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1/27/2007
I'm trying to decide which is more disturbing: A) that Victoria 'Posh Spice' Beckam keeps a blog, in which she reveals such insights as, "There are some gorgeous dresses being worn by Hollywood's finest," or B) that professional celebrity Paris Hilton and pornstar Jenna Jameson are collaborating on the television program called Virgin Territory. (Oh, it's a clever premise: They're going to be searching for "actual, live virgins" in LA and New York and documenting their attempts to get laid!) This is what drives our culture, sadly enough. Actually, I think I'm going to go with C) that I'm aware of this crap at all. They're poisoning our information supply. NOW PLAYING: Noonday Underground - "She Knows" Labels: celebrity 1/25/2007
You know, that new Shins album is pretty good, but what I'm really digging right now is an album from last year that I just bought today, On the Freedom Flotilla by Noonday Underground. If you're not familiar with Noonday Underground, bandleader Simon Dine wrote and co-produced some of the best tracks on Paul Weller's Illumination album a few years back, including the single "It's Written in the Stars." First album Self Assembly, featuring the awesome "London," is probably the best point of entry, but it's just about all good. Singer Daisey Martey has a terrific voice—she's got me thinking of Julie Driscoll at the moment—and whereas she only a contributed to a handful of tracks on the earlier albums, she's all over this record. Worth tracking down. NOW PLAYING: Noonday Underground - "Silly Games" Labels: music, noonday underground, shins, weller 1/22/2007
Is it just me or is there something patently wrong about DC Comics launching a line of graphic novels aimed at female readers... without including a single female creator in the mix? I'm looking at the new issue of Diamond's Previews (for non-comics people, that's the catalog comic book retailers order from every month), and there's the flagship title for DC's new Minx line on the cover: The Plain Janes. It's written by Cecil Castellucci with art by Jim Rugg. Inside, we've got a rundown of the next three Minx books: the unfortunately titled Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel; Clubbing by Andi Watson and Josh Howard; Good as July by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm. For the most part, I like all these creators. (Andi Watson and Jim Rugg, in fact, are two of my favorite creators working in comics right now.) I'm sure the books will be great. But if you're aiming a line of books at young women, wouldn't it make sense to have at least a couple female creators involved? Call me crazy, but it seems like going this route opens Minx up to all kinds of ill-will right out of the gate... NOW PLAYING: Brian Auger & The Trinity with Julie Driscoll - "Season of the Witch" 1/21/2007
Followed a link to a clip of Paul Weller being interviewed by Tom Snyder on The Tomorrow Show way back in 1977 and found that the most interesting thing about it was the way Weller and Snyder smoke like chimneys the entire time. I also love the bit where Tom Snyder actually admits he's never heard The Jam's music before—not the kind of frankness you expect to hear on TV these days—but the absolute best moment in this clip is when the camera cuts to Snyder and he's exhaling like a freakin' dragon. NOW PLAYING: Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - "You've Been in Love Too Long" 1/20/2007
So, I was eating chips and salsa last night when I noticed this on the back of the package: "There's nothing quite as satisfying as Garden of Eatin' Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips." Now, I don't know about you, but I can think of many things more satisfying than tortilla chips, whether they're made by Garden of Eatin' or not. I mean, seriously: That's quite a boast. Were they to claim instead, "There's no snack chip quite as satisfying as Garden of Eatin' Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips," I might be able to get behind that, but to claim there's nothing as satisfying as their chips is kind of...well, stretching it. "There's nothing quite as satisfying as reading a good book." I'll buy that. "There's nothing quite as satisfying as finishing a challenging project." That makes a lot of sense. "There's nothing quite as satisfying as this bag of tortilla chips you're chomping on?" Sorry, but no. Really, that's the kind of tagline that could be used to better effect by, I dunno, a certain class of massage parlor. Could be I'm overthinking this all just a bit... NOW PLAYING: Al Green - "Eli's Game" Labels: food 1/14/2007
