Being-Mused

NBA Lines Day 7

2008-01-16T16:33:00.000-05:00

Last night: 3-5
Overall: 25-28

Tonight:
Kings (+5) over Raps
Magic (-1) over Bobcats
Warriors (+2) over Pacers
Bulls (+3.5) over Heat
Portland (+8) over Celts
Knicks (+7.5) over Nets
Hawks (+3) over Bucks
Hornets (-10.5) over Sonics

NBA lines day 6

2008-01-15T17:59:00.000-05:00

Last time: 2-5
Overall: 22-23

Tonight:
Denver (+2.5) over Hawks
Magic (-6) over Bulls
Wiz (-2) over Knicks
Cavs (-1.5) over Griz
78ers (+9) over Rockets
Raps (+8) over Pistons
Warriors (-7.5) over Minny
Suns (-7.5) over Clips

NBA Lines Day 5

2008-01-12T02:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday: 8-3
Overall: 20-18

Tonight:

Pistons (-10) over Bobcats
Celts (-7) over Wiz
Minny (+15.5) over Spurs
Orlando (+7) over Jazz
Bucks (+13.5) over Suns
Kings (-2.5) over Pacers
Mavs (-6.5) over Clips

NBA Lines Day 4

2008-01-11T16:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday: 3-0
Overall: 12-15

Tonight:
Bulls (+2) over 76ers
Celtics (-11) over Nets
Lakers (-11) over Bucks
Nugs (-4.5) over Magic
Toronto (-5) over Knicks
Bobcats (+8.5) over Cavs
Hornets (-11) over Heat
Dallas (-8.5) over Sonics
Atlanta (-3) over Wizards
Rockets (-10) over Timberwolves
Warriors (-9.5) over Grizzlies

NBA lines day 3

2008-01-10T15:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday: A Brutal 4-11 (I didn't know that Nash would be out, or that Ray Allen and Big Baby were sitting out the game...and I paid for picking against the Blazers. Shame on me).

Overall: 9-15

Tonight:

Detroit (+3.5) over San Antonio (this one is betting with my heart, not my head).
Memphis (+4) over Sacramento
Utah (-6.5) over Phoenix

NBA Lines Day 2

2008-01-09T15:12:00.000-05:00

Yesterday results: 5-4

Today:
76ers (+8.5) over Raptors
Cavs (+2.5) over Hawks
Rockets (-5) over Knicks
Nets (-8.5) over Sonics
Celtics (-13) over Bobcats
Bucks (-4.5) over Heat
Hornets (-2) over Lakers
Pistons (+2.5) over Mavs
Suns (-11) over Pacers
Warriors (+2) over Blazers
Magic (-4) over Clippers

NBA Lines day 1

2008-01-08T18:14:00.000-05:00

I wanted to see how good I am at NBA gambling, so I'm going to test myself by picking the over/under for each day's games, just to see what my record would be.

Bucks (+6) over 76ers
Wizards (-3) over Rockets
Sonics (+9.5) over Cavs
Nets (-2.5) over Bobcats
Lakers (-6.5) over Grizzlies
Heat (+1.5) over Timberwolves
Knicks (+7) over Bulls
Jazz (-8.5) over Pacers
Kings (+6) over Magic

Your present?!? You're my present!!

2007-12-23T09:02:00.000-05:00

All I want for Christmas is Charlie Watts.

Album du Jour #22 - What The Funk

2007-11-23T03:47:00.000-05:00

I haven't done one of these in 5 months, but that's because I got tired of the pressure I created by myself with the extensiveness of my reviewing. So now I'm going to just say a sentence or two; enough to make me feel a sense of artificial completion of some menial task, but not enough to require any time or effort. Oh, and it will keep me honest in my conviction to listen to all of the damn music I have (which, as winamp dutifully reports, would take some 65 days to do in one sitting). Sometimes I'll pepper my brief album comments with philosophy thoughts of the day, just to keep up that (useful?) juxtaposition.

Today's album: Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights. My roommate Zoey got me into a funk kick, and so I went about trying to find what good new funk/soul music is out there. Sharon Jones is more or less regarded as the best currently doing classic soul, and it is really, really, really, really good.

(this photo reminds me of two important facts I learned in jazz band in high school: trumpet players are self-important, preening fools, and sax players are either virgins, creepy, or both)

Meta-aural-thought: Too many people I know only like EXTREMELY lo-fi indie music. I like this music and sympathize with it, but don't understand why one would exclude everything else. Because: 1. What did electricity ever do to you?
and 2. Black people make good music too.

Husserl wrote down daily observations and thoughts in manuscripts that eventually totaled more than 45,000 pages after his death...and often claimed that his most important work was done there, but it was too massive for him to deal with or publish. Should I be doing more daily philosophy writing, even if it isn't going to be "useful" to me in any conceivable sense? I doubt I'll ever be in a position for them to be concerned about the Wardiana, but even if so, I don't know if I can bring myself to care about my posthumous reception and influence.

Tote Rag with a Rote Tag

2007-10-17T01:17:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to write poorly tonight. Speed requires not re-thinking. What part of the brain should I stimulate to solve paralysis? Oh yeah, I have to pinch the spine!

Despite my (thus far) success in trying "rough draft" style writing so that I can go back and do meaningful edits (instead of belabouring every sentence, and treating a mistake like a potential miscarriage), I still need an outlet for good writing when I'm in "writing mode" (especially while listening to Mark Farina on ginormous headphones at 2am...why haven't I downloaded Rainbows yet??). I just think it is amusing that that outlet turns out to be on a basketball blog.

Barely Becoming Brian (an ode to Dexter, a show I am head over severed heels in love with)

Dr. Jekyl and Mr Snide

2007-10-08T01:20:00.000-05:00

The TV is on, but I'm not really paying attention. There was some crappy commercials on - which I am very good at not paying attention to (Seth sent me an email about a funny commercial that I would have completely forgotten if not for the youtube link he sent me...I push such things to the periphery of my consciousness). One line from a commercial, however, I did listen to - it was something about how an acorn contains the potential of an entire tree, and this was supposed to be some metaphor for some shitty product/service. In any case, being who I am, this naturally got me thinking about abortion.

An acorn does not contain all of the energy of a full grown tree, as the commercial said. It is not as if all of that life energy necessary to sustain an life is somehow compacted into a super potent seed...that energy is gained by absorption of nutrients, and photosynthesis, etc. But people allow their linguistic tendencies to project upon their assumptions about the world, and thus tend to view the acorn-to-tree process as just a transfiguration of one thing. A thing might have changes, but we wend to assume that all of its essential characteristics are somehow present in all of its stages.

This explains why pro-life people point to conception as the moment that life "begins". Something I have always wondered: why conception, and not sperm cells or ova? Don't those both contain the genetic blueprint for a person? Of course, this would be inconceivable, because then it would be murder to have your period...or one is a murderer a billion times over for each sperm cell that dies without producing a child (men are far less saintly than women).

To prove that "life begins at conception," one must show that there is something essentially different about it from the prior moment. What makes it more life than before?

The problem is that the process of becoming a human being is a gradual one that does not lend itself to our desire for hard and fast distinctions. Obviously in the 3rd trimester it would be wrong to abort, but a baby could be medically kept alive outside of a uterus by that stage easily, and there is advanced sensation. To make use of an absolutely ridiculous example: there have been tons and tons of comedies that have the "fetus thinking/talking" joke, but Danny Devito's voice never starts until the fetus is relatively baby-shaped. Even when imagining we don't conceive of dividing cells as possessing those most unique human traits in that way.

The point is that we always forget how philosophical category mistakes are at the core of some of the deepest (and most frivolous) issues that we deal with on a day to day basis. People want a hard and fast moment to point to the commencement of "life," and since we ascribe thingliness with unity, some act as if conception is a sufficient condition for life, not merely one of many necessary ones. Complication requires thought, context, and deliberation...and deliberation has become to be widely regarded as "inaction". And it gets in the way of imposing ethics upon another; the democracy of self-decision making and the traditional interpretation of power are at odds. Presenting the "right to choose" as just about the particular choice of particular women is excessively limiting; this is not just an issue "for" potentially pregnant women. Instead, it is about the right to choose in general; to throw off the conveniences of viewing language as a utilitarian microscope through which the world dances for us. Language is a memory of an echo. Every word can expand itself onto a symphony of meaning if we let it, but the instant it becomes a confining force...it can have deadly ramifications. Even when trying to save lives.

New HBO show with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk

2007-09-13T12:51:00.001-05:00

The possibility outlined here makes me so happy, I can only indicate this fact by stealing one of Joe Mathlete's creations, the HitlerPenis RainbowJizm Kablooie:

things that are things that are things that are

2007-09-02T11:01:00.000-05:00

One movie that struck me a great deal when I first saw it was Linklater's Waking Life. For obvious reasons....it is an immensely lived-philosophy kind of film. Linklater is perhaps my favourite director - from Slacker, to School of Rock, to Before Sunrise and After Sunset, (all must see films in my opinion). Already appealing to my then-budding desire to be overwhelmed by everything (to be replaced by....a wanting to overwhelm at my whims, but turn it off when I need to go out and be functional?) - Waking Life was the perfect mind-bending flick to watch when stoned (a once omnipresent habit I lost some years ago).

One scene in particular that stuck out in my memory was of a movie (director? critic? thinker?) person being interviewed about what he calls the "holy moment" that film can capture. I should explain: Waking Life is comprised of a fellow who is uncertain if he is in a perpetual dream he can never escape from...some new, transcendent, dream to end all dreams. He spends his time alternatively in and out of awareness of himself and his condition...much of the movie involves him being entirely absent from scenes where people pontificate on matters about life, death, the capacities of language and communication...and dreaming and waking consciousness most of all. The limits of the human experience. These scenes seem to suggest that he has himself died, and the dream world functions as a boundary or home of death.

