(By the way, if the BPI is reading — I have permission, from the band themselves, to spread this song far and wide. So that's what I'm doing here.)
Somewhere, what sounds like an out-of-tune version of the lambada plays. Then the song begins: "Win your complaints / Slam the doors and break all the plates" It's an explosion of Phil Spector and Motown tricks; a group of indie kids break into the derelict remains of Detroit, discover the Funk Brothers' old equipment and immediately set to work breaking a million hearts in mono. This is an unmixed, low bit-rate, unfinished song, and it's still one of the best things I've heard all year; a transcendent piece of pop. And this week, of all weeks, I needed to know that music isn't just there to cause me grief.
Thanks for everybody's emails and comments. Some have requested further information. I don't have much, but here you go:
This site is hosted in the US, but the music files were stored on my Linux server at home to save space.
I've checked the logs for both this site and my home machine. There's no access that corresponds with the time that the BPI gave. But there is a spike of activity on both servers from an IP address of 212.111.42.11 around that hour. The user-agent string is "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows NT; DigExt)". which doesn't seem special in any way, and I can't find any referral data, so I have no clue how they got here. The address doesn't resolve, but SideBit's Locator places it in the UK. The address is now blocked at my firewall, but that's just me being petty rather than a serious attempt at blocking their access.
The moral of the story seems to be: if you're running a music blog, make sure you don't host the files in the UK.
You remember this article, right? How it seemed cynical even by the most jaded of standards? Well, let's have a cheer for Pakistan for capturing Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani!
Meanwhile, the Commons foreign affairs select committee released a report on how well things are going in Iraq, oh, and Afghanistan too. Turns out that Afghanistan is safe, as long as you define "Afghanistan" to be a street in Kabul.
This looks like a fun book. I'm not sure that "We weren't as bad as the Nazis!" really counts as a defence though.
Anyway, the final day of the convention. For a change, I had a look at some of the other news networks, and I must say: why did Fox News bother going to the expense of moving everybody out to Boston? They're not showing most of the speeches, they're still running their regular programmes. It would have been so much easier to leave everybody behind...
Hmm, only just flipped back, but not sure if bringing up De Gaulle is a good idea, Sen. Biden, but a good point on trust.
Now Wesley Clark. Beating the war drum and, most likely, talking up Kerry's Vietnam record. Because I don't think they've mentioned it yet.
Ah, Joe Lieberman. Will I resist the urge to put my foot through the television? Yes, Joe, and look how that VP nomination turned out, eh? And don't think bringing up Obama is going to make you look any better. Sorry, I really don't like Lieberman. Always makes me feel that he's in the wrong party somehow. Like he took a wrong turn at Albuquerque along the line. Well, I hope there's not Hindus, Sikhs, or Buddhists watching, Joe. Will he mention Clinton in former Presidents? Yes, but skipped Johnson. For obvious reasons, I guess.
Bored now. Seen this? I'm quite impressed. Not to get all fanboy about it, but when do you stop? Will Lucas be happy when he's added a digital effect to every frame? Has anybody said "No, George, that would suck" to him in the last twenty years?
Nancy Pelosi. Making the case for a Democrat Congress. It's weird; even if there was an election going on over here at the moment, there would be as much emphasis on soldiers. I mean, she's talking about healthcare, education, and outsourcing now, but there's been so much talking about war and supporting the troops. Even if we're still in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, the issues will probably be Europe and public spending, with defence getting a cursory mention. Sorry, getting distracted here, but I think it's an intriguing difference…
Oh. She's gone. Whoops. BUT! WILLY NELSON! ON THE PULSE OF YOUNG AMERICA! Actually, this could be great. HE'S GOT A GOSPEL CHOIR, AND HE'S MAD ENOUGH TO USE IT! Dammit, why didn't they invite The Polyphonic Spree? Forty hippies on a stage! Hmm, this isn't as good as it could be. Oh well. Who else? "Coming up next! A bunch of emo bands and intelligent dance music! DEMOCRATS BIGGING IT UP IN THE AREA! SLAM-DUNKING, OUR KID!"
Or they could bring on Madeleine Albright. I like them, I do, but I'm now bored senseless. I'm guessing that the Republican Convention will be different, if only because there's more chance of me getting worked up when I see people like Rumsfeld, Cheney, and Bush. Or I might have a job by then and you will all be spared. I want to see Al Sharpton following Bush around all summer, with a sign saying "WHERE'S MY MULE?" Albirght: unity, security, truth, bringing the world back to America. The usual.
