Thursday, March 27, 2003

served

*knockknockknockknock*
.../uuoah....whu....[glanceclock]5:35[thinkcrazyneighbor, backtosleep]
*knockknockknockknock*
zzzzlssleeepzzughfucughsleeeeeeeezzzzzz
*knockknockknockknock*
*roomaterumbledoor*sleeeeohhfuuuuushe'swakingmeuhhhhhhhhp*roomateknockbedroomdoor*
*knockknockknockknock*
sleepywhisper:-derekwillyougethtedoor.....
*knockknockknockknock*
[thinkisitashcroftforlastaffordablejusticepost]
bathrobe
front door
sherrif
-are you derek teslik
-yuhhhh
-you're sued!
-fuck.
-later
-later on dude
[readpapers, caraccident, isntthiswhatinsuranceisfor?, backtobed]
*garbagetrucksrumbleandknock*
fuck
*garbagetrucksrumbleandknock*
fuck
[thinkcountersuittortreformgottosleepagain]
*garbagetrucksrumbleandknock*
fuck
halfhourbacktosleep
*alarmreggae*
snooze
*ALARMREGGAE*
exhausted and sued
fuck

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

arab news sources on the web

are CNN and Fox News not giving you the big picture? do you want a bit of context and a deeper look into middle eastern politics than that paragraph on page A26 of the old gray lady, below the fold, next to the 2/3 of a page Macy's bra ad? here are a couple arab news web sites that might be worth your time.

al jazeera
al-jazeera, the 'arab cnn,' put up an english version of its web site a few days ago and has been off the net ever since. either it just couldn't handle the traffic generated by the start of the war and the new english-speaking audience or some jokers in the hacking community took them out with DOS (denial of service) attacks. even money on which it was. either way this link probably won't work until a few days after i post it when the sort out their web problems..

as i'm writing this i have cnn on. the british army centcom representative just insulted the al-jazeera reporter at a live news conference. real slick there, guvnah. your being a jackass doesn't make winning the peace any easier.

dar al hayat
published in the uk, and it looks like they also have a local beruit edition.

al jazeerah
this is not the tv station. I'm not sure what it is, and some of the news completely imaginary ("A US delegation arrived in Amman in its way to Baghdad for ceasefire negotiations" for example), but some of the op/eds seemed worthwhile.

arab news
saudi arabia's first english daily. after reading some current stuff, check out the section on 9/11 (link on the left).
Channels of Influence
StarTime Intl. | Walkmen Interview

jinners does one of the most entertaining walkies interviews i have ever read.

Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Dar Al Hayat - al jazeera yanked from stock exchange

i guess the press is free in this country as long as it is "our" press. in the long run i think al jazeera will be one of the most important elemnts in the development of a peaceful, free, democratic, and global middle-east.

Monday, March 24, 2003

also, a bit of a game: what indie rock songs are people listening to in iraq?

I'll get you started, feel free to chip in:
Saddam: The Walkmen, "Everyone who pretended to like me is gone" or "They're Winning"
Kofi Anan: The Walkmen, "We've Been Had"
Iraq's Republican Guard: French Kicks, "Close to Modern" or "1985"
back to normal

well, a weekend of rest has done me well. i don't know if you could tell buy frantic warblogging, but by the end of last week i was completely fried; between sunday-monday-tuesday nights out rocking and rolling and war starting the next night i could barely form a coherent sentence. 10-12 hours of sleep each night and growing accustomed to this ongoing war have put me back together. i'll still keep CNN on when i am home, watch it out of the corner of my eye, but i'm pulling back enough to keep a measure of sanity.

