Who Killed Amanda Palmer?

This isn't a review.

I picked up the new CD (Who Killed Amanda Palmer?) by Amanda Palmer, the singer and primary songwriter for the band The Dresden Dolls. This was a great CD, musically very tight, and a pleasure to hear after the disappointment of the Dresden Dolls' last release Yes Virginia, which was to me a bit of a quality slip from their first release.

The Dresden Dolls are a great band, full of wild and creative energy, and this new release from Palmer shows how that energy and creativity thrives when brought under the focus of a really good producer. Who Killed Amanda Palmer? was produced by Ben Folds (of Ben Folds and the great 90s group The Ben Folds 5). I think that the best producers are those people who are themselves musicians because the understand how the process of being a musician and creating an album works, and in this case I think that Folds' contribution was to bring this wild creativity into a focus where it could really thrive and Palmer could create some of the best music of her career to date.

Frankly, this isn't a departure from the music of the Dresden Dolls. Which, for me, was a good thing because I like their music. If you don't like Palmer's work with them, you probably won't like this new CD either. No amount of producer's polish is going to change things that dramatically. But if you like good, strong, quirky songwriting with instrumentation of pianos, cellos, and a more cabaret sort of feel then I would suggest checking the CD (and the others by the Dresden Dolls) out.

This new CD does, however, raise the bar more than a bit for both Palmer and the Dresden Dolls now. I think that expectations for future music should be raised up as well. This is a good, solid CD and shows what she is capable of doing with a good set of musical tools.

It's Been Five years

Because of real life, I missed the anniversary of this blog. Five years....who would have thought it? Here's to the next five years.

Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing
News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in
News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying
Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying
I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies
I saw boys, toys electric irons and t.v.s
My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare
I had to cram so many things to store everything in there
And all the fat-skinny people, and all the tall-short people
And all the nobody people, and all the somebody people
I never thought Id need so many people

A girl my age went off her head, hit some tiny children
If the black hadnt a-pulled her off, I think she would have killed them
A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of that

I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long
Smiling and waving and looking so fine, dont think
You knew you were in this song
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor
And I thought of ma and I wanted to get back there
Your face, your race, the way that you talk
I kiss you, youre beautiful, I want you to walk

Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, what a surprise
Five years, stuck on my eyes
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Weve got five years, what a surprise
Weve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Weve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, thats all weve got
Five years
Five years
Five years
Five years

[lyrics of Five Years by David Bowie

McDonald's sued over nude photos

A US couple is suing McDonald's for $3m after nude photos of the woman, which were on her husband's mobile phone, ended up on the internet.

Phillip Sherman says he accidentally left his phone, with the photos, at a McDonald's in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Scientists Say Copernicus' Remains Found

Researchers believe they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton they have found with that of hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

DC sends Superman into space and gives Batman his last rites

Dan DiDio of DC Comics talks about Superman leaving 'Action Comics' (and Earth), the revival of 'Adventure Comics' and major changes in Gotham City that will mean 'a close to the existing lore ... the last rites of Batman.'

Star Trek HD Trailer

I love the comments of people on this video. I like the look and hope that it revitalizes the franchise because it really needs it.

NEW Watchmen Trailer

WATCHMEN Trailer

Just so you remember.

Neil Gaiman Does Batman

DC has provided Newsarama with the covers to Batman #686 and Detective Comics #853, the covers to 'Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?' by Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert. Kubert provides variants for both issues - his sketch variant for Detective #853 is not shown, but is the pencil version of the displayed image. The two issues are due in stores in February.

300 RPG Text Files

That's right. I said *text* files. This looks back to the internet when there weren't GUIs, websites or search engines. Hell, sometimes you'd get an address for some great file on to to find out that it wasn't actually even there.

So, let's turn back the clock and see what there was out there.

[via Zachary's RPG Blog II]