Tickets, please, stay to your left...

Musical journey time! (courtesy of my Yahoo station)

Belle & Sebastian, "The Wrong Girl" (rating: 50)

One of the good songs on a rather uneven album. Unfortunately, they've only gotten worse...

A-Ha, "Velvet" (rating: 96)

The best A-Ha song I've ever heard...out of the three, and one that was a big Eurohit. I only knew about this song because while I lived in Russia they played the video one day, and I was convinced that it was better than "Take On Me" and one of the best videos ever.

I saw it again not too long ago...and I was wrong. But you can see boobies and Morten's six-pack...

Frank Black & The Catholics, "All My Ghosts" (rating: 60)

A nice harsh song. This album made me think that ol' Charles was ready w/Pixies Mark II. Good one, you got me! The first Catholics album is still the best, but I'm afraid that unless Prince takes him aside and lets him know that just because he writes a song doesn't mean it HAS to be on an album FB will never write another great one.

And what I've heard of his new one has made me say meh...

3rd Bass, "Eye Jammie" (rating: 90)

Hee. Still makes me laugh fourteen years later...

Miss me?

Hey kids! What's been happening in this nutty blogosphere?

Oh me, nothing much, tree fell during a storm, sideswiped our house and took out our phone and DSL line for two precious weeks, but that certainly doesn't explain the long absence...

But who doesn't love the "sorry I haven't posted in a long time" blog post?

Anyhoo, here's the most awesome thing on TV in the past month...

A win's a win.

Yeah, Croatia had its chances, yeah, Brazil didn't look like its usual powerhouse self, yeah, Ronaldo bounced around so much Sir Mix-a-lot was probably writing a tribute as they played, but in the end, they got the same three points every other winning team gets, even if it wasn't pretty.

Jim Webb won, now let's move on and get rid of the embarrassment in the Senate.

(Though I must admit, it's nice being the one telling others to move on for a change, as opposed to being the move-ee...)

Sheesh, it's close...

And you can follow the results here, but right now Webb has a slight lead.

C-Ville went for Webb 57-43, for what it's worth...

I'm voting for Jim Webb.

It's not an eager vote, mind you, though after I posted my misgivings about the negative flyer I received from Webb, I got two in the mail from Miller.

To me, it's as simple as this. I don't think Miller's got a chance in hell against George Allen. I think Webb has a chance in hell.

And I can't wait until Tuesday's over so that we can go after a Republican for a change.

Frickin' Will Rogers was spot on...

He's the guy who made the "I don't belong to an organized party, I'm a Democrat" crack, right?

As a former Deaniac, my single biggest frustration with the Dems is this, they have no problem dipping into the Repub barrel of dirty tricks, nasty tactics, and negative campaigning...when they're attacking a fellow Democrat. Of course, by the time the general election rolls around they tiptoe around the Repub opponent like an abused child who thinks if they don't make a sound as they come in the house they won't get slapped this time.

If the California governor's primary wasn't enough evidence, next week we're having our own primary in Virginia, two candidates who would mark an improvement over the (everybody say it w/me!) vacuous dimbulb George Allen, who (oh, Sweet Lord, NO!) might be our president in 2008. I had mildly endorsed James Webb over Harris Miller in purely pragmatic terms: as a former Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, I thought he had bipartisan and military credentials that would play into the state as a whole more successfully and bloody Allen. But over the past few weeks, our home has been inundated with robocalls and nasty mailers from Miller festooned with the quotes of Allen 10-15 years ago when he was a Republican. This campaign tactic was enough to make me heartily endorse Webb though I admittedly knew very little, on the basis that zero was much higher than the negative integer I'd apply to Miller.

Well, I just got my first mailer from the Webb campaign, and it's a glossy three-pager, the first two detailing Webb's background and history as a Virginian. So far, so good. But the last page. Sigh, "The Truth About Harris Miller", and that just shut me down, don't care if it's true.

