Antidisingenuousmentarianism

Panic! Panic!! Run through the streets screaming!

Breaking! May affect Dragoncon!

Kanye : "Crack Music" :: Jason Mraz : cracker music.

1) I suppose if you're not in danger of being eaten by alligators while stranded on the roof of your house, you might as well worry about gas prices. U.S. release of extra crude pretty fucking useless.

2) Average SAT scores up in Athens. But the state as a whole ain't even beating Mississippi. ABH editorial points out that participation rates are important. Shipp thinks education improvement has lost ground as a political issue.

3) Downtown roadwork increasing the general level of pissed-off-edness in Athens.

4) Good God. Are Perdue and Huckabee joined at the hip or what? Here's today's picture from the governors' conference and yesterday's and the day before that's.

5) You can, if you're so inclined, start enjoying yourself dialing ten digits in Athens as of tomorrow. If you feel you need a little finger exercise, that is.

6) Improvement needed in recruitment of Latino students to UGA.

7) "I got pelted with toast!"

8) Not local, but terrifying.

Added:
9) Adams in Savannah, says we kick all academic asses in the SEC except maybe Vandy's.

It's no coincidence that the University of Georgia has dropped to No. 12 on the Princeton Review's Party School list, but has remained in U.S. News and World Report's top 20 public universities for four years running.

It's no coincidence that it's dropping in one while stagnating in the other? Woo for that. He also comments on the spurt of sexual harrassment cases at the university.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC; bugmenot SMN]

While watching a piece on the discovery of homo floriensis on the National Geographic Channel last night, was struck by the simultaneous unearthing of mini-elephants. If some genius figures out how to clone these things from the bones, they'll so be the Diet Pepsi trucks of the pet world. Can't you picture Paris Hilton entering riding sidesaddle on a four-foot-tall elephant?

That's what I was saying watching local news coverage of tornado hits here and there in Georgia, what with every person interviewed not particularly concerned with the fact that his/her house/livelihood had been wiped out and saying "I just thank God I'm alive." Doesn't anyone ever get pissed at being effed by the wrath of nature? And isn't the woman who said something about "they may have won the battle, but we won the war" insane? You can't fight a tornado, bitch.

But then they started to show New Orleans. People there? Not so much with the brave smiles in the face of danger. And more with the "I'm not gonna have power for a month on top of being poor as fuck already? I'm taking a god damn big-screen TV." Can you blame them?

The Franz is back, yo. Stereogum has links of various kinds to Franz Ferdinand's new video for "Do You Want To," which has elements of De Palma and The Kids in the Hall and will make you laugh much at people bumping into other people. Madness and partying ensues, to a beat as contagious as "Take Me Out"'s was. I don't care if you think they're overblown. One great single per album might well be enough.

Just in passing, you know...

Threats: On Aug. 26, a 27-year-old Watkinsville man told deputies he went to a home on Bob Godfrey Road to collect some money when another man told him to leave the property and mentioned that he would beat him with an ax handle.

Like waving?

Arrest: On Aug. 27, deputy Jason Lowe was traveling on Barnett Shoals Road when he observed a passenger make a hand motion. He stopped the car and arrested the driver, Daniel Joseph Geraci, 21, of Wolfskin Road, Arnoldsville, on a charge of having an disqualified license.

The rest here.

Courtney Jaye, Kaci Brown, and Trey Songz up this week.

It's not that I don't appreciate Pitchfork's review of the new Kanye--in fact, I think it may overrate the album a little--and it's not the only one out there doing this, but it does seem to give Jon Brion maybe a bit too much credit for the production. You know, there's another producer on all those songs, and he's not a slouch. Where's Brion on "Gone," one of the best tracks? I mean, I know Kanye's taking a slight back seat on producing duties, but maybe it's more like passenger side in the front, you dig?

Not only are them floodgates wide fucking open, they're sort of supposed to be. I'd be damn careful about making fun of anyone if my name were one letter away from this fella. [bugmenot NYP]

From FOX's Prison Break site.

1) If you were wondering about those separate baseball bat attacks in the paper yesterday, the cops think they are, in fact, linked. Lt. Clarence Holeman tends to think something more was said.

2) Perdue throws up his hands wrt energy, practically calls y'all communists. Meanwhile, UGA plans to switch to an ethanol-gasoline mix in all its campus vehicles.

3) With all the previous articles about the new video screens at Sanford and elsewhere across campus, I hadn't yet seen a mention of the fact that they'll end up being a revenue generator through advertising.

4) Hart County Commission votes not to display Ten Commandments in its courthouse. Why? Because they acknowledge that "the display as it was done in Hart County is not legal under the laws of the state of Georgia and the United States."

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where it was headed," Gordon said. "To engage in a costly legal battle to defend the display would not be a fiscally conservative move and in fact would be imprudent given the current state of the law."

This just in: Hart County officially smarter than Barrow County. Ten Commandments Georgia director is disappointed, but not enough to volunteer any more money to Barrow.

5) ABH editorial says ACC Commission should consider property tax "freezes" like those proposed in Greene County (which freeze the taxable value of a home, not the millage rate). They like it because homeowners have some minor control over millage rates, but not over assessments. When a home is sold, it can be reassessed.

So, in communities where home sales are frequent, or in which many new homes are being built, the local government can institute a property tax freeze without worrying too much about losing inordinate amounts of revenue. In the bargain, local elected officials are able to provide some tax relief to longtime residents of their jurisdiction.

But still, is this the same ABH that wants higher education fully funded by the state? Do they not care about the school system prior to college receiving what it needs to operate?

6) Yeah, to hell with Civil Rights. Who believes in that B.S. anymore?

7) Loren Smith writes of the "proverbial fat lady." You know, the one in that saying about fat ladies on airplanes being the root of all evil?

8) R&B has an interesting article about the tenure clock relative to professors wanting to have kids. (Editorial supports being able to stop that clock.)

9) One student suggests eliminating tenure to improve the university. Good luck with that one, dude. Also: money iz gud.

10) Letter to R&B complains about weather link not changing for almost a year. Because it's not like there's a channel for that.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

Willie "iPod" Grimes writes about pirate books in the NYT and mulls their allure. [bugmenot NYT]

With the money and the making me spend it. DVDfile's news sez:

Lars Von Trier's epic The Kingdom: Series One gets a Region 1 DVD release from Koch on 8 November. We'll get some commentary from Von Trier, some featurettes, and a whole bunch of other goodies. Retail is $34.98.

Not that I don't love my ghetto Hong Kong copy, but commentary? Featurettes? Goodies? M to the F. This will probably have to be bought again, seeing as it's one of the great works of 20th-century art (which I call it because I never really know whether to say TV series or miniseries or movie or what). Von Trier doesn't generally seem to do commentaries that are super-informative as far as what you want to know, but he's still entertaining to listen to, as he's constantly amused with himself and everything else.

Or maybe he is, but not in the realm of the entertainment he produces. Prison Break looks as though it'll be damn fun, preying on the anxieties produced by the mere mention of the penal system. In those first two episodes, aired last night, we've already got: government conspiracy, a race riot, creepy homosexuals (this last especially amusing), Peter Stormare playing an Italian mobster (snort of disbelief but also delight here, as Stormare is one of the great weirdos working today, sort of like Nic Cage in the strangeness he can bring to a role, but less recognized), and someone's toes possibly being snipped off at the end of the second episode. Whoever is the real mind behind it knows a thing or two about plotting and pacing, working the reveals nicely, and though its dialogue is pretty predictable, there's a kind of pleasure in that too. So far? Totally the new 24. [Sidebar: Tell me again why Team Brown insists on believing that Stacy Keach died a couple of years ago, despite evidence to the contrary.]

1) Black Eyed Peas, "My Humps" -- Talked about a bit here. Yeah, it's a novelty song, but I think it goes the extra mile for ridiculousness. In a good way. Hard to say whether it's really better or worse than "Don't Phunk with My Heart" or "Don't Lie" because it's in such a different category. Anyway. 7. (I still got no real link for you. Maybe the Mezzy one still works.)

2) Charlie Wilson, "Charlie, Last Name: Wilson" -- This should be better, considering R. Kelly's producing credit and the real sweetness of Wilson's voice, but it's kind of limpy, especially when compared to the Kells/Ron Isley pairing, which was total genius. Maybe he's too traditional a singer; there aren't any curveballs in emphasis or pronunciation to add interest, and the tune itself is a little stale as well. The video's kind of entertaining though. 4. (video linked from here, actually on AOL)

3) The White Stripes, "My Doorbell" -- Rated real-deal here. 4.3? 4.3???

4) All-American Rejects, "Dirty Little Secret" -- Is the video based on this site? And is it wrong that I kind of want to slap these people with their postcards? The song is okay but pretty meh on the whole. Could use something darker in it. Or maybe more vocal posing. 5. (video here)

5) Akon, "Bananza (Belly Dancer)" -- Heh. Interesting choice for his next single. I think the production is really good on this and it is different from most of his stuff, but the problem with that production is that it kind of buries his cool voice, which was much more exposed on all three previous tunes ("Lonely," "In the Ghetto," and "Locked Up"). Still nice, but not eye-wideningly awesome. 6. (listen at his site, after clicking on "media")

6) Kelly Clarkson, "Because of You" -- This is oddly old Mariah in bits. Not new crazier Mariah, but like first-album Mariah. And it's pretty ballady. Maybe good, but so not my thing. 4. (live performance here)

Here's one more paragraph of David Rakoff, the second-to-last in the book:

What remains of your past if you didn't allow yourself to feel it when it happened? If you don't have your experiences in the moment, if you gloss over them with jokes or zoom past them, you end up with curiously dispassionate memories. Procedural and depopulated. It's as if a neutron bomb went off and all you're left with are hospital corridors, where you're scanning the walls for familiar photographs.

This last sentence is because that's exactly what he's doing in the last essay, looking for an x-ray photo of Princess Margaret's hand that used to be on the wall in the chemo ward he was in. It's hard to tell if this is a lesson he's learned, though. The book was fine for a quick read, but is neither as funny nor as impassioned/emotional as either David Sedaris's or Sarah Vowell's stuff. More jokes, damn it.

The type designer also chose to use a font in which em- and en-dashes are undifferentiated in size, which, for a big nerd like me, is actively distracting during the read. My eyes keep flicking from one to the other, since they're never on the same line, trying to measure visually. If you're going to wuss on the en-dash, go for the hyphen instead.

A few minutes ago, it remained "labradoodle," due to the fact that I met two of them this weekend, and they were adorable and a little hyper, and it was fun to say.

But thanks, Salon. I have a new one. And it is "teledildonics."

1) ABH says fund the University System of Georgia, you jackasses. But Medicaid in Georgia looks like it may get cut again.

2) Athens area to experience minuscule job growth.

3) Heidi explains how awesomely profitable the music scene is in Athens. Not so much how to piss off all the young folk in your town. We also have an excellent industry in illegal drugs. Jordan's light ordinance looks dead (it's a Superman ref, Blake)

4) UGA student scared he'll be kicked out of the Cracker Barrel for blessing his own food. (Letter in response)

5) Drunk chicks who show their boobies are being preyed upon. You know, it's not that hard to avoid doing so. Getting groped is a different matter altogether.

6) Mark Taylor will stay in politics.

7) Scariest opening sentence ever?

8) OMG! U.S. Dept. of Justice not into voters' rights?

9) ABH now opposes statewide sales tax to fund education, but only because it takes away local control and could result in political influence on the curriculum (and AJC points out that it would result in higher state and federal income taxes for many). Also supports a truly local public access channel. Jim gets a little high-horsey wrt screen names. Shipp calls out Isakson as the one responsible for GA's $287 mill for highway funding.

