03.31.2004 | Yes It's Fucking Political
>> A not-so-brief piece on current political goings-on. It's a one-draft affair, so be warned.
Point one: Look, people. It doesn't matter if Richard Clarke has "an axe to grind" or is "disgruntled" or whatever phrase you want to use. What matters is whether or not his allegations are truthful. Saying he has an axe to grind only means that he is motivated to get his charges out there, and there's nothing wrong with that; President Bush was motivated to depose Saddam Hussein, and his supporters got pretty angry when people claimed it was just for his daddy. Saying Clarke's got suspect motivations is exactly the same thing. Reasonable people (and yes, sadly, not all opponents of G.W. Bush are reasonable people) don't care if Bush was secretly elated by the idea of taking down the man who tried to kill his dad. Hell, you and I would be too. What matters is whether or not he allowed that motivation to warp the truth, and the effectiveness, of his policy and positions on waging war in Iraq.
It doesn't matter if Richard Clarke is motivated because Bush used to give him wedgies or because he believes he's the appointed Prophet of a new age. What matters is whether or not what he says is true. And it's pretty obvious that it is. Not only have other high-ranking officials said exactly what he's saying several times before, but he's got nothing to fear from declassification, he was willing and eager to testify under oath, and the Bush Administration has yet to be able to disprove any of his statements. Richard Clarke is, more likely than not, telling the truth, and whether or not he'll sell more books as a result is irrelevant. I mean, fuck, if he is telling the truth, we shouldn't just be buying his book, we should be cutting him checks directly to thank him for having the balls to confront something patently dangerous to American security. So lay off the "partisan" bullshit -- it's pretty clear Clarke isn't an uberliberal -- and spend your time doing your homework and honestly examining the accuracy of both his claim's and the administration's.
Now. In contrast, that brings me to point two:
Pressuring Condoleeza Rice to testify publicly was a big mistake. Pressuring her to testify is fine, especially under oath -- the idea that she was requesting testimony that is not under oath is patently absurd. But why should she be forced to testify in public? Let's face it: She's the national security adviser. If anybody can cite concerns of keeping information secret for national security reasons, it is her. What kind of useful testimony can be extracted from her when her statements can only be about information which the general public is already privy to? This isn't a question of precedent or separation of powers or any of that nonsense -- the fact is, public testimony on the part of Condoleeza Rice likely doesn't help the 9/11 commission or the administration. It was a mistake to make such a fuss about it.
And it's also a mistake to turn around and accuse Bush of "flip-flopping" for allowing Rice to testify. I mean, what the fuck? What you should be doing is not using this opportunity to make a pointless attack that falls apart in the eyes of anyone with even middle-school logic training. You should be using it to reframe this absolutely ridiculous idea of the evils of "flip-flopping," which is completely poisonous to informed discourse. Intellectual rigidity is not really something we should be valuing in our politicians; we should be valuing people who look at all sides of any given scenario and make an informed judgement. If and when new information comes to light, they should have the mental flexibility required to honestly consider that information and change their position accordingly. This notion of "flip-flopping" is actually what gives me faith in John Kerry's capability as a leader. It means he is always thinking; he is never shutting anything down without a second look. I do bemoan the political damage it does to him in the eyes of people who expect some kind of childishly superheroic candidate who's never wrong, but at the same time, it gives me the utmost faith in him as an inquiring and critical mind, and that's certainly something I value and admire in my leaders.
I spent some time listening to "The Majority Report" on the newly launched Air America "liberal talk radio" station today. It was pleasant enough, I suppose, but what I'd really like to see entering the political conversation right now is not a "liberal" viewpoint. We've got entirely too many passionate viewpoints flying around right now, thank you very much. I'd like to see a radio station run by the people at FactCheck.org, something that doesn't just contribute more overheated rhetoric and actually spends some time investigating that funny Socratic concept called "the truth" which we as a culture abandoned sometime in early 2001, with the dawn of the Ari Fleischer age of political discourse, which I summarise in the following way:
REPORTER: (Makes a claim about something the administration said)
FLEISCHER: That's not true.
REPORTER: (Turns around for a minute, fact-checks statement) Actually, it is true.
FLEISCHER AND BY EXTENSION THE MEDIA AND AMERICAN PUBLIC: (Is no longer there to address claim)
Why did we stop caring about whether or not we were being told the truth? When did we start discounting things completely just because a Republican or a Democrat says them? I'll admit it, I truly believe that the Republicans are lying a lot more than the Democrats are right now, but that's because they've got more to lose; and as FactCheck.org illustrates, everyone's playing a pretty shady game at the moment. I'm tired of the legions of bloggers which spend all of their time reframing every issue unilaterally; again, I think there's more of them on the right than the left, but there are both, and they're not doing any of us any favors. Can we all stop screaming for a second and have a quiet study and reading week? I think everybody would be very surprised by what they would find if we did, and maybe it'll give us an opportunity to hit the brakes on the death-spiral our country's politics is accelerating into as we grind closer to November. The conversation is only going to get nastier, more simplified, and less true if the current tone of debate continues, and it should be brutally obvious just how bad that is for everyone.
Yes, I'll wear my bias on my sleeve: I think if we spent less time impugning each other's political affiliations and general philosophical outlook, and spent a little more time worrying about whether or not the things people say are true, then we'd find a lot more misbehavior and wrongdoing on the part of the current administration than on the part of its opponents. I think opposing the path the current administration is leading us down is just. I don't hate America, because America is not a monolith; it's a collection of people. Some of them are good for us, and some of them are bad for us. And yeah, I think the bad guys are in charge right now. They're not evil, and as tempting as it sometimes is to think so, I don't think they're consciously out to cause pain and suffering. But I do think they've got the wrong idea about how they can treat both their fellow countrymen and the citizens of the world outside our borders, and they've also got the wrong idea about how to communicate with the world outside and how to stop it from causing us harm that we don't deserve. It's just a shame that we've stopped talking about what's really good for everyone, and are concentrating so hard on winning what's good for whatever tribe we're a part of right now. Let's not shit ourselves: Liberals aren't excited about getting Air America out there because it speaks the truth, they're excited because it makes liberals that much louder; and I really really really don't want us to lose track of trying to keep those two goals inseparably entwined.
This is what happens when I don't blog for a couple of days, when I glance at some sites I shouldn't be paying attention to, and when I have a whole lot of reading for class to put off. Yowza.
Point one: Look, people. It doesn't matter if Richard Clarke has "an axe to grind" or is "disgruntled" or whatever phrase you want to use. What matters is whether or not his allegations are truthful. Saying he has an axe to grind only means that he is motivated to get his charges out there, and there's nothing wrong with that; President Bush was motivated to depose Saddam Hussein, and his supporters got pretty angry when people claimed it was just for his daddy. Saying Clarke's got suspect motivations is exactly the same thing. Reasonable people (and yes, sadly, not all opponents of G.W. Bush are reasonable people) don't care if Bush was secretly elated by the idea of taking down the man who tried to kill his dad. Hell, you and I would be too. What matters is whether or not he allowed that motivation to warp the truth, and the effectiveness, of his policy and positions on waging war in Iraq.
It doesn't matter if Richard Clarke is motivated because Bush used to give him wedgies or because he believes he's the appointed Prophet of a new age. What matters is whether or not what he says is true. And it's pretty obvious that it is. Not only have other high-ranking officials said exactly what he's saying several times before, but he's got nothing to fear from declassification, he was willing and eager to testify under oath, and the Bush Administration has yet to be able to disprove any of his statements. Richard Clarke is, more likely than not, telling the truth, and whether or not he'll sell more books as a result is irrelevant. I mean, fuck, if he is telling the truth, we shouldn't just be buying his book, we should be cutting him checks directly to thank him for having the balls to confront something patently dangerous to American security. So lay off the "partisan" bullshit -- it's pretty clear Clarke isn't an uberliberal -- and spend your time doing your homework and honestly examining the accuracy of both his claim's and the administration's.
Now. In contrast, that brings me to point two:
Pressuring Condoleeza Rice to testify publicly was a big mistake. Pressuring her to testify is fine, especially under oath -- the idea that she was requesting testimony that is not under oath is patently absurd. But why should she be forced to testify in public? Let's face it: She's the national security adviser. If anybody can cite concerns of keeping information secret for national security reasons, it is her. What kind of useful testimony can be extracted from her when her statements can only be about information which the general public is already privy to? This isn't a question of precedent or separation of powers or any of that nonsense -- the fact is, public testimony on the part of Condoleeza Rice likely doesn't help the 9/11 commission or the administration. It was a mistake to make such a fuss about it.
