Black Metal is the New Black

The transition of ideas from the underground to the mainstream:

• February 2005 Subterranean Metal primer in The Wire
• May 2006 article in New York Times Magazine on Heavy Metal

The NYT piece bugged me, it seemed more interested in spectacle than music

• July 2006 Ian likes Comets on Fire
• August 2006 Julian Cope writes on the new rock underground in the Guardian and mentions Comets on Fire

Gratz to Ian for beating out Copey

U.S. Dedicates $64 Billion To Undermining Gates Foundation Efforts

The Onion has the news:

"The fight against Gates will not be easy, will not be quick, and will not be without enormous cost," said Director Of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte of the new program, which calls for the creation of a new $20 billion counter-philanthropy unit aimed at punishing those countries that accept or use, directly or indirectly, any financial support from the Gates Foundation.

Arguments in favour of the abolition of the monarchy.

I'm sure this was just an isolated incident.

One hand taketh

On the same day I got my coupon from the Microsoft settlement with California, I got notice of a speeding ticket from our UK vacation. I should have studied more about the Truvelo and Gatso.

Opossum

Last night I saw a possum (technically an opossum) in our back yard. I tried and failed to take a photo of it, so here is a photo I found on the web. It looked quite like this. Wikipedia describes these as opportunistic omnivores, but fortunately a chicken is too big for them. Amy said it looked like a giant rat, which is a good description.

Barbie Girl

I must not waste time watching YouTube
I must not waste time watching YouTube
I must not waste time watching YouTube
I must not waste time watching YouTube

I like to hear stories

It is good to hear stories about other people's lives. Here are some recent stories I liked:

• Stephanie and William have been to Vietnam, from where they hope to adopt a child.
• What would it be like to have both parents be blind?
• How do you help someone to kill themselves?

James Brown

You know how it’s a waste of time when music magazines sometimes send another famous person to interview a star? You know how Rolling Stone magazine is a waste of good trees? Well sometimes it all works fabulously. Here is a Rolling Stone article by Jonathan Lethem about James Brown.

Kid's TV

One of the great things about the availability of so much old TV on DVD at Netflix is that I can make the child watch the same TV that I used to watch. My plans to enforce an artistically enlightening program of BBC classics has however been thwarted by reality. Despite the availability of a Road Runner DVD, Grace has been choosing to watch H.R. Pufnstuf instead. I did watch this a few times as a kid, but now the best thing about this show is the theme song. Everything else is pretty bad. The creators of H.R. Pufnstuf went on to produce The Bugaloos who were the subject of an entertaining feature in this week’s NYT. Phil Collins auditioned to be in the ‘band’, but was sadly rejected. Road Runner on the other hand is even better now. Its timeless classicism and simplicity make it endlessly watchable. The wikipedia entry is just as impressively detailed as one would hope, including a detailed list of all the Mock Latin names given to Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote at the start of every episode.