Speaking of new music

If I ever write a song this good/awesome, I would consider my life a success:

Weis & Hickman

by the now-defunct Melt Wizard.

McCain

Despite his opponent--whomever it will be--it is going to be difficult to vote for this man.

WFB

The WSJ obituary.

I think I'll have a glass of scotch tonight in his honor.

French people

French people are weird. Those ads remind me of that French AIDS poster with a big nasty spider going down on a hot chick. (John'll like this)

Case in Point

See, just now. I had to look up Enya on iTunes to make sure I spelled it right in creating that carefully crafted burn. And when listening to the samples, I thought, "I can see myself listening to this."

So my vagina isn't any more (or less) sandy than yours.

Speaking of vaginas (loosely [baz-ing!]) you have to spend a good amount of time familiarizing yourself with this drink and its disturbingly sexy commercials: Orangina!

Re: Coldplay

Strong words from a man who owns an Enya CD.

Seriously, all that shit about glass houses and whatnot.

For the record, I don't own any Coldplay. But I've heard those two CD's, and Bert asked a question. His experience of them--a televised live performance--often leads to this kind of reaction and searching. That is, your conceptions of what a band is (constructed by the critics and your notions of their fans) can fall away, or just not matter as much when you see something you like about them.

Honestly, do we need to list the embarrassing skeletons in everyone's CD case?

Or should we just wait until its not quite as popular? I, hipster, thou, hipster?

Re: Coldplay

Seriously. Bitchrock at best. Lemmy's coming for your souls.

Coldplay

WTF??? You know who else likes Coldplay? People with vaginas. Jesus. Maybe we could catch a fuckin Red Wanting Blue and Josh Groban concert while we're on the Coldplay kick.

Queers.

Coldplay

They have a lot in common with another band I like, Porcupine Tree. My view on these things can be warped and inconsistent, so fwiw:

A Rush of Blood to the Head was the album that really cemented their trajectory upward, where they were, for a short time at least, considered perhaps the greatest band in the world with a messianic frontman (they held this title for about sixteen days before U2 reasserted itself into this role)... then came X & Y. For me X & Y was the superior effort for me because it had a lot more rock and bombast, while on Rush of Blood it's much more atmospheric and restrained. I like atmospheric, but only when it has the lyrics and vocals to match. I don't think they have particularly good lyrics (or particularly bad ones either), but dude's vocals start to grate after a while, especially when they're the only thing really going on in a lot of songs. So I would say start with X & Y and if you decide you really love them go backwards to their other albums.

The NYTimes Obit

Not bad.

Music

I saw Coldplay on Austin City Limits a couple of weeks ago. When they hit the radio I was skeptical because of the hipsters, as you say, their popularity, and the whole fair trade/advocacy nonsense, but it was a good show. I'm thinking about checking their albums out. Has anyone listened to them?

WFB R.I.P.

A hero of mine died this morning. Perhaps his time came to an end simultaneous to the end of the ascendancy of his movement in the Republican Party. (Let us hope not.) Here is an almost fair and balanced obit. And here is NR's.

Ghostbusters trivia and facts!!!

Re: Music and McCain

Randy Newman is awesome. Awesome.

I will second the White Stripes recommendation even though the drumming sucks (which really hurts when there are only two band members). Jack White is just phenomenal enough to overcome it.

Easy on the conservatives there Kris (and you can dance?). Derb is a proud Paul supporter. NR will get behind McCain though. This is not a suprise or unprincipled. NR is not going to depress turnout so that a socialist gets elected. So far only Ann Coulter has come out in favor of letting the Democrats win. Is this what you expect conservatives to do? There will be two choices in November, and I will not vote for the socialist one even though McCain is offensive to some of my principles. Most candidates are, especially the Republican field we had this year. Are conservative supposed to keep arguing for people who are not on the ballot anymore (Giuliani, Romney)? Eschew voting? This is how our republic works. You know this.

McCain

So...Conservatives hate McCain and now they love him? What gives? This is worse than the constant pandering to Bush. And the NR crowd (with a few exceptions, including Derbyshire, Freddeso and York who are really the only ones I pay attention to) are the worst. First they loved Guiliani. Then they couldn't get enough of Romney's chiseled abs. All the while McCain was hated mocked. Now they're stuck with him and we get shitty rationalizations as to why it's important to support him ("we are at WAR people!", spoken with a lisp like the gay choreographer in Blazing Saddles). I hope the Democrats win, just to spite these disgusting sycophants.

Re: Musikz

One thing I've learned is that I ignore Kris' music recommendations at my own peril (not so much Bert, though; Randy Newman wtf?! :). So I will swallow my preconceptions and try the White Stripes, et al.

On the note of sometimes the idiotic hipsters are right: Arcade Fire. Yes, they probably are pretty good, and deserve a listen.

I also picked up Drive-By Truckers old album Southern Rock Opera. It's me dipping a single toe into the Country (or Alt-Country.... or Prog-Country, I guess) pool. The fact that it's a concept album helps a lot. For some reason, I find Patterson Hood's spoken-word songs mesmerizing.

Musikz

Ok, if you so desire listen to some of these:

The White Stripes: I assumed they were totally overrated and crappy; as it turns out sometimes critics and idiotic hipsters are right. They rock. All the albums are good, the two best are Get Behind Me Satan and Elephant.

Queens of the Stone Age/Eagles of Death Metal: Decent modern rock. But is it just me or do all of Josh Homme's (the common member of both bands) guitar riffs sound ripped off from someone else? Or maybe just different enough to be his own, I don't know.

The Donnas: Totally underrated all-girl rock band. Their latest, Bitchin', is the best new rock album you can dance to that I've heard in a long time. The others are pretty good too.

