>>Why doesn't America love Robbie Williams? Well, Salon, maybe it's because your piece on the subject is written by a British person who completely and obviously hates him. Way to call in the experts. (Thanks for the link, baby)
>>Just so you know, I'm currently playing with Apple's amazing new music-store software and will write about it once I've got some points to make. And is it wrong to ask for a new iPod this Christmas, when it's only been a year and a month since I got one of the originals? (I'm not sure I'm sold on the new design modifications, but 30GB and the outrageously thin new casing is just too good to ignore...)
>>Some of Iraq's looted national antiquities are flowing back into the possession of the museum. This, of course, is good news, though it doesn't change the disgusting fact of our failure to prevent something like this happening in the first place...
>>Sometimes I sample people to disrespect them. People think it's a compliment. Smashing Pumpkins, that was a bit of a piss take, really, what it was. I saw him in concert, I think he's the most pretentious guy. I don't understand how someone that pretentious can be big, so that was just a piss take. Tricky on his song "Pumpkin." Small, interesting fact I didn't know...
>>Hot -- my boyfriend got his celebrity sighting printed in the Gawker stalker. We'll have a little contest; which of the anonymous items do you think is his?
>>CNN.com - Brother thanks NRA for helping make Bush president - Apr. 27, 2003 "The sound of our guns is the sound of freedom," said Bush, to thunderous applause from the gun group. Please, please, please let me stay in the UK. I don't want to go back to a state where this man is governor. Please.
>>New Elbow album, Cast Of Thousands, in August. Their last (and first) one, Asleep In The Back, made my ears prick up with interest. Wonder if they'll impress this time out.
>>Sinead O'Connor announces that she's retiring from the music business. I'll certainly "respect her privacy" as she requests -- when would I get a chance to do otherwise? -- but judging by her past standards of decision-making constancy, I suspect this statement actually means we'll get a new album within two years.
>>AP: I'm sorry, I didn't think I was going to talk about "man on dog" with a United States senator, it's sort of freaking me out. A transcript of the Santorum comments mentioned earlier. Kudos to Paul for finding the year 2003's most eminently quotable line so far...
>>U2 are in the studio with the producer of Never Mind The Bollocks. O...K... (Actually, he's got more and varied work under his belt, including Pulp's excellent Different Class, but still. A bit entertaining, eh?)
>>KEANU. FUCKING. REEVES. IS PLAYING JOHN. FUCKING. CONSTANTINE. I know as a mature adult I'm not allowed to be angry about things like this, but WHAT THE FUCKING FUCKING FUCK. (There are some fun X-Men movie tidbits in this link too, though.) Via Ghost In The Machine.
>>"I have no problem with homosexuality," Santorum said, according to the AP. "I have a problem with homosexual acts." Some people don't fucking deserve what they have. Bastard.
>>Some info on Christopher Guest's new movie, A Mighty Wind. I just saw This Is Spinal Tap for the first time on Sunday. Fucking. Genius.
>>I'm a few days behind the curve on this one, but here's the cover to Radiohead's Hail To The Thief. They couldn't just have a picture of a fluffy bunny or something, oh no, it's got to be all serious...
>>Nina Simone is dead. Sigh. Rest in peace... "Sinnerman" is an incredible piece of music.
>>Funny how one little thing can ruin your day, isn't it. Sigh.
>>The next round of Elvis Costello reissues: Trust, Get Happy!!!, and Punch The Clock. Coming this summer, apparently, unless they get pushed back like they always seem to.
>>By the way, a full report on this weekend's frolics -- fun with Prol, the Massive Attack gig, et cetera -- will follow tomorrow, when I can hook up my laptop at NYU. Just so's you know.
>>I think I just helped the guy next to me at this internet cafe send his first e-mail. Not to sound snotty, but I didn't think that happened in this day and age... we hadn't all dabbled yet?!?
>>Huh?!? James Marsden is apparently set to star in an adaptation of Preacher, according to MTV News. But the movie's still in limbo and I was under the impression that Rachel Talalay was off the project... is this bullshit?
>>The Essential Difference: Quizzes that evaluate your mind's empathizing and systematizing ability. They're about as rigged as you'd figure an online quiz would be; however, it's disconcerting, and somewhat unsurprising in light of the kind of things I've been realizing in the last month or so, that I got the empathy score of an autistic man. I'm not being overdramatic when I say I think something is wrong with me... Via Metafilter, where Kevin from Ghost In The Machine makes an excellent point. And considering that I think my self-perception may be way out of whack, this could explain a lot.
>>Shelter, the Village Voice's housing column, turns its attention to an NYU dorm but it's sadly a totally lame article. Does mention the dorm I'll be living in next year, though.
>>Via Metafilter comes a page following the Untitled Wes Anderson Project, the new film by the Rushmore / Royal Tenenbaums director. It's apparently about an oceanographer, Bill Murray and Nicole Kidman will be in it, and Owen Wilson too though he hasn't contribued to the script this time...
>>Oh fuck. Microsoft are considering buying Universal Music too. Is it morally simplistic to value Apple's potential contribution as a music/media megacompany more than Microsoft's? Or am I just right? Via No Rock 'N' Roll Fun.
>>Attention, bloggers who'll be in London this weekend: If you'd like to wish Prol a happy birthday on Friday night, register your interest here so you can be kept up to date on the plans.