i felt great on my ride in to work. no war news on the radio, for the first time in a while; instead a beach boys CD, rolling down the ten actually bopping my head, legitimately hoping that Rhonda would help me get her out of my heart, and Rhonda was succeeding, untill i saw the federales. now, growing up in DC i'd see the white US Government plates on all sorts of cars and trucks and never bat an eye -- there are 5-10 agencies/police departments that have some sort of jurisdiction in the diamond district -- but what would the feds be doing out here? and the car they were on was a standard cop crown vic. weird. i sped up to check out the side, see who they were with: the Federal Protective Services. eh? never seen them before. sounds like homeland security. so after some research i find this:

"At FPS, our goal is to become a premier facility security organization that provides a safe environment in which Federal agencies can conduct their business.
To accomplish this, we will reduce threats posed against Federal facilities which range from terrorism to workplace violence to larcenies. FPS is committed to ensuring the appropriate level of security is in place at each GSA managed facility, regardless of its location throughout the country."

uhh....Rhonda? Little help, please?

Friday, March 21, 2003

exhausted and entranced by news coverage. i will sleep long tonight.
USC prof. at EC meeting: germany, france, belgium consider forming new military alliance as counterweight to NATO, will exclude US and UK from partnership
Letter From Gotham: SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO SOMEONE

uday hussein has a brain hemorrhage?

Thursday, March 20, 2003

cnn: saddam's old mistress says it wasn't him.
Near Real Time Satellite Images of Iraq
count up: 1 day into war

National guardman changed his name to a toy

optimus prime rules.
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
count up: 20.1 hours into the war

turkish parliament approves sending turkish troops into northern iraq; EU says turkey can kiss membership goodbye if they do go in to kurdistan.
count up: 20 hours into the war

Realistic Records :: View topic - EL I denken, daß Sie jetzt weggehen sollten oder essen meine

from realistic records' colorado correspondant:
"everything is closed because of the snow. all the restaurants are dark. there's only one place open and the lights were just blazing and the whole town was in there. i keep forgetting what's fucked up because of the snow and what's fucked up because of the war. because here they seem strongly connected. i felt like things were closed and dark because of the threat of air raids. they had the news on in the bar, just shots of baghdad. camera crews perched on top of buildings, hoping to get a good shot of the first explosion. and when bush came on the bartender turned on the sound and turned off the stereo and everyone leaned out to watch, as if he was going to say anything of any import. and he made his speech, and the screen went back to quiet shots of baghdad. the bartender turned the sound back off and turned the stereo back on and christina aguilera's "beautiful" was just ending, followed closely by "oops i did it again." so that's the beginning of my wartime experience. "

thanks el, i do not think your drawings are pretentious. i promise.
count up: 16.75 hours into the war

Doonesbury has a great gag going this week with Duke (nerf hunter s. thompson) preparing to be appointed proconsul of iraq.

also, an analyst on NPR posits that the iraqi leadership is collapsing, and that is why we are holding off on the 'shock and awe in favor of delicate surgical strikes.
count up: 16.5 hours into the war

media notes: CNN was tripping all over itself last night, understandably of course, but they were still getting the hang of live 'embedded' reporters and you could often hear 3 or 4 people screaming at once, stepping on each others coverage. still riveting. i can't get enough of the embedded reporters: it sure beats the defense dept. breifing releases of video from '91.

rock and 'let's roll': here are those gogol bordello pictures from tuesday night at the echo. it was a terrific, raucis show. everyone had a great time (you could tell that the gogols were having a blast) and we got out a lot of nervous energy. it was clear that war was coming, and soon, and everyone here must have had that in the front or back of their mind. for real, why else would so may hipsters dance like they were under 21?
count up: 6 hours into the war


preview: gogol bordello at the echo (los angeles) 3/18/03

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

count up from here on out: 4 hours into the war

i do not live in baghdad. i live in los angeles. for a blog from baghdad go here.


was that saddam? was it prerecorded? before you read this you'll likely know.

bloghdad from slate
Where is Raed ?

there is still nothing happening im baghdad we can only hear distant expolsions and there still is no all clear siren. someone in the BBC said that the state radio has been overtaken by US broadcast, that didn't happen the 3 state broadcasters still operate.
countdown: TIME'S UP

and CNN is at a commercial break. did everyone make their new-war's resolutions? everyone gets a kiss.