10) Letters: Athens Arts Council explains its take on bus shelters more clearly, but can't guarantee it'll be good art. War on Terror not over until Second Coming. Newspaper readers want more on chickens.

11) I'm not sure I ever thought I'd see the words "shaved chest" in Darrell Huckaby's column.

12) Those poor mischaracterized students. It wasn't them I saw vomiting downtown last weekend. It must've been the Oconee County people in town for the night.

13) WTF is a niché, kids? Accent marks ain't just for fun.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

It's not the primary reason I bring a book with me everywhere, but I suppose discouraging weirdos from talking to one is a nice bonus. Only sometimes it doesn't work. On the Greyhound to Atlanta, I sat next to (or rather, he sat next to me, after asking if he could, to which I foolishly said yes) this guy from Athens named David. Or Davyd. He was planning on changing the spelling so it was more interesting. He was a little crackheady and mumbled like mad, but he wouldn't let me read, even after I asked him to. He tried on my sunglasses and asked if he could look at my hand. He told me the M formed by the lines on his palm stood for Mapp, his last name (I think). He also called me a beautiful brown-eyed caucasian girl multiple times and asked if he could kiss me on the nose, to which the answer was no, obvs. And he gave me his phone numbers in Athens and Atlanta and asked me if I was going to call him. Same answer. Over and over and over again. What does one do in this situation? Lie?

From the ever-reliable LD, who seems to move in celebriffic circles:

I saw a reality TV personality at a wedding this weekend. Trish Schneider, from the Bachelor season with Jesse Palmer and also from E!'s "Kill Reality" show. I didn't/don't watch the programs, but the women in attendance acted as if she was one of the more memorable characters from the Bachelor. Apparently she was a stalker and/or slut. Great.

We're up to six exclamation points now, due to the excitement of last night's performance. How is it that when Ashlee gets caught miming, there's outrage around the web, but when Kells does it, we don't even care? Perhaps it's the relative levels of acting skillz involved. If you hit the VMA official site, you can watch the entire show or skip directly to his performance, introduced by, um, Eric Roberts.

That would be me. The estate sale moved a lot of things out the door (some into my house) and provided much in the way of anecdotes, but holy Christ do I never want to have to do that again, what with the waking up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. and spending hours in a house that's had no air conditioning for the past few months, on my feet, hauling boxes out of a mildewy basement for customers. If there were an easy way to insert the word "fuck" into the word "whew," that would be what I would be uttering now. Anyway. Home is good, and it is over. Catch-up begins promptly.

Y'all, I'll be out all day tomorrow and Friday. Early bus --> ATL --> estate sale thing. See you Monday. Be good.

If you're Monica Kaufman, that is. 30 years of hair styles, as put into a slideshow of often awkward screencaps. So far, I'm partial to #14.

Not mentioned earlier because I forgot. Last issue of the New Yorker has a great piece on Kinky Friedman's run for governor of Texas, which swings wildly between referring to himself in the third person as the governor ("the governor needs pancakes!") and being upset about not being taken seriously. It sort of sounds like he could win, too.

Look, I made a pigeon-rat.

Now that I've plowed through five graphic novel thingies in an equivalent (or fewer) amount of days, I'm working on David Rakoff's Fraud, which has been sitting on the shelf, waiting to be a palate cleanser, giving me something simpler and lighter to read before I dive into this anthropological stuff for class. Anyway, here's your paragraph, from his essay on Iceland and the people there who believe in elves and the like:

Bjork [no, not that Bjork] points out that house elves are a privilege, not a right. When the energy of a given house gets too negative, she says, when there is drinking or fighting, the elves will leave. Not terribly surprisingly, mysticism, New Age philosophy, recovery-speak, and elves are conflated as one. Erla says that elves are a manifestation of nature, they are inherently good; without them we would choke on our own pollution. There is almost no more urban a view of nature than this pastoral, idyllic one: Humankind bad, Nature good. As in, drinking and fighting bad, elves and flowers good. But it's a false dichotomy. After all, following this logic, Sistine chapel bad, Ebola virus good?

1) "There are Elizabethan literature majors who are flipping burgers," says Heidi. In other news, my self-esteem rises dramatically! I have a desk! And a computer! "Participants in the forum came away with few hard-and-fast solutions, but said that eventually, communication and working together will help improve their economies." Yay! We have no answers! But I hear all that burger-flippin' leads to shapely wrists.

2) Oh for motherfucking fuck's sake. Jason Nelms has a warrant out for his arrest because he can't show up in court, possibly because he's in Minnesota.

3) AJC goes the Soloski/Williamson huh? route.

4) Public indecency apparently requires intentionally exposing yourself to harm someone else. And there's not nearly enough of it around these days...

5) Navy School is indeed closing.

6) We so stooopid. UGA students no comprende why cheating is wrong. At least, that's what the Task Force is saying.

7) Shipp thinks Taylor's son's near-death in a car wreck will influence his political future.

8) We just all want to know which bar this is. And is there some sort of gas conspiracy in Georgia?

9) UGA registration system not operational 24 hours yet. The gerbils need time to sleep after running on those wheels all day, y'all.

10) Big Boy loves him some hats. And managing editor of R&B loves beer pong.

11) Have y'all ever seen crowd surfing in Athens?

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

I believe I'm officially busy Sunday night now.

Sufjan Stevens review hits Flagpole. It's chock-full of literary analogies! Mmmmm.

He's kind of right...

Arrest: On Aug. 16, deputy Marvin Williams was patrolling in North High Shoals when he saw two vehicles and three men outside the fire station. Williams stopped to see what they were doing, when another pickup pulled up. Williams asked to see that man's driver's license, but he explained that he only had a Mexican license and ''it's better than nothing.'' Alejandro G. Garcia, 20, of Loganville was arrested for being an unlicensed driver.

The real question here goes unanswered: What movies was the deputy returning?

Arrests: A fight in the parking lot of Publix captured a lot of attention and resulted in the arrest of a man and his step-son about 7 p.m. Aug. 19. Deputy T.D. Kirkham received a dispatch about a fight in progress on the Hog Mountain Road side of the shopping center. When Kirkham arrived, he found that one suspect in the fight, Jesse Reid, 17, of Fambrough Bridge Road had already been handcuffed by off-duty Barrow County Sheriff's deputy Lewis Rusgrove. Reid and his step-father, James Lamar Epps, 53, both of Fambrough Bridge Road, were both taken to jail. Kirkham went about interviewing witnesses, and one woman, employed as an educator, said she was behind the suspect's car when she heard screaming. The younger man exited the car, while the older man exited and threw a basketball and other things from the car. Alarmed at the situation, she called 911. The two men fought onto the grass as both continued screaming. The young man then picked up a concrete parking stop and threw it down, breaking it into pieces. He then started throwing the concrete fragments at his father's car. One piece hit the woman's car. As she sat in the car, her daughter and another young boy watched the fight. Another woman inside the nearby Oconee Youth Playhouse school heard the screaming and she observed the older man hit the younger boy. She then called 911 and watched as two men tackled the young boy. The off-duty deputy, who was returning some movies to Blockbuster, saw the disturbance and ran to his car and retrieved a pair of handcuffs. The older man explained he was having a problem with his son, and the deputy ordered the younger man to drop the concrete. He and another man rushed Reid and had him handcuffed by the time Oconee deputies arrived. Epps was charged with simple battery and affray. Reid was charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing and aggravated assault. Both men were charged with cruelty to children because of the two children that witnessed the violent episode.

All the rest.

1) At least we beat Tennessee?

2) Classic Center getting ever closer to screwing the Georgia Center. Note:

The extra space will help entice larger conventions and events to the Classic Center, potentially pumping an extra $3 million a year into the local economy, Cramer said. By doubling the size of the Foundry Street Warehouse, the Classic Center will be able to draw another dozen or so major conventions, along with about 70 smaller events like wedding receptions, he said.

But:

Renovations at the Classic Center are moving along quickly, and they have to be - the $3.2 million project to build two large ballrooms in the Foundry Street Warehouse, spruce up the theater and replace the building's sprinkler system has to be done in time for a big convention in two months.

Admittedly, these renovations are only being paid for this year, but the increase in local revenue seems rather high:

Cramer said he arrived at the $3 million figure by estimating 10 new conferences drawing 700 people apiece for three days, each spending $165 a day on food, lodging and shopping. That equals $2.3 million, combined with lesser amounts spent by visitors attending smaller events.

Plus, of course, the percentage taken back in by the government from sales tax on this extra $3 million a year is going to take quite a while to pay for those renovations.

3) New solicitor general (prosecutor of state misdemeanors) sworn in. Seems like a decent guy who probably won't affect your daily life that much.

4) But Tuscaloosa probably doesn't have to consider the artistic population as much...

5) Clarke County Schools routinely have to borrow money. You'd think there would be a better way to deal with shortfalls than having to pay 5.64% in interest.

6) Stay classy, UGA students.

7) ABH says: let current illegal immigrants stay, but limit new ones. But we have immigration quotas already, right? I'd guess work visas are more in demand.

8) Inaccurate owl coverage. I am outraged!

9) Loran Smith's wild years?

10) So the HOPE scholarship is responsible for high gas prices?

11) Pregnancy is a temporary disability. I still say it's ass that Family Housing residents have to pay for their own parking spaces.

12) Fair Tax great for excrement-covered Americans, says R&B letter.

13) R&B supports plus-minus addition to grading system, and so does pretty much everyone else, but if the Regents don't want to do it, ain't nobody gonna do it.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

Both of these are BTK-related and, therefore, not amusing. But the cataloguing must continue.

32) The victim he called "Project Little Mex" and admired for her dark hair and eyes had her white cotton panties yanked down over her rope-bound ankles and the black Mary Janes below. [from "Sentencing Hearing for B.T.K. Killer Gets Under Way" by Jodi Wilgoren, 08/17/05]

33) There, he hanged her from a sewer pipe and yanked her white cotton panties down over her rope-bound ankles and the black Mary Janes below. [from "In Gory Detail, Prosecution Lays Out Case for Tough Sentencing of B.T.K. Killer" by Jodi Wilgoren, 08/18/05]

Panty-watch is a regular feature here dedicated to tracking appearances of the word "panties" or "panty" in the New York Times, partially because it's amusing to see the Gray Lady venturing into such areas and partially to see if it correlates with anything specific. There will be graphs or a graph at the end of the year.

[previously] [bugmenot NYT]

Cakes? I don't eat cake. I don't celebrate birthdays. Thanksgiving, Mother's Day, Father's Day, the Christmas tree at Christmas time. ... All man-made holidays. I don't need to wait for someone to tell me it's a holiday or a day to eat turkey; I eat turkey almost every day. I don't need to wait to buy something for someone. If I see a bouquet of flowers I want to buy for my wife, I buy it.

Hate it: Having motherfucking car problems and feeling helpless wrt the mechanics, who seem like super-nice guys and are also cheap, so I never feel like I can get pissed at them. Also, the specific guy who works on the car is totally a supermodel in disguise. He could be on the runway in his grease and wifebeater, I swears.

Love it: The intro track to Bobby Valentino's album, which, if you're not really listening, sounds like chicks singing stuff about needing somebody, but then you realize they're singing "I really need some Bobby." Hee.

Hate it: Not feeling in control of where I have to be at certain times and on certain days, for which see sidebar and addition of massive living estate sale of my mom, which is happening this weekend all of a sudden.

Love it: Remembering, after waking up late, gulping coffee, making sandwiches, running out door, getting call re: car that won't start, calling friend for ride for husband and mechanics, and so on, that today's our anniversary. Yay! Nine years! Cheers to best spouse evar!

