Boo!

The jack-o-lantern I carved last night: It's got frickin' nostrils!


He did not scare away enough of the trick-or-treaters -- I ran out of candy. Happy Halloween!

Wedding on the TV on the Radio

Somebody made this video for TV on the Radio's "I Was A Lover." At first I wasn't sure what I thought, but after finishing it, I decided it was completely awesome. You may hate it, but give it a try:

Weakerthans

I saw The Weakerthans at the 9:30 Club this evening. Really good show, and I picked up their new album.

I went by myself, which I don't do all that often. That left me time to contemplate something that occasionally runs through my head at shows: What would a society comprised entirely of fans of a given band be like? For example:

Rage Against the Machine fans - Complete disaster. A mix of anti-authority sentiment and aggressive tendencies does not make for a coherent or cohesive society.

Xiu Xiu fans - I think Xiu Xiu Land would be kind of a nice place to live, but it would be very quirky. I think some very interesting traditions would develop -- there might be a national holiday dedicated to citizens reading their own confessional poetry in public places, for instance. Social norms would be much different across the board.

The Decemberists fans - First of all, 89% of the population would wear glasses. Everyone would be quite polite, and good at listening. 20% of the public budget would be devoted to arts. Actually, I think Decemberists Land would rather resemble Scandinavia.

I was thinking tonight at the Weakerthans show that their fans would be the ones whose society I would most like to inhabit. The band writes songs that skillfully and compassionately pick apart the human condition, and the fans have one of the highest rates of people singing/mouthing the lyrics that I've seen. People in the crowd are really polite, but friendlier and not as reserved as with some other bands.

Now, if I could only exert this much energy thinking about more practical matters...

Songs of the Moment (An Occasional Feature)

> Pavement - Stereo [YouTube]
> Radiohead -Jigsaw Falling Into Place [mp3]
The new album is pretty good on first couple listens. This track stuck out.
> Joanna Newsom - Sawdust & Diamonds [awesome YouTube]
I finally started listening to this album, and this song stopped me in my tracks.
> Olivia Tremor Control - Memories of Jacqueline 1906
> Sufjan Stevens - Romulus [YouTube, poor music video]
In the running for saddest song I know.
> The Smiths - The Headmaster Ritual [extremely retro YouTube]

Three-Way Race

You may have seen this elsewhere, but be sure to note the results of the latest Rasmussen presidential poll:

Clinton (D) 45%
Giuliani (R) 35%
Colbert (I) 13%

Colbert also drew 12% against Fred Thompson. In their writeup, Rasmussen rightly italicizes "In both match-ups, Colbert has more support with young voters than the GOP candidate." To repeat, more young people said they'd vote for a mock candidate than the candidate of a major party. Of course, one hopes and expects that those people would not pull the lever for Colbert if they were actually voting, but it does say something about the level of disaffection.

From the Fridge (an occasional feature)

The other day, I was rooting through my official "box of random junk that is useful in certain circumstances" (I believe everyone has such a box/drawer/etc.), trying to find the safety pins that my mother had sent to college with me. No luck with those, but I did find my old Magnetic Poetry Kit, which I had pretty much forgotten about. I put it up on the fridge (actually sort of time-consuming, there are 400+ magnets), and it was soon providing me with amusement while waiting for my soup to heat up or whatever.

I've decided to occasionally post pictures of the poetry that appears on our fridge. Satisfaction not guaranteed. Here's one:

The Onion

Haven't looked at The Onion that much recently, but this video news bit is pretty funny -- they really nail the tone and style of TV newscasts. The snippet from the district attorney's news conference just kills me...

Beyonce Unhurt After Stray Bullet Miraculously Hits Passerby Instead

(Also, in the news ticker at the bottom of the screen: "New videotape from Quaker extremists hints at plans to befriend thousands.")

Alloy Wheels

"...males must compete for female attention. That means evolution is busy selecting for antlers, aggression and alloy wheels in males, at the expense of longevity." -The Economist

Concert Coincidence

I went to a concert this evening by the Canadian band Stars. It was a great show -- actually, NPR did a webcast of it, so you can listen to it here if you like. They're sort of like Arcade Fire, but with apocalyptic angst replaced with lovelorn angst.

Anyway, I met up with Aron at the show, and we were waiting a while for James, a friend of his. When I came back from getting some water, James had shown up, and brought a friend of his along. My brain sputtered for a moment as he was about to introduce me to his friend, and then I realized the reason I had been thrown was because his friend is Seth Kingery, who I know from Carleton (but not well enough to know he's in DC). Weird. We caught up a bit...turns out he lives just south of me...

Victory!

I finally succeeded in obtaining a ping pong table this week.


It was an effort...I got a Zipcar pickup truck, headed out into 'burb oblivion in NoVa (Northern Virginia, for those not in the know), and the guy helped me disassemble it and load it in the back. Zachary helped me set it up when I got back.

But it was definitely worth it, because I HAVE A PING PONG TABLE!