Author: jbenton

Really, could there be a better time for my CD burner to crap out than a time when I have a couple dozen mixes to burn? I sent out a big batch today, but there may be a momentary delay in shipping out more. (Ordered a new burner last night, but it won’t be in for a few days. I’ll keep trying to get my current one to keep working — it seems to function, but keeps pumping out screwed-up discs — but if I keep failing, it could be a couple of days before I can start on the next batch. My apologies.)

Interesting profile of Kwame Brown, the 20-year-old who just finished his first year in the NBA. It’s been a rough adjustment.
A plate of strangely shaped fried seafood arrives at the table.
“Is that like fried shrimp?” he asks.
“That’s calamari,” Nasser says. “It’s squid.”
“You shouldn’t have told him that,” Ferrell says.
Brown looks stricken.
“Squid,” he repeats.
“You should have just let him eat it,” Ferrell says with a laugh.

May I make a musical recommendation? The new Imperial Teen album On is such great fun. Sure, it sounds just like their two previous albums, but is that such a bad thing?
Also enjoying the new Gomez (as would be expected), the new N.E.R.D. (perhaps more than I should be), and the new Mooney Suzuki (although less than I was hoping to).

My story in today’s paper: New state exam to get a test run.
It’s not online, but the story ran with a little math quiz showing sample questions from each of the four standardized tests Texas has had over the last two decades (the tongue-twister TABS, TEAMS, TAAS, and TAKS). The tests have gotten harder over time, and the increasing difficulty of the questions illustrates the point. The downside, unfortunately, is that all morning I’ve been taking calls from people who claim we got #4 wrong. (Trust me: we didn’t.) The question:
The student council sponsor is planning to make a circle graph showing the number of votes for each of the candidates for student council president. The table below indicates the name and vote count for each candidate.
Bridget – 240
Hakeem – 420
Maria – 180
Viera – 300
Tony – 60
What central angle should the sponsor use for the section representing the votes for the student who finished in third place?
A. 54 degrees
B. 72 degrees
C. 90 degrees
D. 126 degrees
Your answer? (No cheating by looking in today’s paper.)

“When you try to channel some of that southern friendliness up here, somehow it comes off as slutty.” – Canadian Katherine (though she’s evidently just quoting Joots)

Matt Update: He’s out of surgery, minus one gall bladder, and in the recovery room. No word yet on whether he’s asked doctors to save the gall bladder for use as a cell phone holder.

Everybody send good vibes in the direction of North Dallas, where Matt is scheduled to be suddenly short a gall bladder in a few hours. As he puts it, he’s just helping evolution along by having surgeons remove such an unnecessary organ.

I was up late last night making the April mix, which features a track by Geek Love, a band a few of my friends were in during college. (One of them was named Josh Beaton, which is just one letter from my last name and thus caused endless mistaken identity hijinks, including a drunken woman stumbling into my room sophomore year who had to be convinced I wasn’t the other Josh.) Geek Love, to my knowledge, produced only a single 7″ (“Ariadne”/”Cost,” if you’re planning on running through the used 7″ bins of the East Coast), which I bought but had never listened to because I have no record player. Finally, a friend with the proper equipment burned it onto CD for me, and now this years-dead band will finally be shared with the world. Or at least the 50 or so people who signed up for the April trade.
Anyway, I mention this because the two ex-Geek Lovers I knew best, I-Huei and Greg, are in another great band that you indie rockers will be hearing more from soon, Sea Ray. (Their new single is getting radio play in all the right places, XFM in London and on Morning Becomes Eclectic out in L.A.) And they’ve finally put up a web site with MP3s (although they appear to download like molasses in winter) and a very nice streamed live show. If you’re in NYC, check them out.

I’m thisclose to using Keyser Soze in the lead of one of my stories. I’ll probably chicken out, though. (Isn’t it so exciting to see journalism being born?)

Yeah, I know it’s been on MetaFilter already, but these phone calls are righteous.