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C-Span plays hardball with YouTube over Colbert roast... Cruise craters at box office ... Steve Jobs beats Macca in Apple flap ...

DIY dentistry

Succumbing to stereotype, Britain is suffering from rotting teeth and a lack of dentists to repair them. That leaves some blokes to pull their own teeth or seek treatment in Eastern Europe.

Our lives at 45 rpm

Seventh in a series on one Dullard's collection of 45s

Song: "The Killing Moon"
Artist: Echo and the Bunnymen
Year released: 1983
Highest U.S. chart position: Unknown

For many so-called alternative bands of the early 1980s, the alternative image was as important as the music. So it was for Echo and the Bunnymen, whose image was entirely dependent on the high hair, fair complexion and pouty lips of singer Ian McCulloch.

The alterna-chicks of the day, moving on from earlier crushes on Nick Rhodes and Adam Ant, needed someone with a darker side, a true "artist" with the correct combination of sophistication and introversion. Among the choices, the vampire girls preferred Bauhaus vocalist Peter Murphy, and those who were less bloodthirsty went with McCulloch.

For all the imagery and adulation, McCulloch and his band put together a decent string of albums in their heyday. (Echo officially still exists, though it's hard to understand why.) The highlight was the "Ocean Rain" LP, which included "The Killing Moon."

Like the rest of the album, "The Killing Moon" is heavy on orchestration and subtle on percussion, as drummer Pete de Freitas throws away the sticks for brushes. With a pinging piano and squealing guitar, the whole thing sounds like it was recorded in the watery cave featured on the "Ocean Rain" LP cover.

The lyrics are typical McCulloch, gloomy yet not goth, with a flair for the romantic. The chorus doesn't convey much meaning, however, despite the singer's repeated intonations:

Fate
Up against your will
Through the thick and thin
He will wait until
You give yourself to him

In the end, "The Killing Moon" is not the place to find lyrical profundity. It's best appreciated as a confection that is forgotten the instant after it is consumed.

WWIII??!

In a stunning overestimation of his own importance, Bush refers to the "War on Terror" as World War III.

Maybe he was thinking of "Mission Impossible III."

Loss leaders

Dozens of people dressed in khaki pants and blue shirts enter a Best Buy in NYC, sowing confusion.

Replacements redux

The Replacements are back — sort of. The beloved Minneapolis-based band has a greatest hits CD out soon on Rhino, and it will include two new tracks.

DULLARD TAKE: The new tunes exhibit the spittle and polish last seen on 1987's Pleased To Meet Me" disc. Overall, the career-encompassing compilation is smartly selected, though it does omit the essential "Waitress in the Sky" from "Tim."

Smokin' in the boys room

USA Today (who else?) tells us why kids avoid using the bathroom at school. Their top reason: the odor.

My reason, at least in junior high: Bullies who would sneak in there for a smoke. And if you weren't one of them, you got punched and ordered not to snitch.

This is why "Welcome to the Dollhouse" is the most painfully honest film ever made.

Med student wins Larry David's car!

A UCLA student is the lucky guy who will drive off in Larry David's Prius, as seen on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." The giveaway was a part of his wife's effort to raise awareness about global warming.

Lucas relents, is turned to plastic

Those of us who remember the original "Star Wars" trilogy as we originally saw it are finally getting what we want: those versions on DVD, without "embellishments" from George Lucas. Meanwhile, Hasbro is putting out a hard-to get action figure with Lucas' head atop a stormtrooper's body. It's an interesting choice of character.

DULLARD TAKE: Buy these DVDs. Ignore the revised editions. And pretend like the prequels never happened.

New hobby for Arshad

Reprogramming roadside alert signs.

Will the real al-Arian please stand up?

A Florida writer muses on his resemblance to alleged terror supporter Sami Al-Arian. Even his kids have a hard time telling the difference.

Should Garafolo clam up?

Comedian/activist Janeane Garofalo has been pimping a Scientology-sponsored detox program on her radio show. Has she fallen under El Ron's spell, or has she been temporarily duped?

First-person jumper

For Dullards who don't like heights.

Happy birthday, ESB!

The Empire State Building turns 75 today.

DULLARD CONNECTION: The building's needle-like top was used as a drug metaphor in the wacky sci-fi/New Wave film "Liquid Sky" — a favorite midnight movie back in the day.