Janelle Monae is going to be a star.

I have to give credit to my friend Sam for turning me on to this, but the more I've watched it, the more convinced I am that Janelle Monae is going to be a huge star. I'm not sure if this record will get her there, but she'll get there eventually - she just has too much of that intangible star power to ignore for long. She can dance, she can sing, and she's beautiful in a completely unique, odd way. I love it.

I think the song below is better - it is what got her the deal with Bad Boy Records. And it sounds like a lost Michael Jackson tune to me.

Billy Corgan can still write great songs.

Song for a Son



99 Floors



After being horribly disappointed by their show at D.A.R. Constitution Hall on Tuesday, I admit that I doubted that the Pumpkins had songs like these left in them in the current incarnation. But this gives me some hope for the band yet.

Update

Just a quick update.

No, I haven't gone away. Yes, I plan to keep writing here.

I'm at the tail end of a ridiculously busy run with work - after that passes, I expect to be back much more regularly.

2:00 AM at the White House: November 5, 2008

November 4th, 2008

I've been missing in action for the close of the campaign. In fact, I've got a lot of unfinished drafts in my blogger interface right now. Fact of the matter is that I'm swamped at work, and I haven't had much time to write, as I've been working evenings quite a bit. My apologies to any readers who've been disappointed. I hope to get back to a more regular writing schedule after the next couple of weeks have passed, and work has calmed down a little bit.

But I did want to say one thing here, on the record, this election day.

This is an election cycle that will be studied and remembered for decades if not centuries, and we've been blessed to have a front row seat for all of it these past two years. Am I glad that it is coming to a close? Yes, I am - but that said, I feel privileged to have watched this election. I feel privileged to be alive at a time like this in American politics, even though it means we're facing real challenges as a country and as a people. I feel privileged to have voted this morning for a candidate that I actually believe in - Barack Obama.

There aren't many days where you wake up believing that you're going to be telling your kids and grandkids about it someday. But today, November 4, 2008, I woke up believing just that.

This is our time. This is our election. This is our country. This is our chance to stand up as a new generation to speak in our voice about what matters to us.

As Andrew Sullivan would say: know hope. And please, go and vote.



UPDATE: if anybody is curious, here is my official prediction about the electoral map. I have Obama winning all of the Kerry states, plus: Iowa, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, Florida, North Carolina and Missouri.

Total count: Obama, 364 | McCain, 174