>> When did blogs stop being quite so personal?

This has been discussed many times before, starting quite some time ago. But it just hit me recently that all of my favorite blogs -- my own included -- seem to have moved very far away from focusing on the personal lives of their authors in the last few years. Maybe I'm misremembering it, but I remember a time when people seemed a lot more willing to just let it bleed on their web page. What happened to that? Did we all "grow up" too much? Is it just the general spectre of increased attention on the blogosphere, the idea that maybe people will find these silly little web pages someday? I know right now there's loads of things I'm dying to say about a lot of things, but I'm stopping myself because they implicate other people and I don't think it's all right to air that kind of laundry. But I want it to be all right. When I started blogging, I remember thinking there was a small chance that blogs could teach people to be more honest with each other in general. But that obviously didn't pan out, even a little bit.

Oh, idealism. You're gonna get me in trouble some day.

So as a minor personal update: I'm still unemployed, I'm kind of severely depressed, I'm lonely, I'm horny, and I'm broke. None of these are problems that look likely to be corrected any time in the near future, and they all feed off of each other. And I'd love to talk more about them, but again, I feel like I just can't. Not for my sake, though; my entire sense of modesty died the moment I started blogging. But that kind of feels like showing up at some party fabulously dressed and seeing that there's nobody else there.

And as I grow increasingly incoherent, it's time to just get in bed with a book and knock myself unconscious. Oh, and happy Halloween, I suppose, since it's after midnight...

>> Ew ew ew! From an e-mail from the Kerry campaign:

Dear Chris,

We have an exciting update about the Fresh Start for America Rally with John Kerry in Tampa on Sunday:

Yes? Yes? It's exciting? Tell me! Tell me!

the rock band Goo Goo Dolls will be performing live at the rally.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

If we lose Florida by a handful of votes, then I think we know what tipped the scales. And it won't have been Ralph Nader.

(Seriously, though, I think Kerry's gonna win Florida. And not even Johnny Rzezzznizzcisszzizk can stop him.)

>> Tori Amos is releasing a new album, The Beekeeper, and an autobiography (!), Piece By Piece, in February. Hmmmmm.

Thanks to Fat Joe for this post's title.

>> This one's for all of you who look at John Kerry and still see a weak man, a man in service to the whims of politics, an opportunist. For a long time now, my personal confidence in John Kerry has been steadily building. He wasn't my man during the primaries -- to be honest, I'm not sure I ever had one; Dean was powerful but could have easily been slaughtered by the right-wing noise machine, and Edwards just didn't have the resume to go straight into the Oval Office. But since I've seen John Kerry in action, and since I've started doing my homework about him, I've become absolutely enamored of him. He's a strong man, a smart man, a decent man. And I can honestly say that while I would vote for Anyone But Bush, I will be exceedingly proud to be a citizen of a United States where John Kerry is President.

I've been meaning to write up my case for this for a while. But I'm going to let you read The Rude Pundit's take on Kerry for the moment. The Pundit normally writes almost parodically profane rants, and they're often more valuable for comedy than content -- but he's fucking nailed it here. A decision was made, early in Senator Kerry's campaign, to downplay his acheivements as a Senator, with the idea that they simply weren't soundbite-worthy enough. This couldn't have been a bigger mistake. John Kerry is the man who brought down the BCCI, an international network of terrorist-funding and drug-smuggling financial institutions. John Kerry is the senator who put the heat onto the Iran-Contra deal, and his investigative work is part of what cracked the fact that our government was allowing cocaine into the country in order to support the Contras' military campaign. And it was John Kerry who stood up to the Nixon administration to demand accountability for the crimes and misdeeds of the Vietnam War.

John Kerry has spent his entire life facing down the unethical use of extreme power. George Bush has spent his entire life profiting from it. Don't be deluded for a moment into looking into George Bush's eyes and seeing a man with resolve. You are seeing a man who will hold onto his family's often despicably-applied power at any cost. And John Kerry is a man who will wrestle that power down and hold it to account. I'd trust him with my life, and the lives of every American. And I don't trust George Bush as far as I could throw him.

>> Here's some extremely important information courtesy of Electoral-Vote.com, re: what to do if you go to vote and are told you are not on the rolls. With massive swarms of lawyers dispatched by both parties to polling places around the country (and especially in Ohio, Florida, and other swing states), this is not an unlikely occurence. So prepare yourself now:

Several lawyers have contacted me about the issue of what to do if you show up to vote and the election officials say you are not registered. Here is the procedure. First, be absolutely sure you are in the correct precinct. If you are in the wrong precinct, in most states, your vote won't be counted. If you are not 100% certain of your polling place, go to www.mypollingplace.com and check. Alternatively, call the toll-free number 1-866-OUR-VOTE or your county clerk. If you are sure you are in the correct polling place and the officials claim you are not registered, ask for a provisional ballot and fill it out correctly. You are entitled to one by law. Politely, but firmly, insist on being given a provisional ballot.

More on this later, hopefully.

>> Two little political bits -- if you've received a chain e-mail that claims that a case John Edwards handled is responsible for the flu vaccine shortage, you should know it's false.

Also -- want to watch some video of troops from the 101st Airborne looking at the explosives in Al Qa Qaa? Yes, explosives were still there after the war broke out. And no, the troops were not told to secure them. In fact, they weren't even supposed to be looking for them; they were just stopped at Al Qa Qaa for the night. That doesn't stop Rudy Giuliani for blaming them, and not their superiors or the President, for failing to secure them (.WMV capture of his Today Show appearance):

The president was cautious, the president was prudent, the president did what a commander in chief should do. No matter how you try to blame it on the president the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?

