Brett Favre's family is safe.

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The day of wireless downloads of full songs [onto your phone] is not far off. Being in relatively close proximity to Finland Home of Nokia, the Dutch already have mobile (ah, I have to start saying "cell" again now) phones with mp3 players. I was going to get one but then my boss "recommended" a blackberry instead. The blackberry is so gay. I leave it at home. But I'm wondering if it's worth waiting to sign up for a mob--cell phone plan until they come out with this hot gadget. But why would I need the hot gadget when I have an ipod... CAN YOU JUST PUT ALL THIS STUFF IN ONE DEVICE PLEASE. Oh wait, is that what the blackberry is for? I give up.

So, Coooousin Larrys, if you were moving to America and needed a cell phone plan and provider, who would you pick? Let's say, just for the sake of argument, you were moving to Nashville.

Signed, a curious Balki Bartokomous

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"Per alphabet tradition, this is the portion of the MoS article where I talk about my strange obsession with a certain particularly enchanting/exasperating dancer. We did not exactly move like spirits in the night, I'll grant you that. But the wine was good, wasn't it? A nice California Riesling -- don't let the screw-cap fool you -- and a mountain sunset, I couldn't have scripted it any better. My friend said the problem was the lint-encrusted A-L-M-O-N-D-S I proffered from my pocket. Or maybe it was the accompanying snot rag. The thing is, we never did fly off to Rome on a moment's notice. And the kitchen floor? Not once. It's this very cold, hard Mexican ceramic T-I-L-E.
There's something I should tell you:

(tour dates for some band)"

via

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You asked for it. Kitty killer.

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Kitty!

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You'll have to forgive my enthusiasm. The only videos on Dutch tv are exported Hollywood soft pornos so finding something like this makes me happy [great gash he has, no?!?!].

via

p.s. "Eugene O'Neill says that everybody's got one thing they're always going to regret, but John Darnielle says that if you give people the right chemicals and enough time to themselves, they can permanently disable their internal regret mechanisms."

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Bitchfuck says you have a dirty mouth:

Everybody knows by now that the internet has shaken up the music business. But one of the subtler changes has been the amount of raw information that the industry collects-- to study the music that sells, and to face up to the music that doesn't.

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There is much fun still to be had.

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Last weekend I fell off a chair into a plant. This weekend my bruise is, in parts, a lovely florescent purple-yellow. The Sunday morning light isn't helping me get the best angle on the bruise so here is meta-bruise which gives you, dear reader, not one but two angles of the oops-you're-not-supposed-to-stand-on-the-folding-chair-like-that bruise. (And yes, more ofoto pics up).



And new roommate Jason sent this great I-haven't-met-you-but-check-out-my-scrape pic:

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Ok, Matt and I are playing iPod war. This was inspired after I told him about a guy in the Birmingham airport with an ipod who came up to me and, after seeing I was listening to my ipod too, asked to see what song was playing. Like the card game War, yeah? Anyway, he was playing Coldplay, and I think I won with The Pixies because he just nodded and walked away. So the rules were that we put the devices on shuffle (ipod for him, itunes for me because je n'ai plus d'ipod) and wrote down the first 10 songs that came up. We each got one skip. I used mine because Wilco came up twice. Also I was informed I wasn't allowed to cheat and, believe it or don't, I didn't. Behold how much cooler a recently defunct steel company is than a dead president’s mp3 player:

1. Wilco—Forget the Flowers
2. Johnny Cash—It Could Be You (Instead of Him)
3. Broken Social Scene—Capture the Flag
4. Camera Obscura—Keep It Clean
5. REM—New Test Leper
6. The Rentals—These Days
7. Extreme—More Than Words
8. Neko Case—Outro With Bees
9. Andrew Bird—Tables & Chairs
10. Fiery Furnaces—Tropical Ice-Land

Ok, go check out his list and share your valuable opinion on who won. You can just do it by numbers too. As in, "Annie, you totally won on #7 because Power Ballads kick ass."

UPDATE: Below are the ones I’m calling as clear Team Steel winners. Anyone should feel free to argue the other side but as you may know, my stubbornness knows the same limits as my previous alcohol consumption.

#4—Camera Obscura’s Keep It Clean beats Wilco’s Less Than You Think. True, Wilco as a band beats Camera Obscura but this is War by song only. If we were to cut Less Than You Think to the same length as Keep It Clean, maybe the former wouldn’t have lost.

