Sophie Says Sooth (2002.09.02): "Avoid graduation at all possible costs. This may sound crazy now, but by the time you're out of school for a year you'll know exactly what I'm talking about and you'll really start to miss caring about back-to-school sales. Enjoy this time while you can."

Sophie Says Sooth (2002.08.26): "When you call your children unexpectedly, do not express concern if they were out until 4, 5 or 6 AM. They are now the masters of their own bedtimes. If someone of the opposite sex answers the telephone at 7 AM on a Sunday, say nothing."

Sophie Says Sooth (2002.08.19): "It was once required that ten witnesses be present at a marriage ceremony to outsmart jealous demons. (I don't know who really thought this would work but let's play along for the sake of the story.) Bridesmaids dressed similarly to the bride and groomsmen's attire resembled the groom's in an attempt to confuse the spirits who wanted to harm the couple."


Silverchair / Diorama: "Musically, it is one of the best of the year. Rich orchestrations sweep across beautifully arranged songs, a feat quite remarkable for a band unaccustomed to such complex string and horn work. This is due, in part, to help from the legendary Van Dyke Parks, whose resume boasts such names as U2 and the Beach Boys."

Miniviews 2002.08.02: "While reining his noodling tendencies way in for the two Guided By Voices records released by TVT, his side projects exploded. The Fading Captain series, home to numerous collaborations and throw-away 7" singles, has probably had a release or three just since you started reading this piece."

Miniviews 2002.07.28: "If John Lennon and Yoko Ono had been in little-known power pop bands, then decided to do a record together with John's brother and a pseudonymous drummer for a Spanish label you've never heard of, Double Fantasy would've sounded a lot like Sound It Out."


San Diego Comic-con 2002: Part 1: "A lot of it sounded like standard conspiracy theory bullshit; I would like to believe him about the income taxes, though. Apparently it has something to do with the improper ratification of the 16th Amendment and taxing our privilege of earning money."

"Glamour Hose": A 14-piece photographic series from Natalie Meyer


"Pixel Worship": A new short narrative work from Aaron Veenstra





2002/08/17

Song of the week is going to go away for a while, since it's a huge pain in the ass to upload stuff over a dial-up connection. When I get broadband again, I'll resume helping you steal music.

The hiatus tune is, appropriately, Dexter Freebish's minor hit "Leaving Town". (9.0MB) The lyrical point of view isn't quite directly compatible to my own move but it's close enough and, more importantly, the whole package is one big pop explosion. The bad news for Dexter is that, the mildly decent "Wonderland" notwithstanding, this seems to be all they have. They wrote and recorded one terrific song and now their time as spotlight performers has probably come to an end. They'll join other bands that go nowhere, one of them will be able to make a living as a producer, one will become a music teacher, one a technical writer. And it'll be sad at first but less so later.
posted at 21:11



2002/08/15

I'm about to start a move to Madison, so updates are going to be sparse(r) and weird(er) for a little while. Today brings a review of the new Silverchair record from Julian Saporiti.
posted at 08:07


2002/08/12

Still wetting the bed in your adulthood? Worried that your "It's just a piss fetish!" excuse isn't going to hold water much longer? Sophie has got just the medical Sooth you need. Also, there's some stuff about birds and cellphones.
posted at 11:49


2002/08/11

Through no fault of my own, I ended up watching part of an episode of CSI the other day. I was surprised to see the actress that I was pretty sure played Guy Pearce's wife in "Memento". This weekend it occured to me out of the blue that she'd also played Zoe Bartlet's Secret Service protection on The West Wing. So, I headed over to IMDb to verify this stuff and found that she had, in fact, played all those roles and was, in fact, named Jorja Fox. I was also a little surprised to see that she had an official site (jorjafox.org) listed, considering I didn't even know she had a name until moments earlier.

It's an elaborate, Flash-driven affair, very much concerned with progressive social politics: among the highlights is a very well-reasoned essay by Howard Garcia naming Dec. 12, 2000, as one of America's darkest days. The interesting thing is that Fox's name, likeness and resume are never mentioned outside the site's title. The closest call is a feedback e-mail address @jorjafox.org.

Is it really Jorja Fox's site? I have no idea. It's certainly unlike any other official celebrity site I've ever seen. The unofficial fan site at jorjafox.net says the .org site is the real deal and I guess I'm inclined to agree. Doesn't make it any less odd, though.
posted at 19:19



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