Moral quandary at the record store

So, last week I did something I haven't done in a long time. I went to the record store, and physically purchased physical CDs. Those CDs contained pre-recorded music. This is unusual for me because, as many of you know, I prefer to purchase my music from shady Russian intermediaries. But I didn't think the albums I wanted (new Golden Smog, new Long Winters) would show up on the site. I ended up buying a few other CDs, too (Galaxie 500's "This Is Our Music"(got it used, btw, a total find), and Ulrich Schnauss' "Faraway Trains Passing By", which contains a b'dass cover/remix of Slowdive's "Crazy For You." So rad. Anyway.), but the Long Winters album had to be ordered, cos they were currently out of stock. Fine. I'll pick it up over the weekend.

So, I go back yesterday to pick up the album, and, as there often is at stores that also deal in used CDs, there was a stack of used CDs on the counter, waiting for the clerk to tag and file them. As the clerk searched for my order, I perused the stack sitting on the counter. Something was wrong. No, no... why would someone sell these??? Now, if you're anything like me (and if you are, my most sincere apologies), when you need or want to sell some CDs for cash, you tend to weed out the dead weight in your collection: the hyped debuts that didn't pan out, the disappointing follow-ups to breakthrough successes, and the fliers that you maybe bought on the strength of a good review from a stupid, over-wrought, indier-than-though website that shall go unnamed (though not unlinked). But that was not the case with whoever dropped these CDs. This guy was obviously very hard up for cash. There were some classics in that stack. Dude was selling "White Light/White Heat," "In Utero," "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." I mean, you do not sell that album unless you need money like, really badly. When I asked, the clerk said the guy needed money to pay his rent. Well, I felt bad for the guy. If you need money so bad that you're selling "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," you're in a bad spot.

It's like in "High Fidelity" (the book, not the movie), when Rob goes to that lady's house to check out the record collection that her husband told her to sell after he ran off with some tart. It was a fabulous collection, and she wanted like 50 pounds for the whole lot, but Rob just morally couldn't do it. He couldn't rip off a guy who obviously was a collector with great taste. Now, I will not ascribe to myself such lofty ethical standards. But I did feel bad for the guy. On the other hand, if I were in the same spot, wouldn't I be thankful that such an outlet existed? What if nobody bought used CDs, and the market vanished, and I had no way to sell my CDs for some quick cash? There were some gems here.... what should I do???

In the end, I sheepishly grabbed only the promo-copy of The Juan McLean. I wanted to kind of help the guy out, but not rip him off, I guess. I'd have felt kind of bad if I had also picked up his copy of Art Brut, or "Isn't Anything." I hope I did the right thing.


sheesh... talk about "indier than thou." Blog post...OUT!

No, no, no...

Concord Monitor, you're getting this all wrong. Young people, especially the sons and daughters of pro-Iraq war politicians, do not join the armed forces and go to war. They are sent. You're wrong when you say that we have an all-volunteer armed forces. What actually happens is that politicians need to send their children into combat so that have the moral authority to be pro-Iraq war. See, the way it works is President Bush has no right to start a war because he didn't send his daughters to war. So, he's obviously a chickenhawk. But now that McCain sent his son to war, he will presumably have the right to support the war effort. Try to get this right next time, Concord Monitor.

Why I'm gonna go see "Miami Vice" this weekend

First off, look, I know Colin Farrell sucks. There's just really no way around that, and it's something I'm going to have to live with when I'm watching "Miami Vice" this weekend. But I also think it's entirely fair to say that the awesomeness of Michael Mann far outweighs the douchbagitute of Colin Farrell.

I was certainly skeptical when I heard that this movie was being made, with Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Despite his recent string of successes, I still have this creeping feeling that Jamie Foxx has a long string of hugely shitty movies in his future. I don't know. Anyway, then I heard that Mann was heading up this crapball, and I started to get a little less skeptical. I think "Collateral" was my favorite movie of 2004, straight up. And you just can't argue with "Heat" for awesomeness. So for me, Michael Mann's name carries a lot of weight.

I never really watched the TV series, although we were forced to watch this famous clip of an early episode in one of my college classes. Apparently, it was really the first time popular music had been used in such a manner, which, given how pervasive this kind of stuff is today, is really amazing to think about. Too bad it uses the music of legendary fucktard Phil Collins, but it is B'DASS nonetheless. And, looking at it again with "Collateral" and "Heat" in mind, it plays out as vintage Mann.

