whoah
I feel like I can read the rebuttals already, Rolling Stone, bastion of liberalism, owned by an unabashed liberal, preaching to the converted, launches a sprawling hit piece on the man and myth of John McCain. Will anyone pay attention, will anyone even take the time to issue a point-by-point response, or will it simply get dismissed as more MSM claptrap? More spurned lover bullshit from McCain’s former base?
Will it move any votes or change any minds? I honestly don’t even know who reads Rolling Stone anymore. The political coverage has always struck me as out of date and simplistic, and the music stories finally lost me when, sometime in the ’90s a cover asked “Will Jesus Jones Save Rock ‘n’ Roll?” These days its relevance puzzles me. While they publish Get Your War On, I would be unable to name a single recent article even if asked at gunpoint.
So who knows? Maybe this is the kind of thing that will trickle into the mainstream and strip off the veneer of bullshit that McCain has apparently spent his whole life carefully applying. Or maybe a few liberals will forward it to their friends and that will be it. We’ve got a month to go, and it seems that McCain is preparing to descend even further into the muck in an attempt to beat Obama, so sooner or later, somebody’s going to have to start taking shots at the Maverick. This isn’t a bad start.
(I wouldn’t know about either of those stories without the glorious Talking Points Memo)
There are now multiple outlets for those looking to ignore me and my thoughts via the internet(s).
I broke down and signed up for twitter, not because I just discovered it or finally found a use for it, but because there were a couple of people whose musings I wanted to keep better track of. One is Mark Lisanti, former Defamer editor and consistently funny individual; another is Toothpastefordinner’s Drew, who alternates his merchwhoring with truly random outbursts, most recently in response to the noises coming from his police scanner.
The big one, though, is Siege, aka Clayton Cubitt, who used to post a photoblog called the Daily Siege on nerve.com that definitely, uh, challenged the line between art and pornography and has made surfing his site from work a real Russian roulette-style adventure. Thankfully/sadly his twitter feed seems to be more political and cultural and less blue tinted images of assfucking. His tumblr page, on the other hand, is a healthy mix of both.
And that’s the thing. I have a blog, you’re reading it now (or, more likely, you’re not). I do not need a tumblr too, and I probably don’t need a twitter, or didn’t really. But I signed up because I wanted these peoples’ (plus a couple of others) ahem tweets on my iphone, and in doing so set in motion a chain of events that would more or less require me to begin using my twitter. In other words, I was called out on my nerdery.
So while none of this changes the fact that most of the people who end up on this site are lost, I wanted to announce my presence there, since facebook status updates are no way to keep track of me, and only a select few have access to my increasingly sporadic Loopt updates, perhaps this will fill the texting void in my life. Get ready for a lot of “At Sweet & Vicious, waist deep in a Guinness, wondering what the hell is coming out of the jukebox”. It’s gonna be awesome.
Oh, and the twitter? It’s here. We’ll see if I have the stones to link back to this blog from there, now that strangers have interacted with it.
The profile image is one of my favorites in the whole world, Brave Cone Dog by Brandon Bird. It will be hung in my kitchen as soon as I am unbroke enough to get it framed.
In: random internet awesomeness
give up
I will probably never be friends with Chuck Klosterman
In: amusing, random internet awesomeness
Meet me halfway
I’m willing to accept that I’m somewhat sexist if Republicans will grant me that Sarah Palin is a fucking idiot.
funny from Wonkette
I will now begin incorporating this phrase into my arsenal of stolen phrases:
John McCain went to Iowa yesterday and talked to the editorial board of the Des Moines Register (why we don’t know, that paper is very important for about two months every four years and is otherwise just your garden-variety moon colony fishwrapper).
It will be placed directly between “there is no off position on the genius switch” and “shit like a Swiss train.”
By the way, Wonkette has gotten funny again. It was kind of a waste of time after Ana Marie Cox left, and it may return to being a waste of time after the election, but at the moment it manages to strike a pretty fantastic balance between informative, amusing, and jaded. I’ve begun reading it multiple times a day.
Uh oh
So Apple’s got this “Genius” feature now in iTunes. It’s pretty great, akshully, in that it will probably bankrupt me sooner rather than later. Like Amazon’s recommendations, it looks at what you’ve bought, and what other people who bought the same things have bought, and matrixes that info into surprisingly accurate suggestions for additional purchases. I’ve had it turned on for about 15 minutes and it’s already cost me $30.
I’ve already found new Skeewiff and brand spanking new Mr. Scruff. Both very exciting. I’ve also rediscovered Boca45, whom I’d completely forgotten about. Plus I took a chance on someone called Maelstrom & Napz, which is a little housy and slightly cheap-sounding, but otherwise isn’t bad.
