OK, I kinda understand where he's coming from but, really, all I can think to say to Terry Pratchett is, "dude, bitter much?" There's a valid point or two in there, but if you're mostly gonna come off as just angry that your books haven't taken the world by storm and that you're not the richest woman in Britain (when you're so clearly more deserving), well maybe it would've been a better idea to not say anything. On the other hand, I appreciate that writers (some of them at least) are among the last creative types who don't seem to have their every utterance pre-approved by a committee of publicists.

Well, mostly about this day, the less said the better. Other than being my only day off, it didn't have much going for it. The trip to the park with Sarah and the dogs was very nice. This evening I shlepped over to Loco Pops and tried the Mexican Chocolate flavor. Outstanding! Definitely one of my faves, so far. I think the chile flavors I've tried may just edge it out, but not by much. And, to wrap things up on a big positve, I listened to 2 outstanding CDs: the Understanding by Röyksopp and Dimanche à Bamako by Amadou & Mariam. Reviews of the Röyksopp seem pretty mixed, with lotsa people comparing it negatively to Melody AM. Strangely, there's a lot of buzz about how on the new one all the songs sound the same. Which is how I felt about the first one. I think Röyksopp have showed a lot more variety this time out. There's maybe, on early listenings, no one song that stands out like "Eple" or "Poor Leno" did from Melody AM but overall I'm enjoying the Understanding quite muchly.
As y'all can see, sometimes when I'm trying to review a CD for XDU I'll go out and see what others have written. And sometimes I won't, usually when I just love everything about a CD. Like Dimanche à Bamako. I mean, Amadou & Mariam + Manu Chao... how could it not be killer? I particularly like the way it stays true to their sound, but adds the whole extra level of Manu Chao's off-kilter raggamuffin style. So of course, after I'd written up my little blurb for the station, I went online to check other reviews only to find lotsa sniping about how it all sounds the same. Or how it's really a Manu Chao record and not an Amadou & Mariam record. Both of which opinions are, of course, wrongwrongwrong. But, y'know, that's how it is. You start paying people for their opinions and they starting thinking they know things...

Made it thru the week with, I think, only about half of my brain cells melting. So that's good. And my Dad's finally home from the hospital and he's doing well. Looks like my brother will be able to come down and dog-sit at the end of the month, when we go to Mount Dora. And there were a whole bunch of cool CDs in the mail at the station today, including Amadou & Mariam (produced by Manu Chao), Zuco 103, Rough Guide to Tito Puente, Royksopp. Also Mademoiselle Marseille by Moussu T e lei Jovents, described as inspired by Marseilles in the 1930s and one of the members is the founder of Massilia Sound System.

The other thing I did as the temps climbed past the point of all reason was finally get a haircut. Which I'd been planning to do before we went on vacation back at the end of June (an indication of the priority I assign to personal grooming issues). I was actually able to get this scheduled only cos I'm working six days again this week and thus leaving work early to cut down on OT. Anyway, I got myself over to Syd's and I think it turned out pretty okay. Of course, in the pic I've got that deathly serious "trying to take a selfportrait" look... what can I say... I may be self-indulgent enough to blog a picture of myself but there is a limit to how long I'll mess around with the camera trying to get a better shot.

So how have y'all been attempting to beat the heat? I've mostly been spending some quality time getting re-acquainted with my TV friends. Adam and Jamie from Mythbusters were hosting Shark Week last week so they did a two-hour episode taking on shark myths from Jaws, plus the show's being re-run more frequently, so I've been able to catch up with some older episodes I've not seen. Also, Tony Bourdain has a new series, No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. It's an hour long and based on the first episode (in Paris, titled "Why the French Don't Suck") I'd say that the forced economy of the half-hour format of Cook's Tour was good for him in some ways. But even the self-indulgent aspects of the new show I find kinda endearing. (side note: the main title music for No Reservations is by Blues Explosion) Plus Bourdain is seemingly even more profane, which I think all to the good. In the current climate of fear and cowering I appreciate folks like Jon Stewart or Tony Bourdain who will just say "motherfucker" if that's the appropriate word for the moment and let the button-pushers worry about bleeping it out. Finally, I discovered that one of the Disney channels is showing reruns of the Tick.

Of today the less said the better. At least nothing happened at work that was any more annoying than the mere fact of having to be there. On a happier note, spent last night hanging out with spacegrrl and Ms. Pants for a pleasant evening of beer, paletas, and Harry Potter. My favorite wacky theory off the internet was the one about Dumbledore actually being Ron Weasley. Or is it the other way 'round? Apparently it's all quite intricately worked out and referenced to bits of the text. And, of course, completely wrong. The one question of the night that I wasn't able to answer was: when/how did I start reading the Harry Potter books? I just can't remember. I can (as happened yesterday afternoon) recognize a bad Van Halen video on TV in under 5 seconds. But something useful? No, I'm sorry, all your brain cells are busy remembering crap.

Another stoopid hot day on the way. Got up early and did a bit of work outside -- tacked up the in-need-of-replacing fence in a couple of spots, replaced the lawnmower blade, watered some plants. Yes, I know... the excitement of a Saturday in Durham fairly leaps off the page at you, doesn't it? But now it's definitely into the part of the day where it's time to not be doing anything outside. So let's move on to Things In Cans: episode 2. This morning's featured item is Wolfgang Puck Gourmet French Vanilla Latte, in the new self-heating can. Yep, a self-heating can. You turn the can upside down and push in a button. That apparently mixes some chemicals in a sealed central core inside the can, which heats up the latte -- label says to over 140F, but I didn't measure the results. Obviously, this is wildly appealing to the inner gadget-geek. And the coffee's not bad. Hardly a match for Bean Traders. But it's pleasant, drinkable, caffeinated and, at least in the French Vanilla version, sweetened with Sucralose. I found it much less noxiously sweet than the Starbuck$ bottled Frapuccino. A bit spendy, at least originally. When it showed up at Kroger it was around $9 for 4 cans. But either they're promoting it to push sales, or it's getting ready to be disco'd cos it was down to around $5 when I bought it.
Oh I should probably also point out that this thing is an environmentalist's nightmare. In addition to the heating core, the can's also completely sleeved in plastic (so you can hold it when it gets hot) and then has a label (printed on some kind of plastic) over that.

Also seen in my recent movie catch-up was Punk: Attitude, a documentary by Don Letts. Who was a club DJ in London in the 70s, spinning roots reggae for the punks. Former member of Big Audio Dynamite. And other stuff. This is actually his 2nd dip into the pool -- he also directed the Clash docu Westway to the World. Like that film, Punk: Attitude has some amazing archival footage. Arguably better since he's spread his net so much wider. Along with the usuals (Pistols in America, Clash on the Grundy show) he's got early performance footage of Ramones, Television, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Buzzcocks, the Damned, Patti Smith, the Slits, Minor Threat, even the Pop Group. Very cool to see if you are or were a fan. Format is roughly similar to Westway -- contemporary interviews intercut with archival footage to illustrate/illuminate. But since he's got a wider range of subjects than just the members of the Clash, there's more diversity and disagreement. Particularly amusing early on is the range of opinions on the late 60s, hippies, and the anti-war movement. Which, now that I think about it, may have something to do with UK hippies being more of a fashion statement than a political statement.
(this is getting long, so -- cont'd after the jump)

Forgot to mention that I was on the air tonight. Well, last night to be strictly accurate since it's now Thursday as I write this. Anyway, here's the playlist. Didn't get any calls from civilians. Altho Jason called to bust my chops for playing Konono No. 1, which he'd played at the end of his show. But it's soooo good. I was unable to resist the awesome power of the amplified likembes.
Also a good thing: I didn't eject the currently playing CD at any point in the proceedings. And neither of the reported-to-be-acting-up CD players gave me any trouble. Perhaps just lucky but I'll take. You'll note also that I even got an actual rock set into the mix. That's not gonna happen all that often (no need to mark yr calendars, though). The oddment for the evening was when the midnight DJ called to say he was running late, just after I'd let another midnight DJ into the station. Generally I've found that one DJ at a time is usually sufficient. Some sort of odd miscommunication it would appear. But it got sorted out. Well, not especially sorted but the DJ that had come to the station went home to sleep and the DJ who's been doing that shift all summer got there a bit after midnight, which gave me just enough time to play that Mouse on Mars/Mark E. Smith remix of "Wipe that Sound."

