A toes-on look at Wii Fit. Apparently, the official spelling is two words, now WiiFit, as I've been referring to it. In any event, Joystiq's reaction makes me hopeful. They didn't seem too impressed, but they seem to be reviewing it as a game, not a lifestyle tool, or whatever you want to call it. But they do acknowledge this, adding that, "like Brain Age, it's likely a title we'll never really love but still play it over a year after its release."

Now, I played Brain Age yesterday for the first time in awhile, and Dr. Kawashima's head pretended not to know who I was. That hurt. But I do think Wii Fit is something I would use with regularity. I managed to keep up with EyeToy: Kinetic for about two solid months, and that thing simply didn't work: I had to light myself up like a Christmas tree for the camera to see me (every light on in the living room, plus three halogen lamps pointed directly at me), kept bumping into the ceiling fan because I needed every inch of the room to play, and still the camera missed half my gestures, so I always got bad scores. And most of the non-aerobic exercises were just a glorified fitness video, offering no feedback. So what I noticed most in this early evaluation of Wii Fit was a lack of comments about things not working. So I am very excited about this product. If only they could pull off a holiday release, but given their now-baffling inability, eight months in, to make enough Wiis, I'm relatively sure Nintendo couldn't pull that off.

Sony's PS3 price cut a sham. They are phasing out the 60 GB hard drive models, and soon only the $600 80 GB models will be available. So you'll still be paying (or not paying) $600, but you'll get a slightly larger hard drive. $100 for 20 GB isn't a good deal, especially when you can upgrade the PS3 with third-party hard drives (unlike the Xbox 360). And, for the extra $100, you are rewarded with less backward-compatibility with PS2 software, as the new models use software emulation, and Sony has been clear they don't plan to make backwards-compatibility a priority. So way to go, Sony: It looked for a second that you might have a chance, but glad to see your arrogance remains unchecked. Enjoy third place.

UPDATE: Sony denies that it is phasing out the 60 GB PS3. So apparently their executives just make things up.

The Velaslavaskay Panorama in Los Angeles will be unveiling their new panoramic work, The Effulgence of the North, at a reception July 21.

I had no idea such a place existed in Los Angeles, until receiving notice of this event. But it sounds like a wonderful place, and a great use of their location, the historic Union Theatre. I do encounter references to panoramas and moving panoramas from time to time; I read an article awhile back about the restoration of the Gettysburg Cyclorama, and Paul Collins opens his book, Banvard's Folly, with a discussion of John Banvard, creator of a moving panorama depicting the Mississippi River, who rose to international super-stardom and great wealth through the art form (that a man so world-renowned could so quickly become virtually unknown is an adequate thumbnail of Collins' point in his book).

The phenomenon of these panoramas is hard for me to fathom, from my modern perspective; a forerunner to motion pictures, these panoramic displays served a similar role, a century earlier, to that of the cinema, yet they seem so different, the panoramic paintings conveying their narrative by capturing a single moment. The experience seems more like a trip to the museum, yet the impression I get is that it was much more like going to a show. Like the artifacts of early cinema--silent films and historic theatres--the panoramas have by and large not survived. And this art form seems like something that really needs to be appreciated in person, to understand the scale of the spectacle. So I am excited to learn that there is one (albeit of modern provenance) on display not far away. And if seeing a panorama up-close doesn't help me understand how a 19th-century audience approached such works, perhaps a presentation at the grand unveiling regarding Albert Smith's moving panorama "Ascent of Mont Blanc" will assist. There will also be Bavarian refreshments, alpenhorns and yodeling, so truly something for everyone. I am very excitedly awaiting July 21st.

A Smithsonian article on the Velaslavaskay Panorama getting the boot from their old digs.

An L.A. Voice profile of the Panorama in its new location (photos at the bottom, though not of the painting itself).

You can get a glimpse of their previous mural, from their old location, here.

Thanks to the Museum of Jurassic Technology for bringing this to my attention.

And if I may leave you with a quote from the event invitation: In this glorious Year of the Fire Pig, may you and those around you burn brightly with the gladsome light of contentment.

Welcome to another installment of Wii/Jenga Confluence News of the Week (WJCNotW):

Kotaku's hands-on preview of Jenga is not flattering.

IGN takes a more wait-and-see approach. Apparently, you can toggle a visual mode on and off, which highlights the weak blocks that can be easily moved. This sucks; if force-feedback to discover weak bricks isn't practical, they at least need to make you click on the bricks one at a time, to remain faithful to the physical game's characteristics.

For now, I will remain a believer. Assuming Atari doesn't do something stupid like retail this at $50, this could be a good game.

The decline and fall of The Simpsons. Hard to argue with, though I would object to the claim that a single episode (Skinner-as-fraud) can mark the corruption of the series. I didn't mind that episode, in itself; the problem was, they'd been throwing that kind of crap at us for some time, and now they expect us to laugh good-naturedly when they crank the stupidity up to eleven. I don't have too much of a problem, in principle, with the various "concept episodes" (I actually thought the Seven-Up documentary parody was pretty good), but with the fact that now every episode is such. Looking over the last two seasons, I only see three episodes each season that were okay. To be fair, only three episodes between the two seasons would I describe as heinous, so that's an improvement over some seasons (there were actually five episodes I didn't see, which is quite telling--there was a time when that would not stand). Anyway, the point is, I'm cautiously excited to see the movie, but judging from the trailer, I don't necessarily think this excitement is warranted.

I'm getting more and more excited about WiiFit. Too bad it looks like I'll have to wait for 2008 to pick it up (and it will come at a premium price, apparently, which is fair).

Here's the E3 trailer for your fitness edification:

Lady Bird Johnson, dead at 94.

E3, the big (though scaled-down this year) video game convention, is this week, and by now Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have all had their keynote addresses. Nothing of note announced by Sony, that I can tell (PSP slim, Home can run on a mobile phone). But I paid more attention to Microsoft and Nintendo, since I own their platforms.

Microsoft didn't announce anything too earth-shattering (nor did Nintendo...it was all rather underwhelming). The Halo-themed Xbox 360 looks like ass. Scene-It is coming to the console, which is being met mostly with jokes about the bundled controllers. I think it actually looks interesting, especially if the controllers are utilized with other trivia games (You Don't Know Jack for the Live Arcade, anyone?). But their biggest announcement was probably the arrival of Disney movies to the Live Marketplace, in HD. I have yet to rent a movie via the download service. I'll probably try it out sometime (I noticed today that The Fountain is available in HD, though other movies I'd really like to see in HD, like Pan's Labyrinth, are only available in standard-definition), but the service strikes me as a questionable value proposition. $6 to rent a HD movie is a tad steep, methinks. I'll stick to Netflix and standard-definition DVDs on my upscaling DVD player. HD is nice, but as long as its widescreen, I don't see the reason to pay $6/movie, when I'm not paying Netflix much more for a month's worth of unlimited (essentially) movies (albeit without instant gratification).

Nintendo's press conference also wasn't earth-shattering, though they did announce Mario Kart Wii, and confirmed release dates in 2007 for the big three (Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl). They finally revealed the Wii Zapper, but I'll have to learn more about how it's utilized before I make the plunge (I'm not buying it unless it lets me shoot that snickering Duck Hunt dog). But the big announcement on the Nintendo front was regarding Wii Health Pack, now called WiiFit. It will apparently come bundled with a pressure-sensitive pad that can measure your weight, center of gravity, and movement, while putting you through a series of exercises. I think this is absolutely awesome. I loved the concept of EyeToy: Kinetic, a PlayStation 2 exercise game which used a camera attachment to put you in the game, but ridiculous lighting requirements and other limitations of the camera made it an exercise in futility (hee-hee). So it remains to be seen if WiiFit works well, but I have very high hopes for this game.

So that's my summary of what looked to me like the big news of E3. Nothing major, but just enough to make me feel like I'm getting my money's worth from both the Wii and Xbox 360. I do intend to write a review of my Xbox 360, now that I've had it a few months, but that will wait for another day.

Charges filed in collar-bomb bank robbery; victim in on the scheme, to some extent. I saw this case profiled on America's Most Wanted, and got the impression that the likely mastermind of the robbery died of cancer, but the woman charged in the case (currently incarcerated for murder) is quite a piece of work herself. The whole scheme seemed poorly planed, though, if the motive was greed; Wells was forced to follow a ridiculously circuitous path that almost guaranteed he would be intercepted by the police, and killed. Very strange story.

U.K. doctor stood out for his humorous approach to terror.

Doug Marlette, Kudzu cartoonist, dead at 57.

Last.fm makes deal with Sony BMG to stream their catalog. In light of this news, some in the internet radio industry are asking, is the whole point of the new internet royalty rates to kill compulsory licensing and force companies to make deals with the major labels?

I tend to think the new rates are simply the result of blind greed, but at the very least, giving more power to major labels to control their digital destiny may be an unintended by-product. Of course, another unintended by-product might be to strengthen indie labels' position, as I am skeptical of the claim that this new situation will force indies to give up on licensing and give internet radio blanket waivers of royalties. Indies will just be forced to join together to form groups to manage such licensing issues, just as I believe quite a few do now. It'd be a natural outgrowth of CD Baby's business, for instance. And I assume in the indie business plan, the artists will see a chunk of that money; the disparity in such deals from major to indie might make more big names wonder just what the hell a record label does for them.

In any event, if the end result is to cut SoundExchange out of the equation, it almost seems worth it. And as for concerns of lower royalties in exchange for airplay as a form of payola, I don't think the market would stand it, and I also think lots of people would come running to the various attorneys general who are still wrapping up the last payola investigation.

In Seattle, you can use your Nintendo DS to get stats, watch replays, and order food at the Mariner's Safeco Field. Pretty neat idea. And the way the major leagues crap all over their fans, the $5/game fee doesn't seem that bad.

In what will no doubt be a semi-regular feature of this blog, I bring you the Wii/Jenga Confluence News of the Week (WJCNotW):

Yes, the rumors are true, Jenga is coming to the Wii (and the DS).

Also, the first details of Stephen Spielberg's video game projects are emerging, and apparently his Wii game will be a cross between Saturday morning cartoons and, um, Jenga. Sounds like a bad mix to me; once I've watched Pee-Wee's Playhouse and consumed six bowls of Cookie Crisp cereal, my hands are far too jittery for Jenga.

So, yeah, Jenga as a video game concept? I'm not so sure. Unless they can really master the subtleties of the tactile experience via force feedback, so you can tell by touch which pieces can safely be moved, I don't think the experience will be the same. That said, I would buy two Playstation 3s (one to serve as emergency Jenga backup) if it allowed me to play virtual Jenga. The whole concept is just so wrong, and yet so right.

As for Spielberg's invocation of Jenga, I think he is just trying to take the wind out of the sails of Atari's announced Jenga game, no doubt as an act of revenge against the company for the E.T. debacle.

Lord Buckley on You Bet Your Life:
This is included in one of the You Bet Your Life best-of DVDs, which I heartily recommend. They really hold up well, due both to Groucho's quick wit (though the shows were actually quite tightly-scripted), and the wide range of contestants, famous and not.

As for Lord Buckley, this and other clips can be found here. A biography, or more properly an oral history, was published under the title Dig Infinity! It is OOP, but a well-stocked local library should have a copy of the book, and more importantly the accompanying CD, with performances and interviews. An album is also available on eMusic. Good stuff, all around.

And finally, Lord Buckley on The Beany & Cecil Show.

UPDATE: I've created a Lord Buckley playlist on iMeem. So far, only one song, but I intend to upload more of his stuff soon.

Xbox 360's warranty extended for three years in cases of "red ring of death." Reliability issues were one of the reasons I was slow to purchase a unit, and I'm still a bit leery that my system could crash at any moment, but knowing my warranty now extends to 2010 gives me peace of mind.

In other video game news, word has leaked out that the Playstation 3 will be getting a price cut to be announced in scant weeks. Not that I'll be getting one, but I'm sure some people will be happy.

The Comics Curmudgeon calls out an outstanding new blog, which reimagines the children's comic strip Slylock Fox as hard-boiled pulp fiction. I've noticed the bulk of this blog's readership recently has came from people searching from some iteration of the phrase "Cassandra Cat," so I assume this will be of interest. Even if you haven't yet discovered the simple joys of Slylock Fox, you should enjoy Reynard Noir.

Incidentally, Cassandra Cat was back in last Sunday's Slylock Fox. Apparently, some PTA groups or something, no doubt from the deep South, have written in to their local newspapers, complaining about Cassandra Cat's sexiness, so she can now only be presented standing behind a building. But us fans will have to take what we can get. But this appearance led me to review the Comics Curmudgeon archives, where I saw that the link to Cassandra Cat porn (which I didn't share here out of basic human decency--though I should say, lest I sound holier-than-thou, that I did offer a suggestion which was incorporated in the final product) had been removed at the request of the strip's artist. Can't say I blame him, seeing as the strip is aimed at toddlers and all. So if you're searching for Cassandra Cat porn (and I know a goodly percentage of my readers are), I can't help you. I didn't have the presence of mind to download it while I could. I just don't want that sort of thing on my computer. You have friends over, they're snooping on your computer, "Let's see if Mike has any porn, that'll be good for a laugh," then they find that, and suddenly the fun's over. "I don't know if I feel comfortable being in the same room with him anymore," and all that. Actually, something very similar happened when I snooped on my college roommate's computer, but let's not go into that.

Anyway, I digress, but I did want to mention one other thing pointed out in the same post at the Comics Curmudgeon, though it might not amuse you as much if you didn't follow the recent storyline in For Better or for Worse where special-needs student Shannon Lake gives an impassioned speech in the school cafeteria. But someone has revised the strip, to reflect reality. Which I was glad to see, as I found the original strips revolting. Offensively condescending, and hopelessly out of touch with actual teen dynamics. As one of the revised strips puts it, "You do have a personality, Shannon! You talk funny an' I patronize you!" Anyways, the new versions really made me laugh, especially the first strip for some reason.

UPDATE: The Shannon parody was removed, by threat of lawsuit. Fuck you, Lynn Johnson.

7-Elevens transformed into Kwik-E-Marts. We didn't get any here in town, but there are some in L.A. and in Vegas, so I'll probably get a chance to make it to one or the other. It seems odd, when they're having this promotion in July, month of Comic-Con, that they wouldn't convert a store in San Diego.

But I was able to visit a local 7-Eleven, and even the ones not transformed have special Simpsons-themed merchandise. I got a squishee and an official pink movie donut, as well as a Radioactive Man comic book, box of KrustyO's cereal, and a six-pack of Buzz Cola. Not the most exciting thing ever, but as promotional gimmicks go, it's well-conceived. And considering most of the jokes on the show involve how criminally-overpriced the Kwik-E-Mart is, I considered the prices charged to be reasonable, considering nerds like me would have paid whatever they asked. Yet in keeping with the spirit of the show, the penny candy was surprisingly expensive.

After a 24-year absence, Porter Wagoner is back on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart with Wagonmaster. This gives Wagoner a chart span of over 43 years, the longest possible span, as he was on the very first country album chart (including singles, Wagoner has been on the charts since 1954).

And Wagonmaster is a great album. The centerpiece is "Committed to Parkview," written by Johnny Cash for Wagoner after learning they had both been patients at Parkview Psychiatric Hospital. Wagoner never recorded it before now, but Cash eventually sang it with Willie Nelson on the first Highwaymen album. Cash's version is okay, but feels a bit voyeuristic, a tad tawdry, perhaps. Wagoner's rendition has a much more personal feel, with him speaking as both an observer and a participant, and the final verse, with a resigned desperation seeping through his weathered voice, gives me chills.

You can download an MP3 of "Committed to Parkview" as well as the "Parkview" music video from Wagoner's Anti- website. And the album is available from eMusic. Solid effort all-around, and well worth purchasing. Reminiscent, surely, of Cash's first American recording, but not quite as spare. A nice mix of traditional honky-tonk, a touch of countrypolitan, and more simple arrangements like that heard on "Parkview."