Finished Blankets. Started and finished Tomine's Summer Blonde. And am halfway through Clowes's Caricature. Like both the latter more than Blankets. Both Tomine and Clowes have a sense of humor that could be described as "bracing" at very least. But lordy, it's hard to tell where in the range of dysfunctional these boys fall. Is it regular dysfunctional and lonely and socially awkward, amplified by the medium and for effect? Or is it the type of those things that is one of the main reasons I haven't been to Dragoncon (or its ilk)? Harsh as it may be for someone easily characterized as a nerd (Hello! I spent my summer reading Spenser!) to call other people nerds, sometimes it's unavoidable. I may be socially maladept, but at least you can generally have a beer with me. So I think, at least...

Terry "Pops" Barker of Stone Mountain, also known as The Human Trumpet, despite the fact that trumpets do not wear Hawaiian shirts or go "bomp! bomp!" really loudly and unexpectedly.

You will have to make your way to the AJC's home page and look for the "video" box to play it, since I find myself unable to link directly.

Of the Stylus UK Jukebox.

And my unpublished comments:

Kaiser Chiefs, “I Predict a Riot” — The bass/guitar combo that’s so strikingly loud and almost 70s metal at the beginning of the song unfortunately drops down in the mix once the vocals come in, but those don’t detract from the song too much. There’s definite glam charm here, but they could go bigger on the disco aspect. 7.

Rihanna, “Pon de Replay” — The longer this sticks around, the more its thump provokes automatic shoulder twitching. Not enough melody, but the squishy beats mean you do what she asks (though maybe not for the full almost five minutes). 6.

Richard Hawley, “The Ocean” — Almost as lovely and mopey and gravelly as VU’s song of the same name. It’s very slow and also on the long side, but it has a romantic sweep (strings!) that’s hard to resist, especially when he strains his voice. 7.

And I didn't write about the Mark Owen because it took me a while to get it, but I like it and think it's plenty Euro-pop, even if it's no Girls Aloud.

1) Backstreet Boys, "Just Want You to Know" -- See a few entries below for the latest video link. It's clear that I adore it, but I think the song is maybe a notch below "Incomplete" because it does sound a bit too much "Since U Been Gone"-ish. Still, I can't help but give it a 7 since, even without the video, its incredibly singable chorus has lingered in my head. Yay BSB!

2) 311, "Don't Tread on Me" -- The verse skanks, the chorus doesn't. Or maybe it's the other way around. This isn't very cool, and I'd never get excited about it, but the vocals at the ends of sections, where they get bigger and more harmonized, are pretty okay. 5. (listen at their site, where it streams)

3) Coldplay, "Fix You" -- The combo of voice and face is starting to provoke laughter I can't help, but at least I have the manners to feel bad about it. Aw, poor Chris Martin, getting kicked around for being middle-class and sensitive. It ain't fair. This comes close to "Dream Operator" at times, without ever capturing the fragile perfection of that song. Instead, it just sort of goes, but not very fast. They do eventually get to a biggish climax, but meh... 4. (watch video here)

4) Switchfoot, "Stars" -- Ack! Hate hate that damn guitar tone on this, but the chorus suddenly switches to something that's almost Big Star. The guy does kind of have a decent rock boy voice, and it comes out well on said chorus. But then those effing guitars come back in and I want to punch the song in the way I want to punch Fall Out Boy. How does one quantify that? With a 4. (listen here)

5) Crazy Frog, "Axel F" -- Covered and rated.

6) Young Jeezy feat. Mannie Fresh, "And Then What" -- Large chunks are missing, due to the need to protect the children's little ears, but though Young Jeezy's got pretty good flow, the beat's the star, as everyone else says. Fast beat on top of slower beat and people slapping their hands on shit (a la "We Will Rock You"), and a tinkly little bit that's harder to hear sans headphones. I like it, but I'm not completely on board yet. 5. (video at Launch)

And others who have issues with MTV's site: There is now another link up for BSB's "Just Want You to Know" and Screenhead has caught on.

1) Stagnancy a blessing.

The cost of attending UGA has risen as the University System Board of Regents approved tuition hikes to help cover shortfalls in tax revenues.

UGA's drop in the "great prices" ranking could be another reflection of the cuts UGA has absorbed as the Georgia legislature trimmed the state budget over the past few years, Jackson said.

So it could be the prices or it could be the quality. Hrmmm.

2) Decory Bryant is getting fucked by circumstances, and he shouldn't have to.

3) ABH mentions Adams's approval of some kind of safety-making changes to 316, says we need to find a way to get the job done fast and obtain the money for it. Hey, fast is better than slow. I think we can generally agree on that, but I'm not sure the slow timeline is "unacceptably long." Isn't getting it done better than not getting it done? And wouldn't it better not to treat it as a giant giveaway of state moneys to a private company? R&B gets it wrong that Adams necessarily supports a toll road. As though he'd take that strong a position?

4) Sexual Assault Center of Northeast Georgia in financial trouble, cutting back. Contains this:

About a third of the center's $340,000 budget is funded by the Crime Victims Fund under the federal Victims of Crime Act. The budget is supplemented by the United Way, the state Department of Human Resources and fund-raising efforts by the center. The Bush Administration is proposing to eliminate the Crime Victims Fund in the fiscal year 2007 federal budget.

Nice!

5) Other towns in area actually do historic preservation! And even Atlanta's getting on our case.

6) Athens at an acceptable level of Jesusity.

7) In local government, Keith Johnson is running for mayor (to address issues affecting the poor and minorities in Athens) and Carl Jordan and a developer are fighting via email about light pollution. Clearly it's important to fuss about arty bus shelters when things like this are happening (what the eff, Chasteen?). President of Chamber of Commerce tells everyone to stop bitching wrt transportation.

8) Good overview of day laborers in Athens and state regulations.

9) But what if those sex offenders are freshmen?

10) It would be nice to get a clear story on what's going on with Bruno's proposed complex on Cedar Shoals Dr., as some people represent its chances as great, while States McCarter acts as though everyone in surrounding neighborhoods is agin it.

11) Overview of pros and cons, politically and otherwise, of state sales tax instead of property and income taxes.

12) This smells like publisher.

13) Shipp says Delta is a wee bit more important to the Atlanta economy than a NASCAR museum.

14) SGA plans for this year include coasters that change color with presence of rohypnol (they're in halvsies). Has already managed to extend OASIS hours to midnight, no doubt making the Registar staff thrilled.

15) Chicken! And random reminiscings on maple syrup.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

The very last batch of Spider Monkey dvds are on sale for $4 including shipping, since Mundy has decided to leave the green pastures of Atlanta for the potentially green wallet the big big city offers (life experience too and all that nonsense). Last chance ever, kids. It's practically free comedy.

Chicago Sun-Times mistakes New Yorker readers for morons. There are a few small hints of what's an ad and what's not, namely that the ads don't contain any text, while the text, um, does. Also, the text isn't red, while the Target ads contain quite a bit of it. And pictures. [bugmenot CST] [via emdashes, who is also not outraged]

When you switch from reading something like the Faerie Queene and even Jimmy Corrigan, which, while mostly visual, is jam-packed with information in each frame and what text there is necessitates bringing the page close to one's eyes and squinting furiously (that is one damn tiny number of picas), to reading other graphic novels (hat-tip to Hassiotis, who is serving as Team Brown's library in this area), time moves slower and you feel you have more of it. When you can finish Y: The Last Man volumes 1 and 2 and watch the baseball game and do laundry and listen to music all at the same time, and that time does not encompass much in terms of hours/minutes, it feels like one can be productive again.

Incidentally, I like Y considerably, with its loads of action and jokes. It's very plotty. I'm also a good chunk through Craig Thompson's Blankets, mostly from my bus ride this a.m., and like that too. But all these are different. Blankets is the sort of thing that makes you remember being younger and more romantic, but not really in an embarrassed way. More in a Gilmore Girls way, but minus mucho snappiness. Jimmy Corrigan, on the other hand, is clearly one of the sweeping achievements of the genre and is wrist-slittingly miserable and sad.

And, sidebar, Bubba Sparxx's "Comin' Round" is so the best song I have heard in a while. Timbaland, I apologize for not giving you your due of late. It is 4 minutes and 30 seconds of pure awesomeness that Cowboy Troy would give his belt buckle to be able to achieve, with bluegrassy sample, fiddle, bongos (?), incredibly funky keyboards, a screaming/screeching noise from time to time, and fine vocals over the top, and it's blended incredibly perfectly.

You do something for long enough, sometimes you get to do it for real.

Unpublished thoughts:

The Cribs, “Martell” — Adorable accent is the predominant feature of the song, as it comes forward most on the “la”s. I wish the rest of the production lived up to those parts, on which everything is loud and fun, but it drags slightly on the verses. 6.

Simon Webbe, “Lay Your Hands” — Too ballady in a way that suggests something inspirational. It’s just very okay. 3.

Oasis, “The Importance of Being Idle” — At least they’re stealing from The Beatles again (with a Doors chord progression). These days, that’s a good sign. And there is a beautiful thundery drum noise that crops up rarely but provides motivation to keep listening in hopes of hearing it again. 5.

Mint Royale, “Singing in the Rain” — How does it hold up minus the visuals? The beginning, with its whoosh noises and silvery evocation of rain, is as surprising as previously, but even though this is a successful reworking of the Gene Kelly trademark tune, it wears a little thin in the course of 2 minutes and 45 seconds. 6.

Tyler James, “Your Woman” — A few weeks without a boy band dance tune and I start to crave them, but I must be full up of late, or this just isn’t quite doing it. There’s one sound in there that I love—I think it’s one of those keyboard things you have to blow into to play—but you can barely hear it and it’s only for a moment. Gender reversal and most of the rest of the song are old news. 5.

There will be more. If anyone's interested in hearing any of this, the email link is in the upper righthand corner of the page.

Sure, I mock, but can I stay away? I totally can't. This is actually the song off the record that I get stuck in my head (embarrassment!), but the video is a triumph of badness on its own. Why is Dave Matthews alone in the theater? Is it the middle of the day or does no one else want to see the movie? And what's the movie about anyway? And could this be more literal? And why are they both smirking creepily throughout the whole thing? It's a remembrance/half-knowledge smirk, like, "ah, I remember the time I stalked Julia Roberts in her dreams. That was sweet, dude," or "This field that I'm in seems awfully familiar. I bet Dave Matthews is out there in the audience watching me." Whoooosh!

NFL team/rapper comparisons, we bring you MLB team/Simpsons character ones, though these are less well thought out (not everybody loves the damn Red Sox; star players who hate on everyone or impregnate Hooters waitresses aren't exactly white bread; two of the big three are righties). Still, even though it's more of an excuse to make jokes than a legitimate effort at analogies, there are lines here and there that are pretty clever. [via]

Seriously, I doubt even a Clay Aiken concert is this lily white. All four pages.

From Pitchfork's "Puritan Blister" column on music dvds:

Athens GA Inside Out, rating: 7.4

As the number of blogs specializing in resurrecting jangly 45s proves, R.E.M. cast a devastatingly long shadow over independent American music in the 1980s. Pylon's never "making it" is almost as puzzling as the performances by Dexter Romweber, a wild John the Baptist to Jack White's more measured Jesus. How great--and hard to fathom now--that a state-school-town in the South could breed such a flakey scene.

Eat it, PF! When we're not makin' ourselves blind with the white lightnin' and ass-fucking tourists, we have, you know, a few things going for us.

Say what you will about t.A.T.u. That their new single is a step down from previous greatness. That they're a couple of big fakers. That their entire image was concocted for marketing purposes merely to titillate and sell records. All that is possibly true. But they know how to make a hell of a video and create a stir. This is not getting shown on regular TV, I'd have to say, but not for the reason you think.

1) So UGA totally sucks at academics, but still can make it into the top 20 public universities? R&B mentions, in its story on same, that UGA spokesperson Tom Jackson says tuition will continue to rise every year.

2) Damn it, Adams. Don't make me agree with you so much. UGA Pres calls for safer 316, rags on anti-intellectualism. Also praises well-prepared students being sent here and says a 1200 SAT will benefit you more than a 4.4 40. I suppose that depends on which SAT he's going by.

3) Letter-writer and member of Task Force responds to ABH editorial, saying they didn't want to do anything actually... Wooten tosses something off about lowering admissions standards. R&B cartoon does a nice job with it.

4) If you were gonna set up a hidden camera to spy on people changing at Belk, it seems to show a lack of imagination to restrict it to the employees there. Also, woo! Georgia Square Mall sure rules, huh?

5) Oh, Mr. Kindy, you seem like such a nice fella, but that beard is very distracting.

6) Commission has a light day. We're sure it has nothing to do with the fact that folks are actually back in town.

7) Macon also trying to ban panhandling, claiming it's a safety issue. Not for the panhandlers themselves, but for "the people who go downtown and try to conduct normal business." They might get homeless cooties on them.

8) ATH-ATL choo-choo stalled again.

Mike Evans, vice chairman of the Transportation Board who has been critical of the program's costs, said if that money were invested for 20 years with interest, it could pay for 20 years of limousine service and 50 years of taxi service for the 1,800 people projected to ride the rails from Clayton County to Atlanta.

9) ABH edges another step closer to calling NCLB total crap.

10) Letter in favor of arty bus shelters mentions tourism as a possible benefit, which is sooo true. I'm already planning my bus shelter arts tour of the country for next summer. Also, mmmmm, sugary blood money.

11) You look good, you play good.

12) Cats lie down with dogs. World turns backwards.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

Kaci Brown is a smart girl. The cover of her album, on which she appears in sepia tones, with kind of messy hippie hair, would imply that she is some kind of folky, guitar-playing girl. I mean, there's a Celtic key on it, ferchrissake. But check these lyrics to "Like 'Em Like That":

Boys all these boys only boys
Got nothing but boys on my mind
Asian Hispanic Caucasian and Black
So many I just can't decide
They lick their lips blow me a kiss
Whenever they see me walk by
Some cute some naughty some sweet
sexy bodies
I just can't resist them cause I
I like I like I like 'em like that

You can listen to the whole thing on AOL Music. It's odd.

Hassiotis wants to know if the innuendo in the first paragraph here is merely a coincidence or intentional. If the latter, NYT receives a hat tip here for working it past the censors. [bugmenot NYT]

World clutches head in shock, rage, sudden understanding

This is a pretty gay picture to accompany this article.

But y'all know I love my boy and pretty much think he can do no wrong. Yo! Stop it!

1) UGA, now with black people! Welcome back, kids, says Veep for Student Affairs.

2) Others weigh in on Task Force's recommendations. AJC says the university better take notice of them or else its beer-swilling grads will lose their jobs to teetotallers from India and China. Unless the jobs of the future involve swilling beer, that is. Macon Telegraph throws a bunch of confusing numbers around involving the ACT. Maybe if I'd taken more math in college... Greeks not thrilled about recommendation to take a closer look at them. R&B says it's well-intentioned but misguided in some areas.

3) Yoculan: my salary's fair. Also crazy.

4) Hundreds of people show up at the arch to support Sheehan and protest the war.

Georgians will have another observance today of the state's soldiers - both those who have been killed and those who are deployed in Iraq. Gov. Sonny Perdue has asked residents to observe a moment of silence at 1 p.m., flags on public buildings will be lowered to half-mast throughout the day, and a memorial service will be held at the Capitol.

The latter probably won't be met with obscene gestures. (Or maybe not.)

5) This headline should strike fear into your heart.

6) ACC will hire more erosion inspectors.

7) ABH opposes rats and mold in conjunction with elementary school students. Well, whew. Load officially off mind.

8) Oh you stepped on Donald Keyes's toes now, bitches. Ex-GMOA curator of paintings has a few things to say about bus-stop art. Another letter writer says businesses that do stick to potty parity will attract more business, because we all choose where we go based on restroom facilities, don't we? Yet another takes offense at Jere Morehead's words about a university education.

9) Athens is awesome. Because of the Georgia Square Mall? Because of the R&B's brunch obsession? Because Last Call has "celebrity" guest bartenders?

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC; bugmenot MT]

Salon takes on the Nike ads highlighted over at The Day Jobs, but inserts these two paragraphs in the middle of an otherwise praising article:

Then there's the fact that every woman celebrated in Nike's six ads sounds like one hell of an athlete. That's fine, and the company's prerogative as an athletic-wear manufacturer; it's certainly not damaging. But if, as Bell pointed out, the campaign is not about the ideal, but about what's real, it doesn't hurt to remember that for many American women, what's real is being out of shape. The idea of being physically fit, let alone being able to get beefy thighs from running a marathon, is a seemingly impossible ideal for many.

These butts and thunder thighs are mostly rock-hard muscle; there are no saddlebags. And while featuring them is surely a step in the right direction, real progress will be made when fashion plates share ad pages with women whose creases and folds and blemishes may be the product of triathlons ... or nightly bags of Doritos. (Salon's staff have already tried their hands at this, and hope that you will too.)

Because Nike's ad campaign has nothing to do with trying to sell Nike products. It's about reflecting reality, since that's what ad campaigns are supposed to do. Next up: Buy Doritos, you lard-ass! We know you want 'em! We can see it in your gut!

My extremely brief aesthetic theory: I like things that make the cogs move. It might sometimes seem that I'm devoted to shallow pleasure alone, but I'm not sure that's actually the case. Reading Spenser and reading Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan (I've been working on the latter a few pages at a time, before bed, so as not to carry the book around with me and get it all tattered) are kind of the same thing, in that I enjoy both of them because they make my brain hyper-conscious of its own workings. Parsing verbal grammar and parsing visual grammar both a) make the wheels turn, out of necessity, b) produce the shock of understanding when you figure out what's being said/conveyed, and c) make one cognizant of the particular leap that had to be taken to do the figuring out (which is its own shock of understanding). This I love, and I'd guess it underlies much of what I dig on art-wise. Sure, sheer beauty is a factor too (and is in Spenser and Ware as well), especially in visual art, but the pulses of the gray stuff are probably about as good.

Often you're more likely to end up with the Mercury Mistress than "a heart of cardamom, bourbon pepper and elemi." Smells like cock substitute to me, but in a slightly subtler way than the original.

I'm through all the books and working on the second of the two Mutabilitie cantos, which deal with Mutability's suit against the Olympian gods to hand over their power to her. It's held in a court presided over by Nature, and this segment that describes her made me kind of sit up and make a noise on the bus, being so damn reminiscent of Infinite Jest (except, you know, the other way around):

For, with a veile that wimpled every where,
Her head and face was hid, that mote to none appeare.

That some doe say was so by skill devized,
To hide the terror of her uncouth hew,
From mortal eyes that should be sore agrized;
For that her face did like a Lion shew,
That eye of wight could not indure to view:
But others tell that it so beautious was,
And round about such beames of splendor threw,
That it the Sunne a thousand times did pass,
Ne could be seene, but like an image in a glass.

Who gave Backstreet Boys no credit for being in on the joke of their last video? EAT IT! They have done greatness with their new one for "Just Want You to Know," which goes full-the-fuck-on Heavy Metal Parking Lot and then some. And it totally goes with the song. Am I going to have to get this album? I am going to have to get this album. I listened to most of it last time I was in Borders, and I had to restrain myself seriously from rocking out. (You're gonna have to hit MTV.com for now to watch it.)

Joel Stein gets it:

As soon as I got there, I realized that the reason people don't mind that reality shows are fake is because they are amazingly accurate in portraying real personalities. Reality didn't displace scripted shows because people longed for facts, but because they wanted lies that were better at getting at truths.

[bugmenot LAT] [via]

29) But if Dove truly wants to "help women feel that beauty is within their reach," as its campaign claims, the company should stick to soap, moisturizer and the truth: Any woman worried about dimpled flesh while vamping on a giant billboard in white bra and panties would benefit far more from a little chiffon wrap than bogus lotions. [from "Fat Chance," an op-ed by Jessica Seigel, 08/15/05; she contends that anti-cellulite creams are no more than snake oil]

30) The gray-haired father-of-two stole 160 pairs of panties and various sex toys from homes on the isles' main island of St. Mary's, where crime is uncommon and doors are left unlocked. [from "U.K. Knicker Thief Banned From Scilly," technically an AP article, 08/16/05, but extremely relevant; note that the underwear in question was discovered under the floorboards]

31) Though "Dreaming to Some Purpose" was warmly received in The Independent on Sunday and The Spectator and was praised by the novelist Philip Pullman, the autobiography - and Mr. Wilson - received a barrage of negative profiles and reviews in The Sunday Times and The Observer. These made fun of the book's more eccentric parts, like his avowed fetish for women's panties. [from "Philosopher of Optimism Endures Negative Deluge," by Brad Spurgeon, 08/17/05, about intellectual Colin Wilson and reactions to his autobiography]

Panty-watch is a regular feature here dedicated to tracking appearances of the word "panties" or "panty" in the New York Times, partially because it's amusing to see the Gray Lady venturing into such areas and partially to see if it correlates with anything specific. There will be graphs or a graph at the end of the year.

[previously] [bugmenot NYT]

a double barrel cannon just kike the one in athens but smaller it work unlike the regional it will shot tennis balls about 300ft its a one of a kind going price ebay 3,600.00 asking 3.000

I change nothing. I swear.

1) Arch Foundation has weensy budget compared to regular Foundation.

In the foundation's first year, it would be easy to spend a big chunk of operating revenues just on the expenses for the Arch Foundation's board of trustees, Cooper said.

Cooper noted that the UGA Foundation has a long-standing tradition of holding its annual spring meeting at the exclusive Cloister on Sea Island. But the Arch Foundation should hold off for now on scheduling an annual meeting there, he said.

This we like, but let's see what happens next year.

2) ABH kinda calls Task Force on General Education and Student Learning a bunch of pussies. i.e., If what they want is for freshmen not to have cars, then recommend that they not be allowed to, not that they receive a letter encouraging them not to.

3) Yo, Dr. York's mansion smells funky. And it can be yours!

Felt agreed that finding a buyer might be difficult.

"You'd need to find someone famous, like an Atlanta professional athlete who wants to be on 'MTV Cribs,' " the real-estate attorney said, referring to the cable music channel's show that features homes of the rich and famous.

I believe this is the location where Athens Blueprint had to make deliveries too every once in a while. I never went, but I heard it was disconcerting.

4) Wouldn't this make you thrilled about sending your kids there?

5) Is it school spirit that keeps parents from transferring their kids? Or is it the fact that Cedar Shoals isn't making AYP either?

6) Athens getting public access station? Sort of. "Local access" means Charter has more control over what's broadcast. McCarter thinks service problems will be solved by the marketplace. The nonexistent one for cable TV?

7) Shipp says GA Dems are trying to get Taylor to switch from Gov race to Lt. Gov race to beat Reed. He doesn't think it'll happen, though.

8) Kidd pro-manners, not pro-mandatory Spanish.

9) John Huie has a good brief piece on sidewalks in Flagpole, toward the bottom of the page.

[bugmenot ABH]

But alas, all seemingly possible googles have been exhausted, and I cannot find you a picture anywhere of the thing that made me laugh so hard in the Kmart last night. There is a new version of the Billy Bass, and it is a singin', dancin', pickin' frog that plays "The Gambler" when you push a button on it. It's also unexpectedly loud. And it seems like the button is hard to resist pushing, as we heard the tinny tones of frog-gambler drifting through the aisles at least one more time before we skedaddled. Theories as to why a frog in particular was chosen did not materialize. A dog would make a kind of sense (i.e., poker-playing hounds poster), but a frog? Rhymes with dog? Seemed funny while high? Lyrics may assist you in your meditating.

