I my world as a music fan, there are few events bigger than the collaboration of Carrie Bronstein (of Sleater-Kinney) and Mary Timony (of Helium) as The Spells. The Spells made one EP, called The Age of Backwards, and it is precious. It sounds like you'd expect a collaboration between them to sound: cracked, girly, lo-lo-fi pop with hushed alto vocals and interweaving lead guitar lines.

So, imagine my delight at this! Carrie posted a few unreleased songs from The Spells' lost back catalogue on her NPR blog. Yipee! Download and be happy!

Rarely in my blogging career have I loved a product so much that I felt inclined to proclaim its greatness to the CM's massive readership. But today, I have discovered a product so indisputably wonderful that failing to share it with all of you would be a grave moral failure on my part.

The product is sulfur soap. You can get a bar here for less than $5.

For the past six years or so, I have had a minor problem with blemishes and blackheads. Rarely do I get true acne, but I often have small red bumps and little zits. In high school, I never had this problem. In fact, I almost always had completely clear skin. In high school, I washed my face with sulfur soap every day. I stopped using it in college mostly because it smells a little chemical and gross. But that's when the problems began. Over the past several years, I have tried everything: benzol peroxide, salicylic acid, witch hazel, lime juice, spot treatments, masks, soaps, cleansers, toners, cheap drug store brands, expensive department store brands, washing my face more often, washing my face less often, etc., etc., etc. No matter what I tried, I still pretty consistently had low-grade blemishes on a weekly basis.

Finally, I decided to order a $4 bar of sulfur soap and see if it did anything for me. Three days of using this stuff (once in the morning, once at night) and my skin is absolutely perfect. The couple of zits I had have almost completely faded away, and the rest of my skin is soft, smooth and even. I am done with concealer. I am done with foundation. This is by far the most effective treatment I have ever used.

I have some ideas about why sulfur soap is not more widely marketed or used:

1. It's been around forever (my mom used it when she was a teenager) so there are no patents to be had. This means that anyone can make it, and therefore no one can charge a lot of money for it.

2. It is still a little smelly. It just has this mildly chemical odor that I don't love.

But if someone could come up with a good brand name and marketing campaign for this stuff, I guarantee he would make a fortune. I'm thinking infomercial, celebrity endorsement, shiny packaging, and a free tote bag. Maybe I should drop this whole law thing and put all my chips on sulfur soap.

Something to think about.

My parents came to town for the swearing in ceremony last week. Here is a picture.

I am excited about the election of Barack Obama. I am not convinced that he can fix everything (or even anything) that's wrong with our country, but I am convinced that we are giving an inspiring, capable and thoughtful person a chance to try. That feels like a major victory in and of itself.

Today when I was walking back to my office from lunch, I saw a man wearing a 3" lapel pin that said "Palin 2012." I wish I were kidding.