As far as being a career-redeeming effort, like Cash's American Recordings, Wagoner was probably much more in need of an image makeover (as recently noted by Big Rock Candy Mountain). I know I'd mostly thought of him as the man who tried to hold back Dolly, and as the creators of a lot of '70s tripe, though his recording of "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" certainly encouraged me not to close the book on him too hastily (and that was before I'd seen the very special album cover that accompanied the song). So it's nice that Wagoner had the opportunity to put out this album, and regain a bit of the respect he deserved. But before this album came out, a new compilation CD, The Rubber Room, was already offering up evidence to support Wagoner's position as an artist "often ahead of his time who has always appeared hopelessly behind the times." Featuring songs like "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" and the titular track, another madhouse song, the album digs into some of his darker material, while honestly representing his career at it's peak. I haven't picked this one up yet, but from the tracks I'm familiar with, it seems like a solid compilation, well worth a purchase.

UPDATE: I've created a Porter Wagoner playlist on Imeem, focusing on the new album. I belive you will only hear 30-second previews, but that may change in the future.

Universal reportedly not renewing its contract with Apple to sell its music in iTunes. Time will tell if this rumor is true, and just what it means if it is true, but I have to wonder what Universal is thinking. Picking a fight with a powerful adversary when their business model is in the toilet should just serve to remind everyone of just how impotent they are. iTunes is responsible for approximately 15% of Universal Music Group's revenues. And iTunes has little incentive not to let Universal walk away, as the profits from iTunes pales in comparison to their profit from the iPod. They want their customers to be happy, and have access to as much music as possible in iTunes, but they also know that if they reach an impasse with Universal, Universal will get the blame.

So, yes, I think this will most likely blow up in Universal's face, depending on how this purported showdown goes down. But I'll keep an open mind. For one, we don't know what will be the length of any short-term purchasing agreement between the two parties. The Wall Street Journal suggests that "short-term" means under one year. So, if they reach a six-month agreement, it may postpone an ugly stand-off long enough that Universal may, down the road, find themselves in a better bargaining position. And perhaps Universal is ready to imminently announce their abandonment of DRM, which they have been rumored to be considering. This would take the sting out of their departure from iTunes for iPod users, who would then be able to buy iPod-compatible files from other sources. Really, removing DRM is such a transparent means of combating Steve Job's influence on digital music distribution, it really baffles me why the labels are so slow to accept that losing DRM is vital for their survival. It would certainly be a smarter move then pouting and threatening to take their toys and go home.

Let me just remind Universal of one thing: People don't mind stealing from you. It's wrong, yes, I truly believe that stealing music is wrong. But I believe that gambling and drinking are wrong, too, and, well, I've been known to partake in a snifter of brandy after an evening of penny-stakes bridge. Or something like that. My point is, many people who buy music think stealing is wrong, but will gladly do so anyways if they can somehow justify it to themselves. The argument that, because Universal stopped selling on iTunes, I'm now justified to steal from them with impunity, is of course faulty. But it's an argument I would nonetheless embrace, and gladly pilfer Universal music with little compunction. So just don't do it, Universal; don't give me an excuse to do bad.

The comic strip Lio, playing fast-and-loose of late with the strip's original, no-dialog conceit, seems to have moved on to a new gimmick to keep the young people's attention: Bashing other, less hip comic strips. Lio's shenanigans on the set of For Better or for Worse delighted us all a few months ago, and today he turns his sights on that great, defender-of-marriage strip, The Lockhorns. Domestic violence has never been so hilarious.

Kudos to you, Mark Tatulli. Honestly, this made me laugh out loud more than any comic strip I've read in some time (Mary Worth excluded, of course).

A list of fraudulent literary works attributed to living authors. Howard Hughes' "diary" is mentioned, of course, as is a joke book by Thomas Paine (Paul Collins, who wrote this piece, discusses Thomas Paine's voluminous writings from beyond the grave in his excellent book tracking Thomas Paine's post-mortem adventures, The Trouble With Tom, which I highly recommend), but I was most interested in the Dickens knock-offs, with titles like David Copperful and Oliver Twiss. It would seem that Thomas Peckett Press had mastered the promotional tactics of the porn industry, over a full century earlier. (I believe "David Cop-a-feel" is just a convenient stock punch line, and not an actual porn title, but I'm at work, and probably would be well-served by not looking that up just now)

Tom the Dancing Bug wins its third Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' best comics award. Check out some recent strips:

Loony Laws from Other Lands and Fun Book Facts

Corporate Characters Updated (the Frito Bandito is now enamoured with magical realism)

UPDATE: While I'm on the topic of comics, I should point out that "Classic Peanuts" ran some choice strips recently.

A couple songs from an Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation in-house musical from 1970 celebrating the sales of contraception. The corporate musical features parodies of "There is Nothing Like a Dame" and "Makin' Whoopie." I just got around to listening to this, and it's just as delightful as I imagined it would be.

My great-aunt Pauline's cremains were delivered to the house this morning, to be buried shortly. My mother asked me to type of a few notes she wrote for the pastor, to prepare his remarks for the service. I thought I would share those notes here, in Pauline's memory:

Notes About My Aunt Pauline

She was my mother’s sister.
She was 85 years old.
She never married or had any children.
She never held a job outside the home.
She lived with and cared for her parents until they passed on.
She had a lot of friends and was always a person to come to the aid of anyone who needed help. She was especially good with older people, taking time to listen to them and including them in her life. Living to a ripe old age meant she outlived most of her friends, including Carl, her companion of over 50 years, and I know she was often lonely.
She had a love for all animals, especially cats. She was always taking in a stray cat. She would try to find them a new home. In fact, when someone had a cat they no longer wanted, they would drop them off at her home at times, which was a real problem. She would skimp on her own food to be sure the cats all ate. Her love of cats carried over into her habit of collecting anything with a cat on it. I mean anything (towels, rugs, throws, plates, etc.)
My favorite memories of my aunt Pauline are when I was a child (6 and up) and we would go up to Santa Paula for a weekend (our only vacation). Usually in late July, every year, we would get into the car on an early Saturday morning and drive to Santa Paula. Upon arrival my aunt would take my brother Bob and me under her wing. My brother was 6 years older than me and didn’t like me tagging along. Pauline never made me feel like a tag-along. She would always take us for a drive around town and then stop at the local A&W for root beer. It would be delivered to the car by a car-hop on roller skates. I loved it. Then after dinner she would take us to the drive-in movies. That was the only time I ever got to do anything like that. When we got back and it was time for bed, she would give her room to my parents and she would sleep with Bob and me in a small room in the attic made into a little bedroom. It was July and heat rises. That room was HOT! Aunt Pauline never complained and as a kid I never even noticed the heat: It was an adventure. The 3 of us slept in a small double bed. To make everyone fit, my Aunt and my brother slept with their heads at the head of the bed and I slept between them but with my head at the foot of the bed. It was so much fun we would laugh and talk half the night. Next day we would drive home and I would think about the next year and my visit to see my grandparents and my Aunt Pauline. I could hardly wait.
Aunt Pauline will be missed a lot; her kindness to others and her ability to bring a smile to everyone’s face. I know she will always hold a special place in my heart. She will always be a strong memory when I think back over my youth.
She was the one who always made me feel included.

If you bought tickets to see Kelly Clarkson, you're out $3.75 in Ticketmaster fees. The sad thing is, Ticketmaster has earned such a reputation for evil, my initial reaction wasn't, "How unfair!" but rather, "Only $3.75?" Though if you paid extra for the priviledge of printing your own tickets (that fee always baffles me), you're out that fee, too.

To be fair, I recently bought tickets through one of Ticketmaster's indie competitors, and while the fee was more reasonable, I was disappointed to note that their fee, also, was non-refundable in the event of cancellation. Perhaps it's not the ticketing agent's fault the concert was cancelled, but it seems like this is the sort of regrettable situation in which a company would like to foster goodwill, not sour people on the concert experience in general.

As I mentioned previously, I did attend the Pipette's concert at the Casbah last Sunday, though I have been remiss in discussing it here. I suppose that's because I had such a good time, and there music was so fluffy and fun, that trying to pin things down with words can only spoil it. But why let that stop me?