Clearly a serious crime, necessitating FBI involvement perhaps?

Damage: On Aug. 11, officials at the Bogart Recreation Department discovered where someone used a can of spray paint to paint symbols on a wall in the dugout of field No. 6. A can of paint was located and a deputy took it to the sheriff's office to be checked for fingerprints.

He couldn't identify him by his knees or anything...

Arrest: On Aug. 11, deputy Laura Teet was dispatched to a home on Moreland Avenue, where she met a woman who led her into the kitchen to see her 79-year-old husband. The man said he had gone behind his house to fill a bowl with water, when a man came up behind him, pushed him into the side of his trailer, then pulled his wallet from his pants and took off running. The man said he could identify the robber "from the neck up.'' The wife said she was alerted to the crime when she heard her husband screaming. The wallet contained $135 cash, numerous credit cards and his driver's license. The name of a man who recently got out of jail came up in the investigation, but that man quickly came to deputies telling them he was in Union Point at the time and not involved in the crime. Then the name of another suspect was received. Deputy Teet and Sgt. Shawn Burns went to where this man was staying with a woman, and she gave them permission to search his bedroom. In a closet, Burns saw a wallet that belonged to the elderly victim. This suspect, Terrance Cortez Smith, 17, of Moreland Heights, Watkinsville, was arrested for aggravated assault and robbery.

It's the belligerence we love.

Arrest: On Aug. 10, deputy R.W. Elder was dispatched to Timber Mill Drive where the resident of the home said he came home and saw a man peeping into the window of his daughter's room. When he asked the man what he was doing, the man replied, "I'm looking for you.'' The man called the sheriff's office. Elder went to another nearby apartment and located the suspect, Antonio Jose Mesia, 32, of Milledge Avenue, Athens, who was charged with peeping tom and trespassing.

More more more (how d'you like it?).

Here is why I live here.

The question asked by the title of this Slate piece (yes, this is belated; you got a problem?) is answered quite simply by its last sentence:

Short of being blasted in the face with a ranch-dressing hose, that's about as intense a fat rush as the human body can handle.

i.e., Ranch dressing = excuse to eat fat. And there is not a damn thing wrong with that. Foie gras enjoyment is based on the same principle.

I see a chorus of sexy green alien babes (yes, with antennae), myself. Matthew has Steve Spacek's "Slave" up, and it is hot stuff. When I hear that chipmunk funk with a bass that sounds mixed between a wa-wa and a record scratch, I get mighty excited, but you may not.

1) Bt wee R smrt! Task Force calls UGA students a bunch of slackers, says we need more core curriculum, a "capstone experience," pluses and minuses added to grades (Regents don't want this), more MWF as opposed to Tues/Thurs classes (though the latter were always more rigorous for me; it's so the weekend begins Friday instead of Thursday), more faculty, and so on. Some of it I think is accurate, and some of it just reflects the change in the culture at large. AJC mentions the recommendation that UGA add a required course on ethics and moral reasoning. You know, if people haven't thought about that by college, I'm thinking it may be a little late to reach them.

2) 441 bypass seems to be supported by homeowners but not by business owners in the communities it'll go around.

3) Douchebags are stealing gas.

One area man fed up with the record-high fuel costs said he's trying to start a movement to direct consumers to buy from a single oil company in hopes of fomenting a price war.

"We're going to buy one brand and one brand only," said Douglas Carrick, a 30-year-old carpenter from Watkinsville, who estimates he spends up to $140 a week to gas up his personal and work vehicles. "We don't have any affiliations with (this company). We just pulled its name out of a hat. We're going to try to hurt the competition to force them to bring their prices down."

He's spreading the word through word-of-mouth and on the Internet.

Carrick admitted he doesn't understand "how the whole deal works" when setting gas prices, but he said it doesn't make sense that oil companies that make $1 billion in profits per quarter cannot reduce prices.

Good luck with that, dude. I hear the Internets is a great way indeed to get people on your side.

4) It's not a Civil Rights issue. It's an issue related to poverty. And while I understand the frustration of local business owners, this type of cruel quick-fix ban (yes, I see that they get a referral to a resource center on their second notice, but they also quite possibly get jail time on the third strike) doesn't do anything to address the problem.

5) Vice squad working overtime on marijuana cases lately, it seems. 1, 2, 3 just in past week.

6) ABH supports the goal of No Child Left Behind (improvement in the schools; who doesn't?) but not the methods, such as with this latest ridiculousness about "highly qualified" teachers.

7) Letter writer points out that, indeed, a big chunk of "donations" to the UGA Athletic Dept are actually ticket payments. And another says academic donations might've been up more if not for Adams. This one puts rail-trail and arty bus shelters on the same page as wastes of money. And this guy wants one of the more irritating features of the AJC added to the ABH.

8) Loran Smith on speeding. Plus Joke!

9) Bipartisan group of legislators wants to push next session to switch from property tax funding of education to sales tax funding.

One of the Democratic co-sponsors is a legislative heavyweight, state Rep. Jeanette Jamieson of Toccoa, who with a political twist or turn might have wound up as the first woman speaker of the House. She is passionate about the switch.

The sales tax is "the fairest form of funding the local cost of education," she says, because with the property tax, "50 percent of the citizens of Georgia pay 100 percent of the local cost of educating our children." Eliminating it will "relieve business, and homeowners and agriculture of two-thirds of their local tax bill."

And she's a Democrat. The argument against it (get this) is that sales taxes are volatile, not that it's regressive as fuck. Anyway, this is all Wooten, so grains of salt should be taken, but it could be a big issue when the legislature gets up and running again.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

My daughter has a video now which takes the Black & White movies, I can't find these movies anywhere for sale in stores. If anyone out there has these movies and would like to sale them please contact me. Thanks!

You make my days go so much faster sometimes.

About the emergence of robots (or robotically enhanced protective wear) in baseball. The real threat appears to come from the clones.

Seriously. What is it with Maggiano's? Do you get a free meal if you mention them in the paper?

I encourage you to check out the screencaps Stereogum has of the new Dave Matthews Band video. I keep hoping it turns into the trailer for Cursed, where Christina Ricci takes a big bite out of Pacey's neck, but I believe we will have to be content with the blander sort of horror and disgust.

1) British Whale, "This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us" -- Am a big fan of the Sparks original, and this is indeed kind of pointless. I don't mind Hawkins's vocals (he does a decent job), but it seems rather more diffuse than Sparks's version, though I wouldn't be surprised if it were actually shorter. The bass also seems to be missing. And darts? Huh? 3. (watch video here)

2) Babyshambles, "Fuck Forever" -- Jaysus can he ever not sing. Unconventional voices are fine, but this is a god damn disaster, and the song itself isn't good enough to rise above the rendition. 1. (stream video here)

3) Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Ain't No Easy Way" -- What wouldn't sound great after Babyshambles, really? But this is stompy and bluesy and also not bad, though it does sound a bit like a less-innovative White Stripes rip-off. Good guitar, harmonica, and (best of all) big, big drums, and it's only 2.5 minutes long. 6. (listen/download here)

4) Super Furry Animals, "Lazer Beam" -- Dissolves into nothingness and annoyance at what must be the bridge, but the rest of it is kind of fun, hyper psychedelic funk built on a strings riff and layered with fuzz of all sorts. More interesting to me than most of their stuff I've heard. 5. (video on launch)

5) Snoop Dogg, "Ups and Downs" -- Huh. This sounds like Snoop (slash The Bee Gees?) trying to do Al Green in parts, and it's occasionally successful at such. The rap bits are less so, being kind of draggy. Right now I'd say he's better in guest slots (a la "Happy Summertime") than solo. 4. (video with registration here)

6) Iron Maiden, "The Trooper" -- Not awful, but not catchy enough for metal of this sort. This is just fast and loud, and while I like fast and loud, I also like melody. 3. (here's a video excerpt live)

7) McFly, "I'll Be OK" -- Boo! I was amped up for this, and it totally disappointed. Don't you understand the more and bigger requirements of a proper song of this sort? This is much too tasteful. 4. (video here with registration)

8) Fischerspooner, "Never Win" -- Possibly the first song of theirs I've liked? Very late 80s stripped-down disco married to a hot video. Too hip for words, but makes me tap my feet. Macare on the mark with the Pink Floyd mention. 7. (video here)

9) Sons & Daughters, "Taste the Last Girl" -- You'd think that taking the mope out of The Smiths would produce something better, but you'd be wrong. This is still quite nice and a little fierce though, with great phlegmy chick vocals. Probably equal parts X. Shouty is good sometimes. 7. (video here)

10) Xavier, "Give Me the Night" -- Yeah, this is fun, but puh-lease. Once you've had Thicke, you can't settle for Xavier, even if he does have models in their underwear dancing with neon tubes (that could almost pass for light sabers) in his video. 6. (video here)

1) This might be the funniest opening paragraph of the year:

University of Georgia Police Chief Jimmy Williamson has been cleared of allegations that he is a bigoted and sexually offensive manager who's created a hostile work environment within the campus police department.

How nice for him then. Oh. And this.

Platt also contended that the police chief made inappropriate comments about an officer's breasts, but Williamson said he was only agreeing with another officer's observation that he hadn't noticed how large they were until she came to work in civilian clothing, according to Shewmaker's notes.

I'm not saying a damn thing either way on this, except that it does seem Williamson got a far fairer hearing than Soloski.

2) UGA gets, what, a C+ for "keeping track of stuff"?

3) Clarke's schools have to rely on rental of their facilities and things like soda contracts (with the dark force that is Pepsi, no less) to cover some expenses.

4) Ex-ACC Commissioner Sheats might maybe someday run for Heard's state house seat. At which point you may very well "feel the dynamis." Kidd and Heard talk about immigration laws due up next session, Heard digs supplemental budget, and debates over who gets new sidewalks are up in the ACC. Why do we want sunshine? Here's a reason. Shipp speaks of the Atlanta Chamber curse, calls Dukes of Hazzard "sex-drenched" (where's the dude who picks the poster quotes when you need him?).

5) What is this, an arms race?

6) Yay! No Child Left Behind does it again.

7) Plans for 441 bypass to be detailed tonight.

8) See, this isn't where I'm coming from on the bus stop issue. As I said, I don't have a problem with publicly funded art. And neither does Jim, if you keep reading. He just thinks it should be cheap, which is fine by me. Also: media on media. The first of no doubt many letters on the bus stop issue.

9) Good luck winning your next election, Mr. Jordan.

[bugmenot ABH]

1) Robin of Locksley: Teenage updating of Robin Hood starring Devon Sawa (as the young computer/archery genius) and Joshua Jackson (as his foe, the snotty John Prince)? I am so there. Also featuring Becky #2 Sarah Chalke, a.k.a. the poor man's ScarJo. So not genius of any sort, but irresistible when just appearing on one's TV set at the right time, esp if one happens to think Mr. Sawa is kind of a cutie pie in his own blond Canadian way. It's corny, but fun to see what turns into what in the modern world and if you wanted to make a drinking game out of taking a sip every time the snobby bullies push someone while walking down the hall, you would be legless in no time.

2) Suspect Zero: Better-than-average serial killer movie with good cast (Ben Kingsley, Aaron Eckhart, Carrie-Anne Moss). A little self-consciously dark, but also creepy and pretty well directed in terms of visuals. And, um, oddly, written by this fella, whose name I thought I recognized. Critics seem to have taken it rather seriously and seen it as a failure on those grounds, but I found it pretty watchable, and even when Kingsley gets hammy, I still like to watch him work. Like Tom Cruise, he's so small and perfectly formed that even just watching him move is sort of beautiful.

