Current music:

Belle & Sebastian, Sleep the Clock Around

"Because I am a gentleman / Think of me as just your fan / Who remembers every dress you ever wore"

Taking a momentary break from rereading 4&20 to tell you some non-lies about my day:

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I wonder how one would go about starting a public service campaign to inform the world that (arguments about disparities in physical strength aside) chivalry is completely moronic? Like, to the guy that decided to mess with the perfectly effective alternate-feed through the subway exit this morning in order to insist that I go ahead of him: did you really think that would impress me? Even Miss Manners backs me up on this, so I clearly must be right. Now, to convince the rest of New York...

While I'm being a misanthrope, I might as well point out that my number one least favorite symptom of spring is probably the tons of totally gratuitous P.D.A.'s all the hell over the place. I gotta say, though, of the five or six couples with their arms around each other I saw on the way home from work, I almost actually... approved... of the guy with a girl in one arm and his skateboard in the other. Conclusion: I'm a dork. Or a pedophile. One of those.

Despite all the in-your-face tyranny-of-coupledom nonsense, Williamsburg is a really nice place in the spring. I've bragged to too many people to count about the fact that, instead of having any Starbucks anywhere, we've got about five great independent coffee shops. What's *really* too good to be true is the fact that one of the coffee shops between my apartment and the subway just converted its front room to a music store. Like, a good one, with impressive stock, sensible organization, and a great used section (especially for such a small place). I probably don't need to detail the perils of there being a good music store on my way home from work, but for today, after walking out with the new MagFields album and used copies of a B&S album and the Rough Trade AFNY comp (all relatively cheap), I have no complaints. I fear that rumors that the lyrics on i are not up to Stephin's accustomed brilliance are less exaggerated than I'd like, but... oh, it sure does sounds lovely.

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Editorial catch-of-the-day: we're using the Nation quote, "Carroll is a magic realist who plunders our unconscious for profound emotional truths," on the back of our reissue of Jonathan Carroll's Sleeping in Flame. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, someone transposed the word "profane" for the word "profound," and no one noticed until after the sales proof was printed. Okay, I know I don't put out fires for a living or anything, but I definitely saved someone's ass today.

Also, Cherie and Lantz and I made Locus for the first time this issue. According to dotsomething, I turned pink. I promise I will get over this maudlin excitement about every stage of the editorial process and start acting like a sensible adult... soon.

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A scant few minutes ago, I pulled the trigger on this year's MoCCA Poster. I think the fact that ferian had no idea what the MoCCA Art Festival was until I plugged yesterday's Friends of Lulu event means that I am clearly not whining enough. So, yeah... I'm directing this two-day comic and cartoon art festival (with the Harvey Awards between) on June 26 and 27. It will be grand, but if I ever inadvertently ignore you or snap at you or seem completely insane between now and then, that's probably why. If you'd like to get involved with the festival's execution as a preventative measure, now is the time to let me know.

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Finally, in yet more shameless self promotion, Pat and I will be doing our last college radio exam show ever on Sunday (damn her for graduating). Since we're dorks, it will be themed: we're calling it "Your Days Are Numbered", and every song will have a number in the title. "But we don't care about the music!" I hear you protest. "We just want to hear you make idiots of yourselves." Lucky for you, we'll be doing that in spades (Pat assures me she will be heavily besotted).

The specs: starting this coming Sunday night (5/9) at 10 p.m. EST, we'll be on the air for four hours. You can tune in by going to www.wbar.org or playing http://160.39.99.120:8000/listen.pls in your MP3 player (use Ctrl-L to bring up the "Open location" window in WinAmp). You can IM us at WBARRequest if you're having technical problems or want to make requests. And if you're on campus, by all means stop by the station and harass us.

Heh. Like I needed an excuse to play "Dance: 10, Looks: 3" on the radio.