pop-pop

2003-06-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

I knew it. Molly's Australian trip was just a ruse to cover up where she's really gone. This from the blurb for the next episode of Buffy:

"As the Scoobies research the origins of the First to find a way to rescue Spike, Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) arrives with reinforcements---three apprentice Slayers. Also: Buffy is rattled when her mother (Kristine Sutherland) offers advice in her dreams. Kennedy: Iyari Limon. Annabelle: Courtnee Draper. Molly: Clara Bryant. Ubervamp: Camden Toy. Andrew: Tom Lenk. Principal Wood: D.B. Woodside."

2003-02-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Pop-Pop. Go here instead.

2003-02-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Barbelith tackles my new adopted country, and its place in the world:

" I don't think many people here hate America, or more precisely the United States of America. However, many people here are deeply suspicious of the Bush administration, and aware that it is fostering and supporting a way of life that is toxic to the continuing survival of the world. That the United States administration is currently heaping vitriol on nations unwilling to support its foreign policy, after having demanded special rights in every attempt so far to combat climate change, reduce consumption of resources and, for that matter, prosecute war criminals in an international court. Right now, a lot of that suspicion is based around the USA's apparent abuse of Article 51 of the United Nations charter, claiming that this entitles it to act militarily and, if necessary, independently against other members of the United Nations, in self-defence when no border is threatened. Personally, I am concerned that military action in the Middle East, a region apparently barely understood even geographically by the population of the United States, is likely to destabilise moderate regimes and greatly increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks on the capital cities of Western nations. Pure self-interest demands that I question the motives and the wisdom of US policy."

2003-02-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I've ever posted a link to Jinjur here before, but if not: It's the cool Martha Stewart everyone has always wanted. Sarah kicks ass.

2003-02-12T17:30:00.000-08:00

Peter David on the issues that count:

"If Osama bin Laden is so hot on the idea of suicide bombings, I wonder why he doesn't offer to lead the way. Y'know, show how it's done. Otherwise it's like being one of those people standing safely on the ground, shouting to the guy on the ledge ten stories up 'Jump! Jump!'"

2003-02-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

"The Onion: Who could you take in a fight?

William Shatner: I could take Salma Hayek.

O: Really? I would think she'd fight back something awful.

WS: Okay.

O: Do you want to back down on that?

WS: No, I'll just accept what's given to me."

2003-02-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

The above is the work of possibly the nicest man in comics today, Cameron Stewart.

And I'm not just saying that because we've been exchanging emails recently with a view to me interviewing him for my comics column...

2003-02-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

This really is fascinating:

"Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel that specialises in Osama bin Laden scoops, was itself scooped yesterday by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell. When Mr Powell announced that the station would shortly broadcast a new tape from the al-Qaida leader, executives at the TV studio in Qatar appeared flummoxed. The editor at first denied it and the press spokesman declined to comment. But Mr Powell's prediction came true. The 16-minute audio tape - purportedly the ninth recording from al-Qaida received by al-Jazeera since the start of the Afghan war - arrived in the studio just after 7pm London time."

How did Colin Powell know? I mean, really. How?

(Interesting last part to the article, too: "Many in the west will see its headline message as support for Iraq against the United States - a message that may well play more into Mr Powell's hands than those of President Saddam. So perhaps Bin Laden has scored an own goal. Or perhaps it is not the voice of the al-Qaida leader at all. Could it simply be an actor, hired by the CIA, addressing the world from Langley, Virginia?" Hmm.)

2003-02-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

This is coming out in America next week. Worth it?

2003-02-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

I love the Onion.

2003-02-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

"Russell Simmons has called for a boycott of Pepsi from next week, if an advert featuring Ludacris isn't reinstated. The ad was pulled last August, a day after Fox News Channel ran a news story criticising Pepsi for using the rapper, and questioning whether he was a suitable spokesman, given his lyrics. Simmons, founder of the Def Jam label, who release Ludacris' records, accepted the decision at the time, but after seeing The Osbournes - famed for their four-letter diatribes on their MTV series – advertising Pepsi during the Superbowl, he decided to take action. The advert featuring 'The Prince Of Fucking Darkness' and his brood cost Pepsi $1.6 million for a 30-second slot. At a press conference yesterday (February 5), Simmons demanded an apology from Pepsi and a $5 million donation to his charity organisation... 'They are being hypocritical in this case. Falling out of favour in the hip-hop community could be very damaging... In hip-hop,' Simmons said, 'our idea is if you don't want us, we don't want you.'"

A Pepsi spokesman couldn't make a comment because they were too busy laughing.

2003-02-06T19:00:00.000-08:00

What. The. Fuck?

"Courtney Love duetted with Elton John and dressed up in a Donald Duck costume on stage at a fund-raising show for the Old Vic Theatre in London last night (February 5). The former Hole frontwoman was lending her support to actor Kevin Spacey, who announced yesterday that he is taking over as artistic director of the historic London theatre. A host of stars had turned out for the concert, during which Love and Elton John sang 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' together. Later in the show, Love came back onstage dressed as Donald Duck, and then stripped down to her pants."

2003-02-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

British tabloids are hilariously wonderful.

2003-02-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

"Order versus Chaos. Control versus Free Will. The Establishment versus the Zeitgeist. Me and You versus the World. The Invisibles is about all these things. That, and looking really cool. And with the release of the final volume of the saga, it's finally possible to assess as a whole what will one day be looked upon by comic book aficionados and literature courses alike as one of the most boundary-breaking, gutsy, postmodern works of fiction of the late twentieth century. The Invisibles, like all classic fiction, can be read on a number of levels: on one level, it's a science-fiction adventure story, superheroes in mufti; it's also a Fortean almanac, blending the latest in magical, supernatural and superscientific theory; and in some respects, it's a love letter to the 20th Century, with all the flashy clothes, ultraviolence and high sex that implies. The Invisibles is all those things and more."

2003-02-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

My favourite sentence is the fourth one.

"When they were getting started, Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes had some fun with their image by telling some reporters they were brother and sister and others that they were husband and wife. The are-they-or-aren't-they vibe gave them a little boost that only generated more interest and buzz. The Russian duo Tatu is employing a similiar ploy with Julia Volkova, 17, and Lena Katina, 18, proclaiming that they are lovers and sharing a kiss while wearing school girl uniforms in their video for their hit single "All the Things She Said." The coy couple was discovered three years ago by a child psychologist/advertising executive who packaged them as an underage sex project aimed at adult men who like that sort of thing. However, those who follow the music industry are pretty sure that their image is nothing more than a bunch of spin, and the girls aren't even gay and definitely not lovers. No matter where the truth really lies, critics are not amused, and even though it is No. 1 in England (having knocked "Fame Academy" winner David Sneddon out of the spot) Britain's BBC will not air the video for "All the Things She Said" Friday (Feb. 7) on its popular countdown show "Top of the Pops." The channel says that they will replace the video showing the girls kissing with "better" exclusive footage of a live performance and may show the video at some point in the future. However, since the show airs at 7:30 p.m., 90 minutes before certain decency restrictions are lifted, they are refraining from doing so currently."

2003-02-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

He makes good movies, if nothing else...

"Steven Soderbergh is taking his talents to the small screen, where he's developing a series set in the world of politics for HBO... The series will revolve around political consultants. To keep the show current with real-life events, the producers hope to shoot each episode only a week before it airs. That would be a significant departure from the model for HBO's other original series, which often shoot entire seasons before any episode makes its debut. Each episode would also leave room for improvisation by the cast to incorporate current events."

2003-02-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

This could possibly be the most exciting thing I've heard in a long time.

2003-02-04T19:40:00.000-08:00

Hey kids! Like The Matrix? Get ready for overkill...

"On April 29th, a special two-disk edition of The Matrix on DVD will be released, which will include both the original movie and The Matrix Revisited (see "Matrix Revisited DVD Now in Stores") with all of their extras, plus a coupon good for admission to The Matrix Reloaded, the May sequel; Preload: On the Set of Reloaded, a featurette; an Animatrix preview; a Marilyn Manson music video' a teaser for the Enter the Matrix videogame, and a sample of Reloaded music. Then on May 15th, The Matrix Reloaded will bow in theaters on the same day as the Infogrames videogame Enter the Matrix streets. The Wachowski-written continuity for Enter the Matrix is all new, and ties into The Matrix Reloaded. And on June 3, the Animatrix DVD will street, with all nine of the Matrix anime, including four that will not have been previously seen. The release date for The Matrix Reloaded DVD has not been announced, but it will presumably be before the November theatrical release of the final portion of the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions."

2003-02-04T19:32:00.000-08:00

"Creepiest, most flesh-crawly aspect was the realisation that he really has bought people, not just adults but their children too. He views children - other people's and his own ('presents' from women who could see he "needed to be a Daddy") - not as individuals but as extensions of himself and his twisted dream. He's also bought an entourage whose purpose, on the face of it, is to insulate him from any inkling that there might be anything wrong with any of this..."

Barbelith on Michael Jackson.

2003-02-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hee hee.

2003-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Call me detached and cynical, but Phil Spector being arrested on suspicion on murder seems like the last act of his life as a movie...

2003-02-01T08:58:00.000-08:00

"Facing its most chronic shortage in oil stocks for 27 years, the US has this month turned to an unlikely source of help - Iraq. Weeks before a prospective invasion of Iraq, the oil-rich state has doubled its exports of oil to America, helping US refineries cope with a debilitating strike in Venezuela."

Of course, if America bombs the fuck out of the country, deposes its (admittedly despot) ruler, and then moves in with a US-friendly temporary government, that might bring the price down slightly, don't you think?

2003-02-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

"I myself feel that our country, for whose Constitution I fought in a just war, might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened, though, is that it has been taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone Cops-style coup d’etat imaginable. And those now in charge of the federal government are upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography, plus not-so-closeted white supremacists, aka “Christians,” and plus, most frighteningly, psychopathic personalities, or “PPs.” To say somebody is a PP is to make a perfectly respectable medical diagnosis, like saying he or she has appendicitis or athlete’s foot. The classic medical text on PPs is The Mask of Sanity by Dr. Hervey Cleckley. Read it! PPs are presentable, they know full well the suffering their actions may cause others, but they do not care. They cannot care because they are nuts. They have a screw loose! And what syndrome better describes so many executives at Enron and WorldCom and on and on, who have enriched themselves while ruining their employees and investors and country, and who still feel as pure as the driven snow, no matter what anybody may say to or about them? And so many of these heartless PPs now hold big jobs in our federal government, as though they were leaders instead of sick. What has allowed so many PPs to rise so high in corporations, and now in government, is that they are so decisive. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they cannot care what happens next. Simply can’t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody’s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich! Build a trillion-dollar missile shield! Fuck habeas corpus and the Sierra Club and In These Times, and kiss my ass!"

I love Kurt Vonnegut.

2003-02-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

Ten Unmediated Pleasures:

"10. woodsmoke and its promises"

Like poetry. Go and read.

2003-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

More boots than you can shake a stick at.

2003-01-31T17:51:00.000-08:00

I have, in certain comic circles, become known for a dislike of Scottish writer Mark Millar. Why, I hear you ask? Because he is given to making comments like this:

"I come from a country where there's no real sense of racism or even INTEREST in race relations because everyone's pretty much just one race of people. To any white supremacists reading this column, Scotland is probably your idea of Heaven on Earth... Growing up I knew one black guy. My home-town has sixty thousand people and one black guy. Even his PARENTS were white and it took me years to figure out he'd been adopted. What you've got to understand is that growing up in this environment kind of dulls you to any kind of racial tension ELSEWHERE in the world because Phil, the one black guy in our town, was probably the most popular guy in the west of Scotland. All the white guys wanted to hang out with him because he gave us liberal credibility and he pretty much shagged every girl at my school. Being black was actually the greatest advantage a young man could possibly have in life..."

No racism in Scotland? Yeah, that'll be right (And that's not even getting near his comments about fancying Condoleeza Rice because she's black, which means "there's the novelty aspect")...

2003-01-31T17:41:00.000-08:00

"You know that time when bands begin to swagger, like when the Stones got in a grove from '68 to '73? In the last two years, I think we've done that. To me, this record feels like the culmination of the best bits of 'The Bends', 'OK Computer', 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac'"

Radiohead may shake their moneymakers. This could be fun, judging by their most recent b-sides.