They weren't told to search, douchebag. Our brilliant President and his strategists had absolutely no goals for the military conquest but to plow into Baghdad hard and fast. And they claim that strategy was "brilliantly executed." Of course, it doesn't matter that we left behind hundreds of tons of unsecured explosives; after all, we were going to be able to start pulling troops out of Iraq again almost immediately, since we were going to be ecstatically welcomed, and the Iraqis would immediately legitimize our cobbled-together government of exiles, expatriates, and con men. Oh, wait a second, we weren't going to be welcomed, and that government would never fly, and all of the policy-analysis bodies in the military and government told them this, and they went ahead anyway.

Get these fuckers out of office before they get us all killed, instead of just settling for a thousand troops. Do you want the people in charge of planning the Iraq war to be in charge of responding to the next major terror attack on American soil? I sure as hell don't.

>> You have got to be kidding me: George W. Bush's campaign website is blocked to non-U.S. viewers. I guess if you're an American overseas, they've already decided they lost your vote, so you don't matter. (Of course, they'd probably be right.)

So. Nobody outside America is allowed to visit his campaign site. Schoolchildren are told they'll be expelled if they show up to a meeting with him wearing pro-Kerry paraphenalia. He "endorsed" civil unions the day after stumping in Colorado for Marilyn Musgrave, the almost impossibly virulent anti-gay House rep whose proposed Constitutional amendment -- which Bush backed -- explicitly illegalizes civil unions. And they say he's the likeable candidate? I'm astonished every time I find another reason to hate him even more than I already do, but the man's got a very, very deep bag of tricks, apparently...

>> Keith Richards is playing Jack Sparrow's father in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Treasures Of The Lost Abyss.

:::world explodes:::

>> John Peel has died of a heart attack at age 65.

American readers may or may not know who he was, but basically, he was the greatest radio DJ of all time. He worked at BBC Radio One since its start in 1967, and since then he was single-handedly responsible for kick-starting the careers of almost every interesting band to come out of the UK; you can't throw a rock without hitting a band who was played first on the John Peel show. There are nowhere near enough people like him in the music industry.

He was on vacation in Peru at the time of his death. After making the announcement, the BBC played The Undertones' "Teenage Kicks," his favorite single of all time. And frankly, I teared up a little when I listened to it this morning.

>> Yeah, all this nattering on about designs got me working. I implemented one tiny change today, standardizing the line heights here in the blog column, so everybody should get nice-looking text that's not all mashed together. (Firefox and MSIE put each line too close together for my liking. Of course, it looks perfect in Safari. BUY A MAC!) Unfortunately, because of my gimpy CSS coding, I couldn't do it on the sidebar where it was really needed. But patience, my children, patience -- I think something's coming. I don't know when, exactly, but I built something today, yes I did.

I'm never satisfied, am I. The itch always needs to be scratched...

>> The Plastic Cat is back, with a lovely new design, an intriguing new format, and an ahead-of-the-curve Southern Hemisphere location. Do check it out.

And while we're on the subject, The Modern Age returned at full force this week, abandoning the open-secret temp directory she was inhabiting. Result! Unfortunately, now everybody can see just how similar my site's design is to hers -- her lovely minimalism was the original inspiration for this layout. Hmmm. My cheeks redden.

>> One other note related to today's date -- one year ago I put this design up on the site. Meaning that this is, far and away, the longest-lasting design DYFL? has ever had. (Longtime readers know that some of my designs have lasted anywhere from several months to seven days.) I'm still pretty happy with this one, although I've made a couple of subtle changes and I may make some more in the future (those might be slightly more drastic, but I'm still thinking them through). So that's kind of an achievement in itself.

And it's now three years from the day when I decided to come out to the world at large. W00t w00t.

>> I started this blog four years ago on October 23rd, 2000. I'm still here. And I don't think I'm quitting anytime soon, either. I do occasionally go through phases where I feel like I'm wasting too much time (by which I mean, any time at all) on this site, but that's just more of a function of my crazy self-loathing than anything else. The truth of the matter is, I love this site, I love my readers, and I love blogging, so I'm not going anywhere. Thank you to everybody who's stuck with me, for the last four years or the last four weeks -- just knowing you're reading is a kick. I hope you've enjoyed it!

P.S. -- after going through my archives, I noticed that at about this time four years ago, I was eagerly anticipating the new U2 album, holding my breath in terror that George Bush would win the election, and listening to a lot of Afghan Whigs MP3s. Plus ce change...

>> I'm still sick. Tomorrow will probably be the day of throat-rending, mind-bogglingly painful coughing, but I'm actually sort of OK with that if it means this FUCKING nasal congestion is over. I'm at that nostrils-rubbed-raw state (clearly our Disney Kleenex with Aladdin on them are not as squeezably soft as I'd like) where I grimace every time I allow something to brush up against my nose, and I'm so tired of having my head weigh about five pounds more than normal.

While you're waiting for brain to work good, you should go poke around in World In Motion; I've added a few great links and some better category sorting in the last couple of days (and I spent most of tonight finally getting around to reading all of this link). And U2 fans should definitely check out U2log, to learn about how our core editors played a small (and thankless) part in returning the Holy Grail of U2 memorabilia to its rightful owner, Bono...

>> The human body is an amazing machine. I am truly incredulous at the sheer volume of mucus I have produced over the course of the last twenty-four hours. It's a shame it's not a very efficient fuel source, or we really could get the United States independent of foreign oil within ten years.

Anyway, now it's time to actually go outside (!) and mail my absentee ballot. And buy some milk, for lo, I crave cereal. (I really crave McDonald's, but I'd be an idiot to spend $6 on that when I am completely out of money.) And as it turns out, I actually don't feel so bad today -- the throat doesn't hurt anywhere near as much, but I'm about three times as stuffed-up as I was. That's generally the final phase of these things, though (knock on wood)...

>> While the whole country is babbling about flu vaccines, I'm real enough to go out and catch the motherfucker. I am soooo zeitgeist. (At least I think it's the flu, anyway -- my throat's scratchy as hell, my nose has been running all day, and I have the awful feeling I'm going to wake up tomorrow feeling a lot worse, not better. Pray for me; this is really not something I needed right now.)

If you want to make me feel better, buy me one of these. (Via Prolific)

>> Bill Clinton very nearly appeared on William Shatner's cover of "Common People."

MP3.com: Who chose to do the song "Common People"?

Ben Folds: That was me. I knew we needed to do a cover song. It would just be a glaring omission not to have Bill do his William Shatner impression. That song wasn't a popular song in America, but it has the weight of a big hit. It's not worn-out. I also thought that he would dig the content, because he's someone who has lived on both sides. He grew up pretty working-class.

That was the thing on the record that I just thought had to happen. We even went so far as to call Bill Clinton. Shatner talked to him for a good 10 minutes about it. Clinton was like [adopting a spot-on Clinton accent], "Yeah, I'll probably do it. Just make sure Ben doesn't make me sound like s***." We took so long to get our act together that by the time we got around to it, his people said he was too busy with the elections and his book. I had grand plans for this song.

MP3.com: That would have been calling in a high-level favor, huh?

BF: Oh, hell yeah, and that has nothing to do with art. It's just cool. Everyone wanted to meet Clinton.

(Via Boing Boing)

>> A strong writeup by Kevin Drum of some of the overlooked aspects of Kerry's likely approach to counter-terrorism planning. They don't involve killing large numbers of brown people, so I'm sure a lot of the shit-scared warhawks will discount them outright. But if you're wanting more specifics of Kerry's philosophy about some under-discussed and effective ways to prevent terrorist organizations from growing ever larger and more powerful, than you should cast an eye over this. (And don't forget -- Kerry is far from a military dove; if he's called upon to use the U.S. military, even preemptively, he will do it. The difference between him and Bush is that he plans to be a lot more serious about when such an extraordinarily risky venture is necessary.)

>> A deeply amusing paragraph from this CNN piece. They claim that according to a Gallup (ha) poll, Bush's favorability ratings have increased over Kerry's, and then offer the following trenchant analysis:

One reason Kerry has not been able to translate his debate showing into a lead in the popularity contest could be that voters think he is too liberal.

Bush emphasized that label at Wednesday's debate, and it seems to be sticking. Nearly half of all respondents -- 47 percent -- in the most recent poll said Kerry's political views are too liberal. Four in 10 said Bush is too conservative. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

4 out of 10 -- 40%. Plus or minus 3 percentage points. Meaning that the poll might be showing 43% of voters finding Bush too conservative, and 44% of voters finding Kerry too liberal. But what's the focus of the paragraph? You got it -- the "L" word!

Of course, this is a Gallup poll, which oversamples Republicans as "likely voters" by a truly stupendous margin, so it's suspect data to start with -- but CNN's treatment of the data is just laughable.

You know, one reason I need a job is to give me something to do all goddamn day except read political news and analysis. It's giving me fuckin' ulcers.

>> If you live in a swing state and you're still absolutely committed to the idea of voting third-party, then maybe you should take a look at VotePair, a website which links third-party voters in swing states with Kerry supporters in clearly-decided states, coordinating swaps that are designed to ensure that the electoral votes of swing states go to the more progressive candidate, Kerry, while a large number of nationwide popular votes are directed towards third-party support. And no, it's not illegal.

As I've said on numerous occasions, I feel absolutely sure that third-party legitimacy is completely secondary to stopping George Bush from having another four years in office, but in my heart, I support the idea of a more pluralized American electorate. This sounds like an interesting and ethical way to help accomplish that, while ensuring that a president who is openly hostile to traditional democracy and political pluralism is booted from the Oval Office. I'd rather see the Democrats encouraging dialogue like this, which speaks directly to Nader and other third-party-candidates' supporters, than trying so aggressively to get Nader yanked off ballots, which is obviously distasteful.

>> It's 4AM, I'm still awake, blargh. I just got back twenty minutes ago from the Twilight Singers show at Irving Plaza -- if you're curious, I posted the setlist in the comments at SummersKiss.com. If you're too lazy to click through to that, then I'll just tell you it was a really great show and be done with it.

Now it's time to go to bed. It took exactly one hour to get from Irving Plaza to my apartment in Brooklyn via the subway. This is the #1 thing I hate about my neighborhood...

>> Oh WHOA. From Moby's online journal:

i'm just finishing up my next record(s).
yes, record(s).
i hope(reliant upon the kindness and altruism of my record companies)to release 2(yes, 2)cd's next march.
cd1 will be a cd of songs. some conventional. some not. but songs.
and cd2 will be an ambient cd. ambient might be a dirty word in some circles, but i love the idea of subtle, melodic, atmospheric music that can either exist in the fore or back ground.
and cd1 will contain a cover.
i don't often cover other peoples songs.
but cd1 will contain a cover.
and the hint is...i bought a 7" single in the early 80's and it was very difficult to determine the artist because the artwork looked like blue flecked linoleum on the 7" sleeve.
eh, you'll figure it out soon enough.
it's very pretty, if i do say so myself.

So of course, somebody on the message boards immediately produced this:


Answer regarding who it is in the comments (Kind of as a "spoiler warning," though I recommend clicking on through to see what it is if you haven't already recognized it).

>> OK, I really don't know what I think of the song yet (Music = so catchy and awesome! Lyrics = so very cringeworthy!), but Gwen Stefani's video for "What You Waiting For?" is PHENOMENAL. Watch it NOW. (Via Stereogum)

>> Just a reminder -- here's a list of the rights related to marriage that I don't have because I'm gay. If I, God willing, ever find the person that I love and want to spend the rest of my life with, then I will be shouldering a hefty financial burden; I will have no legal indemnity against my every word, telephone call, and communication with that person being subpoenaed by a court of law; I will have no right to transfer my property to them tax-free upon my death; and I can be separated from them against my will if I or my partner are placed in a nursing home. And that's just the highlights reel. I'll also remind you that if I ever want to return to my home state of Florida, which I love, then I am legally barred from adopting children.

Here are the things I know, going into this election. President Bush has come down on the wrong side of every gay-rights issue he's ever been handed. He is, in every way, my enemy on this issue. John Kerry, unfortunately, "believes marriage is between a man and a woman." But -- and here's where it gets critical -- he voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He supports civil unions, which, although a distasteful compromise, would in all likelihood restore to me the vast majority of the rights outlined above. And he opposes the President's bigoted, wrongheaded Constitutional amendment, which was a slap in the face not only to every single gay American, but to anybody who believes that the Constitution is there to give Americans freedom, not take it away. (In case you didn't notice, by the way, the Hate Amendment, as we like to call it, failed resoundingly in Congress a couple weeks back, and is dead on arrival. I applaud that, but I still can't help loathing the man who had the audacity to put it in front of them in the first place.)

I'm immensely disappointed in the mealy-mouthed, deeply compromised stance that John Kerry has taken on gay marriage. But I have every confidence that, in the next four or -- please, please -- eight years of a Kerry presidency, the tide of bigotry that I've watched the Republican party and the fundamentalist Christian right work their asses off to muster against me will turn around. I firmly believe that John Kerry is, ultimately, on the right side of history on this issue, and that when the time comes to preside over the restoration of my civil rights, and my time to be put on equal footing with every other citizen of this country, Kerry won't stand in the way of that change. I might be wrong about that. But I know I'm not wrong about George W. Bush.

And one little note to the people who are "outraged" about John Kerry's mention of Mary Cheney in last night's debate -- grow the fuck up. The woman is an out lesbian, who's worked in gay outreach for Coors for years. John Kerry was simply stating a fact, and a relevant one at that -- that most families with a gay friend or family member find it extremely difficult to conscience the idea that homosexuality is an evil choice, and that the Cheneys are a prime example. There's nothing wrong with pointing out the fact that somebody is gay, especially if they're out to the world and have quite literally made it their job to be so. Would George W. Bush be outraged if John Kerry pointed out that his nephew is Hispanic? No. The reaction on the part of a lot of conservatives that Kerry did something distasteful is just underscoring their belief that homosexuality is distasteful. To which I, and, I'm willing to bet, Mary Cheney, say: FUCK YOU.

>> Now, this week's Onion is pretty good -- "Cheney Vows To Attack US If Kerry Elected," "Latino Community Empowered By Coke Commercial," and "Long-Lost Jules Verne Short Story 'The Camera-Phone' Found" were all excellent (and the last paragraph of the Jules Verne story is wondrous). But nothing made me laugh quite as hard as Sen. John Edwards' "guest editorial," "You Want To See Some Goddamn Optimism?" And remember, I'm voting for the guy.

>> Heads up -- Scissor Sisters are playing a Christmas homecoming show at Hammerstein Ballroom on Dec. 19th. Tickets go on sale this Friday.

Also -- there's still tickets for The Twilight Singers' midnight show at Irving Plaza on Saturday night. I'm going and I strongly believe that you should, too...

>> Here's the kind of piece I wish Rolling Stone wrote more often -- an analysis of Wal-Mart's role in the music industry, centering around their recent demand that labels provide them with $10 CDs. Wal-Mart is America's biggest music retailer, but they couldn't give two shits about music as a product -- they sell CDs at a loss in order to have low prices that tempt users into the store. (Target and Best Buy do the same thing, but are marginally more interested in music as something other than a commodity). The article also contains a lot of fascinating numbers on the costs of producing and shipping a CD that it couldn't hurt to be familiar with...

And while we're on the subject of music, get thee to Fluxblog -- he's got the excellent new Kylie single, "I Believe In You," written in collaboration with Scissor Sisters (and a link to the other new track from Ultimate Kylie, "Givin' You Up," which isn't quite as good but ah well).

>> I don't really have the energy to do a full write-up of the Morrissey show at Radio City Saturday night, but here's the setlist, and I did chime in on that thread -- I'm the second setlist posted by "Anonymous" ("NYC setlist 10/9 out of order"). I had a really great time, even though the venue's security was ridiculous --pat-down searches, bag checks, stage invaders being tackled and dragged, etc. -- and the guy next to me was a total jerk who complained to his girlfriend/wife all evening that Morrissey "wasn't playing enough of the old stuff." This, of course, being a show where he played five Smiths songs, "November Spawned A Monster," and "Everyday Is Like Sunday." I did hear the guy say something about "Last Of The Famous International Playboys," so apparently he just wouldn't have been happy unless Moz played that. Some people... anyway, I'll be seeing Morrissey again the next chance I get, hopefully from better seats (I had a great view but was still very high up in the sky). And while Radio City is a beautiful venue, their security and attitude really kills a rock show -- it worked for Bjork, but they hampered this one pretty badly. I may be bypassing them in the future...

>> Well, that debate was... interesting. Bush's fury was almost mesmerizing -- I cringed as I watched him advancing on Charlie Gibson, who was obviously intimidated and not happy about it -- but despite his obvious anger, which I don't think could have played well with voters who were iffy on his personal merits, he was certainly more alive intellectually than he was in the first debate (as much as he can be, anyway -- Internets?), and I could see a few moments where he was obviously making a connection with people on some issues (and no, that's not including the stem cell question, from the woman who was so obviously a rabid pro-lifer; if she's still undecided in this race, I'd be stunned). It was a much better performance for him than in the last debate. Kerry started off very strong, and kept that momentum going for the entire first hour -- he played excellently next to the president, who looked like he was going to melt down at any second -- but his energy seemed to flag considerably in the last half-hour. He flubbed an absolutely giftwrapped closer, too; when Bush was asked that final question to name three mistakes, you knew he would just dance around it and not name a single one, he can't be honest with the American people for even one single moment -- but Kerry really blew a chance to not only point that out (he needed to make it blindingly obvious to the audience that this is just how Bush works, he always avoids the tough questions, he'll never give you the answer), but to perfectly counter with three sharp, original critiques of the president's many, many mistakes. I was disappointed by both candidates recycling word-for-word several of the lines from the previous debate. Come on guys; anybody watching this one watched the last one too, and you're losing them every time you appear to be reciting a rote script and not appealling from the heart and brain. And finally, I do have to say, the majority of the questions from the audience were just excellent -- sharp, no-bullshit, cleanly targeted, and not influenced one way or the other by the framing devices both candidates have tried to place on each other. Well done, people.

This one certainly wasn't as decisive a Kerry victory as the previous debate, but I do think he came off as much more composed and aware, and informed about, and suitably respectful of, his responsibilities and duties as a potential President. Does everybody else think that way? Who knows; the immediate website polls seem to back that up, but those can be gamed and swarmed so easily that it's ridiculous to credit them too much.

It's a close election. Do I think Kerry can win it? Yes. Do I think it's sewn up? Absolutely not.

And by the way, congratulations to August, who just landed a job at the Center For American Progress! That's a big fuckin' deal, man! Best of luck on the move to DC.

>> Oh shit, I need a job and I need it now. Not just for the obvious reasons, such as food and electricity and the continued payment of my rent. No, I need a job because the 60 GB iPod with color screen and photo-viewing capabilities is on its way. (That's still a "rumor," but ThinkSecret claims the device is currently in production in Asia, which is quite a bit more solid than most iPod rumor claims.) God help me, I just got a new iPod ten months ago... unfortunately, my music library is now at 42.5 GB, well above the 40GB 'Pod's actual 37.2 GB capacity. So I "need" this new one. I "need" it bad.

And speaking of my iPod, and of an artist who's always on it -- happy birthday Gavin Friday! I seem to have wished him well every year on this blog, so I can't break the streak now. He's currently in Northern Ireland, filming his part in the adaptation of Patrick McCabe's Breakfast On Pluto, directed by Neil Jordan. I like the book, I like the director, I love the actor. I'm looking forward to it!

>> Just published a new iMix to the iTunes Music Store -- She Loves You: Dulli & Co., which collects all the original versions of the tracks from She Loves You, the Twilight Singers' fantastic new covers album. There are a couple of less-than-ideal bits -- for example, John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" is an album-only buy, and I had to settle for Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong's version of "Summertime" instead of the Dulli-endorsed Sam Cooke version. And, of course, I couldn't include The Beatles' "Real Love" (which Dulli just barely slips into the end of the Mary J. Blige cover of the same name), because Paul McCartney is a money-grubbing whore and won't allow any downloading service to have the Beatles catalogue unless they pay $15 million for six months of rights. Weak. That said, it was a pleasant surprise to find pretty much everything I needed to make this iMix, so now it's out there. Vote for it if you find it to be useful; my great ambition would be for it to show up on the She Loves You page at iTunes. Get me there, gentle readers!

>> PJ Harvey setlist, Hammerstein Ballroom, October 6th 2004:

• "Dress"
• "Who The Fuck?"
• "Big Exit"
• "Evol"
• "Victory"
• "My Beautiful Leah"
• "50 Ft. Queenie"
• "Shame"
• "It's You"
• "The Life And Death Of Mr. Badmouth"
• "Meet Ze Monsta"
• "The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore"
• "Harder"
• "Me-Jane"

Encore 1:

• "Rid Of Me"
• "Taut"
• "Catherine"
• "Fountain"
• "Janet Vs. Johnny" (The Fall cover)
• "Is This Desire?"

Encore 2:

• "There Will Never Be A Better Time"
• "The Darker Days Of Me And Him"

PJ was great; the audience stank. And I don't mean that in the sense that the crowd was just full of the usual gig-going push-to-the-front five-trips-to-the-bar-during-the-set assholes, though it was, and I don't mean that there were actual smelly people there (like at the Franz Ferdinand show -- good God!). No, they were just really, really dull and unresponsive. It was the first time I've ever actually borne witness to the cliche that New York audiences are too sedate. I mean, there was plenty of cheering and screaming, but PJ was playing a fucking great show, with a set full of songs she hasn't aired in NYC in years, and yet nobody's head is even bobbing?!? She killed "50 Ft. Queenie" and "Meet Ze Monsta" and yet nobody was dancing or rocking out even a little bit, they all just stood there stock-still and then cheered when it was over. Weak. I think a lot of them just flat-out didn't recognize the early material, which was surprising; there were a bunch of B-sides I had to look up after the show, but I always thought that the Dry / Rid Of Me era was the PJ-fan touchstone that everybody knew. Instead, it was "Big Exit" that got the biggest cheer of the night; I didn't think Stories... had created that many latter-day fans who don't know her catalogue as well, but I suppose it has.

I was also a little disappointed in how scant the selections from her new album were -- no "You Come Through," "The Letter," or "Uh Huh Her," which are all songs she's been playing a lot -- but I did get to hear my favorite track from the record, "It's You" (which also went over very well). It was ironic to see her in the same venue I'd seen her in three years and one month ago, with the same opening act (Moris Tepper), with an encore that started in the same way -- with the solo, just Polly-and-guitar "Rid Of Me." Sadly I recall that song being a much more transporting experience the last time, but I was dead-center right up front then, whereas this time I was pretty far back (I also recall the effects pedal she used then being a bit dirtier and harsher).

