Today is A Beautiful Day

I love the Internet.

I love the way it connects people. I love the way it has changed everything.

A couple days ago, Broken Social Scene's new album got leaked to the Internent. It is... different and tough and rough in all the right places. I still haven't formed a full opinion on it but I expect to love it once I get to know it. (Like a good friend.)

The response to the album has been polarizing. Lots of people - fans, i assume, of the first album - are angry about this strange piece of almost-violent music. Others, like me, are happy to have something new to listen to and are enjoying it. But the band has probably recieved a shit load of pissed off emails saying things like, "What were you thinking releasing THIS album?" or other such bullshit. Well, they posted this on their website two days ago and I think it's hilarious and beautiful.

Yes, That Is The Real Name of the Song

In lieu of actual content, here's some lyrics from my current Album of the Week, Sufjan Steven's Illinois:

"They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh!!"

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Logan, Grant, and Ronald Reagan
In the grave with Xylophagan
Do you know the ghost community?
Sound the horn, address the city
(Who will save it? Dedicate it?
Who will praise it? Commemorate it for you?)

We are awaken with the ax
Night of the Living Dead at last
They have begun to shake the dirt
Wiping their shoulders from the earth
I know, I know the nations past
I know, I know they rust at last
They tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Can you call the Captain Clitus?
B-U-D-A! Caledonia! S-E-C-O-R! Magnolia!
B-I-R-D-S! And Kankakee! Evansville and Parker City

Speaking their names, they shake the flag
Waking the earth, it lifts and lags
We see a thousand rooms to rest
Helping us taste the bite of death
I know, I know my time has passed
I'm not so young, I'm not so fast
I tremble with the nervous thought
Of having been, at last, forgot

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Ring the bell and call or write us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Can you call the Captain Clitus?
Comer and Potato Peelers! G-R-E-E-N ridge!
Reeders M-C-V-E-Y! And Horace! E-N-O-S!
Start the chorus

Corn and Farms and Tombs in Lemmon
Sailor Springs and all things feminine Centerville and Old Metropolis
Shawneetownn, you trade and topple us

I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Hold your tongue and don't divide us
I-L-L-I-N-O-I-S! Land of God, you hold and guide us

Man, I love these people.

Pboz email recieved today:

Hi, how's your summer going? Yeah? So Listen. Here's the thing. Kristin and Alison are now left in charge of the Pboz print office while Whitney lives the glamorous life of Executive Editor of a literary magazine. [ed. note: they are completely full of crap.] That means while she's off gallivanting we are toiling in the trenches of Pboz Headquarters, also known as Alison's kitchen. If you submitted during the last reading period, thanks by the way. But you probably noticed it took us a lengthy amount of time to respond to your submissions. A really long time, like way longer than usual considering there's two of us. And for that, dear submitters, we are sorry. It's just that there are so many of you who submit, which is awesome, really truly awesome and we love it. And we read every word you send over and sometimes we fall a little bit in like, or love as the case may be for those accepted, and sometimes we hold onto your stories and share them with each other. So as you can imagine there's a backlog, or bottleneck, or whatever else they call us not getting your responses out in a timely matter. Then sometimes you're all, "What the deal, yo?" And we're all, "Hold up, yo. We on it. Dats wassup."


Although I wish they'd publish my new story already.

"I Frakked Up, Bill. Bad."

Okay, how awesome was Battlestar Galactica this weekend?

How awesome is this show, in general? Brilliant first season dotted with some episodes gone astray and so far, a tightly written and extremely well-concieved second season. This is the best SciFi on TV since DS9.

It should be fascinating to watch Adama try and clean up the mess Tigh made of everything. And I can't wait to see new developments on Caprica.

A frakking good time