [leaves the room flustered, having inexplicably failed once again to ask someone who clearly fancies them to go out on a date]. Besides most of the film isn't even about love -- it's about initial attraction, which is not the same thing. The jarring implausibilities pile up until it becomes impossible to do anything but laugh -- there is no emotional resonance at all. Plus the score is woeful and a bunch of brilliant actors are left with nothing to do. It's as if the cheesy finales of every romantic comedy ever made were strung together into one 120-minute long orgy of sappiness. | I have recently begun eating granola for breakfast. Fear not, I continue to bathe regularly, have not attempted to occupy any college campuses, and continue to shave my legs (note to potential employers who are Googling me: that last bit was a joke. I do not shave my legs, as that would be weird for a man. And I am not weird. The joke pivoted on the fact that while the popular caricature of granola-eaters is that they don't shave their legs, that caricature applies only to female granola-eaters. This distinction is crucial if one is to find the joke funny. The humor comes from the confounding of the reader's expectations, as most of them know that I am a male.) Anyway, as I was saying, I eat granola for breakfast these days. It started a few weeks ago when the Mrs and I went to Las Manitas for breakfast. Having consumed an ungodly amount of Mexican food in the prior couple of days (look, I like it, but I can't eat it for every meal), I instead made the radical decision to have granola and fruit (it was also very cheap...lots of parentheticals today, aren't there?). I was pleasantly surprised by the feeling of hearty, healthy crunchiness it imparted, a dense, compact source of nourishment after the lardy, floury repast of the previous 48 hours -- some slightly dissonant Duke Ellington after too much saccharine Glenn Miller. One thing led to another, and a few days ago you could find me in the cereal aisle at HEB...not hovering over the Cocoa Pebbles and Marshmallow Treasures as per usual, but instead puzzling over the differences between a number of avowedly healthy granola products, trying to decide which one was most likely to approximate the deliciousness of my Las Manitas discovery. I opted to buy two different kinds, just to see which I'd prefer, and we're now living happily ever after. | Wednesday, December 03, 2003
The Dean campaign just asked its supporters to contribute to the campaign of Iowa congressman Leonard Boswell, who has been targeted by Karl Rove and the RNC. As of midnight last night, Dean supporters had raised $30,000 for him. I find all of this fascinating -- a presidential campaign raising money for a congressional candidate. Obviously, raising money for a major Iowa Democrat can only help Dean solidify party support in that crucial first primary state, particularly when he and Gephardt are neck and neck. But this also seems to me like an exercise in muscle-flexing aimed at the Democratic Party/DLC elders who oppose Dean's ascent. It's saying -- look at the influence Dean has over these people. It's saying -- we're willing to play ball and use this influence to help the Party as a whole. And it's saying -- we are a serious challenge to the way you guys have been running the Democratic Party. There has been talk lately of the Democratic Party splitting into factions -- the Clintonistas who now run the party from the top down and the insurgent Deaniacs who are excited by the grass-roots progressivism we've seen lately (via MoveOn, Meetup, etc.). Kos sees the New Democrat Network aligning with the Dean wing, while the DLC is clearly horrified by Gov. Dean. The NDN's analysis is spot on -- Republicans have been the party of innovation when it comes to organization and communication and the Democrats have been struggling to catch up. However, the Internet is the king of all disruptive technologies, and these new Democrats are seizing the opportunity to leapfrog the GOP. Exciting times. | Tuesday, December 02, 2003
This time increment's MP3 Of The Time Increment is a preview of the upcoming Johnny Cash box set: JC and the late Joe Strummer duetting on a cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song. Brings a lump to the throat. | Sunday, November 30, 2003
Rudy The Grinch Yes yes yes yes yes. Amen. Happy Thanksgiving! Back in Austin tomorrow. More soon! | Thursday, November 20, 2003
Great piece on the forthcoming novel by John Wesley Harding which will be published by Little, Brown. Looks like he'll make more money as an author than he's ever done as a songwriter.... | Wednesday, November 19, 2003
BBC 6Music "Life in CD", where artists go through their record collections to pull out songs that are meaningful to them -- interesting ones include Rufus Wainwright (Lotte Lenya, Nina Simone...Men Without Hats?) and Wayne Coyne (his favorite record is Bjork's Debut). Requires RealAudio. | Friday, November 14, 2003
Forbes.com: Wal-Mart dumps cold water on U.S. economic bulls: "The retailer -- which taps directly into the psyche of the U.S. consumer -- gave a downbeat economic outlook that contrasted with reams of recent data, and bluntly suggested that many of its shoppers are barely making ends meet. Customers continue to buy the cheapest items in any given category -- a sign that household budgets remain tight, Lee Scott, Wal-Mart chief executive officer, said on a recorded message. Buyers are 'timing their expenditures around the receipt of their paychecks, indicating liquidity issues,' Scott said. 'I don't think consumer spending is slowing, but I also don't see the strength that many of you in the investment community appear to see,' Scott said" I'd put a lot of credence in Wal-Mart's analysis of the situation -- no-one has more insight into consumer spending trends. [via Unqualified Offerings] | US babies get global brand names: "He has found that car models are a popular source of inspiration; 22 girls are registered as having the name Infiniti while 55 boys answer to Chevy and five girls to Celica. Seven boys were found to have the name Del Monte - after the food company - and no less than 49 boys were called Canon, after the camera." Del Monte -- sounds like the kind of a name a shy seven-year-old with an English accent might have. | Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Interview: Sting Bow down before the undisputed king of Pratdom. Every single thing he says in this interview makes him sound like he's been living up his own arse for the last 300 years. There's too much material for me to single out anything in particular -- it's all jaw-dropping. God, he's insufferable. I know that's not a particularly original opinion, but we must not let down our guard by allowing it to pass unremarked upon. In related news, Phil Collins Suffering From Serious Hearing Loss. Oh no, you're not getting away with that excuse, mate. | I just left my strawberry Pop Tarts in the toaster too long and burnt them. Burnt Pop Tarts do not smell good. Yes, I'm unemployed, folks. Actually they weren't Pop Tarts -- they were HEB Hill Country Fare Toaster Pastries. And they taste exactly like Pop Tarts. That's the thing about supermarket generics...I love them dearly but the trick is figuring out which generics are identical to their overpriced famous brand counterparts and which are markedly inferior. For instance: HEB Caffeine Free Diet Original Cola is a brilliant substitute for Caffeine Free Diet Coke and costs about half as much. You'll be glad to know that Marshmallow Treasures are indistinguishable from Lucky Charms; ditto HEB's Frosted Mini Wheats doppelganger. The same can *not* be said for HEB's stab at Cocoa Puffs -- not even close, fellas. And I can't get punkrockgirl to even try the fetching Dr. B, even though the resulting savings in our Dr. Pepper budget would probably allow us to buy a second car. Maybe I ought to start a website that ranks the generics, so that all those people who are itching to go generic can be emboldened by impartial reviews. Hmmm. In the meantime, I'm out there on the front lines so that you don't have to be. | Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Radiohead to take over radio station. I know how I'm going to be spending Christmas week! What's that, dear? Oh. | At the urging of Chewy, I have dispensed with enetation's admittedly...flighty commenting services and hooked my wagon to the formidable Haloscan instead. I am sad to see the archived enetation comments vanish, but hope one day they'll add some exporting functionality so that those conversations are not lost in the mists of time. I would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to girl:progress, which appears to be a new venue for the lovely photography of our own ms. punkrockgirl. Personally I think the young lady has talent, and I happen to know she has dozens of gorgeous photos that have yet to see the light of day. Some of them do not even feature Dexter! | Eric Idle's blog (scroll down to see it). I read Day 40, which had a charming anecdote about a Christmas gift from George Harrison. | Fundrace 2004. A fun little interactive way of seeing where the presidential candidates get their money. [via Anil] | Monday, November 10, 2003
