OH, RIGHT. STABILITY IN AFGHANISTAN... A nice snapshot of the challenges and roadblocks to achieving a stable environment in Afghanistan, again courtesy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Beyond the "normal" challenges that have existed in Afghanistan -- the main one being a large, landlocked country traditionally ruled by loose tribal rivalries -- and beyond the presence of approximately 10 million landmines and other detritus of a 20-year war... beyond these things lie a cluster of meddlesome neighbors. Countries like Iran and Pakistan, and the unpronounceable Central Asian Republics, have a huge stake in bringing stability to Afghanistan. Unfortunately, they all have competing interests. CSIS writes: "The objective would be to focus the entire group on the primacy of stabilizing Afghanistan. Each will have to live with a "second-best solution," because each of their incompatible first choices is a recipe for continuing the regional conflict that has done so much damage around the region and the globe."

LIKE A ROCK The Self-Made Critic went to see "The Scorpion King," the film that reminded America that plot doth not a movie make. As The Critic points out, Hollywood is pretty clear on what doth: "Starring: The Rock, Steven Brand, The Rock's left pectoral, Kelly Hu, The Rock's quivering thigh, Michael Clarke Duncan, The Rock's raised eyebrow, Grant Heslov, The Rock's impressivepackage, and flesh, flesh, flesh." A review so amusing that I want to see the movie myself!

SHE'S JUST MY TYPE The Willamette Weekly takes us deep into the netherworld of crafts with a nice tale of how websites like GET CRAFTY and the efforts of small communities of people who knit and sew and staple and glue can actually help us get beyond the crazy consumerism of our lives, build new lives for fledgling crafters and shake the foundations of our wage-slave culture (okay, baby steps... take baby steps...). It's a good read for you and all of my craft friends out there. Art is smart.

STOPPARD AND THINK A MOMENT Tom Stoppard always has been one of my favorite playwrights for two strong reasons. First, he understood and used and elaborated on "play" as an essential part of his craft. Stoppard's plays are genuinely amusing, and the wordplay within them is clever and compelling. He is a fun writer. Second, Stoppard always tries to make a point. He is thoughtful, incisive and deliberate. He is a smart writer, and he uses his words smartly. So, I was pleased to be pointed in the direction of his recent opinion piece in The Daily Telegraph, which tackles the idea of freedom as it relates to Romantic liberalism and as it relates to our current lives.

"To take away freedom is to take away humanness. A society in which the individual is beset by ranks of nannies, secret policemen and a hundred kinds of authority joined together to make you behave in the way you would, according to authority, voluntarily behave if only you weren't so misguided and ignorant, is, the Romantics insisted, a deeply immoral society.

"The essence of liberty is not that my interests should be tolerated, but that I should tolerate yours." When we look again at this seemingly anodyne sentiment in the light of what the Romantics preached, it does take on a tremendous force, something not too far distant from Auden's "We must love one another or die". It makes tolerance not simply a desirable virtue, but a necessity."

A SHOUT-OUT TO SPIDEY Sure, he's gonna be sweeping the theatres this weekend, but leave it to "The Boondocks" to crack hard on everyone's favorite webslinger. You can follow the link to see the actual strip, but here's the verbage 'cos it made me snicker: "I don't get this whole Spiderman thing. I mean, this guy swings around town spinning webs or whatever... fighting crime?" "Yeah, basically." "Well I don't understand why he has to be hatin' on criminals. Don't hate, participate!" "Riley, he's a superhero." "He's a superhater. I'll wait for the Punisher... at least he ain't a punk."

A STRAIGHT SHOT FROM WHISKEYTOWN Ryan Adams is the dreamboat; Caitlin Cary is the artist. That's the verdict from Baltimore's City Paper in this review of Cary's debut recording, While You Weren't Looking. Cary was the fiddle player for Adams' band Whiskeytown back in the day (the day being, oh, about a year ago). She recently cancelled an appearance in Richmond, curse her soul. But the word on her talent looms large: "... five years from now, when Gold [Adams' latest effort]has left little more than smoke trails in the sky, While You Weren't Looking will still shine like the great album it is."