Smoosh was the Pipette's opening act, and while I wasn't familiar with their sound, I was curious to see just what they could do. Their backstory made them sound like the female Hanson, which disturbed me, as I thought Hanson was the female Hanson. But it turns out Smoosh is just Hanson's non-union indie-rock equivalent. A touch of Sleater-Kinney, perhaps, in their sound, and they covered a Bloc Party song, if memory serves, so that might give you some idea what they're about. Oh, and they're six years old and a zygote, respectively (actually, they're 15 and 12, joined on guitar for a few songs by their 10-year-old sister). So, yeah, young family group, that's their hook, but even if you take that away, they weren't bad at all, and the drummer was pretty crazy. I don't profess to be an expert on drumming (the difference between good from bad drumming, I can hear; the difference between good and great drumming is often beyond my rhythm-deprived ears), but I think she'll go places. Smoosh's web site has some samples, but they don't really do them justice.

So Smoosh started things off on a high note, but the night, of course, belonged to the Pipettes, and they did their thing with aploom. Lot of energy, lot of fun. Yeah, some of the songs start sounding alike after awhile, and none of the new stuff really grabbed me in a unique way, but that's okay. Some of my favorite songs were even better live (it will be many a moon before someone flushes another song as infectious as "Pull Shapes" into my life), and I gained a new appreciation for songs I've never been as excited about ("Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me", for instance). I have a soft "no dancing in public" rule, and with good reason (people usually intervene when I attempt to get down, putting a spoon in my mouth lest I swallow my tongue). I'll certainly waive that rule for a particularly catchy song or two, but for the Pipettes, I was shaking my proverbial booty from beginning to end. A great show, and the most fun I've had at a concert in some time.

So, yeah, the Pipettes rock. Their new album, which was actually available here for some time through eMusic (which is how it got the coveted #2 slot on my best albums of 2006 list), is getting a proper American release next month, and their new EP is in stores now. Oh, and did I mention they're easy on the eyes? Ah, Rosay... And when you check out those pictures, scroll down to see Smoosh's drummer getting all Animal on those drums.

Here's an interview with the Pipettes. Gives a little context to just what role the various parts of the band play in the creative process. And there are videos to be found on the intertubes:
"Judy"
"Pull Shapes"
For reference, here is the scene from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls which inspired the "Pull Shapes" video:

The sound's lousy on this one, but it shows Smoosh dancing with the Pipettes, and I thought it was sweet (this didn't happen at the Casbah; security banished those under the age of majority to the street when not performing):

Fabchannel has an entire Pipettes concert available for your streaming pleasure:

You can also download their recent San Francisco show (there's also a clip of Smoosh available there).

Lou Pearlman arrested in Bali, facing fraud charges. If you squint a bit, you can pretend Karl Rove's being hauled off to jail. Hell, you don't even really need to squint.

Ah, 1975...a simpler time, when one could market a board game like this with a straight face: Seriously, does the phrase "ball-buster" in its colloquial sense really not go back to the mid '70s? I have to think this is an intentionally racy ad campaign, because otherwise an enraged man screaming "you're a ball-buster" at his wife seems an odd way to sell wholesome family fun. Actually, any way you slice it, it just doesn't seem right. I suppose it was just a flawed marketing campaign, and that's why I'm not playing Virtual Ball-Busting on the Xbox tonight.

UPDATE: The OED traces "ball-buster" back to 1954, and "ball-busting" to 1944, though it seems to have really come into its own in '74 or so. In fact, a 1975 citation describes the term as a "graphic, forceful expletive," which makes its use in a television commercial the same year a bit odd. I'd say it's some sort of dry-witted parody, but apparently it ran during the Super Bowl.

Don Herbert, AKA Mr. Wizard, dead at 89.

"Crazy" on the theremin:

I bashed mTraks the other day, and mTraks still has potential to turn things around, so it's only fair I also share my opinions of a site I think is pretty much doomed: Lala. You may have heard of Lala from its days of facilitating the trading of compact discs, or you may have seen the news stories last week about the latest addition to their business offerings: Unlimited free streaming music, with the hope of selling you DRM-free music downloads, sent directly to your iPod.

I must admit, I was intrigued, and excited, when I first heard this news. Warner Bros. is said to be prepared to start selling DRM-free tracks on Lala in a matter of weeks. And the music locker and online streaming aspects of the new service were interesting, too (in a nutshell, you upload your music to Lala, and can stream that music as much as you want, and can also stream any music from music labels that have an agreement with Lala). My first disappointment came on learning that transferring songs from Lala directly to your iPod isn't an optional service, but a requirement; songs purchased are sent directly to your iPod, and cannot be stored locally on your PC. This I don't like. In multiple interviews, Lala's founder, Bill Nguyen, points out that customers like to own their music, rather then rent it. Call me crazy, but one part of ownership of an mp3 file is the concept that I can put it on my computer. Yes, I can still hear it, in streaming form, through Lala, but I wish to listen to all the music I own through iTunes; why should I have to change my listening habits to fit your business model?

My aggravation at the inability to download files to my computer is but one aspect of the main problem with Lala: They brag that they are iPod-compatible, but they are making you give up the iPod/iTunes link to use their service. To transfer purchased music to your iPod, you have to use their software. Seeing as the free iTunes for Windows software was an integral part of Apple's marketing push for the iPod, letting Windows users like myself experience the joy of iTunes (iTunes sold me on the iPod), why does Lala think most iTunes users would willingly give up what is, for the most part, a fantastic music player for whatever they've come up with? I've found their plug-in software works okay for streaming music from their website, but once I try to access my music locker, my computer system slows to a crawl and becomes rather unstable. After first reviewing their new way of selling music downloads, I thought I might buy songs from them, then use one of the many available iPod-hacking computer programs to get the songs onto my computer. But now that I've experienced their software a bit, I can say with confidence there's no way in hell they're getting anywhere near my iPod. Indeed, the knowledge that they want to get their grubby mitts on my iPod encourages me to not even use their streaming music offering.

Which is probably fine by Lala, I doubt they want another freeloader running up their licensing fees, with no intention of purchasing anything. But I'm sure some people will be interested in their streaming audio offering, so let's take a look at it. I've availed myself of MP3tunes' music locker (formerly called Oboe, though they seem to have dropped that name), and when I reviewed Lala's similar offering, I wondered if the struggling company was doomed. I don't think MP3tunes has to worry. Both services allow you to stream music you own on any computer, but MP3tunes requires you to upload each and every file, while Lala only requires you to upload songs if the song isn't already in their database. This should be a huge advantage to Lala, as it took about two weeks of intermittent uploading to get all my music into my MP3tunes locker. But in practice, Lala's uploader doesn't work much better. I don't know how many of my songs were already on Lala, but it took about 15 hours to upload the music that wasn't found, and yet somehow less than half my music ultimately made it to Lala. No idea why that is.

So uploading is a hassle, and while I'm willing to put up with the hassle for MP3tunes, which primarily serves as a backup service (for me, at least, the streaming aspect is incidental), I'm not willing to deal with the trouble just to listen to streaming music (with mediocre fidelity) through Lala. And I don't think too many others will, either. Which might be good news for Lala, which has forecast owing $140 million in royalties over the next two years. If the service bombs, maybe they'll lose less money. But who can say? If they manage to make deals with more record labels, so that the whole uploading thing becomes irrelevant, maybe they truly can lose $140 million. But when losing $140 million is the upside, I'd say your business plan has problems.

They make bar codes and late fees sound so naughty (and don't get me started on the first editions...):

Punch-Out!!: The Movie:

I started to write about Pink Martini's new album, but ended up whining about a perfectly good company that has been kind enough to sell music without DRM. I should at least take a moment to mention the new album that led me to try out that site.

