Tear It Down

I had the distinct pleasure of once again seeing one of my favorite bands take to the stage and deliver a raucous set that proved rather definitively that they're one of the best live bands going.

Old Crow Medicine Show made its fourth stop to Little Rock and first at the 600 seat Revolution Room which was packed to the gills with Fat Tuesday revelers, new fans that have become acquainted with the band through its appearances on CMT and other television outlets, and old fans who discovered the band busking on the street or in the pages of the Oxford American magazine.

For the uninitiated, Old Crow Medicine Show play Country Music. But they don't play the slick, polished pop/rock with a twang that passes for country today. They don't even play what you might call "classic country." No, these guys would've been called "old-timey" by Hank Sr. OCMS' passion is for the itenerant country, folk, and blues "string" and "jug" bands that traveled the American backroads prior to the Great Depression, before even radio was a reliable avenue for popularizing music. Clearly, these guys live and die for this music, but instead of the staid reverence of most folk music societies, OCMS attack the songs with a ferocity akin to punk rock, reinvigorating them with the eternal energy of truly timeless music.

Old Crow Medicine Show has released five albums (and a few EPs) since the 2000 release of its first independent cd, "Greetings From Wawa." For my money, you can't get a finer introduction to the group than its second full-length release, "Eutaw," and the concert recording "Live," both released independently in 2001 and 2003, repectively, before the group hit the big time. These cds are not available in stores, but can be purchased through the band's website or at shows. But a love for these early releases should not imply a slight to OCMS' major label releases: "O.C.M.S." (2004) and "Big Iron World" (2006), both of which would make fine additions to your music library and are readily available where ever music is sold. You can hear a few songs at the band's myspace page, as well.

www.crowmedicine.com
www.myspace.com/oldcrowmedicineshow

"Suffer the little children"

The Catholic Church in Britain, much like its counterpart in Massachusetts, is moving to scuttle its adoption services rather than to offer those services to gay and lesbian couples wishing to adopt a child, as a provision of a new anti-discrimination law in the UK would require.

From the Guardian:

Cabinet sources said the new proposals would require Catholic adoption agencies to consider gay couples - or close down - after a reasonable delay that would allow them to ensure that the children in their care are properly dealt with.

This means the Catholic Church, as a world-wide body, apparently, think it is more important to discriminate against gays than it is fulfill Jesus' own command to care for orphans. Let me restate this: It is more important to the Catholic Church to break the Christ's command to not judge than it is to keep his command to care for "the least of these."

When Jesus told us to "suffer the little children," I don't think he literally wanted us to make children suffer.

Love God's Way

This is THE viral video of the day, and dammit, I'm not gonna be the only queer blogger not to post about it. The question is, however, have ANY straight or christian blogs written about it?

"The Bible Says" is either Sasha Baron Cohen level satire or one of the most hateful set of words set to a lite-FM beat. I'm voting for comedy. Well, satire, anyway. It's comedy in either sense, even if Rev. Davies is playing it, er, "straight" and not just with a straight face.

It's possible some straights have picked up on it. His myspace friends are comprised of an alarming nubmer of christian rock bands (who are either much cooler or much more homophobic that I thought). The funniest part of his site is the list of Gay Bands, or bands that will make you gay if you listen to them. Funniest entries include: Sufjan Stevens, Ghost Face Killah, Jay-Z, Eminmen (sic), and Metallica. (Another clue that Rev. Davies may be in on the joke, he has apparently been reading the blogs all day and adding "gay" bands to his list as they are recommended in the comments sections of various blogs who are reporting on his video.) The equally laughable "Safe Bands" list includes the HRC/GLAAD performer of the year, Cyndi Lauper.

Watch the video. Laugh. Cry. Rant in the comments.

The Bible Says

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Can't wait for the iPhone?... this will have to do for now

Just print, cut, and fold.

I wonder if I can fit my Treo inside?

It also sets me to wondering how many of its features will appear on the 6th gen iPod:

• Multi-touch widescreed is to be assumed.


• As is the automatically re-orienting, light adjusting screen?


• Will the proximity detector shut off the screen when you put it in your pocket? How about when you put it in an iSkin?


• 120 gig capacity is a pretty safe bet (HD manufacturer is already leaking rumors).


• Will the accelerometer lock down the harddrive while exercising?


• Will it feature the "Home" button and multi-app, customizable desktop?


• Will it run OSX? Widgets? office apps? eBooks (iBooks)?


• How much HD capacity will the OS take up?


• Bluetooth is a given (along with bluetooth headphones, remote, etc.), but will it also have wi-fi?


• If so, will it run Safari? Check email (push or otherwise)? iChat or other messaging? YouTube?


• Will it allow sharing songs/photos like the Zune? (the iPhone does not)


• Will it sync wirelessly with iTunes? Airport? appleTV? (the iPhone does not)


• Will it access the iTunes Store and allow for instant purchases downloaded directly to the iPod? (the iPhone does not)


• How many unsupported features will they add by firmware/software updates before making everyone buy a new iPod?


• Will it have a camera?


• Will it squeeze all that into a casing that's less than 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.5 inches?


• Will it have the aluminum/polymer casing like the nano/shuffle/iPhone? (it would have to if it supports wireless features)


• Will you be able to disable that stupid "cover flow"?


• Will its new version of iTunes support dvd ripping? divx?


• Will the next nano be multi-touch and bluetooth? Will the shuffle get bluetooth?


• Will it drive your car? Fly a plane? Walk your dog? Make you breakfast?

Do I ask for too much?

Simon Cowell thinks Kelly Clarkson is more talented than Bob Dylan

I'd be angry if it weren't so absurd it was funny, American Idol Asshat Simon Cowell (ironically, the only judge whose opinion I have hitherto respected) said in an interview with Playboy Magazine that Bob Dylan is dull and less talented than American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson.

"Do I prefer Kelly Clarkson's music to Bob Dylan's? Yes. I've never bought a Dylan record. A singing poet? It just bores me to tears," Cowell tells February's Playboy, [according to the New York Post. The acerbic "American Idol" judge adds: "I've got to tell you, if I had 10 Dylans in the final of 'American Idol,' we would not be getting 30 million viewers a week. I don't believe the Bob Dylans of this world would make 'American Idol' a better show."

Somehow I think the world is more of a better place for Dylan's words and music than it is for American Idol. Still... I wish this quote had been publicized a few months ago, if for no other reason than to see scads of people on the AI auditions covering Dylan just to piss Cowell off. I wouldn't be surprised (and even would like) to see a Dylan themed program as part of American Idol in the future... except that it's more likely than not that Dylan wouldn't participate. But, then, Zimmy did shoot a Victoria's Secret commercial a while back. So anything is clearly possible. I at least expect one or two of the hipper, smarter, more contrarian contestants to select a Dylan cut, especially if they really want to play up a rivalry with Simon to win sympathy from the crowd. But, I suspect the crowd really won't get Dylan either.

The funniest coincidence out of all of this is Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" randomly played through my iTunes just as I started reading the story. How sychronistastical.

Nerdgasm

Gnyahhhh. Pfffffft. Haaaaaaa!

It's the iPhone.

I'm speechless. No, I am beyond speechless. I can't make intelligible sound. I am the anti-buddha I am so consumed with desire.

Over the last month I've been considering upgrading my Treo. No more. I'll hold out five months till the iPhone rolls out. I also can't wait to see how the innovations on this bad boy translate to the next generation iPod.

From Towleroad:

It's a widescreen iPod, mobile phone, and "internet communicator" all in one using a touchscreen navigation. Only one button, the home button. Thinner than any smartphone. Comes with full-featured internet browser, integrated Google search and maps, free Yahoo push IMAP email (like BlackBerry), runs OSX, widgets. Shipping in June in $499 and $599 models, exclusively with Cingular.

Thankfully, I'm already a Cingular customer. Hopefully, websurfing, checking email, chat/messaging, etc., will be specially packaged so as not to run into exorbitant fees or evaporate monthly minutes.

Everything synchs through iTunes, just like an iPod... hopefully apps will be available to synchronize data from outlook adderess books, calendars, etc., too. I suspect it already exists, I just don't know how to use it.

I start saving my cash today. Hopefully I can knock back $150 a month before this thing hits stores. Maybe I'll take up a collection. Or I can tell everyone to just chip in towards the cost when my birthday rolls around in March.

My Favorite Movie Picks of 2006

As an addendum to yesterday's post recording the Manny Perry Movie Club's year end movie poll, I offer today my own individual ballot as well as a recap of the movies I'm still feeling as we begin a new year

My Year-End Top Movie List (gut reaction scores)
1. Brokeback Mountain (9)
2. Match Point (8)
3. V For Vendetta (8)
4. The Departed (8)
5. Blood Diamond (8)
6. The Squid & The Whale (7.5)
7. Transamerica (7.5)
8. Akeelah & The Bee (7.5)
9. Tsotsi (7.5)
10. Water (7.5)
11. The Prestige (7.5)
12. Casino Royale (7.5)

My Year End Top Movie List (reflected rankings, including non-movie club selections(*), listed alphabetically)
Apocalypto* Masochistically violent, possibly racist, but in many ways unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan*
Probably the funniest movie I’ve seen in many years. I think it’s the kind of comedy Andy Kauffman envisioned 30 years ago.

Brokeback Mountain (9)
One of the few adaptations from a book that preserves the literary qualities of the source material.

Casino Royale (7.5)
Bond’s reboot finally gives the franchise the post-Cold War perspective it’s been struggling to find for over a decade, oddly enough, by going back to the hero’s origin from the hottest period of the Cold War.

The Departed (8)
Leonardo DiCapprio is now officially off my “I Hate Leonardo DiCapprio List.” Taken along with Blood Diamond, the man has turned in some stellar work this year. Scorcese not only delivered his best film since Goodfellas, but may have topped that definitive critical and commercial work.

Dreamgirls*
Though I’d only objectively rank it an 8 if it were a movie club selection (as it may very well be this week), subjectively, it is hands-down my favorite movie of 2006. The songs work. The actors work. The chemistry on screen is tangible. Dreamgirls delivers old-school, hardcore movie musical magic.

The Heart Of The Game (7)
Inspirational sports documentaries are nothing new, but few offer such a unique perspective on the importance of girls in sports, or tell their stories with as much (forgive the pun) heart.

Munich (7)
A grim, riveting film about the politics of retribution and mutually-assured destruction. "An eye for an eye leaves all the world blind."

The Queen (7)
A landmark performance for Helen Miren. Her sensitive, emotionally restrained, but insightful performance as one of the most unscrutable persons on the planet is truly Oscar-worthy.

The Squid & The Whale (7.5)
A highly personal tale that any child of divorce should find a piece of themselves in.

Tsotsi (7.5)
Africa’s struggle to cope with entering the modern era has inspired a wave of films (Tsotsi, Blood Diamond, and Catch A Fire, all opening this year) and shown a spotlight on the personal struggles that have inspired a political movement.

V For Vendetta (8)
An action film in the vein of Blade Runner and Alien that presents a dystopian future as a metaphor current political and social problems. V for Vendetta may wear its message too much on its sleeve to attain the status of the previous films, but it certainly proves the Waschowski Brothers have not squandered their talent after The Matrix.

Water (7.5)
Women have typically gotten the short-shrift in film, either as the subject or the maker. Water deftly gives a perspective to Western outsiders and illuminates the harsh injustice for women in arranged marriages by framing the entire narrative from the point of view a child.

Movies I haven’t seen yet, but I’ve heard really good things about and hope to see soon:
Half Nelson
Pan’s Labyrinth
Volver
Children of Men

Disappointments:
Little Miss Sunshine. This movie got the best reviews of nearly any film this year. And, while I found it enjoyable, it honestly failed to make any impression on me that lasted beyond the movie theater parking lot. It is a prime example of when critical praise is more hype than substance.

The Science of Sleep. This film could easily also be on my best of the year list, but ultimately, despite the fact I really enjoyed it, I think it falls short. I appreciate the fact that Michel Gondry left the film unresolved in many aspects. The structure of the film appropriately reflected Stephane’s deteriorating mental state, but the screenplay would have benefited from collaboration with Charlie Kauffman, who is not only a master of incorporating Jungian and Freudian concepts and images to illuminate the characters’ conflicts of the conscious and the subconscious mind, the id and the ego, and their often conflicting personal motivations and desires, but he also creates an emotional resonance within each character and scripts them as seemingly realized persons beyond just their quirks. Gondry, it seems, only gives you an impression of most of the characters. My defense after the seeing the film, and still is, if the film is from the point of view of Stephane, and all he knows of his neighbors and associates is his impressions, imaginings, and preconceived notions, then perhaps the characters are appropriately realized. Unfortunately, even Stephane is not even completely realized, so, at the end of the film, the audience doesn’t fully understand his motivation, confused as it may be.

New year, new diet

In this, the first week of January, I, and millions like me, face the new year with a grim determination to lose 20 pounds by the time the apartment complex pool opens in May. To help all of us in that task, the knowledgable folks at www.wisegeek.com have created an entry called "What 200 Calories Looks Like." The entry features photos of various foodstuffs (What!?! no Chips Ahoy!?!) in a 200 calorie portion that hopefully will help us all make wiser choices as we try to cut calories in the New Year.

Manny Perry is not in any of these movies (I think).

It's the end of the year, so those of us in the Manny Perry Movie Club assembled for an evening of wine and food to enjoy each other's company and reminisce over the 47 movies we'd watched the previous year, both good and bad. We came up with two "best" lists: a list of our ten favorite movies after reflecting over the whole year, and another of how we ranked the movies we saw by our gut reactions just after seeing them. I'll post both lists and let you all ponder both the similarities and differences between the two lists. Tomorrow, I'll post my personal lists.

Manny Perry Movie Club Year-End Favorites:
1. Water
2. The Departed
3. The Heart Of The Game
4. Little Miss Sunshine
5. Blood Diamond
6. Brokeback Mountain
7. Munich
8. The Squid & The Whale
9. An Inconvenient Truth
The Queen
Thank You For Smoking
10. Casino Royale
Transamerica
The Next Five:
11. Akeelah & The Bee
Syriana
V For Vendetta
12. Wordplay
13. Match Point
14. This Film Is Not Yet Rated
15. The Prestige

Manny Perry Gut Reaction Favorites:
1. 8.58 The Heart Of The Game
2. 8.50 Akeelah & The Bee
8.50 The Departed
3. 8.36 Blood Diamond
4. 8.30 Wordplay
5. 8.25 The Squid & The Whale
6. 7.86 Syriana
7.86 Brokeback Mountain
7.86 V For Vendetta
7. 7.80 Why We Fight
8. 7.75 Little Miss Sunshine
9. 7.71 Water
7.71 Hollywoodland
10. 7.67 Thank You For Smoking
The Next Five:
11. 7.57 Transamerica
12. 7.50 The Illusionist
13. 7.36 Casino Royale
14. 7.25 Cars
15. 7.21 This Film Is Not Yet Rated

All in all, it's been a really good year for going to the movies. If there's anything on these lists you haven't seen, you really owe it to yourself to check out at least some of them in the theater or on dvd. All of them offer a lot of entertainment and not a little intellectual stimulus.

Gawker vs. NYT: Questions to ask before you get married

For many days of the last week, the most popular item at the New York Times website, as evidinced by the number of people emailing the item to their friends, is the following list of questions one should ask their significant other before making a public and permanent committment to each other.

Questions Couples Should Ask (Or Wish They Had) Before Marrying
NY Times, December 17, 2006
Relationship experts report that too many couples fail to ask each other critical questions before marrying. Here are a few key ones that couples should consider asking:
1) Have we discussed whether or not to have children, and if the answer is yes, who is going to be the primary care giver?
2) Do we have a clear idea of each other’s financial obligations and goals, and do our ideas about spending and saving mesh?
3) Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores?
4) Have we fully disclosed our health histories, both physical and mental?
5) Is my partner affectionate to the degree that I expect?
6) Can we comfortably and openly discuss our sexual needs, preferences and fears?
7) Will there be a television in the bedroom?
8) Do we truly listen to each other and fairly consider one another’s ideas and complaints?
9) Have we reached a clear understanding of each other’s spiritual beliefs and needs, and have we discussed when and how our children will be exposed to religious/moral education?
10) Do we like and respect each other’s friends?
11) Do we value and respect each other’s parents, and is either of us concerned about whether the parents will interfere with the relationship?
12) What does my family do that annoys you?
13) Are there some things that you and I are NOT prepared to give up in the marriage?
14) If one of us were to be offered a career opportunity in a location far from the other’s family, are we prepared to move?
15) Does each of us feel fully confident in the other’s commitment to the marriage and believe that the bond can survive whatever challenges we may face?

Gawker rightly called bullshit, saying the questions "were so boring, that we despaired of ever getting married if we were forced to ask them of anyone," and suggested the following list of questions that might be more applicable to most couples considering cohabitation:

Before You Get Married, Make Sure He Doesn't Have Herpes or a Coke Problem
Gawker, December 21, 2006
1) If we get pregnant, is it because one of us didn't wear a rubber or because you forgot to take the pill?
2) How much does your trust fund pay out quarterly?
3) Did you get the Heineken and Pop Tarts like I said, bitch?
4) Do you have herpes or paranoid schizophrenia or something?
5) Why don't you go down on me?
6) Are you absolutely sure you're not gay?
7) Where should I put my porn in the bedroom?
8) Do you ever shut up?
9) When I'm bored of sex (with you), you're not going to make me go to therapy or AA or anything, are you?
10) Are your friends hot?
11) How much cash would your parents give us if we had kids?
12) Is your mom crazy or a drunk?
13) Are you just a cokewhore?
14) If I go to Thailand for a month, will you just not ask me any questions?
15) Is that prenup still valid?

The Democratic Agenda

Courtesy of The Right Was Right:

Now that the election is behind us, and the Democrats control one or possibly both houses of Congress, there's no reason not to admit it: the Right was right about us all along. Here is our 25-point manifesto for the new Congress:

1. Mandatory homosexuality

2. Drug-filled condoms in schools

3. Introduce the new Destruction of Marriage Act

4. Border fence replaced with free shuttle buses

5. Osama Bin Laden to be Secretary of State

6. Withdraw from Iraq, apologize, reinstate Hussein

7. English language banned from all Federal buildings

8. Math classes replaced by encounter groups

9. All taxes to be tripled

10. All fortunes over $250,000 to be confiscated

11. On-demand welfare

12. Tofurkey to be named official Thanksgiving dish

13. Freeways to be removed, replaced with light rail systems

14. Pledge of Allegiance in schools replaced with morning flag-burning

15. Stem cells allowed to be harvested from any child under the age of 8

16. Comatose people to be ground up and fed to poor

17. Quarterly mandatory abortion lottery

18. God to be mocked roundly

19. Dissolve Executive Branch: reassign responsibilities to UN

20. Jane Fonda to be appointed Secretary of Appeasement

21. Outlaw all firearms: previous owners assigned to anger management therapy

22. Texas returned to Mexico

23. Ban Christmas: replace with Celebrate our Monkey Ancestors Day

24. Carter added to Mount Rushmore

25. Modify USA's motto to "Land of the French and the home of the brave"

More thoughts on Democratic victory, Ted Haggard, etc., when I get a chance to write it all down.

Art Party

The exhibit of my photos at Mediums Gallery in Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood opened last night with a reception at the gallery. I could not have asked for a better event. I don't know if anything sold last night, but a flood of friends and family turned out to see the exhibit, and everyone had very positive things to say. I loved seeing all the pieces up on the wall, hearing how everyone responded to the work, and noting which works were the crowd favorites. The music was spot-on and created the perfect mood. The wine flowed. All in all, it was a tremendously affirming and rewarding experience.

Thanks, Jimmy, for catching the vision of my work and encouraging me to fully express it on your walls. And thanks again to all the loved ones who came out to see the work (this means you: Eric, Brooke, and Brooke's mom and brothers; Keith and Mark; Randy, Gary, Sheryl, and Gary's art teacher; Diane and Kirk, Kevin, Michael, Rusty and Pepper; Bill, Brian, Kae, Tim, Jacob and your smart new girlfriend; Micah; and Adrian).

I Voted

I voted early for the first time today. It was a superior voting experience. There is a paper register in the machines and the attendants even verified and updated my voter registration address. If you are eligible to vote, I recommend taking advantage of the early voting system.