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME This editorial from the Washington Post begins with a reassuring claim: that the expanded powers granted the Executive Branch under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act resulted in fewer wiretaps in 2001 than in 2002. Then the piece reveals what's hidden beneath the Justice Department's claim: that more wiretaps and searches are taking place, and fewer details are being released. The Post's point: "Nobody is asking for case-specific information, which is legitimately sensitive. But the public is entitled to know something about how the government's new powers are being used." Not that any of us need to worry about this. Well. Many of us.

WAR OF THE GINGER PEOPLE Ah, the pain of being a redheaded waif in a land of ice people. Believe it or not, there are some non-blondes wandering the icy streets of Reyjavik and they're fiery mad. It's not easy standing out like a carrot tossed in a pot of mashed potatoes. Hop on over the icelandculture.com and get a little insight into the plight of the ginger haired hipsters and other techno delights.

HOT FASHIONS IN THE EMPIRE OF EVIL Ah, Spring Fashion Week in Tehran is making the hearts go a'flutter. It wasn't always this way. The shrinking hijab is still seen as a threat to Islam in more conservative corners, but in a refreshing sign that even President Bush's "evil doers" have got it going on, the Guardian describes today's fashion trends in urban Iran: "colorful head scarves pushed back to the limits of gravity, brilliant nail polish on fingers and toes, tailored tunics that do little to conceal figures." It's not Laguna Beach, but it sure beats the Old School robes favored in the madcap 80s. As one 24-year-old put it, "We're not trying to overthrow the government or anything. We just want to have some style and color in our lives. Is that bad?''

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The Department of State publishes a host of electronic journals, including this thoughtful one focused on achieving sustainable development (a prelude to a huge international conference in South Africa later this summer). The journal kicks off with the perspective of various U.S. officials, but some of the more interesting reading are the pieces on environmental architecture and the development of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor Project, a greenway that will run from Mexico to Panama. Lots of links to other resources and overall a pretty solid introduction to a concept that's yet to take firm root in our own earthy world.

SUGAR POP! Two things achieved by this linked article: Philadelphia's City Paper gets back on my radar and I have another book I need to buy. The article is a review of the book, "Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth," a survey of bubblegum music from the Monkees to Britney. Any book that covers the Archies, the Sex Pistols and Fat Albert without a wink and a nudge deserves your time, especially one that features "a manifesto by two members of an organization called the Partridge Family Temple, who rewrite Christianity as a come-on-get-happy gospel..." or the essays: "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Banana Splits" and "Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids: The Last Great TV Bubblegum Band," the latter raising a question that's surely been in the minds of thirtysomethings for quite some time: "So why aren't there any Fat Albert records?"

RETHINKING THE SUBURBS No, no. I'm not buying a house in Brandermill. But this opinion piece by the venerable David Broder takes a look at a new batch of research on what gives suburbs their own particular political and social motif. Metro Research's online maps break suburban communities into distinct categories measured by affluence, race, age and the like. The research shows that not all suburbs are created equally; an obvious statement, true, but not the way we traditionally view the 'burbs. Take a look at the maps. They speak volumes.

THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHY IS "MULHOLLAND DRIVE" SO BLOODY BRILLIANT? This from a critic at The Modern Word: "The more I thought about it, the more I realized that anything this compelling couldn't be random or pointlessly surreal; only a puzzle awaiting a solution can engage one's attention for so long. So taking that as a challenge, I set about trying to figure out whether Mulholland Drive made sense, or whether Lynch was just nutty." What follows is a complex retelling of the movie using three distinct narrative threads. And an explanation of all of the things that were driving me batty about what was simultaneously a brilliant piece of cinema and the most frustrating slice of madness this side of Arkham. If you liked "Mulholland Drive" in the least, you'll want to peruse this lengthy review/critique.

ITALIAN HYSTERIA You know, call me an oddball, but one of the most exciting events of 2002 is the publication of Umberto Eco's new novel, "Baudalino." Yah, yah, another dense psycho-historical narrative filled with priests and peasants too smart for their leather breeches. But, I stood in Charles de Gaulle airport and gnashed my teeth because I couldn't read French, German or Italian well enough to justify buying one of the European editions. And if you had the stamina to make it through "Name of the Rose" or "Foucault's Pendulum," you know why. Ah, dense literature. Another reason we want the European Union to thrive.

