My wife took our nephew and his girlfriend shopping at Amoeba Records yesterday afternoon and came back with the following postcard in hand.

I really, really don’t want to cast aspersions - geeks in mylar houses, and all - but really folks? An entire convention centering around Depeche Mode? Eh, what do I know - apparently this is at least the third year they’ve held it.

You can get more info here.

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I’m not sure which is more unbelievable - that Larry King has any idea who Motely Crue is or that there are people still willing to get in a car with Vince Neil. Plus, who had Nikki Sixx in the pool of “Who will be my generation’s Keith Richards?”

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Quite possibly the single greatest website devoted to hip-hop ever, Brooklyn Radio’s The Rub breaks things down. Their picks for the best hip-hop singles ever is broken down year by year and is accompanied by mega-mix mp3s of every song they choose. I’ve downloaded half of the selections already, and fully plan to grab the rest before some RIAA lawyer decides they need that summer in Boca. I’d recommend you do the same.

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Here you go people - buy some of Andrew’s band’s music. He’s gonna need to pay for diaper service, soon…

To give you an idea what you’re in for, Pitchfork reviewed one of the tunes: check it out.

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So, a month or two back, I ordered myself the following belt buckle as a belated birthday gift to myself, and I was totally stoked to be receiving such an amazing present. It took a while to arrive, as Merch.com was not exactly prompt about sending the thing out, but once it arrived, all was forgiven.

The buckle is a loving recreation of the Maryland license plate, with the letters raised and the Maryland flag shield flat out pops. The photo above truly doesn’t do it justice - even the little screws in te plate are raised, with indents for your imaginary flathead screwdriver to go into. The backside of the belt has the unmistakable Clutch logo imprinted into it, and that’s about all, but that’s cool. The only problem with the buckle, which measures an impressive 2.125 inches by 4 inches, is that the hook is pretty poorly designed and likes to pop free of the belt hole at inopportune moments. Really, today’s belt buckle technology has licked this issue pretty well, and it shouldn’t have been all that difficult to add that little ball on the end of the prong to ensure people’s pants stay up while they’re steady rocking.

All in all, I dig it and, despite the retarded-high price tag, mediocre service from Merch.com and the fact that the buckle pops free at random times, I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. But, hey, I’m kind of stupid that way about some things.

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For all the kerfluffle over Miley “Hanna Montana” Cyrus’ Vanity Fair spread, it’s downright wholesome compared to a campaign that’s popped up on Beijing billboards for Disney underwear. To be fair, the ads aren’t quite at that Victoria’s Secret level of titillating, but it’s still quite disconcerting and disturbing to see girls that look to be 12-13 posing in their skivvies. The billboard on the Slate site is probably the most mild, actually - TMZ has an entire photo shoot that has a grimy, over-airbrushed, near kiddie porn feel to it. Apparently Disney’s China licensing company simply runs their own game without clearing things with Disney corporate, and this is the end result. I have a feeling that freedom is about to go away pretty damn quick, especially with the Olympics coming up.

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