Because music can bring us all together. First, and mostly because I'm putting the odds that Hank's will include a Boston song at 5 to 1, here's an iPod Random Top Ten:

Clem Snide, "Pray"
The Beatles, "Boys"
Hacienda, "Who's Heart Are You Breaking"
LIghting Hopkins, "Baby You're Not Going To Make A Fool Out Of Me"
Buffalo Moon, "Jamba Samba"
Snow Patrol, "Workwear Shop"
Paul Butterfield & Rick Danko, "Stage Fright"
Sparklehorse, "Morning Hollow"
Paul Weller, "Moonshine"
Polygons, "Magic Man"

Currently in heavy rotation for me?

First things first. Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb is a really wonderful read. Chronologically ordered anecdotes that offer a vital and memorable picture of my favorite city. Curious about the relationship between Marcel Proust and the building of the Paris Metro? It's here. How about the direct line between French alchemists and the H-Bomb (and the sequence of carvings on the front of Notre Dame that predict it)? Also here.

I had my doubts. Then I begged The Lovely Deanna to buy me one for my birthday. Then she did, and grudgingly, figuring it was just another toy without value. Then I got it and now spend most of my time trying to get it away from her. Or from Tess.

Time to talk books. You know. The things you read on iPads. Or I guess Kindles if you're color blind.

Seems like it's at least worth a diary. Watched the opening ceremony, or parts of it, with the Lovely Deanna, a Canadian from Vancouver so there's a rooting interest in the house....

Highlights?

The Canadian rep's stirring speech during which he invoked "the magic of television", ie "Tonight, thanks to the magic of television..." (Wow. And it's even in color!)

The same speaker when he referred to "human champions." (When are the animal Olympics anyway?)

For Esme, WIth Love and Squalor is one of my favorite short stories. And while I think Catcher In The Rye is somewhat overrated, there will always be a place in my heart for anything he ever wrote pertaining to the wondrous Glass family. (Franny & Zooey, etc.)

It was rumored, quite some time ago, that he never stopped writing. He just didn't feel like publishing. It will be interesting to see what he left behind.

A wonderful obit written by Charles McGrath, here.

The Coachella scheduled dropped at midnight last night -- always a big event in this household -- and it's shaping up to be the best festival in years. It looks likes this.

Well, sure. It probably won't be. Palin is adept at putting herself -- and more importantly, her many grievances -- at the center of our political landscape. And that is quite an accomplishment, in and of itself, when one considers what an empty vessel she is, a kind of tabla rasa for horny conservatives, bitter-enders, birthers and fundies, to write their future on. Palin is resentment personified, St. Joan for the angry and the marginalized. There's a kind of wacky value in that, I suppose. But God what a dead end she is.

So Apple Exec Tim Cook is talking to reporters and he lets drop the sentence that has the Mac rumors spinning...

Hmm. So we've got abnormal freight costs bringin' the fun goods from China. But what goods are we talking about?

The best guesses are as follows:

Apple Tablet
iPod touch with camera
iPhone nano

And my favorite...

So the town hall mobs were not a deep and important expression of patriotic unrest by patriots, whom, pretty much at the same time, decided they'd had enough and weren't going to take it anymore.

It was just political theatre written and directed by the usual scumbags. Sheep herded by cynics.