2003-01-31T17:39:00.000-08:00

"Damn the fucking obligation to write a diary and then have to censor it so you can't say what you feel, even though it's pretty damn impossible to say it anywhere else right now."

Dave, I love you like a brother and all, but there is no fucking obligation to write a fucking online diary. Get away from the computer and hide in the real world for awhile.

2003-01-31T17:34:00.000-08:00

She's back.

Love her almost as much as I do.

2003-01-31T17:33:00.000-08:00

"Here is where we will be recommending things to you. There will be many different kinds of things, from films to hairstyles, all of which have been researched, tested, and submitted to a month-long stay at a resort for people who appreciate the finer things in life, before finally being voted on in a democratic manner resembling that of our forefathers. We will add new recommendations as such time allows, and there will be no accounting for personal taste."

Said recommendations include:

"Brushing your teeth in the shower - Saves time and water."

"Sausage - Sausage is the bacon of the new millenium. And soysage will never be sausage, no matter how hard they try."

and "Yams - This winter will be all about the yam. Also do not forget: the red cabbage."

Meantime, I recommend the teasers for the next issue of McSweeney's.

2003-01-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

Further to the poetry protest mentioned below...

"The White House said Wednesday it postponed a poetry symposium because of concerns the event would be politicized. Some poets had said they wanted to protest military action against Iraq... 'While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she, too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum,' Noelia Rodriguez, spokeswoman for President George W. Bush's wife Laura, said Wednesday."

2003-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, if you're like me, this will get you very excited indeed. Even despite his flatness in the more recent gig.

2003-01-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

Listen to this. You'll thank me.

2003-01-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

"Beyond the simple theatrics and straight delivery, Bush made news too. He charged that "thousands" of Iraqis were engaged in efforts to thwart inspectors and he made good on Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz's claim that the Iraqis had infiltrated the weapons inspection teams. He charged that Saddam is intimidating scientists and replacing them with imposters when the U.N. teams come knocking. If this stands up, these two charges may become the ones that tip the country and the U.N. Security Council fully in favor of U.S. military action against Saddam. Or, if Secretary of State Powell is unable to prove Bush's claims in his trip to the U.N. next week the new allegations may seem like desperate attempts to come up with any dirt that will work and undo the support the president rallied tonight."

2003-01-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

"Until fairly recently, the CIA, in an effort to clean up a reputation sullied by botched overseas coups and imperial assassination attempts, had shied away from getting its hands dirty. Until about five years ago, it focused instead on gathering intelligence that could be used by other parts of the government. Before that, traditional CIA officers, often working under cover as U.S. diplomats, got most of their secrets from the embassy cocktail circuit or by bribing foreign officials. Most did not even have weapons training, and they looked down on the few SOG commandos who remained out in the field as knuckle draggers, relics of a bygone era. Now the knuckle draggers are not just back; they are the new hard edge of the CIA, at the forefront of the war on terrorism. And, says a U.S. intelligence official, 'they know which end the bullet comes out of.'"

Also see this and this...

2003-01-29T17:22:00.000-08:00

"From: Sam Hamill, founder of Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend WA

January 19, 2003

Dear Friends and Fellow Poets:

When I picked up my mail and saw the letter marked "The White House," I felt no joy. Rather I was overcome by a kind nausea as I read the card enclosed:

Laura Bush requests the pleasure of your company at a reception and White House Symposium on 'Poetry and the American Voice' on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at one o'clock

Only the day before I had read a lengthy report on the President's proposed "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq, calling for saturation bombing that would be like the firebombing of Dresden or Tokyo, killing countless innocent civilians.

I believe the only legitimate response to such a morally bankrupt and unconscionable idea is to reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam. I am asking every poet to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend his or her name to our petition against this war, and to make February 12 a day of Poetry Against the War. We will compile an anthology of protest to be presented to the White House on that afternoon.

Please submit your name and a poem or statement of conscience to: kokua@olympus.net

There is little time to organize and compile. I urge you to pass along this letter to any poets you know. Please join me in making February 12 a day when the White House can truly hear the voices of American poets.

Sam Hamill"

2003-01-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

"With every album I tend to react against the previous one in an effort to find new ground. With this record, it's pretty ugly really. Quite an ugly sounding batch of songs. Quite disturbing, quite dark, quite bluesy. At the moment it's feeling good. I just go by how my guts feel."

2003-01-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

"Britney Spears and Fred Durst are not doing the two-back-beast anymore, PlayLouder is strangely pleased to report. The couple had a brief fling while Britney recorded part of her new album with the Limp Bizkit man, although Fred seemed quite up for a full on relationship after posting some fairly gooey stuff about his "feelings" for her on his website. He probably feels a bit silly now. Who dumped who then? Or was it mutual? Did Britney get a friend to turn up in her place and tell Fred she didn't want to go steady with him anymore? Did Fred go to his mum's house and cry his eyes out? All these questions need to be answered, but if you see Fred in the next few days, make sure you tease him mercilously."

2003-01-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

"Can someone tell me just what the hell is up with the seeming flood of recent and semi-recent films where people have obnoxious flash-frame filled visions, hallucinations or premonitions? Crap like Thirteen Ghosts, all the films with psychic links to serial kilelrs, etc. Is it the only way some directors can feel like they're truly "directing", when they're endlessly manipulating the frames and chopping and zooming and throwing blood on walls and using loud, blaring sound to some sort of "effect". Doesn't anyone consider telling a good story in a credible manner directing anymore? I hate these sequences, for all the effort and pretention they all come off alike, carbon copy blue-light, blood-soaked, nonsense, MtV-style noodling and cheap scares and shocks designed to cheat the audience by witholding or manipulating information. My eyes go mikly-white when I see this stuff..."

2003-01-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

"Approaching forty, this particular drawer was starting to get pretty full, to the point of overflowing, and I was also starting to become more and more fascinated by the big taboo question of creativity, which also leads on to the big taboo question of consciousness, namely, "What is it and how does it work?" And also, of course, "How can I profit from it, move to Peterborough and live like a king?"

2003-01-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who like this kind of thing.