...and lots more super-interesting analysis from The Economist as they conclude that 9.11 amplified America's feeling of "exceptionalism". No-one does this big picture stuff as well as The Economist -- it's a fascinating survey. [via Anil] | Friday, November 07, 2003
Paul McCartney to have lost dance classic re-released "Temporary Secretary", a lost dance classic? Bwaahahahahahaah. Next we'll have the rediscovery of the bruisingly honest and profoundly moving proto-Emo lost classic "Morse Moose And The Grey Goose". | Thursday, November 06, 2003
Suede split up. I can't say I've cared too much about their last couple of albums (Head Music was truly awful) but at their peak they were a truly exciting band who changed music in the 1990s. My siblings and I had the privilege of seeing them in London at the height of Suedemania, at an AIDS charity benefit "directed" by Derek Jarman. We sat in a box and drank champagne while Bernard furiously rocked out and Brett slapped his arse with the microphone. The whole scene was a thrilling refutation of grunge's oppressive dominance. The crowd were going bonkers and it was the first time I'd ever seen the walls of a venue sweat. Bernard Butler left after the second record, and lot of the ambition went with him. He's still my favorite living guitarist, although he's never found the right venue for his talents. Brett turned out to be a bit of a one-trick pony -- his lyrical lexicon appears to consist of "star", "electric", "pills", "flash", "trash", and "chemicals" -- but that evocative (if limited) vocabulary is what allowed the band to create such vivid songs. Suede injected melody, charisma and excitement back into British music, ushering in the Britpop era. They meant a lot to me for a few years. Cheers, lads. Suede, dogmanstar, and Sci-Fi Lullabies are the ones to get, although Coming Up has its share of good songs as well. | Monday, November 03, 2003
The Elliott Smith tribute show is set for tonight in LA, and is set to include Beck and Rilo Kiley among others. For those of us who can't attend, a radio tribute to Elliott produced by Santa Monica's KCRW is archived here. Also, I've posted the two last songs he officially released, from a now out-of-print 7". A-Side: Pretty (Ugly Before) [4.3MB] B-Side: A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free [2.9MB] Update: lots more Elliott MP3s here. | Nina Nastasia in session during Tom Robinson's show on BBC 6Music -- the show starts at 2pm today EST. | Monday, October 27, 2003
Well, I'm unemployed. Not surrounded by co-workers -- on my own, just like Patti Labelle and Michael MacDonald. And like Chic (and Robert Wyatt) I find myself singing, "At last I am free/I can hardly see in front of me." Elliott Smith is no longer with us, and I don't know what to say except that I will miss him -- and in my selfish way, I'm mourning the loss of all the great music he had in him that no-one will ever hear. Each of his records (particularly the last three) is a work of art -- brimming with melody, emotion, musicality, honesty and (let's not forget this in our rush to Cobainize him as a mere conduit for Pain) gorgeous artifice. He could be straightforward but he also knew how to turn an illuminating phrase a la Costello. I think he was possibly the best songwriter of the last 10 years. John Cougar Mellencamp ranks quite a few places below Elliott in the BSOTLTY stakes, but clap clap has a thoroughly enjoyable appreciation of "Pink Houses" to which I'd direct your attention. | Thursday, October 16, 2003
No Surrender Japanese Holdouts After WWII: "World War II did not neatly end with Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945. At its height the Japanese Empire was more than 20 million square miles of land and sea. Soldiers in isolated regions fought on for years after the surrender some unaware the war had ended, other refusing to believe. Some hide in the jungles alone, others fought in groups and continued to make attacks and conduct guerilla warfare. These men were called Japanese Holdouts, or Stragglers and their stories are some of the most fascinating human interest stories of the 20th Century." Absolutely astonishing stuff. [via TalkingPointsMemo] | Austin just passed a ban on smoking in restaurants and clubs -- it hasn't gone into effect yet and there's a good chance it will be overturned before it can. I counted myself among the opponents of the ban -- it infringes on personal freedom, and as a CCMOTACLU, I don't believe that being irritated by cigarette smoke merits governmental abrogation of personal freedom. The health risks to workers in those establishments is a different story, however -- and the results of a study recounted in this New York Times editorial may have pushed me into the pro-ban camp. [via TMN] | Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Absolutely bursting with absurdity. Sure, a dog giving it the Heil Hitler gets you some of the way there, but a Hitler t-shirt strikes me as just as strange. Such a weird consumerist trivialization -- he couldn't be there during the war, so he wears the t-shirt. Not to mention the image of an uniformed Hitler-tache-sporting Deutschlander professing bemusement at all the fuss while he orders his dog to give a Nazi salute. -- nothing to see here. And what is an Aryan supremacist doing with a mongrel dog anyway? Anyway, without further ado: Dog taught to give Hitler salute: BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man who taught his dog Adolf to give a Hitler salute by raising his right paw has been charged with violating Germany's anti-Nazi laws, a Berlin court says. Police investigated after members of the public complained they had seen the man giving the stiff-arm 'Hitler salute' and telling his dog: 'Adolf sit, give me the salute!', a court spokeswoman said. As he was questioned by police the man ordered his black mongrel to give them the Hitler salute as well, she said. Germany has strict laws banning the use of Nazi symbols, but the man, Roland Thein, sporting a Hitler-style moustache and military tunic, said he didn't understand what the fuss was about. Thein demonstrated Adolf's 'Hitler salute' trick to a Reuters photographer in his back yard in southwestern Berlin after summoning the dog from a kennel with 'Adolf' painted over the entrance. 'Adolf, give me the salute!' Thein barked as the dog raised his right paw. Thein also said he welcomed the media attention he and his dog were getting. The trial is set for Thursday. Thein is also accused of shouting the Nazi battlecry 'Sieg Heil' in front of Berlin police and of wearing a 'Hitler' T-shirt and shouting 'Heil Hitler' at a market in the city." | The New Stop-Dean Candidate: "The more Dean's rivals expose his record, the more I suspect that the centrist who's going to spare Democrats this left-wing nightmare isn't any of these guys. It's Howard Dean." | Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Friday, October 10, 2003
Oh well, looks like EMusic just shot themselves in the foot. I guess it wasn't going well. 40 downloads a month isn't much of a value proposition for customers. | Thursday, October 09, 2003
One of the negatives about having your office in the muthascratchin' hallway is that when you burst out laughing for no apparent reason the sound carries somethin' fierce. | Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Arnold Kling (whose book I've been reading lately) has written a great Open Letter to Paul Krugman which delves into the distinction between what Kling calls Type C arguments (arguments about consequences) and Type M arguments (arguments about motives). In good Hayakawan fashion, I feel this is an absolutely crucial distinction and the key to cutting through bullshit from both the left and the right. The hallmark of the sophisticated mind is the ability to say "I don't like George but I like this idea he supports" and "I like George but this idea of his is a poor one." I think Paul Krugman is great, but his widely-heralded "radicalization" of the past couple years has left me cold because he's taken to opining about the motives of the people pushing the right-wing policies he attacks. When he sticks to skewering the illogical and destructive policies of the W administration, he's brilliant. | Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Monday, October 06, 2003