Webb had a chance to take the high road and he blew it with me, for whatever that's worth. Enough people I respect have told me personally that Webb's the real deal so that he couldn't have lost my vote, but my endorsement has gone back to mild. My hope now is that Webb hasn't been a Democrat long enough to learn to go into the fetal position by the time the general campaign starts.


UPDATE: Miller and Webb are going to debate on Hardball tonight; I don't have cable so I'll miss it, but anyone who checks it out I'd love to hear their impressions.

Oh, CmdrSue, you're NOT gonna believe this...

Guess who my wife and I saw directly in front of us as we were waiting to check out of our local supermarket?

Steve Carell. I shit you not.

Funny, my wife spotted him from the very first aisle, but when I looked, it didn't seem to me to be the guy (Mr. Carell is in the central VA area shooting the Bruce Almighty sequel so it was entirely possible). It was not until we were going through the checkout lane where, lo and behold, Hollywood greatness stood in front of us.

And we were cool as cukes, lemme tell ya. I was cool as Shaggy when he finally sees the phantom that's been walking one step behind him, but Mrs. Nevskaya saved the day by inventing some small talk for us while he finished his transaction. Now THERE's acting...

Although for all I know Mr. Carell was over at his MySpace page yesterday waxing poetic about his brief encounter with Charlottesville's premier real estate agent...

Nevsky, musical journey, etc.

What's playing on my personal Launchcast(TM) station right now, you ask?

The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone" (rating: 50)

Yeah, I know, it's the goddamn Rush Limbaugh song. Actually, this takes me back to my adolescent days in NJ; for some reason K-ROCK played this song ad infinitum, and of course, it was years before I learned the name of the song wasn't "Ohio"...

Interpol, "A Time To Be So Small" (unrated)

Hmmm, not much to say about this one, I'm afraid. I don't hate the song, but I always thought it was a bit of an underwhelming closer for Antics...

The Streets, "When You Wasn't Famous" (rating: 50)

A Grand Don't Come For Free was on heavy rotation in our last year's summer soundtrack. Mike's new one is slightly less brilliant, although it's also hilarious ("War of the Sexes"). Apparently everyone in Britain was talking about who the subject of the song could possibly be, but I have trouble keeping up with pop culture here...

Cocteau Twins, "Violaine" (unrated)

...because I insist on listening to bands like Cocteau Twins long after they've shed the tiniest bit of relevance to the music scene. If you're like me, and have trouble keeping Cocteau Twins song titles straight, this was track 1 off Milk and Kisses, their last album and one I find to be very underrated. This was the only album that brought back the edge from Head Over Heels and drifted a bit from the super-polish of Treasure, Blue Bell Knoll, Heaven or Las Vegas, etc., etc., etc...

Echo and The Bunnymen, "Seven Seas" (rating: 50)

Motherfucker still owes me for walking off of last year's HFStival, so go here and laugh at their lame video.

Nice dancing, Ian...

Public Image Ltd., "Seattle" (rating: 60)

I liked Happy? a lot more than I probably should have (chalk it up to youth), this is really the only good song on the whole damn album. It's more interesting now to view it as Mr. Lydon's attempt to go from wonderfully annoying noise to the sarcastic pop of 9...then he made That What Is Not and That Was It...

OK, ride's over, souvenir photos available for purchase on your left...

*sigh* Yes, I know I'm 34...

And I know it's sad...

But I really want one of these...

I've been following the E3 coverage and there has hardly been anything that hasn't sent me into multiple nerdgasms...

And just when you think you've been completely drained by the news, they tease you with The Holy Grail of Videogames.

I'm blanking, is there a word that combines strong desire with intense self-loathing?

Dean scream of victory, people!

In local (and I do mean local) news, I was tickled pink to hear this morning that the City Council votes are in and the lone Republican was kicked off. Someone can tell me differently, but all I ever thought Schilling had a talent for was getting his picture in the local paper and being kind of a douchebag.