(the) One character I was referring to in that scene was talking about how film has an inherent relationship to the actors, and that the traditional view of acting - which lauds those who can act the most "different" from their "real" selves - is badly mistaken. In essence, the way in which hollywood producers tend to make roles with famous actors in mind - is a good thing...there are lots of examples of this. Lost in Translation might well be one of them (an aside about how the internet can lead you onto other and other things - looking up Lost in Translation on wikipedia to make sure my memory of it being an original screenplay was correct...led me to 1. put Marie Antionette on my Netflix list, because I have long wanted to see Sofia Coppela's follow up, and 2. to discover a quotation from Robert Frost about poetry being "lost in translation", which is a perfect pretentious intro to place on an Emerson paper that is mostly written but I've been kicking around for awhile about the role of nationality and language in the figure of the poet as imagined by Heidegger).

One morning (this morning) I had woken up, but didn't want to get up, be productive, any of that. So I thought I should browse the movies available on Ondemand (we now have all premium channels, which is an absurd amount of programming I haven't really exploited much) and see if anything caught my interest. One of showtime's ondemand offerings was a movie called I Am A Sex Addict, which was described as an autobiographical documentary about a filmmaker's struggles with sex addiction. I'd never seen a documentary about one's self on such a personal level, so the description was intriguing. I had always agreed (without having fully worked out my thoughts on the nature of film) with that Waking Life clip...that viewing film as just stories with moving pictures was limiting. Books were better for that format because stories are meant to evoke the imagination. Movies are a new and fundamentally different format that are about those specific people, those bodies, moving in time and space.

One can imagine my surprise when, as I started this movie to see what it was all about (not expecting to really watch it), it turned out to be the same guy who was in that Waking Life clip! Caveh Zahedi was the filmmaker (and subject) of this movie, and it was clear just how fundamentally he believed that movies should be about the people that appear in them (which is not to say they must always be documentaries or biographical, but that there is a non-circumstantial relationship between the character and the actor). It was one of the most fascinating movies I had seen in some time. He narrated the entire thing at the chapel where he was about to be married for the 3rd time, and recounts his entire history of loves throughout his life, and his working through of his addiction to prostitutes before going into the wedding ceremony. Insanely personal, hilarious...I haven't seen a movie that kept me that astounded in quite a long time. I appear to have invested all of my writing capacity in the lead up, because I don't really have much to say about the movie itself (why I could never be a movie or music critic..I'm much better at talking about peripheral elements that relate me to the material in lieu of the material itself). But you should see it if at all possible. Caveh's strangely protubing head, his all too human gaze, his fetish for vulnerability...abjectly compelling. Even if you didn't give a fuck for the entirely different way of relating to film, it is still a fascinating examination about addiction.

One music recommendation, because I feel terribly amiss if I put forth one of my rare long posts without referencing music or bad jokes somehow....I'm currently addicted to SoulOrganismState by Mummer. If I had to choose a place to live outside of the US, I would choose Vienna in a heartbeat. Partly due to the glowing recommendation of the place I have heard from my ex-girlfriend Nicole and others, and also because it seems to birth music that speaks to me very personally. I feel at home with lots of Vienna artists more so than I do even Portland bands! Something about the fusion of jazz with sweeping, chromatic electronica (stumbling across the Vienna duo dZihan & Kamien might have been one of the more formative accidents in terms of me being explicitly interested in what I call "chromatic" music). Apparently the scale caused by musical semitones is called chromatic - but that is not what I mean. I just discovered that...music theory was never my strong suit during my music-producing period of my life.

I love the local news

2007-08-29T00:46:00.000-05:00

Currently a guy is "reenacting" the senator from Idaho's claim that he didn't really proposition an undercover cop while in a bathroom. The senator, while in a bathroom stall, hooked his right foot around the cop's left foot, which is apparently a signal for wanting a discreet hookup (or is it discrete? The one that means secretive, not separate plots on a line). The senator claims he just uses a "wide stance", but the brave and truth-seeking newsman shared his thoughts on how it would be difficult to get one's foot that far into another stall accidentally, showing how far he can get his with his pants around his ankles.

This was immediately following a segment about a woman whose fence was graced by a knot in the shape of Jesus' head!!

To cleanse my palette, I watched the following:

Eating Bubblegum Pie

2007-08-17T22:32:00.000-05:00

Paper writing times usually coincide with music acquisition times, for obvious reasons. So allow me to share the albums that have got me in their tentacley grasp during these trying times (aka, me trying to work and mostly failing)

1. Missy Elliott's Respect M.E. Well, obviously (Basement Jaxx remix!)

2. Chromeo - Fancy Footwork.

This is one of those instances where I pick up something on Pitchfork's recommended list, and I turn out loving the shit out of it. A genre that can only be classified "electrofunk", it may only be 2/3rds of the way through 2007, but I'm calling the Gregorian calendar year right here and now: this is as funky as it is going to get. The album is about 75,000 times more interesting than you think it would be based on the cover art seen above. Adjust that number if you particularly like or dislike the cover art. But there's no way you can listen to a few lines of "Bonafied Lovin'" without needing to dance a little. Or you're a soulless blight on society. Bonus Chromeo factoid: they're the best Arab/Jewish collaboration since my favourite episode of Wonder Showzen.

3. Neil Young's Greatest Hits. This also needs no explanation.

Also listening to: of Montreal's entire catalog (although I was shocked how different most of their earlier stuff is), Tracey Thorn's solo album, and the Pixies and Posies.

vapid, ho!

2007-08-15T12:35:00.001-05:00

Unlike misbehaving pets (damncatthatpissedonmyLegos15yearsagoruiningmywholecollection), you can't take cultural mini-trends to a ~~guy who couldn't handle med school~~ veterinarian to be put to sleep. But if there were such a Dr Kevorkian for Memes (a concept I detest - fuck you Richard Dawkins - but is somewhat fitting here), his first order of business would be to give the gift of death to the stupid love affair people have with pirates and ninjas these days.

The way in which those two figures have been given such prominence is interesting in its own right. Why have both gotten grouped together and treated in a similar fashion? The clearest similarity is that both are incredibly anachronistic...but then, so is butter churning, black smithery, and Republicanism, and those things aren't inherently "humorous." I think the way in which both archetypes operate entirely outside the social order is the decisive factor - the interest in pirates and ninjas belies a wistful longing for the possibility for an individual to truly operate contrary to the rest of society in a successful and active way (aka, not just hiding in a bunker in Montana or being irrelevant to society). It does not appear likely that individuals will ever have that level of power vis-a-vis society again. Celebrities and the super-rich are usually even less powerful than most, because they are bound more than most by the demands of society. Owning expensive things doesn't have much to do with power, typically...money can liberate from basic needs, but it can also be its own form of shackle if pursued relentlessly (witness any reality show "star" who structures even their privacy around the need to be a pathetic clown for a brief payday). Ninjas and pirates were never about having really expensive things (or at least, the idea of both that we have....remember the Simpsons episode where Bart and Lisa are looking for buried treasure, and they have that hilarious flashback to a pirate suggesting that they keep the stolen treasure to buy things instead of burying it, and the captain just stares at him for a moment in silence before shooting him in the head?).

That unplanned tangent into the psychology of our interested in pirates and ninjas notwithstanding, the point is that these things aren't inherently funny. Anything can be funny given the right context, but people substitute cliches for imagination and wit. I realized that things had gone too far when I received the following facebook invitation:

What is this?? Why are ninjas fighting pirates? Why do I care, or feel the need to pick sides?!? Just as our collective need to talk about snakes on a plane was forever cured by the movie Snakes on a Plane, we need some massive event to get all this pirates and ninjas crap out of our system permanently. That's why I want them to make a big, empty, absoludicrous movie Ninjas vs. Pirates. No protagonists, no plot...just a bunch of ninjas fighting a bunch of pirates for 100 minutes. After that, no one will talk about ninjas or pirates again for CENTURIES.

...actually, that movie would probably make a ton of money. I always knew I should be a Hollywood producer!!

Bibles, Beats, Bliss

2007-08-12T17:59:00.000-05:00

In random assorted links and thoughts time:

1. My grandfather, while alive, was one of those total grandfather-cliches. His life consisted of playing trombone in World War 2 while fighting (I'm fairly certain he did both at the same time while marching uphill). After that he owned some vague company that neither I nor my mother are really clear on the details of. Then he spent the rest of his life playing the piano and trombone, finding fault with things, and playing golf. He would do pretty decently at senior PGA events and whatnot. Although I guess one really interesting thing about him was how he was the only one of 10 siblings to abandon the Mormon church; so I have him to thank for my non-Mormony life, I suppose.

In any case, I never thought that I follow in his golfing footsteps....until now!!! I discovered the British site Eye Candy Caddies.com, which is the first (that I'm aware of) merger of caddy services with an escort site. Hot women who don't know anything about golf will carry around your clubs for you. Have you ever been as excited to be 70 in your life? If you need to kill a few minutes look around in the "meet the caddies" section. Two of my favourites:

a. The twins

My questions: Do they both carry the clubs at once, or do they trade off? And if so, what does the one who isn't holding the clubs do - just stand there? Why do they have different hobbies and film stars, but the exact same favourite facial feature, singer, and holiday destination?

b. Sky Bliss

This is the most fucking intense caddy ever. It looks like he watched Zoolander and then decided to make the look "Blue Steel" come to LIFE. Look at that gaze. Could you remember what your own name was in the midst of that arched left eyebrow, let alone whether to pull the ball left or right on the 11 hole? I love how his favourite part of his own body is his "personality", and that, when asked to use just one word to describe himself, he went out of his way to add an unnecessary word in "Sublimely friendly." Sky Bliss doesn't play by any of the fucking rules. I'm just shocked that his favourite colour isn't "tree" or "happiness."

