There’s a lot of bits and pieces today so let’s just get right into this:

• The White Stripes are making their first appearance in Portland on July 22. The rock duo will be playing at the Cumberland County Civic Center - tickets will go on sale at noon this Friday (May 18) at the civic center or anyplace you can buy through Ticketmaster. Tickets are $32, which at least seems reasonable. Consider that Def Leppard and Tesla charged $45 when they came through the quad “C” and Guns N Roses was a $65 show. The White Stripes newest album "Icky Thump" comes out July 19 and they’re touring all of Canada and parts of the US.

• Back in January I wrote a column about politicians using sites such as Myspace and Facebook as a quick and cheap way of getting at “the young people.” The thing was, politicians like Gov. John Baldacci and Congressman Tom Allen, D-Maine, had people maintaining their sites long after last fall’s election. Or at least they did. The governor’s site disappeared shortly after my column and some questions from Lance Dutson over at Maine Web Report about the exploit’s of one of the governor’s online "friends." Well, strangely enough, the governor’s got a new Myspace page, and Dutson points out it raises a few more questions.

• Looks like this guy should have read the paper more often. At a time when police and public officials seem to be at threat-level orange over graffiti, maybe it’s not the best time to go on a run?

• Speaking of abhorrent behavior, is smoking in movies becoming a threat? As some of you may have seen last week the Motion Picture Association of America, which sets the ratings for most movies that come out in this country, announced they would start looking at how smoking is shown in films to determine the film’s rating. Anti-smoking groups and children’s health groups say smoking in the movies is as big a danger as it gets to young people:

  "The San Francisco-based center Smoke Free Movies claims that movies are responsible for 5,000 smoking-related deaths a month that might have been prevented by an R rating. The group also says movies are responsible for half of the 800,000 children a year who start smoking."

  I think even most smokers would tell kids lighting up is not good for you or your wallet. But dropping an R rating on movies that feature smoking, glamorizes smoking, or doesn’t show the health effects of smoking, might be a stretch.

• Last night was open mic night at the Big Easy, which has quickly become a hip-hop institution in Portland. One of MaineToday’s newest blogs has posted a video of a recent open mic night. Check it out and see what’s drawing the crowds.

• Speaking of online videos and movie’s, I wanted to share this:

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