Galley Friend B.W. sends along this link to Pork Tornado’s list of the 10 Worst Album Covers of All Time.

Number 10 on the list is a little weak, but if you keep scrolling down you’ll get enough funny to last you the rest of the day.

Would you like me to start blogging a list of free the stuff I get sent in the mail by book publishers, TV networks, film studios, etc.? I mean, that would be really useful for you, the reader, wouldn’t it?

For example, a couple weeks ago Dyson sent me a big multimedia presentation about their new “Ball” vacuum cleaner. Then a French journalist sent me a book he just wrote. Then a publishing house sent me a couple books on Gen-X religion. Then National Geographic sent me a few videotapes of upcoming programs.

Isn’t this edifying for you? Isn’t this what the promise of the blogosphere is really about? Isn’t it high time we had Citizen Journalists show the Old MSM how to do the job right?

I mean, Michael Dobbs never tells us what’s in his mailbag, or when he’s going to be on Kudlow & Company. And it’s that kind of elitist arrogance that’s going to bring down the Old Media.

Driving up to NJ last weekend, I noticed a strange billboard right after the Delaware Memorial Bridge. It read: “Welcome to New Jersey, a Horrible Place to do Business.”

I wondered what the story was behind it. Now the AP has all the details.

Galley Reader P.G. sends in these two clips, which are related to our ongoing Magpie Watch:

6/1/2005 5:16pm: I MIGHT AS WELL BE THE FIRST: One analysis of the Dutch referendum result: They are the Knights that say “Nee!”
—Andrew Sullivan

6/1/2005: 11:30am: Here is what we say to those who support the EU constitution:

“NEE! Nee! NEE! NEE! NnnnnEE! Nee! Nee!

We will say ‘nee’ again to you, if you do not appease us. The country that says ‘nee’ demands…a shrubbery! One that looks nice. And not TOO expensive.”
—Huffington Toast

Update, 2:33 p.m.:

06/01/05 01:24 p.m. Dutch: We are the Knights who say . . . Nee
—Captain’s Quarters

Sadly we’ve come to the end of opera season and only now do I come up with the idea of posting an “Opera for Dummies” weblog. I decided to get the tickets for me and the Mrs. (as opposed to my usual purchase of Hoyas b-ball and Redskins/Cowboys tix) as a way to improve on my culture–currently at a rate of 43 per turn. (I won’t even explain that joke.) It is true, I came to enjoy opera from my study abroad days in Vienna (when tickets only cost $5–so I pretty much saw everything). But just because it is old, and in Washington, D.C.’s case, run by Plácido Domingo, doesn’t mean it’s always good. For instance:

1. This year’s production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore featured tin-foil looking swords, which performers clashed against each other out of sync with the orchestra–the swords were actually quite heavy, as I tested it backstage during a tour. (I would have loved dragging it around the city. Along with my cape.)

2. Billy Budd. Whoa! Must repressed homosexuality always manifest itself in murder? I know it’s a long voyage, and Billy is quite a strapping dude, but did you have to kill him? Does it make you feel any better now? Master and Commander has a whole new meaning.

3. A few seasons ago I saw Bellini’s I Puritani, the story of a woman madly in love with her man–so much so she becomes paranoid that he is cheating on her–he isn’t–and when all is resolved, she still manages to go insane. But wait, she’s better now. I think. They should have called this one I Crazy Bitch.

But there were some highlights too:

1. There is no other word to describe Mozart’s The Magic Flute than silly. It’s a fantasy that seems to take place in the land of the Smurfs (minus the Smurfs but with an overgrown man-bird). And with a happy ending, it is a refreshing change from your traditional final acts, in which the jealous lover kills his wife’s friend, who turns out to be the long-lost brother, so she kills the lover and then jumps off a parapet.

2. Speaking of jumping off parapets, I saw the season-ending opera Tosca last night. This was a tremendous performance. If there is one name to remember, it’s Salvatore Licitra, who played Cavaradossi. This guy may very well be the next Pavarotti. (Interestingly enough, it was when Pavarotti fell ill back in 2002 at the Met that Licitra stepped up–in the same role in Tosca.) This is as classic an Italian opera (Puccini no less) as they come, filled with romance, deceit, torture, murder, and suicide. Bring it on!

Kathy Nelson has a frightful post about the latest trend in Girl Scouting: treating low self-esteem with a “Uniquely ME!” program.

The Girl Scouts have even created a “getting-to-know-me game” called “Me-O-Meter.”

Ross Douthat has the best, most pertinent observation about the Deep Throat revelation: John D. O’Connor is “grade-A yuppie/Bobo scum.” I won’t recount Ross’s schtick, but if you don’t follow the link and read it, it’s your loss.

Even Newsweek is piling on Tom Cruise:

The film’s [Batman Begins] star wattage grew even brighter in May when Katie Holmes, who plays Bruce Wayne’s imperiled lover interest onscreen, began playing Tom Cruise’s love interest off it.