2003-01-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

Jesus fuck: "As the Pentagon continues a highly visible buildup of troops and weapons in the Persian Gulf, it is also quietly preparing for the possible use of nuclear weapons in a war against Iraq, according to a report by a defense analyst... Administration officials believe that in some circumstances, nuclear arms may offer the only way to destroy deeply buried targets that may contain unconventional weapons that could kill thousands. Some officials have argued that the blast and radiation effects of such strikes would be limited."

Not as limited as their common sense, apparently.

2003-01-27T18:52:00.001-08:00

"Many folks today who use 'gay' as an insult seem to believe that, because they have no homophobic intent in using it, and are just saying it to be cool because they heard it on South Park, that this somehow nullifies any anti-homosexual sentiment inherent in the pejorative use of the term, and that they can use it freely, without fear of censure. These people are living in a fantasy world, with fairies and pixies. Maybe they should try using the word 'nigger' as a 'non-racist' insult and see where it gets them."

2003-01-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

"The massive protests over the weekend were organized by A.N.S.W.E.R., 'Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.' This is an organization that has in the past agitated in favor of some extremely brutal regimes -- as long as they're leftist. (The word bandied about on the right end of the spectrum is "Stalinist.")"

2003-01-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

Happy belated new year.

2002-12-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

Kate and I are off to Blighty tomorrow.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

(Wait for the images to load, thanks very much).

2002-12-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

I have, bizarrely, been asked to write for a comics website.

If nothing else, it means I'll shut about them here.

2002-12-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'm looking at stuff on eBay, and finding all manner of goodies that I want someone to buy me for Christmas:

A Gorillaz comic!

A collection of all of Blur's videos!

An Elliott Smith bootleg with lots of fun things on it!

A pricey-in-terms-of-eBay-but-not-really piece of original art by Kent Williams!

Tis the season to be greedy.

2002-12-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

From Warren Ellis's Bad Signal newsletter:

"Music is -- it seems to be, from my aged and disconnected perspective -- becoming a bedroom thing again. Especially if electroclash gets a hold. The thing about acid and indiedance was that it didn't mater what you looked like or how you danced in order to go out to a rave or a club. Everyone wore the same fucking stupid pink dungarees and everyone danced like an electrified retard (Fraction's friend Xtop has a fine new term for electric shock -- "Edison medicine"). And then, whoosh, jungle, drum'n'bass, triphop, you're standing in the corner in your good clothes looking like you're nodding out, and now one of the blokes in Royksopp has a Phil Oakey haircut. Next up, the return of the Flock Of Seagulls special rocketship 'do. Kraftwerk are back, and as much as I like Interpol and Ladytron, we are neither in the world of the banging choon or the moshpit here. Like the musics of Sigur Ros or The Polyphonic Spree, this is art for consideration and front-brain evocations. Kieron Gillen was at a club the other week and saw people "dancing" to Daft Punk by turning in circles very slowly.

Music for bedrooms. Quiet subcultures. Stealth tribes.

It's a retracting planet. Everyone in Britain who goes to Ibiza gets off with someone from Britain. Goa's full of crusties from Milton Keynes. Everyone wanted to get out and then found out there was nowhere to go. Nu-metal hit its decadent phase when the ballads came in and System Of A Down wanted you to hear their horrible adolescent lyrics (if not when Fred Durst posed on the front of the Melody Maker holding a Xmas cracker, still the very vision of corporate-pop vileness), and now they all sound like 1984 Iron Maiden. Which was bedroom music and faceless stadium noise.

From today's perspective -- and I am old, and may well change my mind tomorrow -- the culture is becoming a thing that again chooses to experience things privately, or in small groups. We're not in a cycle where people seek to unite a generation in aspiration.

You know, maybe that's what happened in '99. I've spoken about this before; the eleven-year cycle of sunspot activity that matched cultural movements. '55, '66, '77, '88. '88. And, of course, in addition to the '99 spike, there was the eclipse. And yet, nothing happened in '99. Morrison and I jabbered about "The Children Of The Black Sun", but nothing happened in '99.

Maybe it's because the sun went out."

2002-12-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

"If a human being is one person online and another person in real life or better yet twenty different people online do these personalities combine to form one gestalt personality organism or are these personalities all seperate entity dances that are entitled to their own character evaluation zip code?"

2002-12-11T17:48:00.000-08:00

"I love DIY culture. The point is that you make it because it's what YOU want to hear, what YOU want to see - all the stuff that's missing from the mainstream (and the mass-marketed "indie" flavor-of-the-season). If you can't find it, just... do it yourself."

2002-12-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Kids, one more time:

Sign up to Littlehuman for almost-weekly goodness you don't get here. Including, hopefully very shortly indeed, an announcement about Pop Pop and other things.

2002-12-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

Zap2it point out something about American TV that I've been thinking for ages...

"Nothing ruins a show like being told that we either can't miss or won't believe the last five minutes. Why? Because we spend the first 55 minutes trying to figure out what's going to happen, rather than enjoying the entire hour. Sure, NBC wants those who haven't tuned it yet to check out the show, but is teasing it this way really going to get them to do anything other than flip over momentarily at five 'til? What about those who do watch the show? Don't we rank a little surprise in our life, or does everything have to be spoiled?"

2002-12-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Interesting Grant Morrison interview:

"[Kurt Cobain's] angst was genuine - the packaging was equally genuine but maybe you're right for the first time you noticed it but for the first time they've noticed everyone - you can go and buy Emily Strange Posse notebooks in the arcade there, y'know, and that's End of the World girls who were once outsiders or Goths or people who felt lonely or distant from the culture getting sucked in, embraced, not being allowed to escape anymore, so I think that's just part of what's happening... its just part of what's going on. It might seem bad to people who are obsessed with those kind of divisions - we can't escape the spectacle. If we have to be swallowed we might as well change the digestion."

