True Powell Pictures

David Hasslehoff Hits Amazon

For those of you whose only experience of David Hajamapp is this 18-track CD, you don't know what else you're missing out on. I'm don't dissing this greatest hits comp, because I do indeed feel like it's a fascinating archive of David's greatest work; I just feel that so much else is out there to experience beyond this realm of familiarity.Take his landmark 1993 album "Freedom Sitting On a Fist," for example. The 34 songs he burps out on this double CD has more challenging and confrontational material. "Don't You Oppress Me, Mister" is a disturbing look at the seamy side of concert security. "Easy With That Wand" paints a dark, unsettling portrait of magician's assistants.Even his 1989 release "Stained Thong" has more experimental material. "Two Bowling Balls in a Hammock" and "(Let My Cleft Chin) Hold Your Cigar" are two watershed moments in avant garde musical experimentation.But whatever the difference of opinion, what David has kept faithful throughout his storied career has been a style that cannot be duplicated. His voice sounds like a rottweiler mauling a retarded bear, something that every new act out there has tried to reproduce, to no effect. And their covers of "Hot Shot City" aren't particularly good, either.

lovingly preserved by Amazon

A is for Atom, How to Be Popular, Duck and Cover

If you haven't already, visit the Prelinger Archives. It's a collection of old industrials and Civil Defense newsreels. Frightening, funny and ironicalicious.

Lord Dacre Dies

As a teenager, I saw Hugh Trevor Roper speak at Oxford. Beforehand, we were admonished: "Don't mention the war."

Kikkoman

Soy sauce and ridiculous Japanese advertising parodies. Perfect together. http://yoga.tripod.co.jp/flash/kikkomaso_e.swf

I Told You So

The FBI is collaborating with the DoD on Total Information Awareness. In a free society, the military doesn't get to spy on its own citizens. It's just not done. Thanks to Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa) for making this public.

Hatch Behaves Like A Gentleman

Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is going to put the Pickering nomination on the back burner. Even if he's just saving Pickering for later, it's nice to see someone behave like a normal human being and not a slack-jawed ideologue who thinks an up or down on Pickering has some momentous significance for the future of the country. It's just a judicial nomination, for god's sake.

Krugman’s Lazy Stalker

US Presents Compromise Draft to Security Council

Iraq Empties Jails

At noon this Sunday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared a general amnesty, releasing nearly every prisoner in the country. "It is the act of a father forgiving his children," one prison official said. Very few details are available, even days later. It was widely reported that the amnesty was not discharged in an orderly fashion. Crowds rushed into the prisons, and at the Abu Ghraib prison, many inmates were crushed or suffocated in the chaos.