Oh, he did get that referendum passed to have our school board decided by local election rather than appointed, which I voted against, believing (and I still do) that it was a bad idea, albeit a justifiable (over)reaction to the scandals we had last year.

Anyway, as usual when it comes to Charlottesville politics, if you want a blog that offers more than a visceral reaction I wholeheartedly recommend Waldo Jaquith.

And now, that insightful commentary my discerning readers have come to expect from yours truly. Today's topic: Bush's latest poll numbers.

No fucking shit. He sucks.

My name is Nevsky, and I will be your guide on this musical journey...

Nothing better to do, so why not just comment on the songs as they play on my personal Launchcast Plus (tm) radio station? In their "tell us what you like and we'll play you what you think you like" system, only a zero removes a song from a playlist completely. Fifty means the song's in medium rotation, and anything over 80 is probably going to get played as soon as you turn the damn thing on again (unrated songs have either shown up for the first time or I was too lazy to rate 'em).

Here we go...

Oasis - "All Around the World" (rating: 90 out of 100)

Aaaaah, a nice one. And one of the only two songs that are worth a damn on their album-length tribute to cocaine, Be Here Now ("Don't Go Away" is the other one, but anyone who's listened to the album more than twice could have told you that). That album killed their career, but this song was a good coda. I wonder what happened to Bonehead...

Smashing Pumpkins - "Ava Adore" (unrated)

This album was a career-killer too IIRC, but I also liked this song a lot more than anything from the last album. I've got a soft spot in my heart for people who lack a sense of self-consciousness, and Billy C.'s incredibly pretentious songs and videos could either be home runs or cringeworthy failures, but we're all better off that people like him exist. Well, as long as you don't have to personally interact with him...

Interpol - "Evil" (rating: 54 out of 100)

This brings me back to DC last year, when I saw them at the 9:30 Club along w/my sis, and then later at the HFStival in Baltimore. One of the few bands I listen to incessantly that didn't get their start in the mid-80s to early 90s. And don't you just love the end of the first chorus, where they build up and build up and then cut out, leaving that super-cool bass lick?

Bronski Beat - "Smalltown Boy" (unrated)

Ooooh, that song. I've heard it before but never knew what it was, thought it was Erasure... Lessee, apparently Cure fans recommend this song. Not feeling it, let's skip...

R.E.M. - "Everybody Hurts" (rating: 60)

I've absolutely ruined this song for anyone else that has had the misfortune to listen to it in the same room as me by singing along to it.

Later...

It's time for Ceeeeeeeeeeee-lebrity Ceeeeeeeeeeeeeee-...Corner.

Spanning what I bother to look up within 5 minutes in the entertainment world...

* In the grand tradition of LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee, Ice Cube vs. NWA, and Jay-Z vs. Nas, here comes...K-Fed vs. Thomas Dolby.

C'mon, Tommy Boy! Blind him w/science! Call in the Pirate Twins, and Howard the Duck! What're ya pavarottis gonna do now, MIS-ter Spears?

* Congrats to Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris "head-so-weirdly-shaped- Dave-Matthews-does-a-doubletake" Martin on the birth of their second child. Moses. Which is a relief, I was afraid they were going to go with Banana Martin.

* I guess Prince has enough money. Too bad, I would have loved to watch him try to choke down the bile. And each AI contestant should have been forced to come up with their own unpronounceable symbol...here's mine: Җ (I could spell it out for you, but actually pronouncing it would cause the world to cease to exist in a white light of philosophical recursion, and besides, I always forget to include the silent q.)

Christ, what an idiot. (Non-George W. Bush-edition)

Perhaps my frustrations stem from the fact that from the President on down my federal representatives are vacuous dimbulbs who have coasted on the accomplishments of their far superior fathers to build themselves a nice cozy political career for which they are certainly not qualified and even their party allies are finding increasingly hard to defend.

