Smoking Study May Explain Why We Have Trouble Quitting

�A new study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University sheds light on why smokers' intentions to quit "cold turkey" often hushing out inside days or even hours.



If a smoker isn't longing for a cigarette when he makes the decision to kick the habit-and most aren't-he isn't able to foresee how he will feel when he's in demand of a nicotine buzz.



Published in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the study, "Exploring the Cold-to-Hot Empathy Gap in Smokers," bolsters the theory that smokers not in a state of craving a cigarette will underestimate and underpredict the intensity of their future urge to smoke.


"We have observed previously that the idea of smoking a cigarette becomes increasingly attractive to smokers while they are craving," said the study's lead investigator and University of Pittsburgh professor of psychology Michael Sayette. "This bailiwick suggests that when smokers are not craving, they fail to appreciate just how powerful their cravings will be. This lack of brainstorm while not craving whitethorn lead them to cause decisions-such as choosing to attend a party where there volition be lashings of smoking-that they whitethorn come to regret."



The study looked at the cold-to-hot empathy gap-that is, the tendency for people in a "cold" state (non influenced by such visceral factors as hunger, tiredness) to mispredict their own behavior when in a "hot" state (hungry, exhausted), in part because they can't remember the saturation of their past cravings.



The researchers gathered 98 male and female smokers for two experimental sessions and placed them in unmatched of ternion groups: "hot," "cold," and a comparison group. Those in a "hot" res publica were asked to abstain from smoke for 12 hours prior to Session 1 and then were induced to crave a cigarette by holding, only not smoking, a lit one.



Those in a "cold" state smoked up until Session 1 began and did non hold a lit butt. The comparison group did not wait on Session 1.



During Session 1, "hot" and "cold" participants were asked to indicate the minimum amount of money they would motivation to detain smoking for five proceedings in Session 2, when all participants would be in a "hot" commonwealth. Smokers in all three groups were required to abstain from smoking for 12 hours prior to Session 2 and would experience the lit coffin nail cue described above.



During Session 2, when the subjects in all three groups were craving, they were given the chance to revise the amount of money they would need to retard smoking for five minutes. As expected, the "cold" smokers from Session 1 now significantly increased the amount of money they would need to delay smoking for just phoebe minutes, piece those primitively in a "hot" province during Session 1 did not request an increase.



The study participants from the "cold" group were much less probable to accurately predict the amount of money they would need to position off light up. In fact, in Session 2, nearly half of the "cold" smokers requested an amount of money higher than what they had initially predicted, while exclusively a quartern of the "hot" grouping did the same.



"These findings suggest that smokers ar likely to underpredict their own future desire to smoke when they're not craving a cigarette," aforesaid study coauthor George Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon.



"The research not only has implications for helping smokers quit, only it too enlightens us on how nonsmokers english hawthorn pick up the habit. If smokers can't apprize the saturation of their need to smoke when they aren't currently craving, what's the likelihood that people world Health Organization have ne'er smoked can buoy do so," said Loewenstein.



Founded in 1787, the University of Pittsburgh is an internationally famous center for learning and research in the liberal arts, sciences, humanistic discipline, professions, and health sciences, as substantially as a partner in regional maturation. The University offers close to 400 distinct degree programs and confers 7,000 degrees yearly. With 34,000 students and more than than 12,000 faculty, research associates, and staff on basketball team campuses, the University, a public institution of higher education, contributes $1.5 billion to the local economy and provides a wide grasp of programs and services for residents of Western Pennsylvania. Pitt is a member of the esteemed Association of American Universities, an brass of 62 preeminent doctorate-granting research institutions in the United States and Canada.



Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in applied science, computer skill, robotics, clientele, public policy, fine humanities and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an training characterized by its focusing on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and invention. A minor student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is permeating on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A orbicular university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia, and Europe.





