Shoot first, ask questions later

"Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media rights group, called it "extremely disturbing" and said the Reuters soundman was the 66th journalist or assistant killed in Iraq since the invasion of 2003, three more than died in 20 years in Vietnam."

Reuters soundman killed in Baghdad, police blame US (Yahoo!)

eBay: limitless possibilities

The human kidney market finally has some competition. Personally I wouldn't bid on a used husky, you never know where those things have been.

Miscellaneous Pre-Weekend Randoms

1. Graffiti murals vs. gang tagging- there is a difference, regardless of whatever municipal bureaucrat says otherwise. Telling a business owner to whitewash a mural HE PAID FOR only for the city to reappropriate it with a painting they commissioned is ridiculous.
2. p77 - 037 - as opposed to that stupid Rogers ad, this actually is bananas, son. Loves the Kelly Clarkson vs. American Analog Set mash.
3. Michael Owen: make up your mind already. You have 5 days left to figure it out.
4. music (for robots) posted a great Soulwax remix the other day. The quality of remixes over the last couple of years has been phenomenal. White labels rule!
5. Food and Drug Administration delay decision to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill. Both sides rejoice at the fact they have 60 more days to ramp up their rhetoric.
6. CBC workers are trying to take over college radio stations. Get back to negotiating.

Love/Hate

Love

Google Talk- Hopefully this marks the death of MSN. Now if only they can incorporate Blogger into it...

Sia - Breathe Me (Mylo remix) Apparently from the Six Feet Under series finale, but I'll take your word for it. (via Sterogum)

Folk Implosion - Natural Ones (Unkle remix) (via Work For It)

POP77's latest mix, the #36 special. Featuring tracks from MitM favorites CYHSY, Editors, The Cars are The Stars, and The London Apartments.

Hate

Kanye West's Late Registration- For somebody talking in the press about a significant improvement on The College Dropout, using 4 skits not to mention the Bernie Mac intro, the track featuring a guy from Maroon 5, the heavily sampled Curtis Mayfield track, the unecessary appearence of The Game on 'Crack Music', and the all too brief cameo of Common certainly doesn't lead credence to the claim of delivering a strong album. Certainly not from the king of self-assuredness. 'Drive Slow' and 'Addiction' are the only saving graces in addition to whatever you've heard on the radio already.

Goatees- If I'm ever an employer nobody working under me will ever have one. Marge Schott had the right idea about this. Just not too with it regarding the Nazis and Jews and the holocaust thing, the racially charged comments you'd expect from a midwesterner her age. Honestly make up your mind- you're either too lazy to shave or willing to put the work everyday and take everything off. It's like a North American facial plague. Styling it only multiplies the retardation factor. Do you really want to be in the same company as Eric Hinske?

Dogs 'breeds' that end with the '-poo' suffix- Look, you may love your dog, but let's get one thing straight. There is no such thing as a cockapoo, pugapoo, peekapoo, lhasapoo, or whatever other breed of dog fucking a poodle. They are mutts. Two dogs randomly boning. There is nothing more to it than that, so why are you spending 800 bucks at a pet store to buy one? Of course that won't stop neighbors from insisting that a golden retriever boning a poodle was only invented in 1993.

Fiona Apple- I'm sorry your album hasn't been released yet only for the fact that it would get every annoying blogger to stop talking about it. You were mediocre to begin with, get over it.

New singles that I have now heard

Franz Ferdinand- Do You Want To?
Kind of boring, and hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come off the new album. If it is, I'd rather spend my listening time elsewhere. Sounds really lazy, uninspired. D

Bloc Party- Two More Years
I have no idea what BP are up to these days. They just put out the new video and single for Pioneers (in North America at least), have Silent Alarm still going strong due it's relative recent exposure to commercial radio here, and just dropped a Silent Alarm remixed album. And they're about to come back over to play all kinds of crappy venues on this side of the pond (playing Roseland, the Docks, Royal Oak Music Theatre wouldn't be a sign of increasing popularity in a utopian world.)

