I’m leaving in a bit to see Frankenlaw, a musical written and performed by U of M law students. You see, most people who go to law school are frustrated somethings-or-other. Writers, musicians, male strippers (as was the case with one person in my first-year study group); law school attracts high achievers who have tired of the bohemian life and have decided it might be nice to subsist on more than a steady diet of ramen noodles. We didn’t do anything nearly this cool when I was a student, which is a shame. The world missed its chance to hear the raw power of my tenor soprano.

If some tragic accident had befallen the Orpheum Theater last night, it probably would have taken out a good third of the local hipster population. The theme of the show was near and dear to my heart: television. I especially enjoyed David Rakoff’s piece about his experimental foray into the land of television after a two-decade absence. And the clips of the TAL tv show looked intriguing enough for me to want to download order Showtime.

Dan Savage, the sex columnist and author, also did a reading. Did I ever tell you that I made a semi-anonymous appearance in Savage’s column. You can read it here. I cringe a little bit now when I read it because my letter makes me sound like a whiny, inexperienced gimp with an inferiority complex. Savage doesn’t treat me kindly in his response, and rightly so. But I also like to think of that letter as a precursor to the more finely crafted rants and diatribes that eventually appeared on this blog.

I have tickets to see Ira Glass’ This American Life show at the Orpheum tomorrow night. Another snow storm is also supposed to wallop the area at about the same time. I’m not too worried about getting there, but the walk home could be interesting. Maybe I can figure out a way to rig a snow plow to the front of my chair. Or perhaps Ira and Sarah Vowell will give me a push through the snow drifts on our way to the afterparty.

I’m a big fan of trip-hop, the musical style characterized by torchy female vocalists, multi-layered soundtracks, and heavy use of sampling. Think Portishead, Morcheeba, or Hooverphonic. Thanks to Metafilter, I discovered Splashdown, a Boston-based band with a similar sound whose major debut LP was never released by its record label. Which is a shame, because they’re actually quite good. Their entire catalog is available in MP3 format here and I have a fast-developing crush on the lead singer. Wouldn’t it be great if the internets one day made the RIAA and its spawn irrelevant? We’re already seeing artists release their music to fans via alternative channels like MySpace. And the slow death of digital rights management will gradually make more music available to more people at a lower cost. Besides, most acts make their big money from touring.

The other day, I was thinking how cool it would have been to have had the internet when I was a kid. Green Bay will always hold a special place in my heart, but it’s a hopelessly hick town. I listened to the same crappy Top 40 radio that everyone else listened to because that was available. The only books I read were the ones I could find at the crappy WaldenBooks in the mall. If the Web had been around back then, I might have more quickly evolved into the hip, urbane, sophisticated adult I am today. And I might have found other like-minded souls who shared my obsessions. Maybe I would have even scored the occasional date. Kids these days have it so good. Everyone has the opportunity to find their social niche within an accepting social community.

As for me, I turned out okay, but it was sometimes a lonely journey.

It gets so tiresome being proven right all the time. When Michelle Bachmann was elected, I told friends, “She’ll say something utterly stupid in the first six months of her incumbency.” I needn’t have been so generous in my allotment of time. Bachmann, in a recent interview with a St. Cloud newspaper, revealed that she possessed knowledge of an agreement that would see Iran partition Iraq and set up some sort of terrorist mini-state in the western part of what used to be Iraq. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense, seeing as how Iran is Shi’a and western Iraq is predominantly Sunni and the two sects are in the midst of slaughtering each other’s adherents across much of Iraq.

Bachmann really should stick to her strengths–like demonizing the gay community and non-Christians–and not trouble her pretty, carefully coiffed little head with matters of foreign policy. Such wild-eyed conspiracy theorizing does not suit an alumnus of the great Oral Roberts University.