I've been working my way through a bit of a backlog of DVR'ed movies since the weekend. Among them was Stray Dog (in Japanese, Nora Inu), a 1949 movie, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring the dashing, young Toshiro Mifune. I didn't recognize Mifune at first, until the scene when he goes undercover as a scruffy veteran haunting the more disreputable sections of Tokyo. Well, that and the part where Kurosawa fills the top half of the screen with a close shot of Mifune's eyes, while the street scenes that he's watching are layered over the bottom half. No mistaking that intense gaze. This was a really excellent film, heavily informed by 40s Hollywood noir -- even though most everyone is wearing white linen suits, it's either insanely hot or pouring down rain, and the final chase scene takes place in sunny fields of wildflowers. There's also an extended 8 minute completely wordless voyage thru the poorer and shadier sections of postwar Tokyo. Another scene takes place at a baseball game (Yomiuri Giants were one team but you never really get a good look at their opponent's uniforms). Oh yeah, there's also a small role for (IIRC) a set designer at a burlesque-type theater. My hunch is that he's clearly meant to be understood as gay. And he's got a hairstyle at least 40 years ahead of its time -- he looks like he could've walked right off the streets of 80s Japan.
This just occured to me, but Stray Dog may well have been one of the inspirations for Kathryn Bigelow's movie Blue Steel. Both center on a cop obsessed with tracking down the criminal whose stolen their gun.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 17 jul 05) ::

Thai Beat a Go Go :: various
Congotronics :: Konono No. 1
Midival Times :: MIDIval Punditz
Subaro :: Speak In Tones
Behmanka :: Mamadou Diabate
Moksha :: Amjad Ali Khan
Little Patience :: Majek Fashek
Urban Gypsy :: Shukar Collective
Arroz con Mango :: Tiempo Libre
Putumayo Presents: Mali :: various

Went over to the mail center around 4 yesterday. The book was there, of course. Probably had been for hours -- I didn't have the heart to ask. We ran some errands, and then stopped at Loco Pops. I had the lavender cream 'sicle. Curiously good. Not suffused with lavender, the way say rosewater ice cream tends to taste like hand lotion. But the lavender was definitely present, sort of as an accent not to the overall creaminess. A small pop was just about the right size; I don't know that I'd have wanted to eat a whole large pop of the lavender. But it's definitely worth a try. I'd rank it about with the tamarind -- things I enjoyed but wouldn't necessarily need to have again.
Anyway, we got home around 6 and I spent about 10 of the next 16 hours reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Which puts me well off the pace. But one can only do what one can do. Obviously I won't be talking about any specifics here yet, not while many are still reading the book. Just two little side-notes: I actually caught a typo (early on, "site" where it should be "sight") and did anyone else notice the Monty Python reference? (did I mention that i'm a bit of a comedy geek...)

One has many options on a Friday night, many places to go and/or people to see. Or one could just go home and collapse. Okay, the long-ass work day which wrapped up with a conference call at 3pm (wtf, you're no doubt saying -- Friday at 3 ain't thinkin' time, it's drinkin' time). Actually it was much less stressful and tense than I'd feared. But anyway the day was still enough to finish me off for the week. I crashed around 8, got up at 11 and went right back to sleep. Which, of course, meant I woke up early this morning. But that gave me the chance to get outside early and stake up the tomatoes some more. And now it's just sit around and check the UPS site for notification that the new Harry Potter book has arrived at the mail center. (remind me again why I thought ordering from Amazon was better than just heading down to Borders...)

Well I had big fun guest-hosting Divaville tonight, even with the small but steady stream of mistakes I was making. The worst was ejecting the currently-playing CD but there were a few others. But I got to most everything I'd planned -- some mellow swingin' numbers to start out, some ladies singing Cole Porter, a French set in honor of Bastille Day, and a whole lotta Sinatra. Here's the playlist.

