Just when you start to believe that money can’t buy everything in life, least of all integrity, reality swoops in and crushes our naive collegiate and free-spoken hearts. Maybe it was a little credulous of us to think that the Bancroft family would have ripped the “Welcome” mat out from under Rupert Murdoch’s grubby little tentacles, but we were really looking forwards to seeing Dow Jones proverbially slap Murdoch across his face with their wallets.
We’re not the only ones surprised, though. Most of the reports from the media on Monday were doubtful of the acquisition, and we feel misled; misled and betrayed. More on this to come, probably.
Featured Song: “Money (That’s What I Want)” by The Flying Lizards
They’ve been Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre and they’ve downsized from a three piece with a drummer to the often used (and equally ridiculed) male instrumentalist with lead female on vocals. Glass Candy is Ida No and Houston-raised Johnny Jewel, and that’s just how we like it.
The band, throughout its various incarnations have built up a reputation for evolution. They originally burst into the musical collective consciousness with their surreal disco-inspired cover of “Iko Iko” (performed most notably by The Dixie Cups, then covered by The Belle Stars; long live the “Rainman” soundtrack.) Ida and Johnny recently revisited their breakthrough song, sampling the infamous Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me.”
As one of the newfound pioneers of Italo disco, Glass Candy have also contributed to nascent record label Italians Do It Better and its compilation CD-R, “After Dark.” The album showcases an incredible list of electro-inspired tracks, including The Chromatics and (actual Italians) Mirage. Glass Candy, however, is fantastic in the mix. “Rolling In The Hills” and “Miss Broadway” are Ida and Johnny at their best (so far).
Featured Song: “Iko (Geto Boys Demo)” by Glass Candy (Download).
Featured Song: “Rolling Down The Hills” by Glass Candy (Download).
Today is a popular day to die it would seem. But while others are devoting words to Ingmar Bergman and, we suppose, Tom Snyder, those losses were trumped by the death of Houston’s ABC 13 Eyewitness News commentator Marvin Zindler. He died of cancer at 85, probably due to overexposure to the ice machine slime he spent his life battling against. For full coverage of the death that is no doubt being felt in every corner of the greater Houston area, visit ABC 13. We leave you with Zindler’s trademark sign off and the memory of a life well spent.
President Bush contends the Saudi military needs upgrading
This is rich. According to the New York Times, President Shitforbrains is getting ready to ask Congress to give Saudi Arabia $20 billion in new military hardware, paid out steadily over the next 10 years. This would include all kinds of satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to fighters and all kinds of other fancy shit so’s our friends in the House of Saud can continue to spread freedom in the Middle East.
It’s a shame that President Chim Cim doesn’t read his intelligence reports or, you know, the newspaper from time to time. Were he to glance at one, he might have noticed this item in the LA Times a couple of weeks ago, or this one from the New York Times. Or this one, from, er, Editor and Publisher.
About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis[.]
Yeah, man, go right ahead, arm the fuck out of our “friends” or “allies” or whatever - pretty sure it can’t get any worse over there. Or hey, how about this. Just take your pick of a landmark or airport or whatever some terrorist cell might want to blow up and just go ahead and do it yourself?
Featured Song: “Death to Our Friends” by Sonic Youth
The Supreme Court recently voted 5-4 to make the Douchebag the national bird of the United States
Looks like Chuck Schumer has been asleep or something for the past two years because today he gave a crazy-eyed speech about how no more of Bush’s picks should make it to the Supreme Court. I don’t know where this guy was in September 2005 when Alito got nominated, but this kind of conviction about keeping nutcases off the court would have been good to see, like, at the time. Said Senator Rip Van Winkle:
We should reverse the presumption of confirmation. The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito… There is no doubt that we were hoodwinked… Alito shouldn’t have been confirmed… When a president says he wants to nominate justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, believe him.
Who would have guessed that Bush, after saying he was going to put more Scalias on the Court would nominate such individuals! After all, Roberts did say things like “I will respect previous precedent.” Who could possibly have guessed that he was not telling the truth? Who? Anyone? Hoodwinked indeed!
Thank you, Senator, for looking after the national interest. Hey, that whole Iraq thing was probably a bad call too, huh? It’s cool though, no way anyone could have known.
This is an example of the kind of picture that I couldn’t take under the new rules because I was with another photographer when I took it.
We’re generally the sort of people who pride ourselves on the idea that taking political action is best left to other, crustier people. If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you know the number of times we’ve asked our readers to actually do anything other than join us in deriding the pathetic state of nation and that number would be zero. Though we’re about to change that number by 100%, we pledge that calls to action will be few and far between if one is ever to come again.
But so look. New York City is a wonderful place, but the folks in the Office of Film and Television are about to do something really fucking stupid. Unless there’s substantial public outcry by August 3, they’re going to change the rules about filming and photographing on New York City streets so that any group of *2 or more people* would need *a permit from the city* and *$1 million in liability insurance*. The rationale for this is that since anyone can produce movies and tv shows and whatever and use the internet to reach an audience, groups of 2 or more people no longer count as the non-commercial whatever that protected us before.
I’m sure we don’t have to explain why this is a bad thing. Should this pass, other cities might get the same idea and that’s just bad news for everybody. Ronald Reagan beat Communism for a reason, and it’s so we can film and photograph whatever bullshit we want on the street whenever we feel like it and post it on the internet. That’s the idea that led Ronald Reagan to invent Freedom in the first place.
So sign this petition, even if you don’t live in New York. And if you do, there are going to be some public hearings and things and it would be rad if you found the time to go to them and say something intelligent for the cameras.
Thanks guys. Let’s beat this and then we’ll never have to ask you for anything ever again.
“After this is over, Daddy’s going to put these senators into a naked pile.”
Today’s wasn’t Gonzo’s best day on the job. Not only did the AP get ahold of some documents that pretty much refute big chunks of his sworn testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the director of the FBI just gave conflicting testimony this afternoon. And then a bunch of pesky libtard senators called for an perjury investigation! Who do they think they are?
The thing about lying under oath is that it generally only tends to work when there’s no way to prove that you’re lying. In this case, it took less than 24 hours and exactly zero investigation.
Featured Song: “I Don’t Believe You” by The Magnetic Fields
