April 20, 2007 – The Designer Monologues

April 20, 2007

Time Warner To Set U.S. Postal Rates?

This isn’t a “sexy” issue, so it’s not going to get media attention….but it’s another example of the corporate feudalism that we’re forced to live with….and the opportunity to act is on a tight deadline:

Tell the Postal Service Not TO Stamp Out Independent Media!

The United States Postal Board of Governors recently proposed to implement an unfair increase in periodical rates — one that will have grave consequences for independent media.

In making this proposal, the Board of Governors rejected a plan from the U.S. Postal Service itself, and instead adopted a different plan — one proposed by media giant Time Warner. Time Warner’s plan locks in privileged low rates for bigger companies, and places a huge new burden on independent publishers.

Click here to submit a public comment opposing this plan before Monday, April 23! Tell the Postal Board of Governors: Reject Time Warner’s plan, and save independent media in the U.S.

*** Please share this message with everyone you know who cares about the future of independent media in America. ***

(Thanks to for bringing this to my attention.)

April 20, 2007

Doctor Who Script

For fans of Doctor Who, or writers interested in the nuts-and-bolts of television scriptwriting:

PDF script for Series Three, Episode One – “Smith & Jones”, courtesy of the BBC.

(Kudos to for spotting this.)

April 20, 2007April 19, 2010

Friday Music

Here we go again:

First off, Rufus Wainwright has a new album coming out next month. This is the first single from it, and it’s a pretty direct indictment of everything that’s wrong with the country right now: Rufus Wainwright – “Going To A Town.”

Another track from Grindhouse: This time the theme to Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof” –which originally was the theme to Village of the Giants, one of the best B-Movies of all time. Jack Nitzsche – “The Last Race.”

A new single from UK based “baroque pop” artist Patrick Wolf, which I first heard this week, and really dug. Patrick Wolf – “Overture.”

There’s apparently an active subculture of musicians doing modern re-interpretation of traditional Balkan sounds. This group is from Brooklyn and mixes hip-hop influences with the traditional vocal sounds and instruments: BalkanBeatBox – “Adir Adrimi”

Courtesy of a recent entry by , some rare Bowie, where he sings a composition by Kurt Weill: David Bowie – “Baal’s Hymn.”

Been watching the final episodes of The Sopranos, which has got me thinking about the great music they’ve used throughout the series. Here’s a track they used in the second (or was it third? I can’t recall) season, from the same group who provided the series’ famous theme song: A3 – “Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlife.”

Some nifty international-intrigue chillout music, from the soundtrack to an imaginary movie, The Mirror Conspiracy: Thievery Corporation – “The Hong Kong Triad.”

Here’s the first single from the new album from Maximo Park, “Our Earthly Pleasures” — if the rest of the album sounds like this, I’m getting it. Maximo Park – “Our Velocity.”

…and lastly, here’s the 12-inch extended mix of one of my favorite songs of the 80s, which I’ll always associate with my initial introduction to Wicca, as it was receiving heavy airplay at the time I started reading everything I could get my hands on: Kate Bush – “Running Up That Hill (12″ mix)”

Hope you like this week’s selections.