Slate reran a 2004 interview they did with former CIA spy and Watergate operative E. Howard Hunt. Pretty awesome insight into the old days of the CIA...the overview:

Former CIA spymaster E. Howard Hunt died yesterday at age 88. His ignominious career included masterminding the Watergate break-in and overthrowing the democratically elected government of Guatemala. He gloated over his most sordid exploits—including Che Guevara's assassination—in a 2004 Slate "Interrogation" by A.L. Bardach, which is reproduced below. He was unrepentant to the end: When asked if he had any regrets, he replied, "No, none. [Long pause] Well, it would have been nice to do Bay of Pigs differently."

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A faithful reader (let's call him "Brian C. Lay") reminded me of an SNL bit that was centered around one of our favorite words: Rrrreallly?!?. I also liked the recent MacGruber sketches;

MacGruber I
MacGruber II
MacGruber III


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Still trying to figure out why the Baby Einstein chick was one of the people singled out during the State of the Union? Slate is, too.

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Travis: Making poor use of YouTube

Travis have kind of descended into semi-obscurity over the years, but they have a new song called "Big Chair" which keeps up with their tradition of releasing great lead singles. The Man Who is still an album I like a lot, even though my taste has become slightly less wimpy since I first heard it about seven years ago.

They came back with The Invisible Band in 2001, which I had huge expectations for based on the great lead single "Sing." I also loved the next two songs I heard, "Side" and "Pipe Dreams," but as it turned out, the album was pretty worthless after those three. Then they had 12 Memories in 2003, but aside from the single "Re-Offender" it was pretty much one for the scrap heap. Hopefully the new album won't follow their more recent pattern.

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Some tunes:

Andrew Bird / "Heretics"
Mohair / "End of the Line" (pilfered from MOKB)

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You know John Hodgman as the "PC guy" from the Mac commercials, and might also remember him from the Daily Show as well. His new book is Areas of My Expertise and he showed up recently to talk to Jon Stewart about history, FDR, and hobos.

In fact, he's something of a hobo expert, something I appreciate because for my money there's nothing better than hobo-based humor. And for our benefit John has come up with the 700 best hobo names, and uploaded them via mp3 to his website:

John Hodgman / "700 Hobo Names"

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Looking for some short-term cash, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is considering selling the state's lottery to a private buyer.