Celebrities Really Do Have Better Lives Than the Rest of Us

I'd always thought celebrities were just regular people, doing regular things, until I read this headline and article from the NME. Man, I just have to become famous. For famous people, even mundane things are learned and done in celeb-fabulous ways.

It's Good!

Anybody else see it? Roger Ebert sums it up best:

I can say that if you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you will like this one, and that if you did not, there is no talking to you.

Fuck the haters, it's solid.

Ray Davies - Working Man's Cafe

Wow, you guys are in for a treat! The styles dip and weave a bit, Bowie-like at times, a few angry growls, much classically Kinkish. Lot of social commentary, some wit and relentless hooks.

A story that will make you respect a Hilton.

This probably won't garner as much attention as the next celebrity DUI, but Barron Hilton, the man who's daughter made slutty fashionable, is donating 97% of his $2.3 billion fortune to charitable endeavors. I'd imagine there's some hand-wringing going on in Hilton households all over Beverly Hills. Way to go, Barron! The next time I stay in a Hilton hotel, I swear I'll leave the towels when I check out.

Say, this suicide really is painless!

Wonderful scene from a fantastic movie. Great Last Supper imagery + the song sung as it was meant to be.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

I'm turning cartwheels for this new CD from BRMC called Baby 81. De-prioritize your other action items and give this one your prompt attention, gentlemen. Serious rockage. Relentless Rollage. Fittingly Torpid Petulance.

Mmmmm.....Monica

Okay, I think I'll go see it. Sorry to get you in trouble at work, Lurker and Jay.

This is Painful...

I referred to this in a comment on Jay's post. The image / sound quality is pretty bad, but you get the picture. Get it? Get the picture!!

First Day Of Shooting For Indy 4

Can you believe the first Indiana Jones movie came out 26 years ago?! I was 12.

You have got to check out this website, the "only online source for official Indiana Jones news, updates, and much more."

Indy used to be tough and ruthless; now, he's looking rough and toothless. I'm actually looking forward to this, though.

Achtung, Audiophiles!

I found this freaking cool software yesterday that converts old LPs, 45s, and cassettes to MP3s. After converting, you have the option of applying filters that can auto EQ and/or remove pops and crackles from vinyl (and hiss from tapes). In the trial version, you get three transfers; if you decide to buy, it's $34.95. At every step, you have the option of letting the software automate everything - setting recording levels, splitting tracks - and it even comes with tutorials that will help you assemble your recording equipment if you're an absolute beginner.

I've been dabbling with this archiving thing for the past few years, and this is the first time I've been totally happy with the results. I'm still learning when to EQ and when not to EQ, but here are some examples of my experiments with "before" and "afters" for comparison. (Audacity is decent freeware; MusicMatch was too, until Yahoo bought it and totally fucked it up.)

Public Image Ltd. - "Bags"
(Audacity)
(Acoustica Spin It Again)

Alice Cooper - "No More Mister Nice Guy"
(MusicMatch? Can't remember)
(Acoustica Spin It Again)

Learn more about Acoustica Spin It Again.

Heath Ledger As The Joker

Looks promising. Summer 2008 is shaping up nicely for us comic book geeks.

We Got an Offer!

$1000 below asking! Fingers crossed, fellas!

Kinks Show At The Winterland (February 19, 1977)

Hey, free bootleg from Heather at I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS! Get it whilst you can.

Great News for Joe!

SHA NA NA

The rock nostalgia group, most famous for its appearance in “Grease,” appears at 7:30 p.m. on May 10 in Moran Theater at the Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, 300 W. Water St., Jacksonville. Tickets range from $18-$44. 632-3373.
And you were worried about leaving behind the music scene of Austin!
(This is where Dave says, "I love Sha Na Na..")

T-birds

Everyday after school, my kids go to the school playground to run off some energy. There are a couple of other moms there that I've gotten to be good friends with, and the other day we were talking about cars. One of them happened to mention that her parents had bought two old 1967 Thunderbirds, but her mother got sick and died (God rest her soul), so they've just been sitting in her sister's driveway in Atlanta. I mentioned how much I love old cars like that, and she said if I would go get them, I could have them. For FREE! I think only one of them runs, but as she remembers them, they are in decent shape.

The kicker is that they have the big 345 horse 428 cubic-inch V8s (just in time for $3.50 a gallon gas)! I spoke to her yesterday, and it's all lined up. I'm going to head up there after the move and pick them up.

How cool is that? I almost don't want to tell anybody b/c I'm afraid to jinx it.

My View From The Stage

Good turn-out last night! I had more fun than should be legally allowed, and I got to talk to people that I haven't seen in years.

Kram's roommate recorded it all live to two track, and I'm working on obtaining a copy. He played a little for me off his laptop las night, and the sound quality is crystal clear.

Sopranos! Sopranos! Sopranos!

The first of the last nine episodes of the sixth and final season (!) of the Sopranos aired last night. One quick phone call on Friday afternoon and we were back in the HBO saddle. Man, I had forgotten how much I love this show, and the way all the pieces are being positioned, it seems like we're heading for a humdinger of a finale. Anybody else catch it?

(By the way, A&E's version of the show is like watching your favorite R rated movie on NBC: it sucks.)

Here's a summary of the episode, in case you're interested.

Continuing With the Gay Theme

The only CD my wife has had in her car the past couple months has been Lily Allen's 'Alright, Still...' After listening to it about 5 times, I have to admit that it's good. Really good. Jay, this is your daughter in 15 years. Enjoy.

For the People.

Clear The Decks, Ladies

Better finish whatever you're currently reading before May 1. Michael Chabon's got a new one coming out that's rumored to be as good or better than The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

Book Description

For sixty years, Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of revelations of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. Proud, grateful, and longing to be American, the Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant, gritty, soulful, and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. For sixty years they have been left alone, neglected and half-forgotten in a backwater of history. Now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end: once again the tides of history threaten to sweep them up and carry them off into the unknown.

But homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. He and his half-Tlingit partner, Berko Shemets, can't catch a break in any of their outstanding cases. Landsman's new supervisor is the love of his life—and also his worst nightmare. And in the cheap hotel where he has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under Landsman's nose. Out of habit, obligation, and a mysterious sense that it somehow offers him a shot at redeeming himself, Landsman begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy. But when word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, Landsman soon finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, hopefulness, evil, and salvation that are his heritage—and with the unfinished business of his marriage to Bina Gelbfish, the one person who understands his darkest fears.

At once a gripping whodunit, a love story, an homage to 1940s noir, and an exploration of the mysteries of exile and redemption, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a novel only Michael Chabon could have written.

Pick it up over to the Amazon.

My Wife Has Been Playing This Game For Years