And it's also a mistake to turn around and accuse Bush of "flip-flopping" for allowing Rice to testify. I mean, what the fuck? What you should be doing is not using this opportunity to make a pointless attack that falls apart in the eyes of anyone with even middle-school logic training. You should be using it to reframe this absolutely ridiculous idea of the evils of "flip-flopping," which is completely poisonous to informed discourse. Intellectual rigidity is not really something we should be valuing in our politicians; we should be valuing people who look at all sides of any given scenario and make an informed judgement. If and when new information comes to light, they should have the mental flexibility required to honestly consider that information and change their position accordingly. This notion of "flip-flopping" is actually what gives me faith in John Kerry's capability as a leader. It means he is always thinking; he is never shutting anything down without a second look. I do bemoan the political damage it does to him in the eyes of people who expect some kind of childishly superheroic candidate who's never wrong, but at the same time, it gives me the utmost faith in him as an inquiring and critical mind, and that's certainly something I value and admire in my leaders.
I spent some time listening to "The Majority Report" on the newly launched Air America "liberal talk radio" station today. It was pleasant enough, I suppose, but what I'd really like to see entering the political conversation right now is not a "liberal" viewpoint. We've got entirely too many passionate viewpoints flying around right now, thank you very much. I'd like to see a radio station run by the people at FactCheck.org, something that doesn't just contribute more overheated rhetoric and actually spends some time investigating that funny Socratic concept called "the truth" which we as a culture abandoned sometime in early 2001, with the dawn of the Ari Fleischer age of political discourse, which I summarise in the following way:
REPORTER: (Makes a claim about something the administration said)
FLEISCHER: That's not true.
REPORTER: (Turns around for a minute, fact-checks statement) Actually, it is true.
FLEISCHER AND BY EXTENSION THE MEDIA AND AMERICAN PUBLIC: (Is no longer there to address claim)
Why did we stop caring about whether or not we were being told the truth? When did we start discounting things completely just because a Republican or a Democrat says them? I'll admit it, I truly believe that the Republicans are lying a lot more than the Democrats are right now, but that's because they've got more to lose; and as FactCheck.org illustrates, everyone's playing a pretty shady game at the moment. I'm tired of the legions of bloggers which spend all of their time reframing every issue unilaterally; again, I think there's more of them on the right than the left, but there are both, and they're not doing any of us any favors. Can we all stop screaming for a second and have a quiet study and reading week? I think everybody would be very surprised by what they would find if we did, and maybe it'll give us an opportunity to hit the brakes on the death-spiral our country's politics is accelerating into as we grind closer to November. The conversation is only going to get nastier, more simplified, and less true if the current tone of debate continues, and it should be brutally obvious just how bad that is for everyone.
Yes, I'll wear my bias on my sleeve: I think if we spent less time impugning each other's political affiliations and general philosophical outlook, and spent a little more time worrying about whether or not the things people say are true, then we'd find a lot more misbehavior and wrongdoing on the part of the current administration than on the part of its opponents. I think opposing the path the current administration is leading us down is just. I don't hate America, because America is not a monolith; it's a collection of people. Some of them are good for us, and some of them are bad for us. And yeah, I think the bad guys are in charge right now. They're not evil, and as tempting as it sometimes is to think so, I don't think they're consciously out to cause pain and suffering. But I do think they've got the wrong idea about how they can treat both their fellow countrymen and the citizens of the world outside our borders, and they've also got the wrong idea about how to communicate with the world outside and how to stop it from causing us harm that we don't deserve. It's just a shame that we've stopped talking about what's really good for everyone, and are concentrating so hard on winning what's good for whatever tribe we're a part of right now. Let's not shit ourselves: Liberals aren't excited about getting Air America out there because it speaks the truth, they're excited because it makes liberals that much louder; and I really really really don't want us to lose track of trying to keep those two goals inseparably entwined.
This is what happens when I don't blog for a couple of days, when I glance at some sites I shouldn't be paying attention to, and when I have a whole lot of reading for class to put off. Yowza.
03.29.2004 | Hardly Wait
>> And in happier news, the new PJ Harvey album is done, it's (stupidly) called Uh Huh Her, and it'll probably come out June 1st here in the U.S. (one day earlier in the UK). Full tracklist at that link. Yay!
03.29.2004 | Deliver The Vote
>> You really, really, really need to read Wired News' report on e-voting. They (Wired) are pushing an agenda, and some of their conclusions are highly suspect, but the facts they're reporting are just too tremendous: America's electronic voting machines are unbelievably vulnerable to fraud, and lawmakers are being suspiciously resistant to any efforts to make them more secure...
And I don't want to make this a partisan issue, since everybody's contribution to democracy is deeply compromised by this, but you can't not jump out of your seat when you read this:
Scary, scary shit is happening here. I try my best to not be a conspiracy theorist, but I'm pretty damn glad that I'll likely be voting on an absentee ballot this year. The U.S. population -- and government -- needs to be talking about this a lot louder than it currently is...