2002-12-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Superman is celebrating the 800th issue of the comic he was born in:

"[Action Comics] issue #800 will be a standalone story, however, this time out, [writer Joe] Kelly will look back at the makings of Superman, and see what inspired him to be a hero. 'When Eddie and I sat down to talk about it, we decided it should be a nostalgia trip of sorts, as well as filling in the blanks on some of the elements of Superman’s history to see why he made certain choices as he went along, for example, why would he be a reporter?' Kelly said. 'Why Lois and not Lana? How did that relationship play out over the course of time?' The slices of Superman’s fictional life (illustrated by Pascual Ferry and Duncan Rouleau), will be interspersed with slices of Superman’s real life. Really. 'We’re including vignettes from the real world, and how Superman has impacted the real world – our world, real life,' Kelly explained. 'Basically, I wanted to look at, as a character, what he represents – a little bit of the real history of Superman coming into being, first as a comic strip, then a comic, then radio and film. He’s the most recognizable character, short of maybe Mickey Mouse, in the world, so what does that mean? How do people ‘keep’ Superman in their heart?' To do so meant that Kelly had to talk to many different people about what Superman meant to them – although it was easier for him that he first thought it would be. 'When people find out you write Superman, you get a lot of stories, but some people have a real connection to the character, and that’s what really inspired me to put that stuff in,' Kelly said. 'For example, I knew a woman who learned to read because of the Superman comic books – she couldn’t read English, and saw the pictures, and wanted to know what they were all about. To this day, she has a deep fondness in her heart for Superman, because that’s how she learned to read. That kind of impact – how he became so much bigger than a fictional character is what we’re telling in the real world vignettes... We’re looking at many of the different manifestations of Superman – like a father and son bonding over the movie or the character in general, or the Christopher Reeve Superman, and how that inspires people. We’re looking at him through time, and seeing how he inspires people.'”

2002-12-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

2002-12-03T18:23:00.000-08:00

"Where do fairy tale princes and princesses, beasts and beauties go when happily ever after is over? New York City, of course... As our story opens, Rose Red, fairy tale princess turned New York party girl, has gone missing, her abandoned apartment a trashed and bloody mess. Fearing the worst, Red's fraternal twin sister Snow White, deputy Mayor of Fabletown, and Bigby Wolf, its chief constable, are determined to find out who among their fellow exiles is responsible for the gruesome deed... "

2002-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Martha Stewart for cool people. And without the insider dealing.

2002-12-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

"When we've finished this record we'll talk exactly what the record is about... But we're not going to talk about why Graham isn't in the band any more. It really is, from my point of view, a private thing - and we're not going to waste any time and breath talking to the press about what is essentially a private thing."

That didn't stop you going on and on about your break-up with Justine though, did it, Damon?

2002-12-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

Cartoony illustrators I like:

Dave Johnson

Ronnie Del Carmen

Cameron Stewart

Bruce Timm

Philip Bond

2002-12-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

"Hopeless Savages is the story of the union of Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, former punk stars turned adoring, capable parents, and their four take-no-shit-from-anyone kids. When the elders are kidnapped, the kids prove their resourcefulness to get them back in style. It's amusing and surprisingly touching, and all of it works... This is a book you can give a friend who watches the Osbournes, listens to the Jam on vinyl, and plays bass on the weekends. But more than that, it's wildly entertaining, like discovering a great unknown band you can't wait to share with your friends."

"Slim and fast, Kill Your Boyfriend is perfectly teenaged pop perfection, equal parts glam and bang, sex and violence, whimsy and menace. The story is Badlands updated with a fin de sciele dread and excitement: A young girl, knowing where her thoroughly middle-class upbringing is leading her, unites with a young troublemaker. They kill her boyfriend, and roam the English countryside as E-fueled Bonnie-and-Clydes. Fucking and stomping their way through the invalid and pretentious, the content and the fattened, our heroes hurl themselves towards tomorrow with a crisp, raw energy that's simultaneously nostalgic and totally new... As perfect as finding a mix-tape you made on your 17th birthday, and just as vibrant. Read it before you're too old to remember how it's supposed to feel."

"Lowlife is one of those books that walks through the hazy realm of late-teens/early twenties autobiographical fiction. There's too much at play on the page to be merely the work of fiction, the stories are too seared with sadness and rage to not have come from somewhere old but not quite forgotten, but at the same time there's a certain artistry and conceit to the stories told. Brubaker's book would be easy to pigeonhole and dismiss as clichéd nineties Slacker spew if there wasn't such an uncompromising clarity to his stories. We laugh at and flinch at his characters in equal measure, our judgments of them shift and change as they themselves do... These were people I hung out with, lived with, slept with. These people were me once."

2002-12-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

"Madonna just can't do anything to please those Brits. This time it's Elton John leading the charge, attacking the Material Girl's 'Die Another Day' theme song in the press. He told British journalists that the tune is the worst 007 theme in the franchise's history. 'It hasn't got a tune,' Elton John told the Sun. 'James Bond themes are usually very camp and this one's different. It is the worst Bond tune of all time.' He added that the producers 'should have gone for somebody like Lulu and Shirley Bassey, or maybe I'm in that league.' 'Die Another Day' composer David Arnold has also dissed Madonna's foray into the Bond universe. 'Ideally, I would have liked to make some musical sense of her song,' he told London's Sunday Express, 'but I couldn't.'"

2002-12-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Oprah is rich and crazy:

"You don't have to be a close personal friend of Oprah Winfrey to feel her largesse during the holiday season. On the Monday, Nov. 26, episode of 'Oprah', the media mogul shared 'Oprah's Favorite Things,' all the items that she's planning on giving out this holiday season. As an added bonus, each audience member was sent home with a goodie bag full of Oprah's favorite picks, totaling over $2,000 worth of stuff."

See what she got them.

2002-12-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

NME review Pulp's just-in-time-for-Christmas Greatest Hits album:

"Following the huge success of 1995's 'Different Class', Pulp opened the curtains and let the dark in. With their gaudy pop threads eschewed for hushed orchestration and solemn introspection, 1998's 'This is Hardcore' marked the end of their halcyon chart occupation yet, conversely, the beginning of Cocker's most creatively fecund period. The messy electro-grind of the magnificent, Bowie-aping 'Party Hard', the bleak paternal odyssey that is 'A Little Soul': this wasn't hardcore, this was the low (g)rumble of encroaching middle-age and it fitted Pulp like a leatherette glove. Here, 'Sunrise', 'The Trees' (from last year's understated 'We Love Life') and doleful new track 'Last Day of the Miners' Strike' embody Cocker's most recent meditations; thoughtful, intense and 'mature' yet infused with a quiet optimism. Evolution, as Alan Partridge would put it, not revolution."

2002-11-30T11:08:00.000-08:00

This is odd:

The real thing. Well, kind of.

