For no reason other than sheer pointless meta-ness, I'm linking to Lisa B's link to the Anthony Bourdain article about Beirut that's up on Salon today. What with the TV shows and bluster and outsized personality it's easy to forget that Bourdain can actually write the hell outta something. Well worth squinting thru the ads (opening up another window in front of the ad is also a good avoidance strategy)

While my iPod is still full of Frank, Dean, Sammy and other music themed for the Vegas trip, at home I've been listening a lot to this CD that came into XDU -- Mexaton on the Rise by El Angel. Couldn't find any info or reviews to link to and the photo doesn't do justice to the over-the-top wackiness of this. On one hand it's just a mess of reggaeton, hiphop and Mexican styles. Control Machete it ain't. Hell, Daddy Yankee it ain't even. But on the other, I love how the cheesy MIDI beats tend to wander off into electro, new wave, or even late 80s EBM stylings. To say nothing of the track that keeps coughing up a riff from "Silly Love Songs." Queso fundido! It'll be on the XDU playlist as soon as I can slap a review on it.

Today's best vanity plate: PORKRIND
(runner up: AMIGLUON)