Harris discovered that she could enter the vote database using Microsoft Access -- a standard program often bundled with Microsoft Office -- and change votes without leaving a trace. Diebold hadn't password-protected the file or secured the audit log, so anyone with access to the tabulation program during an election -- Diebold employees, election staff or even hackers if the county server were connected to a phone line -- could change votes and alter the log to erase the evidence. (...)And yes, that code was used during an actual election.
It was a basic error that students in Cryptography 101 learn never to make: Diebold's programmers had written the key for unscrambling the system's encryption directly into the code. This meant the key would never change, and anyone reading the source code (including anyone who downloaded it from the FTP site) would know it. The same key unlocked the data on every machine. It was the equivalent of a bank assigning the same PIN to every customer's ATM card.
And I don't want to make this a partisan issue, since everybody's contribution to democracy is deeply compromised by this, but you can't not jump out of your seat when you read this:
Although there's no evidence that e-voting machines have ever been rigged, the political partisanship of voting company owners has only added to concerns about the systems. (...)...Excuse me?!? Even when giving this guy the benefit of the doubt, how tone-deaf do you have to be to write that sentence and not think for a second about what you might be saying?
(T)here's the famous fund-raising letter from Diebold CEO Walden O'Dell. A member of the Bush's Rangers fund-raising team and a sometime guest at the president's ranch, O'Dell sent a letter to 100 wealthy Republicans last year inviting them to his Ohio home. In the letter he said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president" in 2004. He had the unfortunate timing of sending the letter while Diebold was in the process of bidding for Ohio's voting-machine contract. The company said O'Dell would be keeping a lower political profile in 2004.
Scary, scary shit is happening here. I try my best to not be a conspiracy theorist, but I'm pretty damn glad that I'll likely be voting on an absentee ballot this year. The U.S. population -- and government -- needs to be talking about this a lot louder than it currently is...
03.29.2004 | Ooh, Bet You Miss Me Like A Hole In The Head
>> Aaaand we're back. Sorry about the site's disappearance; I don't know what Dreamhost's sheezy was today, but all the sites I know that they host were inaccessible for me, and several others, for most of the day. Which is poo.
Random iTunes-Pepsi status report: As of tonight, I'm 13 for 25. Statistically speaking, I should be 13 for 39, so I'm doing OK, I guess. A full report on what my ill-gotten gains have ill-gotten me is likely forthcoming. And yeah, you're gonna laugh right in my face.
Random iTunes-Pepsi status report: As of tonight, I'm 13 for 25. Statistically speaking, I should be 13 for 39, so I'm doing OK, I guess. A full report on what my ill-gotten gains have ill-gotten me is likely forthcoming. And yeah, you're gonna laugh right in my face.
03.28.2004 | Demolition
>> Anybody got $35,000 to spend on a birthday present for me? U2's first demo tape is up on eBay. Ahem. Holy shit. Ahem.
03.27.2004 | Money Making Is A Wonderful Thing
>> Here's everything that's wrong with business practices in this country in a nutshell. Costco pays its employees extremely well and gives them great benefits, resulting in low turnover of jobs and high employee -- and customer -- loyalty. Sounds great, right? Well, the shareholders don't seem to think so. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first"?!? Whose fucking ridiculous idea was that? Dude -- fuck the shareholders. Fuck them. If they don't like it, they can take their investment elsewhere. Me? I'm shopping at a Costco the next chance I get... (Via MeFi)
03.27.2004 | But I Ain't Got Nothin' For Tinky-Winky And Po
03.26.2004 | I Need This
>> Thoughts while watching R.E.M.'s Perfect Square (one of my birthday presents to myself):
- "Orange Crush." Man, am I a sucker for a megaphone.
- Someday, R.E.M. might break up. This is very bad. But that means Mike Mills could have a solo career. This is very good.
- For a while there, I actually really liked "All The Way To Reno." But the more I see/hear them play it live, the more bored of it I get. Watching it with its totally joycore (you bastard, Matthew) video helps, though.
- Greatest wasted gesture in the history of time: At the beginning of "Losing My Religion," Stipe rips several sheets off of his lyric stand until he exposes the song's; then, he turns it out to face the audience. Nobody can see it, but it's beautiful anyway. (And while you can't tell if he's sincere, there's something great about the sentiment they introduce it with: "This is your song, and we're happy to play it for you.")
- Camera cuts to girl's breasts bouncing up and down in her freshly-bought "I Am Vibrating At The Speed Of Light" t-shirt. Classy.
