friends

I just had that unnerving six-degrees moment on Friendster where you realize that a bunch of people you know actually know each other. But absolutely shouldn't. This is all wrong. I blame it all on Har-Mar, who has listed 123 friends. Freak.

FILM

 If my French didn't suck so bad nowadays, I might just try to translate this Baudrillard interview about The Matrix, his first public mention of the film that probably wouldn't exist without him. You can try the Babelfish translation. (Thanks greencine.)

TV

 Proof that I should read Dissent more often, there's a new column looking at the anti-war subtext of the final episodes of Buffy. (Thanks Mark.)

 Wanna be on reality tv? A nice collection of links to all the application websites.

WORDS

 Interesting online writing exercise: One Word. You see one word and you have one minute to write about it.

 Today in literature, the Pied Piper lured children away from Hamelin. With mention of Jethro Tull.

 DeLillo interviewed twice on KCRW's Bookworm. Good stuff.

 Slate.com: The Politics of Harry Potter. (Another one of those Slate.com dialogues.)

 Gibson writes about Orwell on his 100th birthday in a Times op-ed piece. A quote: "Indeed, today, reliance on broadcasting is the very definition of a technologically backward society."

MUSIC

 Tom Waits interview in Onion A.V.

 Pitchfork gives Liz Phair a 0.0 outta 10. Yes, that's even worse than the 0.8 they gave the new Metallica.

 Ya know, I just bought that Zeppelin DVD. This is really unlike me. From a taste perspective. I hope I don't like it. Here's a review.

 Another Greil Marcus Real Life Rock Top Ten in City Pages.

INTERNET

 Gawd I love the internet. DuckHuntingGirls.com. Yes, pictures and videos of... Girls. Hunting. Ducks. No, it's not dirty. It's totally... ducky.

 Sure to make you cringe, Time names the 50 Best Websites.

 Decent interview with the CEO of IDEO.

 Slate.com found an accidentally-released live prototype of Bush's 2004 campaign website.

FASHION

 Nike released a new division of skateboard shoes. And they did a whack website to promote them. Macromedia is showcasing it as a cool use of Flash.

 Times Style article on those Tommy Bahama shirts. I actually bought one a couple weeks ago. Shut up, I'm not an aging hipster.

LIFE

 Milken Institute's new list of 200 Best Performing Cities. Minneapolis: #99.