I mean...I could really keep going forever with this. One chick's answer to "favourite film" is "I love films!!" The girl whose favourite holiday destination is "Catherine Zeta Jones" (and who is a fine example of British taste for beauty). The girl whose answer to "best facial feature" is "I have 2 lips, eyes." This guy's hair. It is all so perfect.

2. Some kid who was in Charles in Charge, Willie Ames, has apparently made a career for himself doing shit-ass Christian knockoffs of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers called "Bibleman." The show is pretty brilliant -

but the new forthcoming video game based on this show really, really takes the cake. WATCH THIS CLIP. This is a NEW game. I love it.

3. And now, for something actually useful. Well, kind of.

It was strange, getting into electronica in college...if just because I had almost no friends who shared my tastes, and living in Walla Walla....well, there's not any good chances for me to go see this music in clubs. It is hard to get a feel for what is going on with most electronica genres unless you live in San Fran or New York, really. Finding new music was particularly confusing because there are SO MANY genres in electronica. For anyone interested in looking at the different genres, subgenres, hearing what each sounds like, and seeing how they are intertwined...this is a great guide some guy has been maintaining for a few years now.

4. Usually TV is pretty dead during the summer - not that I need to waste my time on it - but it seems like there is always one show that is worth watching. Last summer it was the final season of Deadwood...and this summer we get two. Flight of the Conchords (which I've already mentioned, but I encourage everyone to look up their old songs/performances on youtube, they're really quite good), and also Damages, which I just saw the other day. Glenn Close and Ted Danson doing the best TV they've ever done (well, after Becker). It is excellent - and I typically hate legal dramas.

Fergie pisses on herself my childhood

2007-08-08T23:26:00.000-05:00

This is an addendum to the post before last...another thing I would do if I had a lot of money and, like, didn't care about starving people and whatnot - I would DEFINITELY buy a ton of animatronic robots from Chucky Cheese and similar places and program them to sing along to some of my favourite songs. Some memories from your past dig into your brain more sharply than others, and for some reason the way in which Boris and Natasha's robot mouths moved when they spoke at the Bullwinkles in Montclair my grandmother used to take me to....entranced the shit out of me (the jets of coloured water helped too). In any case, this video is clearly the greatest thing humankind has ever done. Except for the song choice.

Golden Unlaughter

2007-08-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

Someone from my undergrad philosophy programme sent me the following link, which is fun stuff - a random nietzsche quotation associated with a random family circus cartoon.

How to exploit nature betterly

2007-08-03T11:48:00.000-05:00

This is already a well established fact, but celebutards are stupid. Why do these talentless whores get boring pets like hairless dog-rats, or biting monkeys? If I had money like that and I wanted a pet that reached absurd levels of cuteness, then I would try to get:

1. A pangolin.

2. a Pudu, the smallest species of deer ever.

3. A sentient, transsexual trash heap (I'm not joking. One episode of Fraggle Rock the trash heap changed from a woman to a man. This confused the Fraggles).

4. A Kurt Russell.

But then again the only reason celebrities get pets is to have "unique" fashion accessories. I think that fashion is a force more dangerous than landmines. A fashion mentality is the ultimate expression of wasteful capitalism - wanting and valuing things based merely on their newness and rarity. This mindset has taken over technology, politics, music...is it a stretch to say that Project Runway should inspire as much loathing as Project: Manhattan?

He's like some non....giving-up.....school guy!

2007-08-01T14:06:00.000-05:00

I apologize for taking a 2 week absence from my writings here. In reality, I have a handful of half-finished entries that I shall endeavor to publish in the upcoming days. My lack of productivity mainly has to do with the fact that I refuse to spend time blog-writing while at home (where I have a combination of paper writing, Oblivion, and increasingly busy social life to keep me occupied). But here's some of the note-worthy events to occur recently:
-Saw the White Stripes at the BU arena. Missed damn near a third of the show, but it was still fun.
-Lost my glasses about a month ago, and thus had to stumble around blind for weeks until I could get a new prescription and have new glasses ordered. Damn expensive too - of the many health insurances I've had throughout my life, the one you pay Boston College a ton for is easily the worst. I got more off my glasses due to a "BC student pity discount" the eye place I went to has than anything my insurance was doing for me.
-My good friend Erin is moving to San Diego soon for the next phase of her academic career, so it has been "Erin Week" this week. I realize that it is also Shark Week, but that is ok, because Erin is more or less just a sexy shark. This involved my very first karaoke experience - a rousing rendition of "The Humpty Dance." I riffed on the "All the Samoans in the house...do the Humpty Dance" line considerably.
- We threw an 80s party, which featured a grand total of zero philosophy folks (first time that's happened), but there were loads of rowdy Irish folk, fun new friends, and a bunch of cops! First time the police have shown up at any of our parties (out of 11 or so majour ones we've had the past few years). Great fun.

Making Sense on the Dollar

2007-07-16T15:15:00.000-05:00

It is a little known fact that the word "communication" was originally coined to mean "spreading of communist munitions". Back in the first few decades of this past century, people spoke very rarely; it was a concern that wanton free exchange of information would educate the masses and lead them to question the harsher aspects of capitalism. Thus, silence reigned supreme, and speaking was largely viewed as an insidious means of spreading Marxist insurgent notions. Movies of the era provide proof of this; only when profits began to fall did Hollywood allow its actors to speak on film, which was a large part of McCarthy's wrath against the industry a decade later.

Of course, capitalism is nothing if not a wily, adaptable beast, and today we find ourselves beset on all sides with new ways to communicate, all benefitting the "Al ighty ollar." Unfortunately, the proliferation of means of communication has outpaced our ability to establish solid societal standards behind these newfangled technologies. We forget that it takes time to make such decisions - Alexander Graham Bell was trying to figure out what kind of greeting to give when you answer the telephone, and his first idea was to rip off sailors with "Ahoy hoy", before "hullo" became ubiquitous.

So if I am to pretend I had the power to set standards (and given my megalomaniac tendancies, this is something I am well practiced at), here's what I would enforce regarding newer methods of communication:

Text Messaging:
It has become common place to use any craptacular mangling of words when sending text messages, but I don't see the justification here. Sure, it is not a fast method of typing in general, but that's no real excuse. If you're looking for faster, then just leave a voice mail. The only situations when you're permitted to type like "ur goin 2 stor lol?" is if there's an emergency or something. "OMG jim died car reck hug firez". The only thing I skimp on in my texts are punctuation marks (occasionally), if just because that can be more of a pain than most things. Also, since I abjectly refuse to pay 5 dollars per month for unlimited texting capacity, recieving each one costs me a dime. Maybe this is why I cringe at short, misspelled texts.

Emails:
Not much to say here, but one thing needs mentioning: how is it that fairly competent people can't spot the difference between an email hoax and an un-hoax? It just seems fundamentally obvious in the way these emails are written...even when it isn't a commercial pitch. For instance, some number of months ago an acquaintance sent me an email detailing the dangers of a new date rape drug that was finding its way into circulation and being used against women. All the email was trying to do was spread caution about drinking from untrusted sources, or leaving your drink vulnerable, etc - all reminders of caution that are important be pressed hard. But the email felt fake to me, so I looked up the new date rape drug that it was talking about...and sure enough, that was a hoax. I had no idea who the hell could have started this hoax and why - there are enough reasons now to practice due caution against date rape, why muddy a good message with made-up stories? Or was it just someone who enjoys spreading dis-information (the opposite of the dot-communism/Wikipedia effect)? Very strange, to me.

Instant Messaging:
IM is not like being on the phone with someone; you're not necessarily "in a conversation." People pick up and leave, or have computer/internet malfunctions, or get distracted by shiny things, or whatever. Unless you've been in a long back and forth conversation for some time, there is no need to apologize for taking a phone call, or for not responding with alacrity...this is mostly moot since my IM habits had dwindled down to a bare minimum from my college debate work procrastination glory days of yore, but it still bears mentioning.

Note #1 - One of the history lessons I gave in the early part of this post was true, another was false. Hopefully you can discern the two.

Note #2 - While writing, a song came on the radio station that Andy leaves on in his office (perhaps the most eclectic radio station I've ever heard...like someone smashed together an indie rock station today with a poppy alternative station from 1994)...it was Peter Bjorn and John, a band I haven't heard much of. This song is the title track from their album "Writer's Block", and it kind of rocks my shit. How have I not heard this before? Embarassing. I am elated to discover that they're playing at the avalon in early September. Other bands I'm pumped to see this fall: Animal Collective, Of Montreal!!!.

Note #3 - The very first picture in this post, believe it or not, was actually more offensive in the original version. This marks the first time I've ever edited a picture I've found online to be less offensive rather than more. I did make it more colourful, though.

Open Wide For Some SOCCERRRRRRR

2007-07-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

I don't really have a good excuse to post this link, but it is funny, so a quasi-pertinent simpsons quotation will have to suffice.

ambulatory epiphanies, take 2784

2007-07-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

As I was walking home just now, I realized that if I lived forever, I would have time to form my Hall and Oates tribute band: Ollae and Hats. Here's the kicker: Ollae would be the one wearing all the hats!!

Death is a cruel joke.

Brian and Music

2007-07-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

(every once in awhile I write about the history of me vis-a-vis one of the relevant aspects of my life. interesting to anyone not-me? Dubious. But it makes for good procrastination. Check the "Brian and Stuff" label for more).

