I consider this message a public service. Sure, mileage on movies may vary, but heed my warning on this one.

We saw a preview screening of Ron Howard's new film The Missing last night, and we've never been so glad a movie was free. Even a few cool previews might have helped the movie go down, but we didn't even get that. It was an over-long, uninspired, plodding, and fairly unoriginal meditation on all-too-familiar themes. At one point I was so untertained that I started rootin' for the bad guys.

Waiting for it to start ...

Amie: So, I've heard nothing about this movie... have you?

Me: Nope... but I'm guessing that someone goes missing.

Amie: Thanks.

Me: Then I suppose someone else spends the rest of the movie looking for 'em?

And there you go. Throw in some forced, hackneyed Native American mystical mumbo-jumbo, Tommy Lee Jones doing his best Tommy Lee Jones (must... hunt... fugitives!), Cate Blanchett slumming, and one ugly-ass, stereotypical villain, and you've got yourself a grade-A snooze-fest.

This movie was based on the book The Last Ride by Tom Eidson, who also happens to be one of the big-wigs over at Fidelity Investments here in Boston. Three rows of the theater were set aside for what we assumed were his friends and Fidelity co-workers... sure enough, dozens of suit-wearers wandered in just before showtime. Now, I have no idea how the novel compares to the film, so no disrespect to Mr. Eidson is meant here. Still, it was fairly amusing to see the final credits appear and hear dead silence in the theater... until those reserved aisles realized "Wait, we should probably clap!", and so they did. All alone. Three solid rows of enthusiastic supporters, and not a single clap anywhere else. Sorry, Mr. Eidson. I can only hope they butchered your book.

There's a lot of movies out there right now, and your time and money would be better spent on Elf, In America, 21 Grams, or the Station Agent. Opie Cunningham might want to focus on his television projects, because Arrested Development is freakin' hilarious.

posted by brad at 10:17 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Brooklyn's Pilot to Gunner is set to release the long-awaited follow-up to "Games at High Speeds", titled "Get Saved Here", early next year on the Arena Rock Recording Company. To whet your appetite, grab an early mp3 of the song "Barrio Superstarrio".

The upcoming album was recorded by none other than J. Robbins of Jawbox & Burning Airlines, and this preview track has been a live PtG staple for awhile. The mp3 is a nice taste (especially cool to hear Pat jumping in on some vocals and some tom-heavy verse-drummin' from Kurt), but I can't wait to hear the whole damn thing in higher quality. Finally.

Keep an eye on the PtG website, as it's supposedly getting a makeover before the album comes out.

posted by brad at 10:27 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Feelin' a little guilty about all the illegal mp3's you've downloaded over the past few years? Can't live with thought of all the money you've stolen from the pockets of those poor record conglomerates? Well, now there's a cure for what ails ya! All you have to do is send them back.

Go ahead, try it. I'm sure you'll feel so much better...

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 11:30 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

It may be old news to many, but not to me ...

This home video of a May 13th, 2000 fire at a fireworks warehouse in the small Dutch town of Enschede is jaw-droppingly incredible. Just when you think the footage can't get any crazier, well, it does. I'd never heard about this three-years-past event, and first saw this video with no background info, not knowing the real-world impact of the fire... so I did some digging and came up with a few articles about the disaster:

CNN: Rescuers search for more victims ...
WSWS: Explosion at Dutch fireworks warehouse ...
CNN: Cause of Dutch fireworks explosion still unknown ...
Enschede: The Aftermath
Pictures: The Enschede Firework Disaster

Once you learn of the 18 dead and over 600 injured, the video has so much more tragic an impact, and the only question I'm left with is... did the person behind the camera survive this? The startling end to the footage makes me wonder if they were one of the 18 lives lost.

posted by brad at 10:29 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

The conspicuous lack of an update for the past few days wasn't (only) due to distraction... access to my site went down for a little while there. All better now.

Going to be doing a little end-of-the-year house cleaning here on the 'Nac over the next few weeks, and I'll be removing lots of mp3s in the process. If you haven't grabbed the past couple months of Mp3s of the Week, then get on over here and do so. In the future, I'll be keeping only the four most recent ones posted.

I'll also be removing most of the live shows I've had for awhile, including the Unwound, Fugazi, Low, Ida, and Mark Gardener sets. I'll probably keep the Vermonstress stuff for a little while longer, but might remove some as I post future sets from that 1992 Sub Pop fest. Still, snag what you can in case they all go away.