Black artists take over US top 10: "The American Billboard singles chart top 10 is made up exclusively of tunes from black artists for the first time." Hunh. I confess, I love the fact that tracks #4-#7 in the US Top 10 are: 4. Right Thurr 5. Frontin' 6. Damn! 7. P.I.M.P | Blogging about losing my job in real-time! Just got out of my manager's office...wholly expected, a sense of relief more than anything else. I'm remarkably calm, unlike last time. I guess these things get easier with practice. I'm still here for two weeks to transition my accounts -- because they would be fucked if I just walked out, and we both know it. Now what? That's the question. | Sunday, October 05, 2003
Lost In Translation -- one of the most beautiful films I've seen in ages. Can't summon the words at the moment, but Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson turn in truly remarkable, nuanced performances and Sofia Coppola proves herself to be more than a one-trick pony as a director. I can't wait to see it again. | I just got back taking Dexter for a walk around Brentwood Park, behind our house. As we headed into the homestretch, I could hear music -- live music -- coming from one of the backyards facing the park. It turned out to be emanating from an impromptu stage set up in someone's driveway. A fiddle player, pianist and drummer, each in their 60s or 70s, were nonchalantly bashing out an infectiously swinging version of Sweet Georgia Brown, replete with Le Jazz Hot soloing. A gaggle of guests, most of whom appeared of a similar age, sat watching in lawn chairs arranged across the concrete. A younger woman held a video camera, a little girl slinked around and through the legs of those standing around the periphery. I told Dexter to sit (it worked!) and stood across the street, taking in the scene and enjoying the novelty. It didn't take long before some of the guests noticed our presence and began doffing their baseball caps and smiling at us. I smiled back and kept tapping my foot so that they could see I was genuinely enjoying the music, despite the impression an Afghan Whigs t-shirt might have conveyed to the contrary. Before long an older lady walked across the street to me to fill me in. The musicians had a band together as youngsters, when they all attended a school for the blind. Over the years, their paths had diverged, but this weekend was their reunion -- they had not played together in 47 years. My jaw dropped. "47 years apart and they sound like that?", I said. She nodded, smiling -- "47 years, and they're blind." And they were playing in the driveway, their backdrop a garage door. "The piano player is Bobby Doyle, I don't know if you've heard of him", she continued. I hadn't, but I just looked him up: he wrote songs for Fabian, was a member of Blood Sweat & Tears, and put out a solo album featuring the great Steve Cropper on guitar. "He plays at Eddie V's downtown," she said. "Thanks for telling me the story, they sound great," I said. We waved goodbye and Dexter and I walked on. | Friday, October 03, 2003
MP3 of the Time Increment: god, how long has it been? I've been busy, folks. Consumed -- consumed -- with all manner of bullshit. I'm still waist deep in it, but it's time to turn my attention back to what matters. Our love is all we have: Wilco performing Jesus, Etc. on Leno. If that organ and Tweedy's exquisite vocal doesn't slay you, then you've already been slayed by something else. Now I lie awake at night and dream about what I will do if I'm ever set free: The New Pornographers version of The Donner Party's When I Was A Baby. John Wesley Harding used to cover this live, and I thought it was one of his -- that same slightly twisted narrative sensibility. Instead it's from the pen of Sam Coomes, and the Newps turn this into a harmony-soaked perversely-uplifting waltz. | Upcoming.org is a collaborative events calendar -- you can browse through stuff going on in your town, mark what you're planning to see or do, and take a look at which events your friends are planning to attend. All my theatrical and musical peeps (and I know you're out there) -- latch onto this as a promotional tool. Add your play/gig to the list. See who else is going to see that show and email them to meet up for dinner beforehand. Once you've joined, add me as a friend here. | Some Friday morning goodness from b3ta: a fun early '80s video game-meets-Van Halen video some amusing Amazon customer reviews of "Sex, Freud and Folly" by Martin Wank and last but not least, ArafatBoy Slim. | Thursday, October 02, 2003
It looks like Dean has raised about $15 million this quarter, roughly triple what the Democratic runners-up will have raised. But while everyone raves about the raw total -- and it is very impressive -- equally important is the low "cost of sales". Raising money by direct mail is expensive (printing, postage, return postage), and Dean's supremacy in online fundraising means he keeps more of each dollar he raises. That advantage translates directly into more staffers, more TV ads, etc. People should be looking at the "profit margins" in addition to the "revenues". What's more, raising money by direct mail is slow. Printers need time to print, even first class mail adds a few days to the cycle.... Having an "on-demand" online base means Dean can raise money in a more ad-hoc fashion to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. It's a much more nimble infrastructure. | A remarkably personal piece on Howard Dean that I'd missed when it first ran in February. Synopsis: he's a New Yorker, he covers Willie Nelson songs on his guitar, his house is a mess, he and his wife raised their kids Jewish, and a loss in his family probably makes him more attuned to the dangers of outing undercover CIA operatives than a lot of other people seem to be. | Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Bush Shrugs Off Democrats, Attacks: "'I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news,' the president said. 'And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world.'" Bwahahah. Ahahahhahahah. Hahaahaahahahahahaaaaa. [stops. absorbs. zoom in on tear silently rolling down cheek.] If he's serious about this, then he will lose the election. He's surrounded by ideologues (and Karl Rove). Actually, this "insulation" explains a lot. | Friday, September 19, 2003
If I were using Movable Type for this blog, I'd create a category called Squirreliana. The latest distinguished addition to the ranks is courtesy of ToT, whom I'm looking forward to meeting at the ACLFest this weekend. Anyway, without further ado: Touched by a Squirrel | Skype "Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users. – not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends. The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You’ll be making perfect quality free phone calls to your friends in no time!" I downloaded it after being intrigued by the rampant enthusiasm for it on Unbound Spiral. It seems to work on my circa 1998 Windows98 laptop, but I don't know anyone who has it so I haven't called anyone (cough). I also don't have a microphone but apparently you can plug headphones into the Mic jack and that'll work fine. | Thursday, September 18, 2003
Mistakes of Vietnam repeated with Iraq Vietnam vet and former U.S Senator Max Cleland does not pull any punches with this one. The point that jumped out at me: "If you adopt the strategy of pre-emptive war, your intelligence must be not just "darn good," as the president has said; it must be "bulletproof," as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the administration's was against Saddam Hussein." I have to say, I had no doubt whatsover that Saddam had chemical weapons. Looks like I was wrong. [via Daily Kos] | addyourown: New York restaurants and reviews Be sure to add your favorite to the list -- it's very easy (and as we all know, that's the key). | Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Dean Campaign Announces Major Endorsement. I love this. No other campaign has this type of sensibility -- the other candidates can launch blogs all day long and not get there. | Monday, September 15, 2003