Source: Sharon Blake

University of Pittsburgh




More info

• NASA completes Mars exploration
• Cancer cluster confirmed near Pa. Superfund sites
• Manchester ‘worst for self-harm’
• Inside Medicine
• Listeria fears grow after camp workers get sick

Mp3 music: Mr Oizo

Artist: Mr Oizo: mp3 download    Genre(s):  Alternative Experimental     Mr Oizo's discography:      Moustache (Half A Scissor)    Year: 2005    Tracks: 17      Stunt    Year: 2004    Tracks: 2      Last Night A DJ Killed My Dog    Year: 2000    Tracks: 6      Flat Beat    Year: 1999    Tracks: 4      Analog Worms Attack    Year: 1999    Tracks: 16 Though it's a certain count he'll linger in the minds of most only for his omnipresent Levi's advert and 1999 European chart-topper "Monotone Beat," music-video managing director Quentin Dupieux sour in some first-class electronic productions as Mr. Oizo. Far from the madding crowds of ad-oriented hipster trance or jungle, "Flat Beat" was a midtempo techno production with hard deformed effects and a playful nature that correspond perfectly with the optical focus, a sock marionette. While soundless a stripling, Dupieux began directional poor films for French television system, and off in no less than trash can School kit and moolah betwixt 1994 and 1998. His associations with the music domain began in 1997, when starring French dance citizen Laurent Garnier serendipitously bought a motorcar from Dupieux's sire. Dupieux directed the video recording for Garnier's "Flashback" single, as well as the long-form video Nightmare Sandwiches star and featuring music by Garnier. That year, he to a fault affected into music production, with his debut single "#1" approach into margaret Court on Garnier's F Communications label. After the picture he (naturally) directed for second single "M-Seq" landed on an ad agency desk, he was tapped to engine driver the commercial that launched Levi's vaunted non-denim strain of trousers. The flake mention -- featuring a marionette named Flat Eric maniacally bobbing his headway to the medicine in the rider seat of a Chevelle piece a nonplussed human driver concentrated on the route -- shortly became celebrated crossways Europe, and the single (too on F Communications) strike number unmatched all across the continent. (It eventually sold over two meg copies.) The obligatory full-length Parallel Worms Attack followed in October, and earned American dispersion other the following year. Dupieux also directed the picture for "Party People" by Alex Gopher.

Download Albert Ammons

Artist: Albert Ammons: mp3 download    Genre(s):  Blues     Discography:      Collection (Boogie Woogie)    Year:     Tracks: 21 Albert Ammons was one of the braggy iII of late-'30s boogie-woogie along with Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis. Arguably the most potent of the three, Ammons was likewise elastic enough to play swing music. Ammons played in Chicago clubs from the twenties on, although he likewise worked as a taxi figure one sir Henry Joseph Wood for a time. Starting in 1934, he light-emitting diode his own dance band in Chicago, and he made his first-class honours degree records in 1936. In 1938, Ammons appeared at Carnegie Hall with Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis, an event that in truth helped plunge the boogie-woogie craze. Ammons recorded with the early pianists in duets and trios, match right in with the Port of Harlem Jazzmen on their Blue Note session, appeared regularly at Cafe Society, recorded as a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the forties, and he even cut a academic session with his son, the great tenorman Gene Ammons. Albert Ammons worked steadily throughout the forties, playing at President Harry Truman's inauguration in 1949; he died by and by that year. Many of his recordings are soon available on CD.

Man From U.N.C.L.E Persuaded Nicholson Not To Quit

Jack Nicholson almost off his bet on on an acting calling during his youth afterward suffering a loss of confidence, according to his pal Robert Vaughn. The Shining histrion became so frustrated while rehearsing scenes with Vaughn in a mid-1950s acting class, he considered embarking on a different life history path. But, in his upcoming memoir, A Fortunate Life, Vaughn reveals he managed to persuade Nicholson to change his intellect. Vaughn writes, "He stated, `Vaughnie, I'm going to give myself two more years in this commercial enterprise. Then I'm going to look for another means to make a surviving.' "'Hang in thither, Jack, ' I told him. 'You're too loretta Young to quit.'" Nicholson took the advice, lastly "figured out how to do this thing called acting", and shot to fame in 1969's Easy Rider.

Pitt, Jolie give $1m to kids impacted by war

Actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $1 million for educational aid to children impacted by the Iraq war in that country and in the United States.

The Jolie-Pitt Foundation has given $500,000 to three groups in the war-torn country which will provide aid for some 5700 children, said the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which is co-chaired by Jolie.

Money will pay for basic necessities, including books and supplies to help send Iraqi children to school. Aid will also go to refugee kids, and to school rehabilitation programs.

The foundation also gave $500,000 to help children in the United States who have a military parent killed in Iraq, or who are separated from a parent stationed in the country.

The donation for U.S. kids will go to the Armed Services YMCA Operation Hero Program, which will provide educational tutors and counseling to 2500 kids.

Pitt, 44, and Jolie, 33, have donated millions of dollars to charity over the years. Jolie, star of action movie Wanted, has long been an advocate for refugees and is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Pitt, who starred in critically acclaimed Babel, has advocated for relief in the Darfur region of Sudan and has backed a program to help build homes for survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

The pair have four kids of their own, and Jolie is expecting twins.





See Also

• Loefah and Skream
• buy one, get one free
• Comedian George Carlin Dies At 71
• La Cedille

Patrick Cassidy

   
Artist: Patrick Cassidy

   Genre(s): 
Easy Listening
   

---

Discography:


   
 Immortal Memory

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 10

---

The traditional music and mythology of Ireland is the foundation for the orchestral compositions of Patrick Cassidy. Best known for his riotous melodies and superimposed orchestrations, Cassidy has emerged as Ireland's most successful composer. The Dorchester Journal called him, "Ireland's modern Mozart" spell The Marietta Daily Journal praised him for "successfully transferring the intimate nuances of antediluvian Irish melodies to the orchestral palette." In 1992, Cassidy was named "Person of the Year" by the city of Limerick for his contributions to Irish culture. One of ten-spot children, Cassidy was brought up speaking the Irish nomenclature. Studying piano as a youngster, he played in rock bands with his brother, Frank world Health Organization directly serves as his business concern manager. Although he earned a Masters degree in applied math from Limerick University, he continued to be spell-bound by music. Cassidy released his debut album Cruit in 1988, featuring music by seventeenth and eighteenth century Irish harpers arranged for a baroque period ensemble and Irish harp. Cassidy's most successful composing, The Children of Lir, with a libretto in the Irish nomenclature and based on the antediluvian Annals of Ulster, was premiered at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, with client instrumentation by the Chieftains, and disseminate by RTF radio. The drawn-out piece of music was later performed at the Lorrient Festival for an audience of more than 200,000 citizenry. In October 1992 the piece was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Tallis Chamber Choir at Abbey Road Studios. Released deuce geezerhood later, the album received a gold record award in Ireland. In 1995, Cassidy was licensed by the Irish Echo newspaper and Wild Geese, Inc. to compose Shortage Remembrance during the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of Ireland's expectant shortage. The piece was premiered at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York on March 10, 1996. A CD featuring most of the live cast was released by Windham Hill a class afterwards. Cassidy returned to the Annals of Ulster for his 1998 orchestral piece Deirdre of the Sorrows.

Toto

   
Artist: Toto

   Genre(s): 
ROck: Alternative
   Other
   Pop
   Rock
   Rock: Pop-Rock
   Soundtrack
   Rock: Soft Rock
   

---

Discography:


   
 Falling in Between

   Year: 2006   
Tracks: 10


   
 Love Songs

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 15


   
 25th Anniversary: Live in Amsterdam

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 19


   
 Through the Looking Glass

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 11


   
 Caught In The Balance (CD 2)

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 10


   
 Mindfields

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 13


   
 Livefields

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 19


   
 Toto XX: 1977-1997

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 13


   
 Tambu

   Year: 1995   
Tracks: 12


   
 Kingdom of Desire

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 12


   
 Absolutely Live, CD2

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 5


   
 Absolutely Live, CD1

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 8


   
 Past to Present 1977-1990

   Year: 1990   
Tracks: 13


   
 The Seventh One

   Year: 1988   
Tracks: 11


   
 Fahrenheit

   Year: 1986   
Tracks: 10


   
 Isolation - Lenny Castro

   Year: 1984   
Tracks: 10


   
 Dune

   Year: 1984   
Tracks: 17


   
 Toto IV

   Year: 1982   
Tracks: 10


   
 Turn Back

   Year: 1981   
Tracks: 8


   
 Hydra

   Year: 1979   
Tracks: 8


   
 Toto

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 10


   
 The Essential

   Year:    
Tracks: 14


   
 Absolutely Live (CD 2)

   Year:    
Tracks: 5


   
 Absolutely Live (CD 1)

   Year:    
Tracks: 8

---

Toto was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (b. June 21, 1954, Los Angeles; keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (b. October 21, 1957, Los Angeles; guitar, vocals), Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Toteaux, March 29, 1947, Vinton, LA; vocals), Steve Porcaro (b. September 2, 1957, Connecticut; keyboards), David Hungate (b. Texas; bass), and Jeff Porcaro (b. April 1, 1954, Hartford, CT; d. August 5, 1992, Hidden Hills, CA; drums). Paich was the son of arranger Marty Paich; the Porcaros were the sons of percussionist Joe Porcaro. The bandmembers had met in high school and at studio roger Sessions in the seventies, when they became some of the busiest session musicians in the music job. Paich, Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Silk Degrees, the multi-million-selling 1976 album that combined pop up, rock, and disco elements into a slick combination which heavy influenced mainstream pop music.


Toto released its self-titled debut album in October 1978, and it hit the Top Ten, sold two-million copies, and spawned the amber Top Ten individual "Defy the Line." The gold-selling Hydra (October 1979) and Turn Back (January 1981) were less successful, just Toto IV (April 1982) was a multi-platinum Top Ten hit, featuring the first hit "Africa" and the Top Tens "Rosanna" (about Lukather's girlfriend, picture principal Rosanna Arquette) and "I Won't Hold You Back." At the 1982 Grammys, "Rosanna" south Korean won awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Instrumental Arrangement With Vocal; and Toto IV south Korean won awards for Album of the Year, Best Engineered Recording, and Best Producer (the group). In 1984, a tierce Porcaro brother, Mike (b. May 29, 1955), joined the group on sea bass, replacement Hungate. Then trail singer Kimball cease and was replaced by Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen (b. May 15, 1951, Wyoming, MI).


Toto's fifth album, Isolation (November 1984), went gold, only was a commercial-grade letdown. Frederiksen was replaced by Joseph Williams (b. Santa Monica), the son of the conductor/composer John Williams, for Fahrenheit (August 1986). Steve Porcaro cease in 1988, prior to the release of The Seventh One. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, and so left, as Lukather became the group's trail singer. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992, simply was featured on the group's succeeding album, Realm of Desire. By this time, Toto was far more popular in Japan and Europe than at home. The group added British drummer Simon Phillips. Tambu, released in Europe in the late fall of 1995, appeared in the U.S. in June 1996. For 1999's Mindfields, Bobby Kimball returned to the lineup after a 15-year absence. The group members continued to do sitting work during the band's incumbency, contributory significantly to the reasoned of mainstream pop/rock in the seventies, '80s, and '90s.

Grazianos to Nick -- Stay in the Slammer!

Nick Hogan has taken as much hot dog as he can stand -- baby wants to go home until he becomes a man!

His lawyer just filed a motion for Nick to be put on house arrest, but George Tragos, the lawyer for the family of Nick's victim, tells TMZ exclusively that they will oppose any such motion "with every fiber of their being."

