Kerry Won the Debate:

That's just my opinion. But rightleaning Andrew Sullivan seems to agree. As does this blogger who is much angrier than her perky site template would suggest. Roundups across the yowling kennel known as the conversative blogosphere are mixed in their opinion.

MSNBC is reporting a 70% win for Kerry. CNN says 78%. But as ABC reports, debates usually reaffirm what voters think rather than changing their minds and normally don't cause changes in how candidates poll.

Nonetheless, we had a helluva time of it over here. I'm exhausted. If I drank, I'd have a stiff one in the bathrub right now. Chew on that image for a minute.

On a related note, you'll also be thrilled to know that there is a dating service for convservatives. I was. Should Suzan and I ever break up, I have a place to develop an online evil twin. Or I can just go to Act For Love and be more like me.

Me no Debate:

Or if you're a total wank and don't "do" debates and would rather be at the movies, fear not. There's a political lesson to be learned from this summer's crop of Hollywood slug too.

Debate Reality Check:

With the first of three presidential debates happening this evening, keep the following Top 10 Secrets You May Not Know About The Debates as provided by the always-perceptive, often-overlooked Tavis Smiley Show, at an NPR station near you (link via Matt Haughey).

This doesn't mean you shouldn't watch them. Gather some friend, order chinese food and tune in. Or find a debate party in your town. Watch and make up your own mind.

Song of the Day #2:

I discovered Georgia-based singer/songwriter Jennifer Daniels through the August/September issue of Paste Magazine. Her song "Welcome to Your Life, a soaring, yet fundamentally sweet and intimate ballad, made their monthly sampler CD and I'm happy to feature it here. See if you can resist Jennifer's voice, which reminds me of a river sparkling in the sun.

I couldn't.

Update: I had to take the song down as the upload is painfully slow. If you're still curious, let me know and I will mail it to you.

Quality Time with your Favorite Author:

I wouldn't mind squeezing Margaret Atwood (via ArtsJournal).

Sunday Morning Shards #6

The "sated" edition...

NPR Ombudsman declares that "Blogs Have Arrived." He's only about three years too late (via Romanesko).

Molly Ivins reports from tiny Mason, Texas on how the real sufferer in this presidential election is healthy disagreement. On both sides.

2005 Nominees to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame include U2 (duh), Lynyrd Skynyrd (they're not there already?), Patti Smith (about time), Iggy Pop and the Stooges (overdue), The Sex Pistols (hmmm), and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (well now!).

A fantastic interview with Chris Jackson, senior editor at Crown Books, one of the youngest and highest ranking editors of color in New York. Part of the brilliant new black literary arts site The BackList (via CantStopWontStop).

Get a t-shirt with your favorite spam message printed on it (via DanSays).

Drinking Liberally is a weekly conversation salon for left-minded individuals. Swigging nationwide at a watering hole near you (via my buddy Nina).

Forbes's 400 richest Americans. Bill Gates is still top banana. Google's founders appear for the first time. I wonder if this is why they went public (via Davenetics).

A new biopic on the last days of Hitler, as Berlin is falling to the allies. Even the Jerusalem Post said this, in their review "It is a human Hitler, yes, but still not a likable one. And that was the intent of the filmmakers"

60 things you might not have known about Leonard Cohen. What an interesting guy.

Why the 20-year-old Boston Film Festival is a podunk wannabe compared to others like it (via ArtsJournal).

I still understand what wiki's are.

Gone Attonin'

Just wrapping things up here before I dive under for the big fast tomorrow. See you on Sunday and may your Yom Kippur be an enlightening one.

How to Host a Media Swap:

I mentioned last week that I went to huge NerdFest which doubled as my friend MJ's housewarming party. At some point that afternoon, I looked up and noticed that six guests, laptops open, were sitting in a circle passing CD's and DVD's back and forth while loading up their harddrives with new media of every conceivable variety, all in the great sharing spirit of the web. As one guest named Alex told me, there is nothing even remotely illegal about this. So long as no was charged admission for entry (no one was), a ticket price for participation (they were not), copying media provided by the rightful owner amongst friends is as clean as a linen napkin.

Several of us then thought this would make a good party theme. The name "Media Swap" was tossed about and stuck.

When I find time, I'm going to host the next "Media Swap." You can beat me to it if you like by following these simple guidelines.

Kevin's Thoughts on How to Host a Media Swap

1. Invite 3-6 friends over. Any less and the swap pool is too incestuous. Too many more and it becomes choatic and loud.

2. Swap participants should be midway between best friends and total strangers. You want enough diversity in the room so everyone is getting exposed to a range of music, film, links whataveyou. But you don't want the group to be so disparate that you spend the entire first hour explaining what klezmer or who Mira Nair is.