And I'm worried. There's not going to be a big bounce after this convention. Or even a little one, I think. And it doesn't matter that he's now in a better position than Carter in 1976, Reagan in 1980, and Clinton in 1992. No bounce means failure in the eyes of the media. So that's what it will be. But anybody who has watched any part of this convention will know about Kerry's war record and what he stands for. If they've been lucky, they've seen fantastic speeches (Gore/Clinton on first night, Obama on the second, and Sharpton yesterday). I don't know what I'm trying to say; I suppose I'm trying to say that the convention probably doesn't matter to people who are busy having lives and not sitting in front of a computer screen, so I don't understand why it's considered to be so important. Is it even being carried by the major networks?
Carole King. And guess what she;s singing? "Close your eyes and think of me / and soon I will be there" DO I SEE LIGHTERS? And a sing-a-long! And a "You've got a friend…in John Kerry" (aha!) moment.
JFK sounded good, didn't he? DEMOCRAT DANCE PARTY!
"Kerry/Edwards Time! Let's Get It On!"Willie Nelson's checking Hillary Clinton out!
Andre Heinz is coming out to Hey Ya. Dude. Heh, "6"6" with the hair" Vanessa Kerry is good. And now Alexandra Kerry. All the family! Hamster CPR! Leave no hamster behind!
and now, a special bio hosted by Morgan Freeman.
They've got the men of Kerry's patrol boat on stage. Wow. Introducing Senator Max Cleland. More Vietnam, although this time incorporating Kerry's protests afterwards.
He's walking through the crowd! To Bruce Springsteen! Don't screw it up.
Just guessing, but this is probably going to be a speech of few sentences and lots of cheering.
Life story first.
"I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to his military advisors, and I will appoint an Attorney General who will defend the Constitution of the United States" — oooh.
He's getting better. Warming up a little. And now laying into Bush for throwing away unity: "Saying mission accomplished doesn't make it so"
"We will not go to war because we want to, but only because we have to"
"We will never send you to war without a plan to win the peace."
Leading with the military, then. 40,000 new troops, but not for Iraq; to bolster an over-stretched army.
"The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom"
"We shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in America." ouch.
I know it's because I'm listening to him. But he sounds good. He's moving on to the domestic issues now, about "you don't take kids out of after-school programs to give Enron a bigger tax cut."
"help is on the way" investment, closing tax loop-holes for companies that outsources. And reintroducing fiscal responsibility. A pledge not to raise taxes for the middle classes, but rolling back tax cut for those that make over $200,000 a year.
Education: increased spending, especially in the poorer areas (his wording here about prison was great).
Healthcare: "[Healthcare] is a right for all Americans and we will make it so"
Energy - reducing the dependence on oil. DAMN
"I want to address these next words to President George W. Bush" — a pledge for unity and also a call for him not to abuse the Constitution (veiled reference to election postponement?)
Picking back up on Obama's speech — One America.
"What if we have a President who believes in Science?"
And U2's Beautiful Day to close us out. You can't have everything.
Kerry / Edwards on stage, balloons coming soon, I imagine.
Well, he had to be good. And he was. We can but hope.
"Gee, son, that's a good question. You see, long ago, there was music. And people wanted to share it, to talk about it; the way it made them feel, how it excited them, and to let others hear things that they might not have ever heard."
"That sounds nice, daddy. What happened?"
"Well, despite that there were more records being sold than ever before, some people didn't want to share. And didn't want others to share. And these people were in control. But only for a limited time. To get around that, whenever the limited time was about to end, they'd talk to some other people in control, and as if by magic, their time was extended. Meanwhile, the people who they were supposed to represent weren't always getting paid the money they were owed, and because they hated technology and the changing world, they tried to stop it from happening."
"So why don't we have music anymore?"
"Because they modified our ears at the genetic level so we couldn't hear a song unless we paid £5 for a one-use-only, non-refundable ringtone, son."
Dear Sirs
Re: 81.103.184.89
The British Phonographic Industry Limited ("BPI") is a member of the Internet Enforcement Group (see www.ieg-uk.org) and the UK national group for the International Federation of Phonographic Industries ("IFPI"). Our members comprise over 300 record companies in the United Kingdom. Between them our members are responsible for the production or distribution of the vast majority of sound recordings sold and/or distributed legally within the United Kingdom. The BPI is also mandated to act on behalf of the members of Phonographic Performance Limited ("PPL") and the Association of Independent Music Limited ("AIM") and in this respect, to protect the rights in the sound recordings that are owned or controlled by members of PPL and AIM, as well those that are owned or controlled by BPI.
