cerebellum

"Medulla, by Björk (Elektra/Aslyum). For her latest trick—Björk goes a cappella. The abstract, multi-tracked vocals on Medulla aren't exactly doo-wop, though. One song could be "Bobby McFerrin in the wake of an alien abduction," says the Boston Globe; another "sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball," according to the New York Sun. Nonetheless, critics aren't put off: As Pitchfork muses, "Björk's emotional impact seems dependent on one's fascination with her," and most do seem awed by her sublimity. "She encompasses multitudes; her persona can be as large as a planet or a galaxy," raves Jon Pareles in the New York Times (who reveals an interesting theory on how "austerity rules" in modern music). Also lost in music is Rolling Stone, happily drowning in a "heavenly orgy of angelic choirs and gigabytes of technology." The Village Voice stays relatively grounded, calling Medulla's songs "polygraph poems, measuring the biofeedback of creation and desire.""
via slate.

RNC 2004.

Ahh, the memories!
& because the loveliest ladies shop at Brooks Brothers...

the lawyer and the law enforcement.

"Indeed, some people were arrested on the mere suspicion that they might be protesters. Ever since thousands of protesters on bicycles snarled traffic last Friday, bike riders have reported being singled out by the cops. On Wednesday, Kenneth Scott Kohanowski, a lawyer, was riding home on Fifth Avenue from his office to his neighborhood in Chelsea when he was arrested for reasons still unclear to him.

'I stopped and asked the officer why we couldn't go down Fifth Avenue,' he wrote in an e-mail. 'He told me to keep on moving and I insisted on knowing why I couldn't proceed toward my apartment. At that point, he shoved me ... then threw me against a magazine kiosk. A dozen other officers then jumped on top of me. They then arrested me and booked me for disorderly conduct ... I have never been arrested before. The police in this city are out of control with the RNC in town.'"
They fought the law and the law won

Related:
Gothamist: Facts About Police Presence During RNC.
and NYC IMC: First pictures from inside Pier 57, used for detention of protesters.

Feliz Aniversário

Surly Snobby! He turns 34 today. Not 35...

Advice of the week

"Don't be big baby"

Santorum and I.

The kind of support I get:

Only you would inadvertantly get caught at a Santorum party in drag.
Kitchen Scratchings

Hahahahahahahaha!

That's what happens when your ideals fold for money! :P
Surly Snobby

Unfortunately, they are right.

the state of affairs.

Email from Mr. SK:

Guess what happened to me on my way home from work yesterday. I was riding my bicycle down Fifth Avenue. I was planning on meeting coworkers for dinner at 7:30. Part of the street had cones running down it marked for transportation for delegates. I was riding my bike down that lane with a half a dozen other bikers. A traffic cop was directing the bikers off of Fifth Avenue. I stopped and asked the officer why we couldn't go down Fifth Avenue. He told me to keep on moving and I insisted on knowing why I couldn't proceed towards my apartment. At that point, he shoved me, then dragged me to the corner, then threw me against a magazine kiosk. A dozen other officers then jumped on top of me. They then arrested me and booked me for disorderly conduct. I have three witnesses who saw the entire episode and support my account.

ben & i

X-S called from DC and asked if I wanted to work in a Republican Convention Party on Tuesday at The New York Historical Society.

'Are you crazy? I'm marching on Sunday, you know how I feel about the whole thing...'
'It pays well'
'Sign me up' I said feeling like a whore.
'But...'
'There is a but?'
'You have to dress up as Benjamin Franklyn.'

Now, I've always hated costume parties, Carnaval in Brazil aside. X-S had no clue what BF was supposed to look like so after asking if he had consulted his boyfriend first and deciding that it would be a bizarre experience I agreed. And I have never looked (and felt) more ridiculous in my entire life.

Besides me there were two other (gay) brazilians as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, an American (party) girl as Martha Washington and an Asian-looking girl who was supposed to be Dolly Madison but was sent home before the event started. I thought we represented a loopsided diversity.

Once we decided to relax and play along, it was not THAT bad. Until the guest of honor arrived: no one warned me it was a party for Rick Santorum.