Happy Birthday Keith Moon! 

Informed Comment

"Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans have particular presence in the Midwest, including in swing states like Michigan and Ohio (these two plus Pennsylvania and Florida all have more than 100,000 Arab-Americans. Since many Arab-Americans are Christians, they aren't exactly an overlap with Muslim-Americans). They do not ordinarily swing an election, however, because they were about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. But when the Iraqi Shiites start demonstrating against the Bush administration, it is a sign that they may well vote for Kerry. A large number of Muslim-Americans is deeply upset by the fighting in Najaf, and by what they see as Bush administration trampling of their civil rights.

In a very close race, the Muslim Americans and Arab Americans in the above states could be a decisive constituency. There are about 300,000 Arab Americans in southeast Michigan, a state with a population of 11 million. All the signs are that they are migrating toward Kerry and Nader in large numbers. In 2000, many of those who voted Republican were afraid that with Joe Lieberman on the ticket, a Gore administration would be very hard on the Palestinians. But what I'm hearing from the community is that they are so upset with Bush that they will vote Democrat this year."

Canadian piano ace Angela Hewitt on Glenn Gould

"One point that Bazzana makes in his chapter on "Gould the Prodigy" was of particular interest to me. I always knew that we were total opposites in nature, which is why our Bach interpretations are so different. Gould hated vivid colours (he once threw a tantrum when given a red fire engine as a present), preferring "battleship gray and midnight blue". Red to him meant violence. His first headache came after going to see Walt Disney's "Fantasia", which he hated for its "riot of colour". Sunshine, physical exercise, emotional openness, Italian opera, and more were out. His fondness for the Canadian north and for living by night comes as no surprise. It was all there from the beginning. "

Doctor Who - Photonovels - The Abominable Snowmen

"Accompanied by an electronic burbling noise, the yeti split up and head for different parts of the monastery." 

Cigarettes, Gary Cooper and Me
"As with most of his films, "Bright Leaves," Mr. McElwee's latest trip below the Mason-Dixon line, is about a number of interrelated topics -- most straightforwardly, the tobacco industry in North Carolina and the travails of smoking addiction. The film is set in motion when Mr. McElwee learns of the existence of a 1950 Hollywood melodrama called "Bright Leaf," starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal, about a rivalry between two tobacco growers in post-Civil War North Carolina. At the suggestion of a cousin, Mr. McElwee becomes convinced that the character played by Cooper is based on his great-grandfather, John Harvey McElwee, a North Carolina tobacco tycoon who was ruined and run out of the business by his nemesis, James Buchanan Duke (whose legacy would encompass both the American Tobacco Company and Duke University.)"

Bruce Conkle - Flumes 

review of Christopher Dewdney's new book in the Economist 

SFJ has questions--

"Are writerly lyrics the same kind of lyrics as, say, Girls Aloud lyrics? Doing which kind best is what kind of achievement? Are knee jerk reactions a fruitful kind of thinking? What category of thinking are they? Are they worth checking in with, even when you think you've "dealt" with them? Is there any point in making popular music if it's going to sound like you and your friends talking over the Magnolia DVD? Is this about "good" and "bad" or about what each form is good at? Should we really make up a list of winners and losers? Isn't this more about trends and ontology—where the music is going and what function it serves beyond giving or not giving us jollies? Why does evil money-making pressure foster good music and bad movies?" 

ghostigitized

a New Yorker round up on Iceland reveals that

"Einar Örn, the goofball mastermind of Kukl and the Sugarcubes, has outdone all younger rivals with "Ghostigital", a spectacularly weird venture into hip-hop, with noise rock and free jazz in the mix. It's about time someone tried to reconcile Dr. Dre and Cecil Taylor."

Cthulu says "Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft!"
I remember from my too short visit to Providence some years back how Halloweeny and spooky the woods and graveyards were, and seeing a locally produced book "H.P. Lovecraft in Providence" but in a closed bookstore. Or did I ? I still have a tape of the reading Dan Farrell and I did the night before, with ghostly voices rising out of the hiss.  

interesting recipe involving gooseberries @ Lisablog 

ODK presents "Heart Attack Island" @ the Butchershop Gallery Vancouver-- Sept 4th, & the fifty/fifty arts collective in Victoria the night before 

The vital centre

"And then what's all this squabbling about "torture memos"? Republicans want torture. Democrats want no torture. Where in this debate is there any place for a good decent centrist who can split the difference and bring the nation together over the principle of SOME torture?"

Silliman's Blog: "Admittedly "great mosses" is a peculiar category. "

happy birthday John Dryden!

from Mac Flecknoe

Heavens bless my son, from Ireland let him reign
To far Barbadoes on the Western main;
Of his dominion may no end be known,
And greater than his father's be his throne.
Beyond love's kingdom let him stretch his pen;
He paus'd, and all the people cry'd Amen.
Then thus, continu'd he, my son advance
Still in new impudence, new ignorance.
Success let other teach, learn thou from me
Pangs without birth, and fruitless industry.
Let Virtuosos in five years be writ;
Yet not one thought accuse thy toil of wit.
Let gentle George in triumph tread the stage,
Make Dorimant betray, and Loveit rage;
Let Cully, Cockwood, Fopling, charm the pit,
And in their folly show the writer's wit... 

the state of politics in Oregon

The Lenny Bruce Trial 

soul sides--tasty, tasteful Mp3 blog

free Mp3's from The Fall