This is another thought, related to the show recounted below, and it is that, while the indoor smoking ban may have been a public health issue, it also creates a new one. Namely: the stench of humanity is no longer masked by a gentle carcinogenic cloud. i.e., Lord, does it ever stink in the 40 Watt.

 It is also what we call total total love. And Of Montreal. You wouldn't really think, after the glory of their last show back in April, that they could top that, but then they kind of did. Yay for Popfest!

Yay for Galactic Heroes (cute!), Red Pony Clock (tromboney!), Elekibass (as pictured below), 63 Crayons (I guess. I had to take a break and go outside.), Circulatory System (much catchier than usual), and Of Montreal! Popfest attendees were a bunch of sweetie pies, apologizing every time they bumped into one, and there was serious love flowing in a circular manner between band and crowd. Post-show I felt completely wrung the hell out, and my calf muscle is still twitchy two days later, but was it worth it? Oh hell to the yes. Did I mention I'm still head over heels (or vice versa if you want to get technical)? I am I am I am.

Lots more photos here.

This is what we call showmanship. Also what we call Elekibass. 

Wilmer Valderama to start second version of That 70s Show.

Is the phrase old enough for nostalgia again? Or just outdated?

1) Trey Songz feat. Twista, "Gotta Make It" -- People are kind of dissing my boy Trey Songz here, but this is one of the stand-out tracks on the album (there are plenty of ones that are unremarkable, but a few will make for good singles). I think he's got a pretty voice, I dig the guest verse from Twista (though there's nothing new there), and the sample it's built around really keeps the song moving even though the tempo's not too fast. Just wait until "Ooo" hits the airwaves. 7. (video here)

2) Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx, "Gold Digger" -- This is how Kanye does stripped down: with about 18 layers of stuff going on in the production. This is also sometimes how I happen to like stripped down. I mean, you've got Jamie Foxx doing Ray Charles, stutter harmonica, and oddly thumping beat, plus he throws in almost vintage Stevie "Love Having You Around" keyboard and DJ scratching at the very end. So should not work, but does and produces something new. I'm waiting for that point at which I'll think one of his singles sucks too, but it ain't happened yet. 8. (listen here)

3) Bow Wow feat. Ciara, "Like You" -- I like the tone on the bass line that runs up and down with the melody occasionally, but this is pretty MOR. Not crazy about Bow Wow's flow in general, and this does nothing to change that. 5. (video link here; the bit where the elevator music takes over the beat is cute)

4) Lyfe Jennings, "Must Be Nice" -- Snoozy pablum. 2. (video here)

5) System of a Down, "Question!" -- I sort of like the melodic screaming near(ish) the end, and when they go nuts with the guitars and what I guess is the chorus it's okay, but the gentle in-between bits are kind of boring. 4. (listen on their media player)

6) Nine Inch Nails, "Only" -- Great video, mildly sexy bassline, but not enough there. More! Bigger! (video here)

1) Interim chancellor selected. Good for diversity, but a little strange that she's the head of Legal Affairs. What's the university expecting? Also, she's probably not a candidate for the permanent position. Note also that search firm for permanent chancellor will be paid $90K plus expenses.

2) Bla bla bla. The university's rolling in it from donors. Oh but...

Most of the $19.1 million increase was in donations to the university's Athletic Association, which jumped by $14 million to $36.5 million. That's 62 percent higher than the 2004 fiscal year, when gifts to the UGA Athletic Association totaled $22.5 million. Most of the athletic gifts, about $25.5 million, were paid by UGA season ticket holders in a "ticket priority" system that gives better seating location based on the amount of money ticket buyers contribute.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Adams over Dooley then. Also this, from AJC article on same:

Athletics fund-raising fell the previous year, after UGA President Michael Adams declined to renew popular athletics director Vince Dooley's contract.

"Every part of the university's done better," Steve Wrigley, senior vice president for external affairs, said Thursday. "Giving to athletics is back to its more normal level of giving."

Academic giving up too, thanks in part to students (says Gwinett Daily Post):

Recent graduates played a significant role in the fundraising record. Gift receipts last year came from 51,418 contributors. About 28 percent of the graduating class participated in the Senior Signature fundraising program — the largest number of gifts to that campaign.

3) Oconee Countians are gettin' it on.

4) This is ri-god-damn-diculous. Commission is considering hiring artists to redesign the local bus shelters, which would cost $4 or $5K more. How about some frigging buses to go by the stops, you douches? McCarter on the right side here:

"I'm interested in getting the maximum number of bus shelters," Commissioner States McCarter said. "I'm not supporting the arts at the expense of people who want to get in out of the rain."

It's not that I don't believe in public funding for the arts, but I could use a shelter at my stop, and this seems like another example of the triumph of bad public art (much like the ubiquitous bulldogs) supported by middle-class ladies over actual community needs.

5) ABH supports video broadcast of committee meetings, but thinks it's indeed an attempt to put a pretty face on things.

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

Video for "My Doorbell" = Kidz Bop "Since U Been Gone" + Willy Wonka + The Shining?

Good stuff, especially the end.

[via]

Sure, the chicks are tweaked like mad in Photoshop, but the mags believe in equality. Check David Boreanaz on the cover of an upcoming Men's Fitness versus regular David Boreanaz, photographed in May at an Absolut Vodka event. I mean, I love me some Angel, but I don't see his six-pack busting through his shirt naturally.

End of the Century: Awesome Ramones documentary that gives a better picture of the personality dynamics at play over 20 years than anything else. In some ways it's painful to watch, especially with both the suckiness that they never really got played on the radio and the explanations they attempt for that (they were too real?). The fact is, they should've been everywhere, and they kind of are now, but the lack of radio play seems more of a fluke to me than anything. Also, Johnny comes off as a total asshole, which it sort of seems like he was, espousing Republican politics more for the sake of getting under people's skin than out of any genuine belief in such, but not wanting to hang out with the guy in this case doesn't mean I have less appreciation for him as an artist. Maybe the presence of two guys who could be described as obsessive-compulsive (one clinically [Joey] and one just more in the sense that he needed to control everything [Johnny]) led to the greatness of the band. It also heightened my esteem for Dee Dee, who seems to have been a major pop force in the songwriting department and in all his interviews is possibly the most honest and self-aware, even though he also kind of has the personality of a six-year-old. It makes me think The Ramones are the opposite of Spinal Tap, in that only their drummers (and CJ) are still alive. But mostly, as with The Kids Are Alright, it makes me think about how damn much I love the band, not for image or cred or the fact that they were a bunch of weirdos (which they were), but for that sound. It makes you want to make music and also jump around. It makes me remember how sad I was hearing about Joey and Dee Dee and Johnny's deaths. It makes me know anew how embedded they are in my heart, to the extent that I don't think I could ever take that first album out of my top ten.

I'm not sure I've seen anyone make the comparison before, but reading this article on Lil' Jon's doings of late, it struck me that he sure reminds me of Stevie Wonder in the photo used to illustrate it. I think it's the lack of awareness he projects. Also, it led to a google image search, which gets funnier with every page, especially when you think about the fact that these aren't generally candids. Does Lil' Jon's mouth just do that every time a camera's pointed at him? Or does he make an effort to do the "heeey!" thing on command (possibly practicing at home sometimes)? Does it get tiring, in the way Miss America contestants report with smiles? Does he have one of those springy things you put in your mouth to exercise your facial muscles?

Tiger Woods, a phenomenal golfer--and a good friend--has style. If he just sank a little ball in a little hole again and again, that wouldn't account for his popularity and, dare I say, his fantastic wealth. Another friend of mine, Tony Bennett, has more style than maybe anyone who ever set foot on a stage. He's a huge talent, certainly, and he has a fantastic set of pipes, undoubtedly. But it's his style that sells it. Talent without style can be mechanical. Competence without style is often just business as usual, and that's something I'll never be accused of.

Immortal prose. Did you guess right?

1) Interim USG chancellor to be announced today post-BOR meeting.

2) Yeah, it could be you. Police looking for connections between two slayings, think it's possible anyone in ACC could be responsible.

3) Dog hoarding.

4) This won't be unnecessarily complicated. Or interfere with traffic more than the current system. Or reduce parking downtown further.

5) State house committee sessions to be broadcast online, making it seem like they're taking a little step toward Sunshine.

6) Yeah, it's a stretch indeed. ABH thinks Barrow County has left itself open to potential discrimination lawsuits by Hindus who want to build things there? Letter writer Chris Quinn takes a swipe.

7) Historic preservation in tha ACC suxors. Also, white ladies, not only do you face the possibility of no toilets giving you diabetus, you may also be turned away from the polls.

8) The most sensible letter to the paper in a while?

9) Mmm... food that burns...

10) Ryan Lewis opines,

I find it to be incredibly sad how, all too often, truly great films are overlooked in favor of more immediately marketable schlock. For every agonizing "White Noise" there are 10 would-be "Pulp Fictions" falling all over themselves for mainstream distribution. And so we are eternally damned to deal with the don'ts while missing the dos.

So a would-be Pulp Fiction is a classic? Or what now?

11) Loran Smith smoochy smoochy Coach Richt.

12) Cremains? Nothin' more unique than Gumby's Pizza.

[bugmenot ABH]

26) This year's version of Ozzfest came to the arena and parking lot of the PNC Bank Arts Center on Tuesday for the first of two dates here. The traveling festival celebrates heavy metal music and culture, which is perhaps too grand a way of acknowledging the vendors who generously offer to sell you bumper stickers bearing discourtesies and panties emblazoned with pithy phrases touting their contents. [from "OZZFEST REVIEW; Heat, Good Cheer, Jagged Music and Even Some Melody" by Kelefa Sanneh, 07/28/05; also note this lovely turn of phrase: "Many men and women were wearing outfits designed to highlight their beer bellies and breasts, respectively. And, if you must know, irrespectively."]

27) Pass/fail: As the counselor says, to get into Harvard Law School, you need excellent recommendations from professors, a really good admissions essay and at least a 175 on the LSAT. The board of admissions notes that the candidate once appeared in a Ricky Martin video and designed faux-fur panties for a sorority benefit: ''Aren't we always looking for diversity?'' [from "Admissions: Director's Cut," by James R. Petersen, 07/31/05; no longer up for free at the NYT site, originally part of the education life supplement, article is about humorous depictions of the admission process in movies, this one being from Legally Blonde]

28) "My days and nights toiling in alternative performing spaces in that unchartered land called Off Off Broadway are among my most cherished memories," Mr. Busch said. "I still can't think of anything more fun than throwing together a show for less money than it costs for one pair of panties in 'Spamalot.'" [from "Arts, Briefly," compiled by George Gene Gustines, 08/08/05]

Panty-watch is a regular feature here dedicated to tracking appearances of the word "panties" or "panty" in the New York Times, partially because it's amusing to see the Gray Lady venturing into such areas and partially to see if it correlates with anything specific. There will be graphs or a graph at the end of the year.