3. Everyone should bring a laptop of relatively new vintage with updated music and DVD copying software. Anyone who does not have a laptop should bring a handful of blank CDs and DVDs.

4. Everyone should bring a half-dozen pieces of media (either CDs, DVDs, interesting web sites, links or RSS feeds).

5. Everyone should bring a notebook and pen to jot down who gave them what. It's bad manners to gank someone's media and not thank them later.

6. Generally, media swaps start on their own. Someone opens a laptop, someone else get snoopy and looks over their shoulders and off we swap. If everyone's sitting around wondering what to do, get kindergarden on their asses. Make everyone stand up, say their name and do show-and-tell on what they brought. Then let them pair off and start swapping.

7. Try and get at least one piece of media from everybody. You're here to get exposed to new things and this ain't the friggin grade school cafeteria. Be cooler than thou on your own time.

8. Swaps can finish quickly or slowly depending on what everybody brought. Figure 5 swappers, with 6 pieces each, a swap will last an hour.

9. As the host, supply food and drink. This is tiring business which needs replenishment.

10. After swap protocol depends on your swappers. Some might want to throw on earphone right away and start media-gorging. Others want to wait until later. As the host, check the pulse of the room. If the crowd is ready for other amusement, suggest and provide in the form of a board game, a movie, a route to go walking. Remember, the reason they are Media Swapping in the first place is a lust for new things and a 21st century short attention span.

White Elephunks, boyyyy!

This just in from the world of hiphop:

The Flavor Flav Alarm Clock: Made by Ecko and completely out of stock. Says five classic flavorisms including "Yeahhhh Boyyyyyy!" I'm so pissed I missed this one. But aparently, next in line is the Biz Markie alarm clock. I'm so there.

One Sentence Movie Reviews #18

Radio (2003): An entire town can sometimes have the compassion of a single person

Saturday Morning Shards #5

Del.icio.us is a bookmark system by which you can bookmark sites/articles/web floatsam you're interested in viewing later. Thing is, it's social software so others may view your list of bookmarks as well. You can also get rss feeds of other people's bookmark logs or of the most popular bookmarks in a given day. It's like Friendster for bookmarks. The possibilities are endless.

My current list of bookmarks, much of which will be used for creating Saturday Morning Shards (discovered thanks to Jeff Veen).

After watching The Mayor of Sunset Strip earlier this week, I was reminded of Dramarama's early 90s modern rock hit "Anything, Anything" which coincidentally, I feel in love with the summer I worked in L.A. not to far from the Sunset Strip. Have a listen. It's great.

Pat Holt, a smart cookie who used to edit the San Francisco Chronicle's Book Review page, discusses the 10 Most Common Writers Mistakes. I've committed at least seven of these since Tuesday.

Who would be president if the whole world got to vote (via Eastern Villager)?

The trailer for Paper Clips, a new documentary coming out in December, had me sobbing. I've watched it five times and can't wait for this movie to come out. I'll be first in line.

I've been hearing the phrase "Web 2.0" and have no ideas what it means. Further searching unearthed a baffingly expensive Web 2.0 Conference right here in San Francisco in a couple of weeks. Web 2.0 evidently refers to the idea of the "web as platform", a space for business to develop ancillary services to their existing products and the entry point for users and customers to interface with those services.

It would appear that there is absolutely no place at the conference for the average interested party. Perhaps I can conn my way into a press pass.

Blinkx is some software application that has leased an expensive billboard overlooking the 101 freeway here in San Franciso. I'd love to tell you more about it but Blinkx is currently not available for Macintosh. Which is just stupid.

Jersey Girl is probably the sweetest and most autobiographical movie Kevin Smith will ever make. It's also the first movie I've seen in years that argues that being a parent is a success all its own. It reminded me a lot of Tim Burton's Big Fish another movie about men realizing their age and maturity, another movie a filmmaker could only have made after reaching a certain life plataeu.

Empty Boasting:

My man Baratunde has the best joke I've heard yet about why the president shouldn't be bragging about his half-assed service in the National Guard. To standing members of the National Guard.

"President Bush told Guard members he was proud of his service in the
Guard. Hey, i'm proud that I managed to graduate from college without
paying my phone bill, but I don't call up Verizon and brag about it."

Via his blog Good Crime Think..

One Sentence Movie Reviews #17

Mayor of Sunset Strip (2003): "Fame is never its own reward."

Song of the Day #1:

On the last edition of Sunday Morning Shards, I mentioned the absolutely infectious pop grooves of Boston-based Fooled by April. Well, it only took three phone calls and two tech-support emails but I've managed to upload their best song "Come in Chicago", to this here blog. Enjoy!

Pledgemasta!

I'm writing this while working the phones for KALW's pledge drive, the bestest little radio station in San Francisco. Look at mah volunteering ass.

Springfield Sprawl:

My buddy Dan just linked to an insanely detailed map of Springfield, 3 years in the making by two students from Pomona College. They mention its been added to the Harvard Map Collection. Damn.

Win a date with Dennis Kucinich!

President Match lets you vote on how much you care about different political issues and, based on your answers, matches you with the perfect candidate. It's a bit like taking a Cosmo Quiz.

I learned I match Dennis Kucinich 77%, John Kerry 69% and George Bush 7%. Oh and that Dennis and I are "hot, heavy and houseboat shakin!" (*squeal*) (via Eastern Villager).

All Our Vote:

My brother pointed me to this Op-Ed in the New York Times where a Republican congressman in our home state of Michigan claimed that, in order for Bush to carry Michigan this November, the 'Detroit Vote' (80% black) will have to be "surpressed".

That's more than a little creepy. Pair it with other stories about black college students threatened with arrest for voting at the wrong polling place and elderly African-Americans made the subject of law enforcement intimidation for supposedly filing incorrect absentee ballots and small wonder there's a need for a hotline like 1-866-OUR-VOTE, to report voter harassment and intimidation.

Anyone think we wouldn't need such a thing in 2004? Anyone think its an odd coincidence that black folks overwhelmingly vote Democrat?

Welcome to Bush America.

Triple Shot 'Fresh':

If you missed it last week, Fresh Air had a rare triple shot of three nearly perfect segments: Paul Goldberger, architecture critic for the New Yorker on the rebuilding of Ground Zero, Donnie Darko writer/director Richard Kelly and linguist Geoff Nunberg on how branded words (like "Kleenex") become part of the common language. Listen now. It's beautiful

Sunday Morning Shards #5

The "Broken Tube" Edition

Fooled by April is an insanely catchy Boston-based pop band. The drummer is my friend Emily's brother. Download "Come in Chicago" and "Nice to See You" immediately.

Seat Guru is a fantastic resource where you can find the seat on any airline flight that has the best legroom, the optimal recline angle, power ports. Never be surprised when you travel coach class again! P.S. This beats my solution: Cash penalties to airlines who sell you a seat that doesn't recline, can't see the video monitor etc (via Engadget).

Shrook is a really solid RSS reader for Mac that handles both RSS and Atom feeds, lets you store items for later viewing and downloads feeds to your ipod.

A great article on Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almadovar (reg. required. via ArtsJournal)

The San Francisco Fringer Festival has pulled into town. The hilarious commedy troupe OPM is back with their new show "Asian for Dummies."

Merlin Mann's new blog called 43 folders where he leaves Mac shortcuts and productivity tricks. I don't know Merlin well enough to know how productive he is but everytime we hang out, I learn 50 new things about this here computing environment. It a very short time, it's been invaluable.

Mindful on Midlist:

So this article #436 about how being a midlist author (not a superstar, not a complete washout) has been making the rounds lately. It contains all the usual grievences-- that editors don't edit anymore, that no one tells the author anything and that ultimately, you are responsible for the marketing and destiny of your book. Esteemed literary webloggers from Terry Treachout, MJ Rose, and a fellow named Duncan Merrell whom I wasn't familiar with have weighed in with much more reasoned arguments than I could surmount.

Articles like this make me nervous and angry at the same time. For one, I can't deal with writers seeing themselves as helpless victims in the publishing process. It's self-indulgent, distructive and a gross misperception. When artists learn to empower themselves, to believe they belong because they say so out loud, we'll hopefully be done with our own imagined martryrdom forever.

On the other hand, I will probably be a midlist author for the remainder of my career. I don't imagine my books taking off in a way that assures me fame and fortune. I will probably always have to yank on my hustling pants, throw my megaphone over my shoulder and promote the heck out of my stuff. I can do it now (am looking forward to doing it now) because I am young, in good health, have no kids, and have a girlfriend who is understanding and has her own friends.

This will not always be the case. I won't always have the energy nor the time to hype my books the way they will need to be hyped. I probably won't always have family and friends who will want to listen to a song and dance every two years when another book comes out. Is this what it will take, forever? Most likely. I just if I'll be able to for that long.

