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Archives for May 2008

Into Outer Space with Jeff Bezos

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Yesterday at Book Expo America, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced plans to take over the publishing industry. After that, he plans to fly away to space.

The publishing industry’s reaction? Polite applause.

Bezos’ presentation was something of a coming out party for the Kindle. This is the first Book Expo since the Kindle’s release, and it was the first time that the industry as a whole has had a good look at the device.

Launched last December, the Kindle is just now becoming widely available without a long delay. Bezos was on hand to show off the Kindle, brag about early user reactions, and beat around the bush about what appears to be very promising ebook sales figures.

Naturally, book publishers love Bezos. He’s the man who figured out how to sell books on the Internet. He took the hard work out of ecommerce and provided publishers with an incredibly efficient sales channel at no cost to the industry. What’s not to love?

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The Daily Loper – May 30, 2008

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Where the Banshees Live and They Do Live Well Edition

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Why is Prince Being a Creep About that Radiohead Cover?

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You’d think that it would be so easy: as a wink and a nod at the audience for whom he’s performing, Prince does a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella, a bunch of cell-phone videos gets put up on YouTube, and everybody marvels — for the eighty zillionth time — at what a versatile mother-fracker Prince is.

And, oh yeah, what a great song “Creep” remains. Sure, it would have been cooler had Prince covered “Karma Police” or “Everything In Its Right Place,” (especially if Prince had changed the opening line to “Yesterday I woke up, you were sucking my lemon”), but, all things considered, “Creep” was good enough, and the whole thing just becomes part of the legend of both artists.

You’d think. But, as it turns out, things are a bit more complicated. Which since it’s Prince and Radiohead, makes a lot of sense, since inherent in the greatness of each artist is more than a touch of madness.

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The Daily Loper – May 29, 2008

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Beautiful and Stoned Edition

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The Daily Loper – May 28, 2008

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I Hear Books, And Jane Wanting To Cry Edition

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The Daily Loper – May 27, 2008

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Say “Good Night,” Dick Edition

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Gods Save The “Save Dollhouse” Campaign

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As some of you might know, I’m married to a pretty big fan of all things Joss Whedon. Rox discovered Buffy The Vampire Slayer between the third and fourth seasons as a necessary antidote to my need to watch every inning of every SF Giants game, and has pretty much snapped up everything he has done since, right up to the Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6 comic books that mysteriously show up at our place every month.

And naturally, we’ve watched the Buffy, Firefly and Angel DVDs, uh, a few times. Luckily, I like all of those shows wayyyyy more than she ever liked Barry Bonds, so it’s not really an issue, except that I never want to watch the episode where Xander turns into a fish ever again.

So it goes without saying that our household is looking forward to Dollhouse, Whedon’s return to TV — FOX, no less! — after the Firefly fiasco. But, my guess is that as big of a fan as she is of all things Whedon, even she probably would find the Save Dollhouse! campaign a bit excessive.

That’s right, months before the first episode even airs, potential fans of the show are already discussing what they are going to do when FOX inevitably axes the show.

Talk about planning ahead!

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The Daily Loper – May 23, 2008

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Raise a Toast to St. Joe Strummer Edition

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Certain Songs: Creedence Clearwater Revival – Ramble Tamble

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“Certain songs,”Craig Finn sang on The Hold Steady Almost Killed Me, “they get scratched into our souls.” That’s the basis of our latest feature: a look at the songs that have done just that. These aren’t necessarily our favorite songs or the songs that we think are the best, but rather songs that — every single time we hear them — instantly transport us back to a place and time in which that song is forever intertwined. This is one of the reasons we so hate the RIAA’s attempted stranglehold on the dissemination of music: you never know where that next certain song is going to come from.

CosmoIt’s around 5:00am on a balmy August morning in 1981, and I’ve not yet been to sleep. I’m in the passenger seat of Larry’s car — a light blue Dodge Colt with a long white CB antenna mounted on the back bumper — and we’re driving back to Fresno from L.A. after a marathon concert by Bruce Springsteen. Tim is asleep in the back, and as we approach Fresno, the sun starts peeking over the Sierra Nevadas.

And the song that’s blaring from the cassette deck: “Ramble Tamble.” I think about this every time I hear that song.

Here’s the other thing: I’m almost positive that this memory is false.

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The Daily Loper – May 22, 2008

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How Are We Supposed to Act When R. Kelly Come? Edition

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