the insomnia chronicles

I've had insomnia for at least six years now. No big deal, really. I have some sleeping aids (prescribed), but I was too lazy to walk down the stairs earlier tonight to take one after I put one of the tots to bed, so I'm now paying for it. In three hours, I'll be up, ready for work, and miserably tired all day long.

The internet is usually my focus when the tosses and turns strike, and tonight is no exception. Hit the usual: Drudge, NY Times, stereogum. (I'm too lazy to link those three. Sorry.) Through stereogum, I hit Bob Mould's blog. His new CD, Body of Song, was released Tuesday (although the Fayetteville Best Buy had it out on the shelves this past weekend -- I should've bought the copy I had in my hands), and word is the disc is a return to his Sugar days when he let loose and produced some of the best power pop rock ever.

In Fayetteville, I finally found a copy (with Superman on the cover) of the new Sufjan Stevens CD, Illinoise. This has been one of the hardest CDs to find on the brick and mortar shelves, and I actually found it on a cart -- not on the shelves -- in the back of a Hastings. Apparently, this printing is sold out, and the Superman-free cover is now a collector's item.

Anyway, the raves for this CD were seemingly non-stop, so when I slipped it into my CD player, I, too, was knocked out. The praise is geniune and dead on. It's completely unlike anything you will hear: a concept album that flows together like a rock classic, except that it's so far from the standard definition of "rock," that it will either infuriate or mesmerize listeners. It's as if Phillip Glass teamed up with Andrew Lloyd Webber (I know, I know...I hate the little bastard too, but stay with me) and cranked out the best rock opera that Ryan Adams will never ever come close to producing.

If you have no idea what I mean, listen to the CD, and everything will crystallize...

Illinoise is the best CD of the year -- except for Devils & Dust, of course -- and highly recommended. It's a goose-pimpler.

Semi-encouraging words.

Sorting through the L.A. Times website, I found this piece that somewhat surprised the phooey out of me: A UC Berkeley professor sticking up for the Patriot Act and other offensive measures against terrorism.

Then, there was this interesting op-ed concerning the diminishing nuclear threat between Pakistan and India.

The glass, brothers and sisters, must always be half-full.

Now, have you heard the latest about Jude Law's fiancee? I mean, I'm just guessing this item is about Jude Law's fiancee...

Wait a sec. What I was saying about privacy...

Apparently, this is a picture from yesterday's NYC raid on a double decker tourist bus. No terrorists were found, but what a way to spend your vacation, huh?

I read the news today.

Oh boy.

Sunday's NY Times says China is on the road to overtaking the United States as an economic superpower and, possibly, as a political superpower -- meaning someday we might be wearing those nice little grey uniforms with the hat and red star in the center.

Then in the state paper, The Arkansas Democrat Gazette, I find a column from the L.A. Times news service where a Pakistani scholar says that a nuclear terrorist attack on U.S. soil is 99% inevitable, and that the retribution path will lead the world down a dark, horrific road.

What a way to start the week.

Sigh.

It's a different world, ladies and gentlemen. Mucking around with partisan bullshit, bitching about losing one's privacy and playing the same tired political game on Capitol Hill will get us nowhere. Revolution is an easy word to banter about, but God help us, we need something to infuse our system with a wake up call. Thought, policies and people need to be positively shaken and turned around to fight and pull the wheel to the other direction as hard as we can -- there's an iceberg or two in the darkness, and for the sake of this country and our future, we have to do everything we can to make sure we pass them by.

Now: for the latest on Tom and Katie...

Kidding.

Sort of.

happy 4th!

Now, this is the way to spend Independence Day -- watching the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Takeru Kobayashi, five-time champ, wins again. Better luck next time, "Badlands."

Now, please excuse me while I go vomit.

she's gone, ladies and gentlemen

By now, I'm sure we're all sick of the Cruise/Holmes/Scientology circus of horrors, but any question of Holmes's sanity is now answered with this picture. Any person who would wear this 1971-throwback pair of ridiculous glasses, thinking they look slammin' with them on, has some sort of serious chemical imbalance. Oh wait, I'm being glib. Let me restate: Any person who would wear this 1971-throwback pair of ridiculous glasses, thinking they look slammin' with them on, needs some vitamins and exercise.

saturday afternoon, part 2

Can a Saturday afternoon get any better? Mexican wrestling -- I'm in heaven.

saturday afternoon

So, I'm sitting here in the kitchen on a Saturday afternoon, MTV and Live 8 on the telly, and The Killers are on stage in London's Hyde Park tearing through "All These Things That I've Done," the best cut on Hot Fuss. Everything about the performance kills (no pun intended, of course); it is so on target that it looks like it might be one of those performances that could tip The Killers into superstar status -- it's that good.

And then, right when the piece is hitting its gospel-infused finale, MTV cuts away. Weenies.

Of course, Madonna, the Kabbalah Queen, received airtime for two full songs.

By the way, what would happen if the Kabbalah Queen and L. Ron Cruise mated?