My first memory of music was from when I was 3 or 4...driving in my father's 57 Chevy (the pride of his existence at the time). I think the car was close to this colour, I can't recall. The radio was playing Madonna; I didn't register it as much at the time, but I can recall him not liking it much. I have a stronger association with that car and music from just a few years later, when at some of the old timey 50s style restaurants that they have out in LA where you get served in your car. Big bopper-esque rock n' roll jamming...this might be the first time I felt a sense for anything that is "past." I have since grown impatient of the tendency to glorify the immediate past (or, even, the ancient past, aka those who think ancient greek philosophy is worth pursuing to the exclusion of everything else), but it is hardly surprising that one feels an awe at seeing the neon traces of world I can never inhabit.

MTV was present in the late 80s, and I recall seeing a Dire Straits video once, I think...but whenever I had unfettered access to a television back then, I would always choose Mario or Zelda over Money for Nothing; drawn to worlds I could conquer over ones that felt designed for an entirely different crowd.

MTV became important to me again when I was 10, 11. Living in Portland now, I was suddenly confronted with LA for the first time; via the Chronic and whatnot. Choosing the birth town by way of hip-hop (and preferring it to actual contact), I come to my most embarrassing story about my relationship to music:

For the christmas during my first year in middle school, I received my first cd player. A quaint boombox, that would be forever marred by its time spent in beach sand, chugging along to the tune of 8 D batteries. In order to justify this device and get something aside from Z100 on the radio, I requested a cd, and my mother picked up a band whose music video she had seen me watching: Kriss Kross. I kind of liked this cd, even though I sort of thought it was childish. That reservation didn't stop me when our 6th grade homeroom class had some sort of weird party thing, and I immediately volunteered to "bring the music" to show off my new device. Cut to the bus ride home; bus trips being times for me to hide underneath my cherished Oakland A's hat (which was lost on one of these bus rides, thrown out a window by some malicious student) from the 7th grade kids who would constantly make out in the seats to my front. One of these older kids asked to check out my cd player on the way home, and I gave it up without thoughts of refusal. It got passed around, and as we approached home I began to wander the aisle looking for it; someone finally passed the cd player back, but later I discovered that the Kriss Kross cd was no longer in there! I couldn't find who had taken it, and I mentioned this to my mother...not realizing that she would of course buy me another one, when I would have preferred a different cd (the novelty of jumping up and down on my bed along to "Jump, Jump!" long having since worn off). And that's how the first two cds I ever owned were both Kriss Kross.

I soon expanded my collection, thanks to the handy deals BMG and Columbia House promoted in order to get people to order cds via the mail. I'm sure that most people went in on these at some point in their lives; you would get like 12 cds for free to begin, and had to "subscribe" to their monthly offerings, and buy so many cds at full price. The real way they'd try to make money was by automatically sending you a cd in the mail each month that you'd have to pay for if you didn't return; many corporate schemes have been entirely built around knowing how lazy consumers tend to be. But if you kept up on these deals you could sign up for BMG, do the minimum to fulfill their requirements, cancel, and then sign up for Columbia House...rinse and repeat. The first albums I picked up through these means were a mixture of r&b and just random stuff: Janet Jacket's If, Lenny Kravitz, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith's Get A Grip, things along those lines. I listened a lot to whatever I got; when you are coming fresh faced to the music world, almost anything sounds great.

7th grade. One of the biggest changes about that grade that really made you feel "old" was that suddenly you got to choose an elective class! Some kids went into band to torture the music teacher by playing flutes, trumpets, and the like. There were a few phys ed type electives. Chess. Things of that nature. But this newfound academic freedom hammered home something I had never really realized before; I didn't actually have any interests. I was good in school - skipped a few grades of math, always years ahead in terms of reading and writing ability, had spent a lot of my time reading up on random science stuff, so my random knowledge in the areas of astronomy, geology, meteorology, and similar sciences exciting to 11 year old nerdy boys was exceedingly high. But none of those electives really spoke to me. I found myself in the general study time elective, along with a mostly unmotivated crew. I hated this time, since the other kids in there were generally pretty dumb, and therefore of the mean variety. Even if not for my peers, we were just sitting in near silence most of the time. Depressing way to spend sunny fall afternoons.

Then one day in walked a white bearded fat man wearing rainbow suspenders, who could only be described as "jolly". He looked like a burnt out hippie version of Santa Claus. The school was starting a guitar class that he would be teaching. I had a 3/4ths acoustic guitar I had been given for Christmas, so I figured, why not? My out of placeness was confirmed when I showed up with that toy guitar, surrounded by 8th graders who started off by competing with each other to see who could play the main licks from "Enter Sandman" and "Teen Spirit" the best. I quickly purchased a used Epiphone electric guitar, and began to get immersed into classic rock. That year I attended Aerosmith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and ZZ Top concerts, and my cd collection pushed past the 50 mark.

For falling back-asswards into guitar playing, I quickly overcame the head start everyone else had. I picked up music reading far faster than anyone else, and being one of the few in a class of 30 who was capable of focusing on the sheet music at hand instead of trying to learn Stone Temple Pilot's latest sent me to the top of the class. After that year was over Mr. King had to leave Hazelbrook, but I started taking private lessons from him. By the time high school rolled around, I had picked up the bass to play in the school jazz band...but I had to play in the regular band to be in jazz band, so I switched between the upright bass and percussion. My specialties were quads (in marching band, which I loathed), the timpani, and the marimba. I've always had some weird fetish for the marimba. I don't know why.

My musical tastes in high school didn't actually change all of that much; my interest in the things I was previously interested in just grew deeper. I grew out of some of the cheesier classic rock in lieu of Zeppelin and so forth. I listened to the "main" Portland classic rock station 24/7 - literally, I would leave it on at night. It got to the point where I knew the station's rotation habits so well I would often find myself humming the song they were about to play as the current song was ending. Should I have broadened my musical horizons more? Of course! But it is hard to get introduced to things in an ultra-whitebread suburban community. The late 90s were not a good era for popular music. I even gave up playing guitar after having spent a few years assuming that it would be my future. After the band I put together my sophomore year of high school won the Tigard Battle of the Bands (we got ROBBED at our own high school's BotB, because our leadership council in all of their wisdom wanted to diplomatically give first place to the band from another high school....but Tigard's was judged by musicians and people who taught guitar lessons, and out of 4 high schools represented, we won best overall), I decided that I should give it up entirely. Mainly because it had become increasingly evident that I was drawn to academic pursuits (and debate, but that's another post altogether). I reasoned that there were millions of people who played guitar who might be better than me, but I could rise to the top of any other field I chose. So I sold my effects pedals, bass, guitars, amps...etc.

College saw the convergence of two phenomena that changed my music tastes radically:
Technology, and social standing. I suddenly was going to parties...what's more, dance parties. I've always liked to dance. Even took hip hop and ballroom dance some when I was in middle school (it is really tough to be more of an awkward kid than I was in middle school. The only way to increase my clueless isolation during that time would have been if I was a queer leper to boot). Simultaneously, suddenly everyone's music collections were available to me via the network. Before this Napster had yet to rear its head, and downloading music was a painstaking matter of getting into an IRC channel, requesting someone's shared library (usually of 100 songs or so), and then sending a request to that person's download-bot to get a particular song, which took about 30 minutes to download. I amassed about 60 songs via late nights spend doing this process (stuff like Foghat, ELO, Steely Dan...), which I was very proud of. But now I could get hundreds instantaneously, and I found myself listening to trance and club music.

My newfound interest in electronica progressed as follows: first I was into progressive house like Sasha and Digweed. I ate up the Global Underground series, and anything related to club hits of the late 90s. Not understanding this music or its roots, I chased these styles back in time to reach deep house, the direct descendant of disco mixed with a bit of techno and gospel. That took up my time for about a year, while I started exploring variants like psytrance (Infected Mushroom), and acid jazz.

My first two years I frequently attended dance parties, especially those thrown at the Shady Rill. One of the side effects of living in Walla Walla is that space isn't exactly at a premium like in many other locations. Thus, the college likes to rent some of the many, many homes it owns to upperclass folks for dirt cheap ($200/person, frequently). the Shady Rill was one of the crown jewels in the college's collection of weird houses...partly because it was only about 300 yards away from the student center, but also because it was down a tiny cul-de-sac all by its lonesome, and was surrounded by large grassy fields, trees, and a river in the backyard. It was the perfect location in a number of ways, and also a party institution at the school. It had been affiliated with theatre and debate students for years and years, and the house would get "passed down" - there'd always be at least one junior on the lease (there were 5 bedrooms), and when the seniors left, the junior(s) would handpick their roommates. It was known for its dance parties, and a counter-weight to the weak fraternity system's "get-drunk-and-evade-being-pawed-at" style of party throwing. Given that Portland and Seattle were 4 and 5 hours away, if the Shady Rill threw a party, then over 10% of the 1500 person school was going to show up. The below picture doesn't show the river, backyard, or surroundings...but the tiki torch subtly attests to the house's lifestyle (and the purple car to Eric's wackiness).

I'm on this tangent because I lived at this place my junior and senior year, and party throwing was a very important thing to me. We would do it right: enlisting frosh from the debate team to hand stuff every single student's school mailbox with our invitations, over $300 spent on booze (acquired across the border in Oregon to save on tax), 2 bartenders per hourly shift...and always a DJ. Which, when I was living there, was usually me. I worked for the Sound and Lights folks, so I would just wheel the huge amp, cd-djs, and speakers (usually along with some lighting equipment) home, set it up, and blast the hell out of the neighborhood (people across the river would occasionally call the cops, but the cops would just relay that to the Whitman security, who would send someone on a bicycle to ask us to turn it down a bit, which we would momentarily comply with. Preparing for these parties drove my music collecting to a fair amount, because I wanted to have a well rounded supply for any need or request. I took a lot of pride in our ability to squeeze in 75 or so people into our living room and hallway (the other half of the party would be outside, and in our various downstairs rooms).