If you're reading this too late and want some of the stuff that's now sadly absent, drop me an email... we'll work something out.

Labels: livemp3s

posted by brad at 10:26 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Attention Twilight Singers / Greg Dulli / Afghan Whigs fans: I just stumbled upon the most excellent Summer's Kiss website, where Twilight bassist John Ford is keeping a diary of the current tour. His comments on Sunday's show...

"Tonight we played Boston, which is always a fun time. The crowd was great, but they could have made more noise. Sometimes in between songs I felt like I was in a library. I understand though, all y'all are waiting for some Dulli story and don't want to interrupt, so on that level, you are very polite. This is rock n'roll though, so make some noise. Still, even though I blew a speaker during the set, I had a great time."

There's also a forum for show reviews and bootlegs trading... can't wait to dive into some live show swapping.

From one of the forum posts, here's the setlist from Sunday's show at TT the Bears, and some comments from a fan named whighat65...

Decatur Street
That Bird Sings
Teenage Wristband
Twilite Kid
Domani
Esta Noche
A Love Supreme
Please Don�t Stay
Love
Annie Mae
Papillon
Martin Eden
King Only
Black is the Color/ Time of the Season

Black Love
The Killer
Stevie Nicks

66
Faded

Besides that, they played �If I Were Going�, with the crowd doing the brunt of the singing, as well as �Crime Scene Pt. 1�. They did the requisite Prince snippets, abit of Zep�s �Ramble On�, the Layla coda as the ending of the Stevie Nick covers. Also, as Mathias vamped on electric piano, Greg stated �we have a Ray Manzerik groove goin� on� and did the opening to the Doors �The End�.

They started off ferociously w Decatur / That Bird Sings. Bird was great, featuring the gtr sex between Greg & Jon. The bar was set very high w/ that 1-2 punch, and Greg seemed bewildered that the crowd was seemingly indifferent. He made some apparant goofs on the crowd, broke into �Hava Nageela�. He put on a big pout to some girl w/ an attitude, latter singing to her in Twilite Kid to �hold him, hold him� and to her date, �hold her, hold her�, then stating for us all to�hold one another, we�re gonna have an orgy here tonight�. �Annie Mae� was almost metallic, close to stomping the funk out of it, but not quite. The start of the 2nd encore had one or two songs I didn�t know, there was alot of �Shake it� in it. He also quipped twice to �Shake it like a Polaroid picture�.

He was kind enough not to bring up any mention of the local sports teams, other then a reference to �Jimmy from Charlestown, you owe me $500 on the Marlins�.

Last thing he said as he left the stage was �See you all in a couple of months�!

Thanks for the words, whighat65. Hope it's cool that I quoted ya. That song you didn't recognize ("shake it like a polaroid picture") was the Outkast's "Hey Ya", by the way.

posted by brad at 10:39 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

So my brain is still buzzing from the Twilight Singers show last night... I'm still on some sort of Greg Dulli-induced high, and it's erasing the memory of anything I did before it. I mean, I know I did other stuff over the weekend, but right now I just can't seem to recall what. It's all about Dulli and the rock he and his band whipped out last night. Mid-November and he gives us the show of the year.

At last, the Afghan Whigs gig I never got to see, and it was better than I ever thought it would be. I'd missed them too many times... up in Vermont there weren't many (read: any) chances to see 'em, and they sadly disappeared before I moved to Boston. After last night, I feel like something that was missing has been finally found. Reading and hearing for so many years what a performer Dulli is, how great the Whigs were live, Amie telling me about the times she'd seen them ... and how this time was even better. She was ready to hop on the Fung Wah just to see them play again tonight in NYC, and she'd be on her way if that show wasn't already sold out.

I mean, what a performance. I've never heard a sound so huge inside TTs before. The guys he's got on the road with him are so right on, they helped him exceed any expectations I had for the night. The Twilight Singers songs were fleshed out, more rockin', brighter, fuller, and more powerful than the new album. A few Afghan songs made surprising, intoxicating appearances, either in full or in part. Covers and mini-medleys worked their way in, reinterpretations or straightforward versions of a wide variety of stuff. Prince (Dulli spoke of seeing the movie "Purple Rain" in 1984, then broke into that song), Outkast (They actually covered "Hey Ya", which transformed itself into the Whigs "66" from "1965"), Derek & the Dominos (They perfectly played the whole piano outro from "Layla"), Marvin Gaye ("I only wish I could sing like Marvin", Dulli said.), John Coltrane (covering "A Love Supreme"). After some very touching words, he dedicated "Martin Eden" (the first song from "Blackberry Belle") to Elliott Smith, whom he called a friend ("When I heard the news, I didn't think of his music, or his life... I thought about his last, lonely five minutes... "), and dedicated another song to departed director Ted Demme. He spoke of Steve McQueen, The Darkness (Dulli sez : "My favorite new band..."), Apollonia, and even broke into a spontaneous mockery of Jim Morrison. He was all over the map... emotional, dirty, empathetic, and irreverant all at once.

He said they'd be back "in a couple months". Wherever it is, and it will no doubt be in a bigger club, it's gonna sell out again. Every person in the place will be back, and so will every single friend they can drag. Amie just called me to ask where our new Twilight Singers disc is ... she can't stop thinking about last night either, and is loading her car's cd changer with "Blackberry Belle" and four Whigs albums. It's gonna be a Dulli kind of day, for the both of us ...

posted by brad at 10:28 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

I was 14 years old, and neck deep in a comic-book obsession, in the summer of 1984.� Free time was wasted in the mall video arcade, or just across the street at Earth Prime, our Burlington, Vermont comic shop.� I spent many of these days with my friend Mike Barrett, and in a fit of summer-boredom / comics-enthusiasm, we started up a bi-weekly fanzine called The Friendly Neighborhood Comic Paper.� Almost 20 years ago.� Don't hold it against us. It was pre-computers, of course... we had an old typewriter, no design experience, some barely-there writing ability, and Mike's formative drawing skills.� I remember hours of sitting on my bedroom floor, going through comic publisher press releases, coming up with stories, pecking at typewriter keys, putting together each issue with scissors and rubber cement.� Our headlines were horribly handwritten (no font size on typewriters), our borders were crooked, our photocopies were spotty and misaligned. � But hey, we were 14 and having fun.� (well, until I tried to transcribe a tape-recorded panel discussion from the Albany-Con comic convention ... that nearly cost me a hand). Looking back through these, after I stop laughing, I'm struck how much we learned as we went.� More content, better layout, bringing in friends to help, covering broader subjects (videogames included, of course).� I love the first time we got reader mail (two letters from our biggest fan, David Parker). I love how excited we were when we used a dot-matrix printer for the first time (asking our readers "So, what do you think?!"). I love that we traced comic illustrations but always made sure to put the copyright info next to 'em.� I love that we begged local business to buy ads that hardly anyone would ever see.� I love that we had 'competition' with Noel Lawrence's "Comicers Report" 'zine.� I love that our last issue had a huge 'preview' of a comic by our friends Greg Giordano and Mark Amidon, a comic that never even came out.� I love seeing the shift in my personal tastes from mainstream Marvel and DC books to stuff from "direct sales" publishers like Eclipse and Comico ("I have seen the light!" I shouted in one issue).� We're talking about the onset of hardcore early-stage geekery here, folks. After nine issues, the FNCP became "The Comics Informer" (copies of which seem to have been lost to the ages), which only lasted a couple of issues.� I don't think we ever did finish transcribing those Albany-Con recordings, though.� I'm sure our readership was devastated. So here they are... 8 issues (issue #6 is MIA) of The Friendly Neighborhood Comic Paper, digitized for your amusement.� Laugh with us, or laugh at us.� Either way, enjoy.� (let me know if any of the links are messed up. oh, and, sorry about this, Mike)

posted by brad at 11:06 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Oh me, oh my...

The full set of My Bloody Valentine's May, 1989 appearance at the Axis in Boston is available for download here. Hot diggity.

We're talkin' live pre-Loveless, folks. Now that's the stuff.

update... seems the link to the page was moved, but i found it and fixed it here.

posted by brad at 9:56 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Boston music & art fans take note ...

A new exhibit of visual artwork by area musicians, titled Between a Rock and an Art Place: Part II, kicks off tonight at the Paradise Lounge on Comm. Ave.

