Listening Post

Still one of my favorite summer songs from one of those bands I catch myself going back and listening to quite a bit.

Here's Luscious Jackson's Ladyfingers.

Weekend's just about here, kids.

Running on Empty

My column today for the Daily Banter focuses on Mitt Romney's not-so-excellent adventure overseas and how it just adds more blocks to the six-foot-tall teetering Jenga tower of political liability he's been steadily building.

Here's the opening shot:

"Can we just finally admit that Mitt Romney is the worst candidate the GOP has offered up in, well, maybe ever? Is there anyone who still thinks Romney is anything more than one big walking punchline, an ongoing political disaster of Irwin Allen-esque proportions? Look, I get that if you’re a Republican there’s a pretty good chance that your ebullient hatred of Barack Obama runs so deep that you’d vote for a flaming paper bag full of dogshit if the party nominated it for president, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t have to hold your nose while you were doing it. You’re more than welcome to cast your ballot for Romney in November and to support his candidacy every second of every day until then, but there’s no way you can tell me you’re happy about it. Romney’s not simply the worst possible guy to trot out as your party’s figurehead and message-carrier at this particular point in our nation’s history — with the global economy having been gang-banged by untouchable aristocratic assholes just like him — he’s also thoroughly incapable of relating to anybody on anything approaching a human level without coming off like a creepy version of Jeff Bridges in 'Starman'..."

Read the Rest Here

Quote of the Day

"It's National Badminton Day. Let's forget National Day of Intolerance. Let's just stay with badminton."

-- Shepard Smith, taking a nice little swipe at yesterday's "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day" and its sponsor, his coworker at Fox News, Mike Huckabee

Shep is seriously a national treasure. I've said it before but it bears repeating: Not since Brando in The Island of Dr. Moreau have we seen somebody so entirely throw off the yoke of those paying him and just do whatever the hell he feels like. At this rate, Shep should suddenly stand up, unzip his pants and begin urinating on Andrew Napolitano during an interview segment sometime next week.

Listening Post

For those who haven't yet heard this, Hans Zimmer composed and recorded what's essentially an updated version of The End from the soundtrack to The Dark Knight and released it as a tribute to those who died in the Aurora, Colorado shooting.

The source material was excellent to begin with -- it's one of the most powerful compositions Zimmer has put together in years -- but this is simply an extraordinary piece of music.

Here's Aurora.

Favorite Thing of the Day

I have no idea how long this has been floating around but it just got sent to me and IT IS AWESOME.

(Click to engorge)

(h/t Jim)

The Hunger Games

Today's piece for the Daily Banter takes a look at the games going on behind the Olympic games coverage at NBC -- namely the controversy over whether Savannah Guthrie's Today show co-hosting job is already in jeopardy.

Here's the opening shot:

"I used to have a motto that I lived by when it came to the notion of job security in the TV news business -- it's one I'd pass along to the various rising stars coming up through the ranks whenever the winds of change were gathering in the corner offices of the newsroom: Management is always behind you 100% -- right up until the second they suddenly put their hand against your back and push you out the door. It pretty much goes without saying that no matter the field you work in, you can't put absolute faith in corporate's absolute faith in you, but in mainstream television news that's a fact you have to always keep in the front of your mind or risk being blindsided at the worst possible moment..."

Read the Rest Here

Listening Post

Years after this song's release, I still can't get enough of it. The wordplay alone is worth the price of admission, but the overall feel of it is something sweeping and yet incredibly personal.

Here's Ian Brown's F.E.A.R.