First up, today's winner for best fakey-fake email name: Refusals L. Cosmonaut.
And now, it's episode one of Things In Cans. Tonight's thing-in-a-can is Sparks. I will say, right at the jump that, yes, I'm aware that this stuff is not being marketed at me. But I do like the can designed like a battery. Very cute. On the first sip I pegged this as evil kool-aid. Altho after reading the ingredients (inc. caffeine, taurine, guarana, ginseng) I'd say it tastes like what it is -- a Red Bull/malt liquor blend. Unfortunately, like Red Bull, it doesn't improve much with repeated sips. And letting it get anything even remotely approaching warm is not recommended. I got about 1/3 thru the can before the flavor profile flipped from evil to vile. But I will say that at 6% ABV and in a pint can, I'd guess this has got to be about as drunk as you can get for under $2. Back in the back when, I could buy a sixpack of Black Label (at the quickie mart around the corner in Bay Ridge) for $1.99. But that's alot more liquid to get down for a similar impact. If one were to slam a Sparks, I'd expect it would quite efficiently allow one to get a buzz on. Actually it's more like getting hammered and wired at the same time. I was just reading an article on how the Pop the Cap bill got stalled in the NC Senate and was momentarily distracted by the notion of a 15% ABV version of Sparks. Now that could do some damage...
Final note: for the love of whatever god or gods you do/don't believe in, if you sample a Sparks, do not pour it into a glass. Just trust me on this and drink from the can like nature intended, kids.

I'll be on the air this Thursday from 6-8pm guest-hosting Divaville. I don't have anything major planned. I checked the list o' birthdays at the Divaville site and the only 2 this week are Oscar Hammerstein and Ginger Rogers. I do have one CD of Astaire/Rogers so I could play something from that. I've never been a big fan of (Richard) Rogers & Hammerstein, thus I don't have anything of theirs. Actually, I'm sure if I check thru my collection, there's probably at least one R&H song included on some disc or other. I dunno... maybe I'll just play a lot of Frank!

Heads up for local cineastes: this Friday (7/15) the Carolina in Durham is showing Bubba Ho-Tep!! One night only. If you haven't seen this, well, you really need to. Even if it is, once again, screening in the least comfortable theater, well, maybe not on the planet but possibly on the eastern seaboard. Elvis and JFK vs. an undead Egyptian mummy. In Texas. By the director of Phantasm. Starring Bruce Campbell.
We saw it last year at the Nevermore fest and it definitely gets the House of Dioxin's highest recommendation. As much fun as a barrel of Locopops.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 10 jul 05) ::

Thai Beat a Go Go :: various
Little Patience :: Majek Fashek
Urban Gypsy :: Shukar Collective
Rough Guide to the Music of Sudan :: various
Uprooting :: Warsaw Village Band
Forced March :: Madagascar
Behmanka :: Mamadou Diabate
Putumayo Presents: Mali :: various
Arroz con Mango :: Tiempo Libre
La Kahena :: Cheb i Sabbah

Highlights from the weekend include: stopping by the farewell 'do for the lovely and talented McVentrils at Federal. Well-wishers seemed to be coming and going in waves. Sarah and I were there in the earlier parts of an evening that I'm given to understand went on quite late. Well, it's tough to say goodbye. Actually if you've had enough Dead Guys it's tough to say much of anything. But you'll be missed, McV's. Best of luck tearin' up Large Southern Metropolis. I'll have to try and remember to email you a couple of restaurant suggestions from my occasional travels thru LSM. Federal was preceeded in the evening by pizza at the always tasty Brixx (or Brixix, if you prefer, as I do). Really, I've never had anything less than perfectly delightful pizza from Brixix. Last night we had the wild mushroom and the quattro formaggio (that rarest of things, a dish with sundried tomatoes that I actually like). The only downside is that, like so many eating establishments, Brixix appears to have been designed to guarantee that it will always be ear-crushingly noisy, even if the place is half-empty. I know carpet and such is hard to keep clean but, c'mon... would it kill you to put something in there to damp down the sound?
Today: a bit of weed-whacking and Round-Upping; a bit of shopping; some laundry was done; some CDs were reviewed. On my way to XDU for music staff I stopped at Cook Out for a watermelon milkshake (only available in July and August) and a bacon-cheddar hot dog. Okay, the Cook Out burger may pale in comparison to the Shake Shack. But the bacon-cheddar hot dog kicks the ass of the Shack's Chicago dog. The unadorned dog is probably not in the class of Gray's Papaya. But... it's covered in bacon. And cheese sauce. Altho I think if you eat more than one a week they automatically schedule you with an appointment at the cardiologist.
To wrap up for today, I'm making chicken stock. (and writing this...)

