Uncategorized – Page 425 – The Designer Monologues

October 13, 2006April 19, 2010

Friday Music

First off, for Friday the 13th, we have a Halloween-themed mashup (and not one of the ones that I posted earlier in the week, either): Nine Inch Nails vs Ray Parker Jr. – “The Ghost That Feeds.”

When I first heard about this project, I posted here that I would be featuring it the minute that I heard anything from it. Well, here it is. Blur/Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn has been in the studio with The Clash’s bassist Paul Simonon, former Verve member and Blur and Gorillaz guitarist Simon Tong, and Fela Kuti drummer Tony Allen, recording an album which is being produced by Gnarls Barkley’s DJ Dangermouse. The first single has leaked. Here it is: The Good, The Bad & The Queen – “Herculean.” The single is officially released at the end of the month, with the album following in December or January.

I heard a new artist this week — at first I thought she was Swedish, but it turns out that she’s Australian, but of Swedish descent. Anyway, she does really amazing downtempo/trip-hop kinda stuff, so I’m giving you two of her tracks: Inga Liljestrom – “Phoenix.” and Inga Liljestrom – “Bullet.”

For as long as I’ve been doing this, I’ve barely posted songs from my favorite band, Steely Dan. I’m not going to hit you with “Reelin’ In The Years” or “Hey Nineteen”, or any of the other more well-known tracks (although, really, ALL of their stuff is pretty well-known). Here’s is one of my favorites, which, although not as popular as their more well-known stuff, is still pretty damned cool: Steely Dan – “Pretzel Logic.”

While we’re on the subject of older music that I love, here is my favorite track from R.E.M. It was the song that introduced me to the band (thanks to MTV), and I associate it with the memory of riding 12-speed racing bikes, drunk, in the middle of the night down a sandy beachfront road with two of my best friends from the period, singing this at the top of our lungs (long story…and lucky I survived). R.E.M. – “Can’t Get There From Here.”

Here’s a band that I will completely admit drew me in with their name, and the name of the song. Ever have that happen? It almost always turns out that the results are never quite as interesting as the name promised. Not here, though. This stuff is quite nifty: Hawk and Handsaw – “God Bless The Ottoman Empire.”

Lastly, here is a brilliant Bhangra remix of one of my favorite tracks from Nelly Furtado, off her second album Folklore: Nelly Furtado – “Powerless (Say What You Want) – JOSH Desi remix.”

Enjoy.

October 12, 2006

Proud Dad Moment….

Minion received notice yesterday that she’s being inducted into the National Honor Society.

W00T!

A bunch more scholarship options just opened up for her, so to say we’re jazzed about it would be an understatement.

October 11, 2006

Moore Responds

So yesterday, I received a letter in the mail from my Congressman, Dennis Moore, in response to the email I sent him about his vote for the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (AKA, the suspension of Habeus Corpus and the legalization of Torture.)

Yes, a reply…despite my email saying “don’t bother.”

Three pages, going into the background of the bill….blah blah blah. Finally, near the end, he gets to his excuse: That prior to the vote, he cast a vote in favor of the Motion to Recommit (offered by Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri), which would have provided expedited judicial review of the statute, and require the reauthorization of the legislation every three years. “Unfortunately,” he writes, “the Skelton Mition to Recommit failed by a vote of 195-228.”

He continues: “Despite the failure of the Motion to Recommit, it is likely that any legislation enacted into law addressing this issue will be subject to further consideration by the courts, in order to ensure its constitutionality.”

So, in other words — he voted FOR the measure, banking on the fact that the Supreme Court will eventually take it under consideration on a constitutional basis.

MotherFUCKER. That’s ass-saving politics at its worse. He votes for a bill that he knows is wrong, simply to avoid being painted as “weak on terror”, in the hopes that the Judicial Branch will bail us out and overturn.

This smug prick thinks that he only needs to worry about the Conservatives in his district. He thinks that his position as the sole Democrat representing Kansas means that we will just hold our noses and vote for him, because the alternative means that we’d have no Democratic representation at all.

He’s wrong.

This vote was a travesty, and I want to see him taken down for his hubris. I’ll vote for the Reform Party candidate (or hell, even the Republican) this November. I hope that my fellow 3rd district liberals will do the same.

Teach him a lesson — you don’t play politics when the Constitution and the very soul of the Nation is on the line.