I'll start out with the worst I can say, and get that out of the way: I'm not certain, but this could be the worst Pink Martini album to date. I can't say that definitively, because at least Hey Eugene! is more consistent than Hang On Little Tomato. "The Gardens of Sampson & Beasley" is just about the only Pink Martini song I really don't like (rhyming "sadness" with...um, "sadness," that's just not right). But while Hey Eugene! doesn't have a bad song on it (and I disagree, mostly, with the criticism of the title track, but more on that later), it does start to feel, not boring, but a bit rote, predictable.

But it might not be fair to criticize Pink Martini for being predictable, when what they are being is predictably eclectic. Am I really describing an album that contains a song like "Dosvedanya Mio Bombino" rote? I think the problem is, Pink Martini, as wide-ranging as their influences are, still manages to craft a distinct sonic signature. When we had to wait seven years between albums, the return of their distinct sound was welcomed. This time, the wait was only two-and-a-half years, and now I'm whining that this album sounds too much like their other work. I'm an ingrate.

So there, now I'm beating myself up for saying something bad about this album. But I should clarify, when I say Hey Eugene! is their worst album, I am comparing it to two of my all-time favorite albums. I absolutely adore Pink Martini, and Sympathique is a monumental achievement. And while Hang On Little Tomoto isn't consistently genius, 95% of it is still damn good. And while I just haven't been able to get as excited by Hey Eugene! as I was when I first heard the other albums, I must say the songwriting is stronger on the new album, with the vintage songs and the new material merging seamlessly (they always did, musically, but the lyrics were usually a giveaway of the band's original material).

Of course, that seamless quality is destroyed by the title track, about a guy who didn't call vocalist China Forbes back after meeting her at a party (note to Eugene: What the hell is wrong with you?!). I've noticed the reviews have been pretty universal in pinpointing that track as the weakest moment on the album. I would disagree, though it's certainly not the best song here, either. On this album, Pink Martini is inspired by Hollywood, Japan, Peru, Egypt, France, Italy, Russia, and more. If they want to be inspired by New York hipsters for one song, why not? The song might hurt the fantasy of the album, the exotic realms, detached from time. But even if you're brought back to the here and now for a few minutes, in that here and now, you're listening to a Pink Martini album. It doesn't get much better than that.

UPDATE: I created a Pink Martini playlist, with an emphasis on the new album, plus some stuff I like from the other albums. Enjoy!

Pink Martini released their new CD, Hey Eugene! on May 14th. I was, of course, quite eager to give it a listen, but having trouble finding the CD for much below $15. Which I would gladly pay, but knowing the album is $9.99 on iTunes, I didn't want to pay that much of a premium to get the album in a non-optimal format (I'd much rather download music than rip it from CDs, though Pink Martini is one of those increasingly rare instances when I would have liked to have something physical to embrace). And iTunes has yet to roll out iTunes Plus for indie record labels, so Hey Eugene! still comes with DRM. And knowing that it would most likely be available in the future without DRM for the same price, I decided I could wait. After all, I'd heard many of the songs performed live.

But after a little bit of searching, I discovered the album was available now, sans DRM, from mTraks, a new digital music store based right here in San Diego. The album was available for $9.99, or for the same price, you could subscribe, and get 30 download credits. As there was no commitment, I went ahead and subscribed, downloaded the album, and still had 18 credits available, for 18 more songs. I got the new Pink Martini album at an amazing price, and had a chance to try out a new DRM-free music store, so I could report on my experience here.

My judgment: mTraks could be a useful service in the future, but right now, I'd say it lacks any edge over the competition. The website isn't particularly easy to browse, and despite their supposed emphasis on community features, musical recommendations were essentially non-existent. Searching for specific artists is easier, but I was annoyed by "false positives," when an artist turns up in a search, yet further clicking reveals they are not available on the service. But without strong community features, finding artists any way other than direct searching is futile. The community aspect may improve when they have more users, but gaining that user base may be difficult when eMusic has them beat on pretty much every point. They may have an advantage in their hybrid model, as they sell individual tracks and albums as well as subscriptions, but with a subscription available for the price of an album, I assume most people will do what I do, subscribe, download, and cancel. Now, if they can offer a compelling reason not to cancel (I was open-minded), this might be an effective and less costly way of attracting customers than eMusic's free trials (which have led to allegations of creative accounting). But from what I've experienced, I see no incentive to stick around. The next time there's an indie album I would like, that's not on eMusic, I might check out mTraks. But I don't see myself becoming a regular customer.

But hey, it's a beta, things could improve. But given the singular lack of buzz, I don't give this one a huge chance of success. A Google blog search on "mTraks" only gets 119 hits. Half of these hits are variations on mTraks' press release (excluding the perfectly natural and not-at-all-PR-talk phrase "killer social music community" brings the hits down to 60), and I haven't really been able to find any blog posts with paying customers discussing their experiences. And I'm afraid this post won't win them any awards.

Which wasn't really my intention. I didn't set out to bash mTraks, just discuss my experience (actually, I intended to discuss the new Pink Martini album, but I've digressed enough that I think I'll save that for another post). If you're looking for something eMusic doesn't have and mTraks does, mTraks is probably your best bet for buying said product. And if you're into the music released by the labels that created mTraks, Cafeteria Records and Naked Jain records, which I believe focus on punk music (feel free to correct me on that), then you should have no trouble finding music here. But in its current beta state, their press release's claim of being a "killer social music community" isn't backed up, and I see no reason not to stick with eMusic.

And a final note: What the hell is this? It's the first page that comes up on Google Blog Search when searching for mTraks. It's the mTraks press release, but with a byline and author bio, clearly trying to fool someone into thinking it's a news story, not a press release. How does this work? Did mTraks pay them to promote their press release in this misleading manner, or does this California Newswire site just reprint press releases to develop cheap content and sell ads? I call shenanigans on whoever's responsible. Oh, and now I see the second hit is a link to another website in the same family, same text, but now, instead of Cindy Holden, the author (excuse me, the site explains the name is the "editor/author") has become Jesse JJ Jame. How about that? I'm guessing from the Neotrope Interactive Network's home page that this is just some lame promotional tool for companies that can't generate real buzz. The desperation doesn't bode well for mTraks' chances.

Banjo player sought in hootenanny spree.

The Mixed-Up World of Ross Bagdasarian. I just learned today that Bagdasarian, aka David Seville, also played the role of the pianist/songwriter in Rear Window. Ain't that something?

Fluxblog on the Pipette's recent NYC appearance. I'll be seeing them at the Casbah this weekend, very exciting.

I am proud to highlight this video of Yma Sumac, for whom I have nothing but respect:

My great-aunt Pauline died last night. We got a call recently that she wasn't doing too well, but apparently things were looking up, until they weren't. I believe she was 86, but I may have to correct that number. In the interest of protecting the privacy of others, I will not go into the larger family drama playing out, except to say that my life is becoming a Jeff Foxworthy joke, and that the expression "the nut doesn't fall far from the tree" troubles me more and more.

CORRECTION: She was 84.

The other day, I speculated that Colbert would approve of Lou Dobb's leprosy comments. Getting caught up on my TV viewing, I see he's already tackled the issue:

Okay, so this is where there was supposed to be a video embedded from the Comedy Central website, but the first video I put up was the wrong one, and now I can't find the right one. So you'll just have to use your imagination. Hey Viacom, maybe you should spend less time suing YouTube and try to make your web site barely functional.

The cycle of life, or NEVER piss off a water buffalo:

I knew from a late-night software update that DRM-free iTunes downloads were on their way in the morning, but I was still knocked for a loop by news that CBS bought last.fm for $280 million. Just Sunday, I renewed my paid subscription to last.fm for a month, for $3. I felt pretty good, knowing that my $3 could help keep them from going under. Well, fuck you, last.fm. I kid. I'm glad they're on sure financial footing now. I do worry that things will change, now, but that could always be for the best. I've read suggestions that CBS will stream their radio offerings through last.fm, which is fine with me, as long as it doesn't affect their customized radio options.

There is some debate over whether CBS bought last.fm for the community, or just for their technology. I doubt they paid $280 million for the technology. Their recommendation technology doesn't seem that sophisticated; their advantage, like Netflix's, is in the sheer volume of data to which they have access. If you know every song someone has listened to, it's not too hard to figure out something to recommend. Maybe CBS wants the respected brand name of last.fm to attach to a new video-based recommendation service, but I don't think the technology behind the service was a major motivator of this purchase.

