Dirty Red Commie

 Many of us here at Dirty Red Commie are adamant admirers of The Flaming Lips, just ask last.fm .  However, until now we weren't aware that the feeling is mutual:

Voters in Oklahoma have declared The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" their state's new official rock song, but not if state Republicans, angered by bassist Michael Ivins' communist attire, have anything to say about it. Perhaps it was just a shout-out to his fans?

Rachel Maddow is obviously another honorary Commie.

Guess what, I got a girlfriend, well like 2 weeks ago.  What can I say, I'm pretty excited about the whole deal too.  Brian's met her and can account for her awesomeness.  I think you all like her.  There's not a lot to say other than yay. 

Also, I'm headed to Billings sometime in the realitively near future is there a weekend that you (Billings) guys plan on not being there?

According to an article from the International Herald Tribune, record labels may be thinking of selling DRM-free music in an attempt to restore sluggish online music sales.  If true, this is very, very good news. 

This could be an excellent way for some company to steal the online music lead from Apple's iTunes.  Like many customers of AllOfMP3.com, I shopped there because I could get music in the format I wanted, and the crazy-low prices were just a bonus.  I think it could be very interesting to see what happens if someone starts offering mainstream music in an un-crippled format, even if they charge more than iTunes.  

I'll certainly buy music from them as long as the selection is good, the price is lower than that of a CD, and the encoding is good, (or configurable like AllOfMP3).  What do you folks think?

 Music labels, if you're reading this, please please please sell me un-crippled music.  I won't buy it any other way.  Ever.

Neal Stephenson's novel The Diamond Age or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is coming to the small screen in the form of a six hour miniseries.  It's going to be produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov.  Apparently Stephenson will be adapting the novel himself, which is encouraging.  Diamond Age is my favorite Stephenson novel, so I really hope they do a great job.  I might have to get cable.

BoingBoing is linking to a clip of John Stewart ripping apart Bill Bennett on the topic of gay marriage.  What really impresses me about John Stewart is that he can tear down these right-wing arguments and show them for what they are, yet do so politely and respectfully.  And he still manages to be completely hilarious.

 Turn it around, and you see people like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly calling people names, cutting off their opponent's microphones, and generally acting like spoiled children. 

Video documentation that Karma has one hell of a sense of humor. 

 Respect your elders.