Definitely a great show, but it's reminding me of just how beautiful and rare it is to get a crowd like U2's or R.E.M.'s, where the energy level is just so high and just about anything the artist tries is well-received. Also, four concerts in a week (one more to go!) is helping me to remember how much I hate people. And standing for long periods of time. And beer. I'm no fun. Hopefully Anthony Kiedis, who was sitting on the balcony right across from us, was able to enjoy the show more fully than I.

>> If you're still thinking of voting for Nader... don't. A vote for Nader is a vote for standing on principle, right? Well, I could respect that, honestly I could. But I'm afraid your nominee doesn't stand on principle himself: he's accepted a campaign donation from donors to the Swift Boat Veterans -- who he denounced just a couple of months ago for being "proxies" in an effort to "smear" John Kerry. Is that the kind of principled guy you want to support?

As I've said before, I honestly wish I could vote for Nader. But there are far more important things to deal with right now than the two-party system. That quote from Tom Tomorrow still sums it up best...

Nader's critique is, essentially, that there is a cancer on the body politic--and he's right about that. The problem in the year 2004 is that the body politic is also suffering from multiple wounds and blunt force trauma, we're in the emergency room and it's a damn mess and there's blood everywhere and the doctors are working furiously but it's anybody's guess how things are gonna turn out. We are in triage, and we have to deal with the immediate problems, or the long-term ones won't matter anyway.

Please, don't support that man. Not here, not now.

>> OK, I've read a whole lot of reviews, had a whole lot of conversations, and done a whole lot of listening to and about R.E.M.'s Around The Sun, and I think my opinion of it has finally solidified a bit. So, going track-by-track, here's what I think.

01. "Leaving New York"
I love this one, flat-out, and it didn't even take me a while to warm to it the way a lot of people seem to have needed. I love it because it's not subtle, it's not clever, it's about what it's about on the face of it and that really connects with me -- even the schmaltzy video works 100% for me. There are scenes of Stipe carousing with friends, or admiring the scenery, and then suddenly he's in a car, looking out a window, watching it all escape, and so of course I think about all the times that I have sat in a cab, or on a train, speeding towards JFK airport and thinking about all the people and places I'm leaving behind. It's always been temporary, but there've been times when it hasn't felt that way. So yeah, this one's more than a little obvious, but I love it wholeheartedly for that. I can see why it might be annoying to people who either don't have that sort of experience or aren't willing to engage with it in the same way (or it just doesn't press their response buttons the way it presses mine), but oh well.

02. "Electron Blue"
Definitely the best example of a certain kind of song they've been trying to do for the last couple of albums ("Disappear," "Saturn Return," "You're In The Air"). Should be a winner live.

03. "The Outsiders"
This one inspires a lot of love/hate reaction -- musically, it's Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" with a hip-hop beat. Lyrically, it's Stipe musing on a typically oblique failed relationship (much like the following track, "Make It All Okay"). The thing that sells a lot of this album for me is in Stipe's lyrics, and again, that's a personal thing -- a lot of people seem to really dislike his new, slightly "clearer" style of lyric-writing that seems to hint at personal experiences and regrets in a newly transparent way, but it's produced a lot of lines and ideas that I find myself really, really loving. (Taking it line-by-line with him is OK, since there was a time when all you could find yourself enjoying were collections of syllables.) I'll freely admit that that's my ingrained receptiveness to any gay singer singing about his love life, which I overprivilege in pop music generally, but still. In this song the line that clicks is "Drawing patterns with the cork on the tablecloth / Promising volcanic change of plot," which sticks in my head melodically with the power of Elmer's glue. Q-Tip's rap I also don't mind, mainly because I don't really conceive of it as a rap; it just sounds like another verse, more spoken than sung, and I really like the quality of his voice and think it matches the track in an interesting way. My two production quibbles would be that Mike Mills' backing vocals in the chorus (which, if you listen hard to pluck them out, are pretty great) are way too far down in the mix, and that Stipe's chiming in on certain words in Q-Tip's verse ("get it," "teach that") is really sort of obnoxious and poseur-y and reminds you of just how goddamn white Michael Stipe really is. (Listen to his duet with Neneh Cherry, "Trout," for the most blatant example of this -- kids need to learn about sex in schools!) I almost feel like this should've been the first single -- it sounds sufficiently distinct from most R.E.M. singles to turn some heads, and it would've had a shot at some minor alternative-radio play; they then could've followed it up with "Leaving New York," which would've seemed like an even bigger anthem by comparison.

04. "Make It All Okay"
Another failed-relationship ballad. Nice melody, fairly strong lyrics ("Jesus loves me fine" being a highlight, as is the minor twist on "Losing My Religion" -- "Is it my imagination, or did I hear you say..."). You'll either like it or you won't, it's not very hooky.

05. "Final Straw"
The "jangliest" song on the record, and the one that sounds the most like old-school R.E.M. It's also the only straight-up protest song; while a lot of the songs on the record contain lines, sentiments, and emotions that connect to the sense of political disappointment and outrage that the band is feeling, most of the tracks try to weave those ideas into songs that are about something else. This one doesn't. It's easily the best of that wave of Internet-released protest songs we got when the Iraq war broke out; of course, when your competition is that crappy Zack De La Rocha song and the Beasties' teeth-grindingly lame "In A World Gone Mad," that's not saying much.

06. "I Wanted To Be Wrong"
Actually, this one is fairly classicist as well, and is a slightly more "up" version of the same territory covered on "Final Straw," though again, you could read more personal details into it if you so chose. Again, very pretty, stately, sounds like R.E.M., and is another sure-to-be-strong live track.