Nick wants to get out and be with mommy until he's 18 -- which will be July 27.





See Also

• Rico Rodriguez
• Potter star talks about new romance
• Mariah Carey: �Married life is fantastic!�
• Tyra Banks - Banks I Was Snubbed Because Im Black And Curvy

'American Idol': We're Live-Blogging The Archuleta Vs. Cook Results Show!

MTV News is live-blogging the "American Idol" David Archuleta vs. David Cook finale!

Eddie Vedder rips into state of the U.S. at Malibu event

Eddie Vedder reached into the deep songbook of American protest on Thursday night and pulled out a 4-decade-old civil rights polemic, the Phil Ochs song "Here's to the State of Mississippi," which the Pearl Jam singer changed lyrically into an attack on the current presidential administration:

Here's to the land you tore out the heart of,

George W. find yourself another country to be part of. . . .




















Vedder had searing intensity while he was singing, but he deflated a bit when he was done. "I can't wait until we don't have to sing these songs anymore," the rock star told the decidedly partisan crowd gathered at the Malibu Performing Arts Center.

Vedder's mix of reflection, anger and dejection encapsulated much of the mood of the evening's program, a taping of "The People Speak," an ongoing series of spoken-word and music performances that will be shaped into a documentary film of the same name.

The stage events, which began in Boston in January, are inspired by Howard Zinn's 1980 book, "A People's History of the United States," and, like that book, the words from the stage are from primary historical documents, such as a letter that a freed slave sent to his former owner. The film, which will weave the spartan stage presentations with other footage, is to be released this fall.

The readings Thursday were done by Hollywood notables Sean Penn, Sandra Oh, Benjamin Bratt, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck and Rosario Dawson, and Josh Brolin was the host. The crowd was dotted with celebrities as well, among them Barbra Streisand, Diane Lane and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The readings were intense, but music propelled the evening. A bearded Jackson Browne sang a coiled version of his 1986 track "Lives in the Balance," and the Robinson brothers of Black Crowes fame chose "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The earthy set by bluesman Taj Mahal was the only truly buoyant moment with "Baby Please Don't Go."

John Doe and Exene Cervenka of the seminal L.A. punk band X performed their classic "The New World" with its line: "It was better before / before they voted for what's-his-name." Afterward, Doe, like Vedder, seemed to wonder when the old songs of the left would stop feeling so right for the moment. "That was a song written for Ronald Reagan . . . that's the bad part."

geoff.boucher@latimes.com

EastEnders bosses to axe Mickey and Keith

'EastEnders' is to axe son and stepfather duo Mickey and Keith Miller because bosses at the soap feel the characters have "run out of steam".
The characters - who have been played by actors Joe Swash and David Spinx since 2003 and 2004 respectively - were told by executive producer Diederick Santer on Friday that their contracts would not be renewed.
A friend of 26-year-old Swash told The Sun: "He and David were told their characters had run out of steam by 'EastEnders' boss Diederick Santer. Joe was stunned at first. He's loved playing Mickey and felt the fans still enjoyed watching his antics."
The friend added: "But he soon realised if the stories weren't there, he didn't want to be just going through the motions. He's now thinking over his next move carefully. He doesn't want to become just another former soap star."

Kelly's Former Employee 'knew Victim'

LATEST: R. KELLY's former personal assistant has identified the star as the man in the sex tape at the centre of his child pornography trial - and admitted she knows the alleged underage victim.
Lindsey Perryman told the jury at the Chicago, Illinois courthouse on Tuesday (27May08) that she was "110 per cent" sure Kelly appeared in the tape. She also identified the girl in the video, insisting she was between 13 and 14 years old at the time the explicit footage was recorded.
Perryman claims the alleged victim regularly visited Kelly at his recording studio, and on one occasion turned up with a pillow and an overnight bag.
She told the court: "I did not want to believe it was Mr Kelly (in the tape).
"I think so highly of him and his family, they have been so good to me. He treated me and the people who worked for him well."
However, Bennie Edwards Jr., a relative of the alleged victim, confessed he was unable to identify the people in the video.
He said: "It favoured Mr Kelly, but you only saw the bottom half of a goatee."
Asked if he could identify the female as his family member, he replied: "No. It's not her character."
Kelly stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty. He denies the charges.
The trial continues.