alt: please put down your #2 missles and pass your WMD tests to the front.
countdown: 45 minutes

blogging from baghdad:
Where is Raed ?
countdown: 1.25 hours

and they're marching and fighting in the streets of westwood, a mile or so from my office:
KCAL 9: Police, Protesters Square Off In Westwood
countdown: 2.33 hours

and i just paid $80.87 to fill up my gas tank
countdown: 3.3 hours

and i'd like to file a formal protest against the 'hipster moustache' on josh wise
countdown: 3.4 hours

Que Sera Sera

sarah b knows the score.
countdown: 4.8 hours

and that's enough time to read a walkies interview, right?

VH1.com : : The Walkmen: Born to Ramble

countdown: 5.65 hours

looking for a list of cheesy songs that are war appropriate. I'll start, you add on in the comments:

outkast 'bombs over baghdad'
cutting crew 'i just died (in your arms)'
clash 'rock the casbah'

i'm to tired to think of good ones right now

countdown: 6 hours

and the war is already started?

gogol bordello is the best argument for globalization that i have ever seen. cost of admission: $8. a gin and tonic and 2 beers (incl. tip): $13. minutes of my life stolen forever by the opening band: 45. eugene hutz crowd surfing on top of a huge drum and echo park hipsters dancing like maniacs in a polka mosh pit: priceless. pictures tonight.
countdown: 7 hours

look alive, people

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

countdown: 24 hours

praise the lord and pass the popcorn? i will be wearing army boots for the duration of the conflict -- i like to keep myself on a war footing (insert rimshot).
countdown: 27.9 hours

Iraq rejects Bush's 48-hour ultimatum as war preparations gather pace

"This proposition was made by an inept individual. We will go one better by calling for Bush to leave power with his family," Saddam's elder son Uday said Tuesday of the ultimatum.

who blinks first? will bush step down? tune in for more 'shock and awe' as the countdown continues.
countdown: 29.2 hours

remember when i linked to a picture of tommy keefer? well here's a picture of william keefer, his older brother.
countdown: 40.5 hours

missed most of the sharp ease show tonight due to st. paddy's day festivities. erin go, bra! i used to date a girl named erin. the bassist for the last band to play tonight had one of those chinstrap beards. his band honked. i left.

no asian 'abnormal pnemonia' symptoms yet. lets see how long i can hold out against the new plague (I've read the hot zone i know how these things work).

gogol bordello tomorrow night. once agan, LA folks, do not miss them. at the echo.

so sleep now, children, and dream of now, for you will dream of it again long after it is gone.

Monday, March 17, 2003

DRUDGE REPORT 2003®

i called it. drudge's red "developing" headline right now: Possible case of mystery illness in Los Angeles County...

achoo....(bless us all). guess who's taking a sick day tomorrow?
broken?
Kevin Sites Blog

i'm linking this again. if you didn't check this out the first time, do it. beautiful and powerful writing by someone on the ground in iraq right now, a real-time norman mailer or hemingway for the new war. maybe that's going a bit to far. but it's worth your time. i promise.
you know when you don't quite get enough sleep one night, then the next day you're having breakfast or whatever and you aren't really that hungry, and you walk around the majority of the day short of breath like you've been kicked in the stomach? rock and roll hangover or bizzare asian super-flu? we report, you decide.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

back to rock and roll, i guess.

so there are four great shows in the next four days, so i guess i will be groggy at work for most of this week:

tonight: scene creamers @ the troubador
tomorrow: the sharp ease (for free) @ spaceland
tuesday: gogol bordello @ the echo
wednesday: sahara hotnights @ the roxy

looks like we're going to get our war on withing the next few days. premium gas in san francisco @ $4.29 a gallon.

jinners: the recoys put the cover together themselves.

