Miscellaneous: Today’s Random Thoughts

Watching The Sopranos during the day just feels wrong. Especially when it’s an episode as disturbing as the one that premiered on Sunday.

Interesting article by Lauren Collins in the May 14 issue of The New Yorker about the reclusive graffiti artist Banksy. It stands to reason that Banksy would have a website where he can post comments. Same goes for a professional photographer who may or not have taken Banksy’s picture, and various art critics. But when the head of Los Angeles’ animal services, who objected to the use of a painted elephant in a Banksy installation, has a blog, we have reached a strange cultural stage. This could be the future of journalism. A reporter simply visits the blogs of every person involved in an incident, aggregates them, and creates a semi-definitive version of events. Call it Rashoblog. (That’s trademarked, by the way.)

Collins also makes this interesting comparison, which I’m still pondering:

“The graffitist’s impulse is akin to a blogger’s: write some stuff, quickly, which people may or may not read. Both mediums demand wit and nimbleness. They arouse many of the same fears about the lowering of the public discourse and the taking of undeserved liberties.”

I can resist any TV commercial pitch – unless Bruce Campbell is involved. Hat tip to Bill Crider. What am I going to do with all this body spray?

I’m late to this party, but so what: Mika’s song “Lollipop” is now playing in my head in a constant loop. It’s a strangely perfect blend of Queen and The Jackson 5. It’s like a Pixie Stick for your ears.