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Hurrah! Is it too late to call in UN Election Monitors?
Here comes Jesse! My, he's on early, isn't he?
And possibly the first direct reference to Florida 2000?
Wait - hold up - did Louis Theroux just start clapping? It looked a lot like him.
Obviously, Edward Kennedy and Jesse Jackson have been given Bush attack duties this week.
(By the way, I will try and tone down the politics next week…promise)
Ooops distracted by this. ooo.
Okay, it's Martin O'Malley, Mayor of Baltimore, talking up security. And he just appeared to have morphed into Rob Cordroy from The Daily Show. Which a little unsettling.
Hmm, they all seem to be rushing past tonight. And the gloves seem to be off; there's talk of unity, and so on, but they're directly criticising Bush now.
Dennis Kucinich And, I don't want to be too mean, but he's sounding like the clown from Animaniacs at the moment. But he is saying all the right things. He the sort of person that could never win a Presidency, but still, impressed that he never gave up, and always tried to speak up for what he believes in.
Okay, that anthem run-through was painful. Eh. Still not feeling it tonight.
AL! AL! AL! AL SHARPTON! Save me from boredom, Al! "I submit to you that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would never have got to law school!" — zing. And now he's answering Bush's question of "do the Democrats take the black vote for granted?"
"We never got our forty acres! We didn't get the mule! So we decided to ride this donkey as far as it would take us!"
Damn, I know that he's has something of a past, but damn. He's good.
(and yes, Bonnie, it was very much a Sorkin moment)
Senator Bob Graham from Florida.
Everybody is dancing!
Hahaha — looks like Al deviated from his script somewhat. Going away for a bit now.
Back with Elizabeth Edwards, Bring on the Cheek! And they have their wedding anniversaries at Wendy's (Bonnie: "that's the most romantic thing I've ever heard")!
Here comes Mr. Edwards! The smile! No, they're not going to be quiet. Ah, so that's why they kept cutting to them, it's his mum and dad. aww. They really are going to make all they can of Kerry's military record. He's completely untouchable there. Heheh, and they're stealing the "positive" high ground. Now it's "Two Americas", to give everybody access to a good health service, excellent education, and well-paying jobs. DEATH TO OUTSOURCERS!
"We don't want people to just get by. We want you to get ahead."
heh. they watched the hotel bar scene.
and ramming it home with veteran's benefits.
"Hope is on the way." :-)
After yesterday, I have a survival guide: don't even attempt to watch the convention before 8pm Eastern, and things will be a little more interesting.
But today's big news has been THE BATTLE OF THE RADICALS!
ITEM! Ann Coulter's report from Boston was rejected by her employer, USA Today, on the grounds of "basic weaknesses in clarity and readability that we found unacceptable." Here's Ann's original report. A choice quote:
As for the [lack of] pretty girls, I can only guess that it's because liberal boys never try to make a move on you without the UN Security Council's approval. Plus, it's no fun riding around in those dinky little hybrid cars. My pretty-girl allies stick out like a sore thumb amongst the corn-fed, no make-up, natural fiber, no-bra needing, sandal-wearing, hirsute, somewhat fragrant hippie chick pie wagons they call "women" at the Democratic National Convention.
Nice.
ITEM! Bill O'Reilly vs. Michael Moore in a FIGHT TO THE DEATH! "One shall stand! One shall fall!" Or a streetside debate. Lots of O'Reilly trying to get him to apologise to Mr. Bush for accusing him of lying. Moore's position is very shaky on this, but O'Reilly's ground isn't much firmer — the Butler report complained about how qualifiers were removed from intelligence briefings, making things seem more definite than they were. And of course, they still haven't found any nuclear material, or evidence that Iraq was buying it through Niger.
M: I would be willing to sacrifice my life to track down the people that killed 3,000 people on our soil.It's fun to see both sides putting words in each other's mouths. Such a wonderful debating technique.
O: Al Qeada was given refuge by the Taliban.
M: But we didn’t go after them—did we?
O: We removed the Taliban and killed three quarters of Al Qeada.
M: That’s why the Taliban are still killing our soldiers there.
BEN AFFLECK! *SWOON*
Ask him about the girl in the back of the car!