Why don't we reframe the conflict in the Middle East as "two-staters vs. totalizers" -- because that is the salient difference here. Most Israelis and most Palestinians are in favor of a two-state solution. They therefore share a common interest in bringing about an independent Palestinian state and making Israel feel secure about that development. The two-staters are not the ones blowing up buses in Tel Aviv or deliberately settling occupied West Bank territory. The ones doing the damage and inflaming passions on both sides are the totalizers, for whom any two-state solution is an unacceptable sellout. Israeli and Palestinian totalizers share a common interest in preventing a two-state solution and in perpetuating a winner-take-all conflict. Statesmen like Abbas and Peres work to make the two-state solution a reality, in the face of suicide bombings, house razings, inflammatory actions by both sides. Of course there is ground that needs to be bridged, but both camps acknowledge the need for two states at peace with one another. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are committed totalizers -- that's why the roadmap was doomed to failure. These organizations have absolutely no incentive to advance the peace process by refraining from terror. Therefore they have no incentive to help Abbas, Qureia or anyone else create the conditions for a two-state solution. I believe the only reason they even agreed to a ceasefire was so that they could wreck it ignominiously, driving more frustrated and angry civilians on both sides into the totalizer camp. Hamas and the Israeli hawks need one another -- they feed off of the other's provocation. Hamas loves it when Israel kills little Palestinian kids while trying to take out a terrorist...it just drives more Palestinians into the totalizer category. Men like Sharon and Arafat? Both of them claim to be two-staters, but their actions belie that designation. That's the heart of the problem. The Palestinian Authority has to crack down on Hamas, Al-Aqsa and Islamic Jihad. Israel has to empower the PA to do so. Neither Sharon nor Arafat are committed to making these two things happen. | MADONNA'S QUESTION: WHO'S ENID BLYTON?. This is an entirely unacceptable oversight. Pull your finger out, Madge! [via tmftml] | Dozens of covers of "Summertime" for download. Unless you read Russian, you'll want to mouseover each link to and check your browser's status bar to see who the artist is. [via aprendiz de todo] | Friday, September 12, 2003
Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist [via tmn] Update: fixed link. Thanks, Lu! | Thursday, September 11, 2003
Study Finds WTC Fires Spewed Toxic Gases for Weeks Ah. I worked a few blocks from there, and it would've been nice to know that at the time. You see, because now I may have sulfuric acid, "carcinogenic organic matter" (i.e bits of dead people?), and undissolvable particles of glass in my bloodstream, heart, and lungs. The EPA says they were pressured to delete cautionary statements from their reports at the time. | The September 11 Digital Archive. And on a more personal note: this. I don't think I ever did post the story of my experiences on that day. Update: By the way, I've never taken down the MP3 of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell blaming gays, lesbians, feminists, atheists, ACLU, People For the American Way etc. for 9.11. I wanted to make sure that anyone Googling for it could find it. I'm happy to say I do get the occasional hit from people looking for it. You can listen to it again here. | Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Glenn Tilbrook's next album will include collaborations with Elvis Costello and Chris Difford, plus a cover of a song by Austin's own Cornell Hurd Band (!) | AccuRadio.com -- pretty well-put-together online radio station. I'm listening to the Brit Rock stream right now. [via large hearted boy] | RIAA settles with 12-year-old girl I hope the record company conglomerates feel better now that they've gotten $2,000 bucks out of a woman who lives in an NYC housing project. Given the enormous impact that $2,000 will have on the RIAA's coffers and the drop-in-the-bucket it represents to Ms. Torres and her 12-year-old honor student daughter, it seems like a fair and equitable settlement for sharing your J-Lo MP3s on Kazaa. Great PR too. Go get 'em guys! Update: a P2P group will pick up the tab for Ms. Torres. | Some fun optical illusions. Good for re-setting a deadened brain...mental palate cleansers. [via boing boing] | Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has been on-point lately, especially with the analogy he draws between Rumsfeld's "Bush critics aid the terrorists" meme and the infamous "stab-in-the-back" meme that helped undermine the Weimar Republic after WWI. It's straight-up cynical bullshit, folks -- and I think it has to be disgusting quite a few moderate Republicans as well. | Monday, September 08, 2003
Democrats Split on Pushing the Personal or the Political When Esquire ran photos of each major Democratic candidate with their families, Dean chose to be surrounded by campaign interns, citing a desire to keep his family out of things. His wife doesn't even accompany him to many political functions -- he's escorted by Evan Bayh's wife instead (which is pretty weird, I must say). Personally, I much prefer Dean's style of keeping his personal life in the background. As a marketer, I'm hyper-aware of the political calculus behind trotting out your personal tragedies or playing up your Perfect Nuclear Family for the cameras, and it makes me feel ill to see it. I respect someone who refuses to pimp out his personal life much more than someone for whom it's all election fodder. Then again, I don't need to feel like my President could be my best friend, or that large corporations whose products I purchase have to somehow care deeply about me as an individual despite never having met me (and how does one meet a corporation anyway?). | An interview with spelling bee contestant Angela, made famous in the documentary film Spellbound. [via Mena] | Thursday, September 04, 2003
Thanks to FutureMe.org, I can send an email to myself in the future. I'm almost overwhelmed at all the things I want to say to then-me. Should I carefully document my current emotional state, my hopes and my fears, so I can look back on now-me with wistfulness/pity/fondness/envy? Should I say something whimsical? When considering what to write, should I prioritize what I want to write about now or what I'd want to read about then? How far into the future should I email myself? A year? Twenty years? Sixty years? Isn't this blog just one big email to my future self? What will go in your email to your future self? P.S -- It's interesting to see how others have treated the opportunity. [via TMN] | Sunday, August 31, 2003
Joe Lieberman sounds like the dad on ALF. Go on, try it next time you see him on the news: "No, ALF, not the cat...." | Friday, August 29, 2003
MTV's spontaneous night of crazy fun. Fellow Austinite Neal Pollack says it better than I, of course. | Jeff pointed me to a recent NY Times Magazine article about the sickeningly talented Jon Brion. Well, Jeff and everyone else ought to read this fan review of Brion's most recent show at Largo, in which he ran through the history of 20th Century pop music. All Or Nothing At All, Words Of Love, and Lithium? And did I mention he hops from instrument to instrument recording and looping each part of each song so that it takes form before your ears? If someone has a bootleg, please forward it to the Smithsonian for posterity forthwith. | Music for the Masses This is a great idea -- assembling personal reminiscences sparked by particular songs. I especially liked the entry about The Connells song "Stone Cold Yesterday", a great tune I haven't heard in years. Reading these stories after having consumed the blogverse's response to the MTV VMA Awards (yes I watched; yes I felt icky except for when Beyonce was on) makes it clearer than ever that there's Music and there's the Music Business and that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Any overlap is purely accidental. | Baghdad Burning -- another remarkable weblog written by an Iraqi who writes better English than I do. Her entry from yesterday on the costs of reconstruction is an eye opener. | Thursday, August 28, 2003
