A version by Bella A Cappella. Okay, I dig the rain slickers and the choreography. I'm sorry, though... maybe the rules of these college choral competitions have evolved over the years but I'm not feeling it. They're an a cappella group with a guitar accompanist? That is made of FAIL.

Here's today's news from the wonderful world o' bacon:
On a recent episode of Dinner Impossible Michael Symon was making a creamed corn dish which he jazzed up by adding bacon, which he described as his favorite vegetable. (no, that wasn't the episode where he had to cook kosher -- I haven't seen that one yet).

All hail the Holy Church of Bacon. I approve of their message. And, yes, broccoli IS the anti-bacon.

Finally, there's a recipe for bacon cinnamon rolls. I was very excited when I saw a post about this (on Slashfood) but, and this will serve to confirm all my horrible food geek tendencies, much less enthused when I found it called for pop-from-a-can cinnamon rolls. I've been pondering it, though, and I think it'd work from scratch. I'd be inclined to partially cook the bacon first. That'd make sure it got cooked all the way thru while the rolls were baking. Plus you could use some of the bacon fat in with the cinnamon shmear. Yeah, I think it could work. Updates to follow if/when I get around to testing this out.

More jolly news for Triangle beer fans: bottles of 13 Rebels ESB are now on sale in the area. I picked up one (22 oz. size) at the Durm WFM. 13 Rebels, which is brewed by French Broad Brewery in Asheviile, has been available on tap around here for a while but this is the first time I've seen it in bottles.

good times...

So, did you know that the Evil League of Evil had a website? Not only that, but they're accepting applications.

(i love the internets)

"a heinous crime, a show of force, a murder would be nice, of course"

Here's a homebrewed ukulele version by the Jack Lords. On the upside: ukuleles. On the downside: over-emoting singer who appears not to have noticed they're in someone's living room. Still, good fun.

Man, what a crazy coupla days out there in the world. I could go on and on but instead, I'll just link to one of the best summations I've seen: Scalzi, en fuego.

the classic blunders:
never get involved in a land war in Asia
don't piss off Dave

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 21 spt 08)

Repentance :: Lee "Scratch" Perry
In the Seventh Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of his Enemy by Magic :: Kasai All Stars
De Donde Eres :: Cordero
Friends and Countrymen :: Earl Rodney
Living is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-29 :: various
New York City :: Brazilian Girls
Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump :: various
Yerba Buena :: Conjunto Jardin
Silent City :: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider
Give Me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted, Baghdad 1925-1929 :: various

this week's video feature: Kasai All Stars

ZOMG! (as the kids say). Anthony Bourdain speaking in Durham. He'll be at the new DPAC next February. Tix go on sale next week, on 10/1. As I've said before here, Kitchen Confidential is one of the few books I actually re-read, And No Reservations is a must watch when it's on. So I'm way looking forward to this.
w00t!

Taking a break from 80s Fest for Covers of "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" Fest. First up, it's Ted Leo & the Pharmacists.

More proof that you can find all sorts o' wonderful and amazing things on the intertubes (and, yes, I know that you can also find lots of not-wonderful and ghastly things on the intertubes but that's not what we're talking about at this juncture...) -- Mexican music in 1950s Yugoslavia. Words near to fail me. Such an odd little side-street of history. Big Colbertian tip o' the hat to the research desk at !!Swanhunter Industries for the intel.

Couple of recent local dining updates. Last night we had dinner at Papa Mojo's. As you can see on their site, they say they're doing authentic Cajun cooking and I'm in no position to argue with them. Our one dinner in NO was more about ambience and being close to the hotel than having the best food evah so I'm not one to judge on authenticity. But I can tell you the food was damn good. I had the cajun sampler -- red beans & rice (good), crawfish etouffee (better), and jambalaya (best). Sarah had the cochon de lait (pork) po' boy w/ macque shou as a side. That's a corn casserole. She thought it was a bit spicy but I'm definitely getting some next time we're there.
This morning we met up w/ D & S for dim sum at Hong Kong on Guess. Awesome. BBQ pork, shu mai, taro cake, dumplings of various kinds. As we were getting up to pay, we saw a waiter walk by w/ deep fried shrimp balls. We'll definitely be checking those out next time we're there. If you're a dim sum fan, local options are pretty limited. In fact, Hong Kong may be it. So get there early. By the time we left (a bit before noon) it was getting pretty crowded and parking was hard to come by.

