And to wrap up your week, may I offer you a glass of haterade? (found this via the Harry and the Potters myspace page). Alas, it has nothing to do with me. Still, pretty damn amusing (if sporadically updated) -- I particularly liked the implication in the most recent post that he's moved to an entirely new city only to discover that Georg is his sketchy landlord.
To be fair, here's equal time for Georg.

Here's last night's playlist. A pretty solid effort, I think. That middle set (w/ James Hunter, Buck Owens, Tom Jones, etc) pulled together on the fly pretty well. I love it when things spontaneously click like that. Much better than the opening which was shambolic... it took me most of the first set just to feel as tho I had any sort of flow going. The annoying thing was a CD that just refused to read. All three CD players just threw up their electronic hands and would not agree that I'd inserted a playable disc. One tried to read it as an MP3 CD. I know I've played that disc at the station, altho not in this current generation of machines.
But on the majorly upside, a midnight DJ showed up so I got to leave on time w/o having to shut down the station.

So here's what I don't get. Yesterday on Bookslut, Michael Schaub posted a brief mention of a concert by Harry and the Potters. Asking, as you can see, for someone to explain it to him. He's back today with the many links and info that people sent in. Which took me all of one Google search to uncover. Is the job of Bookslut blogger so time consuming that he can't do his own Google searches? Is it some sort of attempt to seem endearingly clueless? Or perhaps he's trying to be inclusive and make the Bookslut-reading experience more interactive. Either way, it seems weak weak weak to me.

Courtesy of Pinky, here's the cereal box archive, While I may not be spending the rest of my life haunting the site, it does bring back a lot of memories of stuff I haven't even thought of the possibility of recalling for decades, including the several spin-offs from Cap'n Crunch. I was a big fan of the cinnamon variety. And the peanut butter, of course. I remember the vanilla slightly but I'm pretty sure I never saw/tried either the chocolate or fruit punch versions.
Most flashback-y for me was this. I knew I had a vague memory of some biplane flying cereal mascot but that was as specific as I could get. I also think there was another cereal, one with a Red Baron style pilot, probably for a berry or cherry flavor. (I should check...)

Why, yes, in fact, Sir G did have a cereal nemesis, one Baron Von Redberry (scroll down a bit to see him in all his politically incorrect glory -- sorta looks like a chubby Yosemite Sam)
And really... I had no idea there were so many blogs about cereal.

(i love the internets)

So, hey, how's yr bracket doing? I heard some talking head on ESPN last night saying that out of over three million entries into their bracket contest thingy only four people got the correct final four. And if any of them are not George Mason alumni I think they should just declare them the winner right now, regardless of what happens next weekend. How blown up are brackets from coast to coast to coast? The pool I'm in is already over. A full week before the final game and there are only 5 people that can still get any points and none can catch the current points leader (who's one of the 5 still alive any way).
Instead of dwelling on that, let's turn our attention to pig candy. Yes, it's bacon roasted under a coating of brown sugar. You got a problem with that? Or here's an even more deranged iteration. (was tipped off to this insanity by Slashfood... have I mentioned lately how much I love Slashfood?)

I was on the air last night, doing the mystery show. Perhaps I should have mentioned that before it happened in case any of the 4 of you (cats not included) wanted to tune in. Anyway, here's the playlist. I had fun. There were several things I pulled to play but ran out of time. Plus a bunch of stuff I was unable to find (or forgot to download from iTunes). I'm thinking I can probably get mystery shows out of red, black and maybe green without too much trouble.

Busy-ish day. This morning I prepped a chunk o' lamb and set it cooking in the crock pot. Then we drove out to the farmer's market in Raleigh. But it was too frikkin cold to wanna spend much time walking around looking at plants so we bailed on that pretty quickly. Since it was raining on and off all afternoon (see previous sentence for mention of frikkin coldness of day as well) I decided to work on a couple of indoor projects. Replaced the hideous light fixture in the odd square space that connects all the other rooms. That was a snap. I also removed the hateful ceiling fan in the dining room and replaced it with a nice hanging light fixture from Ikea. That was much less of a snap but positive results were finally achieved without too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Somewhere in the middle of that I went over to the XDU all DJ meeting. Which was fine. A bit on the boring and routine side but I much prefer those to the ranting and hostile ones. I actually left after an hour, during the discussion of the finer points of trash removal.

More cool stuff to spend yer filthy lucre on...

Merv Griffin!

Yes, indeedy, it's Milk & Cheese vinyl toys. Under construction as we speak. Or something like that. I know I'll be buying some. Found out about this from Sarah Dyer's blog. Also more info on Evan Dorkin's LJ. Or check out their official site.