Niceupofteaandasitdown.com. Yes. Yes. Yes. Finally a reason for my grandmother to get online. I especially like their Mission Statement: Our Mission Statement Well I think we should all sit down and have a nice cup of tea, and some biscuits, nice ones mind you. Oh and some cake would be nice as well. Lovely. | Tuesday, August 26, 2003
As your #1 source for Martin Amis furor news, I bring you: For a British Novelist, Tornadoes in August | Monday, August 25, 2003
Dyke to open up BBC archive: "Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, has announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation's programme archives. Mr Dyke said on Sunday that everyone would in future be able to download BBC radio and TV programmes from the internet. The service, the BBC Creative Archive, would be free and available to everyone, as long as they were not intending to use the material for commercial purposes, Mr Dyke added." Wow. [via boing boing] | Sunday, August 24, 2003
"Dickens with a snarl": Yellow Dog by Martin Amis Let's hope this review from The Observer is more indicative of the novel's quality. "Your first reaction on reading a novel as mind-tinglingly good as Yellow Dog is not so much admiration as a kind of grateful despair. Mostly this is because, like all great writers, he seems to have guessed what you thought about the world, and then expressed it far better than you ever could." And while the novel is not about the post-Atta era, Amis unsurprisingly appears to engage with some of the fallout of 9/11: "What motivates all these stories is the itch of vengeance: the 'circular arguments' of reprisal, and 'the misery of recurrence' that threatens to reverse personal and cultural development. What knits them together is the way that vengeance emerges as a pathological version of the ordinary human need for reciprocity and exchange...." "The itch of vengeance" is certainly manifest in the events of September 11th, and many of the the subsequent personal, political and cultural reactions to it from people and institutions around the world threaten to join it in "reversing personal and cultural development". That itch is presently being scratched by parties operating in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Monrovia, Kandahar, Austin, Sacramento, and Washington D.C. I'm looking forward to Amis's explorations of the phenomenon. | Friday, August 22, 2003
George W. Bush just raised $1 million from 500 donors during a campaign stop in Portland. The Howard Dean campaign is attempting to match that total this weekend, but by raising it online from thousands of ordinary contributors. The graphic below will update hourly or so to chart their progress. 
For what it's worth, Dean has opened up a 7 point lead in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. | Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Monday, August 11, 2003
Friday, August 08, 2003
So Tibor Fischer doesn't like Martin Amis's new novel, Yellow Dog. Why not? I don't know -- his "review" in the Telegraph neglects to articulate any reasons. Instead he rambles on about his bad experiences with Amis's agent, devotes much of the piece to slagging of Amis's memoir Experience, muses on why Amis is friends with Christopher Hitchens, devises ever more juvenile ways to describe how much he hates the new book -- but never actually explains why he hates it, what's wrong with it, where Amis fails. Fischer gives the reader absolutely nothing to go on. It doesn't help that Fischer's piece reads like a transcription of an underachieving second-grader's book report. Perhaps Yellow Dog shows that Amis's touch has deserted him -- I don't know, I haven't read it. But on this evidence, it's Fischer's skillz that have atrophied, not Marty's. | Thursday, August 07, 2003
A perceptive roundtable about the genius that is The Office from new webzine High Hat. For my fellow Americans who don't have BBC America, The Office will be out on DVD shortly. A Using Bees Must-Own. [via TimO] | Tuesday, August 05, 2003
I can't imagine that this means anything to most of you but I have to acknowledge the sadness I feel on the day that West Ham sells Joe Cole -- England's great hope, heart and soul of the club, the player more than any other who battled valiantly to keep us in the Premiership -- to rivals Chelsea FC.  It's been known for a while that he was unlikely to sign a new contract, but because he so clearly loved West Ham, there was always the hope.... The last few weeks have seen the nucleus of the club's future sold off to Chelsea. Glen Johnson and Joe Cole -- two young kids under 22 who bucked the cynical money-grubbing trend and evidenced real love and passion for West Ham, two kids who are guaranteed to be England regulars for the next 10-12 years, two kids who represented the hopes of long-suffering West Ham supporters -- forced to move because the board failed to invest enough to keep the club in the Premiership. After relegation, they assured the fans there was no need to sell the core of the team, but now they have done just that. I feel sick seeing the headline, I will feel sick seeing Joe in Chelsea blue, I will feel sick hearing those lucky Chelsea fans* singing about Joey Cole, but I will follow his exploits with pride. Best of luck, Joe -- you did everything you could. You'll always have a warm reception at Upton Park. The only silver lining is that he didn't go to Man U. *A few weeks ago, out of the blue, Chelsea was purchased by a Russian billionaire who has proceeded to spend 43 million pounds ($69,000,000) to bring in some of the best players in the world -- and there are more to come. By definition, things like that do not happen to West Ham United. | Monday, August 04, 2003
This month's Howard Dean Meetup is on Wednesday at 7pm in cities around the country and around the world. I'd encourage all Using Bees readers to check it out. If you're leaning towards Dean, this is a great way to experience the infectious optimism and empowerment of a real grass-roots campaign. If you support someone else -- Democrat or otherwise -- you should come along to see the future of political campaigning. If your guy or gal isn't taking advantage of Meetups this time around, they will next time. There will be no pressure to participate -- you can just observe. As far as the Austin Meetups are concerned, I gather that the Scholz Garden Meetup will be more action-oriented and the Central Market North one will be more socializing/educational. | Thursday, July 31, 2003
Fans Roll to 'Big Lebowski' Fest in Ky.: "'Rarely when I see one of my films on TV do I watch the entire thing, but whenever `Lebowski' comes on, I get hooked,' Bridges said from New York, where he's promoting his new film, 'Seabiscuit.' 'I've got to see Turturro lick the bowling ball.'" Update: the official recap. | Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Jim Henley is eloquently indignant at the appalling intelligence-gathering tactics being used in Iraq, as reported by the Washington Post. Did I say intelligence-gathering? I meant hostage-taking. Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later. The tactic worked. On Friday, Hogg said, the lieutenant general appeared at the front gate of the U.S. base and surrendered. My case -- and now, ex post facto, the administration's case -- for invading Iraq was predicated on bringing freedom and justice to a population starved for it after decades of tyranny. Taking hostages is not just morally unworthy of the United States, it is actively detrimental to America's national security and -- more immediately -- the physical security of soldiers in the field. | Monday, July 28, 2003
Further to Lulu's post from Friday: A Dean secret weapon in Iowa. Extending the message of the Dean campaign beyond the election sphere and into soup kitchens not only channels all that positive energy into something even more meaningful, but handily makes a political point in perhaps the most profound way possible. Show, not tell. Very exciting. | Wednesday, July 23, 2003
Creation Science Fair 2001. My favorite bit: probably "Honorable Mention: "God Made Kitty" - Sally Reister (grade 3) Oh and ""Thermodynamics Of Hell Fire" - Tom Williamson (grade 12)" Belated congratulations to all the winners! Update: hold on. It was all fun and games until I saw this line "This is also the first year that Muslim students from the Al-Jannah Islamic school have been invited to participate; two of their students presented a project on human anatomy entitled "Allah (SWT) Created Me" which, while it was found ineligible for a prize due to a number of Biblical inconsistencies [emphasis added], did win a special Interfaith Outreach ribbon." Yuck. Arrogance masquerading as genuine tolerance. But then again -- what am I talking about -- this is a Creation Science fair. If they were that rigorous in their thinking, they would jettison the attempt to give creationism a scientific patina and affirm their faith in Creationism regardless. | Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Monday, July 21, 2003
