kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk

Celebrity Breakup Stunner!
Holy Toledo! I would never have pegged Anne Heche & Ellen Degeneres as a couple poised to break up. Their names are nowhere near my list for the celebrity couple death pool. And yet they've issued a joint statement announcing the end of their 3+ year union. Huh. I frequently derive some (ok, a lot of) morbid enjoyment from watching celebrity relationships self-combust, but I'm really kinda sad about this one.
Sunday, August 20, 2000 09:07 p.m.

Daniel Handler Essay on Hyacinths & Thistles
So the Magnetic Fields' official website has gotten itself pulled together at last, and posted there is a nice little essay, written by Daniel Handler (yes, the same one who's just published that book mentioned below), heralding the release of the new 6ths album, Hyacinths & Thistles. Naturally, Mr. Handler is not an objective observer, but based on what I think is his trustworthy opinion, H&T promises to be quite the extravaganza of musical goodness.
Sunday, August 20, 2000 03:36 p.m.

The Tea Council's Tea-Food Pairing Matrix
Yet another one of my favorite soothing activities - making & drinking tea. After exploring the Tea Council's site, I have to confess my ignorance of most technical tea stuff. I know I prefer black teas to green, but that's about it. And here they've provided tea-lovers with a special chart to help them match up their teas with their delicious foods! The only problem with the Tea-Food Pairing Matrix is that they pair reasonable teas with rather swanky foods that I rarely eat. I think I'm going to continue to enjoy, however incorrectly, my cups of Earl Grey with foods other than creme brulee & Leicester cheese, but maybe I'll consult this chart again if I throw some kind of fancy party.
Sunday, August 20, 2000 12:02 p.m.

NYT Book Review on new Daniel Handler novel
Alert readers (or just anyone checking out the archive) will recognize Daniel Handler as the alias of one Lemony Snicket, author of the dark and amusing Series of Unfortunate Events books chronicling the lives of the Baudelaire orphans.

Mr. Handler is also the author of books written specifically for grown-ups. Watch Your Mouth is his latest opus, in which he skewers our current culture of memoir and self-revelation. The Times has been gracious enough to post the first chapter of Watch Your Mouth on the web for your reading pleasure.
Sunday, August 20, 2000 11:50 a.m.

Around the World, What it Takes to Be A Millionaire
As this is a weekend of extreme leisure for me, I've decided to make all my links relate to how I spend my laziest Sundays.

First up, the New York Times Week in Review section. It's really too bad that they don't have a free archive section for their Word for Word feature, because it's so much fun and full of frivolous information. This week, read through samples questions featured on episodes of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" from Israel, Finland, England, and India, among others.
Sunday, August 20, 2000 11:45 a.m.

My Day of Jubilee

Free at last, free at last. Yes, friends, today was the final day of work for me at the offices of The Totally Dysfunctional Medical Publisher. No more looking up intra-operative photographs of orchiectomy, or faxing images of nasal reconstructive surgery round the globe, or begging for permission to reprint tables of nuclear medicine dosages for me. Tra la la!

I've got a bunch of way fun links for you all, but it'll have to wait til next week - I'm off to celebrate good times, come on!
Friday, August 18, 2000 06:56 p.m.

Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar
Continuing w/the Hawaiian/tropical theme: I love slack-key guitar - RETRO describes it as "Hawaiian Soul Music", but it's more like Hawaiian Country Music. I have the CD described in this article, and it totally soothes my savage ears.

If you go to the Dancing Cat site, you can hear little RealAudio samples of this lovely music.
Thursday, August 17, 2000 04:51 p.m.

Liner Notes of the Gods
These aren't quite the same "liner notes of the gods" documented by Tom & Mike at nyplm, but they are related in some way that I'm too lazy to figure out. I think the page I'm linking to is some kind of "greatest hits" jukebox affiliated with the WFMU page. I can't get enough of the cheese!

Check this out: "They took up the ukulele only when they discovered shinnying up cocoanut palms was tough on the thighs. They abhor vigor (or would, if abhoring weren't such tough work these days)." I think I speak for us all when I say, the hell?
August 17, 2000 4:50 pm

Liberace Bio Review
This is not a good book review - it isn't well-written, particularly, and it doesn't say anything of substance about the book (a biography of Liberace) it's ostensibly reviewing. But I like the author's crazy strings of adjectives, like "scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." Hee.
Thursday, August 17, 2000 04:43 p.m.

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets available in paperback
Last night, my Dad came downstairs in his pajamas, clutching Book #3 to his chest, and said to my wee sister and I, "Must. Read. Goblet. Of. Fire. Now!" We've been trying for years to get him to read these books. I think he's really glad he caved. And now those of us on restricted incomes can get the first two books in paperback. Whoo!
Thursday, August 17, 2000 04:39 p.m.

Brad Pitt cast in Coen Brothers Film
I know, I'm totally whoring for Mr. Showbiz today. So the Pittster has taken a role in The White Sea, the WWII drama that Joel & Ethan Coen have got up their sleeves. Hmmm. I mostly ignore Brad Pitt, on the assumption that if I continue to do so, he will eventually go away. But maybe he won't bite the wax tadpole in this movie. Oh, who am I kidding? Coen Brothers = a guaranteed ticket purchase by this wallet-emptying fool.

Whether Mr. Aniston displays acting chops of any kind matters to me not at all, as I yearn for the release date of O Brother, Where Art Thou?. This is The Odyssey, Coen Brothers-style, which of course means a 1920s-30s setting, and Cole Porter tunes. The script is actually credited to Homer! And there's a character named "Pappy"! I just don't think it gets much better than that, folks.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 08:09 p.m.