I combined enjoying to DJ along with my interest in electronica with a college radio show. More than that, I got to run the electronica genre (or RPM, as it is termed), which means that all new cds in that area got sent to me to listen to, to decide what to put in the changers. Obviously I made copies of all of it, and a few bands who I love I probably never would have stumbled across otherwise (dZihan & Kamien, for instance).

After college I continued with the DJing - as a wedding and special events DJ for a crap company based out of Medford. This was a low paying job that meant spending all of my weekends driving around Oregon, looking for weird places with huge speakers and a ton of equipment stashed in my poor Honda Civic. The high school dances were horrifying (fortunately I tended to get better gigs than that), the birthdays and reunions were boring, and the weddings....would run the gambit between unbelievably fun to incredibly painful.

Nowadays, my interest has expanded to include "indie" music, although since I'm more interested in musicality than lyrics and emotions, I tend to not get into the super-lo-fi folks that aren't really inventive in their music stylings. But instead of moving on from any type of music (except for the "bad" rock and "bad" trance that I listened to when first being introduced to those larger genres), I have instead incorporated everything as time has gone on.

Bananas Made Me Arrogant

2007-07-08T12:23:00.000-05:00

The New York Times' Sunday magazine has an interesting article about Williams syndrome, which is a genetic condition in which the ability to recognize space and basic math concepts is gone, but one is filled with a super high desire to interact with others. This is an interesting bit I'm copying at length, because it tries to explain why people feel uncomfortable around those who are really friendly but have obvious intelligence shortcomings....and also a look into how social demands drive brain development much more than tool usage.

.........

As an experiment of nature, Williams syndrome makes clear that while we are innately driven to connect with others, this affiliative drive alone will not win this connection. People with Williams rarely win full acceptance into groups other than their own. To bond with others we must show not just charm but sophisticated cognitive skills. But why? For vital relationships like those with spouses or business partners, the answer seems obvious: people want to know you can contribute. But why should casual friendships and group membership depend on smarts?

One possible answer a comes from the rich literature of nonhuman primate studies. For 40 years or so, primatologists like Jane Goodall, Frans de Waal and Robert Sapolsky have been studying social behavior in chimps, gorillas, macaques, bonobos and baboons. Over the past decade that work has led to a unifying theory that explains not only a huge range of behavior but also why our brains are so big and what their most essential work is. The theory, called the Machiavellian-intelligence or social-brain theory, holds that we rise from a lineage in which both individual and group success hinge on balancing the need to work with others with the need to hold our own — or better — amid the nested groups and subgroups we are part of.

It started with fruit. About 15 or 20 million years ago, the theory goes, certain forest monkeys in Africa and Asia developed the ability to digest unripe fruit. This left some of their forest-dwelling cousins — the ancestors of chimps, gorillas and humans — at a sharp disadvantage. Suddenly a lot of fruit was going missing before it ripened.

To find food, some of the newly hungry primate species moved to the forest edge. Their new habitat put more food in reach, but it also placed the primates within reach of big cats, canines and other savanna predators. This predation spurred two key evolutionary changes. The primates became bigger, giving individuals more of a fighting chance, and they started living in bigger groups, which provided more eyes to keep watch and a strength of numbers in defense.

But the bigger groups imposed a new brain load: the members had to be smart enough to balance their individual needs with those of the pack. This meant cooperating and exercising some individual restraint. It also required understanding the behavior of other group members striving not only for safety and food but also access to mates. And it called for comprehending and managing one’s place in an ever-shifting array of alliances that members formed in order not to be isolated within the bigger group.

How did primates form and manage these alliances? They groomed one another. Monkeys and great apes spend up to a fifth of their time grooming, mostly with regular partners in pairs and small groups. This quality time (grooming generates a pleasing release of endorphins and oxytocin) builds strong bonds. Experiments in which a recording of macaques screaming in alarm is played, for instance, have shown a macaque will respond much more strongly to a grooming partner’s cries than to cries from other members of the group. The large time investment involved seems to make a grooming relationship worth defending.

In this and other ways a group’s members would create, test and declare their alliances. But as the animals and groups grew, tracking and understanding all those relationships required more intelligence. According to the social-brain theory, it was this need to understand social dynamics — not the need to find food or navigate terrain — that spurred and rewarded the evolution of bigger and bigger primate brains.

This isn’t idle speculation; Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist and social-brain theorist, and others have documented correlations between brain size and social-group size in many primate species. The bigger an animal’s typical group size (20 or so for macaques, for instance, 50 or so for chimps), the larger the percentage of brain devoted to neocortex, the thin but critical outer layer that accounts for most of a primate’s cognitive abilities. In most mammals the neocortex accounts for 30 percent to 40 percent of brain volume. In the highly social primates it occupies about 50 percent to 65 percent. In humans, it’s 80 percent.

According to Dunbar, no such strong correlation exists between neocortex size and tasks like hunting, navigating or creating shelter. Understanding one another, it seems, is our greatest cognitive challenge. And the only way humans could handle groups of more than 50, Dunbar suggests, was to learn how to talk.

“The conventional view,” Dunbar notes in his book “Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language,” “is that language evolved to enable males to do things like coordinate hunts more effectively. . . . I am suggesting that language evolved to allow us to gossip.”

Fallicle of Rome

2007-07-08T04:12:00.000-05:00

I don't get homesick. It has never been in my constitution. Largely because I never had a set home for more than a year or two at a time, so it was hard to get too attached.

What I'm feeling now isn't homesickness...but hairsickness.

It was only 7 months ago that this glorious mop perched atop my noggin...judging all that it sees and finding it lacking. I miss it, and it misses me. Time for absurdly over-long hair again, I think. I shaved my head completely on Wednesday....so I'm going to time to see how long it takes to grow out fully...and establish a hair growth speed.

I miss the weird leery look slightly less.

Last on this subject, I swear

2007-07-05T23:51:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought that the biggest advancement in cell phones this week would come from someone aside from Apple?

T-Mobile's Hotspot at Home article at the New York Times

For those without the desire to chase the link, here's the gist: T-Mobile is releasing phones that will automagically switch over make calls over any wi-fi spot when you're in range. And they give you a free router if you start with their service!!! That means:

1. You have perfect reception when at home no matter what, or when in any location with wifi access.
2. You can save a shitload of money, because all calls made on wifi do not count as minutes that you have to pay for in your T-Mobile plan.

Considering that I live in a house that somehow is a dead spot for all cell phone networks - and live in the basement, making it even worse! - this is a really really attractive option. If you're an early adopter it is only $10 per month, which means it costs $50 per month to get INFINITE calls. There is no other setup in existence that gives you that kind of deal (except for creative skype usage, but I've never bothered with that).

So, on the one hand, you have a $600 dollar device, plus minimum $60 dollars per month...and it is no better - most say worse - at being a phone than any phone you can get for free with a new contract. On the other, you have T-Mobile revolutionizing how basic cell phone service works, and making a world of difference for people like me, and saving us money to boot. But I guess you can't watch dog skating videos on youtube without the iphone...and how could you live without that? Oh, that's right - very, very easily.

Another juicy bit of Apple news...they've been fucking over artists! This engadget post details a string of incidents in which someone was in talks to have Apple license their work for their commercials...and even though a deal didn't materialize, Apple uses it anyways!!! Gotta love that company.

Speaking of youtube, here's something you have got to see. This guy stuck a jet engine in a kayak, and then races across glacier-covered iceland against a Land Rover. It includes the epic line:
"Shaun must be getting tired...the jet engine has roasted his buttocks!!"

iPhone = Iraq War

2007-07-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

I know that almost no one gets my vitrol on this subject, but I just can't help myself.

The Iraq War, in historical perspective (or, the perspective of people who weren't fucking idiots and were screaming at the top of their lungs for reason once the 9/11 dust cleared), looks like this:
US gets attacked by group angry about our presence in the Middle East, everyone rallys around the flag. Conservative group in power sees perfect opportunity to complete four pet goals at once: 1. give rich and powerful corporate executive friends infinite oil-slick handjobs (or in Cheney's case, outright whacking off, considering how much money he still gets from Haliburton) 2. focus public anger against an external threat for political gain, 3. try to run the experiment of successfully using American military hegemony, both to overthrow the spectre of Vietnam and to be able to have more influence in the world at large, 4. Do the rash thing that Daddy was too wise to do. George HW Bush got an ear stud in the first Gulf War, so his son had to go way further to rebel (Prince Albert).

The war was sold to the public as a means of protecting ourselves in the war that had been started on the enemy...except it was against a different enemy, and the war strengthened the enemy, and caused many innocents to become enemies by spreading poverty, neptostically appointing friends to run/control the country's resources, etc. In short, the announced reason for the war was never the real reason for the war, and the war actually had the OPPOSITE effect of what we said it would do. This is a peculiar form of irony that is specific to the 2000s America. A cultural mood of self-defeating fakeness. The exact formula applies with a number of the other Bush political policies (tax cuts, energy policy, etc.)

The EXACT same logic is at work with the iPhone. Every single review - even those ones that gush about its multimedia playback capabilities, as if mp3 and video players larger than 8gb had yet to be invented or something - mentioned the biggest area of inadequacy of the iPhone being....the fucking phone!!! That's 5/6ths of the name they fucked up! It is on the worst carrier in the US, the price is outrageous, it is complicated and clunky to make and answer phone calls. Apparently the way to "revolutionize" phone usage is to make it really obnoxious. The only thing revolutionized is the extent to which consumers will thank a company on their knees for the right to grossly overpay (the profit margins on the iPhone, like all other products, are HUGE. Apple gets away with price rape just because no one has the self-esteem to say no!). Oh, and the reason why they went with AT&T? no other phone carrier would allow Apple to keep a big chunk of the yearly phone fees for themselves. What a fuck you to the consumer!! The iPhone wasn't about making phones better; it is finding a way to get people to buy a multimedia player (aka, the ipod) AGAIN, and to make them more reliant on itunes/apple crap. What genius product is next, Apple? The iPorto'Potty, where instead of a toilet inside, there's just a bunch of food? Or the iSunGlasses that end up just shining superfulous lights in your eyes?