Two more things from yesterday -- here's the speech by London mayor Ken Livingstone. Good stuff. (Livingstone also has the distinction of being one of the few mayors of major urban centers to have had a song written about him.)
Also, while looking thru Flickr last night, I came across some from this photographer. Not of the attack sites but instead pictures from yesterday's atypical day in London. In a way I can't quite articulate yet they seemed to me a good match with Livingstone's speech.

Nothing I can say about the events of today that B. W. Ventril hasn't already said better. I've only been to London once, for about a week, back in the late 80s. I actually haven't looked at the maps all that closely. I don't really want to know yet if I have any personal history with the sites of the attacks.
Stupidest comment I read today was on Slate, I think, as they over-reached trying to make a point about Londoners' stoicism and sang froid (or as Douglas Adams once put it, their relaxed attitude towards danger) and compared London today to Washington DC on 9/11/01. Which not only ignores the difference in scale but the fact that, unlike 4 years ago, we now unfortunately have a context for days like today.

So, here is the radio show I just finished. All hail the glorious playlist software. On a side note, I apparently could do a show in my sleep, since I easily spent as much time tonight thinking about the reporting process as I did about what music to actually play. And I think the show turned out okay (ymmv, of course). Could have played way more Sherwood, but I wanted to stay on top of my PL requirement and all that.

Whilst trying to do some basic blog-maintenance while offsite from the Fabulous Lounge today, I mistakenly fubar-ed a comment/question about "Uncle Eric is helping police with their inquiries." (btw, if you google that entire phrase this is the only site that shows up). Anyway, that's a line -- actually a sample -- used in the song "Five Minutes" by Mainframe. Early 80s synthpop. From Chicago, I believe. I'm sure some in the audience can correct me if I'm wrong on that. I'm also pretty sure that their entire recorded output only extends to just the 1 twelve-inch single. I have one version of "Five Minutes" on tape from back in the days. And I've heard another version ("Five Minutes On" I think) floating around when Napster was in full bloom. Poking around just now I found one site selling old vinyl that had it for a not unreasonable price. Hope that helps (and sorry for deleting your comment)
If I get a chance, I'll try to spin it tomorrow night -- 10pm to midnite EST at the usual location

So as we creep up on the 4th o' July (a holiday for some except those of us who gotta work), here's a bit of seasonally appropriate fun. boing boing picked up on an Ebay auction of Hot Dog Man the other day. HDM is a well-known Durham celebutante. The version up on Ebay is somewhat shorter than Ninth Street's own, but I'm still surprised it hasn't attracted any bids yet. But the really supercool thing is in the follow-up post on boing boing, which links to the UNC-TV website where you can see Hot Dog Man: A Case Study by Durham film-makers (and my former upstairs neighbors) Joyce Ventimiglia and Jim Haverkamp. w00t!!

aaahhh.,..
So even though it was pouring down rain at 5.30 tonight, it turned out to be a delightful evening of cooking out, illicit games o' chance, and drinking. Not necessarily in that order. Big ups to the delightful hosts at Mount Gay. And I'm not just saying that because I won the first round of loteria and got my choice o' prizes and scored a Tom Jones record. Vinyl! w00t!! Including "Green Green Grass of Home" and "Georgia on My Mind" among others. So sweet. And a bevy o' Durham celebutantes and blogerati were in attendance. Indeed a fine night out, indeed.

I'll be on the air tomorrow from 1-3pm EDT bringing the wrrld music. At least the FM signal's back up and running as of tonight. It had been down for the last several days. As fried as I still am, it might have been tough to work up as much enthusiasm for a show with half the potential listener base cut off. I wonder if there's any new interesting wrrld CDs at the station...