The parody.

The same parody, done by seperate people, a year later.

2002-11-29T09:56:00.000-08:00

"Dear Mr. President,

I am the mother of a son, who is twenty. This intelligent, funny, bear-sized guy, smarter than average due to his father's side, (witty British folk who effectively wiped out the effects of generations of Kentucky inbreeding on my side,) may be drafted for your wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm telling you right now that I didn't endure twenty-four hours of labor, not to mention childhood croup, ear infections, learning disabilities (although we'd never called it that to him), five a.m. hockey practices, parties that resulted in having to re-paint our walls, moments of drug-induced aggression, which was really just knocking over the barbecue on the porch, and moving out and back in again (two times so far), just to have you send our son to war. This is not going to happen to my child, who is a man, and would be ridiculously embarrassed to hear himself called a child. I'll personally form an Underground Railroad to prevent anyone's child from having to endure your wars. Mothers everywhere will equip them with tuna casseroles and Band-Aids, with clean underwear and headphones (respected for having saved many a family member from near death in this household). Mothers know how to fight terrorism. Give us a chance to utilize the power of estrogen, the rage of mid life menopause, the compassion of a woman who has had to clean her son's vomit from under the radiator. We'll solve your conflicts without killing anyone. It's what we do every day.

Sincerely,
Sonya"

2002-11-29T09:54:00.000-08:00

"Old men don't get laid-- they get laughs. At least three times this trip I've watched old men talking to pretty young women. In all cases the men appear to be trying very hard to entertain these women-- trying to make them at least laugh. When they do, the guys get such a look of triumph on their faces. As if they still have some of the old allure still in them, only now it's in their patter rather than their pecker."

2002-11-29T09:41:00.000-08:00

What're wrong with comics? This comic shop owner has an idea:

"'SPIDER-MAN COMICS THAT ARE JUST LIKE THE MOVIE?' Boys, boys don't you realize that comics like that don't exist. Spider-Man comics, like all mainstream comics are continuity dense offerings written for an aging, shrinking 30 plus target market with an entrenched mind-set and a desperate need to cling to what they remember was their youth. But more than that, comics are also sequential art which most times feature avant-garde creators all constantly striving to make their grand 'statement' in graphic storytelling. Creators like Kevin Smith on Spider-Man/Black Cat who writes lines like: 'I'm a woman with father issues who's pushing thirty, crammed into wet leather, and nursing a mean case of PMS'. Ask your dad about pms and wet leather, and for the hell of it ask him about father issues as well. Tell you what boys, take a look at Peter Parker: Spider-Man or Amazing Spider-Man and get submerged in over 40 years of back-story. Marvel (no pun intended) at how talented creators can still make silk purses out of the sows ear of oppressive, unyielding continuity (remember the target market has an entrenched mind set). Did you know Aunt May's attempting to come to terms with the fact her late 20's-something nephew is really Spider-Man (missed that part in the movie didn't you) while Peter is trying to come to terms with the disillusion of his marriage to MJ (hunh?), which right now doesn't even seem to exist. This last bit of news is Marvel's sop to you, the uninitiated fan who could get confused because the comic isn't like the movie... In other words boys, there are no Spider-Man comics like the movie; in fact there are no Spider-Man comics for you at all. You see the comic book industry doesn't have time for the likes of you. We're what would be referred to in other circles as an 'Old Boys Club', which you can join if you jump the hurdles I just mentioned. But to be honest we'd rather you didn't try, you see all our pretensions of 'art' and grandeur are lost to the likes of you. You don't appreciate what its like to have read Spider-Man for over 40 years. We've suffered with heartache you could never understand. Ditko to Romita to the Death of Gwen to the black costume symbiote to McFarland to the Clone saga to bankruptcy to "Chapter One" to the restart to this movie and we don't want you coming in and messing up our little club so GET OUT!"

2002-11-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

"Television viewers in North America this week could have been forgiven if they thought they were dreaming. Amid all the usual commercials for laptops, cars and investment companies was a talking pig exhorting them to buy ... nothing. The pig, along with countless other japes and stunts around the world, is part of today's International Buy Nothing Day. The aim is to persuade people to have a 24-hour 'consumer fast' in order to focus attention on excessive consumption and the inequalities between rich and poor countries. 'We are trying to stir up some debate,' said the day's initiator, Kalle Lasn, of the Vancouver-based Media Foundation, which publishes the counter-cultural magazine Adbusters."

Of course, they're not trying to stir up publicity for their own brand at all, of course... I mean, they could have done the ads anonymously and stirred up debate that way, but what good would that do the sales of their magazine?

I'm so cynical.

2002-11-29T09:32:00.000-08:00

Popbitch could be in big trouble:

"Websites have been warned that the grey area of potentially libellous posts on internet message boards is likely to be tested in court sooner rather than later, after David Beckham took the unusual step of issuing an official denial to internet rumours about his private life."

2002-11-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

The NME Advent Calendar, from Sunday...

2002-11-29T09:27:00.000-08:00

The best thing in the world right now...

2002-11-29T09:25:00.000-08:00

Currently on Barbelith:

Drunken stupidity: "This reminds me of the time a friend of mine was in a stripjoint in Amsterdam and the table next to his was filled by some suits from america who proceeded to unscrew their beer bottles. However they wern't twist offs and the whole table just screammed as their hands were left dripping blood. The way he described it, it sounded like stigmata in a stripjoint."

Human clone to be born in January: "However you feel about the idea of cloning a human being in principle, Antinori's work is indefensible. There is currently no way to screen out all the genetic abnormalities likely to be present in a cloned embryo. If this pregnancy actually exists (and there's no evidence that it does), the infant's chances of survival are slim to none."

Deja Vu: "What if: The second moment; the 'repeated' moment that makes you go "whooaahh - Déjà vu", is actually the first moment that that occurrence occurs - and the first time was the second time?"

2002-11-29T09:16:00.000-08:00

Evan Dorkin on the failure of his TV pilot, "Welcome to Eltingville":

"Anyway, as far as the pilot's failure goes, as I said, we never received an official death notice, no one even really came out and said that it just wasn't happening. It was just implied, and eventually taken as a given, and was then fact. It was really weird, really, it was like a relative had died and no one was allowed to mention her name or what happened."

