In Brief

I hope to post a couple of longer thoughts tonight, but for now, here's a quick-hit rundown of some good stuff I've come across recently:

--I posted a new song by Cat Power a while back, and tomorrow the new record hits the stores. It's called The Greatest, and the whole thing is terrific (it was up on iTunes a couple of weeks ago). Recommended.

--The Humorless Feminist ties a ribbon around 2005 with a list of 20 memorable moments/trends/entertainments, including an overdose of NPR and a self-reprimand for not reading Anna Karenina until now. (I haven't read it myself, but I suppose when you call yourself the Humorless Feminist you've got more of an obligation on that count.)

--Two solid New York-related finds: The first is this site of subway photographs by someone who has a commute very similar to mine, though he mostly takes the N, I think, and I'm on the F. He posts a picture a day, and many of them are striking. And then, from a story on the AP wire, I found New York Hack, a blog written by a 30-year-old female cab driver. According to the story, only 197 of New York's 42,000 licensed taxicab drivers are women. (Two questions spring to mind: Is this an issue for the Humorless Feminist?, and How many towns have smaller populations than the number of cab drivers in New York? That second one would be a good stat for the Harper's index, if the answer had an obvious leftist implication.) But mostly "Hack" is noteworthy for the way it perfectly transfers the New York cabbie's mentality to the screen. To wit: "Seen above is yet another Jersey fuck who doesn't know how to drive." Good times.