Obamania

Mania: An irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action.There's a lot of noise in the media about the three Abercrombie dudes standing behind Obama durring his Pennsylvania concession speech in Indiana. I really don't think that it was staged. I watched that speech live on MSNBC, and as I was watching it unfold live I had two thoughts:
a) Yup, that's fucking Indiana.
b) Yup, those are Obama supporters.
Wake up - THAT'S HIS BASE!
Senator Obama has become the 'livestrong' bracelet/pink ribbon/labradoodle of 2008. He's become a mall-culture messiah of the vapid masses. He's the black friend for everyone who wouldn't be caught dead in a black neighborhood. He's the hot new icon for the Abercrombie generation - All style, zero substance - A cotton-candy fart wrapped in the hopes and dreams of every American Idol superfan. He's the Che Guevara that you can bring home to grandma - A gen-u-wine black guy raised by god-fearing Kansas white-folk.
It would be offensive if it weren't so god-damned ironic.

I worked with Obama's Senate office on several issues back in DC. They were fucking useless unless you had media coverage, or got Durbin's office to do all of the heavy-work. Clinton's office wasn't much better, but were dependable on several assorted issues. McCain's office was highly-accessible, but always managed to torpedo everything you were asking for in mark-up.
From my experience, I'm not wild about any of 'em, but at least the other two had the courtesy to pretend that they gave a shit about the legislative process.
I have two friends working on the Obama campaign right now; one is a good friend in a very high position. I love her, but I'm just not buying "the cause". I'm also not buying Croc clogs, the new Counting Crows CD, or recycled cruelty-free toilet tissue. That must just be me.

I'm not saying that he's any worse than the other two ass-clowns running for president, but there's no reason to think that he's any better. You just think he is because everyone in your inspirational book-club tells you so.
Do the fucking homework, people! The last time everyone voted with their hearts rather than their brains for a way-under-qualified pseudo-politician we got stuck with Bush II (TWICE!!!), and we all know how well that worked out for all of us.
Regardless, the American people are gonna head back into the voting booths in about six months and pick the next President of the United States of America.
God help us all.

An Open Letter to the Hop-Toads of Northern Illinois

Dear Hop-Toads,

Stay out of the damned pool. You guys realize that you totally can't swim, right? That's why I keep having to fish 6 or 7 of you guys out with a strainer every damned night. Seriously, there's a pond less than 200 feet away that's not a total death-trap. Plus, I've heard that that's the place for freaky-dirty toad sex. Not the swiming pool. You guys are almost as bad as those damned uppity tree frogs that keep setting up house in the sodding jacuzzi. Cut it out!
Please take this into account for future reference.

Sincerly,
The Liar

Crime (Fighters) & Punisher

2008 looks to be a bumper year for comic book geeks; we've got Iron Man, Speedracer, Hellboy II, another Hulk film, Batman: The Dark Knight, and the long-awaited Watchmen film all set to drop in '08.

Not bad, but the one film that has piqued my interest more than all of those combined is the Punisher: War Zone movie. No, really.Growing up as a kid in the 80s, there was no cooler superhero than the Punisher. He didn't have superpowers, he wasn't some rich weirdo that hung out with little boys, he didn't bother with an alter-ego, and he actually KILLED people... lots of people.
The Punisher was the only comic book I regularly followed in the 1980s. Later on, I got into the Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, and Frank Miller stuff, but as a kid, Punisher was #1.

For those who don't know, here's the story of the Punisher in a nutshell:
Frank was a Vietnam war-hero. Frank witnessed his family being murdered by the Mafia. Frank went ape-shit crazy, dressed up in body armor, called himself "the Punisher", started killing criminals, took their money to buy guns and explosives, turned around and killed more criminals (repeat).
End of story. He was the perfect Regan-era underwear-pervert.

What kills me is that what should be the easiest comic book to turn into a movie has yielded two ripe turds of films. I mean how fucking hard is it? War-vet goes crazy and starts killing criminals - This ain't fucking rocket-surgery, people! Just watch 'Taxi Driver' three times and put a skull-suit on Travis Bickle. Done.
Well, I'm hoping like hell that they get it right this time. They have Titus Pullo playing the Punisher and it's being directed by the woman who did Green Street Hooligans. I'm cautiously optimistic.

