Regardless of my ambivalence toward posting tonight, I provide you with The Simpsomaker. Everybody should have one.

Agree or disagree. Nice post. I can't argue with the Jason Forrest inclusion.

It's that time of the week again.

I'm not really sure where I was going with this posting. But here it is, in its primordial state, I think all postings start out this way until they become so dense that they collapse upon themselves and form something else entirely. Something else which is exactly nothing like a universe.

I know Rolf harris mashup shitmat ROFLMAO wiggles son

Rolf Harris
Shitmat
Put them together to form...

Again...nice jacket.

Well, somebody thought so, one of my posts is included in a Wikibook for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I was nosing around my referer stats when I found this out. And my parents thought video games only led to trouble.

For someone who's music is predominantly instrumental, Moby always seems to have a lot to say. He included War and Peace in the liner notes of Play. (By the way, what is the correct way to format book titles, CD titles, and movie/tv show titles? Do they all get the same formatting? I think I actually care and would bother to be consistent with that. I'm blegging my readers for the answer.)

Perhaps he's a frustrated lyricist. Maybe he should listen to more rap, it could be a lack of rhyming skills.

Aside from music I have a minor obsession, actually just a curiosity for interesting beverages, which means something I haven't seen before that looks kind of shiny, or has really pretty packaging. For the most part Teany has neither, it's got minimalist packaging, but that doesn't stop it from being pretty. A field of snow does wonders for white, doesn't it? And I believe it's the Swiss (or the Swedes) that do that whole really clean design thing.

Well, surely enough there's a big paragraph of text on the side of the green tea with ginseng. Now I think Moby writes well, or at least in an interesting way, not too/unlike my own conversational like writing that I sometime like to read, because "I love myself, I want you to love me". Wait? Was there any reason to start quoting the Divinyls? Am Irevealing what I do on the Internet when I'm not blogging.

My sentence tend to run away with themselves sometimes.

Here's the gist. I drank this Teany green tea with ginseng that Moby has stuck on a few store shelves, and I was surprised by how good it was. It's plenty sweet enough without being overloaded with sugar. Now if I could order it from his web site without having to pay about 4 bucks a bottle, we could have something.

Maybe it's good that Moby does mostly instrumental stuff, because I don't think my blog postings or his thesises (theses?) would sound paticularly good set to music. Unless Christopher Walken was reading them perhaps.

I both started and ended a sentence with perhaps in this posting. See if you can find the two sentences. You can? Great. Now go elsewhere and do something else. I need to go and feed the baby.

I just learned about the 'Criminal' known as James Frey. I found it so intriguing I actually read something on the web that spanned 6 pages. The advertisers really got the value on their clickthrough. Although I can't remember one ad, other than The Smoking Gun hawking their own t-shirts.

I've read The Smoking Gunn off and on for years. They always make with the damning documents, so if what they find on Jimmy Frey looks a lot more deserving of "no videogames for a week" than a stay at Leavenworth, I'm inclined to say that Frey is completely full of shit.

The fact that he pulled the wool over Oprah's eyes is definitely worth a chuckle. But the least she could do is expose the chink in her armor, and address the issue on a future show.

Frey was to appear on Larry King a few hours ago. I wonder how that went.

And Random House is apparently not offering a refund. Perhaps something out of Big Jim Industries bears some truth. Including his bio which makes no mention of incarceration or addiction.

Defamer links have been thrown in for the fun of it. (plus one Gawker link.)

I like how Frey apparently shopped his book around as fiction, rejected unanimously, of course, but once he tweaked it (spellchecked perhaps) and pawned it as a non-fiction work, it got picked up.

These are the kind of posts you get when your notes on your 2005 music posting are outside in your car during a veritable monsoon. (OK...I admit I pulled a Jimmy here, the rain ended about a 1/2 hour ago, and the car is in the garage downstairs, I'm just lazy. There I've come clean.)

Those crazy ministers with their wild hijinx. Sneaking into conference rooms and blessing seats. 13 of 'em I believe. I remember hearing of another gathering involving 13 seats. Things didn't turn out to well for one of them. Certainly couldn't compare Alito to that guy.

I guess the thing I found oddest about this article is that the hearing rooms were not locked. Because these rooms are "not of interest to anyone", according to Capitol Hill police. Tell that to the 50 cameramen, numerous photographers, members of left and right lobbying groups, and a bunch of RNC-approved bloggers.