Yet they release this single, Two More Years, for whatever reason, and XFM the BBC are now playing the shit out of it. I think it's an underwhelming track given that they could milk much more out of Silent Alarm all the while the sound isn't very similar to most of that album. That isn't to say I don't like it, rather I'm not prepared yet for the softer side of Bloc Party to be extracted from the whole of how they're composed in my head at the moment, if that makes any sense. There is no edge to Two More Years and at first listen that's what distinguishes the song, which is no fair way to compare it to a previous body of work. While I wouldn't expect to hear it at a live show any time soon, it does have an endearing quality to its understatedness, and for once Kele's lyrics serve as the guide to the melody rather than the other way around. B-

Sigur Ros - Glosoli
I'm not even going to try to explain why I like this track other than saying if you enjoy Sigur Ros previously Glosoli isn't likely to disappoint. More beautiful work from the renowned Icelandic group, this track is as close feeling completeness from a sound recording as possible in a few months. Maybe the timing is just right for their re-emergence but Glosoli really embodies their full potential. A

Damian Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
If only this track was released in May or June it would have been easily been the song of the summer. Pon De Replay is a bunt single compared to this. No question Damian takes full advantage of having a strong lineage. A+

It doesn't take a genius to market beer

"It's better than serving it in an industry-standard glass and plunking it down on the bar," said Simon Thorpe, the president and chief executive of InBev USA.

"According to Beer Marketer's Insights, shipments of Stella were up 65 percent last year. "

Makes you wonder what excuses North American manufacturers have when they spend so much more on advertising and marketing yet are continually losing market share.

Frothier Than Ever (New York Times)

Eventually Reuters and Associated Press will talk like this too

"Carlson, 36, is best known for wearing bow ties, formerly punditizing for CNN, and being called "a dick" by Jon Stewart."

Group Wants Tucker Out (Yahoo via E! Online)

Tacky:

Wearing jewelry with your own name on it. Especially if you're a nobody. Even if you're compelled to express your need for self-promotion, surely you can be known for something more substantial than the 60 dollar necklace you bought to help cops identify you after railing a couple lines of a crushed up E pill. If we wanted to know you call yourself Tatiana we would've asked. Nobody needs to see it on sprawled across your chest in Monotype Corsiva made out of gold-plated aluminum.

Dy na mi tee hee

News on Ms. Dynamite's forthcoming release, Judgement Day, from today's Telegraph (bottom of the page):

"Judging by the material I heard at a session in the Abbey Road studio last week, motherhood has not mellowed her. She still can't quite contain the bashful giggle that became her trademark ("Ms Dynamite-tee-hee") but her new single, Judgement Day (out late September), is a hard-hitting, self-righteous assault on moral hypocrisy worthy of the young Bob Dylan.

The album of the same name (which follows in October) could herald the return of the protest song, with Ms Dynamite tackling gun crime, self-destructiveness within Britain's black community and the problem of absentee fathers in the lacerating Father. Even the devoted mother who single-handedly raised her does not escape unscathed."

Here's hoping Judgement Day lives up to the promise shown in 2002's A Little Deeper. Given the attention given recently to M.I.A. and Lady Sovereign, certainly the market is quite receptive to female UK MCs at the moment.

Ms. Dynamite (official site)

I call your number and I can't get through

Get to know Cut Copy: opening for TV On The Radio and Franz Ferdinand on their upcoming fall tour, has a penchant for being able to mix anything together almost seemlessly. Consider transitioning from Alloy Mental's self-titled track, probably one of the biggest drum and bass commercial releases of the last decade into The Stills' Still In Love Song. That my friends is the sign of someone with the potential to bring the prominence of indie mixshow DJs even further to the forefront of the conscience of tastemakers all over the world. I don't even need to go into self-produced tracks like Saturday to underline the talent there.

Download Cut Copy's BBC Radio 1 mix (via Smashed Robot!)
Cut Copy (Official Site)
Cut Copy Myspace page

As Seen On TV

"Don't miss the heartwarming finale of 'I Want to be a Hilton' Tuesday night on Global"

Time on earth: finite.

Seldom are these interesting, nor are they entertaining. With that said, consider the following:

the Wit (68% dark, 14% spontaneous, 10% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN COMPLEX DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 88% on dark
You scored higher than 0% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 3% on vulgar

The 3 Variable Funny Test

August Playlist

In 13 days I will have existed on earth for a quarter of a century. In the spirit of old age and senility, this month's playlist is delivered late. Once I'm unpacked there shall be more time available to the search for great music. As always, click on the image for a larger view.

Exactly what a debt ridden society doesn't need

Excerpted from an email sent out by Tremor, Proctor & Gamble's youth marketing arm:

"American Express needs your help! They are creating a new pre-paid card for Teens and they need your help naming the card! Click on the link below to learn how the card will work and tell them which name best fits with their new product. "

"We're giving away 150 official Tremor Member T-shirts. Just for completing the survey, we'll enter you for a chance to win one."

Sooner or later, the only people making money are going to be those who somehow hold a stake in lending others credit. Of course when this happens everyone will inexplicably blame the government for their own poor financial decisions. But that's always been the easy way for society's ills.

Gone Fishing

It's been a busy week here moving, therefore a lack of posts has ensued. Once I get all my dolls set up nicely, I'll have more time to play again.