I still feel sick. Rounding a corner, though. My sinuses are starting to clear up and my cough is all but gone, but I still can barely hear out of my right ear and am preparing to rip it off. Also, I've coughed up a veritable rainbow of foul matter. I've begun painting with it and will unveil my creations at the end of the month. ewww.

-Obama has joined John Edwards and Hillary in calling for universal healthcare. While hardly surprising, it's still big news, since the three top dem contenders are all on the same page with this. Sure, the elections are still way off in the distance and anything can happen before then, but at least for now it's an issue. Even Bush has made it in issue. So I guess we're gonna at least talk about it again.

-There's been an arrest in the murder of two black teenagers in 1964 Mississippi. I think the very grounds that the man was pretending to be dead should account for his guilt.

-Oh, and the pain ray has been officially announced. I mentioned this back in the fall, and it still scares the crap out of me. The specifics on the ray's effects seem to be contradictory and intentionally vague (how can something be "not painful" but make you "feel like you are on fire. you're on fire?). and I continue to harbor a sneaking suspicion that this is more likely to be used in the US than anywhere else. They say it's

-I've been playing the BBC Climate Challenge all day. Power is addictive.

-I don't know why I've been thinking about Bonnie Tyler recently. It might be hearing Arab Strap cover "It's a Heartache" the other day. It might be having dinner with my mother the other night, who played that album pretty much nonstop until I was seven. She's more or less a female Rod Stewart (it's uncanny at times, no?) and I can't hear "Total Eclipse of the Heart" without thinking of that opening scene in Old School. Anyways, the latter has the meaty stench of Jim Steinman and always plays in my mind like a Flashdance number for suburban California moms in the mid 80s. Anyways, it was in my head all day yesterday. Now you get to chew on it for awhile.

"It's a Heartache" - Bonnie Tyler
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonie Tyler
Buy her greatest hits here.

Pink Nasty lives in Austin and sings about familiar stuff. Her brother is is a filth rapper and goes by the also ungoogle-able handle of Black Nasty. Families are funny.

"BTK Blues" - Pink Nasty

Buy Mold the Gold here