obfuscated girl

this is not the beginning of the end. it is the end of the beginning.

Number of times John McCain told Jim Lehrer that Barack Obama "did not understand [something]" last night: like 500
Times John McCain had that weird scary rictus grin on his face when he was actually angry about something: like 5000000
Times John McCain looked at Barack Obama while he was speaking last night: zero
Number of flag pins John McCain wore on his lapel last night: zero
Number of flag pins Barack Obama wore: one
Number of times John McCain said "maverick," "I am not Miss Congeniality" and "sheriff:" three, two, and one respectively
Number of times he brought up how Sarah Palin was also a maverick:
Seriously:
one
Ways in which fixing the budget/financial crisis by putting a spending freeze on everything except defense and veteran's affairs will work: shhhhhh it will totally work
Number of times McCain said the words "middle class" last night: zero

How is this even a question, motherfuckers?

In more mundane news, I am cleaning my apartment today. I swear to God, I am not going to sleep until it is clean. My past excuses for not cleaning it have included "my heel itches," "Mercury is in retrograde," "it's raining," "it's nice out," "America's Next Top Model is on," "the dog ate my vacuum cleaner," "I'm too short to reach the top shelf of my closet" [I am], "I am suspending cleaning my apartment until the financial crisis in Washington is solved but I am still accepting campaign contributions," "I need a haircut first" [I do need a haircut], "I need to consider whether I really want this new tattoo," etc., etc., infinity. No more of this nonsense. Living alone is the best thing in the world, but it should not be because no one is telling me when to do the dishes. I should not be using "my place is a mess" as an excuse to not hang out with people. I LIKE PEOPLE, I should not be avoiding them. My thirties are going to be filled with colorful clothes and organization.

Now excuse me, I have to go find the remote and fix my nail polish and maybe do my taxes early before I do anything else.

some kid in a marcus allen jersey asks me for a cigarette/companionship is where you find it, so i take what i can get.

Orders of Business for Today:

1. I mentioned before that the Mountain Goats and Kaki King are coming here in October. I still don't have a ticket, because even though I have the money I keep not going to the box office after work and/but I am going tomorrow, god dammit, because SIX DOLLAR INTERNET SERVICE FEES? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? SERIOUSLY.
1A. To that end, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that The Mountain Goats' bio is awesome. I never knew this.

The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats' first recordings were covers of songs by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. These recordings were made in employee housing at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, California the same town which, perhaps not coincidentally, gave Metallica to the world. A tape of these early sessions, which used the roaring static sound of late-night TV test patterns as percussion/incidental noise but were otherwise a capella, still exists. The inscription on the spine of the tape reads THE MOUNTAIN GOATS/BLEATING WILDLY: A VERSION OF FRANKIE VALLI AND THE FOUR SEASONS. No-one will ever hear this tape in any form.

Most bios attempt to describe the music made by the band they're profiling, and to compare it favorably to the work of giants in the field. This isn't that kind of bio. The general musical framework within which the Mountain Goats have worked for ten-plus years has been acoustic guitar, bass, and voice. The lyrics are central to the whole enterprise. Many of the songs involve desperate characters who've found themselves in some trouble and want to moan about it a little before taking their lumps. The sexual tension between characters in your average Mountain Goats song could split the atom if the power could be harnessed, but it can't, so forget it. Now you know what we know. Go forth and sin no more.
1b. The only thing that The Onion has to say about this show is that people either love or hate Darnielle's voice, and nothing about the fact that, you know, they are wonderful.
2. Apparently defragging my laptop has no bearing on whether or not it runs faster. Defragging should not be a word. Also I am fullof hate.
3. Chris has been all talking up this band called The Rural Alberta Advantage, so I found some stuff by them, and as much as I hate it when Chris is right about things, he is right about this thing. They are as yet unsigned and from Canada and are giving away half their new album on their site, and apparently there is
an advantage to living in rural Alberta.
The Rural Alberta Advantage on Hype Machine
(recommended: "Frank, AB")
4. The Emmys are tonight and I look forward to seeing ladies in stupid dresses and no one from Grey's Anatomy getting anything, fuck yes, and Stephen Colbert losing to, like, a concept spoken-word half hour Bob Hope special.

only if she's 5'3"

Yesterday I went to Victoria's Secret because 1. I got paid 2. I like nice things and 3. I am a sucker for advertising. But the more I think about what I bought, even though I like it and it fits and everything, which is strange because Victoria's Secret as far as I can tell usually sells underthings that either push certain body parts up to your forehead or are made of such flimsy nothing fabric that the only people who could get away with it are actual preadolescents, or those who aspire to preadolescent bodies. And this thing? This thing is called an Ipex. It sounds like a type of bomb that insurgents are using in Iraq. It is a Bra of Science, Y'all.

The other interesting things about being at Victoria's Secret were:

1. there were no horribly aggressive upselling salespeople
2. it smelled like the inside of a sorority meeting, seriously my nose felt violated
3. I had a conversation with the girl who sold me my Government Secret Ipex Bra about my Obama pin, which went along the lines of "I love your piiiiiiin!" "Thanks!" "I have seen him speak three times! He hugged me! I'm a volunteer! Would you like your receipt in the bag or with you?" [stunned silence]

it's not that I think chicks who work at Victoria's Secret are dumb

okay I thought that. I guess it just Goes To Show, you can't Judge A Book By Its Frilly, Lacy, Aggressively Female-Smelling Cover. God, I'm a bitch.

And the other important thing that has happened this week is that I have expanded my listening habits--I am now alternating between "Love Lockdown" and "Goodbye Stranger."

give me your eyes i need sunshine

"Mario'd fallen in love with the first Madame Psychosis programs because he felt like he was listening to someone sad read out loud from yellow letters she'd taken out of a shoebox on a rainy P.M., stuff about heartbreak and people you loved dying and U.S. woe, stuff that was real. It is increasingly hard to find valid art that is about stuff that is real in this way. The older Mario gets, the more confused he gets about the fact that everyone at E.T.A. over the age of about Kent Blott finds stuff that's really real uncomfortable and they get embarassed. It's like there's some rule that real stuff can only get mentioned if everybody rolls their eyes or laughs in a way that isn't happy. The worst-feeling thing that happened today was at lunch when Michael Pemulis told Mario he had an idea for setting up a Dial-a-Prayer telephone service for atheists in which the atheist dials the number and the line just rings and rings and no one answers. It was a joke and a good one, and Mario got it; what was unpleasant was that Mario was the only one at the big table whose laugh was a happy laugh; everybody else sort of looked down like they were laughing at somebody with a disability. The whole issue was far above Mario's head, and he was unable to understand Lyle's replies when he tried to bring the confusion up. And Hal was for once no help, because Hal seemed even more uncomfortable and embarrassed than the fellows at lunch, and when Mario brought up real stuff Hal called him Booboo and acted like he'd wet himself and Hal was going to be very patient about helping him change."

from Infinite Jest

Even though you would not know it from what I write about on this website I am borderline exhausted of talking about politics. There comes a certain point where you can only wait and see what's going to happen. Also vote, but that is still fifty-something days away. Also I would like to kick George Will in the nads and I think I am done watching the Sunday morning talk show pundit roundtable dude shows. I'm really pretty fucking scared, guys. And so I am going to do something unprecedented: post a mix.
I basically have been doing nothing with my weekend but downloading things from Hype Machine, and holy shit it has been the best weekend ever. Some of the songs are new to me, some of the songs are new to everyone, some of them are things I totally forgot about.
Here are the five best songs that I found (so far, it is only 1 pm on Sunday):

1.The Mountain Goats Kaki King, "Thank You, Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle" (from the Black Pear EP, site)
2.Cold War Kids, "Something Is Not Right With Me" (from the forthcoming "Loyalty To Loyalty;"site
3. Kanye West, "Love Lockdown"
(note: I have listened to this one 37 times since 4 pm yesterday and am never ever going to stop listening to it. Emily: "When Kanye sings it makes me want to make out with him." from "808s and Heartbreak", news)
4. Jennifer Hudson feat Ludacris, "Pocketbook" (I have no idea where this came from and I can't even remember if Jennifer Hudson won or lost American Idol, but damn I love this song)
5. Jamie Lidell, "Hurricane" (from "Jim," site)
Okay, I can't confine myself to five.
6. TV On The Radio, "Halfway Home" (from "Dear Science," out September 23. site)
7. Wolf Parade, I'll Believe Anything" (I think this song is pretty old and I found it mislabeled on someone's site and I was like "OH RIGHT THIS SONG!" Pretty much it is perfect. (site)

I would have also included something about Black Joe Lewis, namely the song "Bitch, I Love You," which I am simultaneously amused and horrified by but I am out of bandwidth so you can go find it over here.

in dick morris's defense, he is a lying sack of shit. MCCAIN '08!

Matt sent me this because it is about the Hadron collider thing, and the day I found out I called him and was like MATTHEW WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE and he was like UM NO, and if we all do not die on September 10 he gets bragging rights or something and as far as this thing goes like, I stopped paying attention after the 65th verse. NERDS
NERDS WITH WEAK BEATS

POLITICAL LINKS TIME
Biden: The Awesomening
We shouldn't even be talking about Sarah Palin because it's sexist.

I honestly wonder how many of these dudes (these cable news dudes and Karl Rove and all) listen to themselves talk, and I would like to be inside one of their heads for a day if I didn't think the answer would scare me so much.

I don't really have anything else to say, I guess. It is ALMOST FALL. if I did not like fall so much I would like to fast forward through the next two months because I would like to know whether or not I will be moving to Canada. I keep almost deciding to dye my hair and then backing away from that decision. The Mountain Goats are playing here in a month and I am pretty excited about that. I have quit seeing my therapist because I Am Healed. If I hear "hockey mom" or "VPILF" one more time I am flying to Alaska and punching everyone in the face and/or barfing. I have a feeling I am going to be barfing a lot over the next two months. Emily here is
the thing where Sarah Palin asks what the vice president does every day.

It would be even funnier if I didn't live here.