Jonathan Coulton’s tour stops in Phoenix on May 15. That’s a Thursday, so it’ll be a pain to get there between work, the 100-mile drive, the early-ish start time, and the Diamondbacks game going on a half-mile from the venue. But what can I do? It’s Jonathan Coulton. He’s on the Life List.

Speaking of which, so is Nick Cave, who’s playing the Hollywood Bowl in September. That’s the closest he’s come to my part of the world in the last decade I’ve been buying his albums. I’ll have to do that one, too, assuming it isn’t already sold out.

I have so much primary fatigue that I’m having trouble putting it into words.

I’ve had a whole rant building for two weeks now, yet have been unable to sit down and write it. Fortunately, Hunter has been on a roll lately, and Jon Stewart has my back as usual (and again on Thursday). Better their rants than mine.

Is this seriously how we choose a president? Whoever looks the most comfortable bowling and doing shots of Crown Royal? I’m not sure what’s sadder, the idea that the media thinks these are the issues that matter to working-class white people, or the idea that they really are.

If it’s the latter, I say it’s time to deny the vote to white males. I wouldn’t be able to vote, either, but think of the greater good. At least I’d finally have good reason to stop reading the blogs.

I have a feeling it’s the former, though. Right now, we have an absurd situation in which millionaire newsmen and pundits are trying to convince me that Clinton and McCain, each wellborn (Hillary born rich, McCain born into a lineage of Navy Admirals) and worth hundreds of millions of dollars (in McCain’s case, he re-married into money), are LESS ELITIST than the half-black guy raised by a single mother who used his first book royalties to pay off his college loans.

Maybe if politicians and media stopped treating the working class like intellectual infants, they’d be less susceptible to the whole “God, Guns, and Gays” strategy Obama was talking about. You know, the one Republicans and rural Democrats have been successfully using for decades.

Whoops, this became a rant after all, didn’t it? And I didn’t even get into my new issues with Hillary and her circular firing squad.

Sigh.

The PA polls close in a couple of hours, but I think I’m going to spend the evening far from the Internet in a happy cloud of political ignorance.

Some cool links until I’m able to put together the blog entry I really want to write:

• The next time someone insists that high gas prices are caused by damn hippie environmentalists blocking oil companies from building more refineries (which is a meme that’s out there), drop this knowledge: with gas at $3.50, US refineries are running at only 81% capacity.
• This pretty much never happens, but I agree with George Will on the Fed’s role in bailing out the financial industry: “Congress could pass a law saying: No company benefiting from a substantial federal subvention (which would now include Morgan) may pay any executive more than the highest pay of a federal civil servant ($124,010). That would dampen Wall Street’s enthusiasm for measures that socialize losses while keeping profits private.”
• My dream house has a library. Of course, it also has a jacuzzi…
• WWNPHD? I should note that this is Kristie’s new wallpaper, and it is awesome.

Links for a Thursday:

• Holy crap! I remember reading the Star Wars novelization as a kid (a hopelessly nerdy kid…) and being struck by the odd inclusion of scenes where Luke witnesses the space battle that opens the film and then hangs out with his teen gang and bestest pal Biggs. It turns out those scenes were filmed after all, and they’re on YouTube. Guess what? They kinda suck.
• In honor of its 85th anniversay, Weird Tales chose its 85 weirdest storytellers of the past 85 years. And I really like the list, not only because some of my favorite authors were on it, but because they expanded the definition of storyteller to include people like Nick Cave, the Coen brothers, Hunter S. Thompson, and Warren Zevon.

They’re so delicious and moist:

• Since I finished Portal last night, this is good timing. In this clip from a Scottish video game award show, Jonathan Coulton performs the song from the reward/credits screen, “Still Alive.”
• Shaenon Garrity has raised $1,745 for Match It for Pratchett. Granted, the dollar is so weak that it’s worth about £2.48, but still… that’s impressive.
• Comic artist Chip Zdarsky pays the rent by illustrating articles for the National Post, and I really dug this one that accompanied an article about dating. Chip’s original post is here.
• Steampunk Star Wars. Sweet.
• Obama’s mama was an interesting person. You know, he already has my vote and financial support, but if he wins the presidency, maybe I’ll read his books, too.

I meant to blog about this a week ago, then got distracted: at the beginning of the month, Cinematic Titanic sent me an email reminding me that the long-promised downloadable version of their first episode, The Oozing Skull, was finally available. (To date it is still their only episode, apparently due to the writer’s strike and related set-rental issues. More episodes are promised over the summer.)

Back when the DVD was released, I told myself if the eventual download was under $10, I’d buy it. Actual retail price: $9.99. So I signed up for the service and downloaded it.

And it’s not bad. Not MST3K-quality, but funny. It’s interesting — if you compare it to Rifftrax, you can kind of tell which group wrote which jokes on MST3K. If the joke is more confrontational about the story, setting, or filmmaking, it’s probably the Rifftrax people. If it’s more genial and silly or references a hopelessly obscure 60s/70s TV show, it’s probably from the Cinematic Titanic crew.

Sometimes you gotta laugh til the tears roll. From last night’s Daily Show:

Two links for 4/1:

• V-Hiver Aaron Veenstra put together a collection of Best Live Acts of 2007, as shot by handheld camera from the audience. I only recognize, oh, four of the thirty acts, but you may be interested in more. If nothing else, it’s nice to know the Flaming Lips’ live shows are as cheerfully trippy as their music.
• Ahh, I was looking for a new desktop wallpaper. Courtesy of Evan Shaner, meet the Watchpeanuts: