I know this is going to end up on webpages everywhere... but I want to join in on the fun... From The Wall Street Journal online:

The Law Blog has never watched an episode of 24, the TV show where Jack Bauer tortures terrorists to save American lives. We do, however, own the first season on DVD, courtesy of the Law Blog’s twin brother (not a lawyer), who thinks we’re missing out on the best show eva. It seems that Justice Scalia agrees with our brother. The Globe and Mail reported that Scalia came to the defense of Jack Bauer and his torture tactics during an Ottawa conference of international jurists and national security officials last week. During a panel discussion about terrorism, torture and the law, a Canadian judge remarked, “Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra ‘What would Jack Bauer do?’ ” Justice Scalia responded with a defense of Agent Bauer, arguing that law enforcement officials deserve latitude in times of great crisis. “Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles . . . . He saved hundreds of thousands of lives,” Judge Scalia reportedly said. “Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?” He then posed a series of questions to his fellow judges: “Say that criminal law is against him? ‘You have the right to a jury trial?’ Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer?” “I don’t think so,” Scalia reportedly answered himself. “So the question is really whether we believe in these absolutes. And ought we believe in these absolutes.”

The original source is a Canadian newspaper, and you have to pay to read the article online......

I made this yesterday afternoon...

(click me)

That is all

Labels: Comic Books

I was falling asleep on the couch yesterday watching Ghostbusters when Thomas called with the dumbest thing I could possibly imagine hearing in my half-dazed state...
- "Hey, you want to come over and chop down weeds?"
- "What? Fuck. No... with what?"
- "Swords."
- "hmm... fine."

So the weeds were actually Bryan's yard. I think it got mowed once a few months ago... maybe... just imagine if we actually ever got rain here anymore...
Being the old-school manly men that we are, we gathered the proper tools for the job and went to work clear-cutting.
	After following in our ancestors' footsteps and forcing nature to lie down at our feet the all-natural way it was, of course, time to pull out the big guns... I'm pretty sure I've mowed this yard more than any other single person since Bryan bought the house... and that was 2 1/2 years ago... and I've probably only done it a dozen times...
	The onslaught continued... man vs. nature...
	While the outcome was never in doubt, Nature did make one last desperate ploy to save itself. The little mini-bamboos tried to ambush Thomas off the porch in an effort to save the rest of the community. Unfortunately (for them), their aim was terrible, and Thomas emerged unscathed. Unscathed... but angry... "Fuck you, bamboo. I'm gonna build a house out of you!"
And so that's exactly what we did. There's no roof or walls or floor or doors or anything... but it's kind of a house. And should serve as a reminder to the grasses left standing: Don't fuck around with a jungle cat. Just... don't do it.

Labels: Thomas

I was looking at ebay b/c I was bored, and I came across this auction for stuff I don't even want. (by this seller)

I was so extremely impressed and shocked by the amazing grading descriptions that I sent him this:

hey... I'm not actually interested in these AF books, but I wanted to tell you how awesome your descriptions of the grades on these books are. It's rare to see anyone be that thorough with their descriptions. Badass.

So, errm... I guess if you need early issues of Alpha Flight, I think you should buy these.

Labels: Comic Books

Despite a plethora of cool releases in the recent past, (read: NIN, Spoon, White Stripes, Interpol.....), I've not really done a very good job of following music lately. We'll chalk it up to a lack of funds. But now Continental Airlines and Chase Bank USA have joined forces and given me the ability to earn my way back to Amsterdam by buying a bunch of crap I don't need. Or crap I do need like food and tires on my car.

Regardless, my most recent frequent-flyer-miles purchase involved a pair of tickets for the triumphant return of The Fiery Furnaces to my musically shallow city. Last time I got to see this band was a few months prior to the release of 2006's Bitter Tea. I went in a Fiery Furnaces virgin and came out struck more by the opening band (deadboy and the Elephantmen) than by FF. This time, however, I'd let Bitter Tea sit in the car stereo for a few days, I had my recording stuff, and I was prepared. Hell, I got there almost an hour before doors opened b/c I forgot this was Charlotte, and I thought that people might be lined up for the show... but that's neither here nor there. dios. The Fiery Furnaces. I will now talk about them both.

Opening band was a pleasant surprise. While it wasn't my thing as much as deadboy was, dios was a lot of fun and turned out to be a fantastic choice as an opener for The Fiery Furnaces.

Their website, however, is fucking terrible... The lead singer reminded me (quite a lot, actually) of a South Carolina band called A Decent Animal, but that's about all I can do for comparisons. Everything was super-tight with a fantastic amount of ambient noise, and the drummer was a fucking BLAST to watch. It was just the right mix of painful groove and groove rock that neither put me in a mosh pit nor put me to sleep. While not a jam band by really any stretch of the imagination, it almost could have been. I had a hell of a time noticing when most songs ended and the next began. I even recorded the thing, and I've been struggling fruitlessly listening and re-listening trying to find where to chop the 40-odd minute set up into individual tracks. It's not that everything sounded exactly the same, but everything fused together so well that pinpointing that moment where things changed is just proving to be impossible for me. Not that it really matters. I really enjoyed the set, and I would definitely go see them again. If anyone who reads this knows this band and would like to help me track the show, I'd be grateful... I'm here.

