Edwin MacPhisto

Are they going to do this for the other Heinz products too? America needs some proper mayonaisse, and pickle relish, and mustards, gosh darn it.

I do think Bush's continued support of the ban on gay marriage is a big policy question. It's enough to ensure that I'll never vote for him. Though I know it wouldn't pass Congress, I have no desire to have someone who'll promote the issue - whether he personally believes it or not - in the nation's highest office. Neither candidate supports it, but Kerry isn't looking to ban it. Yet. He gets the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

"Under Pressure." One of my favorite rhythm lines, and a wonderful song. I almost went to see the Queen musical while I was in London. Kinda regret that I missed it. Shrug.

There's a lot of great music out there. Too much, in fact, for any one person to hear it all, even in a lifetime. One album, then, which most haven't heard and that I think anyone should try: The Afghan Whigs, 1965. I think this is one of the best albums of the 90's. I always see this album in used CD sections and wonder why it's there. It came out in 1998 and the Whigs (Greg Dulli's band) broke up shortly thereafter. It's probably the best thing they ever did: soulful, sex-crazed, passionate, and great. "Somethin' Hot," "66," and "Citi Soleil" are especially lush. The first is aggressive and sleazy, the second is sensitive and sleazy, and the third is enchanting, lush, and yeah, a little bit sleazy. Especially on this album, the Whigs put together some of the thickest, smoothest backing tracks I've heard on any rock music. It's black, white, a lot of everything - rock, r&b, seduction, menace, sympathy. Rolling Stones fans especially ought to give this a listen: to me, the Whigs embody a lot of the same down n' dirty but graceful spirit embraced by the '68-'72 Stones. Dulli's a great vocalist and the whole band is in their best form here. Since the Whigs broke up, Dulli has kept up his Twilight Singers project, and their latest, Blackberry Belle, is almost as good as this. But not quite. So, pick your one album. I could use some new recommendations.

So on Saturday I leave for London for a month, as part of a sorta-class-type thing for college. I'm sure a lot of you have been to Britain and I know a bunch of you live there, so...what non-touristy things of merit should I make some time for during my stay? I'm going to be at Regents College, but able to go pretty much anywhere in free time.

Um, not really. Ghostbusters is wonderful and a favorite of mine but I don't think anyone can make too effective an argument that it's better-executed than Pulp Fiction. In terms of technique - the use of camera movement (or non-movement) and sound editing in particular - Pulp Fiction is one of the best-crafted and most subtle pictures I've ever seen. The technical side of things informs and reflects the characters just as much, if not moreso, than Tarantino's oft-quoted zingers and monologues. Look at the scene when we first meet Butch, staring at him from what's close to Marsellus' point-of-view. In the two minutes that Butch sits there, silent, unmoving, we get a pretty much perfect frame of his character and motivations. In Pulp Fiction (and many of his other movies), Tarantino's pretty masterful at showing us what's *not* happening and letting the surrounding dialogue, environment, and characters imply the why. Ghostbusters is great, but it's a totally different style of film and one that, while very successful in its genre, place limits on itself to which Pulp Fiction doesn't need to kowtow.

Well, at least they're upfront about it.

Wait, so was this guy actually collecting a welfare check, or was that some inside joke? If you have time and capacity to write 18,000 words of internet column in about 3 days, I'm going to eat your welfare check.

I think "All Mixed Up" is one of my least favorites songs. Ever. Gumbo.

Sarasota, so call it 5. We have old people.

That picture's almost 2 years old now. These days I look...uh...20 months older? Not so sure. Thanks for all the kind words, dudes. It means a lot.

Oh yeah, Not Fade Away. To make sure I'm right.

You wasted two of your earth-weeks! Bow to my visions.

I haven't had a single thing to drink. Horrible. Good day overall, troubled with some lame friends who wouldn't go out anywhere. Thanks for the kind sentiments, even if this is the third separate venue Superstar has used to wish me well today, which is a little creepy. Freakbutter.

::kills you, takes it, dies happy::

I thought they played very well as a team, but this sort of speculation doesn't really hold up. If Rip had played better, Billups wouldn't have been taking all those shots. They probably would have just flip-flopped points scored. The whole team stepped up and played well, though; every bench guy had a good defensive stop or two, and that really made a difference down the stretch.

My fifth $8 cd in about two weeks: Underworld, Secondtoughestintheinfants.

That was a thrashing. They let Kobe and Shaq score, and pretty much stuffed everyone else. Really impressive.

Yea- I admit it. I was scared for much of the movie. It was very dark and I have no idea how it got a PG rating. It was dark, but think about the content - a little bit of fantasy violence, no profanity, no sex. Scary stuff, yeah, but that's the rating to go with. No shame in being a bit freaked out, though. The dementors were handled really well and would have fit well into any sci-fi/horror movie. Great touches with everything getting icy, too. The little kids in the theater I was in were flipping out.

It did. Day After Tomorrow only made 70 million over the 3-day. It made more if you include Memorial Day, but of course it would; that's a whole extra day.

The 'Precipitate' EP Their first official release, which was really limited. Pressed in 2001, I think. "Precipitate" and "A Time To Be So Small" first appeared on there, too.

Stop calling Nas names, Flyboy.

True. Though after seeing what they needed to cut from this one, I become increasingly skeptical that anyone will be able to manage Order of the Phoenix into one movie. Goblet of Fire is doable, I think, since so much of the focus is on the actual competition. But Order is hiyuge. Squeezing what, at least at this juncture, seems like the necessary material into under 3 hours would probably lend it a frenetic pace that isn't really true to the book.

I think this thread has proven that iB needs a new name too. SexyDumpface1.

"Specialist" is incredible. Sometimes I wish it had been on the album, but I kind of like it as a lost little treasure. Great, great album. With about a year-and-a-half of distance on 2002, it's definitely held up as my favorite from that year, even outshining Wilco and Trail of Dead.