- Something that has always bothered me, and maybe it's just because I'm an ig'nant 'Merican, but: Musicians on stage speaking English to crowds in countries where English is not spoken. How does that go over? Do more people understand English than I am aware of, and they just can't speak it? God knows I'm lost watching Univision. Is Europe really just that much smarter than we are? Do I really sound like a moron here?
- At some point, Michael Stipe made the great leap between pretentious mumbling art student terrified of human engagement to an interesting and genial person who loves communicating. Does that change mark the moment at which people started to hate R.E.M.? If so, why are people such dicks?
- The grammar flub in the second verse of "She Just Wants To Be" still really bothers me. A lot more than it should. (If you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. Right?)
- Stipe's a boxers man. Who knew.
- "Walk Unafraid" is Argument #1 for Why In Time should have been a two-disc set. In fact, it's probably Arguments #1 through 2,394. God, I love that song.
- It's probably up there with "HELLO, CHICAGO!" on the Cringe-Worthy meter, but I'm sorry: Every time Stipe milks the end of the pre-chorus to "Man On The Moon" -- "ARE YA HAVIN' FUUUUUN?!?" -- I melt a little.
- The version of "Everybody Hurts" on this friggin' floored me. I don't care if you're tired of it or if it never spoke to you or you thought the video was lame or what: That's an amazing song. If you try to deny that, you're going to look like an idiot. Sorry, but it's true: that's a mind-blowingly great song. (I wanted to refer you to a discussion of it in the comments at Fluxblog, in which Matthew and a few others made their very strong case for the song, but it looks like his comments got cleaned out a while ago, which is sad 'cuz they were great. Ah well.)
- That said, following it with "So Fast So Numb" was a big mistake. Mind you, I like that song a whole lot, and they play it very well, and I very much enjoyed it at Jones Beach, but it was early in the set there. Asking me to make the leap from "Everybody Hurts" to an album-track rocker is a little much; it left me with the same feeling of "And I care because...?" that Radiohead's "Creep" to "Scatterbrain" transition gave me. Blah.
- "Permanent Vacation" definitely wasn't what I was expecting; it's one of their early-period "lost songs" but it sounds almost Ramones-y, not at all like something from Murmur. It's fun, but it's also not all that surprising that they've never released it...
- And, yeah, not much else to say, other than that (a.) R.E.M. are great, (b.) this DVD is quite good indeed, and (c.) I'd like a new album and tour sooner than later. It's fun to have bands that remain Great Loves throughout your life; I'm on ten years of R.E.M. now and I still think they're just swell. God bless us all and good night.
03.25.2004 | Burgertime
>> Why, why, why do I keep eating at Blue 9 Burger? The food's overpriced (a double-cheeseburger and an order of fries costs over $6, and that's without a drink), they run their business terribly (I have never once been in there when the employees were not angry and shouting at one another), and the wait time of at least five minutes kind of cancels out the "fast-food" nature of it when compared to McDonald's a few blocks away. The food is delicious, I'll admit. But again, it's not ten times better than McD's, hell, it's probably not much better at all, just a little different; their fries alternate between being ungodly good and just OK, and the burger's consistently pretty decent. But I keep going back, week after week, despite not being able to say I truly love it.
Anyway. All I eat is greasy food and I am a fat bastard with arteries as clogged as a train-station toilet. That's what this post is really about, disregard the other stuff. Man, I'm going to die when I'm 25. Can I get some vascular-scrubbing nanobots now? Please?
So, yes, I did not go see !!! I did try to set up a Radio.Blog (using one of the computer lab's Windows machines, since Macs can't run the conversion file), but out of eighteen MP3s I tried to convert to .swf files, only ten worked. Which is pretty lame, but I have no idea why it happened, so I don't know how to avoid it in the future. Maybe I'll try again this weekend if I get a free moment...
Anyway. All I eat is greasy food and I am a fat bastard with arteries as clogged as a train-station toilet. That's what this post is really about, disregard the other stuff. Man, I'm going to die when I'm 25. Can I get some vascular-scrubbing nanobots now? Please?
So, yes, I did not go see !!! I did try to set up a Radio.Blog (using one of the computer lab's Windows machines, since Macs can't run the conversion file), but out of eighteen MP3s I tried to convert to .swf files, only ten worked. Which is pretty lame, but I have no idea why it happened, so I don't know how to avoid it in the future. Maybe I'll try again this weekend if I get a free moment...