Nothing Apple has ever done has been genius from an invention standpoint, just a business/marketing standpoing. OS X has a few strong advances on XP, but a lot more GAPING holes! (no DirectX, no systems rights customization, no domains and thus no good for businesses/colleges, no support for thousands and thousands of free software out there, no alternatives to crappy/evil programs like itunes). And that's the best thing they've ever done - that operating system. Mac hardware is nothing to be impressed about, especially since they don't make the important parts anymore. Windows sucks dick in a number of ways itself, but it is vastly easier to avoid using flawed products with so many free alternatives floating around. Apple is a small-market-share monopoly, whereas Microsoft is a huge market share in that it has its finger in everything, but you can easily avoid actually giving any money to them.

Edit: In my anti-Apple rant, I ended up fudging some facts when I was trying to identify OS X negatives. Which I realized only after the fact (it supports active directory fine, the ones I use at work just have that disabled). I'm not totally as irrational as I seem; I recommended that my ex-roommate Kerri switch from a pc laptop to a macbook because she doesn't know anything about computers and the simplicity would help her. But I, like every other computer enthusiast, balks at Apple's monolithic approach to its overpriced hardware. I'm going to be building my own machine this summer once the core2duo 6850 price drop hits that far outstrips the highest end desktops Apple has available, for a dramatically reduced cost. But if I didn't do anything with my computer except surf the web, liked wasting money, and didn't hate the Apple aesthetic..then I might make the switch and enjoy OS X's handful of nice features (although except from target mode and a few UNIX command line tricks you can do, I can't think of any that would benefit a single user).

meloncollie

2007-07-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

"Da man! You iz da man! Do you hear me?! You da man!! How much $$ coming tomorrow? Did we get some more $$ in?" - Jack Abramhoff, 2002

Either you think that a revolution is necessary, or you are disgusting. There is no in-between. If I were not so selfish and craving of every second I had, I would devote my life to trying to make change happen. Or rather, I would if I thought that someone in my circumstances ever COULD. Obama is nice and important, but there is no visible path into overall positive change that does not begin with radical environmental disaster. I avoid feeling attached to the vast majority of humans, because most are in such a state...I am too weak to weep for the fate they are writing for themselves.

(And yes, I realize I probably just put myself on a number of watch-lists because no one knows how to listen).

Why do Scottish love wearing kilts??

2007-06-28T17:08:00.000-05:00

For the draft!!! It is NBA Draft night - Woo hoo!! There's a reason I haven't mentioned basketball here since the 2nd round of the playoffs - the way the Suns got screwed, and the Spurs' methodical death march towards the championship was allowed to continue...just ripped my heart out. Also it was completely uninteresting watching Cleveland get embarrassed.

But this draft, in many ways deeper and more interesting than even 2003 (which produced Lebron/Melo/Wade), makes me super excited for next year's season, the beginning of the Portland renaissance, and seeing if KG and Kobe can find themselves given a second life on new teams. More thoughts after the draft; I need to get the grill going.

iPhoning It In

2007-06-28T09:20:00.000-05:00

This is my comment on the iphone review over at the nytimes. I'm posting it here because only after I bothered writing it did I realize that there's no way nytimes will approve it; the only comments that get posted are along the lines of "Hello, I am a businessman cog in the machine, and, as such, I am a humourless dickfuck. The creamy Steve-Jobs-Semen-White colour on Apple's devices pleases me, and briefly distracts me from how meaningless my life is". And all of my crappily written diatribes while being bored at work simply MUST be acknowledged!

I'm sorry, but the iPhone is a very, very, very bad deal. Apple is merely a genius at marketing. The iPod has consistently been badly outclassed in terms of features, audio quality, battery life, *and* price (often all at once), and yet its marketing and hipness installs a belief even in many tech reviewers (especially the tech reviewers for more popular sites) that it is the "standard" for a device. But if quantity were synonymous with quality, wouldn't AO Scott be out of a job?

As far as phones go, I don't really need anything except a quality, compact, cell phone. Which is free with one-year phone plans from companies that *aren't* the worst service providers in the country (as AT&T is consistently rated). Oh, and when you lose one of those phones, a replacement is either free with insurance, or like a hundred bucks.

So what are people really wanting the iPhone for? Apple suggests that we need to watch Youtube videos on it (neglecting to mention that since it doesn't support flash or other web video protocols, the majority of internet video is inaccessable. Oops!). But how often will you really be doing that? If you absolutely need a mobile device for emails, there are LOTS of options for $200-300 that have nice actual keypads, instead of awkward touch-typing setups. If Apple hadn't felt the need to bundle the phone in (to get the big AT&T contract), then it actually might be a somewhat cost-competitive device, if you wanted a mobile OS X machine. But who cares about the specifics - everyone is buying it for hype. Be honest with yourself: if this same exact product was being released by another company, would you want to buy it as much?? To save yourself the wait in line, you can just get a big Apple tattoo on your forehead and mail Apple a $600 check. It is more or less the same effect.

Edit: Oh, I guess they did post it. Ah well.

Album du jour #21 - Sticks and Stones

2007-06-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've decided to revive the ADJ thing, but in a different way. Before I was trying to give people a a feel for the weirdness of my music tastes by pulling up a random sampling, and also to force myself to pay attention to music that has been languishing on my hard drive, appreciated less than fully.

But I have increasingly gotten into checking out different types of music, so I didn't feel the need - and I couldn't come up with a damn thing worth saying about Air's latest album, for instance. Only the music I hated was fun to write about, and that wasn't fun to listen to.

So I'm going to shift from helping myself out by subjecting myself to different music, to helping everyone else out by talking about albums that I feel are tragically unknown; championing the subaltern, that is me! Besides, some people I had never heard of decided that my site was worth linking to, but only the music part of it.

Mocky - Navy Brown Blues (2006)

Allow me to quote Wikipedia's lines describing the twisted and sordid tale of Mocky's heritage:
"Mocky is a pop music perfomer (born Dominic Salole) in Saskatchewan who later moved to Ottawa and then Toronto, Canada. He later moved to Berlin, Germany. His father is of Somali descent but born in present-day Yemen, his mother is from England."

From a background like that, what kind of music would you expect him to make? Neo-funk/soul, obviously! But the word "funk" is so inexorably entangled with 70s cultural markers that it is hard to think about what it might just be. There are some bands that are doing funk that is very retro in style but very quality - Soullive comes to mind (I ran into a guy who played some gigs with them the other night). Mocky adds a whole new dimension to funk, however, which is why he was the perfect figure to work on Jamie Lidell's breathtaking Multiply, and to help fuse Lidell's techno inclinations with the strangely soulful potential in his voice.

Navy Brown Blues is not quite on the same level as Multiply - which I think was one of the 10 best albums in 2005 - but it is more accessable and uplifting. The best tracks are the opening "Tears of Joy", and those on which he has collaborators: Fightin' Away the Tears (w/ Feist), In the Meantime (w/ Jamie Lidell), and Elementary (w/ Taylor Savvy). Nothing really drags, except maybe the title track. This is just one of those albums that I can't imagine anyone really disliking, unless they abjectly refuse to listen to anything that doesn't sound like "white people music" (ironic given the ethnicity of those involved). On the converse, I'm very suspicious of any band that features that makes any reference to the arctic or antarctic in its name or song titles. This includes all polar phenomenon - the auroras, etc.

In any case, I am extremely excited by this strange convergence of Canadian artists interested in electronica/soul/funk, and I hope that the Lidell/Feist/Mocky work produces many more wonderful albums...maybe under the moniker The New Funkographers. That's kind of funny.

Speaking of things that people need to watch/listen to more, if you have HBO, then do yourself a damn favour and WATCH THE FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS. It is such an amazingly funny show. Basically it is about a band of two guys from New Zealand who live together in New York, and it might be the first show to really attempt the half show/half musical thing since Cop Rock. Except, this is about musicians so it makes sense, and it is fucking hilarious, so it is enjoyable. I tried to compel my roommates to watch the second episode when it aired on Sunday, but re-runs of cartoons were more pressing, apparently. It pains me the things that get watched on my poor second TV upstairs....

Randomness:

The new shorts that I'm wearing today have two beverage coasters in them. Why are there coasters in my pockets?!? I don't get this. Oh, and the coasters have recipes for tropical mixed drinks on them too.

The fortune cookie I got from lunch reads: "Life is like a dogsled team. If you aren't the lead dog, the scenery never changes." Which is definitely my favourite fortune cookie about staring at asses since the "Stare at ass - learn chinese, good bye" one I got four years ago.

I lost my only pair of glasses on the way to work today! That's great.

Illegal Craigslist Postings

2007-06-25T16:19:00.000-05:00

Apparently it is illegal to post a housing ad that describes your home as being in a "nice, quiet, mature, neighborhood" (because that discriminates against people with children).

I'm going to edit the CL housing post that we currently have up to specify "NO BELLY FRUIT". I'll be the Thoreau of my generation!!!!

Michael Cera Sexppreciation Day

2007-06-24T22:52:00.000-05:00

If you know me very well at all, then you'll know that I think Arrested Development is the greatest ~~band~~ sitcom ever made. It reaches a level of comedy so far advanced beyond any other (and yes, I do think that there is a sense of "advancement" in comedic stylings, which is precisely why 30 year old sitcoms are not really funny anymore), that it along with the Simpsons has inspired a great deal of my thoughts on the essence of humour.

