End Hits: We also no longer require Smithies, Coopers, Sextons, and Town Criers.

Stop looking at me, swan!

The Thermals have revealed the cover art and track listing for their forthcoming album, Now We Can See. Their Kill Rock Stars debut (out on April 7th) is also the band's first recorded effort with new drummer Westin Glass.

Hey look, it's the tracklisting (because the only thing better than listening to songs is reading their names):

1. When I Died
2. We Were Sick
3. I Let It Go
4. Now We Can See
5. At The Bottom Of The Sea
6. When We Were Alive
7. I Called Out Your Name
8. When I Was Afraid
9. Liquid In, Liquid Out
10. How We Fade
11. You Dissolve

Similarly brilliant are Michael Bay's official online forums, which he's currently using to hype next summer's Transformers 2 and talk shit about other big dumb summer action movies, like McG's Terminator: Salvation. Bay writes, with predictable subtlety and nuance,

Okay it's time to turn up the heat on Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen. We've waited low in the weeds letting all the summer movies get their stuff out. We've seen the great year end movies, and watched the upcoming clips of the upcoming summer fare. We've seen certain movies coming out even try to duplicate Transformer size robots in their ads. Please, come on.

Well, I promise you we will rock your world with Transformers 2. The fans wanted ROBOTS KICKING ASS - well we got it. Today we are releasing the teaser poster and soon the onslaught will continue with a steady drum beat until June 26th.

I'll keep you informed.

Bay

Yes, so just to clarify: This is Michael Bay, talking shit about McG. This is the equivalent of Uwe Boll and Ed Wood getting in a slappy fight. I could have dreamed about such things happening, but never would I have hoped for them to actually come true. Today is a day of wonders.

Via io9.

For the full review, and more crappy cell phone pics, go to End Hits.

Last night's show wasn't quite as exciting. Back in those halcyon days, Diamond performed marathon 3+ hour sets, packed to the gills with every hit imaginable. Ol' Neil has gotten on in years (dude's 67!) and last night's show was tidily under two hours. He played most of the hits, but perhaps the set was more notable for what he didn't play than what he did—ancient classics like "Shilo," "Kentucky Woman," and "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon" were neglected. Instead, he played "Sweet Caroline" twice in a row (yep! I didn't know you could do that! But if ever a song begged to be played twice in a row, it's motherfucking "Sweet Caroline"), a staged rendition of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," which ended in a sort of icky embrace with his backup singer ("Look, he's acting!" said TC), and relative obscurities like "Crunchy Granola Suite" and his cover of the Hollies' "He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother," which he dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Ike.

On what would have been Richard Nixon's 95th birthday, the Illinois House voted 114-1 today to impeach Gov. Blagojevich — the first chief executive in the state's 190-year history to face such an action.

"We wanted him. We elected him. We supported him. And he's disgraced us," said Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago).

Blagojevich's political fate will be decided by the state Senate later this month in a trial. If two-thirds of the senators vote to convict Blagojevich, he will be removed from office and barred from holding elected position again.

OUCH!!

OBAMA TEAMS WITH SPIDERMAN!!! Sweet Jesus, that's gonna sell out fast.

WORST UNEMPLOYMENT SINCE 1945!!! Got a job? Keep it...

PALIN CLASS WAR!!! The Media is going easier on Caroline Kennedy because of her class, says Lady Muck.

CHENEY UNREPENTANT!!! Plans to fish the Snake River in his retirement, rather than answer for war crimes at the Hague.

JOHN GOTTI'S NEIGHBOR!!! Was "dipped in an acid bath." Mystery solved.

AMBASSADOR WINTOUR!!! Obama is "rumored" to be in talks with the Vogue editor to be his Ambassador to London, writes the ever credible gossip columnist at Fashion Weekly.

OBAMA TO TALK WITH HAMAS!!! And good on him for it. Perhaps he could take Spidey along...

Good day.

10:55 am update:
The NBA just sent out an email implying that they would—more or less—fully support any team that wants Miles, despite Portland's legal threats. Also, the owner of the Cavs calls what the Blazers did "dead wrong."

Well, this didn't end well.

