Sometimes I like to start my mornings off with a cup of hot joe and a fresh batch of Craigslist Missed Connections (and/or Italian Greyhound listings on Petfinder), but the ones this morning are something of a downer.  While I’m glad that some girl had a lot of fun at the Mahi Mahi show the other night and people are still trying to pick up moms at Catholic middle-school basketball games, check out this alarming and strange post: 

To the young 30ish, Brown MD-You put something in our drinks. Obviously out numbered. This straight male was just happy to get out with 3 messed up girls and blurred myself. I new it was time to go when you tried to force yourself on me, then forcefully trying sodomizing my gf’s gf. We exit the bedroom to find her other gf, naked on the floor, passed out. Later to realize she was r*ped by your buddies that came over while she was passed out on your couch. Watch out. Kiss your profession GOODBYE! You probably will like getting it in every hole in Prison. In the mean time, keep looking over your shoulder.  

That’s, um, something.  Right?  I kind of assumed that this person posted this when she got home from the party, angry and inclined to forget certain grammatical details.  It would also explain why this poster would consider this a missed connection and not, you know, something that would look better in the form of a police report, if it’s true.  But then I noticed it was composed at 6 PM and not in the middle of the night.  So, make of that what you will.  Also, I wonder why the poster apparently thinks that homophobic threats and warnings are the way to get justice for whatever happened to her friends.  Anyway.  The publicly-posted replies are completely tasteless and make one wish that the world would just hurry up and end already.  Replies after the jump, if you’re the type that longs for the glory days of The Jerry Springer Show:  more »

My itunes randomizer at work has a tendency of playing weird,  NSFW, and mildly embarrassing songs at least three or four times an hour, so it was very nice of the folks over at Warped Reality to post some new tracks today, so I could have something new to listen to that I wouldn’t have to skip out of shame.

Although it’s been around since late 2005, I didn’t know about Warped Reality until Idolator posted about it recently.  Started by Providence-based Andrea Feldman (not the dead one), the blog posts consistently good stuff.  Although I might just be saying that because she likes the Valerie and Her Week of Wonders soundtrack, Lubos Fiser’s creepy score that surely makes my coworkers hate me.

Check out the not-super-frequently updated site for tracks by some bands that are hitting the area this weekend, like Calvin Johnson (Saturday at Brown), These Are Powers and Neptune (both at Great Scott, also on Saturday.)

Holy shit! Facebook just went bilingual:

Ahora hispanohablantes en todo el mundo pueden unirse a Facebook. Conéctate con todos tus amigos, en cualquier idioma.

Puedes cambiar tu preferencia de idioma aqui.

Usa el buscador de amigos para ver si mas de tus amigos se [h]an unido y invita a todos tus amigos hispanohablantes a que se registren.

I should totally get class credit for stalking people in Spanish.

p.s. — This is where that asshole Thomas Friedman would say, “The world is flat.”

Are you, or do you have friends or loved ones who are currently living abroad? Are you, or said loved ones absentee ballot-less and in need of democratic sustenance, specifically the type derived from a vote in the presidential primary election?

Drink your fill online, and rejoice:

This year, for the first time, expatriate Democrats can cast their ballots on the Internet in a presidential primary for people living outside the United States.

Democrats Abroad, an official branch of the party representing overseas voters, will hold its first global presidential preference primary from Feb. 5 to 12, with ex-pats selecting the candidate of their choice by Internet as well as fax, mail and in-person at polling places in more than 100 countries.

The online option is new, so, in addition to casting a ballot in the race for the Democratic nomination, Americans abroad can help successfully pilot this technology. Hackaphobes beware, though - seems like there’s no paper trail.

Specifics, deadlines and vote-value crunching after the jizzump. more »

Online sympathizers of al Qaida from across the internet have submitted hundreds of questions for deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawahri over the past two months for an “on-line interview” on a militant Islamic website, and many supporters seem to be as in the dark about their activities and future plans as the rest of the world.

“Knight of Islam,” asks, “We are awaiting a strike against American soil. Why has that not been done? Why are the Jews in the world not struck?”

“We hear a lot about the non-centralization of al-Qaida,” one supporter writes. “Is the loss of direct control by al-Qaida’s leadership over the jihadi cells harmful to al-Qaida? … Does al-Qaida intend to try to reassert its control?”

(HuffPo)

Ian ponders the various demolitions, and the rackets of which they’re surely a part. And wonders if we can’t make things a bit better:

Cicilline’s proposals are intended to prevent developers from forcing “demolition by neglect,” the practice of allowing a property to deteriorate so that emergency demolition is necessary. Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Jerome F. Williams accused Carpionato Properties Inc. of attempting exactly that at the Fruit and Produce Warehouse building.

Cicilline announced two ordinances that he said could prevent situations like that at the produce warehouse from happening again.

One would empower the city to go onto a deteriorating, neglected property, do necessary repairs and pay for it by putting a lien on the property.

Somehow we got a bunch of hits off of US Magazine yesterday. In particular, a link from the page that discusses the fling between Ashley Olsen and Jared Leto.

Just so you know what you’re getting into.

What Rhode Island band, past or present, do you think is the most popular today? Sage Francis? Throwing Muses? Talking Heads? Lightning Bolt? Fedd Hill? Wadsworth Mansion?* The marching band? That band that used to be Rebecca Nurse that I always forget the name of now? That guy Temperamento that posts 712 Myspace bulletins a day about how you can have your own chance to record with him? The band that used to be Monty’s Fan Club that I refuse to acknowledge the new name of no matter how many times the DJs say it on BRU?

Mmmm, nope. Not any of those.

Not according to Myspace, anyway. Searching for the most popular musicians in Rhode Island, you get Ioneye, a “dub/ambient/breakbeat” guy from Newport whose chemical beats tend towards the slow and (very) repetitive. He’s the second result that comes up if you search for local artists by popularity, after The Muzzle Recording Company, a studio in Olneyville that has about 1500 friends.

Oh, and how many musicians in the 401 area code does the world’s most popular website count? Thirty-two. That means that our state has less than one musician per town (and my band is nowhere to be found!) It also means, according to the site’s always flawed search functions, that our biggest artist is only .055% as popular as “unsigned” “bisexual” “musician” Tila Tequila, whose friend count is currently approaching 2.8 million.

[*A boy can dream. "Sweet Mary" is one of the best songs ever.]

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