Good Old Neon

I’ve listened to this a few times, and feel confident enough to state that from where I’m sitting, it’s a near total failure. Where the hell are the actual songs? All the extemporaneous bleeps and blips are a big part of the bands charm, but as a counter balance, they backed them up will killer melodies. On this one, however, the song writing has taken a distant backseat, and the bleeps, blips, zoinks and doinks have wrested control of the wheel, making for a much less enjoyable ride.

Loving this.

This should not be construed as a defense of Polanski, because it’s not – what he did is indefensible – however, it should be noted, barring the rape aspect, if we were to go back a hundred or so years, in this country, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation, and it would have nothing to do with the fact that the internet was not invented yet, and more to do with the fact that is was not uncommon for men of Polanski’s age to have relations, up to and including marital, with girls as young as thirteen. Though it is no longer considered acceptable in this country, outside of certain re

I think two of the unfortunate side effects of “greatness” are entitlement and narcissism, and when combined, they tend to lead to the sorts of behaviors exhibited by Polanski. Neither of which should be encouraged or excused - imo. Edit: That was not a response to you Matt, I was speaking to the French. I wonder how many French men would excuse or subject themselves to being drugged and then raped by, say, Lou Ferrigno, a person who, at least one time in his life achieved “greatness.”

Wow - that choked me up. Well said.

I agree with you for the most part. I’m not going to go (way) out of my way to defend Moore, but I do not agree that his level of spin and general asshole-itude is on par with Beck or his cohorts. Moore was making a point with regards to the relative ease with which firearms can be obtained. He chose the bank, because the dichotomy of a bank, a freaking bank, dispensing firearms was simply too good to pass up. Toasters? Yes. Shotguns and rifles – maybe not so much. For the record - I’m in favor of the right to bear arms, completely, but maybe it’s not quite in a bank’s best interest to k

Here’s a great article from the equally great website, TED. The healthcare debate: Jonathan Haidt on how our moral roots skew our reasoning Only on the TED Blog: In The TED Lens, each Sunday a TED speaker offers a new look at the week's big news stories. This week, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt talks about how the moral roots of the political right and left are shaping the debate over healthcare in the United States. In your talk at TED2008, you asked us all to "take the red pill" and step outside of our moral matrix. You said that moral psychology was the red pill, and that it cou

More often than not, the higher an album ranks with Pitchfork, the less likely I am to enjoy it. I downloaded and listened to the Girls, and I’ll be damned if I know why they’ve reviewed it so highly. This review was pretty much the last straw. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/178-source-tags-and-codes/ I went out and purchased it based on the review, and was thoroughly underwhelmed.

Yep. Prior to 9/11, Bin Laden had been trying to find a way in which to bait the US into engaging Afghanistan, and until that point, had been unsuccessful. 9/11 changed all that, and he got what he wanted, a bonafide invasion – and better still, a half committed invasion at that. Last night, 60 Minutes ran a segment on the top US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. McChrystal – he comes across as a competent, sincere, thoroughly decent man totally committed to taking the steps he feels are necessary to correct our mistakes – unfortunately, he appears to suffer from an ailment common amongst

But the truth is, the bank does provide customers with firearms - which, I think, was his real point. It’s shit like this that, in my opinion, separates a Moore from a Beck. Moore may stretch the truth for dramatic effect, but unlike Beck, he doesn’t simply try to make it up as he goes. http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908250052 We seem to have this need to equate x and y, equally, when in fact, as of now, the shit coming from the right is exponentially more misleading, not to mention harmful, than the shit on the left - there’s simply no comparison. Someone mentioned Olbermann - I’m no

In which Glen Beck faces a full frontal attack by the liberal media. After watching this, not only is Glen Beck nothing like Michael Moore, he's "communicating" on another level entirely. http://video.hollywoodreporter.com/services/player/bcpid6555681001?bctid=42098879001 This guy is the leader of a movement - people actually take his word as gospel. He's either insane, or his whole persona is schtick, ala Andy Kaufman - only Kaufman was brilliant, and people didn't actually look to him for like, fucking news or sane, reasonably informed opinion.