One major concern I had about this merger was how the recent hike in internet radio fees in the U.S. would affect last.fm, when it was owned by American CBS. I was under the impression that last.fm was not affected by this recent scandal because it was a British company. Turns out this was half-true, as last.fm, under British law, was forced to negotiate directly with record labels, and has deals with several majors, with more deals expected to close soon. So with these deals in place, the internet radio royalties that threaten to destroy other internet radio providers shouldn't be an issue for last.fm.

iTunes launched their DRM-free iTunes Plus service today. A nice milestone on the road leading to the death of DRM, though in actuality it was a little underwhelming. According to Apple's "upgrade to iTunes Plus" page, I actually only bought two albums from EMI: One by Lily Allen (don't you judge me!) and one by the Little Willies (a Norah Jones country side-project). I bought a handful of singles as well. I did go ahead and upgrade what I owned to iTunes Plus, though I was disappointed to see there was not an option to upgrade on a song-by-song basis. The upgrade was actually a good value to me, as I lost a few files from a hard drive crash awhile back, and was able to replace them in the process. And other then the site moving as slow as molasses, I didn't have much trouble upgrading. But I was disappointed to learn that I would have to pay a 30% surcharge to upgrade full albums I'd purchased, even though the DRM-free albums cost the same as the protected albums (an effort to encourage consumers to purchase full albums--a smart move, methinks). But I have a large credit balance at iTunes currently (Best Buy had a "$60 in gift cards for $45" sale recently), so didn't begrudge them the $7.50 or so I spent to upgrade.

One concern that I have about this experiment in DRM-free music is that it might, in fact, lead to a small up-tick in piracy. Much of the reportage about this new development describes the change as involving selling music free from usage restrictions. Not true. Copyright is a usage restriction. Just because a file is free from technological protection from copying doesn't mean that any and all copying of said file is legal. That's one reason why I think the thirty-cent surcharge for DRM-free files is a bad idea; it will confuse consumers, who think they are paying for the privilege to copy a file freely, without regard to copyright law. But I can offer one warning to those planning to share their iTunes Plus songs on P2P networks: Your iTunes account information and e-mail address is encoded within your iTunes-purchased music files. Though, as that article notes, I doubt this information is being used to track down pirates.

Concerned that the end is nigh? Don't worry, in the event of armageddon, nuclear or otherwise, your primary concern has already been addressed: The seeds will be safe.

Via Tofu Hut, some Japanese pro wrestling action:

If Vince McMahon is reading this, I would totally pay to see this in the States. And don't you dare change the Kiss Army makeup (which is somehow more effective with the Iron Maiden T-shirt).

The remarkable reproduction of the Cordyceps Fungus:

I first learned of such things at The Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles, which has an exhibit on the stink ant of Cameroon. I have been reluctant to say much about the museum here, as ignorance is helpful in fully experiencing the museum, but if you find yourself in L.A., check it out.

Lou Dobbs is the only man around not afraid to tell the truth about the fuckin' Mexicans, with their fuckin' leprosy. Way to not let the facts get in the way, Lou, Colbert would be proud.

Attentive readers of this blog might have deduced that I'm rather fond of The Comics Curmudgeon. My heart always skips a beat when Bloglines shows me that the site has been updated. So it is a great honor to say I have been bestowed one of the greatest honors the site has to bestow: Comment of the Week runner-up. Take a look at the Slylock Fox strip that inspired my comment, and then take in my remarks, pulling up the caboose of the comment also-rans (I'm Flealick).

I do hope my next major achievement in life won't also involve the phrase "getting off on the Junior Jumble". But I am proud that Slylock Fox was involved, as it's actually a very interesting comic with some nice artwork. And a sexy, sexy cat. One could probably spend one's time better than going through the Comic Curmudgeon's archive of Slylock Fox-related posts, but why would you want to?

UPDATE: Perusing the archives, I came across this lovely sketch of Cassandra Cat (scroll down a tad). I can just imagine what artwork this Sunday's installment could inspire. (Actually, I don't have to imagine too hard.)

If you're anything like me, you've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of DRM-free tracks at iTunes, which we were told would arrive in May, which will soon be over. But fear not, as sources say the May deadline will be met. No assurances the infrastructure will be in place for new-music Tuesday, but I suppose waiting another 48 hours or so won't kill me. Besides, it's not like there's a ton of EMI artists I've been dying to purchase, it's more the symbolism of the moment.

Major San Diego-based casino scam busted. Apparently, the managed to put slugs of cards in play, and bribed dealers to false-shuffle. There's talk of using software, which suggests they detected slugs that formed in the normal course of play. But the article notes that at one time, the slug was 376 cards long. That's 7.23 decks, and I believe Barona uses eight decks at baccarat. So that would suggest they essentially switched out the entire shoe. In any event, it sounds like it was quite the lucrative scam while it lasted.

WFMU's Beware of the Blog takes a look at Bill "Droopy" Thompson's career. Apparently, the complete Droopy just came out on DVD, and can be picked up for less than $20. I'd pay that and more just for "The Shooting of Dan McGoo."

Johnny Cash in Five Minutes to Live. Just ordered it from CD Universe for $9 or so after shipping. Looks thrilling.

Should an amputee sprinter be allowed in the Olympics? There was a profile of him recently in Wired, and I thought the topic raised interesting issues about ethics and sports and technology, which deserve careful consideration. And apparently Elio Locatelli of the I.A.A.F, which is opposed to Oscar Pistorius' presence at the Olympics, also gave the matter serious though:

“With all due respect, we cannot accept something that provides advantages,” said Elio Locatelli of Italy, the director of development for the I.A.A.F., urging Pistorius to concentrate on the Paralympics that will follow the Olympics in Beijing. “It affects the purity of sport. Next will be another device where people can fly with something on their back.”

Of course, it seems so simple now: If we allow someone who doesn't have legs to use something to stand in for said legs, it's exactly the same as strapping on jet packs and heading straight for the high jump. Exactly. I remember, awhile back, the Paralympic Games were on T.V., and for the longest time I thought they were showing that movie, Rocketman.

I should be thankful for Locatelli's bone-headed comment, as it just goes to highlight the error of the slippery slope fallacy. Yes, we can allow Pistorius to compete in the Olympics without fear of healthy athletes cutting off their legs for a competitive "advantage" (ignoring for the moment the evidence showing that Pistorius is clearly at a disadvantage to naturally bipedal opponents). Because we're humans, with brains and judgment and stuff, and can understand the difference between adapting to a disability and self-mutilation.

There's a fair amount of work to be done, to study the biomechanics of an amputee runner and develop standards for prosthetics in competition, but it looks like I.A.A.F. is unwilling to explore the matter seriously (which is odd, considering the power of such a feel-good story to bring up sagging Olympic ratings). Here's hoping Oscar Pistorius makes it to Beijing.

Alberto Gonzales keeps sinking lower and lower in my estimation. When people tell damning stories about you that cast John Ashcroft in an almost heroic light, relatively, that does not say much for your character.

Jerry Falwell, dead at 73. In an effort to continue the brilliant legacy of this kind-hearted man, I am going to follow his example, and blame the Queers for this tragic news.

As I am wont to do when such news breaks, I will again quote Randy Newman (speaking about the death of Lestor Maddox): It just goes to show, only the good die young.

The Pipettes are coming to San Diego June 10th. $10 at the Casbah. What a bargain. And Robbie Fulks is coming to L.A.. Last time, I heard he was in California after the fact, so I'm excited to be able to see him this time.

Congress acts decisively against the Mooninite threat with the Terrorist Hoax Improvements Act of 2007. Thank you, Congress, for acting to improve our terrorist hoaxes.

UCSD investigates cancer cluster in Literature building. Ditching class just may have saved my life. Actually, I've had exactly one class in that building in my many, many years at the university, and frankly, eight cancer cases in 16 years, while certainly unfortunate, doesn't really strike me as cause for panic. Glad they're looking into the situation, though.

I'm a hoarder. For most of my life, it was books. I am quite certain, when I one day shuffle off this mortal coil, the majority of books in my library will be unread, at least by me. But this is hardly uncommon. And quite affordable; a good chunk of my library was purchased used, and with the exception of a few handsome volumes, none were very expensive.

My attention shifted, a bit, with the advent of DVD. I suppose I could be considered an early adopter of DVD, if you consider anyone who owned a DVD player pre-PS2 to be an early adopter. But the idea of special features and audio commentaries intrigued me, and I took the plunge on what was still a fairly pricey player. But the sticker shock was softened by the fact that the internet boom was in full swing, and internet merchants were more then willing to drastically cut prices on DVDs to try to move some players. I remember ordering lots of DVDs from 800.com (now owned by Circuit City, apparently) at well under $10 each, free shipping, and often getting microwave popcorn or Red Vines thrown into the package as a nice bonus. So, forming a video library wasn't too expensive, either. In fact, I used to argue to myself that it was cheaper than renting, because I could keep it as long as I wanted, watch it, and sell it on half.com to recoup a reasonable part of my investment.

But I never did sell them. And I probably only watched three or four movies a month, along with a few TV shows on DVD. And as my interests tended to run towards TV show boxed sets and Criterion Collection releases of classic foreign films, this became a rather expensive hoarding. So I gradually put the breaks on my DVD spending. And I suppose, all this time, I was also assembling what seemed, for the most part, a ridiculous CD library, as well. But like books, this is hardly uncommon, nor terribly expensive. And while most of these CDs were rarely listened to for most of my life, the advent of the iPod and iTunes means that the vast majority of this library (I have yet to finish digitizing all my CDs) is available anytime, anywhere, and as a result, this lifetime's accumulation of music is actually being used to something close to its full potential.

Like I said, I consider myself a hoarder. I'm not a collector, really, because I have no object in what I purchase; I'm not trying to get rare books or CDs or DVDs, necessarily. And since I never actually use a large percentage of what I obtain, I can't really say I'm an enthusiast. I think my purchases relate to my gambling; if I ever stop to think I might be wasting money, I just remind myself how much I lost on one hand of blackjack on a recent occasion, and then I feel ridiculous for ever questioning the expenditure.

Anyway, I tell you this to explain my most recent purchase. Ever since I slowed down my DVD purchases extensively, I've found myself purchasing quite a few electronic devices. I'm on my third iPod, I've purchased several upgrades for my computer (which I have been forced to admit were, due to the fundamental limitations of my antiquated system, pretty much useless), a Wii and Nintendo DS Lite, an HDTV, a PDR (which now sits mostly unused as I'm also renting one from the cable company), an upscaling DVD player to complement the new HDTV, among others. Now, for the most part, I'm getting quite a bit of use out of these products. But I really had to question my desire to supplement the Nintendo products, and my old PS2 (I'm currently on my second) and my now obsolete Gamecube, with an Xbox 360. Yet in what can only be described as a bizarre compulsion, compounded by the siren-call of Viva Pinata and Settlers of Catan, I purchased an Xbox 360 on Thursday.

If this weekend is any indication, the Xbox 360 will not be one of these products that simply contributes to the quantity of stuff I own, but will be something I actually use. The games look fantastic (especially Viva Pinata), and I've had a lot of fun growing my garden in that game. But the main reason I wanted an Xbox was to access the Xbox Live Arcade, and play some of the games there. This week's release of Settlers of Catan was one of the reasons I finally took the plunge and got the system, but so far, I've just stuck with the games that came with Xbox Arcade Unplugged, a collection of a few of the more popular games for the service. Geometry Wars is okay, as are most of the other games I've tried. I've played a fair amount of Backgammon, though I've had trouble finding opponents online (I thought it might not be a popular game, but I think it may be the result of technical difficulties). But, degenerate gambler that I am, I've clocked the most hours playing Texas Hold 'em. It's actually pretty well-implemented, for a fake-money poker game. Playing in tournament mode, you only have a limited amount of money to pay the entry fees. In many games, if you run out of money, they just refresh your bankroll. In this game, if you lose your money, you have to grind out a new bankroll playing free tournaments for limited prize money. As a result, people seem to play a bit more reasonably than they do in other free poker games. And while I worried the voice support would mean dealing with a lot of assholes, for the most part its just friendly banter, and there's always the option to mute an annoying player.

Of course, all that sidesteps the larger issue, which is, did I just lay down a significant amount of money to play poker and backgammon on my TV? And the answer, really, is yes. I've enjoyed Viva Pinata and look forward to playing Crackdown and Dead Rising and Oblivion and other games that fully utilize the impressive hardware I just purchased. But I think, at heart, I lean more towards what the market classifies a "casual gamer." So I'm comfortable playing Bejewelled on my HDTV, even if it a bit like driving a porshe to the market. And I think, in the long run, I'll spend some quality time with some of the more intensive games for the system (though my aversion to first-person shooters rules out some of its most popular games).

I'll discuss Viva Pinata later, along with my feelings on any other games I might want to mention. For now, I've rambled on long enough. Just wanted to let you know I'm now a member of the Wii60 demographic. And I think I'll try to curb my electronic purchases a bit. Though now that I have an Xbox 360, I could really use a new computer with Vista's Media Center capabilities. And my car seems rather empty without GPS capabilities. And a new car stereo could really maximize the potential of my iPod. UPDATE: I forgot to mention one thing: I've used the Xbox 360 for about three days, and it has frozen up on me twice. My Wii has never frozen. My Nintendo DS has never frozen. My PS2 has frozen maybe two times. My original Nintendo Entertainment System used to freeze, very rarely, late in its life cycle. And again, my Xbox 360 has frozen twice in my first weekend of ownership. You can really tell it's a Microsoft product.

A history of "Dry Bones."

Ricky Gervais' new-wave past revealed

Big Rock Candy Mountain is counting down the top 100 drinking songs. Here's hoping that the Meat Purveyor's "Thinking About Drinking" and Robbie Fulk's "Each Night I Try" get the placement they deserve. I was taken aback that "The King is Gone (And So Are You)" is languishing in 87th place.

Not sure what horse I'm backing for first place. Lots of good drinking songs out there. But no matter; to paraphrase the great man, when you participate in top 100 lists, it's not whether you win or lose, it's how drunk you get.

As promised, I signed up for We7, and downloaded the sample songs being offered. The current offerings are intended as a tech demo, and it would be unfair to judge them from the selection being offered currently. But when the best track available is by Hall and Oats, that's not the best sign. Some nice jazz tunes were available, the best of those being Rick Guard's swinging "The Truth About Love" (though that file sounded a bit muddled to me, at least in the bass). Currently, each file is affixed with a very brief commercial for We7 itself, much like a radio station I.D. spot. Not too annoying, but not particularly interesting. The files have no DRM, as advertised, and as one would imagine, skipping the commercials is quite easy.

I was satisfied enough with this taste of the We7 service that I will be keeping an eye on it, and will put it through its paces when it goes live. I'm highly skeptical of its business model, but I wish them the best. I suppose most people will listen to the ads the first time they play a song, if only to see how long the ad is so they can tell iTunes how far ahead to skip in subsequent playings. So advertisers are paying a dollar or so for every ad impression. Seems high to me, but I suppose the market will decide.

Peter Gabriel has opened We7, an online music store that will give away free music tracks, DRM-free, with ten-second commercials attached. After four weeks, you can re-download the track, but without the commercial. While I'm not wildly crazy about the idea, it's not terrible. If it has a good selection (which I doubt it will), or at least a good interface that helps you find good music amongst the obscure offerings, it might be a nice, free way to discover new artists. I just can't imagine the ad revenue will be substantial enough to make this worth the time of any working musicians. Especially since it would be pretty easy to remove or bypass the commercial from a DRM-free file. Just tell iTunes to start playing the file at the ten-second mark; you don't even need to edit the file. But if the commercial's not obnoxious, and you have a commercial-free file coming in a few weeks, maybe users won't bother to skip it. I'm skeptical this will work out as a viable business, but I'll give it a shot when it goes live.