I'm pretty sure I once saw Evan Dorkin on the train in Staten Island. But it was morning rush hour and I didn't want to bug him so I guess I'll never know for sure.

w00t!
Broken English, the new Karsh Kale CD is out. I don't have it yet. What with all and everything going on I'm still trying to work my way thru the last batch of discs from XDU. But it's definitely on my shortlist for stuff to buy. Here's a review from Sepia Mutiny. Or you can check out Six Degrees website. There's a link there to Kale's own website (karshkale.com) but I'm not linking that tonight, cos it hasn't been updated for the new album yet.

(and speaking of all and everything that's been going on -- my thanks to y'all for the kind words and support)

This is perhaps the most gloriously demented thing I've ever seen. If there's a better example of geeky fandom meets sugary treats out there, I can't imagine what it would be.

Interview with Ray Harryhausen at AV Club this week. Some of the ground covered will be familiar to anyone who saw the show on Harryhausen that TCM did last year, but the interview gives him more space to tell the stories. Good stuff.

And, hey, new season of No Reservations fires up next week. I'm so there. (note: the Travel Channel site linked to here is a total mess but there is a bit of worthwhile content underneath all the bad design)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 19 mar 06) ::

Call My Name :: Joe Bataan
Gili Garabdi :: Fanfare Ciocarlia
Congotronics 2 :: various
Rough Guide to the Music of Madagascar :: various
Una Noche Inolvidable :: Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
Rough Guide to Urban Latino :: various
Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance :: various
Miero :: Varttina
LDA v. the Lunatics :: Los de Abajo
Jamaican Soul Shake, vol. 1 :: Sound Dimension

This weekend the NYTimes sent two of its intrepid reporters out to Vegas to cover the high and low of Vegas. I'll spare you Vegas on $1000/day. But here's Vegas on $250/day. Can I just say: this guy's an id-jit. If your budget is only two-fiddy, why in the hell would you drop more than half of it on a hotel room? I mean, in Strip context, $150 is not a lot for a room. But there's more than one casino where you can get rooms for under $50 a night. Another stupid thing -- Bellagio's art gallery is brushed off as too spendy. But that's after he's blown most of his remaining budget shooting machine guns. Not, mind you, that I've got any opposition to shooting off some machine guns. Except that this was supposed to be an article on how to see Vegas on a tight budget, not an homage to Hunter Thompson. So, yes, he tips Peppermill and Liberace Museum. Got to give him cred for that. But a $12 sammich? At Barbary Coast?!? Hell, most of the sammiches at 'wichcraft (MGM Grand) are less than that and they're probably a good deal beyond "no better than mediocre." No mention of Fremont St. Experience, Bellagio fountains, or any of the free lounge entertainment. Not even a mention of every budget-Vegas writer's favorite joint, Mr. Lucky's 24/7. But, really, all you need to know is: he went to the buffet at Circus Circus. (the horror...) Seriously, if you're ever in Vegas do not under any circumstances go to the Circus Circus buffet. Not only is the food relentlessly mediocre but the atmosphere of ambience still barely disguises the high school cafeteria that it is at heart. Bally's or Luxor or Aladdin... sure they're more expensive but if you're gonna go for an all-you-can-eat, shouldn't the food actually be worth eating.
(I guess in the post-Blair, post-Miller era I shouldn't be so surprised that the bar for getting an article published in the NYTimes is so low)

So which is stupider: "We Got the Meats" for Papa John's Pizza? Or "Crumbelievable" for those Kraft cheezy crumbly things?

So in the midst of a difficult personal time, at least there's the NCAA tourney. One of my brackets is totally obliterated. The other's still got potential but that was almost blown completely by tonight's UConn v. Albany game. SUNY was up 12 w/ 11 min. left and, frankly, UConn was looking like refried ass. Somehow they managed to pull a game out of themselves and ended up winning by 13. But y'know it would've been worth exploding my bracket just to see Albany win that game. And that's only partly cos I went there as an undergrad.

Here's a list of things NOT to do in New York and even tho it's on MSN and taken from one of those annoying "...for Dummies" books, I have to admit that I endorse all their picks. I'd only quibble about brunch, and not because it's worth doing but because it's hardly a unique NYC institution. Of that list, I've only done two (driving in Manhattan, attending San Gennaro -- the first was harrowing, the second lame). I'm headed that way shortly. Sadly, it's unlikely I'll be able to schedule a visit to the Shake Shack.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 12 mar 06) ::

Rough Guide to the Music of Madagascar :: various
LDA v. the Lunatics :: Los de Abajo
Congotronics 2 :: various
Call My Name :: Joe Bataan
Jamaican Soul Shake, vol. 1 :: Sound Dimension
Gili Garabdi :: Fanfare Ciocarlia
Rasta Still De Bout :: Josie Mel
Una Noche Inolvidable :: Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance :: various
Time for Change :: Apache Indian

Tried to field-test comments just now but wasn't successful. Sorry 'bout that. Anyway, to follow up on the ribs from the other night -- flavor was excellent but 2.5 hours at 275 left the meat quite a bit tougher than I like. Perhaps if I'd kept them covered while cooking that might have helped.

