Our pal Austin announces his first show!

If you're anywhere near Austin, TX. be sure to check out my pal Austin's show of his paintings.

Peeled, an exhibition of works by the proprietor of the Oily Rags blog, Austin Swinburn, will be appearing in the Flood Gallery from Nov. 24 to Nov. 28. Just in time for Thanksgiving, so almost no-one will actually be able to see it! No fewer than 10 and possibly as many as 20 paintings drawings and sculptures will be on display. An opening reception hosted by the artist will be held in the late afternoon to early evening of Nov. 24, further details to be announced as they become available. However, food and drink will definitely be provided, since otherwise it's certain no-one will show. Come one, come all, tell your friends, tell your enemies.

5:37:07 PM    

Ah, yet another way to move us all down the Road To Serfdom.

Since oil prices are relatively high entering winter, Americans will notice any further problems in Saudi Arabia as they fill up their gas tank or pay for home heating oil. The price for West Texas crude closed above $32 a barrel last week, the highest point since the beginning of October and up from about $25 a barrel last year at this time.

Yeouch! I hope blanket prices don't spike.

5:33:51 PM     leave/read comments []

Iconographers, have at it!

3:47:12 PM     leave/read comments []

Blooper proves bum deal for Sharwoods. Media: Food giant admits the name of its new range of curry sauces means 'arse' in Punjabi. [Guardian Unlimited]

Oops. Bite the wax tadpole while you're at it.

So confident was Sharwoods that its new Bundh sauces would be a hit that it backed the launch with a huge £6m television advertising campaign created by Labour's advertising agency, TBWA.

What it failed to foresee was that "bundh" in Punjabi has an altogether less savoury meaning - the nearest English translation being, to put it bluntly, "arse".

In Japan, we investigate other phenomenon of the nether regions.Experts sniff out why Uranus gas is silent but violent:

Getting set for another grinding day at the office, Hanako Suzuki is riding a crammed Tokyo subway when, suddenly, a strange odor wafts through the carriage. Hanako crinkles her nose once or twice, then takes a deep breath -- and immediately wishes she hadn't.

Hanako shuts her mouth to stop herself retching. She holds her breath to stop the rancid smell from piercing her nostrils. Her eyes bulge and body tenses. Others jostling her in the carriage cough and splutter. Finally, the train stops and carriage doors open, letting in some fresher air and giving commuters a degree of respite.

Hanako's carriage had been gassed. Not the deadly type of attack like death cult AUM Shinrikyo let off in 1995, but the everyday type of gassing that follows somebody's breakfast and the type of assault that make AERA (11/24) ponder why flatulence creating the least noise can create the vilest odors.

11:59:15 AM    

Fuckin' A, Bubba! Check it out:

You're Lou Reed. God, you are cool, can I touch you so the magic will rub off? You are perceptive, witty, and badass. You wear cool shades, even at night, and probably wear black more than most people. You don't give a fuck what other people think, but you are also very sensitive in the way that you pick up on things that others don't. Sometimes you come off as an asshole, but that's what makes you cool. You are a poet, and you embody New York City. You will still be hip when you are old, and artists love you.

Which rad old school 70's glam icon are you? (with pics)
brought to you by Quizilla

Could I have been anyone else? No. I don't think so.

Props to The Melpster for the link.

11:08:37 AM     leave/read comments []

Boing Boing keeps us alerted to new ways to spend your hard-earned:

Domo-kun phone.

It's not clear to me whether this is a phone, a phone-cozy, a homemade phone-mod or a photoshop job, but whatever it is, I want one.

Link (via KoKoRo)
[Boing Boing Blog]

I can't decide if it's cute and cool or just more trendy techno-crap that in six months will look as dumb as an NFL Inside with Rich Eisen logo-ed trucker hat on Paris Hilton's sex tape. (Yes, that was shameless Google-Fishing.)

10:59:05 AM     leave/read comments []

The Band That Can't Stop Recording. With over 15 albums and an estimated 3,000 fans, the spacey progressive band Guided by Voices can continue answering its apparently chatty muse. By Chris Nelson. [New York Times: Business]

Wow, Bob Pollard makes the New York Times. Does that make the Times cool or GbV stodgy? Or maybe just co-opted? I dunno. It's cool to see such a great band get some good pub, though I can't say the fans fare as well.

Mr. Pollard's impressionist songwriting style seems to attract fans with a, well, fanatical bent, Mr. Warren said. "You probably get a lot of people who are more, I wouldn't say artistic, but creative," Mr. Warren said. "Or maybe just anal-retentive."

Yeah, that too.

10:53:25 AM     leave/read comments []

Morons in the News: Bush administration continues to live in fantasy world. The Bush Administration, despite mounting evidence that Saddam had no WMD's, nor had any plans to distribute them to terrorists, continues to claim that he did. [Morons Dot Org]

Amazing, even when the CIA says it ain't so, Bushie and Co. keep it up.

The CIA's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has found no evidence that former president Saddam Hussein tried to transfer chemical or biological technology or weapons to terrorists, according to a military and intelligence expert.

....

"No evidence of any Iraqi effort to transfer weapons of mass destruction or weapons to terrorists," Cordesman wrote of Kay's briefing. "Only possibility was Saddam's Fedayeen [his son's irregular terrorist force] and talk only."

One of the concerns the Bush administration cited early last year to justify the need to invade Iraq was that Hussein would provide chemical or biological agents or weapons to al Qaeda or other terrorists. Despite the disclosure that U.S. and British intelligence officials assessed that Hussein would use or distribute such weapons only if he were attacked and faced defeat, administration spokesmen have continued to defend that position.

10:37:54 AM