It expands upon a similar show earlier this year at the Zeitgeist, and offers up varied work by random area rockers like Buffalo Tom's Chris Colbourn, Dan McCarthy from Helms, Jay Cox of the Ivory Coast & the Sea Navy, Blake Hazard, the Dresden Doll's Amanda Palmer, Roger Miller from Mission of Burma, and many more.

The exhibit opens with a reception this evening at 7 p.m... check out a poster at Jay's site, or this article in the Phoenix for more info.

posted by brad at 9:06 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Ok, dear friends and anonymous readers, I need your help. There's a vote going on, and you're just a click away from helping to make someone's day. Let me explain, and I'll make it quick...

Every weekday morning on the way to work, I stop by the Back Bay T Station's Dunkin' Donuts counter for a large regular coffee. There are four lines to choose from, but only one leads to the magic hands of Adelina and Nouria, the dynamic dunkin' duo. Doesn't matter how much longer their line is, it's always faster. Every time. Adelina pours, Nouria makes the change, and you're outta there in no time. They've got coffee mixing and money taking down to an exact science, and they always have a kind word to say. Adelina's recall is mind-boggling... she's memorized what must be hundreds of people's preferred size and mix, so if you're a regular, you don't even have to speak a word besides "Thanks!" to get your daily dose. If you're late and stuck at the back of the line, sometimes a little flash of the cash will prompt her to stick your cup over the counter for a quick swap of the bills. She's just amazing. Here she is on the left, with her cohort Nouria on the right...


So I ask for your help to let Adelina know how much she's appreciated, how great she is at her job. If you don't have a favorite Dunkies server of your own, then take my word on this and take a moment to click here. Fill in her name (the street will already be set as Dartmouth for ya) and cast a much-deserved vote for Adelina as 'Favorite Coffee Server'. A $1,500 gift certificate is on the line, and maybe even free coffee for a year for you, just for voting.

Keep in mind, the vote is only open to residents of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and you have to be at least 18 years old. If that's you, then you can vote once a day, so stop by again if you can. And if you have a favorite server, find out their name next time you're in line, and get with the clickin'.

posted by brad at 2:33 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

The world needs more good music-related DVDs, and Plexifilm website is looking to feed that need. From their website... We've just finished production of the awesome They Might Be Giants DVD GIGANTIC (A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) which will land on store shelves November 18th. We've also just completed production of the Matador DVD release of WATCH ME JUMPSTART, the film about Guided By Voices by Banks Tarver, which includes lots of new extras. And filmmaker Justin Mitchell, director of SONGS FOR CASSAVETES, is busy editing the forthcoming Plexi concert doc on TED LEO/PHARMACISTS, which will premiere in Spring '04. It's the first in a series of indie band concert docs we'll be producing in order to re-invent the cliched, bloated medium of the concert film. Rock. Rock, indeed.

posted by brad at 11:11 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Both the Brattle and Coolidge Corner theaters are known for bringing films to Boston that you wouldn't be able to catch anywhere else, and this time they're both in on something good. Starting tomorrow, November 14th, The Animation Show comes to town.

From the Brattle website...

The brainchild of innovative animators Mike (Beavis & Butthead / Office Space) Judge and Don Hertzfeldt, this collection of animated short films promises to finally give these filmmakers the wide exposure their work deserves and the chance to see these short masterpieces on the big screen, where they belong.

Some highlights of this year�s festival include:

� 6 Academy Award nominated films including MT. HEAD by Koji Yamamura, THE CATHEDRAL by Tomek Baginski, and REJECTED by Hertzfeldt.
� PARKING, a new film from the warped imagination of Bill Plympton.
� Rare, early animation and pencil tests from Mike Judge.
� 3 new short pieces by Hertzfeldt.
� An excerpt from 1957�s MARS AND BEYOND by legendary Disney animator Ward Kimball.
� IDENT, a rare piece from Aardman Animation, creators of Wallace & Gromit.

Plus more great films and some surprises! Visit www.animationshow.com for full descriptions of all films + other neat stuff!