Nifty post on scrubbles today about Fantasia-themed Disneyana. Dancing mushroom salt shakers -- so cute!

!!Swanhunter music update 1

!!Swanhunter music update 2 (under "net.releases")

I'll probably be skipping tomorrow night's radio show.

it is what it is

Spent the day up to my eyeballs in paperwork and spreadsheets and whatnot. I should have known the day would turn out like that after I poured milk on my cereal this AM only to find on first spoonful that the milk had spoiled. Ah well, that's showbiz. Am attempting to wrap things up on some happier notes, first off by making some ribs -- a basic recipe by Bittman from last Wednesday's NYTimes (as so often happens, the site does not want to give up a blog-friendly link). It's just a basic spice rub -- which I think means we're in Memphis territory (dry rub, no sauce). Baked in oven at 275 for a couple of hours then finished under the broiler. (tasting report to follow)

Here's a bit o' tackiness left over from the weekend. I heard this story on Weekend America, about a Mike Leigh play in which some famously awful 70s art played a prominent role. Both hosts, who sounded younger than me, assured the listeners that everyone was familiar with this painting. Actually, that's perhaps more a comment on the perceived age of the audience than the age of the hosts. Anyway, while not encyclopedic I like to think my knowledge of cheesy 70s art posters is fairly wide, but I have no memory of ever seeing "Wings of Love" before. And I kinda think I'd remember something that bad.

Here's the playlist for this afternoon's wrrld music programme. Played some Ali Farka Toure, some new-ish releases, and a whole bunch o' bhangra. There's a big India Fest going on in Raleigh this weekend. We probably won't be able to make it, since we're trying to get more work done in the yard. But any time is a good time to play more bhangra.

Also, It looks like Sarah's fixed comments on the blog here. Yay Sarah!

Left work early today, which is always a good way to end the week. It's always a crapshoot to work extra at the start of the week cos you might get stuck at the office late on Friday. Fortunately that didn't happen. On the way home I stopped off at Locopops for my first visit of the season. And ran into Phil, who recommended the cream and olive oil paleta. Which sounded pretty weird to me but I decided to take a chance. And it was damn good. I couldn't really taste the olive oil. Perhaps the oil was making the cream taste fuller -- it did seem to coat the mouth more than expected. Surprisingly good. The recommendation is seconded.
Got home and started digging up the freedom lawn where we're planning to put the raised beds. Didn't get quite as much done as I'd hope but made a good start, at least. Watched some ACC basketball. Sarah made a really nice dinner with chicken and some mole sauce.

good times

Last few days have been a bit oversubscribed with things that weren't quite as good as I'd hoped. First off, tonight's episode of Survivor which was completely sux0r. The annoying people keep winning. The promised demise of the most annoying-est contestant was just a double-blind fakeout. One of my fave contestants got sent home. And last week's tease, of a tribal council like nothing you've ever seen was, basically, a total lie. Also, I took a chance on this beer from Saranac, their Caramel Porter. It's not actively bad, but it does at times while I'm drinking it, start to taste a lot like a porter that's had caramel syrup poured into it. Caramel latte? OK. Caramel beer? Maybe not so much. Also also, last night we watched Pom Poko, which was the last movie we DVRed during TCM's Miyazaki feature back in January. It was only executive produced by Miyazaki but we were still expecting good things. While it definitely had its moments (easily the best use of flying racoon testicle fu I've ever seen), it was overall all a hellafied downer. Which I'd have expected if I'd realized (or if John Lasseter and Ben "Nepotism Works" Mankiewicz had mentioned it during their intro segment) that it was directed by Isao Takahata, who also directed Grave of the Fireflies.
blah blah blah
guess i shouldn't have taken that second cranky pill today...

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 05 mar 06) ::

Congotronics 2 :: various
LDA v. the Lunatics :: Los de Abajo
Jamaican Soul Shake, vol. 1 :: Sound Dimension
Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance :: various
Time for Change :: Apache Indian
Lost in a Moment :: Shrift
Rough Guide to Urban Latino :: various
Rasta Still De Bout :: Josie Mel
Una Noche Inolvidable :: Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
Miero :: Varttina

Here's two obits for Ali Farka Toure. I had been planning an all bhangra show for Mondo Mundo this coming Saturday, but I'll have to change that up a bit. Alas.