03.25.2004 | Blah Blah Blah
>> Blah. It's raining and I don't feel like going to class today, but I have to, because the stupid teacher and T.A. track attendance even though it's a giant lecture with like a hundred kids in it. But I've already skipped it three times and since my midterm grade is a B+ when the only assignment we've had graded was an A, it would appear that they know I've skipped.
Sigh. Mind you, I like the class, and the professor, a whole lot (Myths & Cultures of Ancient Celts), but stuff like that is really, really annoying.
When I get out of class tonight, I'm gonna try to put together a Radio.Blog, so that should be fun. And I might go see !!! at the Kimmel Center, even though I was really unimpressed by "Me & Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard," which made everybody spunk their undies last year. If you're gonna go, let me know in the comments, and try to convince me to tag along.
Sigh. Mind you, I like the class, and the professor, a whole lot (Myths & Cultures of Ancient Celts), but stuff like that is really, really annoying.
When I get out of class tonight, I'm gonna try to put together a Radio.Blog, so that should be fun. And I might go see !!! at the Kimmel Center, even though I was really unimpressed by "Me & Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard," which made everybody spunk their undies last year. If you're gonna go, let me know in the comments, and try to convince me to tag along.
03.24.2004 | It Can't Come Quickly Enough
>> W00t -- I've got tickets for Scissor Sisters at Bowery Ballroom on May 22nd and you should, too.
03.23.2004 | In Da Club
>> Note to self: On the strength of this quote (see the first comment in the thread), go out and buy Jonathan Lethem's Fortress Of Solitude today*. You know you've been meaning to for a while. (Comics fans should also read the thread -- I've pitched in my two cents -- and if you're a MeFi fan, contribute.)
*It's not coming out in paperback until August. Should I wait, or get it now? Hmm...
*It's not coming out in paperback until August. Should I wait, or get it now? Hmm...
03.23.2004 | Catch 22
>> Happy birthday to me. Let's pray it's better than last year's.
Confidential to the one or two people who know what I'm talking about: GAAAH! GIVE HIM BACK HIS KIDS!!!
And wa-hey, here's a birthday present: My Bloody Valentine are releasing a remastered compilation of all their out-of-print EPs. (I assume this replaces the "boxed set" that was getting rumored several months ago...?)
Confidential to the one or two people who know what I'm talking about: GAAAH! GIVE HIM BACK HIS KIDS!!!
And wa-hey, here's a birthday present: My Bloody Valentine are releasing a remastered compilation of all their out-of-print EPs. (I assume this replaces the "boxed set" that was getting rumored several months ago...?)
03.22.2004 | A Case For Song
>> All the songs at Stereogum today are worth hearing, especially the Morrissey track, "Irish Blood English Heart," which has bumped the album up to "Will Buy" from its "Must Investigate" status on my shopping list. Hot. And yeah, even the "Hey Ya!" cover has a ramshackle charm. Though I'm in a "Shit, man, I could do better" mood.
Oh, and that Jay-Zeezer track isn't as good as the "Say It Ain't So / December 4th" one, which is the only thing I really enjoyed from the whole project. But still.
Oh, and that Jay-Zeezer track isn't as good as the "Say It Ain't So / December 4th" one, which is the only thing I really enjoyed from the whole project. But still.
03.22.2004 | Break Me Gently
>> Aaaand now I'm back in New York. My last spring break is over. And to be honest, it sucked a bit. For the first half I had nothing to do -- none of my friends were in town and the weather was kind of cloudy and lame. For the second half, I had too much to do -- it was my father's 60th birthday and my parents had a big catered party at our house to celebrate, so most of the week was devoted to preparing for it. Plus, and I know this makes me a total asshole, but my grandparents and aunt were always hanging around, every night, and it kept me from spending any time with my actual, immediate family, who I hadn't seen since November and who rarely get together now that my brother's got kids of his own to raise. So, yeah, my break really wasn't much fun at all. Oh well.
Less than two months of college left to go. I'm officially crapping my pants nightly...
Less than two months of college left to go. I'm officially crapping my pants nightly...
03.16.2004 | Esta Noche
>> Yay! I'm going to see the Twilight Singers in April! Yay! Also: Yay!
03.16.2004 | There Goes Tomorrow
>> Yep, I'm in Florida. Nothing of note is happening here. Well, my parents are repainting much of the house, and it looks lovely, but that means nothing to most of you.
Tomorrow, New X-Men #154 is released, and Grant Morrison's run as writer ends: my favorite writer in the world no longer writing my favorite characters. I may weep, honestly. I've read some of the spoilers for it, but not all of them, so hopefully I'll be surprised and awed and overjoyed and I'll jump around the room shouting "SNIKT!" and "ZWARK" and "BAMF!" all day...