2002-11-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

Also for non-Americans: Buffy this season is better than it's been for years.

And Giles may be dead.

2002-11-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

Try and tell me you're not jealous, non-Americans:

"Friday, November 29th 8/7pm
It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
Kermit, Miss Piggy and their Muppet friends pay homage to classic holiday films in this first-ever made-for-television Muppet movie! In this tale, Kermit struggles to save the Muppet Theater from a Scroogish bank owner (Joan Cusack). Other appearances include Whoopi Goldberg, David Arquette, Carson Daly, the cast of Scrubs, Joe Rogan and others!"

New muppets. Oh yes.

2002-11-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

Because you need to know this kind of thing:

"Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and other superheroes, filed a lawsuit claiming Marvel Enterprises Inc. (MVL) has embarked on a "shameful scheme" to deprive him of profits from its top-grossing movies and television programs. Mr. Lee, who has spent more than 60 years with Marvel and serves as the comic-book company's Chairman Emeritus, claims Marvel has "trampled upon" his rights - particularly a 1998 agreement that entitles him to share in the profits of productions that use his famously fierce characters." To imagine the importance of this to Marvel Comics, who are rumoured to be up for purchase by Sony, imagine Walt Disney coming back from the dead to sue Disney company for profits on all Mickey Mouse-related movies and products. It's kind of big, and almost as embarrassing as the fact that they're also getting sued by the creator of Captain America for the rights to that character, and by lots of comic retailers in the US for not adhering to their own terms of sale. Basically, Marvel can't do anything without getting sued these days.

***

Meanwhile, there's going to be a new Star Wars cartoon very soon...

***

"Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy are preparing to produce a live action Tintin feature film for Dreamworks and Universal Pictures." Jude Law is a must.

2002-10-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm the only one who is a bit uncomfortable with Courtney Love's recent release and subsequent publishing of Kurt Cobain's private diaries. I sure hope not. Knowing that he personally said "[T]he most violating thing I've felt this year is not the media exaggerations of the catty gossip, but the rape of my personal thoughts..." doesn't make me feel any better about the fact that his "estate" received $2million USD upon publication.

It is possible that I have such an old-fashioned sense of propriety and personal space that I can't see beyond my own horror and shock at the idea of anyone reading my paper journals after I pass this mortal realm. Having kept a personal journal on the net for over two years now, I still believe in the power of the physical written word on a physical piece of paper. Some things are just meant to be kept private and close to the heart, and I firmly conclude that personal journalling on paper has a completely different set of "rules," if you will, than writing online. A journal is defined as "a record of experiences, ideas, or reflections kept regularly for private use." Private.

A paper journal is to record the parts of yourself that you don't want to share with anyone else. I write things down so that I am less inclined to act out on certain thoughts...and the content of those thoughts is my sole responsibility and meant for my contemplation only. Do people feel that they have some level of ownership on Cobain's thoughts purely because he was a public personality? I silently give consent for my words to be read when I post them online, because I am making them available to be read. Where is your paper journal kept? On the kitchen table, or under your mattress? Chances are that Cobain didn't give consent prior to his death concerning the sharing of his most personal reflections. I know I wouldn't. Half of my joy at writing on paper is knowing that it stays between me and the sheets of clean, crisp space until the end of my time. And when that end comes, rest assured, I would trust and hope that my loved ones would respect the privacy and personal space that they had so graciously granted me during my lifetime.

2002-10-27T18:11:00.000-08:00

In case you're wondering, these days I am reading

and listening to

(which is kind of depressingly dull, really)

and

.

I have experienced Reiki massage and am worried about getting deported.

Your turn.

2002-10-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

For those who may have been wondering...

2002-10-12T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is what I saw today:

Little kids carrying "No war on Iraq" signs. Punk rock girls with asymetrical haircuts, studded belts, and pink tutus wearing gas masks. Banners from the Melbourne Gestalt Therapy group, the Greens, and a hundred organizations I cannot currently remember. Middle-aged men shouting, "Bush! Howard! Go to hell!" and a second phrase I couldn't hear. Thousands of signs, blue ink and a blue bird on white, half the sort the little kids were carrying, half saying, "No war for oil." Girls wearing headscarves giggling as they walked next to hippie kids; parents with toddlers on their shoulders; signs reading, "Stop American Imperialism now" and "Revenge isn't sweet."

I stook on the sidewalk on Swanston Street and felt like a jackass, Target bag in one hand, giant Starbucks confection (my splurge for the day) in the other.

I had goosebumps. I was, oddly, trying not to cry. I have no idea how many thousands of people were walking in this anti-war rally, but it was thousands. Many thousands. I wanted to join them, but I felt like a fake, an American girl in an Australian anti-war march. The end of the parade passed and I went on my way up the street in search of a bookshop that turned out to be closing soon, and not open at all on Sunday.

It's not pop culture, I know. But it's culture, and it's fascinating, to me at least, and it made me so pleased, so proud, somehow, to be in a country where this sort of thing happens. It was entirely peaceful; the cops walked past and I noticed they didn't even have guns.

The whole thing just made me not want to go home.

2002-10-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Pop-Pop is dead.

Okay, maybe not. But it may as well be, let's face it; I've barely had a chance to write for the last few weeks, thanks to the new position in the job (and apparently things are going to change there for the even more hectic anytime soon, but that's supposed to be a secret, so shhhh. Don't tell) and the pressures of what we crazy kids call "life" (not to mention the illustrations I still have to do for Paul, littlehuman, and other top secret projects that I can't get into right now). So, here's what I'm proposing: Team Pop-Pop. You see, I like being able to post various pop culture things here on an irregular basis (the more personal things now going to littlehuman, which is now two posts long and apparently liked by all), but the fact that that very irregular basis makes it exceptionally dull for everyone else hasn't escaped my notice... so I want you lot to take things over for me. Kind of. Basically, I want this to become a communal blog, with maybe four or five people posting to it about how they see popular culture and all their own little nooks and crannies come into the world while I sit back, post occasionally and generally act as some strange overlord type. I'm going to be inviting certain people to sign up secretly, but if anyone wants to put their name forward for the job, leave a note in the messageboard... The future, dear friends, could be in your hands.

Oh yes.