Another exciting innovation I’d like to share with you is this iPhone remote business. I hooked a mac mini up to my stereo, plugged a hard drive into it containing pretty much every piece of music I’ve ever bought, downloaded, or been given (a shocking waste of a g-raid, I’d say, if they weren’t so unreliable), and sat back and controlled itunes from my couch, using my phone. Fucking sweet.
Large libraries like mine are a little unwieldy on a tiny phone screen, but if you just want to fire up an album or a particular artist, it’s dead easy to do, and the resulting calm allowed me to fall blissfully to sleep on my sofa.
In: music musings, nurblecast
nurblecast episode 14
Hello Everyone. Some housekeeping to take care of before we get started: The podcast has been forced to move. You can now (and should) subscribe at this link itpc://www.nurble.com/nurblecasts/nurblecast.xml. All the original episodes are there, so if it starts downloading a bunch of shit you already have, you should probably make it stop. In addition, all the podcasts will soon by on the podcast page of nurble.com, which I’ve been even lazier about updating than the podcast itself.
That’s it, on with the show:
This Town – Frank Sinatra
From the very good soundtrack to the mostly execrable Ocean’s 13. There’s also a remix by Mint Royale, which is terrible. The song is about Vegas, I think, but I’m pretending it’s about New York, since I just moved here and need things like this to muse about instead of staring at people and getting myself stabbed on the subway. Although who knows, maybe it’s about New York and David Holmes just pretended it’s about Vegas? Someone look it up in the Wikipedias and call me.
Skeewiff vs. Big Les – Skeewiff
Skeewiff is kinda my go-to guy (or pair of guys, actually) for loopy funk tracks that even Mr. Scruff takes himself too seriously to play. This is from an LP called “The Label Won’t Touch This“, presumably because none of the samples are cleared, or can be cleared. I don’t really understand how record labels work, since if I ran one, I think I’d want as many people to have access to my artists’ work as possible, even if it meant that not everybody paid for the pleasure. Actual record label owners have a different perspective, obviously, since this podcast is no longer a part of the iTunes offering and is now resigned to the ghetto of nurble.com. Until I’m sued into oblivion, of course. At which point you can come to the cardboard box I’ll be living in and I’ll describe the songs to you.
Crisps – Mr. Scruff
From the Mrs. Cruff album, which you should buy at your own risk, since about half of the tracks are corrupted in some way, a problem Apple has shown no interest in correcting. Otherwise, though, you really do owe it to yourself to have this in your collection, it’s a classic album. And this track contains a Star Trek reference. Can’t lose.
The Jungle V.I.P. – Benji Boko
Nightmares on Wax are amazing. Buy everything they make. I’m not kidding. This is from a compilation/mix cd called Nightmares on Wax Presents Wax On Records, which brings us to our second and possibly third film reference of the show. I really didn’t see this one coming. Karate Kid references are getting pretty hard to come by these days.
Around the Bend – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Believe it or not, I found this while mining Logan’s website for ideas to steal/job opportunities. It’s from an iPod Touch ad, and there’s no album yet, just a single. Anyway, it’s a fucking great track that fits right in with my current and entirely temporary infatuation with synthesizer spaceship/laser sounds. I wrestled slightly with the idea of putting an iPod song in the podcast, partly because it’s kind of a lame thing to do, and partly because I have a feeling that, like “Shut Up” from the Ting Tings, we’ll all be sick of this song in about a week; but for now, the chorus still makes me bob my head happily, which is no small feat these days. On an unrelated note, I used to know a kid when I was in High School that the other newspaper nerds referred to as the King of Commas. I may have to travel back in time and take his crown. When was the last time YOU used a semicolon?
Marie douceur, Marie colère (Paint it Black) – Marie Laforêt
While I fished this out of Femmes de Paris, vol. 1 (not sure I’ll be completing that album on iTunes anytime soon…), I actually first heard it during a particularly ridiculous sequence in the entirely ridiculous film Talladega Nights. Awesome.
Mercy – Duffy
Speaking of Logan, a producer there turned me on to Duffy, who is great, and seems like a cooler, better, funkier version of Amy Winehouse. One that I don’t feel any reservations about getting attached to, unlike Winehouse, who may go any day now. My girlfriend’s nickname is Duffy, btw. Go ahead and call her Duffy next time you see her, it makes her giggle. This track can be located and purchased amongst a grouping of songs cumulatively referred to by the name Rockferry. No relation to Brian Ferry, as far as I am aware.