But rather than spend pages and pages attempting to virtually sexually gratify a canceled TV show, I want to focus on one member of that brilliant ensemble: Michael Cera. While Jason Bateman has biggest history, Will Arnett played the goofiest character, and David Cross is not only my favourite stand-up comedian but also responsible for the greatest sketch comedy show ever, I think that we may look back and think that the brightest star belongs to Cera. A suspicion I've had ever since the very first time airing of the first episode of the show, in which the first lines (chronologically) were:

Michael: What do we always say is the most important thing?
George Michael (Cera's character): Breakfast.
Michael: No, family.
G-M: Oh right. I thought you meant out of the things you eat.

For all of those people who thought that Arrested Development's failings rating-wise were due to the fact that it was HIGHLY complex and self-referential (the show's jokes constitute a dizzying set of circles within circles within spirals within rhombuses...while Seinfeld's last scene mirrors its first one, basically every scene in AD was packed with references to another)...that is patently untrue. This opening bit of dialogue, with the perfect way in which it was performed, instantly showed how hilarious the show really was. Those 4 lines were all one needed to recognize that fact. Failure to get the show is just a defect, pure and simple...and maddeningly enough one that the vast majority of Americans suffer from!

But no need to lament, because despite its early demise, AD showed us all the light, and Michael Cera is one of the shiniest fucking bulbs around. While I instantly had a crush on Alia Shakwat (who plays Maebe, pictured above), she is (still) underage, which made that crush technically wrong. However, she and George Michael come to fall for each other, and they're cousins - that redemption of incest makes my virtua-crush ok. And it also legitimizes my desire for Michael Cera, which is strange, because I'm not even gay. But I'll still fuck the daylights out of him as an means of honoring and submitting to his glory if I ever get the chance! It is a matter of duty.
Which would make me Katherine Hairgel (or whatever the fuck her name is, being from Grey's Anatomy, she doesn't deserve my bothering to learn what it really is) in this following send-up of the craziness that went down on the I Heart Huckabees set:

Michael Cera gets fired from Knocked Up
Uploaded by TstarV

This shows just how well set up Michael Cera is for the future. Getting in on the Judd Apatow money train means that he's set for life. Of course he has so much talent he doesn't need that, but it is exciting to know that he is an heir-apparent in Apatow's comedy money juggernaut. His first movie produced by Apatow is Superbad, which seems like one of the best upcoming movies this year. And there's another Apatow/Cera movie in the works

And there's also the web episodes of Clark and Michael.

So in a few years from now when your lungs and loins have exploded from seeing too much Cera hilarity and sexiness all over the place...don't say I didn't warn you.

Random sidenote: Don't search google images for "Laura Schlessinger" (Dr Laura)!! Unless you're not at work and want to contribute to her humiliation. I stumbled across this as a total accident when doing some research for a comment I left on this person's website, which I found when trying to figure out the commands for using strike through, which was necessary to make my lame/overused Arrested Development band/show joke above. It is funny where the internet takes you....

Crap Boobs Crap....Hell Damn Fart

2007-06-22T19:32:00.000-05:00

One of my favourite things that they do over at the AVClub.com (I am constantly astounded about how many people don't go to that site everyday. I have long ago forgotten that the regular Onion exists, except when Jon Burmeister sends me links to 3 year old Onion articles) is the Crosstalk feature, where two of their head writers engage in a really deep and thorough discussion on an interesting subject. The one they posted today is on the role of the MPAA, and whether its standards in determining whether a movie is R or NC17. This isn't the part that I'm particularly interested in - although I disagree with Noel Murray's devil's advocate position (albeit an interesting one) that the MPAA is actually the best possible system despite its Christian Conservative slant (aka, homophobic, and hypocritically fine with extreme violence while blanching at healthy depictions of sexuality).

The remark that seemed interesting to me was when Noel defended the attempt to prevent children from hearing swearing. He admits that kids are going to hear swearing at an early age anyways; but his position is that we need swear words to have a greater impact, and the only way they can have any meaning as swear words is if there is an attempt at a taboo in place to give them that added perk. In essence, he is employing Foucaultian logic here - that the strength of something rises in response to the organized taboo against it - and saying that is good to allow the words "fuck" and "shit" to keep their vitality.

I have always thought that if I were to have a child (however unlikely that may be), I wouldn't try and restrict it from learning swear words. If my hypothetical child asked me "what does fuck mean, I heard it somewhere" I would likely respond "it is something some people say when they are extremely frustrated or angry...don't say it in public or at school or you'll get in trouble because many people find the word offensive or disgusting to hear." Of course, then I would be guilty of treating my child as if it were an adult, and while part of me thinks that is the healthiest way to raise a kid, I am not totally certain.

But even if that is a healthy way to raise a child - not struggling with taboos, and thus developing a more genuine relationship to words unaffected by arbitrary restrictions - would that lead to a world in which swear words no longer have any meaning? Or more artistic and creative means to add emphasis and flavour into words?

faseptic

2007-06-21T16:21:00.000-05:00

There's only one skeleton that I want to punch more than Hitler, and that is Sarah Jessica Parker.

She is so unbelievably disgusting. Even if her face didn't look like a huge foot, her mere existence is a blight on the world we live in.

Ack!! That sight is giving me hives...throat closing up....need antidote or will die.....

AAAHHhhhhhhh. Much better.

Invention is the Daughter of Grogginess

2007-06-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

The Brian that exists in the foothills between sleep and within just 120 seconds or so of the alarm going off - that guy is the laziest fucking guy this world has ever seen.

I have a real problem with keeping a normal schedule. I am just so accustomed to going to sleep around 2 or so, and waking up around 10 or so (or later on weekends), that my inability to wake up at the sound of the alarm clock is absurdly high. I tried to solve this problem by getting a super loud alarm clock. In fact, one that has a connected thing that you slip under your mattress, that pulsates and actually shakes you awake. But to the person I am just moments after I wake up, absolutely anything is justifiable. There are no moral codes, no motivating reasons to possibly leave the bed. I was late to work every single day last week. It is pathetic. Even though my alarm is really loud and shakes everything, and even though I have my phone alarm as the backup, I can still turn both of those off virtually in my sleep, and not even remember afterwards having done so.

Today I actually got up early, and was even able to eat breakfast(!) while watching some HBO on demand before showering and getting to work...due to having to get up early to help move a car. But when there aren't extenuating circumstances, how can I manage to get up?

What I really need is a kind of alarm clock that forces me to be awake for a few minutes; at which point my superego kicks into gear and tells myself "no, don't go back to bed, start moving around." I don't think such a thing exists, so I have hit upon an invention: an alarm clock that requires you to solve some kind of puzzle before you can turn it off. Even something just like simple math problems...if you had to calculate what 104 divided by 6 was before the beeping would stop, for example. You would have to get your brain into working order, no getting around it. I'd market this idea, but I don't know if there enough people out there like me whose ability to perform basic tasks was so compromised that they needed wacky gadgets to get up in the morning.

Bpork

2007-06-18T13:44:00.000-05:00

In case there's anyone amongst you who doesn't share my Bjork-fetish....this video is to educate you. This video is actually pretty close to my vision of what heaven would look like. Except that I'd be the one playing the dope-as-shit ReacTable (the wacky synth instrument with space-agey blocks that she's been touring with). If a weird perverted genie popped up and offered to let me sleep with just one person in the whole wide world, I'd pick Bjork in a heartbeat. This isn't some obscure person who I'm bringing to your attention, doing everyone a service by getting word out there. Nope, but damn it, I just love Bjork. And saying Bjork. Bjork Bjork Bjork.

Why is Paul McCartney just hanging out on stage, nodding in approval? Why is he there? This fascinates me.

When the Fat Italian Sings

2007-06-17T18:44:00.000-05:00

When I talked about favourite TV shows a month ago, I mentioned how the Sopranos had kind of fallen out of my radar due to the long period of time that had elapsed since it had really been current. The first half of season 6 was really strange (half of it in a weird-coma fantasy about Tony living an alternative life that ends up mirroring hell), and since I had watched the first four seasons in one running sprint back in 2003, I really hadn't felt any connection to the show in a long time.

Then I watched the last 5 episodes in the days leading up to the finale, and the finale itself. The internet exploded when the show ended in a tense scene with the family in a diner, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" playing, making it appear as if Tony was likely to be shot by any number of suspicious characters...when there was an abrupt fade to black. Huge controversy raged over whether this represents the viewers experiencing Tony's death (even though the elements wanting to kill him had already been eliminated), whether it was some kind of huge cop-out by creator David Chase. A wide swath of people interpret the peculiar ending as the ultimate expression of his disdain for the audience and their desire to see a more traditional/dramatic wrap-up of an ending. But it really raised my appreciation for what DC was trying to do with the show.

I think there are obviously myriad ways in which the show is meant to be a catalyst through which one gains appreciation for the essence of humanity in this day and age; what it means to anticipate death, the crumbling of tradition and need for arbitrary draconian order to be imposed in its place, the relationship to fiction and what and why we expect certain things.

But most of all I think it cemented the way in which this show better than anything else captures the contemporary American mood. The Wire is in some ways more astounding - because it almost transcends the label of "fiction" - but sometimes one has to go beyond the looking glass a little in order to hit home. All of the weird prophetic dreams and visions that Tony has throughout the course of the show - aren't stuck in there so as to advance the plot, but instead establish the way in which we know our own path but keep our eyes firmly fixed either behind or directly ahead of us.

