The Mouse and the Paper Trail

Unlike some people I did my patriotic duty today and voted. Last night when I finally cracked my sample ballot I was dismayed to learn about how little I had prepared myself for this election. I hadn't heard of several of the propositions, so I tried to educate myself on a couple, but mostly just played it safe by voting no on all but a couple. Keeping the status quo is better than rushing headlong into something I have no idea what the consequences will actually be. As for the major races, Arnold was always going to win and so was Diane Feinstein so my vote on those two matters seems inconsequential.

The new voting machines are interesting. This time around they have a visible paper trail, in the form of a receipt that prints out behind glass, lets you verify your vote and then rolls out of sight before the machine resets itself for the next voter. I thought it was ingenious, and actually did inspire a bit of confidence in the electronic voting machines. Of course I realize that the paper trail will never be accessed except in the case of some kind of blatant discrepency but it was superficially reassuring at least.

Also I went to see Modest Mouse play tonight at the Grove of Anaheim, which I had never been to before. It was a somewhat large venue, though not quite Wiltern sized, but was pleasantly uncrowded. Seems it was a last minute show and despite being promoted by KROQ word didn't get out quickly enough so the venue was at less than half capacity. I hear they were event giving steep discounts on tickets for voters. Maybe they'll be doing that at Thursday's show too.

At the risk of embarassing myself in a couple of months when their new album comes out, I thought the new material was pretty great. About half the show was new songs and 49 percent was Good News For People Who Love Bad News and The Moon and Antarctica material. At the very very end of the show, the second encore to be exact, they threw us old time fans a bone and played Dramamine. A very good show, but I really want to hear more "Interstate 8" and less goddamn "Black Cadillacs", please.