When the Portland Trail Blazers ran Darius Miles out on a rail last year (a move years in the making, and fueled by more than a few unfair media articles: "This is a player who will not recover from his injury. His career is over."), they took a gamble that no team would pick up the injured player, and his bloated salary would be erased from their books forever. With no Miles' salary haunting their payroll, the Blazers could crack open the change purse and woo a big name free agent to Portland. Everyone wins. Well, except Miles.

But a funny thing happened while the team was trying to erase Miles from the NBA landscape, he didn't want to go away. And he didn't.

Widespread public opinion still contends that a company's decision to source and manufacture goods in Asia-and more specifically in China-is solely based on a desire for cheap labor. The truth, though, is often much more complicated and nuanced. Not only have Asian manufacturers become the experts in working with the most modern textiles and technologies, but they also produce some of the highest quality workmanship at competitive prices. Combine those factors with recent improvements in workers' conditions and the use of third party monitoring of social and environmental conditions, and it becomes clear that there is room for new perceptions of offshore manufacturing.

I'll leave it up to you to decide your own priorities, but if I have to choose between active wear brands... well I might check in on Filson first, which is regionally based and still retains some of its manufacturing in the US, but Nau would be my second bet... California's not so far away (besides, a certain local tailor coughadamarnoldcough has been dodging my queries regarding the availability of a fabulous rain suit he designed for fall/winter). Plus this could well tip the balance: Next week, from the 15th to the 18th, Nau is having a massive warehouse sale, with 40-80% off of items from previous seasons (10 am-8 pm Thursday, 11 am-8 pm Friday and Saturday, and 11 am-5 pm on Sunday, at 525 NW 10th). Yeeee-haw. Riding bikes in the rain...

The fashion world marches on over on MOD.

At council yesterday, Stan Amy, a developer from New Villages Group, showed up to urge council to vote in favor of changing city planning code on Division to allow for the second storeys of existing buildings to exceed 10,000 square feet of retail space, so that Gold's Gym, and other businesses like it, can get on with moving into the neighborhood.

Amy has been trying to get a Gold's Gym in the Wild Oats building at SE 30th and Division for almost 3 years, but thanks to land use delays and now, council's own six-month delay in approving the code change to pave the way for it, "I'm exhausted," he said. "The neighborhood is exhausted, the neighborhood has suffered, we've been at it three years, the businesses across the street have suffered..."

Instead of capitulating to Amy's desires, and hell, those of the neighbors and business association down there, Leonard pulled a different option from his butt yesterday, although nobody had seen it until then, because the council server crashed the night before. So Leonard's assistants had to distribute one by hand. Meanwhile Amy, whose patience seems monumental to this reporter, politely urged council to simply press on, while a bleak bureaucratic comedy played out in front of him.

"We're caught between a server and a hard place," said Mayor Adams, as he was handed a paper copy of Leonard's obscure alternative:

Meanwhile, council will meet to vote on the code change again next week. It already met on December 10 and December 17, but thanks to absences and snow, it's now going to be over a month since the vote was first scheduled, in the end. To add to the slowing down of the process, Commissioner Fritz is now working with Leonard to add requirements for even more neighborhood involvement in the changed code, should it eventually pass.

Leonard's butt-pulled alternative was out-voted by council, in the end.

"I'm anxious to bring this to a close," said Commissioner Nick Fish.

"When I listen to somebody with a lot of vision about how to make neighborhoods work and succeed," said Commissioner Saltzman, referring to Amy, "I'd welcome those type of opportunities to exist."

Leonard wasn't happy. "I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am that we're sitting here having this discussion today," he said. Then, he launched on a difficult-to-follow rant about not being able to trust neighborhood activists, or developers, before urging everybody to vote against the code change and do things in a more "contemplative way" (than taking three years?):

It's enough to make a businessman want to move to Beaverton, I'd imagine. Which is exactly what we all need in an economic downturn. Should you be interested in living through the torture of this story in fuller detail, I'd urge you to go to the City of Portland's video archives, here, where it all starts on the 1/7/09 hearing, about 20 minutes in. Enjoy! (Or don't...and you'll need to download RealPlayer to watch it, by the way).

