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I don’t go near Apple products, I’m allergic to them, AND I don’t like MP3s, BUT iPods sound cool as hell: 5 gigabytes (1000 songs)$299.00 6.5 ounces 2.4 x 4.0 x .78 in. Apple Earphones AC Adapter FireWire cable PC FireWire adapter 10GB (2000 songs) $399.00 6.5 ounces 2.4 x …

While we’re on desperately contentious, explosively emotional topics, why not mention abortion: everyone’s favorite party-killer. My wife Dawn, who does not back away from fulminating volcanoes, is tackling the subject again: Seriously. I am as hawkish and fiscally conservative as the next right-winger, but good G*ddamn, these Christian Coalition fruitcakes …

It’s been a week and a half since I mentioned the Wizard of Oz/Harry Potter connection: time to get back to it. We saw and enjoyed the new Harry Potter movie over the Thanksgiving weekend, and my daughter has latched onto The Wizard of Oz as her new fave DVD …

I’m way late on the Trent Lott-is-a-racist-Dixiecrat-who-doesn’t-want-to-place-his-lips-near-the-same-drinking-fountains-as-blacks theme, but better late than never. First, check out Oliver Willis’s cool multimedia presentation on same – graphic representation is often more powerful than a welter of words alone. Oliver rocks, hard. I won’t rehash the story, which is everywhere, but I will …

There was much pontificating and speculation that 24 was a one-time deal, that the novelty of a mystery-adventure TV show taken in real time, one hour at a time, had worn out its welcome last year. I had concerns of my own because serial TV has a very hard time …

Nothing particularly new, but George Colony of Forrester Research has a nice summary of where we are now in the history of the entertainment industry: entertainment business models have worked phenomenally in the past 75 years. Edwin Booth, the superstar American stage actor of the mid-19th century, had fame and …

Scathing report on payola in the American Latin music biz from the Miami Herald: Edgar Alvarez quit being a promoter in Spanish-language radio two years ago. But on this afternoon, he is making some calls from the South Miami offices of his recently opened talent agency to show how his …

The big stories come and go so quickly. Remember the MAP (minimum advertised price) settlement story from the end of September? five of the largest U.S. distributors of pre-recorded music CDs and three large retailers agreed to pay millions of dollars in cash and free CDs as part of an …

Same Dr. Feelgood doped Winona Ryder and Courtney Love.

I am so zeitgeisty I frighten myself. After a shamefully long pause, I just mentioned the “brilliant and exquisite” Virginia Postrel the other day. The “brilliant” part has always been self-evident, but now the “exquisite” part is on more prominent display than ever. Go vote for which of her three …