I saw a woman on the street wearing a t-shirt which read "I survived the 1986 Phillipine Revolution." Hipster irony has taken a strange turn.

Speaking of which, the new Decemberists album actually managed to surprise me, abandoning at times the fetishized pseudopirate atavisms of the previous 3 records for occasional Yes-style prog rock which at times even approaches funkiness. wtf.

Tower records is closing every store in the US. I raided the soul section of the one on B-Way and West 4th yesterday and bought a lot of cds at a large discount. I may go back as the closing date draws nearer and do so again. I don't really mourn tower's passing, even if it is supposed to mark "the death of the record store." I still buy CDs. I don't trust 100% digital media - I need some kind of hard copy for times like now, when the laptop i'm borrowing from my dad decides to stop reading usb drives, or in case i accidentally hit "restore." I'm going to continue to buy CDs - from places like Other Music - so named in part because it was and is right across the street from the downtown Tower store (well, i think that's why they named it that...) And there's that massive Virgin Megastore up in Union Square. And Kim's. And Sounds. And Bleeker Bob's. And Generations. Etc, etc.