Cambodia

Rodney Anonymous vs. The World

by Rodney Anonymous

Artist: Dengue Fever

Album: Venus on Earth

Country of Origin: Cambodia

Ben Stein is a dick; and no CD, no matter how good, is going to help us forget for one minute just what a dick Ben Stein is. And that's a low-down, dirty shame because Venus on Earth (on the M80 label) is a really good CD: loungey, up-tempo, danceable acid-jazz masterfully blended with the pop vocals of torch singer Chhom Nimol, who sings mostly in Khmer. Shit, Luther, the opening track, "Seeing Hands," is so damn catchy and puts the listener in such a good mood that it almost — almost! — makes you capable of forgiving Ben Stein for talking out his ass when he said "Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people."

If Ben Stein hadn't totally ruined documentaries forever with his bullshit anti-evolution crap-fest Expelled, this very space would be used to tell you to check out Sleepwalking Through the Mekong, a doc that tells the story of Dengue Fever's 2005 journey to Phnom Penh.

"Seventy-five-thousand people at an outdoor sports palace, well, that's something the Fuehrer would have done."

—Ben Stein being a dick about Obama's plan to speak at Denver's Invesco Field

Verdict:

Ben Stein is a dick, and no amount of cash we throw at Cambodia, or any other country for that matter, is going to help us forget for one minute just what a dick Ben Stein is. But thanks, Dengue Fever; thanks for trying.

(r_anonymous@citypaper.net)

Shit, Luther, get your ass over to rodneyanonymous.com.