"That's not my kind of humour" — Oh, Ben, was Mallrats that bad?
I think Bill and Ben are about to hug. Words you never thought would spring from Ben Affleck's mouth: "Ba'athist secular state".
Ted Kennedy! Oooh! Using John Adams for bitchslapping purposes! CLASSY.
By the way, I do love how, even though they both went to Yale, and are both extremely rich, "Bush is the common man." Does the common man often own a baseball team?
Anyway, Fox is about to show the MM v. R exchange. From the script I've read, Moore comes off worse. I have a feeling it's going to be two people yelling at each other for five minutes.
Yep. Oooh:
NADER'S COMING TO TOWN TOMORROW! HE'S GONNA CALL YOU OUT, KERRY!! Or something.
I'm getting more depressed as this convention rolls on. But hold on! It's howard Dean! They've brought out the tambourines! The crowd loves him. Standing ovation and everything. Just start talking! They'll soon quieten down. The usual topics: Healthcare, the war, and veteran's benefits. And now everyone is dancing to Sister Sledge.
Christie Vilsack is talking about a pen that Harry Truman gave her. The convention floor is getting restless.
Oh, sorry, got distracted. The keynote tonight is by Barack Obama. He's good.
" If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties."
Convention Fatigue is beginning to set in. But here comes Ron Reagan. Only talking about stem cell research, but it looks good to have a Reagan on stage. "They are just grinding a political axe, and they should be ashamed of themselves." Ouch.
"It does not follow that a theology of the few should outweigh the health of the many." Heh.
And, you know, I don't think I'll stick around for the Kerrys.
The FBI: Using the USA PATRIOT Act to stop the terrorist menace of Stargate SG-1 fans!
Yes, I am this sad. I am watching the Democratic National Convention on C-SPAN.
Hmm, it's like a festival, really. Nobody you've heard about is on for the first few hours. Then there's a slow roll-out of some people you may have seen once in a while, then BAM! Primetime and there's Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. And for the headliners: The Clintons and Patti LaBelle! It's just like Glastonbury, except that it's inside, smaller, with fewer cows, but comes with a bonus "Protest Zone", replete with razorwire and armed guards.
C-SPAN is airing a pre-game show! All the build-up! All the excitement! And 59 minutes of filler!
Oooh, a hammer!
Hmm, the vicar looks uncannily like this:
And here comes the army. Still, it's more interesting than the Younger Younger 28s so far. Oh, spoke too soon — Miss Teen New Mexico is now singing the national anthem.
"Hello, Democrats, I'm from Michigan" — we're so very, very sorry (a cheap shot, heck one of my favourite bands comes from there, but I had to take it)
Hmm, perhaps I'll come back at eight, when I'm more in the mood…
Incidentally:
Sam The Bald Eagle:
AL! AL! AL! AL! They couldn't resist a jibe. And he opens with a joke! "You win some, you lose some, and then there's that little known third option..." That SNL appearance gave him some well-needed humour. He doesn't seem stiff anymore. But if he snogs Tipper again, I'm going to be sick.
"I believe that every boy and girl should be able to dream of one day, being able to win the popular vote"
Cracking wise and going for the Republican and third-party votes. Where were you in 2000, Al Gore 2004? Where were you?
And he even mentions Clinton! WHERE WERE YOU FOUR YEARS AGO?
Next up, a cynical stab for women's votes. And a cheer for Hillary! Just don't tell her you're for non-secular programmes in school, eh, Bonnie?
And now…CUTE CHILDREN! SINGING!
I wonder how many people are watching. It's a bit like the Oscars, but without any of the excitement. And lots of waiting around when the networks go to a commercial. By the way, if you're in the UK, BBC Parliament is taking the C-SPAN feed, so you don't have to settle for a postage stamp of video that cuts out every half-hour (The Internet — so full of promise, but not quite there yet)
The elephant is so ugly he sleeps his head Click click click click click Click himself under
Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter
A little dig at "active military service," there, Jimmy. And a not-so-subtle one too.
He's not as funny as Gore. But says all the right things. They're going after Bush more than I was expecting, although I suppose that's what these speeches are for.
Hmm, got distracted there. Hope I didn't miss anything.
