>> Look, I know I'm just another voice in the wilderness, and I'm a Kerry partisan. But I want this on record before the spin cycle kicks in: Kerry fucking manhandled Bush tonight. He was great.

Now, let our "collective" rewriting begin!

P.S. -- We're watching the NBC post-debate coverage before the Daily Show, and I'm going to throw my conservative readers a bone here: If you ever want to point to bias on the part of the "liberal media" and you mention Tom Brokaw's performance tonight, I'm going to give you a free pass. Tom Brokaw is clearly as giddy as a schoolgirl about Kerry's showing tonight -- he was smiling and bashful around John Edwards and he hammered Giuliani in the immediate post-debate spin. But hell, I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl right now -- or shall I say, giddy as a Brokaw.

Also -- was loving how every single member of NBC's six-person "undecided" panel said they were leaning towards Kerry. Every single one had something good to say about him. Nobody slammed Bush, but nobody went out of their way to praise him, either. They all complimented Kerry.

It's a race again, baby!

P.P.S. -- looks to me like the story is written: It doesn't matter how well Kerry did tonight; all he accomplished was to "get back in the race" -- if he'd lost tonight, he'd be out; all he's done is get back in the game. He hasn't sewn up the undecided voters; he's just gotten them listening again. That's the story of this debate, right?

>> Ooh, I am definitely going to this New York Is Book Country event:

Sunday, 10/3 4:00 pm: The Future of the Graphic Novel panel with Frank Miller (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS; Sin City), Kyle Baker (PLASTIC MAN; Birth of a Nation), and DC Comics President & Publisher Paul Levitz who address issues of import to the evolution of the graphic novel. Moderated by R.C. Baker of the Village Voice.(NYU’s MEC Commons)

Tickets are available at the various Manhattan Borders stores. Comics-reading folk, leave your name in the comments if you want to tag along -- I can pick up four tickets.

>> Damn, girl. If Morrissey plays a setlist like this when I see him at Radio City on the 9th, I'll pee myself quite a bit. Copiously, even. Smiths fans will want to take a look at this one...

Oh yes: And I finally have a bed. A beautiful, giant, comfy bed. Mmmmm.

>> Does anybody know where I can get slimline CD jewel cases that will accomodate the kinds of CDs that actually are meant to be in a slimline case? What I mean is: Every "replacement" slimline jewel case I've ever come across in a store has a small block in it designed to help the front, which is 5+" wide, hold a 4 3/4" standard-size CD booklet. I don't want that. CD singles have wraparound frontpiece artwork which require the whole width of the front piece, and the hinge. I need those kinds of cases, and I'd rather not buy a bunch of terrible CD singles and throw them out to get the kind of cases I need (replacing cases which were completely totalled when I recently shipped my CDs up to the new apartment). So. Anybody know where to get those? Please don't send me any links unless you're absolutely sure of what I mean, and that the cases you found match 'em -- it's way too easy to find the kind of case that I don't want.

This message has been brought to you by Anal-Retentive CD-Hoarding Chris, as opposed to your usual, more lackadaisical host. He'll return shortly, once this #%$&ing jewel case business is sorted out.

>> Absolute must-read: James Fallows on the debate styles and history of Bush and Kerry. Extremely, extremely interesting, and taught me a lot of things I didn't know about both men. Essential.

This is going to be the first time I've ever sat down to watch the presidential debates -- unless they just get me too riled up and I have to walk away, of course. Which is sadly pretty likely, but I'll do my best to stay composed. (The link comes via MeFi.)

>> Florida readers -- did you all hear about this? You probably remember that the list of disenfranchised felons that the state planned to use in this election was thrown out this summer, due to "irregularities." The "irregularities" in question were that Hispanic voters, who tend to vote Republican, were tremendously underrepresented on the list -- there were only 61 Hispanic names on the list. That's one-tenth of one percent of the list, in a state where Hispanics are 11% of the prison population. So the list was obviously flawed.

But do you know why it was flawed? It was because the voter-registration database entry for each person had to be perfectly matched against the prison database entry for that person. Everyone involved in the audit and data-matching process knew that that wouldn't happen for Hispanic voters, because the Florida Department of Law Enforcement marks them as "white" and the voter system marks them as "Hispanic." And guess who allowed the list to go forward, even though they knew this kind of data mismatch was going to occur? You betcha -- the state's Republican lawmakers.

