drat fink

piece of cakewalk

laura rozens blog - war and piece

tag, youre it

"Shock and awe were what our military promised the Iraqis. And shock and the awful are what these photographs announce to the world that the Americans have delivered: a pattern of criminal behavior in open contempt of international humanitarian conventions. Soldiers now pose, thumbs up, before the atrocities they commit, and send off the pictures to their buddies. Secrets of private life that, formerly, you would have given nearly anything to conceal, you now clamor to be invited on a television show to reveal. What is illustrated by these photographs is as much the culture of shamelessness as the reigning admiration for unapologetic brutality."

free for all

"Helpful Farber-Invented Tip: there's an easy work-around for pulling up old Times articles if they're within the frame that the Link Generator has them. Go to the abstract of the article; copy the headline; drop it into Google (carefully putting it within quotation marks); pick up the original URL from Google, drop it into the Link Generator."

via digby

dupes!

so funny it hurts.

silence is golden (gotta be applebees!)

"The Brooklyn-based orchestral pop ensemble The Silent League originated as the solo identity of singer/pianist Justin Russo (Mercury Rev, Hopewell, Grand Mal) in the late nineties. While a keyboardist with Mercury Rev in support of the critically acclaimed albums "Deserter's Songs" and "All Is Dream," Russo was secretly stealing away every available moment to write and record his own fragile, epic, and highly personal statement: "The Orchestra, Sadly, Has Refused." The resulting debut record by The Silent League -- hailed as a "a masterful blend of sepia-toned chamber pop and sunny-sinister piano balladry" (Bang Magazine), "impressive" and "heavenly" by the Village Voice -- features performances from friends and allies Sam Fogarino (Interpol), Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiack (Mercury Rev) and Bill Whitten (Grand Mal)."

mp3 breathe

serious shrinkage

i have really failed myself at strategic planning. thank god i am nowhere near the pentagon when decisions are being made. not that i could do any worse. do republican politicians have any shame?

speaking of shamelessness, i have purchased a new tv and have just had installed directv. my strategic failure was not getting three tvs hooked up for free instead of two. my neighbor is taking one line (thats legal right, like file sharing) but at the moment i have two lines hooked up. so while my new tv is hooked up in the front room, im currently watching tv2 in the back room. just this morning i put my computer monitor on the middle shelf of a metroshelving unit (which is an upgrade from the box (that jim claims is his) was on). i have the tv on the shelf above it as i type from the reasonable comfort of a late 80s cheap leather scandanavian recliner. had i been shameless like a republican, i would have ordered all three and not considered that it was at all odd to have three hookups for this size apartment. of course the guys installing it could care less and i forgot what whores americans are for tv. probably wasnt unusual at all. i asked him if he had directv. he said that he had three cable hookups that were all illegal. land of the free, home of the brave.

maybe some french kicks one more time

better never than late

why would i ever tell anyone who is chronically late to take their time in coming over? what sort of temporally challenged masochism am i practicing?

street scene

"Mike Skinner, the musical mastermind behind The Streets, once again melds hip-hop, dub, ska, UK garage beats, and his unique rhyme style to deliver a sound like nothing else. Instead of the snapshot imagery of the last album, "Original Pirate Material," "A Grand..." is one continuous narrative, following Skinner through a day of victories, defeats, and battles. "On the new album Skinner steps away from scene affiliations and into more exploratory spaces. The result actually comes off more genuinely hip-hop than his debut…A 'Grand' suggests that Skinner is less England’s Eminem that its Beck, someone whose distinctive way with sound, song, and gesture is as much a part of his voice as his lyrics. A rap Ulysses."

mp3 fit and you know it

luz vargas

"LU has found a niche between avant garde exploration and post-punk firepower. Still eschewing lyrics in favor of intricate guitar and keyboard melodies, "Share the Load," their second full-length release, transpires in movements. The first three tracks could each be singles in their own right. In fact, "A La Casa" was culled for Teenbeat Records' 2004 sampler. The next three tracks slow the tempo and darken the mood with dub-influenced reverbs and negative space. Then it's a return to a bump and grind mix of metronomic rhythms and angular guitar, suggesting a perforated future threatening to tear itself apart. On the whole, "Share the Load" is more contemplative and exploratory than LU's debut. It is road trip music for the rail commuter; liberation doled out one station stop at a time; furniture music taken outside of the house."

mp3 a la casa

little green men

"Eighty-one times a year, sometimes more, Rich Maloney and Chris Elias spend four hours together in a dark, long, narrow room, perhaps five feet wide by 40 feet deep, with a sloping ceiling just high enough to walk under. It is, to be sure, an unusual place to report for work, but Rich and Chris have two of the best jobs in baseball. They are the men who work behind Fenway Park’s hand-operated scoreboard."