LEE HARRIS IN PARADISE In which I expose another lost page of the Internet and serve up some hidden details from the lives of Lee Harris, Bobby Gorman and GWAR. Not to mention two squirrel-hunting country singers at a karaoke bar. This, of all the countless hundreds of songs Lee has stored somewhere on the Web and the thousands of diary entries and lists of jobs he's had and girls he's dated, proves that Lee Harris would wither up and die if someone glued his fingers to his lips to keep him from talking, typing or playing music.

LOOK! THERE TO YOUR RIGHT! I have added more links that lead you to the dark corridors of websites maintained by friends. If you'd like to join Matt, Lee and Mike in this thin veil of electronic immortality, drop me an email.

A WORLD OF MUSIC Stumbled across this site quite by accident this morning, but a quick read through some of the reviews and interviews shows it to have pretty comprehensive coverage of the global music scene. The news section seems a bit outdated, but the reviews and interviews make it a great place for anyone interested in wetting their toes in a world of music that goes beyond the standard radio fare. I know, I know... corporate radio does such a marvellous job, why would you need an alternative source?

RACHID TAHA A short little piece on Franco-Algerian musician Rachid Taha, whose biggest claim to fame in the U.S. probably was being featured on the soundtrack to "Blackhawk Down," but is a marvel in his own fusion right. Taha's latest efforts are among the best I've heard that blend traditional North African sounds (in his case Algerian rai music) with rock chords, punk vehemence and a techno backbeat.

ROCK OF AGES Ah, someone finally says what we've all been thinking: Why? Why is Spandau Ballet back on tour? Why did the Go-Go's sell out Central Park last year? The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan asks those questions in more, as her native England is faced with a summer tour of 80s wash-ups. She balefully admits there is probably no harm, as long as Howard Jones doesn't begin to think enough of himself that he tries to release an album of new music. "The Human League are one band who have made this mistake, recording an album of all-new material on the assumption that the 30-year-olds who cheer wildly when they hear a 46-year-old Phil Oakey sing 'Don't You Want Me?' will be just as eager to buy a CD of 46-year-old Phil singing songs they don't know."

PALESTINIAN FAULT LINES An interesting editorial from Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper that outlines the internal schism that is widening between Hamas, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. The schism is being widened by the natural tension between religious activists and nationalists within the Palestinian camp, but also because Hamas is running out of time and money to wage its terror campaign while the Palestinian Authority is seeing its coffers refill with aid from the U.S., the Europeans and the Saudis. The article doesn't go so far as to suggest that the result of Sharon's April offensive into the territories will be a Palestinian civil war, but the Palestinian internal situation is rockier than its been in decades.

LIGHT-HEARTED, FRENCH GOODNESS The woman who maintains this online journal is a lawyer and mother living in France. The tone and style of her writing reminds me of my friend Tanya (a mother and columnist). Her site is called "my bluehouse," but it's anything but. This weekend's post talks about going to the park with her son, knitting and waffles. Relax, enjoy, learn to knit.

DESERT STORMS Another set of documents from the Center for Strategic and International Studies tackles the complex world of Saudi Arabian internal affairs. The first looks at human rights and the prospects for reform, laying out an argument that the main threat to Saudi stability can be found in economics, demographics and educational weaknesses. The second new document looks at why Saudi Arabia needs to be pushed to diversify its economy (today's fact: Saudia Arabia spends almost as much on defense as ALL of Europe). Since these trendlines mirror most of the Gulf states, these papers are worth a gander.

GIRLS ON THE BUS A refreshing side story to what is going to be an ugly campaign to retain or regain control of the Congress. This autumn there are a dozen women who look like they are strong contenders to win governorships around the country. Currently, there are five female governors -- a record that should fall come November. Not that this is shaping up to be a watershed moment for equal rights for anyone who isn't a) white and b) male (not with John Ashcroft in charge, by gum!), but maybe the glass ceiling is continuing to develop spiderweb cracks.