They Might Be Giants

Saw TMBG in Prospect Park in Brooklyn for free last night. Was reminded that the Johns wrote one of the greatest lines ever: "I'm interested in things." And was reminded of just how solid their live show really is.

Download.com

I threw three Monkey Throw Feces songs up on CNET's mp3.com replacement. And look, we're beating David Cross with 211 downloads to his 137. This with only two days head start. Amazing.

Lawrence Olivier

I watched a 1972 Lawrence Olivier film last night called "Sleuth." Suffice to say, it was not very good. But beyond that, having now seen two Lawrence Olivier films (the other being Rebecca), I've come to the conclusion that the good Baron really isn't that good an actor. Perhaps it is just a function of the era in which I was born--in which an actor actually tries to portray a character realistically, instead of playing a pompous orator with a couple of nervous ticks meant to represent the character--but I'm here and now starting a movement to stop revering Lawrence Olivier and his hammy kin. Join me?

Price Discrimination

Why on Earth is this so hard for media pundits to get? I was listening to Air America (I know, I know), and this guy was chastising the pharmaceutical companies for charging Americans more than foreigners for the same drugs. He correctly pointed out the safety argument is bunk, but failed to recognize there is a very good reason other than greed. Or, at least, not greed in the sense he thinks of it.

If the U.S. allows consumers to import their drugs from Canada or Nigeria, what is going to happen? The drug companies are going to stop selling their products at a discount in Canada and Nigeria. Which means Joe American stops getting to buy cheap drugs, and must go back to the domestic prices. Fine. But what happens to Joe Canada or Joe Nigeria? Joe Canada and Joe Nigeria must start buying drugs at or closer to the American price. Neither cannot afford the higher price. Both now die sooner, because they cannot afford the drugs they need. And here's the kicker. Because the drug companies are forced to drastically reduce their sales base--because only countries with residents with enough money to purchase at American prices will actually buy--the American price will actually go up. So everybody loses.

I'm no economist. I don't know whether, if we start allowing drugs to get shipped over international borders, this will actually happen. But it isn't as stupid or as simple as some pundits are making it out to be.

Cabaret

Just watched the film version of Cabaret, and I have to say I wasn't that impressed. The music was good, but not that good. The entire production stank of the 70s: overexposing every other shot, using sloppy camera angles, and using rapid editing in excess of good taste. Liza is more odd looking than attractive. But mostly, I think I was bothered by the you're-gay-because-you-haven't-fucked-the-right-woman mindset. Even when it doesn't work out between Liza and M. York, it is because deep down he isn't a party guy, not because deep down he likes to suck cock. It is a shame that American cinema was still treating homosexuality like a fetish in 1972. I suppose it is more of a shame that it still does.

Binocular

Why is the word "binocular," and not "biocular?" Where did the "n" come from?

Polling

On January 8th, according to SurveyUSA, Howard Dean would have been endorsed by Iowa with 25-34% of the vote. On January 20th, the day after the Iowa Caucuses, Iowa chose John Kerry, leaving Howard Dean with only 18% of the votes.

One possible read on this is that of the 100,000 to 125,000 Iowans that participated in the caucuses, somewhere between 7000 and 20,000 Iowans changed their minds between January 8th and January 19th. This is possible, of course.

But isn't the more rational conclusion to reach is that SurveyUSA screwed up? Perhaps its survey methods are flawed; perhaps its survey methods were corrupted; perhaps its statisticians are pranksters. Perhaps--and here's what I'm really getting out--there isn't really all that strong a correlation between what people say on the phone and what they do in the voting booth.

The Howard Dean "fall" is just an example. The news is riddled with many examples of supposed "sea changes" or "about faces" in public opinion that may never have happened. Isn't it more likely that for every time a whole bunch of people went from being adamantly opposed to Issue X to being adamantly for Issue X, there are ten more times where the pollsters just didn't find truth through the telephone in the first place? Isn't it more likely that Howard Dean was never the front-runner?

Gap-Toothed Dancer

I went to this New Brunswick bar last night with a few people. The bar was called J & J's or something. It replaced this placed called My Three Sons, which was good only for package goods; sort of seedy and unhip. On the way in, I see this guy, Joe Davicson, who lived in my freshman year dorm, and who inadvertently pushed my current girlfriend of nearly seven years into my arms in the first place. See, he kept hitting on her, because she was single; he was so creepy, she came to me, who was also hitting on her, but less creepy. I thought about saying hello to Joe, but decided against it. He likely doesn't have as fond memories of me as I do of him.