#7—Extreme’s More Than Words beats Edan’s Polite Meeting (Intro)… and beats the other 18 songs too. No contest.

#8—Neko Case’s Outro With Bees beats Pan American’s Lights of Little Towns. In my arrogant opinion, there had to be something superstrong for #8 to even give Neko any competition. Pan American? Nope.

#9—Andrew Bird’s Tables & Chairs beats Evan Dando’s Rancho Santa Fe. No brainer as there is reasonable speculation among the half-deaf that Mr. Bird may be the next Brian Wilson. You could also play the other side and just face the fact that Evan Dando sucks.

#10—The Fiery Furnaces’s Tropical Ice-Land beats Suede’s The Asphalt World. Matt's other ex (enjoying a brew below) and I agree you can’t call The FF overrated when you have Suede on your list. I listened to The Asphalt World yesterday and yeah, I win this one.

Matt wins #5—REM’s New Test Leper (me) vs. Postal Service’s Sleeping In (him)

I’m willing to debate #1, #2, #3, and #6.

UPDATE DEUCE: Myspace buddy Matt, who runs the excellent mp3 blog You Ain't No Picasso, hath spoken:

It was tough goings. For example, does Wilco's "Less Than You Think" beat out Architecture in Helsinki's "The Cemetary?" I believe it doesn't, but I'm sure most of you do.
....
Be sure to drop them a comment or two saying who YOU feel won the battle. I've got to give it to Annie, hands down.

[SWEET!]

And thanks UWMRyan for the link too.

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This pic is frickin sweet.

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Blah blah, total OPEX, contribution margin for bizbots, blah blah, the Yerman budget is crrrrazy, blah blah, hey, there's an internet connection in this conference room! This hotel is so super clever because they call their conference rooms Syrah, Grenache, and Merlot. We're in Syrah thank Jesu because after that wine movie I just couldn't be caught dead in the Merlot room. I'm really sorry Team, but I'm more interested in downloading music than the 2006 budget. Do you ever go fwighere to steal music? I do and am rarely disappointed. Go ahead, treat yourself. You've been working hard lately.

Also, checking into this hotel, we had to sign a release form because they are filming Top Model Sweden here. Rochester, do you still need a wife?

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Dear Mr. Klaver,

Thank you for your email. I am sorry to learn that you left your Ipod on board the aircraft.

If you wish to enquire if your Ipod has been delivered at Lost and Found you can call them at 0900 - 724 474 65 or send an e-mail to lost_found@schiphol.nl. More information is available - also in English - at the Schiphol Airport website: www.schiphol.nl.

In case your belongings are not at Lost and Found you may wish to contact your insurance company. KLM does not accept responsibility for unchecked baggage.

Good luck!

Kind regards,
Dominique Paquaij
Customer Care
KLM The Netherlands


Sounds like they have some promising leads!

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Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all.

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part deuce

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ha.

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Pitchfork: How long have you lived in Nashville? Where did you live before that, and what prompted the move?

Berman: Cassie [Marrett, Berman's wife] and I moved here in 1999. I'd been living in an apartment colony called Mallard's Crossing beside an office park on the outskirts of Louisville. When I looked out my window, I wasn't necessarily in "sour old Louisville," an idea of a town with which I had an antagonistic relationship. The surrounding mallscape, it could have been anywhere-- Falls Church, Plano, Toledo.

In my beery mind this display of exurban contempt was the equivalent of a lone "boo" during the silent section of a live Rodan set. Sure my neighborhood bar was a BW-3, but at least I didn't have to deal with the sullen and homely hippy women that make up so a large portion of that town's rock scene. The day after Cassie graduated from college we left. It was the Titans' inaugural season. It was a great time to move to Nashville.

UPDATE: Dear Drag City, The Silver Jews song "How Can I Love You (If You Won't Lie Down)" is a huge hit with the Rotterdam French Expat scene. We touch all sorts of buttons when we hear it. For example, the volume knob is spun violently clockwise and the répéter bulb glows green for at least ten minutes. And then we dance as much as the constraints of European cars will allow. We think they've done a great job with this one. But then again, we also like Serge Gainsbourg so there's no accounting for taste. Also I am not French by blood-- only mind and stomach. But I'm pretty sure I was a Frenchman in my past life so I hope you will still take my enthusiasm seriously. Please send Mr. Berman our thanks & kindest regards.

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Here Caro, just right click then save as.



Biertje?