Tomorrow, New X-Men #154 is released, and Grant Morrison's run as writer ends: my favorite writer in the world no longer writing my favorite characters. I may weep, honestly. I've read some of the spoilers for it, but not all of them, so hopefully I'll be surprised and awed and overjoyed and I'll jump around the room shouting "SNIKT!" and "ZWARK" and "BAMF!" all day...
03.13.2004 | Unpure Unchaste
>> While doing some research for work the other day, I stumbled upon this interview with Liz Phair from a gay newspaper in Orlando:
You sang on the Sheryl Crow song "Soak Up The Sun," which was remixed for club play and became something of a dance club hit. Are there any songs on the new disc that you would allow to be remixed for club purposes?Emphasis mine. Now will somebody out there with some remixing software get the fuck on this? I mean, come on, that's awesome. If I had the tools and the skills, I'd get cracking on a "Rock Me" remix as soon as I possibly could...
Totally. We were even talking about it. I'm trying to remember which one. We always wanted to do it with "Flower," from my first record. It doesn't have to just be the dirty songs. It could be other ones too. I love that idea. I love giving songs a life beyond the ones that they're allotted.
03.13.2004 | My Robot Friend
>> Hmm. Is it physically possible to rape a book, an audience, and a dead canonical author at the same time? Looks like we're gonna find out this summer! Watch the trailer for I, Robot with Will Smith. YIKES. (Via Josh)
FYI, I'm going back toCali Florida for spring break, flying out tomorrow night. And man, I can't wait. It sucks here, d00d.
FYI, I'm going back to
03.10.2004 | Freedom '04
>> George Michael is leaving the music business, but not music: After this final album, Patience, he'll release songs online. For free. (He'll ask you to donate to one of his favorite charities when you download them, but apparently you won't be required to.) Refreshingly enough, he says he's got all the money he needs... Wonder if he'll actually follow through on this, or just stop releasing music entirely?
In related news, I used one of my Pepsi iTunes caps to buy his new single, "Amazing," and while it's not, in fact, amazing, it is pretty pleasant, and catchier than you might expect. Give it a try sometime.
In related news, I used one of my Pepsi iTunes caps to buy his new single, "Amazing," and while it's not, in fact, amazing, it is pretty pleasant, and catchier than you might expect. Give it a try sometime.
03.10.2004 | Keeping The Faith
>> The Bush Administration is paying acolytes of The Reverend Sun Myung Moon to teach in New Jersey schools. And if you don't know who the good Reverend is... here's a handy thumbnail sketch, from the article:
Coming from Moon that made perfect sense, because he already believes all religions will come together -- under him. "The separation between religion and politics," he has observed on many occasions, "is what Satan likes most." His gospel: Jesus failed because he never attained worldly power. Moon will succeed, he says, by purifying our sex-corrupted culture, and that includes cleaning up gays ("dung-eating dogs," as he calls them) and American women ("a line of prostitutes"). Jews had better repent, too. (Moon claims that the Holocaust was payback for the crucifixion of Christ: "Through the principle of indemnity, Hitler killed 6 million Jews.") His solution is a world theocracy that will enforce proper sexual habits in order to bring about heaven on earth.What the fuck, people. What the fuck. And we wondered why faith-based initiatives might turn out to be a bad idea? (via)
What sort of proper sexual habits? According to Moon, in order to restore blood purity, very specific practices are prescribed. Sex before marriage is out of the question, and when sexual consummation does happen, it must adhere to very specific instructions. First, a photograph of Moon must be nearby, so that everything occurs under the reverend's watchful eye. After two nights of woman-on-top sex, the couple reverse positions, whereupon the man, according to Moon, restores dominion over Eve, via the proper missionary position. Then, according to the instructions attributed to the U.C.'s American Blessed Family Department, "after the act of love, both spouses should wipe their sexual areas with the Holy Handkerchief" --referring to the church-supplied washcloth -- which must "be kept individually labeled and should never be laundered or mixed up."
03.10.2004 | Master Of My Domain
>> Just to let you know, I'm currently in the process of moving my domain registration from my old host to Dreamhost (I know, I should have done it a long time ago). I'm not sure exactly when the DNS switch is going to occur, but when it does, you may not be able to access this site for a day or two, depending on how fast your ISP updates these things. This is normal. If the blog doesn't show up again in like two weeks or something, though, then something's gone horribly wrong. Which I feel is quite possible, since I had a nasty scare earlier tonight, trying to remember my login information at various sites crucial to this process that I haven't touched since April 2002...
