Kate Miller-Heidke: Caught In The Crowd

A facebook friend suggested that I listen to Kate Miller-Heidke, a singer-songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. She won the 2008 International Songwriting Competiton for “Caught In The Crowd,” the second single from her album Curiouser. She has a beautiful voice, and I love this video:

“So what I’m saying is, when you’re older, most of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?”

I wish Ellen DeGeneres spoke at my commencement. The speech she gave to the class of 2009 at Tulane University last week was really funny and insightful. Here is the video:

Via Feministing.

Stream Wilco (The Album)

Wilco’s new album, which is aptly titled Wilco (The Album), is scheduled to be released on June 30 but was leaked last night. The band responded by giving fans the opportunity to stream the album in its entirety on their official website. I haven’t listened to Wilco in the past, but so far I really like the album.

Regina Spektor’s New Album

Regina Spektor’s new album, Far, is set to be released on June 23. I’ve been looking forward to hearing new music from her since Begin to Hope came out three years ago, and judging by what I’ve heard so far, I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed. The first single, “Laughing With,” is brilliant. I’ve been listening to it on repeat and it just gets better each time. You can hear it on Regina’s myspace page.

I’m also really excited to hear an album version of “Blue Lips,” which became my favorite Regina Spektor song after I heard a live recording of it a while ago. Hopefully the rest of the songs on the album will be as beautiful and poetic. You can listen to a snippet of “Blue Lips” on amazon.com.

Here is a YouTube video of a live performance of “Blue Lips”:

Target Women: Obama Arms

Here is another brilliant Target Women segment. This one deals with the scandal and controversy ignited by Michelle Obama’s bare arms…because apparently the media has nothing better to report on?

Happy Hanson Day!

That’s right, today marks twelve years since the release of Middle of Nowhere. This important date was declared Hanson Day in Tulsa by Oklahoma’s then-governor Frank Keating, and fans have been celebrating on May 6 ever since. Hanson wrote this in the band’s blog:

Well today is Hanson Day! We are back in the studio today after taking a little break for the release of the Tinted Windows album. We figure the best way we can celebrate is by recording. The real celebration for us is going to take place on the 15th and 16th of this month at the members only event in Tulsa.

Have a great day, and thank you for being awesoem [sic] fans!

Here is a video of an acoustic performance of the song that started it all, Mmmbop. Ah, nostalgia.

Condoleezza Rice on waterboarding

A student at Stanford University filmed this exchange between Condoleezza Rice and two students who questioned her at a reception last week. When asked if waterboarding is torture, Condoleezza replied, “The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside of our obligations, legal obligations, under the Convention Against Torture. So that’s — and by the way, I didn’t authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency.”

Here is the video:

Maureen Dowd wrote about the incident in her New York Times column:

“By definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Conventions Against Torture,” Ms. Rice said, almost quoting Nixon’s logic: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

She also stressed that, “Unless you were there in a position of responsibility after Sept. 11, you cannot possibly imagine the dilemmas that you faced in trying to protect Americans.”

Reyna Garcia, a Stanford sophomore who videotaped the exchange, said of Condi’s aria, “I wasn’t completely satisfied with her answers, to be honest,” adding that “President Obama went ahead and called it torture and she did everything she could not to do that.”

As Mr. Obama said in his news conference, it is in moments of crisis that a country must cleave to its principles. Asserting that “waterboarding violates our ideals,” he said he had been struck by an article describing how Churchill would not torture prisoners even when “London was being bombed to smithereens.”

“And the reason was that Churchill understood, you start taking shortcuts and over time, that corrodes what’s best in a people,” he said. “It corrodes the character of a country.”

Target Women: Medicine

In the latest Target Women segment, Sarah Haskins takes on drug commercials. I love the Marx Brothers impression and the bit about sweatpants. I also like the ending since I always find the casual mention of death or serious illnesses as side effects to be a tad alarming. You can watch other episodes of Target Women here.