Changing gears abruptly... I recently watched Fulltime Killer. Hyper-stylish and enjoyable but it's all flash and no fire. Several amazing set pieces, many of which reference Hollywood action flicks -- Andy Lau's hitman character is obsessed with movies. But nothing really seems to mean anything. The acting's good but the movie seems built to make sure you never care about... oh, anything that's happening. And then it all just falls apart completely about 2/3 of the way thru. I saw it on IFC and if you're a fan of HK cinema, it's worth a look. But there are many many movies I'd recommend before Fulltime Killer, most obviously, Tsui Hark's Time and Tide which shares similar gritty urban settings, is even flashier, yet still manages to create characters you can actually care about.

So apparently the critical consensus is that last night's Oscars w/ Jon Stewart was sux0r. And what else, exactly, is new? There are few things in life (death, taxes, and bad food in airports maybe) more certain than that "everyone" will hate the Oscars. (someone somewhere please explain to me why people are so in love with Cintra Wilson... i mean, if all you need to do to get paying gigs is to just reflexively hate every-damn-thing then why am i still blogging for free?!?). I'm with Xta though. I thought Stewart did about as good a job as can be done with the bloated behemoth of the Oscarcast. I liked the way he managed to work Bjork into his Dick Cheney joke. My fave things were probably the Oscar attack ads (narrated by Mo Rocca, unless i'm mistaken). The in medias res musing on Scientology was a nice touch. Altho I think my fave line was actually the part where he wondered if tearing down the giant Oscar statue would restore democracy to Hollywood. I was pleased that Nick Park and Aardman (loved the bow ties!) won for Best Animated Feature. Altho I'd have been equally happy with Corpse Bride or Howl's Moving Castle. Other than the nearly ceaseless tone of smarmy self-congratulation, by far my least favorite moment was the painfully attenuated Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep faux-Altmanesque intro to Altman's honorary Oscar. Altman was great, though. I had no idea he'd had a heart transplant. Altho I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the notion of Altman directing a film of Prairie Home Companion

Here's something else you've probably already seen (via WWdN: IX):: Live action Simpsons opening. I note that this must be Aussie or UK in origin, as "Marge" is driving on the wrong side of the car for US.

Here's something you might not have seen (via Gothamist):: many, many cool NYC photos

If you're local to the Triangle, and looking to splurge on some food, I enthusiastically recommend Jibarra. Some of the best, and definitely the most ambitious Mexican food I've ever had. Everything we had was outstanding. Try the pear-cilantro margarita. And the cabrito. Damn, that's some good goat. The service was excellent -- we were seated at one of the banquettes and even though there was a party of 12 right next to us, the noise was never overwhelming and the waiter was on top of things all night. The decor (and background music) is subdued stylish, with a kind of trendy lounge vibe.

This has been all over the internets lately but, hell, it's never a bad time to mention Penn & Teller. I actually thought about downloading a Sega emulator so I could play the game (desert bus!), but I don't think that the actual experience of playing would add that much.

Here's my latest favorite album: Gili Garabdi by Fanfare Ciocarlia. They're a Rom (gypsy) brass band from Romania. I'd heard a couple their tracks on Bucovina Club and had been trying to track down some of their earlier CDs. Fortunately the new one just showed up at XDU. This time out they've got covers of the James Bond theme and Duke Ellington's "Caravan." Reminds me a bit of Boban Markovic Orkestar (Balkan brass band from, I think, Macedonia) with some Taraf de Haidouks thrown in, and the jazz levels pushed up a bit. And some of the best tuba work I've heard since Gangbe Brass Band.

Here's my playlist from the show just ended. If I maybe didn't do the best job evah of time management, I was pleased with several of the sets/segues. Particularly the 3-play "banging on things" group -- congotronics to batucada to Pulsallama. That set probably should have ended there instead of marching on for another half hour but hey, it's only radio. Damn! I just thought of something that would've worked well in with that group. Something from the Enzo Avitabile CD (w/ Bottari pounding away on empty wine barrels).
And of course the midnite DJ did not show up once again. But (again) hey, I know how to shut down the station. I note, though, that my window for sticking around is getting shorter. Two weeks ago I stuck around til 12.30. Tonight I had to summon extra willpower just to hang in until 12.15.

Found this while I was backtracking thru Bookslut -- I would so totally line up to see the Nick Cave version of Gladiator. Which probably says a lot about what's wrong with me... And speaking of which, in today's conversation from the outer planets, the spouse of a co-worker was quizzing me about my belief system. I had no idea where this was headed so I was giving the non-militant, semi-evasive non-answer (and suppressing my desire to start spouting some mashup of Pete Shelley, Richard Butler and Kevin Costner). I thought I was either about to be evangelized or was providing survey answers for some college course. Turns out I was flunking the screening test for "date my sister." Apostates, heretics and the engaged need not apply.
Now off to XDU where Ms. Pants is no doubt playing all the good stuff before I get there