This Guy Falls Down

Abby Cadabby

There's a new muppet on the Sesame Street block, and her name is Abby Cadabby. Having a two year old myself, this is big news around these parts. Actually it's big news everywhere. She was named Person of the Week by ABC News. Here's what they had to say about it:

When you think "Sesame Street," you think Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover: All lovable, all entertaining and all boys.

Not anymore. "Sesame Street's" newest "star" Muppet, Abby Cadabby, is a girl.

Abby Cadabby describes herself as "a fairy in training."

She made her debut on Monday, kicking off "Sesame Street's" 37th season. Three-year-old Abby is the venerable children's show's first female character with major star potential, hoping to rival the likes of powerhouse Elmo.

What took "Sesame Street" so long to embrace girl power the way other popular kids' shows like "Dora the Explorer" and "Lizzie McGuire" have?

"It's hard to write and portray women as funny without giving them some sort of stereotypical hang-ups that we tend to put labels on," says Carol-Lynn Parente, executive producer of "Sesame Street." "If Cookie Monster was created as a female character, she would get sort of pressure for having an eating disorder."

(Read the whole article HERE.)

The Weather Makers, by Tim Flannery (***** out of 5)

Now for the other half of my pair of global warming books to review.* I started with Michael Crichton's entertaining State of Fear, which made the case that climate change is an inconclusive theory which has been pushed by overzealous scientists in the hopes of landing bigger research grants. It makes for an entertaining read, but it would not be my first recommendation as a starting point for your global warming research. That distinction would go to The Weathermakers, by Tim Flannery.

*While I hope that it proves to be a helpful exercise for me to hold these two books up side by side, for reviewing purposes I've tried to judge each work on its own merit. So my ratings of these books have nothing to do with whether I agree with the author's conclusions.

On to the review...

Under the Banner of Heaven - update

Three years ago I did a review of a fascinating and disturbing book called Under the Banner of Heaven which takes a look at the ugly underbelly of the LDS church. Yesterday, Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints leader Warren Jeffs was arrested in Nevada. Jeffs had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List for arranging marriages between older men and underage girls, and had been in hiding since 2005...

New Dylan getting rave reviews

The early reports are good on the new Dylan. Check out this article from Yahoo:

Bob Dylan's new album "Modern Times" was released on Tuesday to rave reviews that showed the 65-year-old legend has plenty to say about the changing times since his last record came out on September 11, 2001.

But in typical fashion, the gravel-voiced star of the 1960s known for mumbling his words says it in elusive fashion.

National Public Radio critic Tom Moon said that much had happened since Dylan's last studio album "Love and Theft," released on the day of the September 11 attacks in Washington and New York, but the new album showed Dylan wrestling with tough issues "in a sly fox sort of roundabout way."

"Those expecting an inventory of catastrophe will be disappointed," Moon said.

"Dylan just glances at current events and that's all it takes for him to conjure up the dread of the age. His songs catch the curious blend of unwavering faith and formless fear that distinguishes the present moment."

(Read the full article HERE)

Also, I've been extremely busy with some studio stuff today and haven't had the chance to listen yet (I know, shame on me), but I heard a preview show on XM Radio yesterday and I liked what I heard.

Beck and the future of music

If you haven't yet checked out the latest issue of Wired Magazine, be sure to snag you a copy. They did a special feature on where music is headed, with an obvious emphasis on technology. The shining star of the issue for me was the Beck article:

Answer the following: You heard Beck's last album, Guero, (a) online as an unfinished mix that was leaked in late 2004; (b) as the official 2005 Interscope CD release, which contained most of the tracks on the leaked version plus a few new songs; (c) as the deluxe CD/DVD edition, complete with seven bonus tracks, a surround sound mix, and interactive video art to accompany every song; (d) in one of the many unauthorized fan mashups floating around the Net; (e) not as Guero at all, but as Guerolito, a commercially released companion piece featuring remixes by Diplo, Adrock, and Boards of Canada.

Whatever your answer – and, yes, you can choose more than one – Guero represented a new way to think about the album. Because there was no album, no static list of 13 songs. Instead, there was a project that drew on Beck's Latin leanings and the Dust Brothers' eclectic production to create a portrait of the artist circa 2003-2005 (a Guero Cycle, if you will). Such is the future of the album, as envisioned by Beck; it's something to be heard, seen, and reconstituted by artist and audience alike. As the Beatles did with Sgt. Pepper's almost four decades ago, Beck has expanded the range and potential of the form.

The repercussions here aren't just creative. The very logistics and economics of the music industry are at stake, as one album becomes a long shelf of songs and products, each carrying its own release date, distribution path, and price tag. In the end, fans can create their own versions of the album, stringing fave songs and remixes into one ideal playlist.

Now Beck is doing it again. The multiple versions, the audience interactions, the multimedia experiments – they're all back in Guero's yet-to-be-titled follow-up, due out this fall. Wired caught up with the iconic singer-songwriter in Los Angeles to discuss mashups, YouTube, and the future of the album.

Read the rest HERE.

New Dylan Releases Today

Consider this your reminder. If you haven't bought it yet, it came out today. Go get it. The third part of the musical trilogy which includes the excellent Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft, Dylan's new album Modern Times is destined to go down as a classic. Which is why you need to run, don't walk, down to your favorite music store and pick it up.

Yes, that means you.

Georgia's Little League championship

Hey, maybe the Braves aren't going to win the division this year, but we're going to get us a championship around these parts one way or another.

Congratulations to the team from Columbus, GA for their victory tonight in the Little League World Series. I had the chance to watch the game and it was incredible. It's hard to believe the pressure placed on these kids. Most of the players, win or lose, were crying at the end. And you couldn't help but feel for the team from Japan - they were obviously heartbroken even before the game was over. But years from now I'm sure that will be gone and they'll be left with some great memories.

Great job, guys!

Lurkers, stand up and be counted

On any given weekday, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 of you checking out this site. Problem is, I have no idea who 195 of you are. And I would love to get to know you. If you have a blog, myspace, or other web presence (no spam!) I'd love to know about it. So here's our chance. Use the comment space below to tell me who you are. Your name, where you're from, your website, anything you'd like to share with me. I'm looking forward to meeting you!

(via PaulStamatiou.com)

PaperBackSwap

If you've been around these parts for very long, you know that I love books. And I love hip ideas that pop up on the internet. And things that are green. Put all of those together and you get PaperBackSwap.

Think of it as kind of a Netflix for books, only it's essentially free. You register at least nine books with the site. When someone requests one of your books, you mail it to them and pay the postage. You then receive a credit towards getting a book from someone else. When they mail it to you, they pay the postage. And, for now at least, there are no fees to pay.

I'm signing up as we speak. Look for a review in the near future...

(via Norene's 5 Percent)

A great biscuit joint

For me, the only thing better than a great barbecue joint is a great biscuit joint. And ever since my southerly migration a few months back, I have been on a desperate quest for the ultimate biscuit. This morning, I found it.

Located on an unsuspecting little ridge road about 30 minutes outside of Atlanta, Stilesboro Biscuits is the kind of place you dream about. It's off the beaten path, it's got cool local knick knacks on the wall (pictures of local hiking trails, Civil War maps and the like), and there's that group of old men who look like they've been hanging around for a long time. They even have live music on Saturdays. And a place like this has to have quirky hours to be legit. In this case, Stilesboro Biscuits is only open on Wednesay through Saturday.

OK, that's great and all, but what about the biscuits? Absolutely amazing. I had the best country ham biscuit I've ever had in my life. And the grits were great too. If you want to know about the rest of the menu, give me a few weeks and I'll be able to tell you - I'm sure I'll have tried everything by then.