I can’t let Barack History Month go by without dropping what I feel is the song that inspired Obama’s wildfire campaign slogan, Yes We Can, not to mention Nas’ chart-toppingest single and most positive track since If I Ruled the World. His ailing mom asked him specifically to pen an inspiring song for children and [...]

No, really. Thankfully, it won’t be called the Morgan Stanley Center—yet.

Conan O’Brien last night:
Yesterday, Ralph Nader announced he’s running for president again. Immediately after the announcement, the guy sitting next to Nader on the park bench told him to shut up. [via]

First time Vegas novel writer Charles Bock got the silver platter treatment earlier this month thanks to two (!) features in the New York Times for his ten-years-in-the-making book Beautiful Children. Sure it’s overhyped, but what I’ve read so far is enjoyable, (grunge-era references and first-time follies notwithstanding), knowing of tragedy but spiritually generous, and [...]

Fellow Ross County-ites, check it out. She’s a fab speaker—better than, dare I say, Barack himself. It should be a good talk, even if NAFTA is mentioned, which trust me it will. People may not know a lot about Ohio, but one thing they know at this point is boy oh boy do Ohians hate [...]

And they don’t know when they’ll stop (could they catch strike fever?), but at least they promise to warn us 24 hours in advance, which is thoughtful.

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters
By the way (1) the precious radio show This American Life earlier this month talked to The Onion’s writers about how they pitch their faux headlines every week in Tough Room. The funny thing about it is that there’s nothing funny about it, which is why it’s [...]

I knew Koreans loved kimchi, but not this much, certainly not worth spending “millions of dollars and several years perfecting a version of kimchi that would not turn dangerous when exposed to cosmic rays” as did the Korean govt recently to create for its astronauts a space friendly kind of kimchi with microbes that won’t [...]

Democrats Abroad this year for the first time created a 51st United State just for Americans living overseas. (Not surprisingly, a GOP equivalent does not exist. I’m guessing that has something to do with the Republican aversion to passports.) The votes from the Global Primary that was held two weeks ago (in which yours truly [...]

Oh yeah, this Montreal dude “Socalled” can play a mean hip-hop accordian. An utterly hilarious and original song, not to mention video. I guess I should add a “Canada” category one of these days. Thanks for the tip, Drew and Kenji.

I had written Ninjatune off for dead sometime around 2001, about the time “trip hop” was played out to the umpteenth impotent Starbucks lounge CD and lightyears away from any kind of underground. Shame really, cause I’ll be gulldurned but that UK label was putting out some of the dopest music on the planet right [...]

Keeping the Marxist ball rolling: there’s a riot of sorts going on this weekend: Berlin’s famously tenacious squat (besetztes Haus), KÖPI 137 on the Xberg side of Mitte, is throwing a Hausparty feat. all manner of punk bands (including Road Kill Zombies from here and No Sin from Athens), DJs, cocktails and trashy 80s zombie [...]

Nigel Beale, blogging for The Guardian, observes provocatively,
Communist propaganda and capitalist advertising are essentially the same thing; both use branding to achieve their respective objectives. In fact, Marx mentions branding in the second paragraph of his famous Manifesto. He was ticked off that others were recklessly and inaccurately hurling about, to use his own [...]

Yeah, sorry I didn’t add it in my events calendar (above) until now because, well, I’m still trying to remember to add stuff to it. Cut me some slack people, it’s freakin Monday.
But so check it: I have it on good authority (the internets) that the rolly polly half-evil half-Spanish screaming manchild whose early 90s [...]

from the Vertigo graphic novel Y:The Last Man, issue 5, page 7

I heard about Martin Atkins’ compilation of young Beijing-based bands, Look Directly Into The Sun, on NPR of all places. It sounded awesome. Then the NPR guy played a track by this band, one that Sonic Youth chose to tour with them last year, and I was sold. Carsick Cars has a strong SY influence [...]

I was recently chatting with my bro Micah and suggested that combining the anti-grammar of LOLcats plus Obama’s hot campaign video Yes We Can would generate something like “yes we can has can”. He was like no, dude, it already exists: YES WE CAN HAS (cheezburgers). He wuz right, it duz.
Update: I swear I did [...]

At the risk of offending my sizable vegetarian readership and to take the opportunity before Chuck Norris-approved Mike Huckabee is entirely marginalized by the McCain juggernaut, I can’t miss pointing out that at one point in time last month the topic of squirrel consumption entered the public discourse for at least one day. Mr. Huckabee [...]

On Sunday at the Hannibal cafe near Görlitzer Bahnhof I was surprised at the waitress’ casual attitude as she directed my still-outside cigarette-holding friend toward one wall of the cafe, a wall that was apparently just for smokers. A month ago, barkeepers were fairly diligent in keeping their establishments smoke-free but four weeks later, since [...]

Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin. And Oktay. And Dimi. And…