If it wasn't for the lawsuits on behalf of CNN and the major news organizations, this list would have been used this November, allowing disenfranchised Republican voters "legal" access to the polls. And if it wasn't for two excellent reporters at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (big-ups to my hometown!), we wouldn't know that this wasn't just an innocent "irregularity" -- it's an extremely suspicious occurence, where all the people involved knew what would happen and went ahead with the creation of a list that unfairly favored Republican voter turnout. Hmmmmmm.

You can read the full rundown of the situation, including links to the Herald-Tribune pieces on the matter, at Publius.

All of this said, I don't know why Florida insists on making felons apply to reinstate their voting rights -- it really should be automatic, because not only is it unfair and contrary to the spirit of democracy to strip felons of their voting rights once they're released, but it's clearly a tremendous logistical headache. So you might find it hypocritical that I would make such a big stink about more people getting their rights back than the law should technically allow. But obviously, it's because this is just one more example of the more corrupt side of the Republican party -- the self-proclaimed "law and order" party -- blatantly misusing our laws for their own benefit. It's disgraceful, and tragically, it's pretty much ignored.

>> Have the new U2 single, "Vertigo." (I probably can't host this forever, so if I pull it down in 24 hours as planned, then please visit U2log.com for mirrors).

At first I had misgivings, but they're calming somewhat -- I initially thought it was just too doofy, but its charms grew on me after a few more listens. I'm definitely predicting a love/hate reaction on the part of uncommitted U2 fans -- but hey, at least they tried something a little bit ballsy again instead of the Muzak-with-a-beat approach that some of ATYCLB took on... the "punk" stuff is probably going to get them blasted from some quarters, but it's actually pretty funny. And after initially being SEVERELY nonplussed by the lyrics, I've come around to the line "As the boys play rock and roll / They know that they can't dance / At least they know." Bizarrely, this also sounds the most like their first album of anything they've recorded since... well, their first album, of course. Roll on tour setlists with "A Celebration" on them!

(Note: I'm starting to think this is not the final version of the song -- I suspect it might be a live-in-studio version that's being released on the DVD single. But I could be wrong -- the break is the part that throws that theory, but it's not like U2 don't use loops when they perform live... I'll keep you posted.)

>> I'm an idiot and left the page in the middle of track 9, so I haven't heard the end of it, but the new R.E.M. album (which you can stream in its entirety from that MySpace page -- there are no track controls beyond "pause" though, so make sure you open a new browser window and just minimize that one if you don't want your play interrupted and restarted) doesn't sound quite the way I expected it to. It does sound really, really good, however; it seems like it's the album they were trying to make when they recorded Up and were trying too hard not to make when they recorded Reveal -- moody, low-key, not out to impress anybody. I'm miffed that I didn't get to hear "Around The Sun," the track that piqued my interest most on the iTunes sampler, but c'est la vie. I'll just have to listen to it again! (And good news -- "The Outsiders" is nothing like "Radio Song," the last R.E.M.-with-a-rapper-in song.)

More good news -- I may finally get some goddamned furniture in my life. I ordered a bed and a massive CD cabinet today, and I'm about to call Ikea to find out just how much of my order can be salvaged... mind you, I feel a bit like a battered spouse going back to the dickhead who wronged her, but hey.

>> John Kerry For President: Speech At New York University.

It's very simple, folks. You can re-elect a president who, in every single aspect of his governance, ignores the facts of every issue he's asked to deal with. Or you can elect a president who you can, at the very least, know is giving some goddamned thought to the matter instead of sticking his fingers in his ears and shouting "I CAN'T HEEEEAAAR YOOOOUUUUU!!!" The Iraq War, and the War on Terrorism, as prosecuted by George W. Bush, have both been disasters. Three years after 9/11 and no Osama bin Laden? More than a year after "Mission Accomplished" and we've just passed one thousand dead troops? Major terror attacks on our allies that we were powerless to prevent? Russia adopting our "you're with us or against us" mindset -- and abandoning democracy in the process? It's time to change horses in mid-stream, people, because one of them has got three broken legs and it would bite you as soon as look at you. Get him out.

>> The Dino World pictures are up. As are some surface changes to the Photolog, but I hope to do a lot more work on it in the coming days -- it's still kind of ugly and not as functional as I want it to be, but I had to get those hot dino snaps up to placate my long-suffering audience. (Ahem. That's you.) Now, there are 61 dinosaur photos, which I have been informed by an impartial observer is, it seems, a truly moronic number of pictures of fake dinosaurs. But I don't care. To understand the full grandeur of Dino World, you need every pixel I'm giving you. Know that. And now I'm going to bed.

