Morrissey- 'Years Of' Brutal Asskicking begin... now.

I was going to write a full review of Morrissey's new album, "Years of Refusal" which is due to be released Valentine's Day. Instead I'm going to share this actual conversation with my wife which happened this morning on the way to work when she plugged her iPod in.

Me: Hey, we could put my iPod in instead and listen to some of my music.

Kayla: Uh, no thanks. (the volume comes on very loud.) Jesus Christ, how loud do you listen to music in the car?

Me: The new Morrissey is pretty awesome, I had to turn it up.

Kayla: ...

Me: We should put it in. I think you'd actually like this one, it's pretty hardcore.

Kayla: I doubt that.

Me: It starts rocking and does not let up. He's crazy, like stabbing people and cutting off heads.

Kayla: Morrissey is not stabbing people! He sucks!

Me: Seriously, he's out of control. Morrissey's tearing shit up over there. (I listen to the Third Eye Blind coming out of the speakers.) It rocks much harder than this crap.

Kayla: You're ridiculous.


So, I heartily recommend it. Morrissey is rapidly becoming the Slayer of brit-pop- instead of wimping out over the years, the music keeps getting tougher and more brutal. For the rare opportunity to hear an artist who has actually matured in his work, check out "Years of Refusal." Just remember to check your Smiths nostalgia and kneejerk Morrissey hatred at the door.

"Bradley Sands is Nicholas Murray Butler's Ass"

The "Bradley Sands Is A Dick" anthology is now available. Check out the official announcement from official editory Andersen Prunty here, and don't forget to vote for the best segment (mine) in the sidebar.

Not sure how to explain this antho... it was for short stories, and I submitted an acrostic. It was so full of win, that I was rejected. Andersen said that it would be included in a foreword to show the breadth of weirdness in the submissions, though apparently, to continue the meminess, it was so full of fail that it was admitted into the main body of work. The winner will be named Bradley Sands' archnemesis, and I do think I can fit the bill. I did threaten to "crawl inside [Sands'] ass and bust out all [his] teeth when I'm reborn through [his] ugly face." So read it... there's great stuff here... Jordan Krall, Garrett Cook, Kek-w, Cameron Pierce, and many more. And Mandy Moore.

My winter vacation

Just returned from a week visiting with Kayla's fam down in the Paso/SLO area in California. A decent little break from the work grind, and great to have some time basically alone with my lovely wife and baby. A few things occurred to me through the week, and here they is.

Right before I left, I did karaoke with Tim, Robin, Sarah, and Edweird. It was a good night, and one of our previous haunts has come back better than before in wake of the smoking ban. The notable thing about this, apart from their acquisition of a sizeable number of Morrissey songs, is the fact that I managed to get semi-Rickrolled during karaoke. What? How is that even possible? Let me explain. I decided that in the wake of my Rick Astley halloween costume, I should try to do "Never Gonna Give You Up" at karaoke someday. So, I put it up that night as my very last song. Karaoke was about over, and I had two songs up, that one and "Ride On" by AC/DC. "Ride On" should have been the last song the way the timing went, so when I got called up for the last time, I was expecting that. The kj told me she loved the song when she was a kid, and she seemed like a rocker type, then...

We had a lot of down time in Cali. This was more of a family visit trip, and of course Amelia is just a wee baby. It's important to read to little children, and not just board books and Dick and Jane horseshit. So while we were there I was reading Richard Dawkins to her. As I was reading the chapter on computer-simulated life in "The Blind Watchmaker" I realized something. Not only is he probably one of the most important people in science and philosophy, but he's a cool motherfucker. There's a perception that Dawkins is a douchebag, perhaps because he is so tenacious when it comes to the religion issue, but that perception is not really based on anything. I've talked to him before. I called in to the Infidel Guy show years back when he was on, and while I knew who he was then, in the sense of him being an influential evolutionary biologist, I didn't know that this was the godfather of fucking meme theory. He just sounded like a cool dude. Dawkins and Reg were discussing atheism and evolution, and I had a legit question about using current advances in artificial life simulacra as a philosophical stepping stone to breaking the ice with our less enlightened creationist friends. Dawkins was a complete gentleman and discussed it with me. He didn't say "Hey, I wrote some of those programs, there's a whole chapter devoted to it in my book which you can buy on Amazon!" So kudos to you sir.

I also finished "Last Call" by Tim Powers. I was going to comment on that but have decided to devote a seperate entry to that, because it's a bigger literary issue, entitled 'What the fuck is wrong with Tim Powers?'

We had dinner with Kayla's cousin in SLO, a fun little college town during the height of its farmer's market. This was my only small world moment of the whole trip. I've been a fan of Michael Helm's photography for a while, since I've seen him featured on DA. So, it was pretty easy for me to notice that fetish model Natalie Addams, a favorite of his, was sitting a couple tables across from us. What's that, you say? Of course I didn't say anything? That would be gauche! I didn't say anything to Wallace Shawn when I ran into him in downtown PDX... just gave him a dignified nod. And for that I received a saucy wink.