Cool article about the race for alternative fuels.

"I see a race between three types of fuel - ethanol from cellulose and sugar cane, methanol from coal, and electricity from the wall outlet in your garage charging up plug-in hybrid cars," Luft says.

Ultimately, trends in the automotive world may be what decides the winning alternative fuel. At this stage, electricity is a strong contender. Earlier this month Toyota announced it will soon move beyond gas-electric hybrid designs to "plug-in" hybrids that tap the power grid to charge their batteries and go farther on electric power alone.

Using electricity to power vehicles is so efficient and cheap that, even if the juice flows from a mix of power plants including coal-fired boilers, it would still pollute less on a national basis than using gasoline, say Greene and others who have studied the issue.

Driving 20 to 40 miles a day on electricity stored in a modern lithium ion battery would be like driving on gasoline costing just 75 cents per gallon, Luft says.

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Slate examines the differences between four versions of The Office. I think it's an interesting idea for an article, but a couple points seem to fall flat. I don't think the author has seen all of the British version based on the imaginary differences she seems to spot between Brent and Scott:

But to an American viewer, a boss who fails to project at least an outward appearance of seriousness would not be credible. And, perhaps because every American thinks he or she can be the boss one day, given the right circumstances, we tend to identify with our employers. By American subconscious logic, even a stooge must have the possibility of professional growth, because who knows—one day we may be that stooge. Which may explain why Michael Scott at least tries to seem productive—as when he uses a company cruise as an occasion to give a misguided motivational lecture.

I think there are three main cogs to the US and British versions: the Pam/Jim relationship, Dwight, and Michael. As the US show has gone on, the first two components have come at least close to rivaling the Dawn/Tim plotline and the antics of Gareth on the British show. All three characters are relatively distinct from their British counterparts, and the fact that the US version will go on for a long time dictates that the Pam/Jim relationship has to be drawn out much more than the British version did. Of course, we don't know how the Pam/Jim thing will work out, and I'd argue (and I think Alex and others have my back here) that the way that subplot was handled on the British show was perhaps the best part of the whole show. That's what made it impossible to immediately judge the US show--part of the appeal of both versions is that you become very vested in the characters over time.

In the case of Dwight/Gareth of course, the divergence is largely because they simply couldn't use the same jokes, given Gareth's character was built on making fun of his participation in the British equivalent of the National Guard (not fair game nowadays) and of his, uh, less-than-progressive view of homosexuality. While Gareth is a loser who doesn't realize how big of a loser he is, Dwight is more just a huge dork who doesn't realize how huge a dork he is. Perhaps nerd humor is just bigger in the US.

As for Ricky Gervais' David Brent and Carell's Michael Scott, I still think Gervais' character is vastly superior, though Carell is getting there. Carell, as funny as he is, just can't pull off the solo riffs that Gervais could.

More quality BBC clips:
Gareth's ultimate fantasy
Difference between a midget and a dwarf
Keith's review
Money for the disabled
Tim and Dawn wind up Gareth
Gareth being smooth with the ladies
Gareth gets a call from the Ogmonster

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Grizzly Bear don't play the sort of music I generally go for, but there's just something really perfect about their hushed, melodic pop music. Their debut LP Yellow House is out now. The video below is from Blogotheque, a French site that hosts cool live performances of some really great bands (like Islands).



Grab mp3s of their live KEXP performance here.

Grizzly Bear / "Knife"

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The always excellent Good Weather For Airstrikes offers a slightly re-worked version of Bloc Party's "The Marshals Are Dead." The original version appeared on the Bloc Party EP and was pretty good, but this one is basically cleaned up and fortified with an extra dose of shredding guitars.

Bloc Party / "The Marshals Are Dead (Paul Epworth Mix)" (left click yousendit)

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The first single from Emily Haines' Knives Don't Have Your Back. This is another slower, piano-based track as is most of the album. You can check out the pretty decent video here. The more I hear of her solo stuff, the more I like it for the same reasons I like Aimee Mann.

Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton / "Doctor Blind"

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Cool article about Elton Brand's role as producer of the new Christian Bale flick "Rescue Dawn." Bale wound up losing a ton of weight for his role as a POW during the Vietnam war--watch how his appearance changes during the trailer.



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Slate teaches us how to tell if an NFL player stinks.

NFL teams lose because of the linemen who aren't quick enough, the linebackers who miss tackles, and the safeties who blow assignments. Errors in nonglamour positions, though, are typically only glimpsed in the periphery of an opponent's success. The losers are the guys you see at the bottom edge of the screen when Chad Johnson is running into the end zone.

If the NFL had no stiffs, there would be no marquee players. But let's be honest here. The formula for a winning pro football team is the same as the recipe for a good intramural softball team: a few real jocks and a gaggle of roster-fillers who have a pulse and a decent attention span.