07. "Wanderlust"
An attempt at bringing the tempo of the record up a bit, which is laudable, but it's just a really crummy song. If R.E.M. ever issued b-sides (instead of an endless stream of live tracks and demos), this would do just fine, but as an album track (and as a highlighted track on the promo sticker on the record's front? Jesus!), this is just very poor. Stipe's singing is off, the melody's not very good, and the lyric's eminently disposable. Personally my least-favorite track. (There's a lovely five-second string intro, though.)

08. "Boy In The Well"
This one's definitely a grower, and it grows on you in a big way -- in terms of mood it's a lot like "She Just Wants To Be," but it's got a much stronger chorus and, frankly, should be the second single instead of "Aftermath." Probably the second-most anthemic song on the record after "Leaving New York," and the only other one I've marked as five stars in iTunes if that means anything to you.

09. "Aftermath"
Upbeat and a bit sunny, even if the lyrics have a vague post-apocalyptic tinge to them, so it's obvious on the surface why it was chosen as the second single; but the chorus is too repetitive and unimaginative, and the song just isn't hooky enough in general to make any kind of impact. A B-plus kind of effort.

10. "High Speed Train"
11. "The Worst Joke Ever"
I often have a hard time separating these two in my mind; taken together they're just two gloomy songs too many. There's some nice sonic things happening in both, but nothing that really sticks home; they contribute to making the second half of the album drag a lot more than the first half, which is on a kind of roll and has some kind of instinctively strong flow for the first six songs until it's derailed by "Wanderlust." From then on I can't help but take it track-by-track, and these two don't hold up to that kind of evaluation.

12. "The Ascent Of Man"
Sounds exactly like it should be on New Adventures In Hi-Fi, which seems to have emerged in the last few years as one of R.E.M.'s absolute best records (I thought so all along, of course ;-D). It's the layered "Yeah"s of the chorus and the dirty guitar texture that make that connection for me; your mileage may vary. It's not great, but it's definitely not bad either.

13. "Around The Sun"
This one's four stars, but it could've been five. It's got a great optimistic chorus ("Hold on world 'cuz you don't know what's coming / Hold on world 'cuz I'm not jumping off"), and a really lovely build in its production, and it sounds like it's going to end the album on exactly the note that it needs -- a huge, expansive anthem to counterweight all the rather gloomy, low-tempo tracks that proceed it. It shimmers out into a big, booming, psychedelic middle section -- and then it just sort of limps to its close. The turning point is at about 2:50 -- at exactly the point where a bridge should come in, before exploding into a whole new and even more powerful closing section, they repeat the "Around the sun" chant one time too many and then slide into a lovely keyboard & lyrics part which should have been that bridge -- but instead, it's the coda of the song, and it continues for a full minute before simply fading away. No! No! You built far more momentum in this one track than on anything else anywhere in the record -- don't let it slip away! That's a sign of songwriting weakness that shows up at a couple of points in the record, the aforementioned chorus of "Aftermath" being one of them -- at a point when all they needed was one solid new hook, or one new part, they choose repetition instead. It's one thing to not want to write thirteen songs of the same structure, but with the slow pace of the majority of the tracks, they needed at least a couple of bigger, poppier, tracks, and they never quite make it.

Overall, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit disappointed in this album, especially after the massive resurgence R.E.M. seemed to be enjoying on the In Time tour, when the live shows were shit-hot and almost every era of their career seemed well-received by the fans on the road. It seemed like they had an energy going that might translate really well to the record; but instead of balancing that energy with the admittedly very interesting sense of foreboding that hangs over the country and the election, and making something galvanizing out of it, they seem to have chosen to wallow a bit too much. That said, it's not my least favorite R.E.M. album; that might be Reveal, or one of the early discs I never find myself listening to. But there's still no such thing as an R.E.M. album that I don't at least like, and I do like this one a great deal. I can't in good conscience recommend it unreservedly to non-hardcore R.E.M. fans, but I do urge you to give it a listen to see if lightning strikes you with any of these songs; they may end up making a random connection or two.

I am very, very curious to see how this record sounds at a live show. There are still tickets available for their show at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 4th (and there probably always will be -- sadly I don't think it's going to sell out), and might I remind you that the show I caught there just barely one year ago was one of the best I've ever attended by anyone?

>> 

>> Unfortunately, I didn't see the vice-presidential debate tonight, as I was off seeing The Killers at Irving Plaza, who played the following setlist:

• "Mr. Brightside"
• "Smile Like You Mean It"
• "Midnight Show"
• "On Top" / "Time" (Pink Floyd, one verse)
• "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine"
• "Andy You're A Star"
• "Change Your Mind"
• "Indie Rock 'N' Roll"
• "Somebody Told Me"

Encore:

• "Under The Gun"
• "All These Things That I've Done"

It was definitely not a bad show; my only quibbles would be that the set is a little short (Granted, they play all but two tracks from the album, plus two b-sides) and that Brandon Flowers is not exactly the frontman I expected him to be. The music seemed to demand a bit more energy, but he was trying to cultivate a slower, more reserved, Morrissey-style vibe that I just don't think really suited the band, who were determined to rock and rock hard. I know if I had a song like "Somebody Told Me" to sing, I'd be all over the stage bouncing up and down, shimmying, etc., and I guess I can't fault him for trying not to do the obvious thing, but it stops you from really connecting with the energy of the music if he's just up there presenting it to you so matter-of-factly (Also, the flat "We'll play the hit now" declaration before "Somebody Told Me" didn't work -- you just don't kill the momentum of the set-closer that way, and while the line was obviously supposed to be clever, the way he said it was just dead and had a tinge of "I guess we HAVE to play the song they want to hear" about it; he might not've thought that, but that's what it sounded like. Delivery is everything). They also need a keyboard player, so he can be freed up to do his frontman-thing (be it more mannered or more energetic, whatever) instead of being stuck in front of the synths for half the songs.