Little Bit of Feel Good – Jamie Lidell
Welcome back Jamie. The new album (Jim) is really, really good. If you have any doubts that I like it, wait about fifteen minutes.
Inner Soul (Slow Version) – Roland Appel
I won’t waste your time by pointing you towards my infantile Band Math post from ’06, but producer/dj Roland Appel is part of Truby Trio, Voom Voom, and Fauna Flash. This is from his solo album, called Talk To Your Angel. Okay, Roland, I’ll get right on that.
All Mine – Portishead
Did you know that everybody on the nerve.com personals site likes to listen to Portishead while they’re fucking? This may still be true, I don’t really know. It used to be the case, but I haven’t tried to use the internet to pick up a girl in about 7 years, so who knows what they’re doing these days. Maybe they’re just letting their macbooks read blogs aloud to them while they try to figure out where the condom goes. You’ve heard of Portishead, you don’t need me to tell you why it’s good. Skip to the next one.
My Moon My Man (Christian Prommer Boyz Noize remix) – Feist
Sounds like a malfunctioning robotic toad at times, but is actually a lot more listenable than I remember. Wild. Most people hate this song, so don’t feel bad if you find it annoying. Feel bad if you fail to resist the urge to complain to me. This was given to me by a friend at a label, as a promo. It was not stolen. You can buy it, legally, on the Boyz Noize album Oi Oi Oi, like I just did. I’ll let you know how it is.
All I Wanna Do – Jamie Lidell
Hi Jamie. Still here? That’s cool. Sing us a lullaby… for the people that dozed off during the Feist remix.
Burro – Beck
Yes, it’s just Jackass sung in Spanish. For Alvaro, since he liked it so much when I played it at the Coachella party house. It’s from the Deluxe Edition of Odelay.
Thanks for your time. Download the podcast here. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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In: nurblecast feed
problems
Oh hey everybody,
So you may have noticed that I promised a new podcast a while back (lets look and see exactly when…) July 10th. Wow. Anyway, I haven’t actually laid it down yet, for a variety of reasons, which I will list for you in the handy and popular excuse format here:
Apple de-listed my podcast. Fuckers. Probably something about the hour of copy… written? righted? ILLEGAL music it contained. So I had to figure out how to retrofit all of my subscribe links and update my podcasting upload settings. This usually takes some googling and a few visits to various discussion forums and FAQs. It’s quick, but unpleasant.
I just moved, and rarely have an hour to sit and listen to music without getting lulled into drinking a beer or twenty. I also no longer have the attention span necessary to listen to an entire song, and just end up skipping through the whole playlist in less than ten minutes
I’m extremely depressed about the fact that Barack Obama is only polling 5 points ahead of an angry, deceitful, dishonorable old man and his empty-headed, completely unqualified running mate.
Apparently our economy has collapsed.
Anyhoo, I’ll try to get all this nonsense sorted out sooner rather than later, just wanted you all to know I’m about as on top of it as you’d expect me to be, which is not at all really. Particularly the economy, which is not my problem at all.
Good luck out there.
In: nurblecast, politics, random internet awesomeness
dear god, how can things get any better
Get Your War On, the animated series:
walkable
So there’s this thing called Walkscore that scores the walkability of your town, city, or hamlet. Now, I moved to New York specifically so I wouldn’t have to drive so goddamn much, but I was curious to see how someplace like my native Orange County fared, since I’m pretty sure they have snipers and police dogs just to keep pedestrians under control.
Here’s the list of things that contribute to Anaheim’s score of 63%:
Grocery Stores
0.29 Mi
El Camino Real Mark
Restaurants
0.17 Mi
Childtime Learning
Coffee Shops
0.58 Mi
Tummy Stuffer
Bars
0.58 Mi
Boomeranges Sports
Movie Theaters
0.58 Mi
Sahara’s Theatre
Schools
0.06 Mi
Katella High School
Parks
0.15 Mi
Boysen Park
Libraries
0.38 Mi
Sunkist Library
Bookstores
0.94 Mi
Crown Books
Fitness
0.92 Mi
24 Hour Fitness
Drug Stores
0.39 Mi
Sav-On Drugs
Hardware Stores
0.58 Mi
Ici Dulux Paint
Clothing & Music
0.34 Mi
Footsies Shoe Wareh
First off, Childtime Learning is probably not the best restaurant within walking distance of my parents’ place, but whatever. What really gets me is the “movie theater” that’s listed as being .5 miles away… Yeah, it’s a strip club. Also, Katella High School? Nothing to brag about (though I’m pretty sure most of the girls dancing at the Sahara graduated from there).
In: random internet awesomeness