Bush Sr. talking after the fall of the Berlin Wall, of NATO success stories in the Balkans and South America, and the end to the Cold War. Of world peace and freedom; peace and freedom which did not come (he goes on to say) from limp-wristed democrats who argued diplomacy over amassing of military force, diplomacy above missiles. He says:

You know, their behavior reminds me of the old con man’s advice to the new kid. He said, “Son, if you’re being run out of town, just get out in front and make it look like a parade.”

- George H. W. Bush [1992]

Make it look like a parade! On the one thousandth, nine hundred and eighty eighth day since Mission Accomplished in Iraq. Parades, bandwagons, merry-go-rounds. Welcome to Election ‘08. Where Bush has learned to shut the hell up.

Armando Iannucci is currently filming a feature length version of “The Thick of It“. It’ll be named ‘In The Loop’ and will star Peter Capaladi, James Gandolfini and… Steve Coogan. That is a dream cast in my opinion. Apparently they went ahead with the American translation of this show, the pilot (from the creators of “Arrested Development”) aired on ABC and was a co-production of BBC America. It did not fare well… hah, good look into the original.

Read On »

Easy-going post today. Owen was asking about Sega Mega Drive (or Sega Genesis as it was known globally) emulators. I’ve got a great one, as childish as this is – I love it. The emulator is called ‘Genesis Plus‘, can be downloaded via that link.

Once you’ve grabbed that, you’ll need some games. They come in a ‘rom’ format and can be downloaded (in a legal gray area) from this website. Ask Google.

For the iPhone there’s a brilliant Sega emulator too, SegaiPhone (amazing name btw) can be downloaded via Installer.app on any jailbroken / cracked iPhone. Video Here.

Until today I’d never bought 3 albums by the same artist in one day, but I just have to hear more of Laura Cantrell. This isn’t supposed to be a review- there’s really not a lot to say, here’s the title track from her latest download-only E.P. Trains and Boats and Planes she is my all-new (all new genre for me) favorite contemporary country singer. Don’t you love her voice? For me – its sound of apparent experience that hit home… although an album of mostly covers, I believe every expression from her, every twangy note and its not in an obvious weapy Christina Agulera “oh i’m so sad, so i’ll sing with a mopey voice in this verse, and now i’m happy again in this verse so i sing with a smile” which has confused most popular music (and most contemporary listeners) into believing slow means sad, twangy means uncultured, leonard cohen means suicide.

Of particular note (on the believability of performance chart) ‘Roll Truck Roll’, lyrics from her previous album, a song is written from the perspective of a Trucker’s wife- singing…. to the truck. The truck that she prays will safely bring her man back home, she sings with such an urging but not at all tiresome voice;

Roll, truck, roll
Bring my baby back to me
I’m gettin’ tired of waiting, and I’m much to lonely
Use those 18 wheels and all the speed you can muster
Roll him on home

Those are classic country lyrics to me but it feels so fresh and real from Cantrell. The next track (another re-working of her older work Cantrell’s- ‘Big Wheel’) she sings;

I feel like a big jet plane
I’ve gotta’ get in the sky,
I’ve gotta’ give it up real high,
I’ve gotta fly

Bland stuff, no? NO! Not at all, she expresses all that is dreary and southern dustbowl / one-horse-town-ish about this lyric she deeply understands. You can hear the genuine tiresome widow to the road in ‘Roll Truck Roll’ without pretense. The title track ‘Trains and Boats and Planes’ (written by Burt Bacharach) is really special in my mind and this recording does a particularly good job of capturing the spirit and thread of this ‘concept’ album. Her version has become one of my all-time favorite covered songs, its simple and raw, the mandolin is perfect.

You are from another part of the world,
You had to go back a while and then
You said you soon would return again.
I’m waiting here like I promised to.
I’m waiting here but where are you?

There’s meat too- ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ which I think would sound great in an gruff Irish drinking shanty type voice is not reduced to weepyness by Cantrell’s light Emmylou Harris-esque’ voice, the lyrics still have power and the instrumental is on a Fairport Convention level that suits me just right. So different to Fairport’s ‘Sailors Life’ but thematically and emotionally on the same level.

Maybe this E.P. is thematically in the right place for me at the moment, but I think I’m going to enjoy the rest of her albums when they arrive. Check out: Laura’s Website, Diesel Only Records Read On »

i have subscribers? apparently so. i’ve moved my feed over to this address:

update your bookmarks if you’d like. also, there may be a new podcast coming some day soon, keep up to date via the Podcast RSS Feed. i know it has been 3 years already.