If you’re interested in 20% off of “select desktop and notebook purchases of $999 or more (before tax, shipping & handling)” from Dell, let me know. I’ll give the first lucky person my Secret Code. Ditto $20 off “electronics and accessories purchases of $200 or more (before tax, shipping & handling).”
As part of my ongoing campaign to get people to like the Strokes again,
here‘s another one of the songs off of the new album. It’s called “Vision of Division” and I really think it’s pretty good–their by-now familiar (some would say infamous) sound, the simple plaintive lyrics, and a few minor but notable departures from their general modus operandi all come together in a very enjoyable and insistently-catchy tune. I don’t care that they’re spoiled New York private school brats, nor that they seem interested in remaking the same album over and over until one of them ODs on coke and ketamine in a SoHo loft toilet. The album they keep remaking is
good, and I will continue to sing their praises even if they’re no longer the Next Big Thing.
Bonus old school songs:
De La Soul’s seminal “Fallin’”
Dean Martin’s bizarre and possibly offensive “Hey Mambo“
Today in the airport I saw a family with two kids and two parents, and the kids were both conspicuously wearing Redskins apparel. I decided to say something to them, which I really don’t ever do, but it seemed like a good time to go ahead and say, “are you guys excited for the game tomorrow?” And then they said something that made me feel deeply jealous and almost angry, which was “we’re on our way to Tampa for the game.” But on the whole it was okay, because they seemed nice and on the whole I am glad that some Skins fans will be at the game to cheer when Tampa Bay self-destructs. (Redskins win, 27-13.)
Also interesting was when the guys at Wendy’s pretty much tried to give me a pre-flight coronary, replacing the already-gross double-cheeseburger I ordered with this monstrosity:
For those of you too lazy to count, that’s a quadruple-cheeseburger. I didn’t finish it, but it’s 5 hours later and I’m still not hungry.
Things I’m still steamed about:
- airport security, which is completely ineffective posturing that does nothing but weaken the very civil liberties it purports to protect.
- people who think David Foster Wallace is postmodern (he’s not, dudes, and you would know that if you ever read any of his admittedly-arcane work)
- the ludicrous taxicab situation in Manhattan on New Years Eve
- turning off electronic devices on takeoff/landing (not entirely unrelated to the first point)
- dirty laundry: you wash it and then a few days later you just have to wash it again!
- Digital rights management (DRM)
Things I have recently been reminded about how much I like, if that convoluted sentence makes any sense at all:
- Washington, DC
- The Strokes (obviously)
- Not having ridiculous facial hair
- Daft Punk’s Discovery, which is just a terrifically wonderful album from start to finish and has a few high points–”Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Too Long” definitely among them–that push higher than just about any “electronic” or “dance” music out there
- Seeing absurd cinematic spectacles, e.g. King Kong, in big theaters with sexy sound systems
- flickr. flickr is the best.
Which is all to say, I’m back in Boston after an eventful and enjoyable break in Florida, New York, and DC. I’m clean-shaven and motivated and totally totally TOTALLY excited about the Redskins game tomorrow.
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