Peep Power:

Seen at today's Power to the Peaceful Festival in Golden Gate Park.

The good folks from Bedrock Music

A DJ collective called < ahref="http://www.tribalsouls.net/home.html">Tribal Souls putting down some serious grooves.

Refuse and Resist distributing some excellent literature on protecting oneself from the slimy tendrils of the American Police State.

Indy Bay: An independent media collective and online presence.

California's Swing State Initiative to get the vote out for John Kerry in the state's where it counts.

San Francisco Clean City Coalition who gave me a really cool biodegradable garbage bag for my kitchen.

Miles and miles of hippie chicks in long skirts. I wish Suzan wasn't at work.

"Light: Sketchers S-Lights"

The Believer

Tapioca Termed:

It's one of my favorite words to say out loud but today I fessed up and admitted I had no idea what tapioca was. Until now.

To celebrate, a really nice little poem with the word "tapioca" in it

Yellow

Green is go,
and red is stop,
and yellow is peaches
with cream on top.

Earth is brown,
and blue is sky;
yellow looks well
on a butterfly.

Clouds are white,
black, pink, or mocha;
yellow's a dish of tapioca.

     ---David McCord

One Sentence Movie Reviews #17

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962): "A famous kid, left to waste, becomes a pathetic, dangerous adult".

Nerdtastic Geekatude:

After the Zinefest yesterday, I really wanted an excuse to stay home and get the hell out of the heat. But MJ and her roommates had invited us over to housewarm their new place. "Think food and general geekatude", MJ told me. We've got a huge TV and WiFi. I brought my laptop.

An MJ party usually means a sizeable percentage of the tech-savvy that I can ply with dumb questions. I had been enjoying Mr. Merlin's new blog 43 Folders earlier that weekend and wanted to soup up the ole iBook something serious.

They did not let me down. I now have my Safari bookmark bar back which makes me feel all kinds of empowered, learned about Audioscrobbler and how to burn DVDs to my hard drive which is great because I never remember to return anything to the video store on time.

Several other folks (including Bill whom I hadn't seen in a long time) brought laptops and a general media swapping frenzy began. CD were pulled off the shelves and duped. DVDs downloaded. Link wisdon exchanged.

This is a great idea for a 21st century party. Of the nerdtastic sort. I love it.

Zine Fiends:

Seen at the SF Zine Fest yesterday afternoon (the panel went real well too)

Little Elegy: A zine of "tiny lit", stories that are 100 words or less. It's creator, Colleen Marlow, organized the workshop that I sat in on and did a fine job.

Constant Rider: Stories from the world of riding public transportation.

Media Whore: "Media from a Feminist Perspective". Or as I put it, Bitch with snazzier binding.

Modest Proposal magazine: A Pheonix-based tabloid about stand-up comedy. Fine illustrations.

King Cat Comics: I just really like the name.

The fine folks at Microcosm Publishing: The top of the zine distro heap.

Good crop this year.

Saturday Morning Shards #4

The "Homecoming" Edition

Sore Winners by John Powers is a look at the Bush presidency through the lens of American popular. Unabashedly left wing, it's also smart, funny and disarmingly unpretentious. Powers is the sometime film critic on NPR's Fresh Air.

I think Zell Miller resembles a troll. And it's not just his personality.

I an an unqualified Literature Abuser (via Jessa)

Political chat shows usually bore me stiff but watching The Daily Show coverage of the RNC was a riot. And Chris Matthews? I like the guy and I don't even know his politics.

I missed Dave Chappelle on Fresh Air which made me mad. I think his show is comic genius.

I never in my wildest dreams thought out of myself as "indie rock" or anything like it. I'm just too happy a person. But on a recent trip to Amoeba, I left with albums by Death Cab for Cutie, and the New Pornographers. Next stop: A morose, ironic haircut.

Sick of politics alltogether? My man Baratunde breaks it down for you

One Sentence Movie Reviews #16

Ella Enchanted (2004): Shrek done live action style is almost as enjoyable as Shrek itself.

Sidenote: I am way too old to have a crush on Anne Hathaway but oh good lord.

Is it done?

Well almost. Almost all the essays for my book are in. I handed my editor the second draft of my introduction on Monday. There's a few pieces outstanding, one or two authors unaccounted for, and probably another crack to be taken at the intro once everything has come in. Ahead lies the marketing plan, scheduling an author photo and finding backup essays if we need them. But for today, I'm enjoying the mountain I've climbed.

I'm leaving now to do dishes and laundry. Simple pleasures.