[previously] [bugmenot NYT]

1) The Mitchell Brothers, "Excuse My Brother" -- Sludgy is right. This is slow, lacking flow, doesn't have a good beat, and goes nowhere. 2. (watch video here)

2) Craig David, "All the Way" -- If you want an Usher ripoff, Bobby Valentino does it better. This song does have a disco beat grabbed from something else (can't pinpoint it), and it's kind of relaxed and jammy, but for a song about dancing it's kind of difficult to do your moves to. Totally okay though. 5. (video and audio here)

3) Stereo MC's, "Paradise" -- Thirty seconds is always difficult to judge on, but this doesn't seem very exciting. Not pop enough. Not rating though. (sample on Yahoo music)

4) Axwell, "Feel the Vibe (Til the Morning Comes)" -- The hook's not good enough to keep me around for the insane repetition (it could be on a loop or not; I can't even tell) of this pretty generic dance track. Thump thump. Woo woo. Meh. 2. (streaming on official site)

5) Nine Black Alps, "Unsatisfied" -- Sensitive and vaguely indie, with lots of those trebly guitars I tend not to like. Tries to make a move toward pop in the chorus, but somehow misunderstands what "catchy" is. It's not missing by much, but an inch is sometimes as good as a mile. 3. (video here with registration)

6) Long-View, "Further" -- Uninteresting and definitely WB, but listenable. It's not pretending too hard to be rock. Don't listen too closely, and it's innocuous background music. 3. (listen on their site)

7) The Magic Numbers, "Love Me Like You" -- This is a bit better than the last one, but how much better would these songs be if they could really sing? The guy sounds like he's in a different band. There's still something quite off, but I haven't figured out yet what it is. Despite unnervement, a 5. (video up at NME; do they mean "antidote"?)

8) Lady Sovereign, "9 to 5" -- Covered (with much love), but not rated. She is an adorable little hyper monkey, and I admire the way she turns "sandwich" into a three-syllable word with no effort at all. Big fan. 9. (on her site, if you missed the first go-round)

9) Supergrass, "St. Petersburg" -- It's a little mature, but not quite in Elton John territory. Still, I like the pianner and it's totally competent. 5. (video here)

10) Stars, "Ageless Beauty" -- Big and pretty, but too blurry soundwise. It sounds almost live from the recording, but I'm pretty sure it's not, and while that's good when you are seeing a band live, it's not great when that quality applies to a recording. I do kind of like to hear things separately, and not mushed together. I'd give it a 6 if it were a little more exciting, but as is only hits a 5. (download here)

11) Goldfrapp, "Ooh La La" -- I like this better now than the first time I heard it, when I was distracted by the shiny disco craziness of the video (horse made of mirrorball), but it's actually kind of hot. The drawing of it would be a line that's almost flat but slightly angled up, to the point where you can barely notice the angle, but it's still there. 7. (video here)

12) Mattafix, "Big City Life" -- Sort of like Moby's "Natural Blues" meets LFO's "Summer Girls" and they have a baby that's kind of into reggae. This is fun and, while very 90s in sound, hummable. 6. (video here)

1) Damn if that Sufjan Stevens album isn't good the whole way through, though "Decatur" has taken up residence in my head and will not let any others get even a toehold. Maybe it's the Dan and Elin Smith guest vocals/claps or maybe it's that jaunty tempo. Anyway. Making the list of albums of the year I'm trying to keep running in my head.

2) Kathy Griffin's reality show continues to amuse me. Mr. Brown thinks it's like Anna Nicole, but where you actually kind of like the person it centers on. I think she's a funny lady, and her rant to the camera on how she needs a personal trainer because she has a problem with her right hand constantly stuffing doughnuts in her mouth was fine stuff.

3) Mia Madonna's new menu (not up on their site yet) is much more consistent and well thought out than the previous one. The food's taken a step up too, but it's no Five & Ten. Or rather, it's like the occasionally less than stellar meals you might get at that establishment. It's still excellent for Athens, and you can do both appetizer and entree for less than $20.

. . . Mark Richt headed North walking on the sidewalk on East Campus Road. He was wearing grey shorts and a grey t-shirt and talking with someone similarly dressed . . . Bobo maybe? I didn’t get a good look at the other person.

Did I mention that the presence of dudes named Bobo (yes, it's a last name, but it's what he seems to go by) is one of the things I love about Athens? I also had an OSIS of like the entire football team yesterday while waiting for the bus. They were all heading to Snelling and were very sweaty in their "Finish the Drill" gray t-shirts (perhaps the same gear as Coach Richt?), but I wasn't able to identify anyone specifically. There were a lot of them.

Sorry so late today. The internets is moving like an escargot.

1) More weirdness with another murder.

At about 12:20 p.m. the same day Collins was found, the body of 49-year-old Lee Andy Lyles was discovered about a half mile away in a wooded area north of Lexington Road between Winterville Road and the Athens Perimeter in an encampment of homeless people known as Tent City. He apparently was beaten to death with a large stick, according to police.

Police said they did not believe the murders were related.

Athens-Clarke police Lt. Clarence Holeman said, like Lyles, Collins' body was scheduled for an autopsy Tuesday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Crime Lab in Decatur.

He would not say how Collins was killed, other than to say, "There's some trauma to the body."

Releasing the cause of death during the early stages of a homicide investigation could compromise the probe, Holeman said, because only the killer would know that information.

Say that again what now? Other article with follow-up on Lyles murder makes clear that ABH did a little detective work to put the picture together, i.e., there was a big bloody stick mentioned in the police report.

2) I'm not sure what you do about something like this. It does sound like the people who own the property are being somewhat accommodating, but it still sucks for those on the receiving end. Wanna bet it's another huge condo complex that's going up?

3) Navy School still not dead. Saxby Chambliss fighting like he's never fought before.

4) You know what's way better than bus services? New carpet for the Classic Center addition.

5) Downtown business owners think the cameras will indeed prevent crime, even though there needs to be someone to watch them (which currently only happens from midnight to 4 a.m. weekends) and they can be evaded by wearing, say, a mask. Also, there's a new curfew officer hooking truant teenagers, and the cops are asking for the power to bar the disorderly from downtown for a year.

6) This bizzarro case of the now ex-janitor charged with animal abuse, despite the fact that no one who saw anything has said he actually abused this animal, is dismissed in one court but could be pursued criminally, which it might be.

7) It's official. Winder-Barrow residents (ironically) taking it up the ass because of Ten Commandments Georgia. Public comment not allowed at the meeting.

8) The real social cost of Grand Theft Auto: conkings.

9) ABH sees the light wrt voter ID bill. Mostly.

10) Shipp points out the disparity between the state government's lobbying for the NASCAR museum while, at the same time, doing a terrible job meeting ADA standards. Yes, the guy's in prison, but that doesn't mean he should have to sit in his own waste.

11) Lack of regulations downtown for toilets causes diabetes!

12) And life returns to normal in the SEC.

[bugmenot ABH]

Soul Plane: Yes, we rented it. You got a problem with that? It's always important to have a balance of stuff when you're limited to three rentals at a time, so this was the fluffy one. And if you consider it as an actual movie that's supposed to have a plot and such, it definitely sucks. But that's not really where it belongs. It's much more Zucker Brothers than that, a loose series of events designed to hang jokes on, and a lot of those jokes are going to be stupid. That's the nature of the thing. It's definitely homophobic (less so than the Scary Movie series, though) and Snoop is awful. Lots of jokes don't work or don't make any sense. But in spite of all that, I didn't mind watching it at all. It made me laugh sometimes. What can I say? I thought it was funny that coach is renamed "low-class" and that the plane has rims. I am easily amused. We have established that. It's also got a great soundtrack. I'm not going to contend that it's a good movie, but I don't feel bad about renting it.

There's something about the wording of this one that's oddly Lynchian to me:

Theft: On Aug. 4, a North High Shoals man said he went to the back of his house about 10:25 p.m. to check on a door and let his dog out. While in the dark hallway, he came up on a man whom he recognized. The man did not have permission to be in the house and later the homeowner discovered that $400 in cash was missing.

The burglaries in general this week are a little surreal:

Burglary: On Aug. 5, deputy Marvin Williams was parked on Greenwood Drive, Bogart, when a woman pulled up and said her home on the street had been burglarized. Williams went to the home and saw where someone with muddy shoes had kicked the door in, then walked around in the house. The woman said $100 cash was removed from a jewelry box in the bedroom. Also, screens from the bedroom windows were removed and one was located in a nearby creek. A neighbor reported seeing a "long black car'' pull up to the residence earlier that day.

Theft: On Aug. 3, a resident of Hebron Church Road reported someone stole a gray 1988 Buick LaSabre from the residence. Someone also entered the home and although numerous items were thrown onto the floor, it was not determined if anything was stolen.

The rest here.

Not quite, but I do seem to have four reviews in the Flagpole this week (Nutria, Black Eyed Peas, Honestly, and Daniel Lanois, the latter only in the online version?), plus the big ol' Popchat lovefest.

Edited 08/10 8:15 a.m.: Make that three reviews. Lanois was an error. It'll show up in the print version at some point.

1) Weezer, "We Are All on Drugs" -- Look, the repurposed video footage is funny, but this song really is weak. Half-asses it on the metal tribute and contains none of what I like about Weezer (the harmonies, people). And, unless it's just this video that's doing it, the production is terrible, tinny and thin and the kind of thing that would even send Warrant spinning in the grave. Considered against the backdrop of the current pop landscape, it gets a 3, because it could be much worse, but considered in terms of the band's oeuvre, it's much, much suckier. (video here)

2) Damien Marley, "Welcome to Jamrock" -- It's fine, but it could be a remake for all I know, and reggae's really not generally my thing, in that I find it pretty boring. Lots of sing-talking about Jamaica and repeating a word or two (in this case, "jamrock"). 4. (video here)

3) David Banner, "Play" -- Hott! Squeaky squeaky (that almost sounds like those people who are so awesome at making fart noises with their hands that they can play you a full song), siren, finger snaps, whispering that's louder and hotter than Ying Yang Twins, and that weird-ass drum. This is so better than "Wait," if a little monotonous and long. 8. (listen here, but make sure your boss isn't like leaning over your shoulder, or check out the cleaner but sweatier video at AOL Music)

4) Rise Against, "Swing Life Away" -- Funny tempo change right at the beginning that doesn't need to be there but is interesting for that reason. This is the sort of thing that one of your sensitive stoner frat boys might listen to, with its acoustic guitar and nice sentiments, but it's not waily or too dumb, and the vocals have a pretty, slightly robotic tone. 5. (hear it on their site via their media player)

5) U2, "City of Blinding Lights" -- I'm trying, but I'm so darn bored. 3. (video here with registration)

6) 50 Cent feat. Mobb Deep, "Outta Control (Remix)" -- But this is... like... good. It's hard for me to see how someone could have both utter crap like "Candy Shop" and this on the same album. Gorgeous beat with piano and shrieky strings, vocals that range from acceptable to not bad, melodic chorus. Four and a half minutes is pushing it, but I could listen to this for a while. 7. (link to the video on yahoo here)

It seems The New Yorker is really trying to get you to buy a copy lately, since they keep neglecting to put their more interesting pieces online. Not even posted to Lexis-Nexis is Jonathan Franzen's "My Bird Problem," which links his relationship issues and love-hate mom relationship with the way he became a bird watcher and what that activity provides for him. It's also extremely painful to read, and this coming from someone who doesn't have an issue with "the Jonathans." It's less that he's oblivious that his personality can be grating (specifically, self-centeredness--to the point that he becomes annoyed when others intrude upon the nature he is already intruding upon--and an obsession with trivia and categorizing) and more, I think, that he's willing to show us that side, unpleasant and self-revelatory (to the reader, that is) as it may be. You also, though, want to shake him and tell him to snap out of it. Or at very least, hook up with Lethem for a hot make-out session interspersed with discussions of their respective record collections.

1) Georgia economy growing, so they say. Haven't we been hearing this for several years, and still the job market sucks? Also, state government totally thinks it can just have one piece of pie.

2) Dude murdered in Tent City.

Although police wouldn't discuss possible motives, residents of the homeless camp interviewed by the Banner-Herald in November said alcohol and drugs cause flaring tempers and violence there.

For example, on Sept. 22, 2004, a 46-year-old man known as "Jamaica Man" was arrested for threatening to kill another Tent City dweller with a knife and for threatening to burn down a tent occupied by a husband and wife.

