so honestly, there is not much I can say about this. it's the best thing i've ever seen.

update: this version works



(this one doesn't)

so somebody told me about this link, Bands to Watch Out For because they are gay (or maybe because if you listen to them, you're gay). The site starts out

One of the most dangerous ways homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents should keep careful watch over their children's listening habits, especially in this Internet Age of MP3 piracy.

It has to be a joke, because it's a stupid concept, and some of the entries are just idiotic - Wilco, Ghostface Killah, Eagles of Death Metal, Metallica, Jay-Z, Lil Kim, Sufjan Stevens (I guess Christian=gay on the last one). Good times. I just emailed him that Guns N Roses have a lot of gay themes.

so I just saw the Patriots-Colts game. I think it was rigged.

I couldn't really care who won, and I actually wanted the Colts to win because they haven't been to the Super Bowl with Peyton Manning, but the refs were so terrible against the Patriots that after the last Super Bowl, I have to think it was a fix. And the more I thought about this, the more sense it made. Peyton Manning is basically the NFL's poster boy - he's probably their best and most recognizable player,he's been in a ton of commercials (literally, I bet the film actually ways a ton - did you see the ones he was in that were shown during the game?), and he's a likable, upstanding guy.

The NFL has a lot to gain with him finally making the Super Bowl, and the dumb announcers pointed out right after the game - saying something about all the naysayers who doubted he'd ever win the big game. They were thumbing their noses. It was also the biggest comeback in conference title game history. So what do you think the headlines are going to be tomorrow - Peyton finally wins a big game, biggest comeback in history. And then tons of articles about Peyton's quest, adversity losing all those games, and finally his triumphant victory. A real heartwarming tale. And I like Peyton Manning.

So why do I think it was rigged? The calls were terrible and universally pro-Colts, and the announcers were completely mum about them. The first one was the offensive pass interference call against Troy Brown that ended a Patriots drive. Pretty bad call. Then came another pass interference against a Patriots defender in the end zone, which they finally overturned. The came another against Patriot Roy Hobbs in the end zone, which was terrible - he was turned towards the receiver, but he barely (if at all) touched him and knocked down the pass. What was he supposed to do? Get out of the way and let the receiver catch it? The call resulted in the Colts going from around the 20 yard line to getting the ball on the one and then scoring. A similar play with a Colts defender making a ton more contact with a Patriots receiver wasn't called and didn't elicit a peep from the announcers. Then a Patriots defender deigned to touch Peyton Manning's helmet - literally just touched his helmet, while trying to tackle him. Whistle, roughing the passer, 10 yards closer the end zone, and that's the game, Colts in the AFC title.

My buddy sitting with me was going apeshit the entire game about the calls (granted, he is a Pats fan, but he was right) and my other buddy sent me text messages about the bad calls, so that's three people right there, two of whom have little to no stake in the game. It was ludicrous, and even more ludicrous that none of the announcers said anything. I really think the NFL wanted the Colts to win, and the refs made sure they did, erasing a 21-3 Patriots lead to produce a big, heartwarming story. Give me a break.

David Beckham
Originally uploaded by Radio Ado.

so David Beckham is going to play soccer in the US. When I first heard rumors of this awhile ago I was pretty happy about it, as I am a big US soccer fan. However, the more I think about it, the more I think it's not so great. For one thing, he's old and a lot of folks think he's a has-been - he was a bench player at his most recent team. He's still good obviously, but if he plays poorly here it will be a big disappointment for everybody hyping him, and on the other hand, if he plays well, it might give Europeans another reason to say that soccer in the US is bad - this has been is kicking your butts.

And anyway, it's not like European players haven't come to the US to end their careers before. Pele was the example everybody cites, but Youri Djorkaeff, the former French star, was playing for New York until last year, and German star Lothar Matthaus was also in MLS, but no one really cared. The same thing happens to teams in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, they give older famous players tons of money to come over, and still no one cares about Saudi or UAE soccer. Granted, Beckham is better than those two examples, and he's way more famous, but I dunno. I am unconvinced.

so i went to Restaurant Week last night. It's this deal where meals at fancy restaurants are $30 for an appetizer, entree and dessert. We picked this place Nage (which I think is a dumb name to begin with) and I didn't know what anything was. I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable guy when it comes to grub, but apparently I am not cool enough.

The three entrees were a cassoulet of duck confit, crispy dorade royale with tomato fennel beurre blanc, and braised short rib gremolata, and one of the desserts was budino. Ok. After asking the waitress, it seems to me they're just using fancy terms for normal stuff - a cassoulet is a casserole, dorade royale is a fish that apparently used to be called sea bream, beurre blanc is white butter (as opposed to what, black butter?), gremolata is a little bit of chopped up veggies, and budino is the Italian word for custard. Because it would be too cheap sounding or not hip enough to just say casserole, bream, butter, vegetables, and custard.