One hell of a lineup. The Coolidge is doing midnight showings through mid-December, and the Brattle is only showing it through this Sunday. I am very, very there.

posted by brad at 10:21 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

So last night we're hangin' in our livingroom, watching the latest episode of the BBC's The Office (the best freakin' comedy on TV these days), with our dog Nina crashed on the couch beside us. Office main-man David Brent starts his insane 'dance of desperation' on the screen, his co-workers start clapping along, and Nina's head rises off the couch with a low growl. As the dance intensifies, the clapping fades, Brent starts grunting and flailing to the beat... and Nina runs towards the television and starts full-on barking at him (and she rarely ever barks). His dance stops and he points straight from the screen at Nina's face, and she stops dead silent. Comedy that crosses interspecific boundaries. Classic.

posted by brad at 9:23 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Looks like the Boston area will get it's own night to come together and remember the brilliance of Elliott Smith... Sunday, the 21st of December, at TT the Bears in Cambridge.

Mary Lou Lord, a friend, fan, and collaborator of Elliott's, is pulling the evening together, and it promises to be a much more low-key (and maybe less star-crammed) affair than the recent L.A. tribute concert, but it'll be no less special to those around here who were impacted deeply by the songs he wrote. Thanks, Mary Lou.

an update from Mary Lou...

The line-up for the 'remembering Elliott' show, so far...

Apollo Sunshine
Kevin & Amy from the Raging Teens
Phil Aiken (Buffalo Tom / Crown Victoria)
Juliana Hatfield
Jason Hatfield
Mary Lou Lord
and more to be announced

I figured I'd put up another Elliott song for this week's Mp3. It's one of his rarer recordings, the b-side of the sold-out Happiness 7'', an acoustic version of Son of Sam from Figure 8.

posted by brad at 10:53 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Did a little tidying up around the Almanac this evening ... finally got around to posting a few new pages of photos, and finished up some minor design tweaks, too.


Back in September, on a visit up to Vermont, I dragged Amie to the one n' only Champlain Valley Fair. I grew up about a mile from the thing, and spent way too much time roaming the midway, wasting money on rigged games, staring slack-jawed at the rednecks that came down from the hills, dodging carnies, and wondering which ride would be the next to break down. I'd save up over the summer for that one week, just before school started, when I could blow all my cash on videogames, ride tickets, bad food, and usually-crappy concerts. The Fair is responsible for my shamefull response to the question "What was the first concert you ever saw?" (sadly, the Charlie Daniels Band... although sometimes I'll "forget" and answer "Foreigner with Loverboy").


For me, our visit this time was five minutes of nostalgia, followed by "... and why did I used to love coming here so much?!". It seemed a lot smaller, but the crowd was still packed to the gills with locals and mountain folk. We toured the midway, hit the ferris wheel for the aerial view, had some Al's Fries, checked out the animals, then got the hell outta there. Hard to believe there was a time when I could spend hours upon days on those fairgrounds and still not have done everything. I used to want it to last forever, but I think that's because the end of the fair always meant the end of the summer.

Here's a couple pages of Fair photos. Beware, a couple of them are not for the faint of heart.


Also in September, back before the dark days, when Boston's love affair with the Red Sox was still in full-swing, I took an extra-long lunch hour and headed over to Fenway Park. The Sox had teamed up with the Red Cross to mark the anniversary of nine-eleven with a big-honkin' blood drive. Hundreds upon hundreds of Sox fans and concerned citizens showed up to donate pints upon pints of the red stuff... so many people that the place was overwhelmed, and the wait was hours long.


The Sox helped us pass the time with free food & drink, tours of the park, and interviews with a few current and former players (broadcaster Don Orsillo, too). After almost 3 hours of hanging around, and not even close to getting called, I had to go back to work without giving ... but I was able to get a bunch of photos, and give the Red Cross my blood a couple weeks later. Check out the pictures here.


Speaking of digital visual, you'll see that my recent photos page has been updated (better check... you might be on there), and now it will always include the three latest pictures from my camera-phone's moblog, and Amie's, too. You'll also see the most recent picture from my cellphone in the upper right there... you can click it to go straight to my moblog page, if ya like.

posted by brad at 8:45 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Google does it again. Their new Deskbar searches the web without opening a browser, and launches right from your Windows toolbar. Now that's the stuff. Go on n' get it.

Now I've just gotta figure out how to make the returned links open my default browser instead of Inter-not Explorer. Hmmm...

posted by brad at 12:45 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Two entirely unrelated news items that show us the world is still full of wonder ...

• NASA's Voyager 1 Reaches the Edge of the Solar System. It just keeps going, and going, and going ...
  
