(this is) durkin.org

Anyone ever watch Spin City? I mean back before Charlie “I’m a completely talentless loser” Sheen came on board. Remember when Mike and what’s her name were in love and they wandered the streets? And there was a band playing on the corner and they met there and kissed? And it was a big city corner and cold and just a great romantic shot that could only happen in New York? (Or not, according to someone who lives there and often debunks the myths of life in the big city.)

Anyway, this is the song, courtesy of someone on Napster the other day. Love this track, but the others I downloaded lacked the harmony and good, clean beatlesque-pop that drives this one, so I don’t think I recommend the whole album. (But I could be wrong, people are always disguising stuff on Napster…)

The Churchills - Everybody Gets What They Deserve
No longer available, sorry.

Here is the band’s official web site, and here they are on Amazon and CDNOW.

Update: Ok, I need to amend my review of the Churchills… I think that I did download a different band (silly me, not thinking that “churchills,” would be different from “The Churchills”). I listened to some clips from CDNOW, and they’re not awful, as I led you to believe earlier, but they still don’t match up to Everybody Gets What They Deserve.

Star Wars: Episode II OK, so the ad is fake, so what? Its really, really cool. Star Wars is cool, I don’t care what you say.

The other night, my wife and I were at another couple’s house, whom we had only just met, and the wife was talking about when she first met her husband: “I mean, when I met him, he had this Star Wars poster up in his room, with Han Solo or somebody on it, and this big ole coin bank that looked like Darth Vader and whenever you put money in it, it said ‘Impressive.’” She waited, while the three of us just looked at her, and then I said, “You say that like its a bad thing.” Star Wars is cool.

Hmmm, according to this list, Christopher Walken and Gabriel Byrne were two of the “fakest” parts of that fake trailer. Oh well, at least Jimmy Smits was for real.

I scored 10 out of 12. According to the test, John McCain would be proud.

Are you a good citizen? Prove it: take the Citizenship Quiz. [Link via shinybluegrasshopper]

I received my ACLU membership renewal in the mail the other day. Being a rather poor pr professional, I decided to wait. Depending on the outcome of InDesision 2000, I may or may not make the funds available. [Read: If it's Dubbya in the White House, then I am once again a card-carrying member.]

According to this article, Cheney and Bush (and I put them like that on purpose, because, lets face it, Bush is number two here) will not be accepting PAC funds for their current financial needs.
“He said the campaign will take private donations or in-kind services up to $5,000 as the Transition Act allows but will accept no corporation or political action committee donations.”
That’s funny, I happen to know of a PAC that was solicited yesterday by the campaign. Hmm. [Link via Matt]

And, if you haven’t already, read this from the New York Times.

Oh goody. As if we don’t have enough to be proud of in Alabama.

Actually, we do have things to be proud of, and I really like it here, but shit like this doesn’t do us any public relations favors.

I never thought it would happen to me.

Sure, I’ve read about it on the Internet, and Katie and Matt have warned us time and again, but I have never, ever been a victim of a virus.

At least, not a computer virus. Even Melissa, the end-all virus that made it onto every news show and apparently into every inbox in the world, even she did not enter my inbox until a full four days of the outbreak had passed. By then, it was just sad.

But those days are gone. Yesterday, while minding my own business, I opened an email message from a coworker. This particular email message had an attachment. And, in the moment I opened it, I received another message from the same coworker: same subject header, same everything. And I realized as I deleted the messages, and as my inbox quickly filled with messages from everyone on our network, that my office is INFECTED.

It’s kinda cool, and very retro, to have to call people on the phone or [gasp] walk to their office to speak with them. Yeah, kinda cool/retro, but mostly it just sucks. Our IT department won’t let us use the Exchange Server, so all office email is out for the time being.

Oh, and by the way, if anyone out there received any email with attachments from my work address, please delete it and don’t open it. And sorry if you already did.

On that note, why don’t we all take a moment and scan our hard drives for viruses? Try it, you’ll like it. Besides, its free.

Standard Deluxe is a very cool T-Shirt and Poster shop from Waverly, Alabama.

There is a great story behind this company, shrowded in myth and legend already, so I won’t so much go into it… but - some really cool stuff gets done by them. Thy’ve done work for various resorts and conferences, as well as lots and lots of bands, most famously U2 (they did some of the Zoo TV Tour shirts), and less famously the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Southern Culture on the Skids.

The last time I talked to Scott, they were all living and working in an old warehouse in Waverly (which is just about as rural as rural Alabama gets)… I always thought that would be the coolest thing: to live and work with friends in a situation where work is fun and interesting and yours. And, since you’re the boss, taking a four hour lunch for beers and frisbee is an OK thing. Anyway, watch for the opening of the online store, these guys are good!

Update: The store is open!