UPDATE: Apparently, We7 expects to make about $1.20 per download in advertising fees. This number strikes me as absurd, but I don't pretend to be an expert in advertising. I also see that there are some sample songs already available, if you register for the site; when I get home, I'll download me some Coolio or Bananarama and let you know how the experience goes.

A recent Comics Curmudgeon post got me thinking that I, too, should submit an idea to the comic strip 2.0 standards Pluggers and They'll Do It Every Time. While I've not recently encountered any petty annoyances that deserve to be immortalized in newsprint, I did come up with a Pluggers suggestion. Going to the post office the other day, I was walking behind an old man (while the meaning of "Plugger" is unclear, it is generally understood to refer to either an obese individual or the elderly), who stopped suddenly to spastically check the coin return slot on a payphone, sporting the expression I believe I have when I draw to a royal flush on a video poker machine. Which led me to submit the idea, "A plugger's retirement plan involves checking the coin return slots of pay phones." So keep reading Pluggers, and look for my name! (I say keep reading, because if you're not currently reading it, I can't recommend you start, because you'd never forgive me)

Here's a fun fact--well, a fact--about Pluggers: When you search for "Pluggers" on google, the description of the Pluggerville website describes the strip as "almost surreal." Yeah, Salvador Dali and the chief plugger, I'm always getting those two confused. "Almost Jeff Foxworthy" would be a more appropriate description. Besides, how is anything "almost surreal," that's like being "almost unique." It's surreal, except for the part that's a comic strip. Maybe the notion that this strip still runs in newspapers is surreal.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is coming out in paperback. The books look pretty nice, but I don't think they're nice enough for me to buy 13 books I already own.

I heard about this on Wait, wait... the other day, but seeing M.C. Nuts really adds a whole other layer of suckitude.

And while I can't quite say I really liked the Rap Canterbury Tales, it's certainly a more well-conceived and better-executed project, not really on the same plane as M.C. Nuts. Certainly worth a listen.

John Cage on I've Got a Secret.

It turns out that Deputy Secretary of State Randall Tobias really loves two things: abstinence-only sex education, and whores.

The Comics Curmudgeon is always good, but was particularly entertaining today, with an installment of classic comics featuring Professor Chinbeard's first appearance in Mary Worth. Turns out he was an asshole from day one, though tempered with a touch of Foster Brooks. And the site also offers a peek into the backstage world of user-generated comic strip ideas, suggesting that out of touch old kooks are more civil than salt-of-the-earth types.

Boris Yeltsin, dead at 76.

Report: Amazon set to debut online music service next month. If they launch such a service, I'm sure they will only do so in a DRM-free form (rumors swirrled a few weeks ago that Amazon was going to buy eMusic, but nothing came of it). I did think it interesting to read in one report of a rumored Universal/Amazon partnership that Amazon was considering launching a store based on Microsoft's Plays for Sure DRM, but abandoned it when Microsoft announced the Zune. It was widely noted at the time that the Zune was a real slap in the face for anyone who partnered with Microsoft on the DRM front, but this is the first I've heard of any serious ramifications from the whole Zune debacle.

I watched Scoop last night. What a piece of crap that was! Who casts Ian McShane in a movie and then barely lets him do anything?

I used to like Scarlett Johansson, but after watching this, and The Black Dahlia the other night, I think she just got lucky, working with some strong material early in her career. She really doesn't seem to be much of an actress. What little bit of her appearance last night on Saturday Night Live hardly changed my opinion.

I've been ill, and haven't had much energy to do much of anything lately, which is why I never wrote about my trip to Vegas two weekends ago. Nothing too exciting to report there, the Pinball Hall of Fame was fun, and I saw Louie Anderson perform at the Excalibur, the food at the Hilton was bad (the buffet had really gone downhill) and I was out of money by Saturday night.

I was also too ill to mention the passing of Johnny Hart last week. Decided I'd let that was slip by (if you don't have anything nice to say...), but I'll mention it now, in light of the news that Brant Parker, Hart's collaborator, is dead at 86.

Randy Newman: Sincerest Cynic.

Song for Randy Newman, to be sung by Randy Newman.

Don Ho, dead at 76.

Kurt Vonnegut, dead at 84. I wrote my college entrance essay on the lessons learned from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Vonnegut is probably the reason I chose to be a literature major; I won't hold it against him.

Some comics-related things to share with you good people:

Cartoonist Carol Lay was recently made to answer for casting aspersions on the librarian profession. I meant to mention it at the time, but was recently reminded of it when, in this week's installment of the "Classic Peanuts" strips currently running in syndication, Linus got his library card, and struggled to come to terms with this awesome responsibility. I generally sympathize with Charlie Brown, but I think there's a lot of Linus in me, too.

This talk of libraries led me to the Unshelved website, to see if any recent strips warranted notice (this installment of the Unshelved Book Club led me to purchase the book, so it probably deserves a mention), and there I learned that the recent strips about coffee cup lids are actually part of a Library Cartoonist Cage Match between Unshelved and Sheldon. So there you go. I'm not picking a winner.

The Comics Curmudgeon recently offered up some choice goodies, my favorite being the the adventures of the Comic Strip Superfriends: Watch your hateful tongue, Garfield!

As rumored, the Apple/EMI press conference was to announce that EMI was dropping DRM on iTunes. Good news. Higher-fidelity, DRM-free songs for an extra $0.30/song. I dislike having to pay extra to not receive a crippled product, but the enhanced sound eases the pain a bit (not that I've ever had a problem with the sound quality from the iTunes store). And in an effort to move consumers away from just purchasing singles, the wholesale price of albums will not change; I mostly buy full albums on iTunes, so this means I'll get improved sound quality and no DRM, and it will only cost me $0.30 on the infrequent occasions when I just download select tracks. I'd say this qualifies as good news, and hopefully the other major record labels will follow suit.

I do hope that the move away from DRM doesn't bring the majors to eMusic. I imagine the presence of major studios would drive the cost per song up quite a bit.

WTO upholds decision against U.S. on gambling ban. I thought this ruling might be an empty gesture, as how badly could trade sanctions from Antigua harm the American economy, but I found this interesting:

Antigua and Barbuda may seek sanctions in the form of withdrawing protection for U.S. trademarks or copyrights. Known as "cross-retaliation," such sanctions are legal under WTO rules when a nation can't afford to impose higher duties on imported goods.

So, if tomorrow's announcement turns out not to have anything to do with DRM, don't despair, as you might be able to download cheap songs from Barbudan servers soon (like a truly legal version of allofmp3.com)

EMI and Apple plan to make a major announcement tomorrow. The early rumor was the arrival of the Beatles catalog on iTunes, which would be pretty sweet. But the Wall Street Journal reports (apparently, I got home from work before I heard this, and no longer have access to the Journal archives) that the real announcement is DRM-free music downloads from iTunes. Which makes more sense, considering the promise of a live musical performance at the press conference. Good news, in any case.

My Wii has started gathering dust, with the Nintendo DS release of Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, a game which finally answered all of our prayers, and combined a Bejeweled-esque puzzle game with a wizards-and-orcs style roleplaying game. While the game is available for the DS and PSP, you can play a demo version on your PC. It's really one of those things you have to try to truly understand just how compelling the seemingly bizarre concept really is in execution. The game is one of the most addictive things I've played for some time, even if the somewhat tiny DS display makes it easy to make mistakes with the stylus.

I had noticed that the computer A.I. is remarkably lucky in setting up chains, and I see that the internet rumors that the computer cheats are flying fast and furious. Which is why DS Fanboy's report that the cheating could be deactivated certainly raised my interest. It wasn't until I looked closely at the picture, and noticed the bit about the nude characters and secret cow level, that I remembered today was April 1st. And I should note, what I first took for DS Fanboy's April Fools prank actually originated with the game developers themselves.

Oh, and as for the cheating allegation, I think it just appears that way because the gems tend to clump together, and aren't particularly random.

UPDATE: I thought the odd method of entering the "cheat code" was to make it more difficult to tell it was a joke when the code didn't work, but it has been pointed out that the code is actually morse code for "I am a NOOB."