Dion!

Old news, I'm sure in the more hipster enclave-style blog world out there, but your humble scribe here had not heard of the madness that are the recorded "works" of Dion McGregor until quite recently...

A la other weirdo sonic verity items as Raymond and Peter, this dude's roommate would tape his sleeptalking, and eventually Decca even released a record of his strange, strange somnolent ramblings. At first, one's suspicions are that there is no way the man is actually asleep, as he goes on for minutes on end narrating the internal happenings of his dreams; but the details (often conveyed in a fey Paul Lynde-style adenoidal whine) are so logic-defying that it dawns on the listener, that no, brother's asleep.

So, so very odd:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoZAN4n5DBI

Don't you understand it's ALL FOR YOU?

Still haven't digested/listened to all the Kinks box, and now have a Zombies box I have to pare down.

This is when an INTERN would come in handy, for reals!

Up yonder on 202...

"Phoneton"

Yep, it's a little tiny, four-or-so-house burg called Phoneton.

Phoneton?

Yep.

I wonder if scattered around there are other little hamlets that sprang up concomitant to new inventions: Radioburg, maybe, or "Jim's son moved over there to Satelliteville [incorporated 1958]." Toaster Oven City...

I hope this trend (there was one?) comes back: Bratz Doll Village; M4A Township...

Also: need to start a meeting up there..."You know him, he goes to the Saturday 5:30 Phoneton..."

Remember posterity, folks

All politics and tax quandaries aside, does Tom Daschle really want to be remembered at his stepping down as having worn these effed-up specs, ones that bridge the gap between Sally Jesse and the editor-of-SPY-in-The-Philadelphia-Story dude?

Well, does he?

Similar to a mother's adjuration to wear clean skivvies in case you in an auto accident, it's best to never wear anything too frickin' stoopid, lest you have to live with photo proof of your transgressions ad infinitum.

I settled on a look ca. 1988 and am sticking with it. I have toned down the excessively natty-patterned sweaters and moved toward solids, but I remain steadfastly against weird statements such as Tom's "Hey! Look! I'm an INTELLECT!" goggles.

None more wintry!

My pal Chooch sagely advised years ago that Swedish band Kent's 2000 LP Hagnesta Hill was the ultimate winter LP. Advised it to the point that when he sent it to me in August he added the caveat to "Put away until winter."

Well, looking out at the snow coming down, I thought: "Dagfrabbit, I should blast that Kent record!" and currently am doing, and boy, does it rock! Super-sinewy yet icy!

"Musik Non-Stop" (in Swedish, yes; LP I have is in Amurrican talk):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJeRAH2B8Fs

Wealth, attainment of

There's a commercial playing currently on our local crying-admin radio station where a warm and effusive voice touts a seminar at the mall Holiday Inn on topics relating to personal finance and how to make the most of your ducats. With a free gift (I have plenty of ballpoints, thanks)!



What slays me are the little nibbles of the knowledge that can be gained at this shaminar, my very favorite being: "Saving money won't make you rich!"

Because, things being the way they are, people should still be learning tricks to become Housewives of Tackytown-style RICH! As opposed to just, say, eating and paying one's bills.

This is an old trope from the "happiness is a destination" school and I'm jazzed that it still survives!

Not saying one should keep cash in a Medaglia d'Oro can, either. One can never beat the gold standard set by Hetty Green, once featured in Ripley's as the "greatest miser of all time":

Her frugality extended to family life. Her son Ned broke
his leg as a child, and Hetty tried to have him admitted in a hospital charity
ward. When she was recognized, she stormed away vowing to treat the wounds
herself. The leg contracted gangrene and had to be amputated –
he ended up with a cork prosthesis.

I mean, doesn't she look happy, though?

Nick's Picks 2/3/2009

How come no one has opened a 24-hour Chinese resturant?...Don't those long-haired football players worry about getting their locks stepped on?...Taco Bell started its long decline into full suckitude when they did away with green sauce...if it's pretentious to intend the next month repairing gaps in my Nabokov reading, then tag! I'm it...hard to believe, but golden raisins go great with halibut...it takes some doing to get through a Kinks box set...some people are passionate about dogs, but my money's on cats...if next Superbowl

you intend to skip out on watching and want instead to watch a movie from 1995 with Danny "Machete" Trejo in the cast, make sure it's Michael Mann's Heat...