Dubya? Need I say more (yes, but I won't today). George Allen, with his well-deserved reputation for idiocy in the Senate and his recent comments that he is running for President out of boredom, is one of the few people that can look at GWB and say "yep, I can do worse".

And then there's Virgil Goode. Who? You may have heard of him recently, as he has ties to the recent scandal that took out Duke Cunningham. But his most recent appearance, alongside bibble-bibble-oatbran Tom Tancredo, sets a new low for political discourse, with a repulsive race-baiting strawman statement that he'll probably use in his upcoming election campaign (and one, sadly, he'll probably win). But let's dissect the statement; I'm not sure how he knew the demonstrators waving the Mexican flag were illegal immigrants, since the last time he visited the border was '97, and I must have missed his rabid protest against flag-waving at the St. Patrick's Day parade (why not? He had as much knowledge of the legal status of the flag-wavers at that rally).

Of course, a nice xenophobic statement like that can make people forget current events, a tactic used by such successful politicos as Diamond Joe Quimby.

Well, his statement, and the ultra-right-wing's attitude toward immigration in general, have been noted and criticized by such pinko commie liberals as Bill Kristol, but I fear that we will once again turn our focus towards the new crisis destroying our country (now that we've taken care of that gay marriage, WHEW!, that was a close one!)

Meanwhile, thank you, Congressman Goode, for taking an incredibly complex social concern and reducing it to the most provocative and least helpful level you possibly could. I'd like to think you're ashamed, but you're probably not that self-aware.

Big bucks, no whammies...no whammies...STOP! NO, NOT THE PLANE!!!!

Yes, I wasted more time than I'd care to admit watching the most stupid and awesome game show of the 80s...

So it was sad to hear that the former host and his wife were in a plane crash.

Here's hoping you're entertaining everyone in heaven, and Jesus hasn't figured out the secret of the board yet...

OK, kids, time to go to work...



My time with the Howard Dean campaign taught me two things about myself: 1) I'm a sucker for a straight-talking candidate with whom I do not necessarily agree all the time but is a world apart when compared to a vapid nitwit coasting on name recognition and 2) I'm a sucker for web-based fundraising graphics.

This post, as it turns out, fulfills both of my cravings...

Hopefully you'll find this encouraging, sixthdoctor...

I was at a banquet last night celebrating my wife's receiving a major award; I usually loathe these things due my inability to avoid political debates/blowouts with her dittohead colleagues, which have, quite frankly, impeded upon my personal feelings towards them to the point where over the past few years I simply try to stay away from them whenever I can.

Well, lo and behold, the discussion turned to Nawlins and one chap turned to me (unprovoked, mind you) and said that it's really amazing that anyone can support Bush after what was in the news this week.

Well. Thank you. Was that so hard?

*snif* Here's hoping you've received your major award...

Sadly, Darren McGavin, the definite Kolchak and the father from A Christmas Story, passed away yesterday. I salute you with your battle cry...

The only thing wrong with this is I didn't think of it...

 


I wish I could take credit for this, but this is my brother's work. Since the only industries that have blossomed since Bush took office have been oil, internet poker, and anti-Bush t-shirts, I think this is going to be the next big thing...

Say hi to Queen Starsha for me...

I'm glad someone's thinking about important shit, like which stars are the best possible candidates to sustain life. The top star is only 26 light-years away. 26. That's babyshit. If the Argo can travel 148,000 light-years and back in just one earth year, we should be able to get shuttle voyages going around, oh, 2066.

The article does state, however, that a scheduled launch of a scanning satellite has been delayed due to funding cuts. Must we start a letter-writing campaign to President Bush about the importance of locating a Cosmo-DNA machine in case we're attacked by the Gamilons? You'd think this is exactly the sort of thing he'd worry about, frickin' GAMILON PLANET BOMBS! THESE ARE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, YA NIMROD!!