I held my nose and voted for Beebe for governor. I wanted to vote for Bryan or Lendall, but I could just see A$A! winning with a margin that was less than the vote for the third party candidates. I voted Mason for mayor, for the unopposed candidates, for the bond issue for higher education, against the charitable bingo amendment, and a straight Democratic ticket otherwise.

I just spent $80 to watch frickin' Project: Runway

My neighbors up the hall are moving into a new house. They gave me their old TV stand because they didn't want to move it and my TV was sitting on the floor. Since I was only moving my TV about a foot up (and a couple of inches to the right), I didn't think I needed to unplug it or anything. But when I situated it upon the shelf, the coaxial cable went taut and the jack to connect the cable to the TV snapped right off.

Not a big problem, I thought. I'll just plug the cable up to my old disused VCR and then run it through the RCA inputs and use it as a tuner. I get everything connected and discover that less than half of the channels are showing. It turns out, the VCR thinks I'm receiving the signal from an antennae and isn't set to autoprogram. I pick up the VCR remote and it's broken.

Only momentarily deterred, I get the TV's universal remote and the remote's instruction booklet and program it for my VCR. Once set up, all the buttons don't match the features. For instance, I can't get the tape timer to not display on the screen.

Now, I'm driving to Best Buy for a new universal remote. $13 later, I'm driving back home with a more richly featured remote. Now the buttons all appear to match. However, like the previous remote, the select up and down arrow buttons work fine. But the select left and right buttons, no matter how I rigorously I program the remote or how closely I follow the instructions, will only turn up or down the volume on the television. I still can't get the get the VCR to switch to cable or autosearch the channels. At this point, I see two choices: buy a new TV or buy a new VCR.

Cut to 24 hours later, I'm at Target, perusing their "selection" of new VCRs which totals exactly one. There are several VCR/DVD combo models, but only one solely VCR model. Fortunately, it's a decent four-head, hi-fi, auto-searching, easy to set up model. Unfortunately, it's $60. The cheapest DVD player is $27. There are two additional models priced between that and the VCR. Since when does a VCR cost twice as much as a DVD player?

Oh well. Faced with the choice of either spending $60 (plus tax) or not watching television, I pull out the Visa and mortgage a small part of my future for the pleasure. Once at home, five minutes out of the box everything is up and running again perfectly just in time to see the finale of Project: Runway (congratulations, Jeffrey).

The credit card has been seeing a lot of action lately, what with getting prints and framing for the show at Mediums and the occasional monetary shortfall. Fortunately, I'll have a bit of extra cash come mid-November when I get my first paycheck from Heifer on top of the cash value of my unused vacation time at Philander, so I'll be able to make a substantially more than minimym payment to the credit card company. Cash will be tight for a few weeks, but things are looking up already.

Republican or Democrat for Arkansas Governor in 2006? Does it make much of a difference?

Is it just me or does every attack ad A$a! runs on Mike Beebe make Beebe sound like a better and better candidate? By A$a!'s reasoning, a vote for Beebe is a vote for a Democratic wonderland.

In spite of the promised liberal utopia that will surely bloom within Arkansas' borders should Beebe ascend to the State Capitol come November, I'm still supporting the independent underdog candidacy of Rod Bryan, if for no other reason than to influence the issues for the major party candidates. Of course, the major party candidates are doing everything they can to hold the issues under their own influence, notably by refusing to allow independent candidates to participate in the official debates and public forums.

The latest polls have Rod showing at 3 to 4 percent, twice the support of the more established Green Party Candidate, Jim Lendall. While his entire level support is arguably within the margin for error in these polls, 3 to 4 percent is still a substantial showing for a guy who runs a record store and works in a bakery. His supporters represent voters that the candidate for neither of the major parties are speaking to or speaking for.

In 2004, the presidential election was decided by less than 1 percent of the electorate. In a hotly contested race, why are A$a! and Beebe willing to concede nearly 5 percent of the vote? Why do they give the third party candidate a platform by excluding him from the debate? Wouldn't the more sensible idea be for one candidate to parrot his talking points, or the other to debunk his platform, thereby defusing his candidacy? Hell, even letting him sit down at the grown up's table for the debates gives the other guys a chance to expose him as an amateur Mr. Smith Frank Kapra wannabe. Strangely, by snubbing him, A$a! and Beebe are actually giving Rod credibility. His ideas have to be pushed aside, ignored, unacknowledged (with allegations that they have intimidated media outlets from covering the Bryan campaign by threatening to withhold access to outlets who do cover third parties), lest they gain some credence with the electorate and threaten to force the local candidates off the national talking points.

