just caught a sears commercial with background music by...stephen malkmus.

they were advertising washers and dryers.

it was weird.

that is all.

UPDATE: courtesy of goldenfiddle.com, here's the mp3 for the song played, "phantasies."

Slate's got a piece up by two thirtysomething guys evaluating Xbox Live. It's pretty accurate — the people on it really are insanely good, until recently cheating really was widespread, and virtually every kid on it does deserve to be grounded.

But it's still fun, even if they found it a bit overwhelming. It might be worth pointing out that the "senior league" sort of arrangement the Slate article asks for will almost be present in the Xbox360's implementation of Live. The plan is to offer a choice of four "GamerZones": Pro, for the hardcore; R&R, for the casual gamer (and the hardcore who feel like abusing them); Underground, which is for cheaters, so far as I can tell; and Family, which will presumably just turn off players' microphones entirely.

I doubt any of this will work out the way it's intended, but it's at least a nice thought.

Shorter Ultragrrl: Hillary Duff has musical credibility because... uh... OHMYGODLOOKBEHINDYOUITSAHURRICANE!