THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

...it still hasn't sunk in. But the long national nightmare is finally over. We're 1-2. After no wins since the last Bush Administration Christmas, we finally have our stimulus package. Dare I dream for a 4-12 season?

I've been a fan of Rammstein since hearing their music perfectly placed in the 1997 David Lynch film Lost Highway by soundtrack coordinator Trent Reznor. Since that point, I've tracked down their albums (import or otherwise) and seen them live a handful of times. The live show is endlessly entertaining, like a winkingly self-aware German version of Kiss, with fire and pulse-pounding volume and bondage gear and (on occasion) a water-gun phallus between the lead singer's legs. But they've found a way to take things up a notch with their new single, entitled "Pussy." Not only is the song a straight-up single entendre (the chorus "You've got a pussy / I have a dick / So what's the problem? / Let's do it, quick!" delivered in English) guaranteed to receive zero radio exposure, but they also have this video . I can't recall another mainstream band with as much global success as Rammstein releasing a graphic hardcore video, so I admire ...

By nature, I'm not a hiccup kind of guy. Usually, it's been one or two loud hiccups and then back to normal. But for some reason, the last 24 hours have been plagued with consistent and irritating hiccups, which has turned sleepytime to tossin' and turnin'. And I have had a half glass of orange juice during that time, given that my stomach is in open revolt, so my energy is low and my mood is touchy. (Grr.) I discovered that every person one encounters while in the hiccup whirlwind has some strategy to escape Hiccup Island. Some sound odd (have a friend plug your ears while you drink eight ounces of water without stopping), some sound odder (hold your breath and swallow for at least thirty seconds), and some sound downright cuckoo (stroke the roof of your mouth with a Q-Tip until the hiccup urge passes). But I'll be damned if I haven't tried everything, all to no avail. Am I to be one of those urban legends, the tale of the dude who hiccuped for five yea...

So if you're a true nerd like me, you are fully aware that the term graphic novel is code for comic book . And that ultimately, such terms are meaningless, provided that the material is solid, the characters are well-drawn (literally and figuratively), the narrative is compelling, and so forth. Which is why my comic book brain was blown last week with three announcements: 1) Disney buys Marvel Comics for billions of bucks. [And yes, I worry about theme-park-driven homogenization of some of the more edgy Marvel fare, but let's face it: DC's Vertigo is the true home for edgy mainstream-ish comics. Marvel is the Disney of the comic world, so the merger makes perfect sense. Now maybe we'll finally see a Pixar version of Doctor Strange , with the original psychedelic Steve Ditko art as the visual template. Or maybe someone can tackle Moon Knight, Marvel's multiple-personality/occult version of Batman.] 2) The Walking Dead (the Image comic from Robert Kirkman and ...

My sister Ashley missed her calling. Here she is, winning first place at a costume contest at a comics convention in Traverse City this past weekend.

When I was in New York, I had the chance to see one of my favorite bands cruising around the waterways of NYC (aboard a ship called The Temptress, no less), but I just couldn't make that show by Electric Six . Sure, I've seen 'em at least a half-dozen times, but come on...this show was on a boat. Thankfully, Matthew Perpetua did. Perpetua has been rocking the music blog world at Fluxblog for nearly the entire decade of the 00's, and he's always been a fan of E6, starting with "Danger! High Voltage" back in '02. (He's also written for Pitchfork and Spin , which means I'm quite jealous of his success.) I'm pleased to report that Perpetua has used his curatorial and technological skills to do the impossible: provide a musical snapshot of the musical multitudes that comprise the Electric Six catalog. If you're interested in obtaining a sort-of "greatest hits" of this criminally overlooked band, look no further . All I ask i...