>> Indeed, I continue to be alive after previously proclaiming my status as "alive." Not having a computer desk* has made me a lot less likely to spend much time at the computer (the floor is not very comfortable at all), but today I've set up the laptop on our kitchen's counter/bar and am rocking this here website. I made some tweaks to the sidebar (reinstating the lovely graphic Heavy Rotation info), and now I plan to embark on a ground-up reconstruction of the Photolog. Even though a recent trip to the Central Park Zoo reminded me that my camera is kind of a dire piece of crap and I badly need a new one if I'm going to pretend to take pictures worth showing to the world. Mind you, said ground-up reconstruction may be put on hold if I opt to pop over to Target with Josh, who's coming into the BKLYN all special-like for said store. I can't turn down a trip to Target, can I?

By the way, you're all welcome to send me some terrific employment opportunities. Anytime.

And happy birthday (yesterday) to my "neighbor" Fiona, who held court over quite the shindig at Trash! last night... and hey Jen, if you're reading, e-mail me that picture you took of me last night. I'm desperate for good photographs of myself. (*NarcissistCOUGHCOUGH*)

*This would be because Ikea cancelled my order and didn't tell me that they'd done so. Why? Because one item was out of stock. In an order of about ten pieces. I am so not impressed. I had to call them after twiddling my thumbs for a week and a half, waiting for them to get in touch, before I was informed that the order was cancelled... suffice it to say, I am currently exploring other furniture options. Which is a shame, because I was really excited about everything I was ordering from them, but if they're gonna be so ridiculously difficult...

>> Scissor Sisters setlist, Irving Plaza, New York, September 10th 2004:

• "Take Your Mama"
• "Better Luck"
• "Tits On The Radio"
• "The Skins"
• "(New song, name unknown)"
• "Rock My Spot (Crevice Canyon)"
• "Laura"
• "Mary"
• "Comfortably Numb"
• "Filthy/Gorgeous"
• "Return To Oz"

Encore:

• "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" (!)
• "Music Is The Victim"

Fantastic show -- they're just as good live as you've probably heard by now. The best part is just seeing Ana Matronic and Jake Shears vamp it up and play off of each other -- I started laughing during Jake's jig and mime (acting out Ana Matronic's stage banter) between the second and third songs, and I didn't stop until the end. "It Can't Come Quickly Enough," which they apparently play quite rarely, was definitely a highlight, as it's my favorite song on the album -- it was just Babydaddy on synth and Jake on vocals, but that's all it took, really. Most of the songs were beefed up and more rock-y -- "Comfortably Numb" especially was just bone-crushingly awesome. I still miss the "What's shakin', Ms. Matronic?" breakdown of the demo "Music Is The Victim," but it's still a phenomenal song, and it ended the all-too-short night on a high. What a band, what a band. It pains me to think that I missed two chances to see them before now (I had tickets to the May show and had to give them up!)... I just hope they stop touring soon and get in the studio, because I need another album A.S.A.P. (and tell Kylie to release the tracks she recorded with them already)! (And just FYI, their album is still #1 with a bullet on my Best Of 2004 list, and to be quite honest, U2 and R.E.M. are going to have to hit it out of the park to get past them. I never thought I'd hear myself say that...)

I'm too exhausted to tell the full story, but more about my apartment and life tomorrow, hopefully. And oh yeah, I'm seeing Morrissey on October 9th. I could only just barely afford a single nosebleed seat, but I'm going anyway... let me know if you are, too.

>> Hey, I'm alive!

New place is looking all right -- my room is still 100% furniture-free but a possible trip to Ikea tomorrow may change that. The Internet fairies are coming on Monday afternoon to give us the hook-up, and I eagerly await that moment. (I'm thinking I may have one of these all plugged in and ready to go when they show up.) I also eagerly await not needing air conditioning, because our sad single Target-bought unit is totally underpowered and is going to murder our electric bill if we leave it on too much. Le sigh.

Also, we currently have no gas to cook with, and it's impossible to get through to a human being at our gas company. Which is... annoying. Hopefully we'll get that hooked up sometime soon as well, and I won't have to survive on cold cereal and bagel-and-salami sandwiches for the next year.

Once I get all tuned in and turned on, you'll get a photo tour of our new place, and I'll finally post the beautiful, beautiful Dino World photos. While you wait for me to shower/splatter you with my daily wisdom again, why don't you go get your hands on the new Bjork album, Medulla? It is very good, and I say that having been bored to tears by Vespertine. It's worth your time, yo.

>> Returning to New York tomorrow. I'm told our neighbors have a wireless network, so maybe I can *ahem* borrow that to post until we get our cable hooked up, but who knows, might be radio silence.

Sigh. Here goes nothing.