I recently put a selection of my favourite Luscious Jackson tracks onto my iPod after rediscovering the CDs in my racks, and have been surprised by how much I’ve been playing them lately.

They are/were(?) an all-girl guitar-based rock band that I listened to a lot in 1999 when I first moved to the United States, and so they will always sound definitively American to me.

I don’t know very much about them, and they don’t seem to have a website — which in 2005 seems more than a little bizarre, and suggests that they are no longer active.

Anyway, here are the albums I’ve been enjoying tracks lately:

I just got back from this morning on a red-eye from California, where I spent 3 great days snowboarding in Tahoe with my friends Ricky & Jim (also former co-workers from RLG).

We stayed in a cute little cabin in South Lake Tahoe, and rode Heavenly on the first day, then Kirkwood for the second and third days (primarily because Kirkwood had a two-for-one deal). We had very variable weather for the first two days, then glorious sunny spring skiing conditions on the last day. Fantastic!

By complete coincidence, I also bumped into my ex-girlfriend Jessica at Heavenly, which was good but more than a little bizarre!

On Monday 18 April I started my new job as Director of the Gruss Lipper Digital Laboratory at the Center for Jewish History in New York.

I’m excited about this new position, as I’ll get to build a digitization shop that will serve a group of 5 distinctly unique cultural heritage organizations from the ground up.

I’m throwing a house party on Saturday 14 May to celebrate my birthday, and the fact that I’m not leaving New York — it’s a NOT leaving party!

All of my New York-based friends should have been sent an Evite, but if I’ve accidentally forgotten anybody, or if you’re an out-of-towner that’s gonna be passing through NYC that weekend, you’re invited too! Just drop me a line and I’ll add you to the Evite list.

Last night I went to see the movie Sin City, an adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel (comic) series of the same name. It was good, although not as good as my (admittedly high) expectations for it.

It was visually very interesting, a faithful frame-by-frame recreation of the graphic novels shot entirely digitally, but somehow the characters were often flat, and the dialogue didn’t always quite work.

It was also ultra-violent, although the comic-book “neo-noir” look took most of the sting out of the gory horror — which was fortunate, because I can be pretty squeamish!

But I have been thinking about the movie today, which is a sign that it might be growing on me… Perhaps I’ll rent it from Netflix when it comes out on DVD.

Sad news today about MG Rover, the last British-owned volume carmaker, going bust with the loss of 6,000 jobs. MG Rover’s Longbridge plant has been manfacturing cars for 101 years.

I still have very fond childhood memories of riding in my father’s shiny black Rover SD1, which at the time was one of the most futuristic-looking vehicles on the road (and slightly reminiscent of the KITT car in the TV show Knight Rider!).

Whoshouldyouvotefor.com is an interesting website that gives guidance about who you should vote for (obviously!) in the upcoming UK general election, based on your answers to 23 questions covering Europe, freedom and defence, tax and employment, pensions, health, crime, education, immigration, transport and childcare.

My results surprised me — apparently I should vote Lib-Dem:

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Labour

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 3
Conservative -26
	Liberal Democrat 50
	UK Independence Party 2
	Green 1

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Channel 4 News has launched a new minisite called FactCheck which aims to provide unbiased analysis into the increasing political spin and mud-slinging in the run-up to the UK General Election of 5 May (the original idea was taken from the U.S. based factcheck.org site).

For example today’s story, “What’s wrong with this photo?,” shows how Ed Matts, a Conservative candidate for Labour’s marginal Dorset South seat, photoshopped an image of himself and former Conservative Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe at a demonstration by changing the text of their placards to better fit the Tory manifesto on immigration policy reform.

The weather today in New York is absolutely gorgeous, it’s a beautiful Spring day — sunny and warm, but without any humidity.

Thanks to the miracle of wireless broadband internet access, I’ve been sitting on my brownstone stoop for the last hour or so, working on a consultancy project in the sun.

It looks like I’ve got myself a new job, and it’s in New York! I’ll hold off on posting details until I have a formal offer letter, but I’m very excited about it.