Widespread public opinion still contends that a company's decision to source and manufacture goods in Asia-and more specifically in China-is solely based on a desire for cheap labor. The truth, though, is often much more complicated and nuanced. Not only have Asian manufacturers become the experts in working with the most modern textiles and technologies, but they also produce some of the highest quality workmanship at competitive prices. Combine those factors with recent improvements in workers' conditions and the use of third party monitoring of social and environmental conditions, and it becomes clear that there is room for new perceptions of offshore manufacturing.

I'll leave it up to you to decide your own priorities, but if I have to choose between active wear brands... well I might check in on Filson first, which is regionally based and still retains some of its manufacturing in the US, but Nau would be my second bet... California's not so far away (besides, a certain local tailor coughadamarnoldcough has been dodging my queries regarding the availability of a fabulous rain suit he designed for fall/winter). Plus this could well tip the balance: Next week, from the 15th to the 18th, Nau is having a massive warehouse sale, with 40-80% off of items from previous seasons (10 am-8 pm Thursday, 11 am-8 pm Friday and Saturday, and 11 am-5 pm on Sunday, at 525 NW 10th). Yeeee-haw. Riding bikes in the rain...

Check out the trailer, and read more after the jump.

For the first time since Portland police created a secret list five years ago identifying the 35 most-frequently arrested petty criminals in the city's core, the American Civil Liberties Union and a trio of defense attorneys are challenging its constitutionality.

Hearings for both sides are now complete, and a transcript of the hearing will be prepared so that both sides can prepare legal briefs on the issue before oral arguments in front of Judge Dale Koch in late February. In the mean time, Old Town cop Jeff Myers has been ordered to review his boxes of information relating to the list and produce, free of charge, any information relating to the enhanced prosecution aspect of the list. Previously the police bureau had offered to do this for a mere $3000. But justice, it seems, is free of charge.

ACLU Partner Attorney Elden Rosenthal declined comment on the case until the judge's verdict on constitutionality, but he did give the Mercury the quote in the title of this blog post. Meanwhile, Judge Koch closed with this quote:

"There have been many interesting and difficult issues involved and I appreciate the professionalism with which the issues have been presented here. As much as I knew about what was going on, this was very enlightening in terms of how were focusing on these particular offenders. Regardless of how everything works the issue is whether it meets statutory and constitutional muster, and we'll resolve that when we come back in February."

This morning, I received an insider tip that conservative commentator Lars Larson was preparing to skewer Stan Foote, Artistic Director of Oregon Children’s Theatre (OCT), on his KXL radio show. Mr. Larson’s staff had apparently spotted an incendiary OCT press release about its upcoming show, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, which included the following teaser: "The book is widely used and supported by unions as it promotes their message of organizing, empowerment, and solidarity. Lawyers of labor and employment law also recommend this book."

Now if you’ve ever listened to Larson’s radio show, you'll know that he has a beef (no pun intended...yes it was) with labor unions, particularly now that union workers have single-handedly destroyed the American auto industry. (Also, he doesn't like the illegal immigrants so much). So you can imagine his consternation upon learning that the region’s flagship theater for young audiences was propagandizing for the union cause.

Yes! On a dreary Thursday, it's just... it's like a gift. As far as I can tell, only members of "Team Lars" have access to the podcast, but the full Culture Shock post is worth reading.

Hat tips to With Leather.

From the press release:

Rebirth Brass Band will not be able to play tonight’s show at the Mission Theater, due to flooding on all roadways between Seattle and Portland.

Refunds are available at point of purchase.

The Mission Theater will instead broadcast tonight’s bowl game:

National Championship Bowl — #1 OKLAHOMA v. #2 FLORIDA

From the press release:

Rebirth Brass Band will not be able to play tonight’s show at the Mission Theater, due to flooding on all roadways between Seattle and Portland.

Refunds are available at point of purchase.

The Mission Theater will instead broadcast tonight’s bowl game:

National Championship Bowl — #1 OKLAHOMA v. #2 FLORIDA

At the downtown store, Jonathan Raymond, who wrote the short stories on which the films Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy are based (he also co-wrote both films). Raymond is the editor of Plazm and an associate editor at Tin House; I liked his new collection Livability very much, and can be found gushing about it here. That's at 7:30 pm at the City of Books.

Another local heavyweight is at the Cedar Hills store: Molly Gloss will be reading from Hearts of Horses, which recently came out in paperback. 7 pm in the bowels of the 'burbs.