Salt City Sinner

Once upon a time, I worked at a record store. Okay, scratch that - once upon a time, I worked at a few record stores sequentially. My early career trajectory was pretty sad, as it led from fast food chicken stand to a few barista jobs to a few record store jobs. I can now say, without apparent prejudice*, that working for Virgin was the high point of my record store goon experience. Every day was a hard retail day of slinging the goods, but we were well-informed, the management was fair and just, and we got to listen to decent music, and occasionally (on two occasions) I got to lose significant quantities of brain cells by sticking around while the floors were re-varnished. Let's just say that the closing shift called for individuals with a unique lifestyle and attitude, and overall we stuck together. Looking back on my experience there, a few things stick out - first of all, having a sedentary job now (one where I sit at a desk and stare at a computer for most of the day) is awful...

Ho-lee SMOKES. I knew that Alexander Zaitchik's new book about Glenn Beck was going to be a doozy, but in this excerpt posted at AlterNet he unloads two whopping barrels loaded with explosive rounds into Beck and how Utah Mormon culture (a certain strain of it) has flavored his shtick - a theme that others, including myself, have been hammering for a while now. Some choice bits: Those who study Mormon rituals and rhetoric say that the fingerprints of bearing testimony can be found all over Beck’s public tearfulness. “Beck’s ability to ‘cry on cue’ appears to be a combination of Mormon culture and the practiced delivery of a media professional,” says Daymon M. Smith, a Mormon doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. “He is using Mormon tactics to spread Mormon ideas, such as the gospel of Cleon Skousen, under the cover of secular political revelations.” “Beck’s emotional performances are very like Mormon testimonies,” agrees David Knowlton, a Mormon cu...

Damn it, I wanted to make this blog entry about vampire movies - in particular, a few recent ones that I think are more than half-decent - but I have to provide at least a superficial take on the Season of Weirdness in Utah primaries. So, Bennett is out, and I've heard some huzzahs and guffahs from the usual sectors. A good take on the actual convention from a conservative friend of a conservative friend of mine can be found here . Claudia Wright is keeping the flame going, and good for her. A stereotypical take* from the Salt Lake City Weekly can be found here . My sister actually wrote this , but don't tell anyone. There's your Utah politics update. It's rainy and everyone feels cranky as hell. * - Both on Doug Fabrizio's usually non-terrible 'Radio West' program and a few other programs I've heard, Wright has been treated to the standard "non-serious" charge that liberals/progressives face these days. Don't piss me off, Doug.