I don't know if Rod Bryan is the right man to be our next governor. But I do know in our representative democracy he has a right to challenge the establishment. And I believe the other candidates have a responsibility to conduct a fair and open campaign that wins voters by their stand on the issues rather than using political bullying to exclude the underdog. I hope Rod continues his political career. I hope he lectures colleges and high schools about his run for governor and the citizen's duty to hold our representatives responsible for the actions they undertake in our name. I hope he runs for the state Legislature in 2008. I hope he continues to be a stalking horse for the Governor's office. And I hope one day, by his example, our elected officials are more responsive to the people responsible for placing them into office.

The Big News

I am finally free of the insane asylum. I was offered a job Wednesday at Heifer Foundation, so on Thursday I put in my two weeks notice at Philander. The new job gives me a ten percent raise in salary to start. Plus excellent benefits. Plus a work environment that isn't passively-aggressively hostile. Plus, I'll be working for an institution who's sole purpose is eliminating hunger and poverty. I don't know if you're religious, but I, for one, am thanking God for this amazing opportunity.

Mute Math, etc.

Charlie James first told me about the band Mute Math back in the spring. Since then, I've read bits and pieces, heard some snippets here and there, and finally got the chance to see them Tuesday night. They played a hella tight show, great dynamics, lots of energy, great interpretation of their music from the studio to the stage. Definitely a band to check out if you want to see how the younger generation is interpreting U2, The Police, Radiohead, etc.

Jonzetta and Shiny Toy Guns opened the show. Jonezetta knows how to rock. STG kind of sucked. But the photos came out good.

Jonzetta


Shiny Tony Guns

Achtung, Baby!

See you there.

Be alert. The world needs more lerts.

Brittney says I'm not blogging enough. She's right. Chalk it up to no time and nothing interesting to say.

Anyway, I've been moderately encouraged this week by the release of the National Intelligence Estimate that emperically demonstrates how W. has increased rather than decreased the threat from terrorists during his time in office and Democrats finally growing a set of balls in the wake of Pres. Bill Clinton's on-air schooling of Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Since republicans clearly need educating on how to prosecute a global initiative to promote justice, I thought we'd send them all the way back to pre-school. So, courtesy or geekandproud.net, here's the R's asinine "terror alert level" indicator as filtered through our friends on Sesame Street.



UPDATE: After a little consideration: I'm a little disappointed that Kermit The Frog isn't the Green indicator (It's not easy being green, after all) or that Big Bird isn't the Yellow indicator (Bert and Ernie should rightly share a color as they share an apartment). But, given that I'm not creative/motivated enough to come up with the chart myself, I don't have a lot of room to quibble.

Go Green

Buddy Rawls, entrepreneurial environmentalist and my upstairs neighbor, told me on the elevator ride to the first floor of our apartment building this morning that he is beginning a new venture to offer environmentally friendlier biofuels to the general public, perhaps as soon as Labor Day Weekend.

He is taking over the closed Brownlow's Service Station at 8th and Chester streets downtown (with ultra convenient Interstate 630 access) and will offer E10 ethanol for use in all vehicles as well as "Willie Nelson's" bio-diesel blend made primarily from soybean oil for diesel powered vehicles.

Buddy says the price-per-gallon will be at least competitive with regular gasoline, and perhaps cheaper since gasoline is expected to surge to over four dollars a gallon with continuing conflict in the Middle East and the shut down of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaksa due to corrosion and leaking along its pipeline.

There is a slight trade-off in miles per gallon when using bio fules, since ethanol doesn't burn with quite the same energy intensity as gasoline. But, in my opinion, that is a small price to pay when considering the benefits of eliminating one's emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants to the atmosphere.

The opening of this station is extremely good news for the Little Rock community. I am optimistic that demand at this station will be extremely high once it is open and people become aware of its existence. Rest assured you will hear more about it from me in the future.