New Rufus album November 23rd. Notes: More here. | Thursday, July 17, 2003
Clap Clap starts by analyzing a handwringing Salon piece on Toby Keith and ends up diagnosing a core problem with liberal responses to mass-market culture. Ok, that didn't make it sound very compelling, but it is, it is. The last few paragraphs are gold. It's worth the read. | Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Friday, July 11, 2003
Shilling for Schick - Jewel hates ads. Except the ones that use her new hit single. Irony #226: The ad for Jewel's album at the bottom of the article. These things get complicated, don't they? It's enough to choke a Morrissette. | Typepad looks like it's going to be pretty cool. Blogger have their work cut out for them -- no reason they can't do all this stuff, but I'm sure Google have some plans for them as well, so they're going to have to be nimble. | Thursday, July 10, 2003
I'm listening to Michael Savage for the first time. It's frankly bizarre. In the wake of his recent firing from MSNBC, there's much self-aggrandizing talk of the "I went too high too fast and the establishment took me down" stripe. He careens wildly from the obligatory Clinton rants to 6th-whiskey-and-coke musings on religion and God's good order, to extensive (approving) recitation from obscure Henry Miller novels. He's waxing eloquent about Jack Kerouac (led astray by "literary friends") and appropriating Orwell as a conservative. "Diversity is perversity", thinly veiled homophobia, "radical left-wing jackals" -- he lives in an unrecognizable country where the Left apparently dominates the culture. He sports a painfully obvious messiah complex, and I lost count of the internal contradictions in his arguments -- they are simply swallowed up in the wave of acidic bluster. That said, his callers are ten times scarier. You can hear the foam. | Monday, July 07, 2003
Rudayday's July 4th entry featured a great quotation about national pride from philosopher Richard Rorty, along with rudayday's usual striking photography. | Thursday, July 03, 2003
Bush Utters Taunt About Militants: 'Bring 'Em On' This is utterly disgusting. What must the anxious families of exhausted American soldiers in Iraq think when they hear the President of the United States invite guerillas to attack their loved ones? When there's another dead soldier each and every day? All in the name of macho posturing? It may or may not encourage attacks -- I'm inclined to think it won't make any difference. But it's a grossly inappropriate and hurtful thing for the Commander-in-Chief to say, and I can't believe more isn't being made of it. Can you imagine the outcry if Clinton had said such a thing when he was President? | Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Strom's Skeleton - The late segregationist's black daughter. I did not know that. In related news: ""When he dies," Senator John Tower once said, "they'll have to beat his pecker down with a baseball bat to close the coffin lid." | Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Monday, June 30, 2003
Howard Dean has stunned pundits by raising (as of 5:20pm CST) almost $7 million this quarter, half of that coming in the last week -- despite an appearance on Meet The Press that had me and many others wincing in embarassment. Dean's fundraising success adds weight to the argument that he is now a first-tier candidate, rather than an insurgent. The New Republic articulates what is so exhilarating about this phenomenon, whether or not one is a Dean supporter: "But whether this ultimately helps Dean's candidacy or hurts it, any fan of democracy has to feel good about what Dean has done. Raising money is typically an exercise in political prostitution, with politicians promising (some reluctantly, some enthusiastically) to please fat-cat financiers in exchange for their donations. Dean, by contrast, has raised his money by collecting smaller donations from thousands of individuals whom he has inspired. (Among the major candidates, Dean had the lowest average donation during the first quarter--and is all but certain to enjoy the same distinction this time around.) That means Dean's fundraising is a far closer approximation of his actual support--measured either in intensity, or sheer numbers of backers, or both--than we're accustomed to seeing in American politics. And at a time when money all too frequently skews public policy away from public opinion, that's worth cheering. " | Incredibly Hot Girl With a Cane. I remember an incredibly hot girl with a cane walking around Park Slope two summers ago -- is it possible this Craigslist item is a re-post? Heh heh. | Thursday, June 26, 2003
For y'all IE users, the new version of the indispensable Google toolbar blocks pop-up ads and integrates a little "Blog This" button to facilitate posting to Blogger. | I've been messing around with RSS aggregators for the last few days. For those who aren't aware, RSS stands for -- depending on whom you talk to -- either Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication. Essentially it's software that goes out and pulls the latest posts from your favorite weblogs and news sites, and consolidates them in one place. The idea (admittedly akin to the ill-fated "push" technologies of A.D 1997) is that you don't have to surf around from site to site to read the latest -- your RSS software pulls the latest at pre-determined intervals and presents it to you, saving you time and hassle. Plus aggregators tend to strip out ads, etc. so there are some usability benefits as well. RSS aggregators can also pull mailing list postings -- for instance every Yahoo group you belong to also has an RSS feed. A lot of weblogs offer RSS feeds -- you might see links in people's sidebars saying "Syndicate this site" or just a little button saying "XML". All of those mean that the site has an RSS feed you can use, and that you can copy the link into your aggregator to start receiving it. I'm still unsure about the long-term utility of an RSS aggregator and whether I'll stick with it, but I'm already getting irritated that some weblogs don't have RSS feeds -- I want to see all the sites I read in one place. For those sites that don't have RSS feeds (like most blogspot blogs) there are services that can create one. Blogstreet lets you input any blog's URL and create an RSS feed for it, but it appears to be down lately...don't know if it's dead or what. Blogger Pro supposedly supports RSS but apparently it don't work so good. I've settled on the free version of NewsMonster, which integrates into your Netscape or Mozilla (Netscape without the bells and whistles) browser. You can sort your feeds into folders -- I have Web, Culture, Politics, Football, Music, Friends, etc, and it's easy to pick and choose what you'd like to read. There are some still some issues, but overall it's been worthwhile. I'd also tried Amphetadesk, which is probably slightly easier to get started with. However, I prefered the NewsMonster interface, plus I could never get automatic aggregation to work properly with Amphetadesk. These are still early days for aggregators, but I think RSS has some interesting online marketing applications if it takes off...it obviates concerns about "opt-in" for a start. Anyway, all of this is to say that if any of you would like to read this blog via RSS, you can now do so -- my RSS feed is here, thanks to BlogMatrix. | Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Muppets NWA. I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard -- so juvenile and so deeply, deeply enjoyable. | The Onion's republished an interview they did with Tom Waits. An excerpt: O: What are you driving these days? TW: Oh, I got a beautiful 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille four-door. No one will ride in it with me. O: Why's that? TW: It's unsafe. But it looks good. I take it to the dump. We spend a lot of time in our cars. You know what I really love? The CD players in a car. How when you put the CD right up by the slot, it actually takes it out of your hand, like it's hungry. It pulls it in, and you feel like it wants more silver discs. "More silver discs. Please." I enjoy that. O: Do you have one in the Cadillac? TW: No, I have a little band in there. It's an old car, so I have a little old string band in the glove compartment. It's grumpy. You know the average person spends two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change? O: Really? I would actually guess a little more. TW: I would guess more, too. I'm thinking, two weeks, you know... O: That sounds like a bargain. TW: During your whole lifetime, though. You know mosquito repellents don't actually repel anything? They actually hide you because they block the mosquito's sensors. They don't know that you're there. It's like blinding them. | Tuesday, June 24, 2003