>>Moriarty's ecstatic review of X-MEN 2 at AICN. You have no. idea. how excited I am about this movie. Via Ghost In The Machine.
>>Daily dinosaur comics -- dinosaurs talk philosophy. Once a day. Every day. This is the greatest fucking thing on the Internet. Start from the one I've linked and just move about from there... thank you thank you THANK YOU Paul.
>>Tony Blair, Ian McKellen, and J.K. Rowling to appear in episode of The Simpsons. I'm really tired of guest-stars on that show, but this one could be very good indeed.
>>Ananova - Yorkie gets even more sexist. The first time I saw a candy bar that said "It's not for girls," I really hoped it contained testosterone or something. I couldn't actually believe they existed. I laughed my ass off, mind you, even though it wasn't very good chocolate. However, the ad campaign's going a bit farther now... via Vodkabird.
>>I've been wanting to do something fun and interesting with my links page for a while. Via Stuart's excellent new links page which pisses me off with its elegance and personality, I find the excellent Underground History - Disused Stations on London's Underground. Always wondered about the long train haul between South Kensington and Knightsbridge -- why no station in between? -- and as it turns out, there was one once... also cleared up the question Cameron was irritating me with a few days ago (Yes, the Die Another Day scene WAS filmed on a soundstage).
>>These kinds of stories -- Gay student sues school when they discipline him for talking about his sexual orientation outside of class and Education Secretary says he'd rather have children in Christian schools are the kinds of things that make me really, really antsy about going back to America. I just. don't. get it. What's so fucking hard about being non-exclusionary, huh? What?!?
>>London at Night from the International Space Station, via everyone. Gorgeous.
>>Cypress Gardens, Florida's oldest theme park, is closing, and I've never even been there! Serves me right for putting off my "roadside attractions of Florida" excursion... gotta do that when I'm home this summer, even if Cypress Gardens is gone by then.
>>This one's been being rumbled for a little while, but -- Apple Computer might buy Universal Music. Potentially astonishing news. (The LA Times article Metafilter links to requires an extraordinarily irritating free registration; try this MacCentral story if you just want the news, although the Times article is more in-depth).
>>This is something I'd never thought about, but suddenly I'd really love to see an Astro Boy movie starring Colin Farrell in go-go shorts...
>>Meant to link to this a while ago -- I am so down with the Avrilution.
>>If it weren't for Get Your War On, I think I would lose hope. Fucking great new strips on the fall of Baghdad, freshly posted.
>>Holy fuck, Sinead O'Connor will be singing live with Massive Attack at the show I'm going to see next weekend. If they have her pull vocal duty on "Teardrop" and/or "Protection" as well as her 100th Window songs, I will explode with ecstasy.
>>I'm pretty sure this made the rounds a long time ago -- did I see it at LMG? -- but this Wired article on the visual effects of the next Matrix movies actually had me gaping at the screen in slack-jawed awe. (It's low on spoilers for the movie itself -- nothing that's not already common knowledge -- but if you want a totally pure experience, bookmark this one until May 15th.)
>>2003 Pulitzer Prize Winners. Fiction: Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex. Should read that.
>>"Science got me laid" -- Robbie Williams on how Google gets him da butt.
>>Martin Gore's April Fool's Day prank? Good stuff.
>>The Guantanamo Bay prison camp violates 15 Geneva Convention regulations. Just so you know. Via World New York.
>>Let's say it all together, folks: COLOSSAL SQUID. COLOSSAL SQUID. COLOSSAL FUCKING SQUID. THIS PLANET RULES!
>>The brand spankin' new Radiohead you're all downloading has turned out not to be the final mixes, according to producer Nigel Godrich. Caveat emptor. (Although since nobody's buying anything, it's not really "let the buyer beware," is it?)
>>Via Ghost In The Machine, yet again (DAMN he's good), here's a Village Voice article on ClearChannel's penetration of the New York City market. Despicable fuckers.
>>Texas judge dismisses gay "divorce" case -- the couple had a civil union in Vermont and wanted it dissolved in Texas, but the case was dismissed as under Texas law, no marriage exists and therefore divorce is impossible. On the one hand it'd be nice to be self-righteous and "how dare they" about this, but IMHO, if you're gonna enter into something as legally tricky as a civil union, then you really ought to be aware of how it works, y'know? Yes, it's despicable that gays have very few options, but I almost see a Vermont civil union as running away from the problem through a loophole rather than trying to get something done about it... but I should probably shut up now, eh?
>>Lengthy and surprisingly good White Stripes article at The Guardian. Told me things I didn't know, anyway. Thank you, Kabir (but get your own damn weblog again!!! ;-D)
>>Wait! I really like the idea of all the stuff Fiona made up for her April Fool's post! Why does it have to be a joke?!? (Except the Smiths / Robbie Williams thing, that's really happening! *cough cough* OK, OK, no it's not.)
>>How did I have no idea this was happening? Penn Station is moving into the giant Post Office right next door by 2008, and it's going to be renamed Moynihan Station in honor of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Huh. I love that Post Office building, it's the site of one of my weirdest NYC memories... Via Ghost In The Machine. UPDATE 04.02.2003: Here are some computer-generated images of the new station, via Gawker.
>>Peter Hook plays on the new Hybrid album... I quite liked their last one. Loved "If I Survive," in any event.