[ Now where was I? I just commented on this event over at Crooks and Liars. I'm probably somewhere around comment # 41, but who's counting. ]

[ You know I really like typing in these brackets, so I'll save you the trouble of scrolling through the comments there, because there's never much scrolling here at thisblogismyblog. And that's what makes it special. Really I'm including it because I think I'm so fucking clever sometimes, even when I'm not, although I'm starting to sense my self-deprecation is beginning to wear thin. I mean if you self-deprecate to much who's really going to buy it. It's the same reason why Nine Inch Nails doesn't sell as many CDs today. We've heard Trent Reznor and his misery and self-loathing for some time, yet he's still alive in 2006. Legitimacy's the issue here, in addition to streaying off-topic. ]

Oh, and before I forget, here's my comments over at Crooks and Liars. And yes, these are unsolicited comments from a D-list blogger that appear there only because I can type and submit with the best of them. But I am a commenter who has greater concerns than just "fristing" the rest of the pack.

I followed the links to each of the Mehlman-tested, RNC-approved bloggers. 2 of them had photos of Rove, but nothing substantial to go with it. But keep sifting and you find that Rove wanted to keep their discussions in private. Not like attorney-client privilege type private, more like Cheney energy mettings private.

So much for freedom of speech. I'm certain none of the discussions with Rove and the Blogosphere's DC 10, contained any threats to national security. Probably more like, "hey guys forget about the Chicago style guide, and let's be clear about the White House content guide."

Blogging points are the new talking points.

CORRECTION (I think): You know, as I read on I realize that the bloggers probably watched the coverage of the hearings from some conference room, as they posted away, but not actually at the hearings.

But to get back to the original point, don't you think that maybe there should be some security concerns for the room where the hearings of Supreme Court nominee will take place. Becase I do believe there is some interest in that room. And while three ministers walking into Capitol Hill at worst could be the opening of a bad joke, maybe some sort of "evil ones" (sounds like a Bush quote anyway) seeking to plant some not so stupid bombs, you know, might be an idea that was thrown around.

I don't lose sleep over that security stuff, but damn if it just didn't sound plain dumb.

And that concludes another exercise in labyrinthine, non-reader-friendly blogging.

Maybe next time I'll finally get to 2005 music post I've been threatening to do. (On paper, I don't think the threats have appeared in the form of a post.)

I have no changes to this blog to announce in the new year. There are no New Year's resolutions. I'm not giving you anything to look forward to. No promises. No grandiose statements. Nothing new. It's the same old crap.

So there'll be no disappointment on anyone's behalf in the future. No reader will think to themselves somewhere around July, "Hey wasn't he going to...?" Because...No, he wasn't. He never said anything like that. At best readers can hope to be surprised that there are posts now and again, with at least a quarter of as much thought as I've put into this one.

If all goes well, I'll be driving a brand new Nissan Altima this weekend. My Volkswagen Jetta has served me quite well. 10 years, almost 235,000 miles. It's time for retirement.

AAA

I knew there was a familiarity to the "War Photographer" video. Joel Trussell is responsible for "The Illness" video for Kid 606. I love the way he coincides the music and images.

Now I know you're thinking that's what any director should be doing, but Trussell seems to accomplish this at a microscopic level. If there's a bleep, bloop, glitch, or any other seemingly random non-reoccurring sound. He's likely to pair it up exactly with imagery of the same ilk. His style is perfect for this sort of music.

I still get lots of traffic due to the amount of GTA: San Andreas on this site. I haven't posted on Liberty City Stories, since, well I just don't have it. I've got a PSP sitting here sealed that I originally bought in order to sell, but The U.S. market was never clamoring for the device. So here it sits, with its lovely shrinkwrapped outer membrane.

But it does not surprise me that edisoncarter is up to his old tricks again, this time handheld style. He's developed "CheatDevice v0.4 for Liberty City Stories".

The video must be Joel Trussell's commentary on all the rock bands coming from Scandinavia in recent times. Or is that old history dating back to 2001?

His video for Jason Forrest's track, "War Photographer" is lots of fun. Vikings, guitars, robots, cowbell, what else do you need?

Joel has some development sketches on his blog as well.

How To Make A Hip End of the Year 'Best Albums' List from My Blog is Poop

And yet I may still post a "Best of" or "Top Ten of" 2005 list. If it was of the readers of this blog,I know the "Top Ten" would not be possible. And no it wouldn't be because there were too many to choose from, just the fact that 3 people, the Google cache, and a few blog aggregators still don't add up to 10.

But a hint for bands out there that want to actually appear on these lists. Be sure to schedule your "breakthrough", "overnight success", "buzz" to take place in the second half of the year, if at all possible.

This way the imminent backlash will happen in the following calendar year. Thus, your presence on someone's end of the year list will be secured.

I know there are essays out there about "Another Girl, Another Planet" being the greatest pop song ever. (Although my Google search hasn't come up with any, perhaps that theory's dead, and it's still the first sentence of this post.) People have professed their love for this song (scroll down, kid), regardless of the fact that it barely charted. And I will give them that, it's a great song. Catchier than the common cold in a kindergarten classroom.

When I first heard this song, I had no idea it was by The Only Ones. I had some compilation CD that contained a version by The Mighty Lemondrops. And although the Mighty Lemondrops never really caught my interest previously...well, Damn, if it wasn't the best song on the entire comp.

I've since heard a live cover by the Replacements that sounded like it was disintegrating and patched together with duct tape, but that added to the charm. And I can't find fault with the original.

I actually thought the song was built in such a way that no matter who covered it, it would remain intact and brilliant. A piece of perfect pop.

Enter Blink-182, or Blink182 or Blink 182 (spaces, hyphens, whatever. and is it Kid606 or Kid 606? My iTunes gets confused sometimes.)

Anyway the Blink boys come along and pour too much powdered sugar over the top and just ruin things. I could hear it in one listen. Maybe they should have had the nasally guy sing more. There's kids out there who have never heard the song and this is what they get, the NutraSweet version on a greatest hits compendium. Granted, Blink182 is a watered down Green Day, but I liked "Dammit". And Travis Whatshisname is a good drummer. They chose a good song to cover. And I'm not one of those crotchety folks that think every cover sucks, and that covering this song or that song is blasphemy. And if someone samples of mashes it with something else, so be it. I think if there was a demo version of this cover closer to the Dude Ranch/Cheshire Cat days, then maybe it would have sounded a bit better.

At least Limp Bizkit didn't cover it on their greatest hits collection.

Snowman yesterday. Snowfort building today. Snowballs thrown both days.

More snow tonight. 3 - 6 inches. We'll see if they're right.

New Jersey's getting more snow each year. It reminds me of when I was a kid, we always got a lot back then, too.

I've been sleeping on Strong Bad's latest creation at Homestar Runner.

Teen Girl Squad. No description necessary. Watch and laugh.

Thanks, Ted Leo. I've been sleeping on Homestar Runner for awhile. Now I can lose some sleep and catch up.

I'm not sure I'm ready to jump into the fray in the world of mp3 blogs, but I heard about the recentdeath of Shonen Knife and DMBQ drummer Mana "China" Nishiura in a car accident, and was surprised to see no mention in any of the mp3 blogs over at The Hype Machine. (If there were any comments, no mp3s were posted.) "China" was currently touring with the band DMBQ. She apparently was a session and touring drummer that played with a number of other bands (Teem, Rashinban, Droop, Slower Traffic 5), in many styles.

I will not pretend to know a lot about her, and if you are interested in learning more about Mana "China" Nishiura, then I suggest visiting some of the links in this post.

The only CD I own by Shonen Knife is Let's Knife, but my favorite track is on the soundtrack to The Powerpuff Girls: Heroes & Villains movie. The Shonen Knife contribution is "Buttercup (I'm a Super Girl)", and The Ramones influence is way beyond obvious. But that's okay. The song is a lot of fun.

Shonen Knife - Buttercup (I'm a Super Girl)

Rush Limbaugh has the rocks to charge people $49.95 to donate a 1 year subscription to his web site and newsletter. Considering that he's going to be doing the content anyway for people who subscribe to it, basically he's war profiteering under the guise of charity. Nice job, Fatty.

Ultra-conservative to insane viewpoints are one thing. Doctor shopping for prescription drugs is another. But please, oh please give me one good reason why I shouldn't send troops some non-perishable food that no matter the trans fat content will taste infinitely better than rations, or perhaps the much reuested clean underwear and socks (Mom wasn't kidding when she said to always make sure you have clean underwear. Particularly when you're thousands of miles from home and finding a laundromat not your top priority.), but instead give them access to a web site, since the guys on the front line need to know how you think Clinton is still responsible for today's problems. Because that's exactly what they need when they're picking up pieces of debris off the ground to weld on to their humvees. You know, the one's that use the armor.

I heard about this on Howard Stern this morning, and then read more online. I visited Rush's site hoping that it was already taken down with an apology for letting greed get in the way of charity. Perhaps if Mr. Limbaugh owned an oil company or weapons manufacturer this would not have happened. But since he doesn't he aparently needed some kind of way to cash in.

I noticed he wasn't on the air this afternoon. Hopefully someone was trying to talk some sense into him about this. There's no picture in this post because I don't want to look at him. But here's the obligatory link to his "Adopt a Soldier" program.

And here's a couple e-mail addresses that are attached to the site. In case you want to send "fan mail":
eibcollection@rushlimbaugh.com
memberservice@rushlimbaugh.com