Cute and Creepy

Hola amigos,

After an unusually long rainy season, it seems like summer is finally here in Seattle. But that doesn't mean I'll be wasting my time playing in the sunshine; no, I'll still be slaving away in my dark, cramped computer room so that all of you folks can continue enjoying your weekly fix of blog heaven.

This week's post features a couple of things found on the World Wide Web. First up is a website called Angry Alien. Cindy's friend Beth recently turned us on to this site, which features 30-second reenactments of popular movies as performed by cute cartoon bunnies. Only the essential plot points are illustrated, and each clip speeds by at a hilarious pace. All of 'em are great, but my favorite is their version of Brokeback Mountain.

Next up is Monstruos Diabolicos, a webpage devoted to 80's-era Mexican monster trading cards. The cards are pretty cheesy, but the drawings are so low-budget that they end up being way cooler than any of the slick American trading cards I remember from my childhood.

This week on Radio Concord is a song by British musician Robert Wyatt. Originally a drummer for the 60's psychedelic band Soft Machine, he was paralyzed in a freak accident early on and has spent the remainder of his career making solo art-rock records. Here's a song from his latest album:

Happy Birthday!

Today is Cindy's birthday. Here are some facts you should know about her:

- She was born in Guam.

- One of her life goals is to learn to play the banjo.

- She can speak both Spanish and German.

- Cindy once scored the only goal of the season for her first grade soccer team because the goalie was doing a cartwheel.

- She likes cats.

- She is the world's biggest Bonnie Prince Billy fan:

Happy birthday, Cindy!

Tripping

Hey kids,
I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything recently. I spent the past week on the road with Cindy driving down the Oregon coast and hanging out in the Bay Area. It was a great trip, and you can read all about it on her blog, Echo And Hum. While you're at it, check out Three Blind Moose, another great blog by one of Cindy's friends. Both of these blogs are way more entertaining than the one you're reading now, so hop on over there right away.
I also want to apologize to Ben Gibbard and Colin Meloy for the unnecessarily mean post I wrote last week. You guys obviously have lots of fans who adore your music (including many of my readers), and it was wrong of me to pass judgement on it when I haven't really given your albums a fair listen. It's understandable that you two might be upset about all of this, so I'm offering a truce: I'll stop ragging on your bands if you'll stop calling me repeatedly at odd hours of the night. Deal? Good.

The only thing I have to share with you folks today is a NY Times article on flavor tripping. Apparently there is a West African berry called "miracle fruit" which causes taste buds to temporarily make everything taste sweeter and more delicious. After eating one of these berries, lemons taste like candy, beer tastes like milkshake, and cheese tastes like cheesecake. It sounds pretty wacky, and I'm curious to try it. Who knows, I may end up changing the name of this blog to "Miracle Fruit Is Better". Now, if only there were a berry that made Death Cab sound like the Replacements...

Today on Radio Concord is a song by an up-and-coming Seattle band called Throw Me The Statue: