We just got back from a reception the Hesperia Chamber of Commerce held for new Hesperia City Manager Mike Podegracz at Foremost Healthcare.
I finally got to meet Ray Pryke, the publisher of Valleywide Newspapers, including the Hesperia Resorter, which was great, since I’ve wanted to meet him for a long time. Ray is a character’s character and the living embodiment of several truisms about the First Amendment.
The reception was sponsored by Verizon. This seems to be a growing trend.
Pulitzer-winner Michael Chabon has rounded up a bunch of authors who will be auctioning off the chance to be in one of their novels on eBay. The authors include Chabon, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Lemony Snicket, Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman, John Grisham, Peter Straub and others. The auction goes live on Friday and benefits The First Amendment Project.
The single most deceptive URL on the Internet (and one that’s a little troubling when you see what it’s really about): GetLoaded.com. Yeah … I’ll take my long distance truckers without the alcohol humor, thanks.
Download unofficial audio guides for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from Art Mobs. Not to be outdone, MoMA now is offering their official audio guides as downloads as well.
The Commerce Department is looking to squash the .xxx domain before it’s launched. Because, you know, without that domain, there’s no pornography on the Internet. (Hey, guys, how about this: Approve the URL and require all adult sites to have the .xxx domain names, and then it’d be easy to keep kids from wandering in.)
Truly we live in a golden age. Today, at the pinnacle of civilization, one can go to the Lego Web site, design something using their Digital Designer and then they will gladly sell you a kit that contains all the Legos needed to make your creation. (Source.)
Probably nothing is as boring as a writer’s navel-gazing blog — pause for polite laughter — but Josh Friedman has a damn good one. (Source.)
Live Liz Phair performances and a discussion of the health benefits of sex and swimming over on VH1.com.
Concert-goers say that she and her main squeeze now appear to be wearing wedding rings on stage, so congrats to them, if it’s true and means what it seems to mean.
My boy Jonah — the man who introduced me to Mongolian barbecue — has gone on a seemingly presidential-length vaction to China and is blogging it regularly. Ch-check it out.
I don’t know what it is, but I can’t get “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie out of my head.
Love of mine, some day you will die
But I’ll be close behind
I’ll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark
Yeah, that’s a little morbid, isn’t it? But it’s sung in a wonderfully romantic fashion, just lead singer Ben Gibbard and his guitar (and maybe a little other instrumentation in the background).
In Catholic school, as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
“Son, fear is the heart of love”
So I never went back
If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark
I first heard the song on the podcast of Dave Cusick’s Post Modern Rock Show, and it’s stuck in my head ever since.
You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It’s nothing to cry about
Cause we’ll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms
If heaven and hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no’s on their vacancy signs
If there’s no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I’ll follow you into the dark
Then I’ll follow you into the dark
Anyway, it’s off Death Cab for Cutie’s brand spanking new album, Plans. It’s got some other good tunes on it, including “Crooked Teeth,” which I also first heard on the Post Modern Rock Show.
I’ll just be over here, brooding in a corner and reading depressing Edgar Allen Poe romantic poetry.
Speaking of Dave Cusick, he sent me a very nice e-mail Saturday after my mention of him in this blog, answering a question I had:
As for how I can play music and not worry about the rights issues, KPSU has a license that covers podcasting. And I actually don’t know any more about it than that, but I’d rather not worry about it too much anyway.
And, as for my talking bits, I know I can rattle on a bit, but I’m working on it. I come from a long line of long-winded droners, and having a mic in front of you doesn’t help anything.
As long as there’s Morning Stories, with its 10 minutes of talking about its two minutes of story, you’ve got nothing to worry about. And I’m enjoying all the old They Might Be Giants songs I haven’t heard in ages.
Elsewhere, the New York Times profiles Death Cab for Cutie. I think you have to be registered to read it after a week or some such thing, so read it sooner rather than later. And eek, between the Postal Service, Rilo Kiley and the Shins, this article is cataloging most of the stuff I’ve been listening to recently on my iPod. I’ve become a demographic.