The whole dining scene annoys me, all these restaurants with dumb hip names like IndeBleu, and all these ridiculous affected food names. I want to start a restaurant that is really tasty, but the menu is just MEAT - CHICKEN - CAKE.

so here is some cool new music.

* There's a new Sloan CD, called "Never Hear the End Of It". Sloan are a power pop band who are huge in Canada but virtually unknown here. I have a few of their albums, such as "Navy Blues" and "Action Pact", and "Twice Removed" has been called the best CD in Canadian history. I like the new stuff on their Myspace page - "Who Taught You to Live Like That?" is rollicking like like Thin Lizzy (and broke records on Canada's iTunes) and "Listen to the Radio" is good also. Apparently it has 30 songs too. Cool.

* I noticed Working for a Nuclear Free City because they had a big and unusual name. Insound said it's the "sound of techno music played on guitars and is like nothing else you'll hear this year." To me they sound more like the Beta Band and less like VHS or Beta, or like a hipster version of the Super Furry Animals or a peppier Spiritualized. "Rocket" is pretty good, it's a bit of Coldplayish soaring, but sounds like it'd be good live. I don't quite agree with the crazily positive reviews, but then again they're English and the British music press does that sometimes.

so I sent the previous post on Akon to Stereogum.com, and they published it! Pretty cool. Unfortunately reading it there made me realize I forgot an "a" in the first sentence of the post. Doh.

so Akon is apparently a pretty funny guy. He's a Senegalese-American rapper who I like, and in interviews he's been saying his name is "Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam." That's long, but not unusual, as some people from Africa have really long names, like Dikembe Mutombo, for example. However, on his Wikipedia page people have been saying that "Damala bouga time" means "I want to fuck you" in Wolof, a language he speaks. So it seems that he's playing a big joke on people, since I'm sure nobody interviewing him speaks Wolof. I like it.

so this is one of the many reasons i like Wikipedia. Sometimes people post really funny nonsense like this, about DJ Sven and MC Miker G, the people behind "Holiday Rap" (which I wrote about before, and the Little Superstar video)

* MC Miker G once claimed to own Madison Square Gardens. This was disproved in July 2003, when the real owners filed for a restraining order on MC Miker G, as he would often sit on the steps outside the main gates, begging for loose change.

* DJ Sven owns the largest collection of Coca-Cola cans in the world. some estimates have speculated that the collection is well in excess of 10,000 seperate cans. they are stored in a disused school, and visitors to the collection must pay a fee for the upkeep of the cans.

* DJ Sven is a member of MENSA, with an IQ well in excess of 300.

* DJ Sven is often credited in certain scientific circles as the main catalyst behind the creation of string theory. this is largely rejected by most of the scientific community, however, as DJ Sven has never shown any interest in higher level physics, nor has he any qualifications in the scientific fields.

* MC Miker G was registered blind in January 2004, shortly after he drove a stolen lorry into a pile of stacked boxes. It was later confirmed that he had stacked the boxes.

so this is old news, but I do love to read it. It's so strange and Wonka-esque and at the same time kind of horrifying. This is my favorite part, but it's all good.

from a Feb 12, 2002 Department of Defense briefing with Donald Rumsfeld

Q: Could I follow up, Mr. Secretary, on what you just said, please? In regard to Iraq weapons of mass destruction and terrorists, is there any evidence to indicate that Iraq has attempted to or is willing to supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction? Because there are reports that there is no evidence of a direct link between Baghdad and some of these terrorist organizations.

Rumsfeld: Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.

And so people who have the omniscience that they can say with high certainty that something has not happened or is not being tried, have capabilities that are -- what was the word you used, Pam, earlier?

Q: Free associate? (laughs)

Rumsfeld: Yeah. They can -- (chuckles) -- they can do things I can't do. (laughter)

Q: Excuse me. But is this an unknown unknown?

Rumsfeld: I'm not --

Q: Because you said several unknowns, and I'm just wondering if this is an unknown unknown.

Rumsfeld: I'm not going to say which it is.

Q: Mr. Secretary, if you believe something --

Rumsfeld: Right here. Right here. Right here.

Q: Mr. Secretary, point of clarification --

Rumsfeld: No, this is a promise.

Q: -- I think under Wright's rules, that a point of clarification -- (laughter)[...]

It's also nuts how he doesn't say anything or answer any questions, he just talks his way around them. The reporters don't press too hard, but maybe it stands on its own. However, that assumes that people read this briefing, which probably almost nobody does. But anyway, good riddance.