Eh, don't listen to me, I've got weird ideas about my rock stars. If you'd like something a little more concrete, I'll just say that he was way shorter than I expected him to be.

Ambulance LTD and Surferosa opened. The former was pleasant in their way; the latter, who we only saw two songs of, were kind of absurd, but in a potentially brilliant way -- each member looked like they'd been plucked from a different extremely-popular 80s band. The guitarist was from R.E.M., the singer was from Berlin, the bassist was from Motley Crue, and the keyboardist was from A Flock Of Seagulls. I don't know where the drummer was from, he didn't look as snappy as the other members. They played synthy rock (surprise!) and seemed very convinced of their excellence, and to their credit, the audience seemed to think so too (They'd heard more than us, after all). I think they weren't from around here.

Anyway, now I've reviewed a show I saw two hours ago, and still haven't said anything about the Franz Ferdinand show I saw two days ago; I'll try to get to that. Next on the list, PJ Harvey tomorrow night... and thank you, Cat, for the last-minute ticket to the show tonight!

>> Just so everybody knows, I've finally set up a Flickr photostream. The odds are very, very good that it's going to replace my photolog as we know it, because God damn it's waaaaay easier. So go hit up Flickr to see some snaps of my new apartment (fancier ones will be forthcoming when our apartment is a little fancier), and of the extremely curious things we found on the street tonight. (Sounds exciting, eh?)

>> There are two incredibly important things about today:

1. My desk came, I built it, and I am blogging from it right now. Life can only get better from here.
2. Today is the final day to register to vote in Florida -- your application must be signed and postmarked today. Click here for the forms you need if you're not already registered, and get them to the post office today!

This is the last of the "please register" public service announcements. From here on out, it's all me trying to convince you why you should vote for Kerry. So brace yourself. ;-D

And to the poll workers who've been working their asses off to get this record voter surge processed -- thank you, thank you. Now don't let anybody up above you in the chain of command fuck things up for you, or for anybody who's applied to register fair and square!

>> Franz Ferdinand setlist, Roseland Ballroom, Oct. 3rd 2004:

• "Cheating On You"
• "Auf Achse"
• "40 Ft."
• "Tell Her Tonight"
• "Take Me Out"
• "Jacqueline"
• "Your Diary"
• "The Dark Of The Matinee"
• "Come On Home"
• "All For You, Sophia"
• "Michael"
• "Darts Of Pleasure"

Encore:

• "Shopping For Blood"
• "This Fire"

Not absolutely positive of the running order for "Your Diary" / "Matinee" / "Come On Home," I may've jumbled those three. Everything else is exact, though.

More on the show in the morning, hopefully; right now I need some sleep.

>> Oh, Fox News. Fox News, Fox News, Fox News. You are a bunch of fucking morons.

I wasn't going to write about today's hot topic -- the fact that Fox News' #1 Kerry campaign correspondent, Carl Cameron, published an article containing completely fabricated, parodic quotes by Kerry; other bloggers were all over it and I prefer not to jump onto the bandwagon with stories like that unless they're too important to ignore. One more example of Fox News being biased? Surprise!

But to get two in one day?!?

Of course, there were some Kerry supporters in attendance who had no doubts whatever about their candidate.

"We're trying to get Comrade Kerry elected and get that capitalist enabler George Bush out of office," said 17-year-old Komoselutes Rob of Communists for Kerry.

"Even though he, too, is a capitalist, he supports my socialist values more than President Bush," Rob said, before assuring FOXNews.com that his organization was not a parody group.  When asked his thoughts on Washington's policy toward Communist holdout North Korea, Rob said: "The North Koreans are my comrades to a point, and I'm sure they support Comrade Kerry, too."

It is unclear whether the Kerry campaign has welcomed the Communists' endorsement.

Here's the thing -- Communists For Kerry IS a joke operation!

"Communists for Kerry" is a campaign of the Hellgate Republican Club, a tax exempt non-partisan public advocacy "527" organization that exists for the purpose of;

"Informing voters with satire and irony, how political candidates make decisions based on the failed social economic principles of socialism that punish the individual by preventing them from becoming their dream through proven ideas of entrepreneurship and freedom."

Our members help elect candidates who support economic growth through Entrepreneurship, limited government and lower taxes. Communists For Kerry is separate and distinct from the Communist party of America and any of its organization. None of it's members are members of any communist organizations.

Thanks to Atrios for the Communists For Kerry info. Josh Marshall is all over the Cameron story; start here and read upwards.

>> If you're going to see the Pixies here in NYC this December, here's a public service announcement -- they've finally confirmed all of the opening acts, and there's a different one for each show. They've also announced two more shows, both on Dec. 18th (a 7PM and a midnight show), and those are going to be the absolute last shows of the tour -- so this is your last chance if you don't already have tickets! Presale starts on Tues., Oct. 5th, at noon, through PixiesMusic.com; general onsale is on the 8th. (PixiesMusic.com is also the source of this opening-act info.)

The opening-act schedule is:

• Dec. 11th: TV On The Radio (I'm seeing this one).
• Dec. 12th: The Datsuns.
• Dec. 13th: Mission Of Burma.
• Dec. 14th: Broken Social Scene.
• Dec. 15th: Le Tigre.
• Dec. 16th: Reid Paley.
• Dec. 18th, 7PM: Mike Watt & The Secondmen.
• Dec. 18th, midnight: Kristin Hersh & The 50-Foot Wave.

Hope that was of service to somebody out there. If you're going for the new shows, good luck...

>> Damn it. UPS tried to deliver my computer desk today (GOD I WANT THAT COMPUTER DESK) and apparently my new bed is sooooo comfy that I just slept right through them ringing the doorbell. Now I have to wait until Monday. Grrr.

(Not that I have a chair to sit in at said desk yet. Hopefully I'll be getting that sorted out over the weekend.)