strange powers

go here for the trailer for strange power: the story of stephen merritt and the magnetic fields.

here is the official website.

conversation 16

last night, i drove around the city watching a concentrated lightening storm to the west listening to the national with my windows rolled down. it was one of those nights. thinking. lots and lots of thinking.

i'm particularly moved by the line "i was afraid i'd eat your brains." that might be the best line on the album.

i also went to academy to spend a gift card that i got for my birthday last year. i wanted to buy a bandana, but they were $23.99. when i asked the lady why they were so expensive, she said simply "technology." and i asked, "like a radio?" she did not laugh.

i also watched the brothers bloom last night. great flick. i highly recommend it.

thinktank

from baseline scenario: wall stree CEO's are nuts.

from rolling stone: wall street's war

books of moses

i always create wish-lists for books and then lose them. so i'm making a very public book list that i know i'll be able to find again.

1. the end of the free market- ian bremmer
2. three felonies a day- harvey silverglate
3. the big short- michael lewis
4. 13 bankers- simon johnson
5. the black swan- nassim taleb
6. american lion- jon meacham
7. all music guide to rock- various

that's it for now.

superconnected?

(this post has generated major backstage heat. therefore, it has been removed by management. management would like to apologize for the misunderstanding. management also would like for people to take everything on this blog with two grains of salt and a stick of butter).

glosoli

hallgrimskirkja.

more fun facts.

another green world

this entry had begun as a visceral attack on BP. i was filled with righteous indignation. i had articles and articles of their complete incompetence, their spinning and their tail-covering. i had articles on the environmental impact of this calamity. i had everything. i was ready.

but i won't do that. nothing i post here will change the oil spewing into the gulf of mexico, trashing america's third coast. nothing will change the hard-liners who believe this is no big deal and nature has a way of cleaning itself and how the company is doing everything it can. they probably don't live here. they probably have never seen the coast.

the strange thing is, i smell oil right now. the more i read about it, the more my stomach churns and my nostrils are filled with the smell of petroleum. it's sickening. it's sickening for a company to post monstrous profits start to look to cap its liability when they have devastated the fishing and tourism industries of these areas and, not to mention, the marine and aquatic life. what is the impact of this? how should a company be allowed to do this and survive? where is the liability? where is the reason?

i wonder if the bonuses are still rolling in.

it's been more than a month of oil gushing into the gulf. more than a month.

i can still smell it.

the memory collector

jose lima passed away this weekend. houston has been full of big sports stars while i've lived and worked here. but most of them are boring. honestly, bagwell and biggio, two of the greatest baseball players in history played right here in houston while i grew up. the did amazing things on the field. but they were boring. jose lima was anything but boring. this dude seemed to never take anything seriously except trying to enjoy himself. i've heard a lot of interviews with him and a lot of stories about people bumping into him around town back when he was in houston. every one of them was hilarious. the guy just seriously enjoyed life. he'll be missed.

global chain reaction of debt? that sounds promising.

i never watched lost. not one episode. i assume it's about someone who has misplaced their favorite shirt. am i right?

this guy revisits f.a. hayek's road to serfdom and how it really got us or will get us. it still depends. actually, maybe not.

for all you facebook users, more and more stories about their ceo and business model are freaking me out. take a look at their privacy options.