Tango Crash

   
Artist: Tango Crash

   Genre(s): 
Jazz
   

---

Discography:


   
 Tango Crash

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 9

---

 





Penn announces decision to divorce

Wings

   
Artist: Wings

   Genre(s): 
Pop
   Rock
   

---

Discography:


   
 London Town

   Year: 1978   
Tracks: 16


   
 Wings Over America Cd 2

   Year: 1977   
Tracks: 13


   
 Wings Over America Cd 1

   Year: 1977   
Tracks: 15


   
 [1977] Wings Over America (live)

   Year: 1976   
Tracks: 28


   
 Wings At The Speed Of Sound

   Year: 1976   
Tracks: 14


   
 Venus and Mars

   Year: 1975   
Tracks: 16


   
 Wings Wild Life

   Year: 1971   
Tracks: 13

---

 

Brad Pitt's Chat To Michelle Williams At Cannes

Brad Pitt took time out to chat to Heath Ledger’s ex Michelle Williams after turning up to her new film’s Cannes Film Festival party.
The Hollywood star chatted to Williams by the fire at a private villa in Vallauris, as he and 200 others celebrated the release of ‘Synecdoche, New York’.
Pitt was joined by other leading stars of the movie Samantha Morton and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as well as his close friend Catherine Keener.
According to People.com, Brad chatted to guests about how excited he was over his partner Angelina Jolie’s impending birth of twins.

David Cook Is A Rock-And-Roll Red State, In Bigger Than The Sound

On The Record: David Cook As Sociopolitical Barometer. With An Awesome Comb-Over

I am going out on a limb here. I am going to predict that there is precisely a 50 percent chance that "American Idol" winner David Cook will be very successful. I am relatively sure about this. Sort of.

Of course, I am also going to predict that he will not amount to much of anything. I am also relatively sure about this, though only about as sure as I am that he might be very successful. Do you follow? Yeah, me neither.

This ambivalence has less to do with my feelings about Cook the person or Cook the performer as it does with my lack of feelings about either. This is probably because I have no idea what is going on in the majority of this country, though it could also be attributed to the fact that A) I am a music journalist living in New York, B) I never listen to rock radio, C) I am sort of an elitist jerk, or D) all of the above.

To put it in much clearer terms: I do not understand the phenomenon of David Cook because David Cook is pretty much everything I am not. He is a former frat guy turned bartender, the kind of guy who willingly chooses to perform songs by Switchfoot and Collective Soul and proudly proclaims his undying affection for Our Lady Peace. He sings in an earnest, gruff, decidedly weathered voice, not unlike the kind you hear all over rock radio or in a Chevy Truck commercial. If you squint funny, he looks a whole lot like Chris Daughtry, only with more hair. He has probably never cared what a blog has to say (if he's ever read one), and he likely still has an AOL e-mail address. He is a Kansas City Royals fan.

He is a Rock-and-Roll Red State. He is Rolling Thunder across the Fruited Plains. He is SUVs and flag-waving and the American Dream. He is basically the living, breathing embodiment of the overwhelming majority of people in this country, who I do not, cannot and — let's face it — will not understand. Not ever. He makes me realize just how detached I am with reality and how unimportant I am. And that makes me sort of hate myself. And this country. Sort of.

Let me point out — if it weren't already obvious — that when I talk about David Cook in the context of this column, I mean the concept of him, not the actual man. Cook seems nice enough. He has cool facial hair, and he did a killer job on Lionel Richie's "Hello." But it's what he means as a whole — the ideals and social forces he represents — that frustrate and, well, sort of terrify me.