Regardless, I'm sure that it'll be a hell of a lot less disappointing than the Watchmen flick - Bastards.

Oh Gundy, Where Art Thou?

Every time I've tried to access the Gunderblog over the last week or so, all I've gotten is this:

Not Found

The requested URL /blog/index.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

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Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.craiggunderson.com Port 80

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Finger-pain?!? I thought I was gettin' gum.

Awesomeness, Thy Name Is Nick Cave

Check out this video for the title track from the brand new Nick Cave album Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!. I'm digging it (and the new look) - Swank.

Grenadier Sing the Hits of Grenadier

Grenadier - Self-Titled Album
(c) 2008 - Ubique UCD4
myspace.com/grenadier

One of the most awkward experiences in modern life is when a friend gives you his/her band's new CD to listen to. 4 out of 5 times it's gonna end poorly if you don't lie like hell and tap your vocabulary for every single euphemism that you've ever learned. Then (since it's your friend) you keep listening to the album until you have songs like the Floating Basement's "When Mamaluke is at the Beach" running through your head in the middle of Congressional appropriations hearings and other assorted inopportune moments.
It ain't a good thing.

A couple of weekends ago P-Dawg handed me the new Grenadier album. I liked their 2005 album Hand Offensive, so I was optimistic about this one - I popped it into the CD player while The Girl drove my loaded ass home, and then promptly forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Last night I decided to give it a fair (read: sober) listen, and I was blown away.
Hand Offensive was good, but seemed to wander all over the map. This new album is fucking SOLID - It has a laser-beam straight focus and kicks it out from the get-go. It is one of the best examples of American Power-Pop since Weezer's 'Blue Album' or Redd Kross' 'Phaseshifter'.

This new album plays like the distilled history of the Power-Pop movement. Two parts Elvis Costello, one part The Jam, one part Big Star, one part Cheap Trick, one part The Replacements, one part Redd Kross, with a pinch of Glam Rock (The Sweet/Slade/Roxy Music), and a touch of Indie-Noise (Jesus and Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine). Throw all of that together and you have something totally new, and absolutely brilliant.
The only real departure from that formula is track #3, 'Ghost Child', which has a balls-out 1980's Australian pub-rock (Beasts of Bourbon/Gun Club) feel to it.
Good stuff, to be sure.

All-in-all 'Grenadier' is definitely worth picking up, and will be in my personal rotation for a while. I just hope that they can get out and book some shows soon with some bigger Chicago bands so that this record doesn't pass under the radar.
P-Dawg handed me this disc at the MOTO/Methadones show at Otto's, and it's a damned shame that they weren't on the bill that night. Woulda been a perfect fit - C'mon guys, get on it.

Track Listing:
1. Tolerance
2. Look at Me
3. Ghost Child
4. Poor Little Baby
5. See Run Boy
6. Secret
7. Public Now
8. Leave 'em Ringin'

It's Always the Blogs That Suffer

I'm still spending most of my time trying to find gainful employment, but have had a few breaks within the last couple of weeks. The placement agency that I signed with is starting to feed me several leads every day, it looks like I have a line on an awesome apartment in the West Loop, and The Girl is holding off on moving for yet another month, so I can get situated.
Everything seems to be coming together, but I really haven't had time (or subject matter) for the blog. I'm going to try and fix that - Keep an eye out here and on Killing for Sports for a couple of posts over the next couple of days.

A New High In Low

It finally happened.
I found myself buying a lottery ticket at the liquor store today.

Liquor Store + Lottery Ticket = Oh Crap.

Them's Jokes

Yeah, I'm not going anywhere.
Now I have to stop fooling around and find a job.

Easy Come Home, Easy Go Away

Good news - Bad news:
I'm going to be starting a new job on the 15th of this month - Out in Portland, Oregon.
I've been looking for a job for a few months back in Illinois and haven't had much luck, so last week when I got a great offer to go out to work on the West coast, I decided that I had to take it.

I'm going to be heading out there next Thursday and am going to try like hell to find an apartment within 5 days.

Wish me luck.