So, with at least the prospect of cool visuals and 'splosions, my now mild skepticism turned to mild anticipation. Then, I read this review in the NYT today. In particular:

"With “Miami Vice” he clearly had money to burn, and the flames are beautiful to behold. Mixing pop savvy with startling formal ambition, Mr. Mann transforms what is essentially a long, fairly predictable cop-show episode into a dazzling (and sometimes daft) Wagnerian spectacle. He fuses music, pulsating color and high drama into something that is occasionally nonsensical and frequently sublime. “Miami Vice” is an action picture for people who dig experimental art films, and vice versa."

It was shot on HD video, like "Collateral," too. And the stills in the article... man. I don't know, you can go watch Johnny Depp run around with a bunch of sweaty dudes wearing jewelry if you want. Me, I'm gonna go watch pretty things blow up.

Next game: Donkey Kong

Man, YouTube is so awesome. Watch this video of a chimp playing Ms. PacMan.

Just in time for.... uh.... mid- to late-summer

A science project to determine which cozy keeps yer beer coldest the longest. The Rice Krispie one looks delicious. And effective!

no jokes, please

Rochester, remember I told you about this picture when we were at the movies the other night? Oh, no, wait. You probably don't. You were wasted.

SOMEONE SENT ME AN INTERNETS, Pt 2

I want this shirt so bad.

halloWEAK

Madison is lamely putting restrictions on the annual Halloween festival, typically the rowdiest of the rowdy parties.

Last year, a crowd of nearly 100,000 came to the party before it was broken up by police early Sunday morning. Police made about 450 arrests each of the last two years.

This year...

- The fences will be used to gate off State Street, a popular gathering spot adjoining the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, and ticket booths will be located at each end of the street. Private security will work at the fences.

- Crowds will be capped at 50,000, and the gates will close about midnight.

- There will be several music stages and concession stands for partygoers.

More:

Susan Schmitz, president of Downtown Madison Inc., said it's a matter of the city reclaiming control.

"It's time for us to take it back," she said. "We are re-branding this event. This is Madison's event, and we don't want anybody turning this the wrong way."

Now, I'm not sure what "Downtown Madison Incorporated" is, but Schmitz has it totally backward. This is not a corporate event, like Summerfest, or a sporting event. This is a bunch of college kids that gather in the same place every year to be drunk, and revel in the costumed madness. Hence, there is nothing to "take back," because "they" never had it in the first place. I think this "re-branding" is exactly what's "turning this the wrong way."

Look, nobody wants riots. Well, almost nobody. But even fewer people want this turned into goddamned Disney World. The police have come to an understanding with the Mifflin St. block party after a couple of unfortunate years, and that event starts much earlier in the day. I don't see a reason why increased enforcement, and some restrictions on out-of-towners crashing the party (who are typically the ones who get into trouble) can't keep this event under control. Turning this into a fucking theme park, complete with admission fees, is so effing lame. Hey, Schmitz, WHY DO YOU HATE OUR FREEDOM???

You watch, the kids will find somewhere else to go this year.

Oh, and also: This proves how much awesomer Madison's Halloween is than Chapel Hill's. Well, was.

the chinaman is not the issue

Two of my all-time favorite things, He-Man and The Big Lebowski, together at last!


Or, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, if that's yer bag.

guilty

Ambassador Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi, the deputy permanent representative to the U.N. from the Republic of Iraq:

“Individuals like Tongsun Park, who actively represented the interests of the former regime in international matters and were willing to take money for those efforts from that regime, strengthened that regime and led to the continued repression of the people of Iraq. The Republic of Iraq is grateful for the hard work and dedication of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI for pursuing this case and continuing to investigate criminal wrongdoing related to the Oil-for-Food Program."

(link)

I've had it with these motherblogging blogs on this motherblogging blog

Blog!

Klosterman breaks down the problem we all know is looming with Snakes on A Plane.

Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!

This guy totally nails why Sufjan Stevens is waaaay overrated. Too much good stuff to excerpt here, so you should read the whole thing. Of course, if you liked "Illinois" at all, there's really no way this is going to change your mind. But this week's release of "Avalanche" has given indie kids a whole nother reason to blogically fellate Sufjan (as if they needed one), so I'm glad I can least pour a little Haterade on 'em.

the UN on trial (sort of)

So, we now know that you can cram $100,000 into a 10”X15” envelope, but if it’s $500,000 we’re talking about, you need either a much, much bigger envelope or a grocery bag. And we are hearing all this thanks to what was supposed to be a United Nations relief program to bring food and medicine to the people of U.N.-sanctioned Iraq. *

That money, of course, instead went to corrupt foreign dignitaries in exchange for their opposition to the war in Iraq.

The paragraph above comes from a blog that is being kept by a reporter who is attending the trial of a UN official alleged to have been pretty much the bagman for Saddam Hussein.

So, just what did that Italian guy say to the French guy to make the French guy headbutt the Italian guy in the chest? The London Times is on the case!

With many conflicting versions of events circling on the internet and in the world’s media, The Times enlisted the help of an expert lip reader, Jessica Rees, to determine the precise nature of the dialogue that caused Zidane to react in such a manner.

After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed that Materazzi called Zidane “the son of a terrorist whore” before adding “so just f*** off” for good measure, supporting the natural assumption that the Frenchman must have been grievously insulted.

Zidane is African-American. I mean African-French. Wait, though, he's not black.... Ok, he's from Algeria. Materazzi denies saying it. But wait! There's more!

With Materazzi denying all such charges, sources close to the Italy defender even claimed that he had been insulted. Several Italian newspapers claimed yesterday that Zidane had insulted the Inter Milan player’s mother, with Materazzi retorting that the Frenchman “made love to his sister”. ...

Amid the furore, one unpalatable truth has been lost — that Zidane has acted in this way before - as a record of 14 sending-offs in his career testifies. And as Varraud has recalled, his protégé’s first weeks at Cannes were spent mainly on cleaning duty as a punishment for punching an opponent who had mocked his ghetto origins.

Euro trash-talkin'. It's faaaantastic!

I can get down to some J-Tim

U.S. singer and heartthrob Justin Timberlake wants to push the boundaries of pop music with a new album, "FutureSex/LoveSounds", that marks a departure from his earlier chart-topping style, he said on Friday. ...

"I realize that I have a platform to push the sound of pop music. That's the only responsibility that I put on myself in recording the album," Timberlake told a news conference at the start of a promotional tour.

"If I'm not going to push it, then who's going to push it?"

The first single from the album, "SexyBack", features a pounding bass beat and electronic sounds, and does not include the falsetto singing that has become Timberlake's trademark. He said, however, that the album featured "a lot" of such singing.*

Stereogum has streams of "SexyBack," aaaaaand... yeah, it sounds to me basically like a boring ol' club track. He does drop some swear words, though, which is cool. Y'all can hate if you want, but "Justified" is freakin' rad. I can get down to some J-Tim. But this is just boring.

Here's another idea... OH HELL NO

Everyone has been talking about how the O.C. only got picked up for 16 episodes next season and well everyone is predicting that its going to be its last season. BUT WE CAN DO IT LETS SHOW THEM HOW DEVOTED ALL THE O.C. FANS ARE. LET'S SHOW THEM THAT WE CONTROL THE FAITH OF OUR SHOW!!!!!!!!!!! SAVE MARISSA! SAVE THE O.C.!!!!!!!!

Worst. Idea. Ever.

so... many.... lips jokes.... must resist....

Coyne then explains another new idea: vibrating underwear. Apparently, there is a new adult-novelty technology in which a vibrating disc built into a pair of panties can be activated via remote control. Coyne's plan is to make Flaming Lips vibrating panties available to fans and then activate them from the stage. He tested samples on his wife and female label reps during a recent European tour. "I wasn't sure how long to go," Coyne admits. "At first I did it for a six-minute song. After, everyone was like, 'Dude, that's way too long.' I guess it got all hot. So the next time, I just did quick little spurts. By the end of the night, you could see a visible thrill in their faces, like, 'That was a better show for me than for other people.' " *

When I saw the Lips, I thought it was the coolest thing ever when we left drenched in confetti. They also were giving out little walkmans and headphones, and they broadcast like supplimentary music and effects through the headphones during the show. You had to turn 'em back in when you left, though. I sure hope they don't do that with the underwear...

SOMEONE SENT ME AN INTERNETS

There's one company now you can sign up and you can get a movie delivered to your house daily by delivery service. Okay. And currently it comes to your house, it gets put in the mail box when you get home and you change your order but you pay for that, right.

But this service isn't going to go through the interent and what you do is you just go to a place on the internet and you order your movie and guess what you can order ten of them delivered to you and the delivery charge is free.

Ten of them streaming across that internet and what happens to your own personal internet?

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially.

So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes.

We aren't earning anything by going on that internet. Now I'm not saying you have to or you want to discrimnate against those people [...]

The regulatory approach is wrong. Your approach is regulatory in the sense that it says "No one can charge anyone for massively invading this world of the internet". No, I'm not finished. I want people to understand my position, I'm not going to take a lot of time. [?]

They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the internet. And again, the internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck.

It's a series of tubes.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) explains the internets. Apparently, it is a series of tubes. That can be sent. Over itself. Amazing.

Also available in PowerPoint!