Anyway, I think the reason why conventions are so dull these days is because nothing is at stake anymore. The object of the convention is to pick a candidate, but the candidate is already known months before, so it's all a bit pointless. What you want is a close-run race, ending up with a battle in the convention centre, with pundits providing real-time analysis of whether the support of the Yuppie Ladder 101 Union will give a candidate enough delegates to push them over the edge. Make things exciting again. Admittedly, the last time that such an event occurred was probably back in 1972, when George McGovern pulled off a stunning victory over the other candidates, outmanoeuvring them at every turn. He then went on to lose to Nixon 49 states to 1. Only one state didn't vote for Nixon. My God, that's a horrible thought.
And this is a HORRIBLE version of Blowing In The Wind
Missed quite a bit again. There's now a reverend who served with Kerry in Vietnam talking. But I think he's just finished.
Hillary! And she knows a thing or two about healthcare. ho ho. hmm, and the span feed has dropped out, leaving her sounding like a robot. But Robo-Hillary is going down well. BILL! BILL! BERRY! Whoops, wrong Bill. But she's introducing him now – woo!
And the crowd goes nuts.
He's thanking previous speakers. It's an Al/Bill reconciliation! hurrah! My, is it so long? There's sentences, progressions, comparisons, and even building of arguments. And he brings the funny! Damn, he's good. He's currently outlining the reasons to vote Republican - less police, tax cuts for the rich, assault rifles on the streets, and now, listing all the achievements of the Clinton Years — "It was better." And pointing out how both he and George Bush dodged Vietnam, but Kerry went of his own accord.
Remember the Bush records that were accidentally destroyed? Well, the Pentagon decided to look under the cushions, and behold! They managed to find them, after all. No real revelations, but if he was there during the contested period, he never flew, and didn't take any pay, either.
Only one song today, mainly because nothing can compare to the majesty of this:
William Shatner — Common People
It's the cover you never demanded! Backed with a Casio keyboard playing the demonstration tune! TRAPPED IN A WORLD IT NEVER MADE!
I'm confused by the whole Sandy Berger affair. It just seems rather strange. Firstly, who would be stupid enough to do what he did? Surely a former National Security Advisor should know better than that. The reports themselves tend to contradict; some say that Berger removed files from the Archive, and Republicans have been spinning this to say that he was covering up for the Clinton Administration (admittedly, this is Rick Santorum, so the credibility is not high), whereas the Commission itself says that Berger only removed copies and did not affect their investigation (I can't find a link for this, but I read it last night, I promise). Then there's the odd, unsubstantiated, reports of him stuffing papers into his socks, which his lawyer vigourously denies. Plus, why did the staff of the National Archive set up a sting operation? Surely it would have been better to stop him each time they suspected that he was removing documents? That way, nothing that wasn't supposed to would have left the Archive.
Why is Bush saying that this is a serious matter, when the FBI privately says that it's really not that important? Why has this been leaked now, instead of months ago? Is the Justice Department getting ready to press charges? No, they say that the investigation is still ongoing, but they have no plans to do anything to Berger at the moment. So there's no reason for it to have leaked, apart from, say, the 9/11 report, or the Democrat Convention next week.
(There's an alternate theory going around that says that the Democrats engineered this leak, to prevent it from hanging over them as a potential election spoiler.)
I'm just confused.
(I'm on page 351 of the 9/11 report at the moment (not feeling well enough to do much else today), and there's nothing really damning, although Bush keeps on mentioning that he used to be a pilot, which I find amusing for some reason. And this:
Clarke has written that on the evening of September 12,President Bush told him and some of his staff to explore possible Iraqi links to 9/11.“See if Saddam did this,”Clarke recalls the President telling them.“See if he’s linked in any way.” While he believed the details of Clarke’s account to be incorrect,President Bush acknowledged that he might well have spoken to Clarke at some point,asking him about Iraq.)
Who needs a secret identity anyway?
(Plus! English Kellerman! Can Naked Pirate Kellerman be far behind?)
Apple introduces a new object of lust, of music as fetish, of gigabytes and gigabytes, of perfect form and factor, of an extra 50% battery life, and of irritating everyone who bought one last week.
The music companies act all innocent and pretend they only just noticed that That's All Right will enter the public domain next year. Because I'm sure that BMG hasn't sold enough Elvis records yet. And if this means that ten years from now, people can quote Beatles lyrics without having to fork over money to Michael Jackson, I'm all for it, personally.
(as a brief aside, does anybody really think that when the new extended copyright period is up, Disney and the others are going to relinquish their copyrights? Or will they pay off a bunch of politicians again and get copyright extended to the heat-death of the universe?)