<------------- dios breakdown takes next to no time at all... the stage crew gets everything ready for the main act, and Allison checks my equipment for me. (that is not a euphemism) --------------> While waiting we meet new friend and fellow Orange Peel/Arcade Fire/Sonic Youth/Pearl Jam fan Darryl... but what's up with everyone and the earplugs?

And, so then... The Fiery Furnaces

Caveat: **If you want a really good review of The Fiery Furnaces, I implore you to check out Scott Shupe's review here on CrazyTalk.** I'm just going to end up rambling and not really saying anything meaningful. So here we go... As I mentioned, I'd been spinning Bitter Tea in the car for a while, and so I thought I was totally prepared. I was going to know the songs and the words and the beats, and I was going to be soooooooooooo cool. Then they actually started playing... "Little Thatched Hut"... a song I definitely know... kicked off the first half of the show, which ended up being entirely devoted to songs off the new record. And I hardly recognized it. Bitter Tea clocks in right at 80 minutes, and they played a pretty healthy number of tracks off the record... plus another equally long "set" devoted to older stuff (and one brand new song). The entire show was almost exactly as long as the record. Everything was blisteringly fast. Combined with Eleanor's voice often being submerged under the sonic wave sent forth by the rest of the band (I had no idea Jason Loewenstein was playing with them!!), I found myself completely lost. But that was great. And hopefully part of their plan. Very little stage banter... No breaks between songs. Just continuous sound after sound after sound. Although I was trying to pay attention to my computer and searching for familiarity in the music, I couldn't help but getting lost in everything they were throwing out to the crowd. Every single song raced off the stage like the damn place was on fire... lyrics were left out, but not Eddie-Vedder-I'm-Trying-But-I'm-Too-Drunk-To-Remember-All-My-Words style... it was all very calculated. Also not a lot of stage antics or really much movement at all. The whole show was 100% about the sound. You really just couldn't get away from it - there was nothing to really distract you from just being there and listening... actually... I guess I take that back a little bit. I have no idea what in the world the point of this was, but Eleanor and the lead singer from dios did end up tossing a softball back-and-forth near the end of the show. Dustin (comic-book guy) Harbin was there begging for the softball but was met with a simple yet firm shake of the head that said simply, "I don't think so." She's smart. So, yeah. I liked it. Not that I've become a huge Fiery Furnaces fan now or anything, but I'm very very glad that I got to see them again with a little bit of knowledge in my head. I'll be picking up Blueberry Boat the next time I see it at Manifest, and the next time they're at The Visulite (God, please don't go to the Neighborhood Theater...), I'm totally there. And now I have to completely rethink my stance on hating bands that tour with two drummers.

I really did not intend for this to be so long... I did record the full audio of the show as well as some video. I was standing next to this girl when Eleanor handed her a copy of the setlist, and she was nice enough to let me copy it down. That turned out to be a Godsend as I desperately needed that when I was tracking out this show. Anyway. For the media-minded of us... (If I'm wrong about the names, let me know, and I'll fix it)

The Fiery Furnaces 09 July 2007 The Visulite Theater, Charlotte, NC 1 Little Thatched Hut 14 Single Again 2 I'm In No Mood 15 Wicker Whatnots 3 Black-Hearted Boy 16 Quay Cur 4 Bitter Tea 17 I'm Gonna Run 5 Waiting to Know You 18 Here Comes the Summer 6 The Vietnamese Telephone Ministry 19 Blueberry Boat 7 Oh Sweet Woods 20 Tropical Iceland 8 Borneo 21 Spaniolated 9 Benton Harbor Blues 22 Inca Rag/Name Game 10 Whistle Rhapsody? 23 Birdie Brain 11 Teach Me Sweetheart 24 1917 12 Bitter Tea (Reprise) 25 Police Sweater Blood Vow 13 [Break]

Labels: Allison, concerts, music

This really is kind of getting out of hand. I think I used to have a life, but I might be wrong... Regardless... here are these things...

I was thinking about that girl from the Cosby Show singing this song in High Fidelity... I think they pulled it off quite nicely... although I'm really baffled how I, as the suggester, did not receive a dedication.

The light's kind of shitty in that one... sadly... naturally other people are more thoughtful than myself... so when I got up to torture people on stage, the lights got turned on... which is also sad... kind of. I think everything would have been a lot better if the only thing you could see was the light bouncing off my head onto the mirror ball.

I'm available for parties. But only ones where I get to jump out of a cake.

So... there's that... but, more importantly, there's this. I've never had anyone beat in number-of-times-doing-karaoke, but I think it's actually statistically more rare to see Brooke Moody on stage... I think Charlie intentionally fucked this up the first time just to make the moment last... Much to the chagrin of the guy at the bar...

Take 01...

Take 02... I was kind of already on cuteness overload... and then Charlie started singing too...This is not for the weak-willed. You should actually try playing both of these at the same time... it's just shy of hilarious.

---

What's sad is that there's a mild chance that I actually have interesting things to say... But, fuck that... I have karaoke videos.

Labels: Allison, Brooke, Judith, music