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What needs to be noted, and you cannot count on cable news to do it, is putting some true pop culture context to how big a deal Michael Jackson was. Sure, we can talk about how many albums he sold and all kinds of stuff. But you have to go deeper than that. Lots of people have sold a ton of records. But, not everybody gets to collaborate with Paul McCartney. Seriously, imagine you're a Beatle . You don't just work with any schmuck out there. Sir Paul and MJ worked together often, but rarely as good as this: Say Say Say - Paul McCartney And Michael Jackson

I have a few opinions about all this Iran stuff. So let's have at it: Many Americans are confusing their issues here. Standing up for the right of the Iranian people to protest is fine and dandy. Asking for the overturn of the election entirely... this might be a bit flawed. First of all, maybe Mir Hossein Mousavi is more moderate than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ... but seriously, it's not like he's the shiite Obama. If he took power, it might be more of a Krushchev to Kosygin shift: not the crazy shoe-banging guy, but still not taking down the big red flag. And this whole backing one horse over the other... ...could be a flipping disaster! All these people anxious to see the election overturned need to remember that Ahmadinejad isn't exactly unpopular in Iran. They could hold a flipping election overseen by the Swiss and he could still win. Well, won't that be good for foreign relations if we push on this issue too much? What no one is talking about needs to ...

Wow, how has it been a month since I last blogged. Yikes. I'm all for heat. For whatever reason, I like extreme weather as much as a nice, mild 65-degree day. When it's cold, I want it to be cold. I once walked across my college campus when the temperature, not the wind chill, was -12. And I liked it. So this week, we've finally hit the time of year when the South turns into the South . I mean that in terms of summertime weather. It's going to be 97 here today. And, to me, the only thing that could be better would be 98. Sure, it's roasting. And you need to drink fluids every 10 minutes or risk dehydration. But, for me, the heat defines summer. It was always roasting in Philadelphia growing up. Without fail, it was roasting in NYC. In fact, NYC often gets hotter than it does here (gotta love the heat island effect). But the heat is conducive to a number of things, such as: Laying out in the sun - I mean, if you sweat just by going outside, might as well s...

There are a ton of good bands that we never hear of here in the United States. If you're Canadian and love the sounds of Matthew Good and Sam Roberts, you have to learn that those two artists never happened here. I know. Sad. We Yanks have missed the boat on so many of them them. What do I mean? How about: Oasis - They were only NME's band of the year recently. Only we haven't heard much of them here lately. Buried on the radio, Oasis has quietly retooled itself into just a fantastic rock band. Their last two albums are as solid as anything that came before 1997 and some of the songs you missed in between (go check out "Magic Pie" and "The Hindu Times") should have been gigantic here. Alas. Matthew Good - Mentioned above. In 1994-5, with a full band, he was making songs as good as anything that was hitting radio here. But with a political bend, American record companies stayed far away. Now, seven albums in, Good is still making fantastic...

Who'd've thunk it? North Carolina, a state that produces more tobacco then any other, where city names adorn cigarette packs (looking at you, here, Winston-Salem)... has banned smoking in bars and restaurants in bars effective Jan. 2, 2010 . The state senate and house have agreed on a bill and the governor will sign it into law. Me? I'm going to celebrate by wearing a wool sweater into a bar on Jan. 2, knowing I will not have to Febreeze it afterward. The truth is, though, I'll likely celebrate it by going to the bar more. I cannot tell you how many times Sarah and I have gone out someplace, thought about getting a drink, and then saying "eh, don't want to deal with the smoke." Smoking in bars, for me, has always made it so I have to be in a very specific mood to go to the bar. Because after an hour, my eyes are burning and I reek all night. And, yes, I hear all the people saying "Oh this is going to mean people won't go to bars any more....

Last year, I read this fantastic book, Traffic . If you drive anywhere every day, you need to read this. It has, actually, made me a better driver, I think. Certainly, if we all adhered to the rules of traffic science it explains, we'd get everywhere faster (and it's not about driving the speed limit... in fact, many of the things we should be doing are counter-intuitive). Anyhow, one of the points the book makes is "slower is faster." Essentially, what this means is, in most situations, speed does nothing to get you any place faster if you are on roads with any manner of congestion. One of a few things happens when you speed: -You speed to the next stoplight, nullifying any advantage of speed -You end up in congestion behind someone not going as fast. This causes you to hit your brake and then the people behind you overreact and slam on theirs. This creates those aggravating backups where you wait and wait and... nothing. No gory accident or anything. -You ina...

There's a lot of music to come out yet this year. And the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs' disc It's Blitz! looks like one that might hang with the best. "Zero," the first single off this album, though, is a lock to be among the top singles of the year if you ask me. I've been listening to it for the better part of a month... and I like it better every time. Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs