IT HARDLY MATTERS Back to Main Index Browse the Archives	Tuesday, November 29, 2005 ( 09:24 PM ) No time for bloggin. Thesis. Must. Be. Written. By Monday. Friday, November 25, 2005 ( 02:57 PM ) Killer, intruder, homicidal man If you see me coming, run as fast as you can A blood thirsty demon who's stalking the street I hack up my victims like pieces of meat I lurk in the alleys, wait for the kill I have no remorse for the blood that I spill A merciless butcher who lives underground I'm out to destroy you and I will cut you down It's Black Friday, paint the devil on the wall - Megadeth ( 09:03 AM ) Pat Morita 1932-2005 Thursday, November 24, 2005 ( 12:08 AM ) Well, it's official. Nick and Jessica have called it quits. Merry fucking Thanksgiving! Monday, November 21, 2005 ( 05:03 PM ) The world is probably not ready to accept the awesome responsibility that comes along with this information, but Rainer Maria has posted new songs on their MySpace page and their official site. Sunday, November 20, 2005 ( 07:04 PM ) From News of the Weird: Chief executive officers at 367 top U.S. corporations were paid, on average, $431 last year for every $1 paid to their companies' average production worker, according to publicly available information jointly compiled in September by Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy. In 1990, the ratio was about $100-to-$1. (If the federal minimum wage had increased since 1990 by the same rate as the multiple for CEOs' pay, it would have risen from $5.15 an hour to $23.03, but, of course, it's still $5.15.) [New York Times, 9-4-05] Thursday, November 17, 2005 ( 10:28 PM ) Yeah, I give this one about a month, if they even make it to the altar to begin with. I know, I know...they've been dating for SEVERAL WEEKS, therefore I should believe it's true love. Go ahead and call me a realist pessimist! Stewart to Marry 'Laguna Beach' Star Thu Nov 17, 6:22 PM ET NEW YORK - Kimberly Stewart will wed Talan Torriero, one of the stars of the MTV reality series "Laguna Beach." Stewart, the 26-year-old daughter of singer Rod Stewart, and Torriero, 19, are engaged, People magazine reported Thursday. Torriero's spokesman, Jack Ketsoyan, confirmed the couple's plans to the magazine. Stewart also confirmed the engagement to Us Weekly, saying, "We're getting married." They announced their surprise engagement Wednesday evening at a Los Angeles party for Microsoft's Xbox. Stewart flashed a 5-carat diamond engagement ring, according to People. Stewart and Torriero, who have been dating for several weeks, were recently in the news as the back seat passengers of Paris Hilton when she was involved in a minor car accident Nov. 9. No one was hurt and police said no one was cited after the mishap. Stewart is a close friend of Hilton's and was at one time reported to be a possible replacement to Nicole Richie on the canceled Fox reality show "The Simple Life." Torriero, who stars on the MTV high school reality show, has said he's attempting to start a music career. Wednesday, November 16, 2005 ( 01:08 PM ) Usually there's a right side and a wrong side in any situation, but in this one everyone's pretty much gone bonkers. Sparrow shot for downing domino record bid Wednesday, November 16, 2005; Posted: 11:55 a.m. EST (16:55 GMT) AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The Dutch animal protection agency said Tuesday it is investigating the shooting death of a sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes during an attempt to set a world record. The ill-fated bird flew into an exposition center, threatening to derail a world record Monday, before it was chased into a corner and shot by an exterminator with an air rifle. The bird was a common house sparrow -- a species placed on the national endangered list last year. "Under Dutch law, you need a permit to kill this kind of bird, and a permit can only be granted when there's a danger to public health or a crop," agency spokesman Niels Dorland said. "That was not the case. I might add, is it really necessary to kill a bird that knocked over a few dominoes for a game?" Dorland said the agency plans to submit the case to national prosecutors. The incident came as the national birdwatchers association was preparing a campaign to draw attention to the rapidly declining number of sparrows in the country. The Endemol production company, which organized the Domino Day event, defended the killing. The organizers wanted to break their own Guinness World Record of 3,992,397 dominoes set last year by toppling a chain of 4,321,000 blocks. Around 200,000 dominoes were left to go, and the bird knocked down 23,000 of them. Endemol spokesman Jeroen van Waardenberg said organizers made a "split-second" decision to shoot down the bird. "That bird was flying around and knocking over a lot of dominoes. More than 100 people from 12 countries had worked for more than a month setting them up," he said. He said organizers had believed the building was fully sealed against birds and mice. The company is considering some kind of memorial or mention for the dead bird during the television broadcast Friday, he added. But Dorland said shooting the sparrow to ensure the success of the program was an overreaction. "I think they were awfully fast to pull out a rifle," he said. "If a person started knocking over a few dominoes they wouldn't shoot him would they?" A Dutch website called Geenstijl offered a $1,200 reward for anybody who knocks over the dominoes ahead of time to avenge the bird. Hans Peeters, director of the Netherlands Bird Protection agency, called the killing "ridiculous." He said rapid urbanization in the Netherlands was threatening the species. "There were more than 2 million breeding pairs in the Netherlands 20 years ago," he said. "Now there's a half a million to a million at most. We hope this can be a call to action." Tuesday, November 15, 2005 ( 06:04 PM ) From the Onion: Report: North Korea Just Enjoys Nuclear Talks WASHINGTON, DC—The Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists published a report Tuesday revealing what the international community has long suspected: The government of North Korea simply enjoys nuclear talks. "After years of protracted talks