And yeah, as of April 1st, this site will have been running at this location for three full years. Crazy.
And yeah, as of April 1st, this site will have been running at this location for three full years. Crazy.
03.10.2004 | A Day Without Fame Is A Waste
>> Go watch the Pet Shop Boys' video for "Flamboyant." (Click through to the news front-page.) Seriously, it's one of the best music videos I've seen in a couple of years. And it's nothing like "Miracles," which most of you hated.
And yeah, I especially recommend it to people who enjoyed Lost In Translation.
And yeah, I especially recommend it to people who enjoyed Lost In Translation.
03.09.2004 | S.O.S.
>> So I'm at CNN.com, and I'm reading about how the mastermind of the Achille Lauro ship hijacking in 1985, Abu Abbas, has died in U.S. custody in Iraq. And then I notice the ad on the side of the page.
Inappropriate much?
Inappropriate much?
03.09.2004 | Shake Your Dix
>> Amusing quote from The Guardian's review of Franz Ferdinand:
I'm still waiting for Michael Stipe to write the best gay love song in the world, but I don't see it happening too soon...
Morrissey and the Magnetic Fields aside, indie doesn't really do gay. On the rare occasions that an alt-rock artist dabbles with sexual ambiguity in their lyrics, they either start carrying on as if they personally invented the concept of homosexuality and deserve some sort of medal - see electro-rapper Peaches - or else, like Suede, they overdo the mincing and end up sounding ridiculous, like John Inman visiting an indie disco.I disagree slightly on Suede, since I think "We kiss in his room to a popular tune" is one of the hottest lines ever written. But the thing about the medal made me laugh.
I'm still waiting for Michael Stipe to write the best gay love song in the world, but I don't see it happening too soon...
03.08.2004 | Money Can't Buy
>> Pricenoia is a site that looks up the prices of any given book/DVD/CD between the various international Amazon stores and finds you the best price. I just orded XTC's Fossil Fuel from Canada and saved ten bucks from the US or UK stores, the only places I'd previously checked, in the process. That is some hot fucking shit. Via MeFi and Prolific...
03.06.2004 | Red In Tooth And Claw
>> Pigs vs. golden eagles vs. THE CUTEST FOXES EVER on an island off the coast of California. How do you protect a species that the other species around it seem determined to kill off?
03.05.2004 | The Ghosts Around You
>> Motorcycling through the Chernobyl Dead Zone -- an amazing series of photographs by a Russian woman. Chernobyl's always been a pet fascination of mine, if that doesn't sound too weird and creepy... Via Mefi.
03.03.2004 | Unspeakable Vice
>> Would you vote Kerry/Clinton? And no, baby, that don't mean Hillary. (Via Kottke)
UPDATE: This is being discussed at Metafilter -- the verdict seems to be that this leans towards being legally permissible, but only if you're prepared to be really, really picky and are willing to play a tiny bit fast-and-loose with the vocabulary of the Constitution. Which is not really very attractive-sounding, is it. As I said there, I'd actually loooove a Kerry/Clinton ticket, just because it's such a resounding "fuck you" and a demonstration that the Democratic Party has thirty-five-pound brass balls in their chinos, but the legal battle it represents, and the Constitutional precedent it might set, probably just isn't worth it.
UPDATE: This is being discussed at Metafilter -- the verdict seems to be that this leans towards being legally permissible, but only if you're prepared to be really, really picky and are willing to play a tiny bit fast-and-loose with the vocabulary of the Constitution. Which is not really very attractive-sounding, is it. As I said there, I'd actually loooove a Kerry/Clinton ticket, just because it's such a resounding "fuck you" and a demonstration that the Democratic Party has thirty-five-pound brass balls in their chinos, but the legal battle it represents, and the Constitutional precedent it might set, probably just isn't worth it.
03.03.2004 | The World Series Of Love
>> "I dare you to challenge Prince to a game of basketball." A fucking hilarious Chappelle Show sketch (it's a true story!) about Prince whooping your fucking ass at b-ball. (Thank you, Thomas)
03.02.2004 | Super-Dee-Duper
>> Quick everyone, load up and get fat while you still can: McDonald's is phasing out super-sizes. Awwww. Anybody else remember when they first introduced them, during the JURASSIC PARK promotion, and you had to pull your fries out of the mouth of a T-Rex on the package? Meeeeeemories... like the corners of my mind...
03.02.2004 | You're My Favorite Superhero
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