Howard Dean is hoping to raise $3.5 million this quarter. George W. Bush just raised $4 million in one night. This link could come in handy over the next 18 months: Opensecrets.org | Any of y'all know of any vacancies or soon-to-be vacancies in Brooklyn? pinky & matty, y'all got peeps lined up to move in when you wash your hands of the city? I've got a friend who's Brooklyn-bound and looking for a place...please post to comments or email the proprietor.... | Monday, June 23, 2003
Catch Beckham's Real Madrid medical on pay-per-view. Everyone will be tuning in for "Turn your head and cough". [via large hearted boy] | Friday, June 20, 2003
"StrangeBanana is a program that creates a random webpage design. The page design you are looking at has never been seen before - it was created programmatically just now. If you want, you can use this design for your own website (in that case you should save it immediately, because when you leave the page, you will never be able to get the same design again)." [via b3ta] | Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Clouds and moon move to block the sun. Yesterday I got a call from my grandmother. She rang to thank me again for giving her a CD of Lehar's Die lustige Witwe, an operetta she used to listen to as a girl in Vienna. All the words have come back to her, she said, and she enjoys singing along with it. She said listening to it reminds her of her mother (whom she last saw in 1939). | Tuesday, June 17, 2003
MoveOn.org -- a left-leaning online activism group with 1.5 million American members -- is holding a primary soon to see which Democratic presidential candidate the group will endorse and raise money for. MoveOn has both influence -- they mobilized the public outcry that is forcing Congress to consider rolling back the FCC's decision on media ownership -- and moneyraising clout, so their backing is of no small importance to the candidates. There's still time to register to vote in this primary by going here -- if you're a Democrat, you should do so no matter whom your preferred candidate is. Update: a Washington Post story cites an analyst claiming MoveOn could raise $10 million for their chosen candidate. | Monday, June 16, 2003
The dog now sleeps in the other room, because his crate rustling keeps punkrockgirl up. It's working out just fine -- Dexter's been cool about it -- but I've started waking up in the mornings afraid that he's died during the night. So I have to go and check on him...which wakes him up and prompts vigorous crate rustling as he runs through his repertoire of hilariously soulful hound howls. Lately I've been feeling...unusual. | Various well-meaning message board posters turn their attentions to the monumental task of coming up with nice things to say about Journey's "Don't Stop Believin". The thread charts their miserable -- and sadly inevitable -- failure, but does lead one to the amusing Flash video someone concocted. Heaven is defined a moose? | Friday, June 13, 2003
For all y'all Cat People out there (especially those who name theirs after rotund closeted film British film directors. And for Nastassja Kinski): the denizens of b3ta take up the challenge of If Cats Ruled The World. | Thursday, June 12, 2003
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
punkrockgirl and I attended the Howard Dean rally in East Austin last night, and it was a rousing success. Others have posted accounts of the night -- I'll restrict my comments to the following: To me those facts indicate political courage above and beyond what one would expect. 3000-odd people coming out for a rally 18 months before an election is a testament to the pent-up disgust for Bush among Democrats, the inspirational quality of Dean's campaign to date, and the unprecedented grass-roots infrastructure that the Internet has facilitated. It's this last point that's got me worked up today. Item: 3200 people attended the Austin rally -- unheard of for this stage of the campaign, but even more amazing when you realize that the thing was set up with 10 days notice entirely by local volunteers. Dean raised almost $20,000 at the rally, got a bunch of people to sign the petition ensuring he's on the ballot in Texas, and undoubtedly signed up a truckload of new volunteers as well. Apparently, when Clinton hit Austin at the same stage of the campaign in '91, 75 people showed up. Item: 33,176 people enrolled in Dean Meetup. Item: the DNC has set up ePatriots, a test campaign to raise money online via prominent bloggers. It's being tested on one blog. First day's total: $20,000. Item: another prominent blogger is mulling over a plan to identify one key Congressional race where a late injection of funds could make the difference, quickly raise the money from his audience, and then donate it in an effort to tip the scales. Call it just-in-time fundraising. It's a more nimble approach that is only possible online. Clearly we're just getting started here. Online political fundraising/campaigning is going to grow up before our very eyes, and it will become very sophisticated very quickly. | Monday, June 09, 2003
Friday, June 06, 2003
Sistra v is back! Replete with psychedelic visuals and sobering reports from the NYC public school system.... Welcome back, V. | A few weeks ago, when my cousins from the UK were in town, I went to a karaoke bar for the first time. We turned up five minutes before the bloke was due to shut up shop, but my cousins convinced him to let them have one song. They opted for a Carpenters tune -- Top Of The World, if you must know -- and did a creditable job (I didn't sing -- sorry ladies). However, I have to admit, our family's Carpenters covers can't hold a candle to those lovingly waxed (a-ha! puntastic!) by Kiwi songstress Wing. [via B3ta] | Congrats to Scott, Matt, Brendan, and the Meetup team for being NY1's New Yorkers of the Week this week. You can see the NY1 piece here (requires RealPlayer). Very cool. | Thursday, June 05, 2003
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Monday, June 02, 2003
Friday, May 30, 2003
I've been at a bit of a loose end recently, and having cast about for explanations for this malaise, settled on one or more of the following: 1) 'er indoors almost turning 30 2) jobapathy (one word) 3) imminent residence purchase shock 4) lusty Using Bees harem gone on summer holidays 5) chronic Sisyphean housemessiness resulting in total emotional shutdown 6) i'm a lazy, unmotivated, directionless bastard But it turns out I've merely been suffering from "end of season affective disorder". Phew. One benefit of having been ignominiously relegated to the First Division is that the season starts earlier. C'mon You Irons. | Wednesday, May 28, 2003
In honor of Jeff's completion of his Masters' program, I have compiled the following Masterful EP: 1. To Be A Master 2. Master Thesis 3. Master Of Reality 4. Master Of Puppets You'll have to download to find out who the performers are. | Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Further to my 5.21 post on California tracking anti-war protestors, the state's AG has disavowed CATIC's comments, and claims that they are not keeping any tabs on protestors. I couldn't help smirking at the following though: '"I disassociate myself strenuously" from those comments, said Lockyer, who said he participated in free speech activities himself as a young man.' Ooh, makes it sound so illicit, as if it weren't enshrined in the very first amendment to our venerated constitution. | I've been looking at region-free DVD players lately because I want to watch West Ham United DVDs, English sitcoms that will never make it in the US, and other such items. US manufacturers (or rather US media conglomerates) hate region-free players, and make it very difficult to get them -- most of the ones I looked at were around $300. Er, not an option for me at this juncture. Plus from what I could tell, I'd need a TV that would allow me to play back PAL (the European TV standard) rather than NTSC (the US standard). But today I came across a DVD player that can play MP3 CDs, VCDs, etc....AND (via a slight modification made with the remote) be made into a Region-Free DVD player. In case you're not following my logic, that means all manner of British DVDs are now watchable, not to mention Japanese, French, Swedish and Andorran. Also, the player appears to automatically converts the PAL TV signals to NTSC so that they're watchable on American TVs. My interest was piqued by the aforementioned, but the testosterone started racing when I saw that Amazon has it on sale for $40 after mail-in-rebate. I just ordered one. Can't promise the region-free hack will work, but my research indicates that the odds are very good indeed. Worst comes to worst, it's probably worth the $40 just to play MP3 CDs, which I can't currently do. | Friday, May 23, 2003