  
• Philanthropist Leaves $200 Million to National Public Radio. Incredible news... that's double their annual budget. And to think, all that cash came from McDonald's hamburgers. Thank you, Mrs. Kroc. (and thanks, polly)

See, the national news isn't all depressing now, is it?

posted by brad at 5:03 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Went on a mini-spending spree this past week, what with the birthday donations and a bit of disposable income. Picked up some very cool books, games, and discs, including...

• Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg - While I've got most of the albums that this 'hits' collection pulls from, the extra cd of rarities makes this purchase so, so worth it.
  
  
• Wheat: Per Second Per Second Per Second... Every Second - A long, long wait between Wheat albums finally gives us this new one. I can only hope it measures up to Hope & Adams.
  
  I had to exercise some extreme restraint at the cd shop... impulses wanted me to grab the new Laika, the Replacements collection, Ryan Adams, East River Pipe, Mojave 3, and the Pieces of April soundtrack (new Magnetic Fields songs!). Damn you, self-control!
  
  
• Phillip Pullman: Lyra's Oxford - A short story follow-up to the epic His Dark Materials trilogy. I bought this last Friday and just plain inhaled it ... Pullman never fails to pull me in, even with a shorter amount of time in which to do it. A small but beautifully bound book with excellent wood block illustrations by John Lawrence. More, please. For a timely taste of his writing, check out this piece he wrote last week for the New York Times called "Why I Don't Believe In Ghosts".
  
  
• Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 - I'm very curious how Michael Azerrad chose to tackle this, and what bands he chooses to focus on. Looking forward to getting a little nostalgic, for sure... speaking of which...
  
  
• The Creation Records Story: My Magpie Eyes Are Hungry for the Prize - The history of one of my favorite labels. Creation captain Alan McGee gave the world releases from the likes Ride, My Bloody Valentine, House of Love, Jesus & Mary Chain, the Boo Radleys... all legendary in their own rights, all worshipped by me to varying degrees. Can't wait to read the story behind the rise and fade.
  
  
• Robert B. Parker: Shrink Rap - Boston-based mystery author Parker releases waaaay too many books for me to keep shelling out for hardcovers, so I've tested my patience and held out for paperback only. This latest one is a Sunny Randall story, and will be a welcome quick 'n easy read after trudging through the most recent Robert Jordan.
  
  
• Simpsons Hit & Run - My limited collection of X-Box games grows by three, one of which is this Simpsons title that surprisingly does not suck. It's basically a bloodless, brighter GTA3, and I'm loving it. A storyline from the show writers, original dialogue from the cast, tons of vehicles (Mr Plow!), and most of Springfield layed out for you to explore. Last night I climbed up to an old Monorail station, jumped into the banged up, abadoned front car, and jumped the track to cruise through the Springfield streets. Fun stuff, and I've barely begun.
  
  
• Buffy: Chaos Bleeds - I think I'm pretty close to finishing up the original Buffy X-Box game, so I bought the new one to have it on deck. Considering my new Simpsons H&R habit, and my hope to one day finish Vice City, this one may have to wait awhile.
  
  
• Solider of Fortune 2: Double Helix - I'm a sucker for a good first-person shooter, but haven't really tried one on the X-Box yet (I'm a converted consoler, former PC-only guy). This one sounds like a good start, although considering Killian's stellar recommendation for Call of Duty, and the in-progress Medal of Honor: Breakthrough expansion pack, I might be back on the PC very soon. Considering that XIII is out in a couple weeks, and the Midway Arcade Treasures Collection (20 games for 20 bucks! Gauntlet! Spy Hunter! Joust! Sinistar! Marble Madness! Gah!) soon after, I'd better double-time it. Those might have to go on the Christmas list.

I toldja I bought a bunch of stuff. Now it's a matter of finding the time to play / listen / read it all. Something's gotta give, and it just might end up being sleep-time.

So, what have you picked up lately that you're just loving? Any great books, games, or discs? Hmmmm?

posted by brad at 3:22 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Caught between a spending block and a hard place, presidential candidate Howard Dean takes a tough decision and places it in the hands of 600,000 of his supporters. It's a bold move, a smart move, and probably the right one to make.

At the end of each financial quarter, if you want your campaign donations to be equally matched by federal funds, you need to stick to certain rules. The big one: campaign spending must be capped at around $45 million until the Democratic convention next summer. Needless to say, George Bush doesn't need to follow this rule. In the 2000 campaign he rejected federal matching funds and spent more than twice as much as Gore, who stuck to the spending cap. Bush is obviously going with the same game plan this time around, expectedly pulling in almost 200 million dollars with individual $2000 donations and $1,000 a plate dinners.

