Magic Jewball

I tried to keep the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in mind this week when I came up with my choice but I have to admit, none of my favorite songs really fit into his “change through peace” message. So instead I went in a bit more of a Malcolm X direction and chose this “power to the people” type song. If you would like to interpret it as an answer to the presidential address last week, feel free, although I like to keep J-Ball a no-politics-zone. But it’s a free country so don’t let me stop you.

Anyway, the last part of this song is undoubtedly a message we could all stand to yell now and then, whether it’s to The Man or just someone who irritates us. Go ahead, yell along with Zack de la Rocha!

Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of, not available on Napster but available on iTunes.

Being that this is a holiday weekend, (thanks to MLK who had a dream that we’d all have a day off), this isn’t going to be one of those terribly well thought out posts, not that mine usually are. But I did just want to remind everyone that tonight is that big TV return we’ve all been waiting for, that we’ve been anticipating for months and dreaming of all the time. Yes, it’s the Australian Open! What did you think I meant, 24? Clearly you don’t read this blog at all. Anyway, being that there’s that whole time zone thing going on, this evening is actually tomorrow over there and we get our first big tennis of the year. You know what that means: I actually had to update Where in the World is David Nalbandian! We’ll see if I can do better at that this year. If you’re not a tennis fan, don’t worry, I won’t be giving this tournament the full US Open week of blog posts treatment. If you’re not a 24 fan, I won’t be giving that any sort of treatment either. Maybe American Idol, we’ll see if it could actually be any more interesting than Paula Abdul’s crazy-drunk interview last week.

Speaking of TV, I really have to mention two commercials I’ve recently seen. I don’t have a DVR in my bedroom and so when I’m watching that TV I’m actually stuck watching commercials. The first one is just brilliant, it starts with a version of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” just different enough to not upset any copyright laws and it’s this woman dancing around in the waves. Naturally, it’s for a weight-loss drug. But the great thing about it is, the woman says, “I don’t do it for guys, I don’t do it for girls, I do it for me.” Fabulous. At the end of the ad she repeats that affirmation, extorting you to get it for yourself. Then the URL appears: “be-desired.com.” Right, glad we got that whole “love yourself” message across.

The second one is for a new movie, nothing special, but it’s the one that was filmed partially on my block. It’ll be out in one month’s time and although I’ve broken a number of other promises I made in this blog, I will indeed be seeing Music & Lyrics when it arrives in theaters next month. I will of course report back to see if my street made it into the finished film. Promise!

Title comes from:
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out

This morning, and when I say this morning, I mean morning, i.e. 4:30am I heard that Becks is coming to America. For anyone who isn’t as global as I am, that’s David Beckham, the British then Spanish soccer star. You may remember him from such cutesy films as Bend It Like Beckham, although I don’t think he was actually in that. The reason I’m fascinated by this news is hard to sort out. But for you, dear reader, I’m going to try.

I think Posh & Becks are the perfect storm of things that go over well in Europe (I’m sorry to my Britfriends but I’m including the UK in Europe here) but here not so much.

1. Metrosexual, fashionable guys

2. Soccer

3. Posh & Becks as the ultimate celebrity couple

4. Soccer

According to the news bite I saw this morning, Becks is coming here because this is the only place on the planet that isn’t into soccer (he used the word soccer! really!) and he wants to change that. The NY Times says it’s because he’s old and over and oh yeah, the money’s good. I think we all know that LA is more Posh & Becks than Madrid anyway. But I seriously doubt that this will change anything. Speaking as someone who actually watched the World Cup from various bars (if you don’t remember those posts, use the handy search function, I’m too lazy to link you) I have to say, this is truly the world’s most boring game. And if anyone thinks that someone who moisturizes is going to get men into soccer, you clearly come from some other country.

But what about women? Women love soccer! They play soccer! Yes, yes, it’s all fun & games when your kid or Mia Hamm is playing, but in between those things there just isn’t going to be a fanbase there. Unlike Europe, women in the US actually give birth to children and they’re busy.

So let me just say to Becks, the LA Whatevers who have signed him, and the rest of the world: WE ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU. Not better, not worse, just different. Yes, we like different things. Our clothes are different. Our music is different. And we don’t do soccer, except as a funky, niche product. But it’s going to be a lot of fun watching Becks trying to prove me wrong. I believe either way it’s going to be highly amusing.

New Order - World In Motion

I hear that Guy in that white House gave some sort of speech but I thankfully wasn’t around to hear it; I’m sure some more political blogs will be talking about that. Instead, let’s do some updating. I know no one has been able to sleep at night wondering how some of these things turned out. I’ll go backwards.

1. Snow - Yeah, that didn’t last too long. Next!

2. Gas - I don’t think they ever figured that out. That inspires a lot of confidence in me.

3. Unseasonable weather - is supposed to be back this weekend. I got to wear my cute hat for precisely two days.

4. Flavor of Love spinoff - disappointing, but I’ll keep watching.

5. Sleep schedule - finally back to normal. I guess humankind was meant to sleep at night after all. Luckily I have another vacation Monday (thanks, Martin Luther King, Jr.!) so there’s ample chance to fuck it up all over again.

6. MacBook - I know, you have to go back a couple of weeks for this but I did decide to keep it. Sure, the fonts are a bit fuzzy and I don’t understand the half of it but I will, just wait and see. I will not, however, be buying a $600 iPhone. Sure, I carry four gadgets (a phone, a Blackberry, an iPod, and a camera) with me most of the time but each thing does what it does very well. And Steve Jobs got all my money last month anyway.

IT’S SNOWING!!!!!

Yeah, yeah, people in Denver are laughing but I am a happy girl with snowflakes in her hair.