Friday, March 14, 2003

Kevin Sites Blog

cnn correspondant in iraq.
Taking it on the Chin

from above:
"There's also a lot of precedent for the use of "buk-" as a prefix in sexual or violent contexts. My copy of Japanese Street Slang by Peter Constantine had the related words "bukkomu" (lit. "hit into") meaning "to ram it in" or "to fuck the hell out of", and "bukkorosu" (lit. "hit to death") meaning "to fucking kill" or "to beat the living shit out of". It's a bit sad that the sexual and violent usages overlap, but I guess it's that way in English as well."

"to fuck the hell out of." fuck. awesome. once i saw a vanity liscence plate that said: BUKAKE. it creeped me out.

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Ananova - Juke box jury computer program 'predicts hit songs'

no cynical comment necessary.
on pete's insistance i went out and bought the fischerspooner album just now, and while i haven't had listened to it enough to get it, per se, i did watch the video for 'the 15th', featuring the french kicks + walt as the backing band for FS and, well, i'll admit it's pretty cool.
Don't Rush Me VI - Time for the grand gesture? By Mickey Kaus

kaus has a damn good idea on the war (which he says he stole from this must-read thomas friedman piece.)
saw the sharp-ease last night at a tiny club in west hollywood. there only 30 or so people there, but they rocked it. their new stuff sounds good. they're actually in the middle of recording it right now for their LP -- they're doing the drum tracks this week, apparently. the're playing around LA a lot these next few weeks, which i think is a good style while recording: you can keep the spontenaity of the live shows going in the studio, and you can also get the weird kinks and stresses of the studio out on stage. i hope it goes well for them. download the .mp3 on their web page and keep an eye/ear out for the long-playing record. hopefully we will be able to do something with them in the future, maybe a 7" or a split or something. i love paloma's voice/diction: very new-wave/post-punk, clean and strong. i'm going to sleep now. cheers to the modern age for another link, i envy your traffic and your efficient site design and your rock and roll scoops. you are the drudge of the nyc rock scene.

speaking of which, this will be the first drudge war, just as the last war was the first cnn war. that one web site (thanks, in part, to the corporate dominance of the country's newsrooms) has replaced the entire field of investigative reporting. and how it (he?) covers the war and breaks stories will affect the course of the war and the world's reaction to it at least as much as the brand new 21,000 pound (tonn?) bomb will.

Tuesday, March 11, 2003

The Walkmen Interview

free williamsburg interview. in case you care. thanks to jinners for the heads-up.

also, congress just passed a resolution to the effect that it's not called 'french' kissing anymore: it's 'pre-emptive' kissing 'for justice and liberty'.
has anyone been watching the daily show recently?

until january i didn't have a functional tv in the house. i had a tv, yes, but the antenna was crappy, and i only got 4 channels. one was fox, the other three were mexican. so i didn't even try to watch tv, except on sundays, when i'd try and fail to watch football. i got a new roommate in january, and she came with a 20-something inch tv and cable. i live a different life now. the tv is on as i type. i don't even know what's on, but it keeps me company.

anyway, the daily show on comedy central has had more interesting war coverage than cnn or fox news or whatever. tonight's guest was the president of the council on foreign relations. one of the most interesting things he said was that privately all these diplomats were saying to him that the worst thing that could happen in iraq right now would be if the US packed up its troops and left. this coming from people publicly opposing the war. is this a scoop? i don't know, but i think it's true, and I'd like to take this opportunity to officially take this blog into new territory: PRO WAR!!! That may be the wrong way to put it, I'm not in favor of 'war' in the abstract, and I'm certainly not supporting the way that the cowboy-in-chief has gotten us here, but from where we stand now, i believe it is the only way "out" (forward?) that won't lead to even more problems than this war will (and it will lead to a great number of problems). i also believe that france and russia's opposition to this war in the UN is no less about oil than our perceived eargerness for it. happy tuesday everybody.

