Consumption Junction
Posted on November 6, 2003 at 3:22 pm | No Comments
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?
Deciding on Dollars for Dean
Posted on November 5, 2003 at 9:37 am | No Comments
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.