If you haven't been reading the comic strip Unshelved, you should be. They recently started running special Sunday comics, in color, based on particular books. I enjoyed this week's comic, and one a few weeks ago struck close to home.

Van Morrison's contractual obligation album is available on the web. Emusic has these cuts, as well, but I couldn't see wasting 20 or so downloads purchasing songs that are intentionally awful. But as a free internet download, some of them are pretty funny ("Ringworm," for instance).

I asked earlier today about the difficulty of recording satellite radio broadcasts. Turns out a portable receiver that would permit recording of satellite broadcasts is upsetting--surprise, surprise--the RIAA.

The real motivation behind Frist's stock trade.

So, I'm starting to consider that perhaps satellite radio should be the next thing on which I waste my money. I had seriously considered the purchase in the past, and probably would have bought it by now, but I bought my iPod, and just fell in love with that, and now it's harder to see why I need satellite radio. But having someone else pick the songs has its advantages, and it is a way to expose yourself to new music. I'm tempted to just get an on-line subscription to one or the other, and stick to just the iPod in the car. But I'm not sure if it's worth the price. Both XM and Sirius offer three-day trials, so I will probably test-drive them both in the near future (wait for a live event I'm interested in to coincide with the trial). I did notice that Sirius is going to present Theater of the New Ear in November. This program (or at least Charlie Kaufman's portion--I don't recall the Coen Brothers being involved) was recently performed at UCLA to good notices, and I very nearly attended, but decided it wasn't worth the drive. So I will probably wait until November to try their trial offer. (I had intended to sign up for XM's trial offer some time ago, to hear a Randy Newman performance, but ended up forgetting about the whole thing until it was too late)

One question: Can you record satellite radio? I seem to recall there was some software that allowed this, and that one of the satellite radio companies freaked out and it nearly resulted in them ending the on-line portion of their service. I noticed that much of their exclusive content is only available at one prescribed time, just like normal radio, and a means to record it would be useful.

Anyway, I'm just thinking things over. Like I say, I love my iPod, and I don't really see satellite radio worth the investment. I have my iPod, as well as plenty of radio internet stations to listen to. Maybe by the time I need a new car, satellite radio will be a fairly standard add-on, and I'll take the plunge then. Or maybe I'll hit it big in Vegas and sign a five-year contract with one of the two (which one? XM seems to have better music offerings, somewhat more open-ended and let heavily programmed, while Sirius seems, on my examination of their current schedule, to have some better exclusive content...and they have local favorite Mojo Nixon). Or maybe I'll realize I need that $7/month subscription fee to pay off my gambling debts. No radio station is worth broken kneecaps, after all.

Judith Miller out of prison, in what seems to be a wacky misunderstanding. Either that, or she hoped that sitting in jail a few months would help her tarnished reputation. But by leaving jail a month early, she just ends up looking like an idiot.

As I've said before, it seems like some sort of journalist shield law is a good idea, but journalists need to use more common sense in invoking such a priviledge. It seems strange to me that just because one calls oneself a journalist, one need not participate in our judicial system like a normal citizen, but it doesn't seem any stranger than the fact that one can invoke priviledge just because he offers people the blood of Christ to drink if they tell him stories about awful things they did, or refuse to testify just because one is married to the defendant (the husband/wife gag rule always struck me as patently absurd, assuming it functions in real life as it does in reruns of Law and Order).

Bill Bennett is apparently tired of Pat Robertson stealing the spotlight on crazy religious leaders. I saw this clip at the end of The Daily Show, and just stared at the TV for awhile, my jaw dropped. Unbelievable. Of course, in context it becomes clear he is just paraphrasing an argument made in the book Freakanomics; the argument in the book, as I understand it (I haven't actually read the book), is that abortion leads to fewer unwanted children being born to unfit parents, and thus fewer disfunctional kids grow up to commit crimes. Bennett just made the simple substitution of "black people" for "unfit parent." Why should that be controversial? Sounds like the sort of bold thinking the Republican Party needs, to distract from the fact that half their leadership is facing jail time. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to wake up in the morning and find that Bennett has been nominated to replace O'Connor on the Supreme Court. Or maybe to head FEMA.

Guy in philosophy class needs to shut the fuck up.

Tom Delay indicted.

Albert Brooks running into studio interference over his new film, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World.

Legally Blonde 3: Supreme Court to hear Anna Nicole Smith appeal. I've always been on her side on this one, and wish her luck.

