From Cute to Toot

Missed yesterday doing doctor stuff, thanks to a little friend I seem to have brought back with me from Costa Rica. Argh.

If you haven’t yet caught wind of 21-yr-old uber-cute (& uber-dirty) Lily Allen, do yourself a favor and track down her album “Alright, Still” [EMI/Regal] (not yet released domestically, unfortunately). It’s a blend of pop and urban stylings, with razor-sharp lyrics and hilarious story-telling. I can’t get enough of it.

Another unquenchable thirst of mine recently has been French-band Phoenix’s new album “It’s Never Been Like That” [Astralwerks]. Vying for the top stop on my Album of Year list (vs. Zero 7’s “The Garden”), this selection is non-stop-bopping, synth-rock fun. They’re also playing the Wiltern this September (already grabbed my tix!).

On a more frustrating note, I have to mention just how ridiculous Kofi Annan was the other day in reaction to the tragic bombing of a U.N. post in southern Lebanon that sadly killed four “peacekeeping” troops. First, he described the open and frequent communication between UNIFIL forces and IDF commanders on the ground, as well as assurances received personally by him from Israeli PM Olmert that U.N. forces would be avoided at all costs; then he goes on to proclaim that surely the Israeli strike on the U.N. outpost was “deliberate”. To quote the sage Inigo Montoya: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Annan’s accusation is ironic considering that UNIFIL, at the very least, looked the other way and covered up a cross-border raid by Hizballah in 2000 that resulted in the kidnapping and slaying of three IDF soldiers - at worst, their forces were complicit in the attack. Here's a refresher on the action and subsequent U.N. cover-up.