Friday Afternoon

By Glenn

Good afternoon. No one gets up before noon on Fridays so I decided, unilaterally, to move the good morning post to this afternoon instead. We've had some great good morning columns this week, and an even better debate where I betrayed everything I believed in to defend Jay Leno. I'd like to hear from people in the comments section what they have planned this weekend - perhaps even someone from the millions of people who read OYIT but never comment. Now onto your afternoon wackiness.


Today's Music Recommendation
I love Oasis. They had a rough patch after the breakthrough of (What's the Story) Morning Glory? which led to a couple of sub-par albums and the loss of three of the original band members. However, after finding new guitarist, bassist and drummer they put out 2003's improved Heathen Chemistry and 2005's MUCH improved Don't Believe the Truth. They released a new album last year but I don't own it yet. Today, Pitchfork reviews Noel Gallagher: The Dreams We Have as Children, a live acoustic album to benefit teenage cancer, the most insidious kind. This album has a lot of older stuff and b-sides on it. If you click on the link to read the review - a surprisingly positive one - you can also listen to the album on the right side bar if you "join" something called Lala. It's some sort of streaming service and it only costs $40 a month! Just kidding, it's free.

Yesterday's Anniversary, Recognized Today

If you know me, you know how interested I am in the Tienanmen Square massacre and how sad it was to see it happen back in 1989. Although some of our readers weren't born yet, it does not take the wisdom of old age to understand how hopeful people around the world were for Chinese Democracy (not the Guns 'n' Roses album) only to weep with despair as it was crushed (like the Guns 'n' Roses album). Twenty years later, there is more openness in China but more of the economic type. Massive government censorship of all topics related to the massacre reveal that the Chinese people still do not enjoy the basic freedoms we literally take for granted here. Twenty years later, there is also a new photo from a different perspective on the so-called "Tank Man" and his courageous blockade of incoming government tanks.

In this photo taken on June 5, 1989 and made available for the first time by the AP on Thursday June 4, 2009, three unidentified men flee the scene, as a Chinese man, background left, stands alone to block a line of approaching tanks, background right, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The man in the background stood his ground and blocked the column of tanks when they came closer, an image captured on film by numerous other photographers and one that ultimately became a widely reproduced symbol of events there. The photograph was taken by then-AP reporter Terril Jones and came to light after online discussions of the incident coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. (AP Photo/Terril Jones)

Today's Weather
I bet you thought I would skip the weather today because it's already the afternoon! I never skip the weather.

Here in Virginia it's raining has been for days. I don't want to call it another great flood, though there is a flash flood warning for Alexandria. While I was training for my new job yesterday - the one where I cart around people on a bike-rickshaw public-private partnership - the rain soaked me more thoroughly than the shame of the job itself. For the record, I actually think the job is going to be fun! I like navigating big city streets, especially on a bike and especially with Congresspersons and Senators on the back. But the weather, like always, will play a huge role in how much I can take.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!