Don Adams, dead at 82. The gadgets of my childhood go-go no more.

Jenny Kerr is a talented artist. I am just linking to her web site so I can find it later, at home. I discovered today that it is very difficult to find a song if all you can remember is that it is a country song with the word "truck" in the title. Turns out I was thinking of Kerr's "Big Red Truck," which fortunately came to mind after much reflection.

I previously mentioned that I attended a John Wesley Harding concert put on by Acoustic Music San Diego, and had a great time. So I decided to attend several upcoming shows there, incluidng Paula Frazer. I mainly know of Frazer by reputation, from her previous work with Tarnation, but heard some clips of her on the web, and decided that, for $12, I couldn't pass up a chance to hear her live. The date for the concert changed to October 12, so the proprietor of the venue alerted me to the change, and at the same time alerted me to the fact that I am the only person to purchase a ticket.

Again, I do not profess to be that familiar with her music, but Paula Frazer has a sterling reputation in the Americana arena, and also invokes comparisons to Nick Cave. Surely I'm not the only person in the county interested in seeing this show. You can hear her voice on her web site. And it's only $12, you probably lose more than that on one hand of poker every day (well, okay, maybe that's just me). So if you're free on October 12 and want to hear great music, give this a try. And if you don't like it, just remember, you read about it in the Reader.

The Adams Avenue Street Fair was this weekend. I went yesterday for a few hours, and had a good time. I saw two acts in their entirety, Big Sandy & his Fly Rite Boys and Cash'd Out, and enjoyed both. Big Sandy plays rockabilly, and Cash'd Out is a new Johnny Cash cover-band, also with a rockabilly sound, reminiscent of the Sun Records-era Cash. I don't know that the world needs Johnny Cash cover bands, but they were good, the singer looks and sounds like Cash, and I was entertained, so what's the harm? I would suggest they drop "Luther Played the Boogie" from their repetoire; the guitarist was fine, but I think a Luther Perkins impersonation is harder to pull off than a Johnny Cash impersonation. I caught bits of a few other acts, but nothing too noteworthy. Had some nice carnival food, got a free sample from the Haagen-Daaz booth (they tried to shock you as you leave by telling you the ice cream is low-fat, yet you could clearly see the packaging as they scooped the ice cream...though it was mighty tasty), and was on my way. Only stayed a few hours, but still had fun and can't wait for next year, or for next spring's roots festival.

Well, my post about last weekend's trip to the Sea Chantey Festival seems to have mysteriously disappeared. So I will briefly reiterate what I said in that post. Overall, a fun time, with some good music complementing a fun trip to the San Diego Maritime Museum, which I haven't been to in some time, and which has added several boats, including a Soviet submarine, since my last visit. Some of the bands stunk, but some were first-rate, and while I was disappointed that lyrical folk tunes about the sea outnumbered rollicking sea chanteys of the blow-the-man-down/what-do-you-do-with-a-drunken-sailor variety. But still, a good time, and I especially enjoyed Seaport Village mainstays the Jackstraws and the more folksy Gilman Carver. There was one act in particular I didn't care for, and another which drove Cecily from the boat, but I will spare them the public humiliation in this widely-revered forum, as apparently my previous scathing criticism drove them to hack the site and wipe out the disgraceful notice.

The uncomfortable legacy of The Neverending Story.

I stopped off at Ralph's on my way home, to buy some stuff for dinner. I wanted to get some white wine for cooking, and decided I would shell out a few more bucks to get something drinkable. But I remembered that the United Farm Workers is boycotting Gallo wines, and knew that Gallo owns many, many wine brands. So I was distressed by the difficulty of not buying Gallo. They sent me a list of brands to avoid, but since I rarely buy wine, I didn't pay attention. So I picked a wine that looked like it might not be tainted, and when I got home, I looked up information on the boycott on-line. Turns out the boycott's over. So now you can look for Gallo when you're looking for the union label.

We Love Katamari, the sequel to Katamari Damacy (possibly the greastest video game ever), was released in America this week. I haven't picked up my copy yet, but you can bet I will.

I became an uncle yesterday, with the arrival of Grace Katharine Albertson. My mother's name is Kathleen, Eric's is Karen, so they split the difference and named her after Katharine Hepburn. She was born at 8 lbs., 15 oz., if memory serves, and was having problems keeping milk down, but overall seems fine. And as far as I've heard, Michelle is recovering well.