Endless Pajama Lark (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} scratchtasia) wrote,@ 2008-09-23 21:00:00 |
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Mulch
Way behind again. These are the recent highlights.
Last Saturday: Andrea and I saw Bruce Robison at Knuckleheads. It was a darn good show--and our third at Knuckleheads in one week!
Last Tuesday: I saw the Devil Music Ensemble perform a live score for the rare silent movie Red Heroine, a 1929 Chinese martial-arts movie, at the Screenland. The music was excellent and the movie was interesting. I got a little lost when the story made a transition of several years, but I eventually regained my footing. I really liked the iconic shots of the Red Heroine in the air. And I liked her teacher, White Monkey. And who doesn't like to see a previously downtrodden peasant girl kick some butt? The title cards were in Engrish, by the way, and were usually cropped so that you couldn't read the entire text. That didn't make the movie any easier to follow. Still, the Devil Music Ensemble is on tour with this film, and I'd recommend going if they come to your town.
Wednesday: I saw the new movie Ghost Town, with Ricky Gervais. I enjoyed it. It's no classic, but as a sort of formula movie it's unusally successful and funny.
Thursday: I went with Becki to see Jenny Lewis at the Granada. It was a good show, though I didn't care for either of the opening acts (Whispertown 2000 and Jonathan Wilson). I also didn't know as many Jenny Lewis songs as I thought I did. But her voice can sell unfamiliar material just fine.
Friday: I went to the Brick for Namelessnumberheadman and the Klangs. I think it was the Klangs' first show. Billy Brimblecom is drumming for them, and the songs are pretty catchy and melodic, if lyrically odd (they're from a concept album recorded by the lead member a while back). I liked the music but did not care for the performance-art aspect of their set, which involved two actors, one of them in a bodysuit (apparently playing an alien) that didn't leave enough to the imagination. Namelessnumberheadman also did a fine set, performing as a trio for the first time in months.
Saturday: I went to a comic book convention held by the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy. Local conventions usually don't have much to offer me; the guests are usually superhero artists I either don't care about or have never heard of. This time, however, someone brought in the entire creative team of Groo the Wanderer: Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai, and Tom Luth. I attended an enjoyable panel featuring the four of them, got some autographs, and did a little bit of shopping. I really need an inventory of my collection, though, because I can no longer remember what I do and don't already have--especially when you get down to individual issues from an entire series.
Saturday night, I went to the Bottleneck to catch a live tribute to the Who by five Lawrence acts: the Dead Girls, Arthur Dodge & the Horsefeathers, This Is My Condition, the Many Moods of Dad, and Julia Peterson. Peterson's set was unannounced, so I missed it, but I caught the rest, and it was excellent--especially the Horsefeathers and the Dead Girls. The Horsefeathers' Matt Mozier channeled Pete Townshend to play windmills in a white jumpsuit, and the Dead Girls had some of the best songs to work with. It was terrific fun.
Sunday: I revisited the comic book convention. This time I attended two panels--first was Mark Evanier talking about Jack Kirby (he's written the biography), followed immediately by Stan Sakai talking about his background and his series Usagi Yojimbo. Evanier is an encyclopedic raconteur well worth listening to, and Sakai is a genial and engaging presence. For each of these panels, I was one of only eight attendees. After the panels, I did a little bit more browsing on the floor, and then I went home.
Those were the recent highlights.
And then there's all this:
McCain’s Court: Change We Don’t Need (Cass Sunstein, Washington Independent): "John McCain has said that, should he be president, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito 'would serve as the model for my own nominees.' He regularly attacks what he calls 'activist judging,' and he described a recent ruling vindicating the right to habeas corpus as 'one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.' McCain has repeatedly said that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled. If McCain is elected, change would clearly be coming to the US Supreme Court."
McCain's Radical Agenda (Bob Herbert, New York Times): "This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone."
The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket (Frank Rich, New York Times)
Obama, McCain and the Truth About Taxes (TruthOut): "Unless you make more than $2.87 million per year, Barack Obama will not raise your taxes. In fact, he will probably cut them. This reality has been trampled, twisted, turned inside out and scribbled over so many times by the McCain campaign that it is hardly recognizable amid the clutter, but the fact remains: Obama's plan would grant tax cuts to all Americans making less than $226,982 per year, with the largest cuts going to the poorest individuals."
What's Spanish for 'Lies'? (New York Times): "Senator John McCain's truth-deficient campaign hit another low with a fraudulent new ad, this time about immigration. The ad, in Spanish, accuses Senator Barack Obama and his Congressional allies of killing immigration reform. It's a gross distortion."
Gov. Palin's Worldview (Editorial, New York Times): "If John McCain seriously thought Gov. Sarah Palin was qualified to be president, it raises profound questions about his judgment."
She's Not Ready (Bob Herbert, New York Times): "With Gov. Sarah Palin, it's not about agreeing or disagreeing with her on the issues. It is that she doesn't appear to understand the important issues."
Conservatives Turn on McCain-Palin (Huffington Post)
Sarah Palin's Wasteful Ways (Salon): "She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey 'bordello' makeover."