Delftshaven




Le pont près de chez toi

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As their princess, I command you to stop this.
I hope Monsieur ChampdeGuerre would never make such an irreverent t-shirt.

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Around the dinner table at Rno's house in France on Saturday, the Frenchmen, all bearded, pipe-smoking, and fueled by whiskey, softened from heated political debate to wring their hands at the horrific stories that have been coming out of the Loire valley about child sex rings. I wouldn't recommend eating before reading. Ugh.

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As if the Israeli situation needed another complication, Netanyahu's resignation can't be good news...

In his letter and a later news conference, Mr. Netanyahu repeated his criticisms of the pullout - that it is unilateral and secures no concessions from the Palestinians; that it will allow terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad to strengthen themselves and control Gaza, and aid in Hamas's effort to take over the Palestinian Authority; and that it makes Israel less secure.

The bizbot in me tends to sympathize with the argument that you shouldn't give something for nothing in a situation as tense and complex as this. But looking at the bigger, however idealized, intended goal of regional stability... hopefully this gamble with the plans for withdrawl from Gaza August 17th will work. I don't pretend to know even one move of the chess game they're playing but abrupt resignations of significant political leaders during chaotic times can't be a positive beginning to next week's plans in Gaza.

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Ok. I know I've linked to this twice already. But, like Guffman, it just gets better each time you watch.



Click, friend. You won't be disappointed.

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So I like long walks, sci-fi movies, and France. I've had a love affair with France for going on 10 years now. Did an exchange program once, lived there twice, visit there whenever I'm able-- like this weekend, and most of my buddies in Rotterdam are French expats. When I came back from living in lovely Fontainebleau, my job before coming to Holland was at a French cafe (from which I was unceremoniously fired for being too weird). Every phase of my life has to have a French element. But in these 10 years, do you know what I've never done? And I'm not too sure how I happened to overlook this fact? Oingo Boingo: sleeping with a Frenchman! For shame! Ok, that's all.

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Hahaaaa.

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Q: What's the worst part of rollerblading?

A: Telling your friends you're gay.

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The Nashville wire says:

Date: Aug 3, 2005 3:37 PM
Subject: nashville day 3
Body: After arriving in a rain storm on monday to a locked house,..things started to look up when I met weed guy, I procured a sack( cali buds will be missed severely) none of my boxes or roomates have arrived yet, so my house is pretty empty. I went out yesterday to buy beer, a fork and a shower curtian. Today I cleared my entire schedual to wait for the ups man,....to no avail. Been drinking though, I have a radio, some books, I'll get through,....robby gets in on friday,.... Going out to see some music tonight,.... On yahoo chat most of the time @ alldayradio@yahoo.com ,...say what's up,...esspecialy if your a local.

Peace,
Jason


homophones people! Are not rainbow cellular devices! Learn them! But yeah, great that we seem to have similar priorities for move-in essentials. Sweeeeeeet.

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This blog needs more kitties.

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Thomas Friedman is pretty much the most readable part of the NYT. And where did MoDo go? "On leave"? Sounds fishy.

Anyway, wi-fi:

A new generation of politicians is waking up to this issue. For instance, Andrew Rasiej is running in New York City's Democratic primary for public advocate on a platform calling for wireless (Wi-Fi) and cellphone Internet access from every home, business and school in the city. If, God forbid, a London-like attack happens in a New York subway, don't trying calling 911. Your phone won't work down there. No wireless infrastructure. This ain't Tokyo, pal.

I wouldn't be opposed to voting for someone who wants to make Nashville a hotspot. Didn't they do this in Philadelphia? Has anyone been there and used it?

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Your friendly night librarian sent this bit highlighting the advantages of researching at your local library instead of the hit-and-miss keyword searching on Google or Wikipedia. I was a late library bloomer and only got into it as an indispensable resource instead of a place to pretend to study last summer, and then only because of the cheerleader insistence of Ms. K. Now, of course, I miss it, especially considering I could crap out the English language section of the Rotterdam public library in about 10 days. Also you have to pay to be a member of the library here? Which makes me appreciate the freeness and awesomeness of Madison's public libraries even more. Hm, I will have to check out the awesomeness level of the Nashville public libraries one of these days. Did I mention the library is free? Well, unless you're Ryan.

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Genius on escape hatch.

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yes, people think poo is funny in the UK too.
more ofoto pics up.

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My fav part is clicking the gay button. Ha.

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Lappy was acting up last night. He knows his little sister is missing. La Révolution Technologique. *sob*

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