For iTunes users - Apple has released audio recordings of the 9/11 Commission Hearings. You can get them for free on iTMS. Here's Richard Clarke, for example,
A special music day today. The first time I've ever posted something of mine! Yes, today, I have been using Garageband to compose this astounding cover of John Cage's 4'33". Prepare to be amazed!
ME! — 4'33"
And, a nice, Oliver Postgate-style jaunt through space, I think, for the second song of the day. Have a good Friday everyone…
Lemon Jelly — Spacewalk
Bowling for Columbine was a film about a man struggling to find reasons for a tragedy, ultimately becoming more bewildered than when he started. Fahrenheit 9/11 is one note repeated over and over, a focused rage at the Bush Administration and what it has achieved in the past four years. Moore uses every trick he's learnt from his previous documentaries, incorporating pranks, selective editing, humour, and horror. The first post-title scene is astounding; even though the footage has been seen across the world thousands of times before, he manages to find a new way of presenting the attack on New York, a way that makes the terror of that day as immediate as it was then. From then on, the film takes a rather conventional, chronological view of things, detailing the Bush family's connections to the bin Laden family, the flights out of America when all others were grounded, Afghanistan and how consultants to US energy firms ended up running the country, how the US government raises the terror warning level seemingly at a whim, and the evils of the USA-PATRIOT Act, which was passed despite most Senators not even bothering to check its contents.
The documentary saves its biggest impact for the second half, focusing on Iraq. However, it does so by almost completely ignoring the question of whether there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or not (save for a few pre-September interviews with Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell). Instead, it opens with the bombing of Baghdad, the green flares of exploding bombs blasting against night-vision cameras. Then, Moore shows us the results. Women and children covered in napalm burns. Dead US soldiers burnt, dragged along the streets and then hanged from a bridge. We didn't see this. I didn't see this, when watching the news in America. We were given a clean war, a war of embedded journalists and computer-generated maps. We didn't see this.
Finally, it looks at the US military. How the soldiers started out as gung-ho, CD-playing video gamers, but ended up bitter, disillusioned, and frightened. For this section, Moore returns to Flint, Michigan, to see the effect of war on his home town, resulting in scenes that make you want to break down and also fill you with a burning rage.
You should see it. Yes, it's completely one-sided, flawed, biased, and slanted. It has to be. When you consider that up to now, the only real critical news-based look at the Bush Administration is on Comedy Central, that the White House Press Corps decided to leave most of the tough questions to Helen Thomas, and that Fox News has done as much to conflate Al-Qaeda and Iraq as President Bush, this film is the only possible response. And its box office revenues suggest that people would like to hear something other than a regurgitation of government spin. This film isn't the whole truth, but it's a challenge to our media to start doing their jobs once more.
Heh.
(um, I promise to write about something other than politics soon. Probably Friday. In the meantime, just shake your head and back away slowly)
Michael Moore's footnotes for Fahrenheit 9/11. I haven't seen it yet (going on Thursday), but this looks rather impressive.
I think that most people's problem with Fox News is the hypocrisy. If they'd just drop their cries of 'fair and balanced', admitted that each anchor has a shrine to Newt Gingrich and Richard Nixon in the corner of their dressing rooms, and that they sacrifice an unsuspecting intern each month as an offering to Mammon, people would respect them more.
In other news, parts of the Bush Administration are looking to pass the Enabling Act. The Family shall rule for a thousand years! I really, really don't see why this is necessary. America elected FDR in 1944, Abraham Lincoln held elections in 1864 while the Civil War was still raging, and in 1814, midterm elections took place, even though the British had just burned the White House to the ground. He's what Lincoln had to say when advisors suggested postponing the elections:
We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.
And finally for today, it appears that the US Government is pushing for Pakistan to capture "High Value Targets" during the last few days of July (there's something going on in Boston that weekend, apparently). Some days, you think that you're being too cynical, that despite everything, there's got to be something of redeemable value hidden within. And on days like this, you realise that there isn't.
Congratulations, Odeon! For the past three years, your web site has been a Flash-based monstrosity, crashing browsers left and right, and which currently comes up as a blank screen in the latest version of Safari. Thank goodness, then, for Matthew Somerville, who developed a site called Accessible Odeon. This site was simple HTML, viewable by even the most humble browser, and you could do everything except book tickets. Oh, and it was five times faster than the Odeon site. Hurrah! The site even got a mention in the Guardian.