GOP Delegate's Hotel Tryst Goes Bad When He Wakes Up with $120,000 Missing (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
Way behind again. These are the recent highlights.
Last Saturday: Andrea and I saw Bruce Robison at Knuckleheads. It was a darn good show--and our third at Knuckleheads in one week!
Last Tuesday: I saw the Devil Music Ensemble perform a live score for the rare silent movie Red Heroine, a 1929 Chinese martial-arts movie, at the Screenland. The music was excellent and the movie was interesting. I got a little lost when the story made a transition of several years, but I eventually regained my footing. I really liked the iconic shots of the Red Heroine in the air. And I liked her teacher, White Monkey. And who doesn't like to see a previously downtrodden peasant girl kick some butt? The title cards were in Engrish, by the way, and were usually cropped so that you couldn't read the entire text. That didn't make the movie any easier to follow. Still, the Devil Music Ensemble is on tour with this film, and I'd recommend going if they come to your town.
Wednesday: I saw the new movie Ghost Town, with Ricky Gervais. I enjoyed it. It's no classic, but as a sort of formula movie it's unusally successful and funny.
Thursday: I went with Becki to see Jenny Lewis at the Granada. It was a good show, though I didn't care for either of the opening acts (Whispertown 2000 and Jonathan Wilson). I also didn't know as many Jenny Lewis songs as I thought I did. But her voice can sell unfamiliar material just fine.
Friday: I went to the Brick for Namelessnumberheadman and the Klangs. I think it was the Klangs' first show. Billy Brimblecom is drumming for them, and the songs are pretty catchy and melodic, if lyrically odd (they're from a concept album recorded by the lead member a while back). I liked the music but did not care for the performance-art aspect of their set, which involved two actors, one of them in a bodysuit (apparently playing an alien) that didn't leave enough to the imagination. Namelessnumberheadman also did a fine set, performing as a trio for the first time in months.
Saturday: I went to a comic book convention held by the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy. Local conventions usually don't have much to offer me; the guests are usually superhero artists I either don't care about or have never heard of. This time, however, someone brought in the entire creative team of Groo the Wanderer: Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai, and Tom Luth. I attended an enjoyable panel featuring the four of them, got some autographs, and did a little bit of shopping. I really need an inventory of my collection, though, because I can no longer remember what I do and don't already have--especially when you get down to individual issues from an entire series.
Saturday night, I went to the Bottleneck to catch a live tribute to the Who by five Lawrence acts: the Dead Girls, Arthur Dodge & the Horsefeathers, This Is My Condition, the Many Moods of Dad, and Julia Peterson. Peterson's set was unannounced, so I missed it, but I caught the rest, and it was excellent--especially the Horsefeathers and the Dead Girls. The Horsefeathers' Matt Mozier channeled Pete Townshend to play windmills in a white jumpsuit, and the Dead Girls had some of the best songs to work with. It was terrific fun.
Sunday: I revisited the comic book convention. This time I attended two panels--first was Mark Evanier talking about Jack Kirby (he's written the biography), followed immediately by Stan Sakai talking about his background and his series Usagi Yojimbo. Evanier is an encyclopedic raconteur well worth listening to, and Sakai is a genial and engaging presence. For each of these panels, I was one of only eight attendees. After the panels, I did a little bit more browsing on the floor, and then I went home.
Those were the recent highlights.
And then there's all this:
McCain’s Court: Change We Don’t Need (Cass Sunstein, Washington Independent): "John McCain has said that, should he be president, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito 'would serve as the model for my own nominees.' He regularly attacks what he calls 'activist judging,' and he described a recent ruling vindicating the right to habeas corpus as 'one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.' McCain has repeatedly said that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled. If McCain is elected, change would clearly be coming to the US Supreme Court."
McCain's Radical Agenda (Bob Herbert, New York Times): "This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone."
The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket (Frank Rich, New York Times)
Obama, McCain and the Truth About Taxes (TruthOut): "Unless you make more than $2.87 million per year, Barack Obama will not raise your taxes. In fact, he will probably cut them. This reality has been trampled, twisted, turned inside out and scribbled over so many times by the McCain campaign that it is hardly recognizable amid the clutter, but the fact remains: Obama's plan would grant tax cuts to all Americans making less than $226,982 per year, with the largest cuts going to the poorest individuals."
What's Spanish for 'Lies'? (New York Times): "Senator John McCain's truth-deficient campaign hit another low with a fraudulent new ad, this time about immigration. The ad, in Spanish, accuses Senator Barack Obama and his Congressional allies of killing immigration reform. It's a gross distortion."
Gov. Palin's Worldview (Editorial, New York Times): "If John McCain seriously thought Gov. Sarah Palin was qualified to be president, it raises profound questions about his judgment."
She's Not Ready (Bob Herbert, New York Times): "With Gov. Sarah Palin, it's not about agreeing or disagreeing with her on the issues. It is that she doesn't appear to understand the important issues."
Conservatives Turn on McCain-Palin (Huffington Post)
Sarah Palin's Wasteful Ways (Salon): "She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey 'bordello' makeover."
GOP Delegate's Hotel Tryst Goes Bad When He Wakes Up with $120,000 Missing (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
