Quote of the Day

"I am a loon. I'm on the Canadian dollar bill. It's awful...but you, however, are also a race-baiting fuck."

-- Rachel Maddow, responding to Bill O'Reilly's comment that she's a loon, in the excellent cover story in this week's New York magazine.

If you ever thought that the cable news business had devolved into the playground of a bunch of narcissistic children, consider yourself proven correct.

Listening Post

Sure, it's Guns N' Roses at the height of their silly self-indulgence -- but the superlative guitar work alone makes this song something memorable.

Here's Estranged.

While You Were Out

I'm still relatively incommunicado at the moment, meaning that the only computer and internet access I have is through my Android (which is what's generating this little update). That said, I didn't want to wait to acknowledge what so many of you already know by now and have e-mailed me the details of: Late yesterday, CNN fired Rick Sanchez, a guy who, despite his somewhat polarizing personality, remains a good friend of mine. Regardless of my history with Sanchez, I'm not one for pulling my punches when it comes to evaluating a news item involving the media -- so I promise that I'll have quite a bit to say about Sanchez's offending comments and CNN's decision to fire him tomorrow.

For now, though, off to the pool and some kind of fruity drink. Stay gold, kids.

(Update 2: First thing tomorrow morning, I pinky swear.)

(Update: I'm now back home but unfortunately I have some work that absolutely can't wait -- which means that the piece on Sanchez will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll hopefully have it up in the morning, but if not, tomorrow night at the latest. Thanks for being understanding.)

Book Report

One last thing before I make myself scarce: An animated film based entirely on one person's 100% real Amazon review of The Secret.

This is the best thing you'll see all day (unless you're planning on having sex with Carey Mulligan later).

Fright Night

Another helpful hint for living from the Committee's Almanac: I'll be out of the loop for the rest of the day and probably a good portion of tomorrow. I'm making my annual pilgrimage to the opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando.

I'll probably be taking pictures and posting comments via Facebook and Twitter that are sure to become stranger and more incomprehensible as the night goes on and I plunge deeper into the black abyss of insane revelry -- so feel free to follow along on my little adventure by checking in either of those two places tonight.

Have a good one, kids.

Comment of the Week

From Eric, commenting on the recently discovered O'Dozzy photo:

"Wow. One of those two is a brain-damaged former Satanist who used to appear regularly on cable TV issuing a stream of unintelligible gibberish surrounded by B-list celebrities and the other is Ozzy Osborne."

Congratulations, Eric. As always, you've won a brand new Chrysler Cordoba and you can pick it up at Morty's office.

Listening Post

This songs gets a mention in Dead Star Twilight, and with good reason: It rarely left my hotel room CD player in those first months after 9/11.

Here's a live performance of Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American.

Happy Friday, boys and girls.