It puts Dean in an awkward position, almost a victim of his own success. Early on, he figured he'd need the matching funds, but his growing popularity means he might be able to raise more money without them. He'd be the first Democrat to reject the rules since they were enacted in 1974, post-Watergate, and he'd be under severe pressure to raise as much money as matching funds would have brought him.

Putting the decision up for a vote among his supporters will not only help deflect criticism from other Democratic candidates (who will no doubt use this to jump on Dean even more than the desperate confederate flag flap), but it will also put some of the fundraising pressure back into the voters hands. If the people decide to forego the funds, then the people will need to donate the difference. Makes sense.

There's not much doubt about which way this will go... Dean fans (myself included) will want him fighting Bush on a level playing field, and won't want money to decide this race (like last time?). Critics will cry "waffle!", but most of them will be crying it out of jealousy. They only wish they had the momentum that Dean has, they only wish they were faced with the same decision. I'm guessing if they were, not only would they reject the spending limit, and the matching funds, they'd probably decide to do so behind closed doors, with campaign advisors, and certainly not on the internet, with thousands of us.

Ballots should arrive in our inboxes tomorrow morning, voting lasts until midnight Friday, and results will be announced on Saturday. Click here to read more.

posted by brad at 9:37 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

Heads up... this week's free mp3 from the Teenbeat Mailing List (courtesy of Chrome Waves) is a special treat for Velocity Girl fans. The deets...

"Starry Eyes was an extremely short-lived project by ex-Velocity Girl members Sarah Shannon, Jim Spellman and Kelly Riles. Sarah Shannon was living in Seattle at the time and the rest of the band (which included drummer Nick Pellicciotto) lived in DC."

The song is "Radio!", and it's here, but only for a week. So get with the grabbin'.

Actually, do yourself a favor and sign-up for the Teenbeat Mailing List, while you're at it... that way you'll never miss future downloads and Teenbeat-related updates.

posted by brad at 12:11 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

It has been brought to my attention that "30s are the new 20s." Having just hit 34, I'm highly in favor of that determination.

From the U.S. News & World Report...

Where once people got married after high school or college in their early 20s, men and women today are as likely to stay single for years. According to the 2002 census, the median age at first marriage has risen to 25.3 for women, the highest ever, and 26.9 for men.

With the delayed marriage action comes the even-later arrival of kids, not to mention finding a 'stable' line of work. Think about your friends at 20-something ... were they, or are they, well into their "careers" by then? Probably not. Most people I know have barely even figured out what they really want to do by the time they hit 30. The rough economy of the early 90s put a lot of job plans on hold (hell, I graduated from college and worked at a video store), and the boom of the late 90s led many to believe they could live comfortably off the tech sector. Reality set in, jobs were lost, starting salaries shrunk, new careers were considered.

Like I said below, I'm still mid-20s in my head. I don't feel like a mid-thirties married guy... not in the slightest. I still geek out on new music, go to rock shows, play videogames, read comics, play drums in a band. Same stuff I did in my 20s. The only difference now is I have an amazing, super-cool person to share all that stuff with. Oh, and more pets. So as far as I'm concerned "30s are the better 20s."

posted by brad at 9:25 AM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |

As promised, the Mp3 of the Week I offer up will occasionally include something rare 'n random from bands I've been in, or from friends who don't mind me sharing.

Over the weekend, I finally got ahold of a disc of unreleased stuff from the Four Color Manual, a band I was lucky enough to be part of from 1997 to 1998. We burned quickly, but brightly, and I often miss playing with these guys. I think about the Manual a lot, about how great it was to rock out on songs that Colin wrote, about what an amazing all-natural bass player Dan was (every day he's not in a band is a crime), about how much better we were getting near the end, about that last never-heard recording session that produced a few damn good songs.

One of those last recordings, "All the Factors Are In", can be found (and now downloaded) on the "My Life or Some Dream" compilation that I pulled together a couple years ago. I very nearly chose another one, called "Pinning A Mountain", for the collection instead. Now it's a perfect candidate for the Almanac Mp3 of the Week. So here ya go.

posted by brad at 12:16 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) | |