shins video

A boring, yet strangely mesmerizing video for the Shins’ “New Slang.” Just a girl on a porch, staring into the camera and lip-syncing the song. The way she breaks up laughing at the end just makes you fall in love. (Trivia: That’s Kim Baxter of the All-Star Summer Fun Band.) I like it much better than the other (official?) video for the song.
And it’s about damned time the Shins record another album. Their last one was gorgeous.

laexaminer, dot-la

That’s what I get for not checking in at laexaminer.com for a couple weeks: they’ve up and relaunched. What was once a smart media-centric site (run by West Coast bloglords Layne and Welch) has now become a low-rent SoCal Gawker. Maybe they’ll hit their stride, but I’m not seeing it yet (and I’m a Gawker fan). The tone’s off, and the design’s goofy.
Meanwhile, the old laexaminer.com role appears to have fallen to the new laobserved.com.
Also noted: “Los Angeles is the world’s first and only city to receive its own unique Internet address: .la.” How strange is that? Can Dallas now get .dl or .ds? Or .df for the Metroplex?
Of course the added bonus is that .la works perfectly well for Louisiana web sites. I immediately tried to register www.rayne.la (in homage to my hometown), but the site says it’s already been registered. Doubtful.

taks trademark, parker county

Here’s my story from today’s front page, on Texas’ new efforts to sell its standardized tests to folks out of state. I believe (cross your fingers) that this is my last standardized test story for a while. Praise be.
I had to work a 3 p.m.-to-midnight shift Saturday night, and I thought it would be a fine time to catch up on some blogging. Alas, I ended up spending the whole damned shift dodging mosquitoes and tracking escaped convicts. Here’s that story.