I am a wimp.

Sadly, I either wised up or chickened out. I did not travel to IKEA in West Chester last night. I only sort of regret it. At least now I can go with my wife later.

IKEA fever — catch it!

I can’t believe I’m honestly considering doing this. It’s 1:18 a.m. and I’m seriously thinking of driving all the way to Cincinnati for the opening of Ohio’s first IKEA store. I’m sick.

The great Obamination

I can’t say I’m all that surprised. Clinton won Ohio. Honestly, I’m not even all that sure why I wanted Obama. He just seems to promise something…different. I’m sick of Clintons and Bushes. And something about McCain just makes me nervous.

Most of the time I feel like a Democrat trapped in the body of a Republican. Or maybe a Republican trapped in the body of a Democrat. That doesn’t exactly make me a centrist does it?

And I want this button. It’s ridiculous.

Arcade Fire + Obama + Nelsonville = Rock!

I’m still processing all of this. It was all thrown together so quickly.

After receiving word on Friday that Arcade Fire would be playing for a Barack Obama rally in Nelsonville, I jumped into action. I contacted the right people and secured a press pass for the show.

Sunday night my wife and I traveled to the show. It was incredible. The venue, Stuart’s Opera House, only seats a few hundred people, so the concert was intimate as heck. Then, needless to say, the band put on an amazing, energetic show. In addition to some of their own best songs, the band did some rad cover tunes: David Bowie’s “Heroes,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and John Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth.”

Oh, and I tried to post all this on Sunday night, but my internet was down. Ugh.

The Chinese Democratic process

I’m not sure if I buy this or not. Supposedly, Axl Rose and his poor excuse for a GNR cover band have released the tracklisting for their years-in-the-making “Chinese Democracy” album.

Never mind the fact that the band’s last record of originals came out when Bush 41 was president. Never mind the fact that Slash, Izzy and Duff are nowhere to be found in the band’s current lineup. This is still Guns N’ Roses, and so I am excited. Cautiously excited.

Here it is:

“Better”
“Catcher in the Rye”
“Chinese Democracy”
“I.R.S.”
“If The World”
“Madagascar”
“Prostitute”
“Sorry”
“The Blues”
“There Was A Time”
“Rhiad and the Bedouins”
“Oh My God”
“Silk Worms”
“Ides of March”

Thundercats’ Tygra on “American Idol”

My whip-smart wife pointed this out. It’s uncanny.

I’m pretty sure that’s a mic in his hand. Here’s hoping Lion-O makes an appearance next week, although he’d probably be pitchy.

Oscar Weiners

Here’s the deal. I don’t really care about the Academy Awards. And I’m not sure anyone else does either.

We’ve (and I mean we) all decided that the Best Actor should be Daniel Day-Lewis. Most of us probably decided that when we all first saw the trailer for “There Will Be Blood” at the beginning of “No Country for Old Men” — which, incidentally, we’ve all decided should earn the award for Best Picture.

It’s all futile anyway…awards night coverage will be reduced to best and worst dressed lists.

Nevertheless, here are some hopes:

1. “Juno” takes nothing home except perhaps Best Original Screenplay. I’ll be the first to admit that I loved this movie. I’ll likely watch it many more times than any other nominated film. That being said, I also have watched “Say Anything” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” a helluva lot of times too. What am I getting at? “Juno” was an great movie, but Oscar-worthy it was not.

2.  Ruby Dee does not, repeat, does not win the Best Supporting Actress Award for “American Gangster.” She may be a great actress, but she’s on screen for mere minutes.

3.  The awards show is apolitical. I know this is a pipe dream. In the current election season, I would love to make it through the broadcast without hearing a self-righteous Hollywood liberal preach something from the stage. (And that’s coming from a relatively liberal person!) Every year the show gives right-wing wackos more ammo for the culture wars.

4. “Ratatouille” wins Best Animated Feature. “Persepolis” is the favorite, but this deceptively mainstream film from Pixar and Disney shows that writer/director Brad Bird is a great filmmaker — by any measure. I’d love to see him make a non-family film. He’s a true artist.

5. In keeping with the majority of critics, Javier Bardem wins Best Supporting Actor for his disturbing portrayal of Anton Chigurh in “No Country for Old Men.” Daniel Day-Lewis strikes oil (or academy gold, more precisely) for his role as Daniel Plainview in “There Will Be Blood.” The film also earns Paul Thomas Anderson the Best Adapted Screenplay prize. The Coen Brothers’ evocative “No Country” snags the duo the Best Director award before going on to win Best Picture.

I’m going to Graceland

Before the impending Vampire Weekend backlash also engulfs Paul Simon’s more-than classic “Graceland,” here’s a neat video of Paul and a stellar backing band performing in Zimbabwe to promote the record.

