do not fret, the bus will get you there yet


* An open letter to movie chains regarding the high cost of moviegoing. via [tim thompson] excerpt:

"Last week I went to my local Famous Players - Silver City theater on a Friday night. A single ticket was going to cost me about $14.00. Let me repeat that. A SINGLE ticket was going to cost me about $14.00! For those of us who are mathematically challenged, that was about $28.00 if I had a date (as I already mentioned, something that doesn't happen that often). Having lightened my load of all that money, I was easily able to lightly walk over to the extortion , errrr… I mean Concession stand to get some popcorn and a couple of drinks. I noticed on the menu board that there was a combo DEAL. The word DEAL was a welcome sight to my now impoverished eyes. Here was the DEAL. 2 regular sized soft drinks and a large popcorn for… $12.00 after taxes?!?! $12.00 was the DEAL?!?! You do realize that I could have bought a 2 Liter of Coke and a 10 pack of Microwavable popcorn for $5 right? I nearly passed out when the girl at the counter told me a small bottled water would run me $3.

"So far I would have spent $40 for a night at the movies. Lucky for me I didn't have to pay for parking.

"I still remember not that long ago when after sitting in my seat, the only thing between me and my movie (which I had paid for) was a couple of trailers. Not anymore. Today we are forced to sit through 4, 5 sometimes 6 commercials before even getting to the previews. How does that work? We pay to get in! When we watch free TV we understand having to sit through commercials… but when I pay for a pay-per-view movie, I expect there to be none. $28.00 for a couple of tickets and yet I still have to sit through all these tediously annoying ads?"

* Potential track listing for the reissue of crooked rain crooked rain which is scheduled for release on October 26, 2004:

DISC ONE

THE ALBUM

1. Silence Kid
2. Elevate Me Later
3. Stop Breathin
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Newark Wilder
6. Unfair
7. Gold Soundz
8. 5-4 = Unity
9. Range life
10. Heaven Is a Truck
11. Hit the Plane Down
12. Fillmore Jive

B-SIDES

13. Nail Clinic
14. Camera
15. Raft
16. Cooling by Sound
17. Haunt You Down
18. Jam Kids
19. Strings of Nashville
20. 5-4 Vocal
21. Exit Theory
22. Unseen Power of the Picket Fence
23. Stare
24. Kneeling Bus

DISC TWO

GARY SESSIONS

1. Broke in November
2. Soiled Little Filly
3. Follow Gently
4. Range Life
5. Stop Breathing
6. Ell Ess Two
7. Flux = Rad
8. Bad Version of War
9. Same Way of Saying

ALBUM OUTTAKES

10. Hands Off the Bayou
11. Heaven Is a Truck (Egg Shell)
12. Grounded
13. Kennel District
14. Pueblo (Beach Boys)
15. Fucking Righteous
16. Colorado
17. Dark Ages
18. Flood Victim
19. JMC Retro
20. Rug Rat
21. Strings of Nashville (instrumental)
22. Instrumental
23. Range Life (w/ horns)
24. All My Friends

* Dick Cheney, back seat president. excerpt:

"He is not only the most powerful vice-president in American history. He is also the most controversial, a man whose decisions have repeatedly given even loyal Republicans pause. Four more years of George W. means four more years of Bush-Cheney: the closest thing to a co-presidency America has ever seen.

"For the past four years the two men have been inseparable. Most vice-presidents have to fight for time with their boss; Mr Cheney sees his several times a day. Most vice-presidents spend their days at state funerals; Mr Cheney, more than anyone else, picked the members of the current administration. Thereafter he helped to shape the administration's policies on everything from energy policy to the invasion of Iraq.

"The Republicans have repeatedly reminded Americans this week that September 11th 2001 defined this administration. But who was in charge on that terrible day? It was Mr Cheney who took most of the key decisions—from hiding the president to authorising the shooting-down of suspicious aircraft—while Mr Bush was holed up in Nebraska."
...
"The cumulative effect of all these mistakes not only suggests a worrying preference for ideology over common sense, but an arrogant indifference to the checks and balances that are the glory of the American constitution. During the Ford administration, the Secret Service gave Mr Cheney the codename “Backseat”. One of the big questions facing America is whether this particular backseat driver is taking his boss in the right direction."