Moore takes license with the truth for dramatic effect and entertainment value. I’m not going to defend his decision to cook that scene, among others, it was just plain dumb, and only provides ammunition to his detractors. However, the bank policy that provided new customers with a firearm is true. Say what you will about him, his movies are fact checked. Beck, on the other hand, really and truly just makes shit up out of thin air. Much of what Moore does pisses me off, but comparing him to Beck is misguided. The truth is, is that there really are no comparison to be made between left wing

Equating Moore with Beck, is like equating Coulter with Donahue.

I've listened to some of it, and so far, it's pretty good. However, I often wish the Lips, along with Radiohead, would just put down the electronics, pick up their guitars, and get back to rocking the fuck out every now and again.

For much of his life, my Canadian born grandfather lived in this country illegally. I have no idea where I’m going with this…

In secret? Can you point out where I advocate or support state violence? Guts? Really, walking down the street requires guts? Gutsy, to me, would involve joining the peace corpse or some similar aid organization and relocating to some godforsaken country to help the people affected by globalization, hands on, that takes guts, walking down the street, on the other hand, requires little more than a comfortable pair of shoes – and no, those stupid fucking Crocs don't count. Please, do not compare what the Iranian protests with what you're doing in Pittsburgh, because what they're doi

Just because I don’t think a bunch of sign holding college kids (the same kids, who when they graduate and have a family, will inevitably end up working for the same corporations and/or the same government that just a few years prior, they were all up in arms about, just as their 60’s free loving hippy, “antiestablishment” parents did) meth heads and Trustfarians are going to play a serious role in shaping the global economy, doesn’t mean I’m not familiar with the issues being discussed at the G20 - I just don’t think there’s a damn thing that can be done about it. Well, perhaps there is, rath

What's the name of your book, and what’s its Amazon sales ranking? Nevermind, I'd rather not read this book.

I’m not going to belabor the point, and I respect your opinion, but the hand holding the harsh light has often been her own. It’s not exactly as if the paparazzi were banging on her door, demanding to know all there is to know about someone whose last bit of stardom faded with the advent of the Atari 2600. I mean, we wouldn’t know all this stuff about her, if she hadn’t made a career out of sharing it. If she’s been judged harshly, it’s often because she’s allowed herself to become tabloid fodder. Ok Mackenzie, you were an addict, but lots and lots of people are addicts, they just don’t fee

I would like to think that her choice to go on Oprah was an altruistic one, but like Sunshine, I’m cynical with regards to her intentions. The sensationalistic way in which the episode was marketed, Mackenzie’s “shocking secret revealed”, given the subject matter, strikes me as tasteless and exploitive.

Well, there you go. I was not aware that she had a book to promote. It strikes me as entirely dysfunctional to seek justice on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Exploitive on Oprah’s part, and misguided on Mackenzie’s. If she is giving a voice to anything, it’s her book cover. I’m not suggesting people should remain silent about this stuff, on the contrary, but Jesus Christ, prime time television is probably NOT the best place to seek deep, long lasting healing and/or emotional closure. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these sorts of confessionals are frequently penned by folks who had a litt

Awful, hell yes. But why the hell did she feel the need to share this info with the entire planet? Maybe I’m way off base, but public confessions such as this strike me as little more than attention whoring.

Yep – the author of the article neglects to mention that anti-globalization protests often turn violent and destructive – police and government security forces often exacerbate and/or outright start the ball rolling – but that does not negate the fact that property gets destroyed and people get hurt. So, to suggest security measures represent “de facto martial law” to me, sounds inflammatory and disingenuous – at odds with reality. As stated, the author makes it sound as though this is some sort of new phenomena, when in fact, this arrangement has been the norm throughout our history. A