Fluxblog nails the utter cowpatness that was Matrix Reloaded (see 5.22 entry). Well said, that man. | Wednesday, May 21, 2003
An exhaustive analysis of various Beatles songs, originally posted on Usenet by the looks of it. Plenty of muso musings, but some stuff for real people as well. Of course I went straight to And Your Bird Can Sing and -- right out of the gate -- an insight: the riff is Baroque. Not just baroque but Baroque. Of course! It all seems rather obvious now, but I'd never seen anyone characterize it that way before. | Simply brain-boggling idiocy that would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. California's anti-terrorism unit was keeping tabs on war protestors. What does one have to do with the other? Let the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) spokesman take you through the impeccable reasoning: "You can make an easy kind of a link that, if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that's being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that (protest)," said Van Winkle, of the state Justice Department. "You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act." If the late S.I Hayakawa had been alive to hear that prize specimen of dis-logic, he would have had no choice but to deliver a linguistic judo chop to the back of that moron's skull. M. Van Winkle continues: "I've heard terrorism described as anything that is violent or has an economic impact, and shutting down a port certainly would have some economic impact. Terrorism isn't just bombs going off and killing people." Well, then Herr Van Winkle, what is terrorism, then? "The state's anti-terror center also operates without a clear definition of terrorism. Asked for one, Van Winkle replied: "I'm not sure where to go with that. But as a state organization, we have this information and we're going to share it." And people wonder why civil libertarians like myself argue that "benign" governmental information-gathering invariably gets put to inappropriate ends. It's because of idiots like Obergruppenfuhrer Van Ribbentrop, that's why. In a totally un-related story, the Defense Department's nakedly unconstitutional civilian electronic surveillance program called "Total Information Awareness" has now been re-named "Terrorist Information Awareness". [via fellow Costello-lister Unqualified Offerings] | Maybe you've seen the video that's been speeding around the 'Net of the dorky kid who recorded himself pretending to engage in a full-on light-saber fight and then forgot to erase it before giving the tape back to his friend. Naturally his friend encoded it and posted it to Kazaa, and next thing you know, the kid is internationally famous. Anyway, the kid has been found, and the blogger who originally posted the video decided to raise a little money to buy the kid an iPod in appreciation. Instead, over $4,000 bucks came rolling in, so they're going to talk to the kid and his family to figure out how to spend it. Original Video Remix How the kid was found Interview with the kid [All courtesy of Waxy.org] | Tuesday, May 20, 2003
All of the songs ever featured on The Gilmore Girls, available for download. And considering the good taste evidenced by that show's music director (Sam Phillips?), it's a nice selection. [via Phancy.com] | As has been pointed out in the discussion threads on Daily Kos -- home of the intelligent Democratic grass roots --, Buffet's article below is a more powerful and plain-spoken attack on Bush's economic policy than anything the Democrats have come up with yet. Pathetic. Other interesting memes making the rounds that appear to me to have some political legs: 1. This is not a Tax Cut -- it's a Tax Shift. Any federal tax savings will be more than offset by rising municipal, state and property taxes implemented by floundering states and localities. 2. This is not a Tax Cut -- it's a Debt Increase | Warren Buffet, on Bush's dividend tax cuts (and the even more ludicrous Congressional compromise): Now the Senate says that dividends should be tax-free to recipients. Suppose this measure goes through and the directors of Berkshire Hathaway (which does not now pay a dividend) therefore decide to pay $1 billion in dividends next year. Owning 31 percent of Berkshire, I would receive $310 million in additional income, owe not another dime in federal tax, and see my tax rate plunge to 3 percent. And our receptionist? She'd still be paying about 30 percent, which means she would be contributing about 10 times the proportion of her income that I would to such government pursuits as fighting terrorism, waging wars and supporting the elderly. Let me repeat the point: Her overall federal tax rate would be 10 times what my rate would be. Administration officials say that the $310 million suddenly added to my wallet would stimulate the economy because I would invest it and thereby create jobs. But they conveniently forget that if Berkshire kept the money, it would invest that same amount, creating jobs as well. Proponents of cutting tax rates on dividends argue that the move will stimulate the economy. A large amount of stimulus, of course, should already be on the way from the huge and growing deficit the government is now running. I have no strong views on whether more action on this front is warranted. But if it is, don't cut the taxes of people with huge portfolios of stocks held directly. (Small investors owning stock held through 401(k)s are already tax-favored.) Instead, give reductions to those who both need and will spend the money gained. Enact a Social Security tax "holiday" or give a flat-sum rebate to people with low incomes. Putting $1,000 in the pockets of 310,000 families with urgent needs is going to provide far more stimulus to the economy than putting the same $310 million in my pockets. When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a "break" requires -- now or down the line -- that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch. And last week the Senate handed the bill to the wrong party. Good sensible bloke, that Buffet. Yay for billionaires! | Friday, May 16, 2003
Yesterday on my way back from lunch, I was stopped on the street by someone from our local public radio station and asked for my opinion on the walkout conducted by the Texas Democrats in order to prevent a naked redistricting power grab engineered by Tom DeLay. The legislators holed up in a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma until it was too late for the bill to pass, and are now back in Austin. Anyway, when I got into work this morning, there was a voice mail from one of my clients asking if I was on the radio this morning or if it was someone who sounded just like me. You can hear my soundbites by clicking here [requires RealAudio]. I'm in there a couple of times. For context, the questions I was asked were "How do you feel about the walkout by the Texas Democrats" and "Do you think the walkout will jeopardize the relationship between the legislators". Initial reactions: 1. God, I sound so American! I mean, I knew that, but.... 2. I talk much more quietly than everyone else! I mean, I knew that, but... 3. The "political theater" reference was courtesy of Daily Kos, which I had read shortly before going to lunch! | You can listen to a bunch of old-time radio shows for free at Radiolovers.com -- comedy shows, variety shows, westerns, music -- I'm listening to Artie Shaw right now. [via Incoming Signals] Along the same lines, BBC Radio 7 (although they air new programming as well, and it's live, not on-demand). | |
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