Monday, March 10, 2003

Synth Pap - New York's revival of '80s pop (FISCHERSPOONER) produces the worst album of the year. By Gerald Marzorati

now i know that these guys are to some degree down with my boys the walkies and the french kicks, but i don't get it. i listened to the promo 3-song thing that they were giving out at the VICE store here in silverlake, and well, umm, i don't get it. did you have to be there or something? such a strong backlash indicates that there IS likely something worthwhile there, but i don't get it. i didn't hate it as much as this guy did, but i still didn't get it. VICE's last hero, andrew wk, i got, and i sort of dug how divinely stupid and fun it was, but i get the feeling that fischerspooner is trying to get away with something, like the joke is us, and that VICE is jumping on a) because they're getting mad loot to do so and b) because they're sort of lost these days (that 'retarded' issue? come on guys you used to be funny and a tad ballsy and you got props for doing an article on DC's own Blelvis, who was the black elvis when kool keith was still in ultramagnetic mc's, but now you're just pushing $200 suede track suits that were stupid looking a year ago and going to coke parties.) but that's not on fischerspooner. them i just don't get.
Soaring Gas Prices Changing Lifestyles

no shit. i filled up my tank on saturday (at one of the cheapest spots in the city) and it cost me $73. and i have to fill up once a week. and you know that $10 out of each tank is going right back into the bush 2004 campaign coffers.

can you spell r-e-c-e-s-s-i-o-n? because the only thing keeping the economy going was consumer spending, and that is/will evaporate when everyone's $$ is going to gas.

Sunday, March 09, 2003

ahh, springtime. things pop up out of nowhere.

like an .mp3 from the Recoys record, for example. check it out.

Friday, March 07, 2003

French Kicks Pics: NYC 3/6/03

hugh mcintosh is leaving las vegas in a bloody sweaty heap. jesus, dude. picture by jinner.

art by my boy, and ex-recoy, Damon Hege. if you are in nyc over the next 2 weeks go check out his show.

sounds like the french kicks show last night in nyc was a recoys reunion. jinners makes me miss my friends. did i make the wrong move coming out here to los angeles when so many people i love are back east? no, i am claiming more territory for the home team and working towards the eventual world domination.

enjoy one of these last weekends of the 'before time,' the 'long long ago.' remember what the air smells like, and how the sun feels on your skin. remember your family. call them just to say hi. surprise one friend you haven't talked to in months with a long distance phone call. walk around your neighborhood for hours with nowhere to go.

Monday, March 03, 2003

so i heard on the news today that the airlines are going to start "color-coding" their passengers by perceived security threat level, either green, yellow, or red. frequent fliers will get a badge to wear in the airport: apparently, the green ones are shaped like crosses, the yellow ones like stars of david, and the red ones like crescent moons. (insert .mp3 of a rimshot). seriously, i need a sidekick to bounce these things off, or an animated bandleader or something. maybe i could talk the microsoft word 'paperclip wizard' into being my straight man.

here's an example of what you're missing by not hanging out with us over at the realistic records message boards:
"i'm serious about berlin. i'm going to apply and if i can't get into a program i'll go anyway. it would be nice to be surrounded by people who hate bush, even if they have bad taste in music."

cheers to el. jeers to w.

Sunday, March 02, 2003

great weekend. i did nothing productive and loved it. thank god february is over. the month is brutal and possibly actually evil. it was deliberately kept short to contain that evil. i mean we wake up 2/1/03 and the fucking space shuttle has exploded. welcome to february. yeah it was my birthday and a bunch of other peoples' but in my estimation that just establishes the goodness of the month of may, when our parents were fucking, and says nothing about february. everyone i know or read everyday was at some point this month in a deep funk and bad things were happening left and right. i think last week was possibly the longest week of my life, and the worst part that there was no good reason for it.

here's a review of the scene creamers record that i wrote.