Back to 80s Fest with a nautical-themed offering. No pirates but ships and sailing and whatnot. Altho I was never a big Split Enz fan I've always loved this song.

Not only is today Talk Like a Pirate Day (yarrh!) but also, at least in the Triangle, it's apparently Stone Brewing Day. At least two places (Sam's and the Chapel Hill WFM) are now carrying previously unavailable in this area beers by Stone Brewing, from San Diego. I think I first heard about Stone on Wil Wheaton's site and I first bought one (Arrogant Bastard!) from the WFM in Vegas. I think sometime in 2007, I started seeing some of their beers at stores up in Staten Island. And now they're here in NC. Prices range from high (for sixes of Pale Ale and IPA) to ludicrous (for Ruination IPA and Oaked Arrogant Bastard) but all their beers I've tried are definitely worth the splurge.

Once again, John Cole nails it. You want specifics? Get off my lawn!
I mean, I realize that the Republicans have spent the last 8 years lying their fuckin' heads off and so it's no surprise they're sticking w/ horse they rode in on. But still... They lie about everything. They lie about lying. It's like watching a campaign being run by four-year-olds.
And I'd like to apologize for such a blatant insult to four-year-olds everywhere.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 14 spt 08)

Repentance :: Lee "Scratch" Perry
In the Seventh Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of his Enemy by Magic :: Kasai All Stars
Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump :: various
De Donde Eres :: Cordero
Yerba Buena :: Conjunto Jardin
Living is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-29 :: various
Silent City :: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider
Friends and Countrymen :: Earl Rodney
New York City :: Brazilian Girls
Mi Niña Lola :: Buika

this week's video feature: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider

This day in dog whistles: several places around the blogosphere have tracked down an unattributed quote from Palin's acceptance speech to wingnut icon Westbrook Pegler, who once called for the violent murder of Bobby Kennedy. Sullivan notes the pointed response from RFK, Jr. Someone commenting on a Making Light post about this issue suggested that the speechwriter was in line to be fired. But, cynical though it may be, I'm with Patrick Neilsen Hayden on this one. I'm sure it was deliberate and intentional. I can see no limit to how low this crowd will go in their attempt to hold on to power.

Well, it's not actually autumn until next week but it is September and thus time for another cycle of ANTM. I'm still formulating the rules for the cycle 11 drinking game but key elements are sure to include: Hannah mentioning Alaska, anyone telling Sheena to stop acting hoochy, anyone speaking French to Marjorie, Marjorie stating that she feels different from all the other girls, Clark saying something bitchy, anyone mentioning that Isis is transgender (double if they then cut to a shot of Tyra looking all smug about casting a transgender model). Have not decided who I think will win but I'm adding to my list of models who won't win: Hannah (too bland), Marjorie (too mousy), Sheena (too hoochy), Isis (too tranny), Clark (too bitchy), Elina (too lesbian AND too vegan). My early money, btw, is on Joslyn (who's too old but she's also super Tyra-esque) or Lauren Brie (even tho she's named after a cheese). Altho Brittany has been tagged with the damning "catalog" label, there may be an amazing transformation in her future. Oh, and thank Grom they've switched to having a designated reader for Tyra-mail this season instead of having them all read along like a bunch of demented first graders.