New Bowie, er, Jones Baby
Once again, I have to say: awwwww. David Bowie & Iman are the proud parental units of one Alexandria Zahra Jones. I'm pleased to see that the ever-fabulous David (is there a more gorgeous 50+ year-old man alive today? Because I'd like to hear about it) has improved his baby-naming skills. Poor Duncan (ne Zowie) Bowie. Nobody, not even the offspring of rock stars, should suffer the shame & embarrassment of a rhyming name.

Madonna & Guy Ritchie could take a few lessons from David & Iman. I mean, Rocco??? The last time I heard that name, my friend the Drama Queen & I were using it as the name of our imaginary, mutual boyfriend, over whom we, in our trashy personas of Crystal & Rhonda, would stage faux-catfights. Those were fun times, but a) that was in 1992, and b) is that really the mental image M & G want to conjure when people (well, me) think of their offspring? Then again, they didn't ask me. I'm sure he'll be adorable and frighteningly savvy. And maybe he will go the way of Duncan Bowie.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 07:53 p.m.

Great Liner Notes Prose
I really enjoy writing informal liner notes for the tapes I make for my friends, but how cool would it be to be paid to do it!? Ok, so some of the prose memorialized on this page is a bit wanky -- I mean, " What of Chloe? Do we weep or do we laugh and turn away? ... and Jezebel, the temptress, her beauty matched only by her thirst and passion for evil--and he watched her."???? -- but some of it makes me want to jump up and dance. Anyway, I'm putting that in the back of my mind as a potential career if this whole badass librarian thing doesn't work out.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 07:48 p.m.

Grrrrrr
Nothing gets me cranky like losing all my carefully selected links for the day when my computer crashes. I'm re-assembling them all, but that shit takes time, man!
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 07:47 p.m.

Girlhero Scavenger Hunt
Ooooh, fun! I used to hate scavenger hunts in day camp & stuff, but this one sounds really good. Also, read the archives.
Wednesday, August 16, 2000 07:44 p.m.

New Finley Quaye Video
All the controversy over whether or not he's Tricky's relative aside, I really enjoyed Finley Quaye's first album. His latest effort is set to drop next month, and NME has an exclusive on the video to the first single, "Spiritualized". It's pretty good. Not earth-shattering, but worth a look-see.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 06:10 p.m.

Awwwwww.
Mavis & Mr. Minge are now the proud parents of Finn Thomas. Congratulations, Family Minge!
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 04:25 p.m.

Pre-viewing Review of The Cell
Wing Chun reviews another movie she hasn't seen. I'm so glad she & Glark are done with their move - there's just not enough snarky goodness in my life when they're not online.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 04:24 p.m.

California Pacific Exposition postcard index
Mmm, vintage postcards. These are so cool. I love all the Palaces of Filmed Entertainment and Plazas of Industry and Hanging Gardens of Spanish Colonialism. And the crazy saturated colors! Oh, it's heaven.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 11:48 a.m.

Freaky Trigger High Fidelity Review
Tom's review of High Fidelity and his dissection of what a deep love of pop music can do to mess you in the head. He maintains that High Fidelity misses the mark in terms of being a movie about music. It's certainly true that the novel does a better job of showing how Rob really has been screwed up by his obsession with music.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 11:47 a.m.

Wanda Tells All!
How addicted to EOnline am I? It's my new crack. Anyway, it looks like Marc Blucas will be leaving Buffy midway through the next season. And you know, that's fine with me. Riley is too wholesome and unconflicted to be a good match for the Slayer. The show is all about unraveling secrets, and now that Riley's has been exploded and salted over, there's really no point to his remaining a member of the Scooby Gang.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 11:13 a.m.

Sally Field to Join ER
Sally Field will portray Abby Lockhart's estranged mom, according to Mr. Showbiz. I can see that working. Field & Maura Tierney have not-dissimilar looks and I can see Tierney playing well off of Field's Gidget-y mannerisms.
Tuesday, August 15, 2000 11:11 a.m.

Sorry about the Virgil Marti link breakage. And thanks to Alyce for her sage counsel on fixin' 'em, which I don't seem to be able to do correctly at the moment. I may go back and change them again, but for now, just click on "samples" at the main Marti page.
Monday, August 14, 2000 03:45 p.m.

Spectropop
Wow. If you're into Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, or Brill Building songwriters, this is probably the place for you. Like Tom, I haven't had a chance to go through the whole site; it's enormous! So I can't vouch for everything on it, but what I saw, I dug. Via nyplm.
Monday, August 14, 2000 10:25 a.m.

Virgil Marti
Virgil Marti is a Philadelphia artist who designs some amazing wallpaper. I know, that sounds about as exciting as taking out the garbage, but he's incredible. The above link will take you to a page about Marti's 1995 Pew Charitable Trusts art grant. There's a small gallery featuring some of his work, like his Beer Can Library wallpaper, which graces the walls of the Tin Angel, a local music venue.

I'm bummed that the photo of Marti's For Oscar Wilde installation at the 1995 site-specific art exhibit Prison Sentences (mounted at Philly's Eastern State Penitentiary) doesn't show you more of the interior of the cell that he decorated. It was really gorgeous and soothing. Wierd, but true.

Finally, we have a close-up of the Bullies wallpaper, featuring school yearbook photographs of bullies Marti has known. Ass-kicking art is frequently the best revenge.
Monday, August 14, 2000 10:19 a.m.

Ask Jeeves interview
Oh, man. This earned me several "what's wrong with that girl over there, laughing uncontrollably at her monitor?" looks. Well worth every glance askance, I assure you. Courtesy of librarian.net.
Monday, August 14, 2000 10:17 a.m.