about strategic versus domestic nuclear programs and launch and delivery tactics, it's become increasingly evident that North Korea's stalling tactics stem from a deep desire to chat about nukes," said Ambassador Linton Brooks, chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration. "We are beginning to think that behind all this nuclear brinksmanship are 12 high-level scientists and politicians who enjoy getting together, kicking back, and making a weekend out of it." Although North Korea Prime Minister Pak Pong Ju had no comment on the report, members of his cabinet said they "would be delighted" to get together and discuss the matter further. Monday, November 14, 2005 ( 06:37 PM ) We meet again Riding our divisible bodies Feel no shame Luck is love is on If you read the pain Well, you are, yes you are so much like me Seasons change, nothing lasts for long Except the earth and the mountains So learn to sing along and languish here Help me languish here Help me languish here It was long ago That all of your willing dimensions Lost the flow And vanished in veneer But I want to know If you are, yes you are so much like me Steery strings Zodiac ballet Everybody play There's no more counting days You languish here Help me languish here Help me languish here They said done is good But done well is so much fucking better Share the wealth And cauterize the tears If you want to know Well, you are, yes you are so much like me Freeze the saints Such a subtle read Exquisite pedigree Just let yourself be and languish here Help me languish here Help me languish here - Stephen Malkmus Friday, November 11, 2005 ( 12:12 AM ) Regarding tonight's episode of CSI: Nick's new moustache is simultaneously the AWESOMEST thing EVER and absolutely RIDICULOUS. Monday, November 7, 2005 ( 09:46 PM ) You know what time of year it is, right? THE HOLIDAYS, FOLKS. And with The Holidays comes Hershey's Limited Edition Mint Kisses*! They are pretty much the only candy I eat during the year, so teeth get ready! The sugar's a-comin! We bought two bags at the store the other day and I will probably finish them before Thanksgiving. If you are a true freedom-loving patriot, you will sign this petition! It's like Patrick Henry said: "Give me Mint Kisses or give me death!!!" *Closely followed in awesomeness by Taco-Flavored Kisses. Saturday, November 5, 2005 ( 06:41 PM ) Greg Dulli of the Twilight Singers writes about returning to New Orleans to finish recording the new record, which was started before Katrina came a-knockin': It is 4AM and I have just arrived home without incident. As you know, the City of New Orleans is under an enforced 2AM curfew. This curfew was extended from the previous 6 and 8PM after the Katrina lockdown and the 12PM stint after the Bourbon St. beatdown. I believe the curfew is still in effect because they don't want workers getting all fucked up and oversleeping, but I'll tell you, it is putting a serious crimp in the local swerve. Afterhours are popping up like it's Prohibition, and lookouts and cellphones are guiding people home so they don't have to deal with bored and overly tense NOPD patrols or the clowny National Guard checkpoints run by teenagers. This is New Orleans as Belfast or Beirut and neither Dali or Bunuel could have expressed the surreality that is NOLA at this moment. It is a veritable ghost town and the population is at quarter mast. I can't tell you how many moving trucks, goodbyes and "going out of business" signs I've seen in the two and a half weeks that I've been here. New Orleans East, Gentilly, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard are gone, completely devastated. Lakeview is done. How they'll proceed with these neighborhoods remains to be seen, but it looks like a fucking bomb went off and my only visual reference point are photographs I've seen of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden et. al... But the human spirit is a curious thing and I must report that the assembled here are a feisty bunch and are extremely determined to raise the Jolly Roger. Seventeen years after my first Halloween in New Orleans, I joyfully participated in one of the wildest and most inspirational holidays in my recent memory. This town motherfucking went OFF and while the cops tried to enforce the curfew, bands and tribes of costumed revelers shook the Quarter and the Marigny like a 7.0...My boys Rio, Cory and Ryan had a throwdown of epic proportions at One Eyed Jacks with the beloved Ninth Ward crew, the Morning 40 Federation as the only band who could sum up the joy, pain and visceral release of post-Katrina New Orleans that evening. For over two hours they threw signs and blew minds of people dying to let it loose. I can't think of anywhere I would have rather been that night and it reminded me how lucky I am to have a home here in this most glorious of port cities and how special this place is and can be again. I started the new Twilight record here and it is here that I shall finish it. All the pieces are now laid down and Signore Napolitano and I begin mixing tomorrow. 19 songs were whittled down to 13 and when it's all over, either 10 or 11 will comprise Powder Burns. I lost some people that I dearly love on the way here, but here I am and here it goes... Viva New Orleans- GD Friday, November 4, 2005 ( 06:14 PM ) From the Onion: Lawsuit Over iPod Scratches Apple has been threatened with class-action lawsuits claiming its new iPod nano scratches too easily. What do you think? Walter Eisenberg, Civil Engineer "That's a good idea. You know, my Butterfinger came all broken today. Who do I sue, the store or the manufacturer?" Coral Simms, Systems Analyst "Because of scratches? Just scratches? This is what happens when those prissy-assed vinyl-record types start getting into digital music." Sean Mulgrove, Sound Technician "That's what happens when white people have access to the entire Public Enemy catalog at their fingertips." Thursday, November 3, 2005 ( 01:48 PM ) The Colbert Report gets picked up for a full year. "I want to thank Comedy Central for picking up the show, but more importantly I want to congratulate Comedy Central for picking up the show," deadpanned Colbert in a press release Wednesday.