THE MOUNTAIN GOATS: John Darnielle lists “Music You Should Hear” at Amazon. The band will play the M-Shop April 1st, iirc. And if you're a fan, consider adding to the band's entry in the Wikipedia.
THERE SHE GOES… AGAIN: The La's reunite for a festival date in Japan in August. No word on whether Spinal Tap will share the bill.
THURSTON MOORE of Sonic Youth has an article posted about mix tapes, iTunes and file-sharing It's adapted from a book Moore edited, due for release in May.
SOME DEPRESSION: The wryly-titled blog features “Podcast and music news featuring Wilco, Son Volt, Ryan Adams, Drive-by Truckers, and more. No DJs. No talk. No Lincoln Park.”
JEFF TWEEDY of Wilco has me pegged. Especially the “retarded” part.
THE DEATH PENALTY FOR UNAUTHORIZED BREEDING: Law and order in the insect world.
SOUP NAZI: Al Yeganeh, the surly New York City soup seller who inspired a character on Seinfeld, is plans to franchise his store. However, Yeganeh is adamant that franchisees don't use the term “Soup Nazi” in their promotional materials. Not out of political correctness, mind you; rather, he says he loathes Jerry Seinfeld.
PALESTINIAN SECURITY FORCES have prevented as many militant attacks in recent weeks as their Israeli counterparts, according to a senior Israeli intelligence official.
YOUR BODY could soon be the backbone of a broadband personal data network linking your mobile phone or MP3 player to a cordless headset, your digital camera to a PC or printer, using a technology called RedTacton.
ROTC FOR THE CIA: The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program is seen by some observers as a long-overdue effort to remedy the federal government's collective ignorance about foreign lands. Other scholars, however, view the semisecret program as a profound threat to universities' integrity and to the ethical norms of social science.
GRAY WEDDING: If you were grossed out by the story I linked the other day about Billy Idol's smelly leather pants in the 1980s, you really don't want to know what's going on down there these days.
WHITE STRIPES: The duo have banged out a new album in 12 days.
GREIL MARCUS: The veteran rock critic is hailed as the Halberstam of pop culture in a column at MarketWatch. He does not have kind words for Rolling Stone, Hunter S. Thompson or CBS News, among others.
DISCHORD RECORDS is making its entire catalog, including albums long out of print on CD/LP, available for downloading at a number of websites, including iTunes.
EDUCATION BLOGGING: The latest Carnival of Education is online.
ANGELINA JOLIE tops FHM magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women” list. The 2005 list is kinda sad; shouldn’t anyone who ranks below the Olsen Twins (who jointly hold No. 32) be a little embarrassed? “Sure, you’re sexy, but not as sexy as the Olsen Twins…” Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria at number 38? The very mention of her name drives traffic to this site (and I’ve just done it)! The silver lining: Britney Spears was completely snubbed.
SIN CITY: Two more rave reviews are up at Ain't-It-Cool News. Harry Knowles' family-unfriendly gushing might be considered tainted by his friendship with Sin City co-director Robert Rodriguez. But “Moriarty” is not prone to writing things like, “If you’re anything like me, you’ll stagger away from the encounter with two blacked eyes and a broken bloody smile that will last for days.” Jessica Alba (No. 22 on your FHM chart and thus hotter than the Olsen Twins) was on The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night; she looked great, but proved she needs a writer. Newsweek is conducting an online chat with Rodriguez on Friday, should you want to submit a question.
KYRGYZSTAN: Riot police have violently broken up an anti-government protest hours after President Akayev named a hardliner to take charge of security.
UNITED NATIONS: After months of denials, the United Nations admitted yesterday that, in an exception to its own rules, it paid for the legal defense of Benon Sevan, the oil-for-food program chief. ALSO: Kojo Annan, son of U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, received at least 300,000 bucks from Cotecna, a Swiss inspection company awarded a contract ultimately worth about 60 million clams under the oil-for-food program. The amount was almost double the sum previously disclosed, but payments were arranged in ways that obscured from where the money came or to whom it went.
IRAQ: An Associated Press lede: “A raid by US and Iraqi forces on a suspected rebel training camp killed 80 militants dead, Iraqi officials said today.” Anyone editing at the AP these days? Or are they making fun of some Iraqi official's broken English? Or subliminally advertising Raid pesticide?
WHY THE GERMANS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO RE-ARM: Say what you like about Americans, but none has put up a gallery of art paying tribute to the late Maude Flanders.
PAT O'BRIEN: Did the former host of Access: Hollywood go into rehab, or into defense mode? An embarrassing string of dirty voice-mail messages, which expressed a taste for hookers, cocaine and adventurous (if possibly unhygienic) sex, has become public. It appears there's a photo and some e-mail, too. Now sources say O'Brien was reprimanded several times for sexual harassment during his time at Access: Hollywood. And one blogger is having some fun at O'Brien's expense.
MONA LISA: Like Elvis at Graceland, she is trapped by her own celebrity.
SARAH JESSICA PARKER is miffed over her abrupt replacement by Joss Stone as the Gap Girl. I guess SJP is unfamiliar with the idea of competition among older women and younger women.