David Cook is the reason someone like Josiah Leming — a performer who was infinitely more talented in decidedly subtler, less-than-mainstream ways — will never win "American Idol." People don't like subtle or weird, they like familiar. David Cook is the reason Nickelback sell 7 million records here in the States. David Cook is the reason the meek are picked on and terrified. David Cook is the reason we are divided, obese and ignorant. David Cook is why the reason the rest of the world hates us.

And there are underlying consequences here that I don't want to think about. Like, what does David Cook winning "American Idol" mean for Barack Obama's chances in November? Or for ever withdrawing from Iraq? Or ending our dependency on foreign oil? I worry about these things because David Cook makes me worry.

I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. Then again, maybe I am. After all, last week Cook crushed presumed "Idol" favorite David Archuleta by more than 12 million votes to be named the champion of the show's seventh season. That could just be due to the overwhelming number of cougars who turned out in support of him (never underestimate a horny recent divorcée with speed dial).

Maybe I should just chill out and realize that "American Idol" is nothing more than — as Leming himself put it — "glorified karaoke," a puffed-up and inconsequential popularity contest that has no bearing on the world at large. Then again, maybe that's what David Cook wants me to think ...

5ive Style

Slightly Less Than A Half-Dozen Of My Favorite Things On The Internet This Week, So Named For A Post-Rock Group That No One Probably Remembers.

01. Islands' Arm's Way: These dudes look like a Benetton ad, started off playing jokey Casio pop (as the late, lamented Unicorns), moved on to sorta-calypso prog-pop (on 2006's Return to the Sea) and now play overstuffed, genre-leaping everything rock. Oh, and they just released a creepy concept record about a mythical and magical appendage (which is worth purchase/download for the cover art alone). The two tracks here, "The Arm" and "Creeper," are herky-jerky hodgepodges of styles and sounds (stabs of strings! synth blurbs! heroic guitars! galloping bass lines!), and both are sort of about death, which, coincidentally, is a pretty accurate way of describing roughly 80 percent of said concept record.

02. Empires' Howl: When I was down in Chile with Fall Out Boy (during the great "Antarctica Debacle"), I spent a lot of time hanging around in hotel rooms with Tom Conrad, who had been hired by FOB to photograph their momentous voyage. He's also a former member of the Academy Is ..., and he told me about Empires, a new band he was starting up "just to have fun and play music again." He said they were close to finishing their debut album and that rather than shop around for a deal, they were gonna post the album as a free download because they just wanted people to hear it. Lucky for us, they've done just that: The album is great, all ethereal and doomy like the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club or the Black Angels, but with a little bit of My Chemical Romance snarl thrown in for good measure. I predict many goth/emo babies shall be conceived in its wake.

03. Esquire's "75 Skills Every Man Should Master": Not included: "76. Make it all the way through this nonsensical, pretentious list without chortling, bemoaning the state of your gender and/or hanging yourself using the bow tie (#16) or the square knot (#69) we've decreed it necessary for you to master."

04. Pete Wentz 1, Paparazzi 0: Sometimes you realize that this is Pete Wentz's world, and we're all just living in it. This is one of those times.

05. Tricky's "Council Estate" Video: Wow, remember Tricky?!? This song is awesome because it sounds like 1995 thrown into a blender (especially if that's Martina Topley-Bird's voice we keep hearing snippets of throughout). This video is awesome because it looks like Trick has spent the past 13 years morphing into a skinnier version of O.D.B. It's from his upcoming Knowle West Boy, which his Web site describes as "the album that sums up everything that Tricky has accomplished since his 1995 Maxinquaye." But don't hold that against him.

Questions? Concerns? Cook? E-mail me at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.






See Also

• CSS add North American dates to summer jaunt
• Simpson And Wentz Marry In Fairy Tale Wedding
• Atmarama Das
• Music Impresario and Long-Time Humanitarian Quincy Jones Comments Publicly About China and the Darfur Crisis and His Role as an Artistic Advisor to the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games