07.06.09 – Monday

Word: crestfallen [krest-faw-luhn] adj. 1. dejected; dispirited; discouraged 2. having a drooping crest or head

Birthday: John Paul Jones (1747), Nancy Reagan (1921), Merv Griffin (1925), Bill Haley (1925), Della Reese (1931), Ned Beatty (1937), Burt Ward (1945), George W. Bush (1946), Fred Dryer (1946), Sylvester Stallone (1946), Geoffrey Rush (1951), Nanci Griffith (1953), Brian Posehn (1966), 50 Cent (1975)

Quotation: I don’t have any big regrets, because I’m pretty happy with my life. But I have lots of minor regrets. I always order the wrong dish in restaurants. Always. No matter what I order, somebody else orders something that’s better. It even got to the point where I was consciously trying to pick things that I didn’t think I wanted, because I thought I would reverse the process and actually pick the things I would later regret not having. But I regret that, too. – Chuck Klosterman

Tune: In July of 2005, Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug started a solo career that, oddly, transformed into another entire band – Sunset Rubdown. Just downloaded their new album, Dragonlayer, and I’m especially digging on “Idiot Heart.” Also, I love band member Jordan Robson-Cramer’s attitude toward how fans actually get the band’s music (legally or illegally), saying, “(Illegal downloading) may not be good from the label’s perspective, but I think it does have its merits.”

Gallimaufry: Another day, another surprising celebrity death. Yesterday, former NFL MVP Steve McNair was found shot to death in his Nashville condo. His mistress was also found dead, also shot to death, with the pistol used to kill both of them under her body. The former Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens quarterback was cheating on his wife with a waitress, Sahel Kazemi, from a restaurant he’d opened recently opened in Nashville. While his murder is an honest-to-goodness tragedy, it pales in comparison to the shock and sadness his wife and four sons must be feeling right now. ∞ I realize this might be a little late, but the idea of sitting through a 2-hour “comedy” show performed by Glenn Beck, is just about as close I could come to imagining my worst nightmare. The New York Times‘ Mike Hale wrote an article about what it was like watching The Common Sense show. I’ve written it before – Beck’s daily show on the Fox News channel provides me with all the laughs I need. ∞ On Friday, Alaskan governor Sarah Palin announced she will be stepping down from that post. Most are saying last year’s GOP VP runner-up is gearing up for a shot at the White House in 3.5 years. I’m not sure how that’ll work, since Palin has pretty much sucked at just about everything she’s ever done. I still can’t figure out why John McCain picked her as his running mate – she practically assured him a defeat. The job she’s done in Alaska has been classified by most as “ineffectual.” For all her bitching and moaning about the liberal media, she’s done more to hurt her public image than anyone else. Including Tina Fey. Hopefully, this is the first in a series of events that will result, a few years down the road, in people wondering what ever happened to ”That Hockey Mom Politician From Alaska.”