Accessible Odeon is now off-line. Last year, Odeon said that they were aware of the site, but weren't planning on taking any action. This week, they changed their minds, sending Matthew a cease-and-desist order for violating Odeon's trademarks and the database rights of their movie times.
Yes, Odeon can control who prints what time they're showing films.
So I guess it's back to the paper for film times. Odeon don't seem to be in a hurry to redesign a site that is broken in about five different ways, and they've crushed somebody who was helping them get business. Bravo!
Although, possibly, the Committee to Elect George W Bush's first action took place four years before the election itself…
Daniel Johnston is something of a folk hero in indie circles; bands such as Sonic Youth, Yo La Tengo, Nirvana, and Kenickie have all cited him as an influence. But my first exposure to Johnston had nothing to do with music at all. Back in the mid-1990s, comic writer Warren Ellis used to write an occult comic called Hellstorm. He also had a column in a UK magazine where he talked about the letters he used to receive. One reader sent in drawings of Captain America to the title's editor, Marie Jarvins, along with messages about how he would save her from Ellis's foul influence. It was only years later that I discovered that the reader was Daniel Johnston.
Johnston rose to fame after an appearance in a mid-1980s MTV documentary about the Austin music scene. His first albums (made and released by himself on cassette) started showing up around America. Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain were painfully honest and emotional albums, with Johnston's songwriting skills shining through the ramshackle production and his, well, almost unique voice. This is from the first album, a song that was later covered by Kathy McCarty and used in the film Before Sunrise:
Daniel Johnston — Living Life
Daniel's mental instability led to him being institutionalised several times towards the end of the decade, but the 1990s were kinder. There were several episodes, like the letters to Ellis, but nothing too serious. He even managed to get signed to a major label, Atlantic Records. a feat which surprised many people. One of the songs from this period can be found on the My So-Called Life Soundtrack:
Daniel Johnston — Come See Me Tonight
He was inevitably dropped by Atlantic, but he's still making records, still singing about loss, pain, and a slightly askew view of the world which often seems much friendlier and colourful than the one outside our window.
Daniel Johnston — Favorite Darling Girl
Last night's Question Time, featuring a bunch of Conservative teenagers and Boris Johnston.
…another Grant Morrison interview. Warning: contains ideas.
A choice quote:
I still think the manga format is going to be where the big action is and that Tokyopop is currently setting the pace as far as remaking comics into something attractive to the mainstream goes - they've already got Courtney Love writing for them, haven't they, and surely she knows a bandwagon when she sees one trundling around the corner?
If you saw Jeremy Clarkson's documentary on the computer tonight, then please ignore his tirade on how the secrecy of Colossus let the Americans overtake us in the computer industry. His researchers failed to uncover the Manchester Baby, the first von Neuman architecture machine, and the very successful commercial computers that Ferranti sold based on that design. Or how Manchester invented virtual memory with the ATLAS computer, which was the fastest in the world during the early 1960s. Or how Britain still had an active independent computer industry into the 1990s. It's fun to blame the government for its destruction and the eventual American take-over, but it's just not true.
(I was also incensed at his side-lining of Turing, but that's another story. Yes, the engineer should have got more recognition. But Colossus would not have been made without Turing, and his work defined the limits of computability. Everything we have today stems from his theoretical work. That's why he's celebrated today; not just for his WWII effort, but for everything else he gave us, before our government chemically castrated him for the offence of liking men)
America! Japan! We salute you!
Another weird little flash game, complete with freaky intro.
And finally, are you registered to vote in Florida? Are you on this list? If so, you might want to sort that out before November…
Michael Moore:
I don’t agree with the copyright laws and I don’t have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they’re not trying to make a profit off my labour. I would oppose that,
Jack Valenti, outgoing head of the MPAA:
I don’t think there’s really a single actor or director in the world who does not believe that if you don’t combat piracy, it will devour you in the future.
All those BitTorrent-enabled, here's a link to a camcorder version. Personally, I'm waiting until it goes on release over here later this month…
Just the one song this week. I first heard this a month ago, but missed the DJ announcing who it was. Thankfully, everyone's favourite WXYC DJ, Susie, played it this Wednesday, so I was able to track it down at last.
(how many songs use US state abbreviations, I wonder?)
okay, having just come across this, I feel that I have to post it as well. It's not everyday you find a Gregorian chant version of Heaven Is A Place On Earth, after all…