While I've been sitting around the NY metro area w/ too much free time on my hands, Fashion Week has been a-swirl over in Bryant Park. Alas, I only discovered Full Frontal Fashion last night. So I've missed out on most of their TV coverage. But looks like a lot of it is available online. Based on the shows I saw, they seem to have C-SPAN level camera skills -- there's only often only one angle and it misses the backs of the models, only showing half the look. But still it's pretty cool to see, and the commentary seems to fall somewhere between the aridity of Elsa Klensch and the vapidity of Style network.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 7 spt 08)

In the Seventh Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of his Enemy by Magic :: Kasai All Stars
Yerba Buena :: Conjunto Jardin
Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump :: various
New York City :: Brazilian Girls
Jah is Real :: Burning Spear
Give Me Love: Songs of the Broken-hearted, Baghdad 1925-1929 :: various
Living is Hard: West African Music in Britain, 1927-29 :: various
Super Afro Soul :: Orlando Julius
Silent City :: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider
En Este Camino :: Pistolera

(this week's video feature is taking the week off)

What I learned on Sunday is that you can detour from 85 to 95 on US1. It takes you through Petersburg and Richmond. You lose some time but it gets you off the interstates for a while. And of course it's way more interesting as you're driving through a varied run of decaying urban, redeveloped urban, almost rural, generic suburban, light industrial, and urban areas. There are some great examples of mid-century signage (esp. for motels) along the way. And, somewhere in SE Richmond I believe, this tobacco plant with an amazing art deco sign. I was planning to drive back that way so I could stop and get some pictures but when I got here I realized I'd left my camera at home. Next time for sure. The other thing I discovered was a small local chain of burger joints called What A Burger. No relation, I'm sure, to the Midwest-to-West Coast chain of the same name. The VA version seems to have a mascot called Branchie Boy. I'm still puzzling over that. But teh google did point me to this photo. which looks like one of the What a Burgers I drove past.

What I learned from this clip: Sisters of Mercy live sounded a lot more like the Mission than they did on their rekkids. What I learned while looking for this clip: there's someone making fake alternate versions of old Sisters videos. The one for "Black Planet" is a scream. Retains just enough elements of the actual video while being, in fact, a dead-on parody/simulation of generic 80s MTV fodder. Hell, it could be a Richard Marx video. The only times the mask slips is when they go close-up on the fake Eldritch. For one thing, he looks more like Richard Marx than Eldritch. And he can't lip synch for shit. Still, it's worth checking out.

Continuing my exploration of Belgian-style beers, today's recommendation is Maudite. It's made by Unibroue, the Quebecois brewer. An excellent red ale, bottle re-fermented. In addition to tasting awesome, it's also one of a small number of devil or demon themed beers. The only others that come to mind immediately are Hop Devil and Stone's Arrogant Bastard.

Not only has TS Hannah messed w/ my travel plans for the weekend but it also washed out the Durm Bulls game we were planning to go to tonight. So, feh on that. Also my fave oldschool barber has moved. They used to be by Northgate and I know that when I was in there earlier this summer, they said something about moving but I don't remember where and there didn't seem to be a sign on the door saying.
At least my computer has stopped randomly locking up for no apparent reason. I doubt that whatever was wrong has magically fixed itself but it's working now and hopefully will continue to do so until I have time to deal with it. In other positive news, we went back to Rockwood tonight and altho the service was a bit spotty (friendly but inattentive, like maybe they were short a person or two) the food was outstanding. Sarah had the meatball sandwich and reported that it was excellent. I had a pizza with sausage (house-made), mushrooms and roasted red pepper. I'd say the crust was the best of the 4 pizzas I've had there. It seems that they're beginning to master their ovens. For dessert, we shared the praline-caramel ice cream (also house-made) which was spectacularly good.

I'm having news burnout (actually, I'm having a pretty general burnout) so I've been avoiding pretty much everything except the Daily Show and Colbert. If some particularly egregious headline catches my eye, I'll dive into the news to check it out. Plus my computer's started acting wonky so that's a pain as well. Might be on the road this weekend. Unless the road gets washed away by TS Hannah.
In lieu of an actual quality post (if they ever are), please enjoy this video of food on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 31 aug 08)

Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump :: various
New York City :: Brazilian Girls
Jah is Real :: Burning Spear
Give Me Love: Songs of the Broken-hearted, Baghdad 1925-1929 :: various
Silent City :: Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider
Super Afro Soul :: Orlando Julius
Mi Niña Lola :: Buika
Marimba Music of Guatemala :: Chapinlandia
En Este Camino :: Pistolera
Ayombe!: the Heart of Colombia's Music Vallenata :: various

this week's video feature: Brazilian Girls