Ghey!

Russia agrees to shut down allofmp3.com.

This is just more whack-a-mole.
Because the business model will work anywhere that doesn't give a shit about copywrite.

I give it a couple of months before an allofmp3 analog is up and running somewhere in Asia.

I <3 Teh Internets

There's this movie Ivan and I are excited about, Pathfinder, which Ivan linked a while back. Vikings in prehistoric America...what's not to love right?

Well, while poking around IMDB for a release date I found an overly sensitive type in the comments who was upset about percieved Viking stereotyping:

well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human. i mean they were real people too, but i will admit that in thier pagine years they were quite brutal. anyway i'm just rambling, but i do wish that they would put the vikings in better light like in the 13th warrior

Which gave us a laff.
But of course, this being the internet, any post of such dubious merit sows the seeds of its own humiliation, which came in the form of this reply:

well my ancestors were Vikings and i was a little affended by the trailer, not terribly much, but i dont think that they should have portrayed them as ten foot monsters that have no feelings and are bearly human."

Ah. You're Swedish.
Those of us that are descended from Norweigens and Danes actually ARE ten feet tall and more animal than man.
Sorry about your luck, Olaf.

Pardon me while I wipe away a tear to better appreciate the beauty of teh internet.

iPod Treats

All hail the iPod Lounge 2007 Buyer's Guide.

They separate the wheat from the chaff so I don't have to.

another cover blurb

It's nice to be informed that Four Walls by Vangelis Hatziyannidis is "probably the most atmospheric Greek novel of this year".

Stuff like this sticks in my head.
A lifetime's accumulation of these basically meaningless tidbits can create an illusion of depth, when it's really just knowing very little about a tremendously broad range of subjects.

Inevitably I'll find myself in a conversation where knowing that Four Walls is a Greek novel of some repute will dazzle my companion. It happens all the time.


/edit
as if on cue, in the very next stack of books The Economist informs me that Elif Shafak is "well set to challange Mr Pamuk as Turkey's formost contemporary novelist" on the strength of his novel The Gaze.

serendipity

Did a quality scan of Thirsty? Los Angeles: the lowdown on where the real people drink!

The first page I opened to was a review of Mister T's Bowl & Gutter Cafe, where I spent a fine evening with Bobo & Pelf.

A+!

Also, it gives the URL for Mr T's website, which I could not find with Google after our visit whetted my thirst for knowledge.
Extra credit!

more books

I'm pricing a big pile of stuff today, so you'll be getting a lot of observational book posts. Deal.

Promotional cover blurb for the mystery Moonblind:

Moonblind opens a reader's eyes- to relationships, to the complicated inner life of a woman in transition, to the role of four-legged creatures in our lives.

Even if I had an appetite for these gimmicky 'pet' mysteries, that treacle would put me off the genre until the end of time.

You learn something new every day

Ralf Konig, for instance, is "Europe's most popular gay cartoonist", according to cover banner of his book Roy & Al, which features an illustration of a fat gray dog sniffing a small white dog's ass.

They obviously set the bar pretty darn high on the other side of the pond...

Found

written on the title page of the Cliffs Notes on Shakespeare's MacBeth in a rounded, girlish script redolent of bubble gum and cherry lip gloss:

It's raining outside
cold, wet
inflicting sarrow
thoughts, laghter
puddles. Want, it will
dry soon, yet
too soon
too soon to stop
feeling. feeling
everything

Ah, youth....

the problem with egg nog lattes

you go back to work and find the coffee from the joint next door seriously underwhelming.

It looks like you get the last laugh after all, dear readers.

Thanksgiving report

two words:

EGGNOG LATTE.

read 'em and weep, my bichs.

disorienting

Eschaton is one of my favorite political blogs and it was more than a little disorienting to check it today and run across not one but two youtube posts featuring cats that lived in town and worked at the record store next door.

The wife loves M Ward's wife, so I will reserve my snark lest it get back to her via the Palm underground telephone.

But Adam from Norfolk is a zero with the edges removed, as the saying goes.
You'd better keep that hat on, ya balding poseur. I like how he's carefully arranged his bangs to make it seem like he's got a thick, luxurious mane...

Oh hey, I see Tony in the Norfolk video, it looks like he's playing keyboards.
So that makes THREE former downtown types on Eschaton today...damn!

True story:
when Tony worked at the theater he was so goddamn skinny that me n' the wife were going to write a children's book called Ten Pounds for Tony. The plot revolved around a group of children who went around trying to collect pounds for Tony so he wouldn't blow away in an impending windstorm.

true story 2:
M Ward asked our pal James, who we visited in Bowling Green, Ohio a bit ago, to be his Australian tour manager one summer a while back, but James had to decline as he was getting married to our other pal Courtney.

Small town drama at its best!

Thanksgiving Round Up

We're boycotting the usual uncomfortable family shenanigans this year and having a low-key get together with the bro n' sis-in-law and our wonderful niece, watching the parade and having brunch.

On the menu:
smoked meats from our local purveyor of carnivorous delicacies.
apple pancakes (courtesy of moi)
cranberry pecan bread (courtesy of the wife)
espresso drinks (courtesy of the bro in law)
and either homemade egg nog or mulled cider, I'm not sure which yet.

What are y'all doing?

random holiday related links:
drawings of turkeys by Penn State undergrads for an exam.
Cranberries are good for you!
we took it, now it's ours!
On the comic tip
the obligatory Wiki link
Turkey pardons Turkey

TEH FUNNY CATS

Hey Adrian, his reminded me of that time Tasha got stuck in the bag and took off like a drag racer.


X2!!

wtf is happening to my town

We've got to be the smallest city in America with it's own Maserati dealership.

And on my walk to work I pass by a dog bakery, which is next door to a surf shop & skate shop for grade school age kids.

I think this is what happens when every conceivable commercial hole is plugged by corporate dildos....individuals have to find a bizarre niche to fill if they want to run their own shop.

Book Title of the Day

clicky clicky.

In keeping with the longstanding Baxblog coverage of the primate scene.

Unreleased Elliott Smith material

24 tracks worth from the Kill Rock Stars vault.

Oh yeah, baby.

an Ivan and Bobo special

Just in time for xmas!

APE APOCALYPSE

It's not monkey sex, but it does expose an alarming PRIMATE AGENDA.

Will the apes and the robots end up battling over a post-apocalyptic earth where humans are little more than garden pests?

It would be irresponsible not to speculate!

OMG CATS

In keeping with the theme of my last post, and to keep Anner from sewing herself a pair of hand-felted combat boots for to kick my non-updating ass down the road with.

Some you've doubtless seen before, but I think the cumulative effect is heee-sterical.

clicky clicky

Politics

I usually steer clear, but couldn't resist this bit of crowing.

More Monkey Sex (attn IVAN)

The usual Baxblog monkey sex disclaimer applies.

clicky clicky


Less gross than the infamous SPUNK clip, but darn funny!

Cardboard Heads

neato stuff.


Have I mentioned how much I love the internet lately?

Random Haiku Generator

clicky clicky

some samples:

Yo, Dalai Lama!

What's up with those silky robes?

Buddhist seduction.

A butterfly sits

burning holes in all your clothes

and I will just laugh.