May 2009
42 posts
“I saw her on CNN standing behind the president talking about Afghanistan, then...”
– Bill Clinton, to the New York Times, on his wife Hillary’s life as Secretary of State.
Still Single Reviews the Dead at 24 "Blast Off... →
“When you’re drunk, uncultured, and have a superiority complex due to heavy insecurity, sometimes the answer doesn’t come to you right away.”
Your friends and mine at Ride the Snake have been doing a bang-up job, and the Dead at 24 LP might just be the reissue of the year. Mosurock does a nice job articulating why, in addition to giving an awfully convincing roundabout explanation...
I Love Wikipedia →
I created a new blog to chronicle the noteworthiest (a real word) things I find on Wikipedia. I guess it’ll mostly be a blog of “fun factoids,” but I also plan on including hilarious sentence constructions and flat-out inaccuracies, hopefully highlighting the best thing about Wikipedia: It is maintained and edited by a remarkably nerdy, neurotic sector of the human population.
How a Civil War Amputation Was Performed →
Primary amputation mortality rate: 28%
Secondary amputation rate: 52%
“One executive particularly despised Andy [Richter]. He told me I’d never succeed...”
– This NYT profile of Conan O’Brien is fantastic.
Generic Story From My Youth Tuesday
In middle school, we had a half-hour free period at the end of the day. I remember it usually being a study hall/middle school fuckaround time, but at certain times during the year you could sign up for activities like pottery, hockey, and walking around.
One of the more well-respected teachers at the school offered an activity that supposedly encouraged critical thinking and would help...
Senate Passes Credit Card Legislation, Makes it... →
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate on Tuesday voted 90-5 to approve a bill that will make it tougher for credit card issuers to raise fees and interest rates starting early next year.
The bill includes an unrelated measure that would allow people to carry concealed weapons into national parks.
C…Cool?
“Before any part of the episodes are written, the guests are interviewed by a...”
– Wikipedia’s account of how interviews are conducted on Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
“Last night, man, I was so drunk, I was calling Morocco, man. Calling, trying to...”
– Mark Borchardt in American Movie. What a good, uh, movie.
“Five dollar footlong is one of the best songs, that’s a hot song. You’ve got the...”
– Ron Artest, to The Sporting News.
“There’s a different breed of person awake at those hours. And the world is...”
– The almighty Art Bell, on why Coast to Coast AM works so well as a late-night show.
youlooknicetoday explains how to properly derive...
“It’s the liver’s job to filter toxins out of your body. And when somebody’s left...”
– Seanbaby
Generic Story From My Youth Tuesday
At some point during my early teens, my friend Nick somehow got a babysitting job that we knew in advance would last only one day. It was summer and we were bored, so our friend Eddie and I showed up at some point during the afternoon. I don’t remember anything about the kid, but they had a really big TV. The house was near the library.
We’d been there maybe an hour when Eddie...
“Dilla never changed. It was always music, totally music, and more music. The...”
– Maureen Yancey, probably better known as “J Dilla’s mom,” on her son. (via)
“It’s not a movie with a twist that hangs on the twist. We were very...”
– Christopher McQuarrie, writer of The Usual Suspects, to The Dallas Morning News. This is the most inaccurate statement I’ve read in months. The sheer, beautiful inaccuracy of this statement is more provocative and worthy of analyzation than The Usual Suspects.
“Sonic Youth are ‘art’ in all the worst senses (they possess a...”
– K-Punk’s latest on Sonic Youth. Still not sure I agree (at the end of the day, Sonic Youth are a band with good songs, so who cares), but from an institutional standpoint, sure.
“Sailin’ On” by Bad Brains
...
Videogames: A Complete History, From the Beginning... →
I found every real-life date in every video game I could and put them all into a big timeline. I wonder how many I missed.
Just over a year until Dino Crisis 2. That should be pretty fun.
Ron Artest at 11
“I remember when I used to play back home in the neighborhood there were always games like that. I remember one time, one of my friends, he was playing basketball and they were winning the game. It was so competitive, they broke off a piece of leg from a table and they threw it and it went right through his heart and he died right on the court.
So I’m accustomed playing basketball really...
Ian MacKaye and Christopher Walken Have the Same...
A friend of a friend went to a MacKaye Q&A not long ago and, knowing full well that everything remotely relevant has long since been asked of MacKaye, simply asked what his favorite joke was. MacKaye, stand up guy that he is, complied, adding that he knew it to be Walken’s favorite joke as well.
A duck walks into a bar.
Duck: I’ll have a beer, please.
Bartender: Sure. ...
“That’s the reason why I’ll never be a household name, because the records that I...”
– Nick Lowe, to Todd Barry. (via)
“Ultimately, there’s something very uncomfortable about SY referring to the...”
– K-Punk, on Sonic Youth.
“As a child, I was often and intensely bored. This evidently began very early, it...”
– Roland Barthes (via sarahbelfort)