Michael McDonald's Motown albums are the best so-bad-they're-good albums I've heard in a while.

And of course standards that we should all listen to, including early Queen (I and II are fantastic), later 70s Bowie is totally danceable (favorites include Heroes and Station to Station) and early Chicago. Later Chicago is good too if nobody else knows you're listening to it (people may associate you with the wussiness of Peter Cetera).

And the Neil Young boxed set (now over a year late) is supposed to come out sometime this spring. So I'm excited about that.

But nothing can ever defeat the original Welcome to My Nightmare video. Even totally awesome monster and ghost muppets. I mean just look at those dudes dancing. Amazing. High art, I say.

A funny headline

Abba won't "take a chance" on McCain

The article contains other "humorous" candidate song troubles. Tom Scholtz of Boston got really upset that Huckabee was using "More Than a Feeling". He is supporting Obama, and says it was just wrong for the Huck to use his band and his music to advance a cause he was diametrically opposed to.

But, why are you really sorry, Pettitte?

Andy Pettitte (really, four t's? wttttf?!) may be able to weather his own HGH storm, but his apology yesterday was missing a crucial component for me. Allow me to paraphrase Pettitte: I'm sorry because I a) got caught, b) set a bad example for the kids, c) brought shame to the Yankees and Astros and d) tarnished my own image.

I'm looking, nay, searching in vain, for someone to fess up on the grounds that steroids and HGH are morally wrong in and of themselves. I'm pretty sure that most of you here don't even agree with that, but if it's not true, then why should Pettitte feel compelled to apologize at all? Why does using HGH to overcome an injury bring shame and dishonor to your team, when it could be feasibly argued that you will bring your team more glory by performing well for them?

There's a case to be made (by someone with a little more credibility than Jose Canseco) that the enormous rewards of a career in professional sports wildly incentivize the continued use (and development) of new designer steroids. This message will elbow all others out of the discussion at the high school and college levels. It needs to be counterbalanced with a moral argument, but not even those who have admitted to using steroids will make it.


Edit: What I mean to say is, people like Pettitte say they were wrong and that they are sorry, but if you scratch the surface of that apology, they really have no idea why they are wrong, or what they are sorry for.

Nick

Thought you might appreciate this since we share similar views on Shamalyan (or however the fuck you spell his stupid name). Also, check out Gary Moore. I have the "Ballads and Blues" album, which is exactly what it claims to be. He's the result of a night of drunken random hookup action between 80s butt-rock power ballads and the blues. I also just got "Welcome to My Nightmare" and it's pretty good, as long as you don't mind ridiculous Alice Cooper antics and songs about such topics as insanity and necrophilia. Also, here's Alice Cooper performing the title track on The Muppet Show. I can't get enough of his muppet band....

A first perhaps?

Someone in the media writes something nice about Karl Rove--if being compared to Dilbert is nice.

New Music?!

I need some new stuff to listen to. What's good? C'mon, hit me with anything. My derision has run dry--I've been living in a hole filled with Dance/Electronica.

Clemens and Congress

It is illegal for Congressmen to lie under oath as well, but your point is well taken (they even have immunity for their lies under the Constitution, Art. I Section 6). HGH is illegal if you don't have a prescription. I've heard that taking prescription meds without a prescription is rarely prosecuted, but the person who supplies the drug without prescription is who prosecutors usually go after unless the user lies and makes things difficult for the law men.

HGH etc

Wouldn't that only be an issue if HGH was explicitly illegal when he was taking it? THese whole "Congressional hearings" are bunk. BUNK I SAY!

Question:

Why is it illegal for me to lie to Congress but not for Congress to lie to me?

Clemens

He will be charged with perjury and/or other charges such as obstruction for lying to Congress.

HGH and Congress

So what happens if Clemens did use steroids? What the hell is the point of this whole thing?

Man up!

I will:

Football, I was wrong about you. After all the bad things I said about you this year, all your dirty tricks, your lackluster games, your over-stuffed egos, your exorbitant lifestyle and shameless goodwill-mongering, your skanking around with Sports Illustrated and ESPN, your denial-laden relationship with HGH and other performance-enhancing drugs, you proved me wrong. You brought out a great Superbowl, and gave me a delicious Patriots' defeat that I will savor for many, many years. I'd like to make you breakfast sometime, football. With pancakes. The syrup would be Tom Brady's tears. And afterwords, I would hand-feed you strawberries coated in Junior Seau's crushing disappointment, and a little bit of mint. But since I can't do any of that: I'll just say I'm sorry.

P.S. Your "Pro-Bowl" is still stupid and useless.

Huckle Cat, all up in yo sh!t

I see your Rhapsody, and raise you a Beastie Boys/Richard Scarry mix-up.

Eemeyrald Saworld!

Cause why not?

Strahan gay?

Slaps thinks so, and I must admit, I'm beginning to believe him.

Wait

Am I reading properly? McCain is the front-runner for Republicans? WTF GOP?

Your gov't sounds pretty good...

As long as there's a place for well dressed robo-men.

lolslaps?

Bonarooooooooooooooooo............

Arlen Specter's a fool

I really don't buy into the government sticking it's overly large nose into football under the guise of the antitrust agreement. I'm getting a little sick of (Republican?) senator's pretending that they are doing worthwhile things by lashing out t professional sports. I think I'm going to setup my own government. With blackjack. And hookers. In fact, forget the government part. Anyways, here is my favorite quote of the day:

The matter may not compare to the CIA's destruction of interrogation tapes, Specter said Friday, but he added, "I do believe that it is a matter of importance. It's not going to displace the stimulus package or the Iraq war, but I think the integrity of football is very important, and I think the National Football League has a special duty to the American people -- and further the Congress -- because they have an antitrust exemption."

Good thing the government's here protecting me from the evil football industry.