Spanish techno

Driving to work this morning, I passed two consecutive bumper stickers:

"Favored and highly blessed"
"We're all family; we all have value"

I feel a cage fight brewing. Is driver #1 better than those around him because his deity digs his trunk magnet choice? Will driver #2 pound him for being part of the problem, not part of the solution? Stay tuned. A bit later I saw one of the semi-ubiquitous "My child is a peacemaker at Coventry school" and felt better about the world.

I received a cheque in the mail yesterday, of unidentified origin but paid through a bank in Barcelona. From past experience I know this to be some sort of work-related payment (I work for a European company, which apparently likes to pay some accounts transiberianly); I also know that it'll take a few extra days for the funds to appear after depositing it, as I learned last time this happened when I planned to turn the money around for an imminent car purchase.

If instead my funds were being paid through the other Spanish banks, I'd be happy to pick them up myself.

In typing that, my cerebrum has quickly filled with the beats of Spanish Techno, one of several ueber-catchy tunes from the New Pornographers (don't worry - it's just a wiki article), whose latest couple of releases I haven't been able to entirely strike from my mind since my acquisition of them months ago. Curse you, free association!

Reviewing the New Pornographers' Challengers and Twin Cinema
Pros: folksy singing, vocal harmony, great hooks, interesting instrumentation, varied songwriting, Canadian content
Cons: just a bunch of 3:00 pop songs
Listen to: "The Jessica Numbers", "Sing me Spanish Techno", "Challengers", "Adventures in Solitude".
Goes best with: coffee, long pants, Volkswagens