A Message from Our Leader The fine folks at Reuters put together a selection of quotes by President Bush that go back to March 2003 and the beginning of the war in Iraq. See if you can follow this crap... "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." - May 1, 2003, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished." "I hope there's not an expectation from people that all of a sudden there's going to be zero violence ... It's just not going to be the case." - June 14, 2006, White House Rose Garden. "We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century." - Aug. 30, 2006, Salt Lake City, Utah. "Stay the course means keep doing what you're doing. My attitude is, don't do what you're doing if it's not working - change. Stay the course also means don't leave before the job is done. We're going to get the job done in Iraq." - Oct. 11, 2006, White House Rose Garden. "It's my responsibility to provide the American people with a candid assessment on the way forward... Absolutely, we're winning." - Oct. 25, 2006, White House East Room "We're not winning, we're not losing." - Dec. 19, 2006, interview with Washington Post (published Dec. 20). "The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people - and it is unacceptable to me... Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me. - Jan. 10, 2007, White House library. NOW PLAYING: The Wanderers - "Wiggle Waggle" Labels: politics 1/08/2007
I decided recently that I don't say "thank you" enough. People do things for me and frequently I just respond with "Wow, that's great," or something like that, but I don't seem to say "thank you" nearly enough. I don't know what made focus on that recently, but you know, there it is. I've been making an effort to thank people as often as they give me reason to do so. Today's been a good day for that, because it's my birthday and lots of people have wished me well. I've thanked all of them. My girlfriend got me this nice new Penguin jumper as a birthday gift and then later commented on how swell I looked in it. I thanked her both times. (I think—I'm actually a little hazy on whether I thanked her the first time, because it was still early and I was a little hungover. I might have been off my "thank you" game.) Another friend called earlier to make sure I'd made it home okay after going out last night. I thanked her. So, long story short, I'm really getting into the swing of saying "thank you." What I need to work on now, though, is saying "fuck you." It struck me today that, apart from not saying "thank you" often enough, I'm a little too nice. I tend to internalize things more than I probably should. More than is probably healthy, in fact. Someone does me over and I just try to look the other way, you know? I try to get over it. What really happens in most cases, though, is that I obsess on it and get depressed about not having the nerve to just say "fuck you" and be done with it. So I need to work on that. I've had some success with it in the past, although I probably didn't use those exact words, but I can be quite good at freezing people out, just going cold turkey on 'em and letting them read between the lines. You know, just talking with my feet: "Fuck you." It's probably better to just come out with it, though, because that way my intentions are completely clear. And actually, I suppose "fuck you" and "thank you" can be used in tandem, because generally speaking, I don't arrive at that warm and fuzzy "fuck you" place until I've been taught a good and proper lesson. So I could be thankful for the lesson I've learned, but then hateful for being forced to learn it under whatever the circumstances may be. I'll have to test that out at some point. Considering how generally shitty and disappointing people can be, I'm sure I'll have an opportunity fairly soon. Thank you. NOW PLAYING: Elliott Smith - "Stupidity Tries"  1/01/2007
I'm not sure there's much to miss about 2006, so here's hoping 2007 makes a stronger impression. At the very least, I'm hoping to blog a bit more. I mean, I couldn't actually post fewer entries than I did last year, right? Speaking of which, a number of people have asked why I didn't post my favorite albums list as I've done in years past. The short answer is I didn't see much point—I mean, who really needs more best of lists at the end of the year—but the reality of the situation is the majority of my favorite music over the last year was actually released in the '60s or '70s. There were good albums out this year—Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, Camera Obscura's Let's Get Out of This Country, Cat Power's The Greatest, The Fay Hallam Trinitys's Realm, Arctic Monkeys' debut, etc., but truthfully, I often found myself preferring to listen to Al Green's Greatest Hits or Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's The Complete Duets. And even though I enjoyed the new Bob Dylan record quite a bit, I probably spent more time with Highway 61 Revisited or John Wesley Harding than Modern Times. Anyway, it's a new year, so keep it real. Or whatever. NOW PLAYING: Betty Lavette - "I Feel Good (All Over)" |
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