Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Bargle flargin...
For those of you who've used my e-mail in the last few days, I'm sorry. The address will be re-instituted in the next week (WEEK!) as Verizon attaches my old info to my new phone number. I'm sorry for the problems but blame someone else utterly for the difficulty.

Until then, if you have to e-mail me, send it to my first initial and last name at ilexbusiness.com. And thanks for your patience.

Monday, May 24, 2004

Apologies all around
And see what the boys in the back room will have.

I'm having trouble with my e-mail so if you've tried to e-mail me lately, the fault is with Verizon. I have not changed my addy. I hope to get it cleared up by COB 5/25.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Where oh where has the little dog gone?
I apologize for the lack of posting of late but I am in the midst of a move (I typed "mudst" instead of 'midst' and it strikes me that the muddled state I'm in with boxes both holding my life and crowding it out, the mistype may be more appropriate). I am sans computer for the next few days so don't expect much.
And if you've e-mailed me any time in the last five days, I'm not ignoring you, I just haven;t read it.

But I leave you with this: Given the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education today, I think UPS could capitalize on this with their new ad slogan: What has Brown done for you?

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

I need help
Who out there knows a place where one can get custom printed band-aids? I want several hundred printed with images of the Purple Heart medal so that we can all give ourselves as many Purple Hearts as we want. From what I've read, that's pretty much how Presidential wannabe John sKerry got his final medal and punched his ticket for home.

Friday, May 07, 2004

Scanners
Scanners, back in 1981, was a little like The Matrix of its day: a poor movie redeemed by a few ideas nicely presented. I won't even venture a guess as to what the genre of "The Matrix" is but "Scanners was a horror flick. Techno-pharma-horror to get really granular. But the really big thing that "Scanners" had was an exploding human head. This was accomplished (tip of the hat to the folks at IMDB) by "filling a latex head with dog food and rabbit livers, and shooting it from behind with a 12-gauge shotgun." Clever. The leading Bad Guy in one of his earliest leading Bad Guy roles was Michael Ironside and it was directed by David Cronenberg who has quite the resume of (ahem) inexpensive horror movies.

Why all the who-shot-John about "Scanners?" Because we have a whole new reason for heads to be exploding all over America. The African-American wife of the presumptive Democrat nominee for president has accused leading Republicans of being "unpatriotic" for raising questions about her gold-digging husband (watch it! -Ed). Specifically: In an interview with Telemundo, NBC's Spanish-language network, Teresa Heinz Kerry said, "To have a couple of people, who escaped four, five, six times and deferred and deferred and deferred calling him anything regarding his service is in and of itself unpatriotic. Unpatriotic."

To question John F. Kerry's service is "unpatriotic." So to question him is to betray the country. L'etat c'est John Forbes Kerry. Nixon was accused of being an imperial president but his approach to leading pales before the hubris of someone who believes a person's life is the nation. This is particularly grotesque after the constant whinging of the Democrats that Republicans are accusing Kerry of being unpatriotic when no Republican representing the Bush administration has ever thus accused him.

When you go out tonight, beware of exploding heads.

Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Please note
The addition of James Lileks to the blogroll over there on the right. The link, "The Bard of Jasperwood," is to his daily "Bleat." I almost wonder why I put up a link as he is one of the reasons the blogosphere exists but I have to give genius its due. If you don't read him - start now. Right now. And every weekday hereafter. That is all.
This is a JOKE, OK? A Joke!
I see that the American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison were torturing prisoners by forcing them to perform auto-erotic acts. Apparently I've been torturing myself for years and I didn't even realize it.

Sunday, May 02, 2004

Oh bugger!
The Magpies now languish in last place. And St. Kilda nips the Lions by a single point to remain unbeaten. This is shaping up as an interesting year. Not as interesting as a Collingwood Premiership mind you.
Mo music
Keb' Mo' music to be precise. I may have to make his new album my other disc for the month. I am a fetishist for artists. If I find an artist's work worth acquiring, I then have to get the whole collection. And the great Mr. Mo' has a new one out.
Hat tip to the BrotherDog for introducing me to Keb' Mo' a few years ago.

Saturday, May 01, 2004

This month's music
Despite the fact that I'm not a music blogger, I seem to spend a good amount of time on music. At least I tend to confine my ramblings to the relatively obscure and (I hope) interesting acts with which my handful of readers might not be familiar. Compound that with my pledge to limit my purchases to two discs a month and there's a recipe for a melange of posts that probably come across like a dish of black-bean salsa with fudge sauce. Taken individually, fine. Taken together, strange and ugly.

All of which is introduction to this month's "Longings." I've already ordered the Anzen Chitai ("Safety Zone") album and I'm not yet quite sure what my other disc will be. I'm divided at the moment between Jake Armerding's "Caged Bird" and Heather Sullivan's "Butterfly." I will, like every obsessive blogger keep you apprised of my choice.

The reason for reaching out for Anzen Chitai - believe me, I'm not a follower of Japanopop - is the song "Deai." Its music video is shown with some regularity on WNVC, the local independent public TV station, and the song is just gorgeous. Lush with orchestration over a grand piano intro and remarkably intimately presented vocals. To me, it's one of those songs that makes buying the whole disc (even paying the shipping from Japan) worth it. This is the second time the strange folks at Mhz television have forced me to buy music. They were, after all, the ones who introduced me to Emm Gryner.