Killer Queen

Fact: Queen kicked far more ass than they’re ever given credit for. Even theatrical ass.

I’ve been listening to them a good bit lately after a long break from their flamboyantly rocking music. And yes, it does sort of bring me back to 1992 when “Wayne’s World” came out and I heard “Bohemian Rhapsody” for the first time. So sue me — I wasn’t alive in 1976 when the band was at its peak.

They weren’t an album band. They couldn’t sustain the quality of their singles over whole records (especially when band members other than Freddie Mercury sang lead). But, boy those singles! (To be fair, the albums had some pretty good deep cuts as well.)

Here’s some proof of all that ass-kicking — if you need it.

1. “Tie Your Mother Down” from A Day at the Races (1976) – A solid rocker all the way through. As with many Queen tunes, I’m not sure I want to know what it’s about.

2. “Killer Queen” from Sheer Heart Attack (1974) – One helluva vaudeville sounding track. This song served as the band’s first big hit. Killer harmonies throughout.

3. “Fat Bottomed Girls” from Jazz (1978) – The band does a pretty darn good take on American southern rock with this ode to, well, you know. Put this on a mix sometime with Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” and Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom.”

4. “Bicycle Race” from Jazz (1978) – Freddie Mercury wrote this (intentionally) hilarious song after watching part of the Tour de France. Forget you’ve ever heard the song before and listen to it again. I dare you to not laugh.

5. “Crazy Little Thing Called Live” from The Game (1980) – Freddie does his (and maybe anyone’s) best Elvis impression.

6. “We Will Rock You” from News of the World (1977) – A myriad of sporting events can’t ruin this song. Brian May’s perfect entrance on guitar is reason enough to include this classic.

7. “Bohemian Rhapsody” from A Night at the Opera (1975) – Folks in the UK have voted this song the best rock song ever time and time again. Ignore its pervasiveness and just listen…you’ll be blown away. What else sounds like this song?!

8. “Keep Yourself Alive” from Queen (1973) – Another rocker opens up my side 2. This tune opened the band’s unsung debut album. They managed to sound proggy without using any synths.

9. “Stone Cold Crazy” from Sheer Heart Attack (1974) – Probably the band’s heaviest song — leading Metallica to cover this piece of proto-speed metal in 1990.

10. “Under Pressure” from Hot Space (1981) – Even Vanilla Ice couldn’t kill this classic duet with David Bowie. The recording was actually the product of an impromptu studio jam!

11. “You’re My Best Friend” from A Night at the Opera (1975) – Before numerous television commericals commandeered this song for filthy lucre, it was a nice love song. The Wurlitzer electric piano is a great touch.

12. “Somebody to Love” from A Day at the Races (1976) – Somehow white British boys sell this gospel-tinged song of soul-searching. It features more of the kind unbelievably thick harmonies that were featured on “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

13. “Seven Seas of Rhye” from Queen II (1974) – This is the standout track from unsung prog rock-ish second record from the band. How can you argue with a song title like “Ogre Battle?”

14. “Don’t Stop Me Now” from Jazz (1978) – Queen at their theatrical best. It’s hard to qualify this as a rock song, but somehow it still is. Maybe it’s because Freddie calls himself a “sex machine” in the middle of the song. Hmm. At the very least, this is a great mixtape closer when I want to forgo the next track…

15. “Flash’s Theme” from Flash Gordon (1981) – Why did Queen write and perform the soundtrack to a film as horrible as “Flash Gordon?” Maybe so we could laugh at this song 25 years later.

Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa…

I’ll call it right now: 2008 is the year of the Michael Jackson comeback.

Here are a just a few reasons…

A special 25th anniversary edition of Michael’s “Thriller” record is due out soon. “Thriller” is about as close to perfect as an album gets. Every stinkin’ song could have been a single. Quincy Jones in the production booth. Michael at the top of his songwriting game. “P.Y.T.,” “Beat It,” “Thriller,” ” Billie Jean,” “The Girl is Mine.” The chant at the end of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” is reason enough to own the album. ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sa, indeed.

Uber-collaborator Akon has a cover of the classic, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” that’s pretty inescapable right now.

Kanye West cohort Rhymefest recently recorded an entire Michael Jackson cover/tribute mixtape. This thing is amazing in its detail. He and producer Mark Ronson have taken old MJ interviews and created “conversations” between Rhymefest and MJ on the album. Some are funny, some are suprisingly touching. The tunes are generally killer as well. The record mashes up and remixes old Jackson Five and MJ tracks…the imaginary collaboration honestly makes for MJ’s best album in quite a while. The best thing is that the mixtape is available free for download on the rapper’s web site at http://rhymefeststore.com (Look around, it’s there).

Michael has a new record in the works (featuring real-life collaborators like Kanye West) that should be out before the end of the year.

Let’s just say the momentum is there.