2002-10-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

Ridiculously busy and no time to blog these days. But I have to show you this:

This is, I shit you not, the proposed official logo for the US Ministry of Homeland Security. In so many ways, it's horrible, isn't it? An eye looking through a keyhole with an upside down American flag waving in the background. I mean, really... wow.

2002-09-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

It's my lovely wife's birthday. Huzzah for her, I say.

2002-09-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard it yet, here's the unreleased Nirvana song that's been making the rounds lately.

2002-09-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Littlehuman one should be arriving in email boxes around the world soon. Everyone who gets it, tell me; I want to know if it made it everywhere. And everyone who's wondering what I'm talking about, sign up.

2002-09-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

"Variety has reported that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon has been hired to re-write The Amazing Spider-Man, the Spider-sequel due May 2004. Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a novel about the early days of the comic industry in New York." He also wrote the equally amazing Summerland, the new novel that Kate and I are equally enjoying at the moment...

2002-09-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

The British Music Industry is fucked.

"Robbie Williams could 'save the UK music industry' this winter with forthcoming new album 'Escapology', according to industry watchdogs. The industry has been in the doldrums this year with sales down 15% on 2001, something a host of big albums, led by Williams, are expected to put right. 'This year there are major releases from U2, Westlife, Shania Twain and, provisionally, Craig David. But Robbie Williams especially is something people seem to respond to. His new album is a real bonus. It was already looking like being a bumper run-up to Christmas, but now with Robbie it looks like being the biggest ever.'"

2002-09-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Now, it might just be me, but reading this:

"More than 1,000 Scots, aged 16 and over, were interviewed during the System Three poll... 50% said they did not believe that terms such as "Chinky" or "Paki" used in relation to food or shops was racist"

on the same day as reading this:

"And we don't want any poofters (I use that word in culture specific sense which negates its impact as a slur. Here in Glasgow, Scotland living conditions are poor by European and US standards. Even the most cultured of our people are rather coarse and indelicate in speech at times, hence my use of words which may still seem shocking in other global contexts. Please excuse me my lapses into vernacular as you would excuse a wild man from Borneo or a South American shaman chieftain)"

sparks off lots of different thoughts in my head concerning the Scottish national identity and how it differs from other nationalities. Because, in a strange way, I think Grant Morrison (who wrote the second quote as a throwaway comment in the middle of something else) is kind of onto something, as much as he is also being intentionally facetious...

2002-09-22T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sarah Dyer is fucking wonderful. And for some reason, I really love the idea of her new site.

Now all you need is for Kate to put the secret of her gorgeous barbecue chicken pizza online as well...

2002-09-21T14:57:00.000-07:00

The NME want you to use your web connections to the full.

Six songs from the Polyphonic Spree. Paul Weller video and album track. The video for The Vines' new single. The video for The Coral's new single. The video for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's new single. And much much more!

I like free things on this here superinterwebhighway.

2002-09-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

To everyone who wants me to write longer things, or things more like Tears Before Bedtime, email here and sign up to await further news. That goes for anyone who's ever wanted to see what my "artwork" is like, or just wants an occasional mass email from me sometimes.

You know you want to.

2002-09-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

Pop record covers, a guide.

Nice:

Not so nice:

2002-09-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

I get up before the sun does, these days. I shave, and shower, and check email before waking Kate up and quickly having breakfast with her, and then it's running to the early morning bus to get to work so that I can play what's more or less assistant manager for eight and a half hours. I answer all manner of questions and tell people who to call and when, calm them down when they've been shouted at, cheer them on when they do something good, call all the people that I'M supposed to call myself, deal with the managers and higher-ups who want reports and to be told what's going on all the time, and sometimes, just occasionally (twice so far this week), get to have lunch somewhere in the middle of that as well. Then I get the bus home, full of people talking like typewriters and business people loudly organising plans into mobile phones, and get off the bus in time to come in the door and sit down and watch the sunset through the living room blinds.

There's a world in which this is all a good thing, I'm sure. But if you're wondering where I've been this week, that's where.

2002-09-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

Because I always do this, for Dave.

2002-09-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Washed-up pop star (sad, but true) in trying to gain interest for new album with shocking revelation that everyone already knew shocker:

"Cocaine is child's play. After a while, it didn't give me enough of a buzz, so I got into crack. I was a crack addict for ages, I was a smack addict for ages..."

Oh, Brett Brett Brett...

2002-09-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

First day of the new job, which is still technically the old job as I haven't officially been made The Offer yet, but still.

My head is spinning. As in, what the fuck was all of that, spinning. The highpoint of the day was when I was discussing the project we're calling on with my manager and another caller, while a new caller evesdropped in the background; as the three of us talked about the fact that we didn't think we'd get to many people considering it's both a Jewish and Mexican holiday today (Happy Mexican Independence Day, by the way. Who knew?), the new guy suddenly appeared from nowhere: "It's also Sophia Loren's birthday today, and she still looks as good today in her seventies as she did when she was in her thirties!" he said, and then vanished again. We didn't say anything else. There wasn't anything else to say.

2002-09-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

The crazy pop music round-up I've been meaning to do for ages:

The track that was announced for the second Beatles Anthology album then pulled at the last moment is about to be released, finally.

David Bowie releases 23 different Best Ofs at the same time. Just to be odd.

The Stone Roses may be reforming after all.

Same old, same old, basically. Meantime, anyone got any musical talent and looking for a Colonel Tom-style svengali? I have this ridiculous idea that it'd be fun to try out, you see...

2002-09-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my mind’s elsewhere today, with all my friends scattered across the world, from Aberdeen to Glasgow to Edinburgh to London, from Stockholm and elsewhere in Europe to New York, Portland, Huston, Toronto. A friend disappeared from San Francisco earlier this week (Hello Karem, if you’re reading this) and another friend writes and promises photos (hello, Helena), and in the middle of the whole thing, I wonder what autumn feels like in Scotland again. To absent friends, then.

2002-09-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to the Jellyfish boxset and having happy memories. Jellyfish, in their strange sixties-retro-way, were the first band who made me realise just how great and complex pop music could be and still be exciting and easy to sing along with at the same time. And "She dots her 'i's with a smiley face, a work of art in all but taste" is still one of my favourite lyrics ever.