On this week's SynCast, we feature a talk by Arundhati Roy delivered in New Mexico in September 2003. Background tunes provided by yours truly. Thanks to DLF for helping me get the mix right.

(Check it out -- Arundhati's looking at my recent posts!)

March 8: Mark Yer Calendar

Speaking of DLF, she's been instrumental in organizing to bring Afghan parliamentarian and noted human rights activist Malalai Joya to Madison on March 8. If you're in town, you gots to check this out. The BBC didn't call her "the most famous woman in Afghanistan" for nothing!

Et Cetera

Thanks also to DLF for linking us to this interview with Boots Riley of The Coup. New album under construction -- woo! (TPCQ: "Woo! Rumaki!")

Why on Earth do I have giant plush microbes playing chess against Newcastle bottles bookmarked? Am I on drugs or something?

For some reason I have a review of The Vagrant bookmarked. (Probably because someone who shall remain nameless who is a bigEjerk sent me a copy of that turd of a film.) But the review is spot-on: "It's far better to give a dollar to a real vagrant than spending it on this crapola." Amen, brother.

It's All About the Words

One of my favorite phrases of late is "on drugs". It's so terribly vague and amorphous, referring to anything from Rogaine™ to crack cocaine™. You can besmirch and ridicule anyone's argument, position, or opinion by simply asking "Are you on drugs or something?" It immediately stations the recipient on the other side of sanity and worth-listening-to-ness. "What is wrong with you?" works in a similarly fun way.

I also like the word "besmirch".

TimeWaster™

Check out the Word Disassociation video. Kind of a dumb song, but it's a neat approach for a video. You can tell they kinda ran out of ideas toward the end.

Today I'm listening to: Me!