The Marquis St. Evremonde

Noted Prince of Darkness Robert Novak ran over a pedestrian in a crosswalk in Washington DC on Wednesday. Novak, who's been noted for his "aggressive driving" in the past, was driving a black Corvette convertible and had to be confronted by a bicyclist before stopping after the accident. As it turns out, the guy he hit is an 86 year old homeless person, and contrary to initial reports indicating that he had only light injuries, he remains hospitalized (although he's now talking to reporters).

This morning I was thinking about the kind of noble scorn Novak's behavior - specifically, the serial disregard and hit-and-run aspects of his conduct - describes and the Marquis St. Evremonde came to mind. Granted it's a stretch. But there are some parallels. In A Tale of Two Cities, the Marquis St. Evremonde is, like Novak, an asshole aristocrat with great disregard for the peasantry who runs over a similarly helpless person in his chariot and nearly gets away with it.

Okay, so Novak's accident is hardly comparable to St. Evremonde's willfull attack. But hey, the parallel struck me.

Environment fearmongering I can get behind

I think I like this because it comes across so strongly, initially, as the sort of ad that ends with the words, "And that's why we must drill ANWR and bomb Iran," but instead tries to sell us wind turbines. It's just such a tonal curveball (T. Boone Pickens comes off as a slightly less nutballs Ross Perot) that I think it's really effective.

Goddamned

Sometimes you can tell a lot about a record by its thank-you list. Does it read like the label's org chart? Is it typed or handwritten? Are there typos? Does it, like the one included in gay troubadour Jay Brannan's debut Goddamned, begin by insisting that the artist not be held responsible for any omissions, as it was coerced "at gunpoint," before launching into a conspicuously alphabetized cascade of friends and influences?

Don't let the innocuous intro fool you: I haaaaaaaate this record. Explosions and criticisms at Slant.

Claude Von Stroke is hot

This RA interview is not that thrilling, but it does contain multiple hot pictures of him and his hotness.

Also, "Chimps" is the hot shit.

Waterboarding is one thing...

But being forced to listen to David Gray* is clearly torture, no?

Oh, Guantanamo. You make self-righteous musicians enforcing overly restrictive copyright laws seem downright cuddly.

According to Mother Jones, other songs on the "Torture Playlist" include:

Eminem - "White America" (Irony much?)
Eminem - "Kim" (Somehow I feel like the discomfort of this song probably transcends language barriers).
Drowning Pool - "Bodies" (At last someone acknowledges its essential truth).
Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the USA" (That this song is being used for torture makes me want to vomit with shame).
Don McLean - "American Pie" (On the other hand, this song kind of always did).
Rage Against the Machine - "Bulls on Parade" (Kind of the torture equivalent of playing "Every Breath You Take" at weddings? Zach de la Rocha's gonna be so... stoned that he won't do anything about this outrage!)
Prince - "Raspberry Beret" (I don't understand how this song could possibly torture anyone).

Argh.

*I quite like "Babylon," actually. And about that photo: those ain't Grados.

Confidential to John M.

(Perhaps it's best not to remind the folks back home of the other endless moneypit unwinnable war).