Again, Friday Random Ten

Was keeping track of these on paper, but I lost the paper, so the order might be a little off. That's aight though. No one would know if I weren't so goshdarn honest.

1. Dressy Bessy--The Things That You Say That You Do
2. The Clash--I’m So Bored With the USA
3. Chic--Good Times
4. David Bowie--Ashes to Ashes
5. Louis Armstrong--Hear Me Talkin’ To Ya
6. Smart Went Crazy--DC Will Do That to You (Pt. II)
7. Ben Folds Five--Fair
8. Arcade Fire--Rebellion (Lies)
9. Blossom Dearie--I’m Old Fashioned
10. The Beatles--I’m Only Sleeping

Funny man, sad man

I haven't written anything on the death of Heath Ledger because I didn't think I had anything to add that no one else had added. It's a sad, curious story, though.

Judging from A Knight's Tale and Brokeback Mountain, he had a gift for both breezy comedy and quiet tragedy. How much was he walking a line between the two in real life? Only those who knew him well could safely say. It's somewhat eerie that--as the Times of London reports--he was interested in shooting the life story of Nick Drake. Drake's own death was reported as a suicide, a ruling his family has been fighting for years. Ledger's family may well be making the same case, and it's entirely plausible that this was a case of accidental drug interaction. That of course wouldn't be the juiciest story.

His next film--perhaps the last he'll have completed--is of course The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's sequel to Batman Begins. I was curious to see what he'd do with the character of the Joker already, and I certainly plan to see it. A lot of people will, I think. But you have to imagine that it will be pretty hard for Nolan and his team to really enjoy their success. Creating fictional terrors does not mean you're prepared for the real thing.

Holy Huh? Batman!

Many thanks to Pat at Silver Age Comics for unearthing this Bat-gem. It must be said that this Brave & the Bold story looks truly insane. Not only does its idea of courtship seem to come straight out of a Betty Page photoshoot (except maybe you should have Batgirl doing the spanking, but the writer evidently forgot that Batman has a secret identity. Yes, the Caped Crusader just goes everywhere in costume, whether it's appropriate or not.

Even the warden at the jail let's him keep wearing the cowl. Do the authorities not really care to find out who it is they just arrested? Or maybe they know it's Bruce Wayne, and allowing the suspect to keep his bondage wear is just a courtesty extended to the idle rich. And senators.

Hack or no, it's the Friday random ten

One of my friends recently gave me an iPod Nano (which sounds like something Mork would say) over the holidays. I mostly listen to it at work, where I've rigged it with a pair of headphones from a CD Walkman. Not down with putting things inside my ear.

Anyway, it gives me a chance to play the (intermittently) popular blogging sport of the random ten. Ten songs played while on random shuffle mode. So here goes.

• Tom Waits--Widow's Grove*


• Shudder to Think--X-French Tee Shirt


• Neko Case--At Last


• Elvis Costello & the Attractions--Little Triggers


• Brian Eno--Over Fire Island


• Taj Mahal--Corinna


• The Kinks--Too Much on My Mind


• The Beastie Boys--Shazam!


• Sarah Vaughan--Too Little Time


• LCD Soundsystem--Movement

We may do this again soon, who knows?

*Quite possibly the greatest murder ballad ever recorded.

Something to talk about

In its bitter, caustic way, this is the funniest Doonesbury I've seen in many a moon. I can relate to Mark's chagrin in the last panel. "Why that's the kind of thing we abhor on principle. Um, we still do, right?"

Earlier in this series, the dictator (and I'm not stringing all those consonants together, thankyouverymuch) pegged Mark Slackmeyer as Jewish, but didn't guess that he was gay. Maybe because it would have held up the plot. But I go back and forth as to whether that aspect of the character works. The character was created in the early seventies as a raging heterosexual, if also a radical.

In a quiet way this continued for the next twenty-odd years. Then Trudeau killed off the charming gay lawyer, Andy. I understand why, but kind of regret it anyway. Anyway, Mark was pressed into service as the new representative of non-hetero alignment. He and right-wing former boyfriend Chase, that is.

Like I said, I'm not sure it works. It's like he was one person when the strip was created, and then the "actor" cut his hair and started playing another character.

At this point, it would be awkward to change him back. Still, there are other possibilities for gay characterization in the strip. I'm thinking it might be interesting to out one of BD and Ray's army buddies. That plot twist could piss off all the right people.

doodle doodle deedle

Let's see, haven't done one of these in a while.



I suspect this may be a better than average cellphone video. But if the quality isn't great, it does capture the band's (Broadcast) inspired weirdness.

Tatulli, madly, deeply

My rule about newspapers (for younger readers, they look like pita pockets but are made out of grey wood pulp) is that if all the sections I want aren't there, I don't buy it. This is common sense and refusal to be a victim. It's not like the newsstand will give me a break because the product is defective. Heavens no!

So anyway, I wasn't able to find a complete copy of the Boston Globe today. For that reason I wound up buying the Washington Post. My word. It doesn't make a very good case for itself to those aforementioned newspaper-avoiding youngsters. Couldn't they give David Broder an assignment befitting his talents. Cheese critic, maybe?

One good thing, the magazine has a nice, challenging crossword. Another good thing, their selection of Sunday comics. It was cool to see "Lio" (oddly enough not on the paper's website) at a larger size than on the interweb.



Look at that robot's eyes. Mark Tatulli has been studying his Gahan Wilson, methinks.