So we get to the back room of the bar, where the dancing is going on, and there is this guy dancing. Dancing obnoxiously, and with anyone he could, including yours truly. Usually when people have bad teeth, it is because they have too many. This guy had too few. Not like he lost some in a fight or due to rot. He just had spaces between his teeth. Spaces so large that flossing becomes an adventure.

Shops

My brother and I started Monkey Throw Feces a few years back. We had a few songs on the pre-CNET mp3.com. We had a few fans. Well, at least one. This guy emailed us, asking where he could purchase a MTF tee. So I created a CafePress shop, then pointed him there. Then I promptly forgot about it.

The other day, I remembered it. And went and looked. Apparently, this one fan bought three shirts. So there is this guy wandering around Florida wearing Monkey Throw Feces shirts several times per week. And I have three dollars and three cents sitting in a CafePress account. Meaning I'm only 22 more shirt sales (or, at the current rate, roughly eight more fans) from seeing an actual check. Amazing. And all I did was throw together a few images.

So now I've decided to speed things up. I put up a Yodelling Llama Shop as well. With a frisbee and a sticker. Everybody loves stickers. Especially ones that encourage fellow drivers to "Stop Breeding!" And I'm working on putting together a Monkey Throw Feces album. Which explains the image at the MTF shop. What is not yet understood is why Pop Song #42 is not uploadable. CafePress' tech people have been most unhelpful. Oh well.

Site Up

Looks like YL's back up and running.

Democracy for America

I have a confession. I was a Howard Dean fan. From pretty early on. Certainly before anyone was calling Dean the presumptive nominee, which itself was before anyone actually voted in a primary. I was a Dean fan because, despite how portrayed in the media, Dean was a moderate. A fiscal moderate--who actually believed in figuring out where the money is going to come from (something neither Kerry nor Bush seems concerned with)--and a foreign policy moderate--who actually believed in waging war when necessary.

So after Dean dropped out and endorsed Kerry, and after Dean for America morphed into Democracy for America, I looked to see what there was for me to do. What have I leaned? Not much. DFA paints itself as an organization. It is not. It does not provide as many concrete goals or activities that individuals can accomplish. It is more of a way to meet like-minded individuals, and there you can figure out what to do. Fine. But it isn't even as effective as Meetup at accomplishing that very limited function. Oh well.

At first I was bothered by DFA's reference to its fora as "forums." So I checked. And Merriam-Webster agreed with the DFA folks. Apparently, the English language was butchered into allowing "forums" as an alternate pluralization so long ago that it is now an accepted form. Fuckers.

What next bothered me is that my suggestions regarding the Nader candidacy and gay marriage (look for posts by yllama) were not even addressed. I mean, what is wrong with these people that they don't even ridicule a stupid idea, or fawn over a good idea, or critique a flawed idea, or whatever you want to call it?

But then I became less of a whining bitch, and realized that no one cares about ideas. Especially when they are old hat. These people just want to bicker amongst themselves and accomplish nothing. Fine. But in the end, that is all I want to do as well. Bickering is what makes life worth living, no? So who am I to criticize, just because they want to bicker about something different?

Not The Onion

A few months ago, a few other fellow alumni from The Medium got together to do something like YL. So was born Not The Onion. NTO has about the same appealing lack of site design that YL has, about the same quality of writing, and an even more unfortunate name, if that is possible. I posted a few things at first, before realizing that it was going nowhere. It gets almost as few hits as YL, and with many more writers. What a glorious mistake.

Site Down

YL is down right now. I'm not sure why, and it is pissing me off. I was going to post a new review to The Day the Earth Stood Still, a somewhat campy old s/f film from right after the end of the cold war. And I'm being prevented from doing so. Oh well.

Start

I'm getting to a late start, but in the grand tradition of Slumbering Lungfish, I've decided that Yodelling Llama needs a blog. In case you are unaware, YL is my pet humor site that I started shortly after leaving the warm embrace of college and the humor newspaper The Medium. So why a separate blog? Sometimes I have random thoughts that don't fit with the YL format. And sometimes I want to call attention to changes on YL. Why not just create a subdomain? Because 1 & 1 has been glitchy lately, and if I have everything hosted in one place, and the server goes down, I'm without recourse.

Welcome.