3) This is a nice try at making it all better wrt the voter ID law, but who determines what "nearby" is? AARP Georgia pres isn't buying it. Also, federal Justice Dept is taking a bit longer to review the law.

4) Barrow County to vote to pay John Doe. It's just a formality.

5) You know how you avoid this situation?

6) ABH thinks something should be done about teen pregnancy, but puts forth no concrete possibilities, like, you know, available and free or cheap birth control.

7) ABH reader thinks Jordan and the paper are ridiculous on the potty parity issue, but dude, it's a local paper. I don't know how many times I can reiterate that. I don't want my war coverage from the ABH. I want to know what's going down at the commission meetings.

8) Another reader thinks Shipp is a big gossip. Nuh duh! That's why we read his column. (Sidebar: Is this Jomo Josh Moore?)

9) So nice, yet so embarrassing...

[bugmenot ABH; bugmenot AJC]

So, I'm on the last book of the Faerie Queene (I still have the Mutabilitie Cantos to go), which is devoted to Courtesie as its primary virtue. The notes take a long time to explain that it's more than just common politeness, but that does seem to be a large part of it, or at least the basis for it as a virtue. Here's your chunk that's pretty key, with the last three lines especially so:

For nothing is more blamefull to a knight,
That court'sie as well as armes professe,
How ever strong and fortunate in fight,
Then the reproch of pride and cruelnesse.
In vaine he seeketh others to suppresses,
Who hath not learnd himself first to subdew:
All flesh is frayle, and full of ficklenesse,
Subject to fortunes chances, still chaunging new;
What haps to day to me, to morrow may to you.

That's a pretty good rationale for politeness if I ever heard one, but googling "why be polite?" produces results that don't bode too well.

My Architect: A Son's Journey: This was really much better than I had expected it to be, and though the art of the film is dwarfed by the art of the buildings themselves, that doesn't mean the former has no merit. The combination of the personal with the aesthetic works well, and there are strange shots here and there (Nate Kahn walking two hyper poodles, Nate Kahn having difficulties keeping his paper yamulke on his head at the Wailing Wall (?)) that seem to be in the movie only to amuse and provide insight into the character of the director, which is also odd. I was thinking out loud just after watching it about how there seem to be two kinds of documentary filmmakers: there are those who make documentaries and then there are those who only make one documentary. This seems a case of the latter, even though he has writing credit on another, earlier documentary. And Stone Reader is another example. The force of the obsession that drives someone not by nature a documentarian to make a documentary comes through. I also think Wes Anderson would dig the hell out of that symphony boat.

This is your visual reference for the show at Orange Twin. I don't know who the guy in the purple t-shirt is, but he seemed to be having a great time. 

And here is your link to more.

They're the key to a season that gets the attention of even Salon.

So having seen War of the Worlds, I can now go back and read things about it. I do this avoidance dance to various degrees, depending on the movie. Sometimes I don't even want to see a trailer. But anyway. The most interesting thing is the debate going on between Tim Noah and Stephanie Zacharek on one side and David Edelstein on the other, in which the former think Spielberg's evocation of 9/11 is "pornographic." Here's Noah:

Because War of the Worlds has nothing to say about 9/11, its appropriation of 9/11 imagery can only be described as pornographic. Tapping the audience's memories of the 9/11 attacks injects a frisson of real-world suffering that's completely unearned. The movie lacks any construct elucidating further parallels between 9/11 and the imaginary invasion of Bayonne, N.J., by space aliens. The 9/11 trope has no meaning. It's merely an elbow in the side, reminding the audience of that day's awful events.

So who gets to decide what's allowed for references and what isn't? What's acceptable for an elbow in the side? Is there a death toll at which it becomes unallowable? A specific period of time that has to pass? Of course, I think his analogy to pornography is also somewhat accurate. I just don't have a problem with it. It's better art than porn, but it's designed to produce a similar gut reaction. Zacharek says:

But there's grim glee in the way Spielberg shows us the horrors that these creature vehicles wreak: When their deadly rays hit human flesh, skin, bones and tissue disintegrate immediately, although the shell of clothing around them remains intact -- pants and shirts flutter helplessly, still airborne even though the terrified, running bodies inside have already turned to ash.

Again, yes. Violence on film is attractive. As an effective filmmaker, Spielberg wants to unsettle you and knows that you want to be unsettled. I don't see why he's not allowed to use whatever he finds at hand to achieve that goal. Edelstein has a much better take on it all, though it's more driven by how good he finds the film (obviously I do too) than by principle.

If you didn't feel like going to the grocery store, it was kind of a good week to be in Oconee County. Sort of.

Damage: On July 26, a resident of Ramser Drive, Bogart, reported that someone threw eggs at his home around 2:30 a.m. The man heard the noise, but upon checking did not see the culprits.

Damage: On July 31, a resident of Stonebridge Circle reported that he heard a noise around 2 a.m. and upon checking never saw anyone. The next morning when he came home from church he noticed eggs and fruit around his home and a broken window pane.

Damage: On July 22, a resident of Taylors Drive reported that someone egged a 2002 Ford Expedition in the driveway.

Damage: On Aug. 1, a woman reported shortly after 3 a.m. that someone fired a potato into her home on Lake Welbrook Drive. The potato blasted open the shutters, went through a double glass window, and hit a wall inside the home. A vehicle with a loud muffler was heard leaving the scene. (Authorities said the potato was probably fired with a potato gun, usually made of a pipe or tubing and fired with some sort of flammable substance such as hair spray. Such objects can propel a potato at high speeds).

Was this supposed to be an insult, exactly?

Damage: On July 28, a resident of Windy Creek Road reported that someone graffitied his pickup with words including "queer'' and "gay pride.''

All the rest are here.

Not a comprehensive rundown of what happened over the past nine days, but mostly encompassing the past weekend, plus maybe an extra bit here and there if I feel like it, mmkay?

1) University working on its Williamson investigation.

Platt called Williamson's management style "autocratic, dictatorial and micro-managing," and asked in his complaint to be placed on administrative leave while his allegations were investigated.

...Jackson said the university denied the request, and that the 14-year UGA police veteran is currently not working, using accrued compensatory and vacation time to remain off the job during the investigation.

No comment from Williamson yet, unsurprisingly.

2) Students who did bother to show up for summer graduation get lectured by old fart. Remember, if you don't trust authority, it's not authority's fault--it's yours.

3) How to boost graduation rates? Bribe students, of course.

4) Outdoor seating popular. Also, what's this about Room 13 adding a huge patio? Concluding line is sort of brilliant: "County commissioners did express some concern about aesthetics before passing the full smoking ban in July."

5) This question is pretty incredibly easy to answer. Somebody's exploiting somebody here, and it seems a little more likely it's not the mentally ill sometimes homeless guy on the giving end.

6) Commission round-up: More Five Points speed humps wanted, Carl Jordan is the only one who wants a bike lane on Old Hull Road and is generally pissing people off again (as with this desire to make businesses construct twice as many restrooms for women as men).

7) "This spring and summer, there have been a series of unsettling human-bat encounters."

8) It's not so much a question of whether Athens can do anything about CertainTeed expanding. It's more whether we throw free money at them for doing so or not.

9) Perdue says he's committed to protecting taxpayer money. Because he didn't sign that budget last year with plenty of appropriations to various Republican lawmakers' communities. Nuh uh. Anyway, there will be no more supplemental budget, so if things change in the middle of the year, you're officially screwed. There are no plans to change it wrt education, but we'll see.

10) Open records issues just keep on surfacing. ABH has a good editorial on the latest one. And Shipp covers it too, while praising AG Baker.

[bugmenot ABH]

That sometimes my attention span is not so long. The Olivia Tremor Control show out at the Orange Twin compound was certainly worth going to. The question is how much was worth staying for. We all decided to head out a bit past midnight, when they seemed to be going through every song they'd ever recorded. For the second time. Not that it didn't sound good, but there is a reason I tout Natasha Bedingfield and the like on here far more than the Dead. Also, I was desirous of being able to lie down somewhere I wouldn't end up with bugs in my hair. My feet were muddy from stumbling around in the woods looking for the swimming hole and cursing hippies. My head was killing me. I was just generally thinking about how I probably prefer shows that at least have some sort of a building involved. And how I think my quota for OTC shows has been met and then some. It was exciting, though, to see Tall Dwarfs, even if the sound issues only got worked out toward the end, and they took too long between songs. Because Chris Knox is a mad Kiwi bastard, and I think maybe I'd like him to be my honorary crazy uncle.

So what did I do on my summer vacation, other than finish painting the hall, throw mildewy stuff out of my mom's basement, deal with getting brakes fixed and a transmission o-ring replaced, and suchlike? I watched some movies, dammit. And some TV as well.

1) Six Feet Under, season 3: Tops both season 1 and 2, being much less annoying in the turns its drama takes. And made me tear up for the first time. Oy. Am now sort of looking forward to the next two seasons for reasons other than needing plot fulfillment.

2) Pollock: Pretty decent biopic, even if full of the genres flaws (esp at end, where everything is wrapped up in a blurry hurry). Guy himself seems almost unredeemably a-holish, but the art is well-shown. A little Oscar-clippy at times, but totally watchable.

3) Sideways: Not be-all end-all, not horrible either. Not as good as Payne's previous film. I'd say Haden Church is the best thing about it. Giamatti is good, but he's been better. I do think that people who've hated it don't quite get that Payne isn't advocating that anyone behave like either character. Miles is no question an asshole. But this doesn't mean he doesn't have redeeming qualities, and what a lot of people don't see in Payne is the impulse of forgiveness that goes along with a clear view of character.

4) Tarnation: Drama queeny and manipulative, but interesting and well done. Caouette has talent, and while I'm not sure it's being applied in the right direction, it's still there.

5) War of the Worlds: Probably my second-favorite movie to come out this year (after Sin City). Not entirely flawless, but that first hour is pure terror and awe. Stevie, I tip my hat. You can do things no one else can do. It is gorgeous and visceral and I'm not sure I've felt quite like that in the theater since I saw Don't Look Now.

Added:
5.5) The last ten minutes of Fantastic Four, which were lame and crappy and made me think, "I'm not even going to rent this.... probably." On the other hand, it was a wise investment between movies in that it provided me with slightly more entertainment than drinking water or looking at the wall, and it will end up saving me time in the long run.

6) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Pretty meh, and not because I'm incredibly attached to the original film version. More because I'm attached to the book. There are things that are more accurate, but then there are idiotic things tacked on that are much less so. Mr. Burton, could you please work out your daddy issues on your own time? Or call Mr. Spielberg for some assistance with that? It is very frustrating to watch his films continually stress the importance of magic and things not having to make sense and then see them provide rationales for things that don't even need them.

7) Cursed (unrated director's cut): Aw, damn it. This pretty much did suck, despite a good cast. A modern werewolf movie could be done decently, but people cannot help but screw it up for the most part. The creature doesn't even look good, and despite the unratedness, the gore should've been pumped up a lot.

8) Frida: Surpasses its own bio-pic nature through Taymor's awesome direction. She doesn't exactly work fast, but she's got some kind of gift. Also, Banderas lookin' good.

9) Seed of Chucky: I believe Mr. Brown said something about them half-assing it, which is true. Still about the level of quality I expected, i.e., marginally more amusing than the generic slasher flick, but has some great ideas and moments in it that are the more frustrating for the poor plot development and dropping of the ball.

10) White Noise: Pretty classy, occasionally a bit scary, but hampered by irritatingly fuzzy messages from the beyond. Are we supposed to be able to understand most of it? Do I need my ears cleaned? Also, ending would have been much improved if it just cut off at the point where it seems to, with the screen going black. Still, a big step up from many things of this sort.