The parallels meant between the family and what the majority considers the "ideal" of American family life became much starker at the conclusion. Every commentator has picked up on the remarkable way in which the characters don't change their essential nature; the entire enterprise of "personal growth" as it is considered today was symbolized by the therapy which ultimately revealed itself to be a means of perpetuating one's ability to live with things, not a means for any kind of real change. Spinning in circles and revolutions might be the same thing if you're speaking mathematically, but not humanly. And the need for that self-justification, the veneer of fake self-investigation, is something we absolutely crave in order to keep the part of our minds open to genius and realization at arms length. To prevent our better judgments from seizing control of us, we will resort to extreme measures to avoid the coup. The concept of resistance is so tainted now by the ultimate disdain we have for any kind of social movements; pale shadows of the 60s and 70s when new meaning was still possible. Changes of government, changes of mob rule; these shiftings of strategic positioning that distract us from the glaring need for self-reinvention. That is the area in which we have stalled, that is what keeps the ketchup jammed in the Heinz bottle, and we all know it! That is why everything else happens so much faster and tastes so much like ashes on our lips. We try to run from our one need, and the constant inability to do so reveals that need as to a greater degree....which prompts us to run harder. Everyone faces a choice between apocalypse and leaping across a chasm; the leap is inevitable, we just can't decide if we should be the ones to make it, our let ourselves be pushed.

In 1989 with the end of the USSR at hand, a guy named Francis Fukuyama wrote an article called "The End of History and the Last Man." This argument was that the mass changes in government and economic states that had formed the horizons of history were at an end, and liberal democracies mostly dominated by capitalist markets were the inevitable and universal model for all countries that would follow.

I won't go into much of what I think about this position (it is a strangely Marxian response to the death of Marxism, in that it is also a very bad reading of Hegel's Master/Slave dynamic), but it is a huge part of the American psyche. The real emotional impact of 9/11 was not the body count involved, but the fact that these brown backwards people had the audacity to challenge the narrative that American values had clearly won. The Russians were a peculiar blend of other and sameness to the point where our concerns were competing over the same things; number of satelites, number of nuclear weapons, etc. They had the same end goal, just a different means of going about it; so it felt more like a race to see who could get to that goal the soonest. The new "terrorist" threats don't even have the same end-game, which is absurd. EVERYONE should want to be like us and buy our products.

Fans wanted and expected the show to end crystallized around a massive opposition of Tony vs. an other - the New York crew, or the FBI, or even that Russian mobster who escaped a hit seasons ago and people kept wondering when he would be brought back (David Chase loved to play with the audience, even going so far as to have in the teaser for the final season a shot of the forest he escaped in with the words "revenge is a dish best served cold", which was a genius). They wanted a storyline around which they could define Tony as a clear protagonist. Instead the final episodes had him kill his nephew/heir apparent figure mainly because he was pathetic, coerce his depressive son into the mafia world, see his daughter revolve back into it of her own accord...he used his power and influence to avoid change as long as he could; and people around him were either forced into the same stagnation or ended up dead. It is also no accident that while Martin Scorsese looks to New York to capture a slice of the American dream, David Chase points the cameras at the suburbs just next to New York to showcase the ugly reality. Both Tony Soprano and America are joined at the hip on one issue: when confronted with challenges to the nostalgic script we want life to adapt to, rather than rethink their dreams, both choose death.

Not to get all cheesy or anything, but I'm strongly reminded of the home/otherness/voyage dynamic that shows up in Holderlin's poem "Andenken" that Heidegger makes such a big fuss of:
Many are afraid to go to the source,
since treasure is first found in the sea.
Like painters, they gather up earth's beauty,
and they don't scorn winged war,
or to live alone for years
beneath the bare mast —
where the city's festivities
don't flash through the night, or
the sound of strings and native dancing.

But now the men
have left for India...
from the windy peaks
and vine-covered hills
where the Dardogne
comes down with the great
Garonne; wide as an ocean
the river flows outward.
But the sea takes
and gives memory,
and love fixes the eye diligently,
and poets establish
that which endures.

Hitchhiking on the Information Super Highway

2007-06-12T15:53:00.000-05:00

This the weirdest thing ever: the US Military looked into (but did not fund the acquisition of) developing non-lethal weapons intended to spread hormones in enemy soldiers so intense that they would stop fighting and start fucking each other. I'm not surprised that the government wastes money in a homophobic fashion, since there are so many instances of it wasting money on military crap and also of being homophobic, so the combination isn't a shocker. But what seems beyond naive is the notion that hormones of such a level could exist. If there were hormones that would instantly cause you to want to fuck the person next to you regardless of gender or how you feel about them....don't you think the millions of perverts in this country would have come up with it already? Given the extent to which there is a will out there, they would have found a way. If North Korea was intending to take out San Fernando valley with an ICBM, porn enthusiasts would have had a working National Missile Defense shield up in the blink of an eye. This is just another instance of proof that every high level governmental organization needs an official post for "Vice President of Common Sense" who can veto stupid shit. If this city would have had one of those, it wouldn't have spent millions trying to contain the threat of a bunch of flashing Mooninites signs. We wouldn't have attacked a different country than the one housing the people who attacked us, and pizzas would be bigger. And so on.

A few other things I stumbled across:

The White Stripes are releasing upcoming album Icky Thump on USB drives that are built to look like Jack and Meg!! Weird.

You know how it is kind of hard with Etch-a-Sketch to draw a straight line? Well, for it me it is, anyway. Look at this guy who drew a realistic picture of Lebron James with one. Astounding the different media artists can work in.

Just when I think there's no hope for the Japanese...

2007-06-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

...they go and redeem themselves.

Waking Li(fe)brary

2007-06-11T14:56:00.000-05:00

A strange set of dreams I've had this weekend. I blame my 26th birthday (which was Friday). Mainly because my sleeping schedule has been resultingly messed up, and I tend to only remember dreams when I'm sleeping long past what my waking time ought to be. Or maybe it is because the arbitrary aligning of this calender date with the day of my birth has made me reflective or something. In any case, an interesting collection of dream imagery I thought was worth sharing:

Saturday - A work dream. I have something like my current job, in a strange and confusing factory/airport/giant machine of a building. I must help keep various things running in this huge gray monstrosity, but I don't understand most of it. I pass by Denice's office (she has a good office for some reason); she has an important connection to the higher ups for someone so young. Her job involves compassion somehow, but ultimately serves the interest in keeping the planes running on time. And there are lots of planes, departure schedules everywhere.

I get a call - someone has a problem with the computer. It says something about the domain not being found - "simple problem," I say. "Just activate your computer on the network". The voice on the other end informs me that he can't do that. Mystified, I set out to see for myself.

Change in scenery - now I'm somewhere near a large academic building, or hospital, or something, that I feel is out in the wilderness but near a larger urban area. Kind of reminds me of Canby's high school, or something like that. It is late evening. I go to the office in question, and the guy who called is a wiry, rat like man with dark hair who seems flummoxed with the computer's problem. it turns out it is an ancient computer, a model "80609" or something like that (a vague and inaccurate reference to some of the chip names that were around in the late 80s/early 90s). The computer is a dusky box with a screen. "It has never booted up" the guy says, and I turn it on, and it boots up. He celebrates because now he can do his work. This whole scene smacks of familiarity, and there is a hint of memory about something afterwards on the grass at night....I have a strong feeling that a lot of these scenes are from recurring dreams.

Very drastic change (I perceive this as being right after, but I could have woken up inbetween, or forgotten stuff, because it has a different temporal feeling, even if my mind says it comes chronogically next). I am now driving with someone who is kind of a mixture of Walter and Clint, to a building where they work or go to school or something. they have to run an errand, and I go in with. The building looks like a boring newish business building that you'd see in Beaverton, but it is actually a gigantic religious library that is in the shape of a winding tower. Lots of people are everywhere, there is some sort of educational camp here. One of the camp "leaders" is a very very short girl, who seems to beckon me on. On one of the book shelves I find a legal notepad or ledger or something that has the near future written on it (I don't remember actually reading this; either I skimmed it or I just knew these things after getting the notepad). The notepad had written in story form what was about to unfold. The short girl would invite me to a higher level, I would fall for another, and in order to try and have both I would come onto the short girl while pretending to be distant towards the other girl with smoky eyes, and then I would have both.

I'm not sure if the notepad's contents will actually come to pass, but I try to follow what it says just in case. I walk upstairs, lean against the large railing (a large wide open space in the middle of the tower/monestary/library), acting casual. The red headed girl with smoky eyes is seated at a table reading with some others, and looks my way, but I have to pretend to pretend to be casual. We chat some, but I intentionally ignore her to pursue the short, chirpy girl. The smoky eyed girl ends up following, and I'm led to a room at the very top of the tower that is decked out in church and christian icons, with a large, pink bed in the middle. And that's when I wake up. (I almost always wake up right before sex happens in any dream).

The next night, I have some dreams that seem related to the previous nights'. I start traveling to a place that I KNOW that has been in recurring dreams of mine before from the past few weeks. This place is supposedly Allston, but I have to take a weird bus and go out of my usual way to get there. In the previous week's dream it took an hour to reach this place, it was an out of the way ballroom, like attached to a mason hall or something, where people would dance.

In last night's dream I was headed to the same place, and it was the same organization, but now they are in a library...not like the library from the previous night's dream, but flatter, more of a dark, wider space that only has one floor above me (kind of like a mix between a Costco and the Lewis and Clark college library, actually). A man in a wheelchair comes in to a room where I had been standing with books, and accuses me of allowing something bad to come to pass. I was reading a book by an old german philosopher (Heidegger? I don't know if that is explicitly the case, or just what I was thinking of), who once sexually stalked a woman. And by my reading of his book, the wheelchair bound man (in his 50s) accused me of being complicit in this crime. I was taken before the leader or head guy in this library, who was younger, 35 or so, and dark haired. He seemed sympathetic to my claims that I had done nothing wrong, but the wheelchair guy was physically trying to pull me back and away from the head guy to stop my pleading. I thought of this place as a place that I would constantly go to, and also that place I visited to take dance classes with my female friend (that was the extent of the dream from last week that I remember, and I was referencing that to myself in the dream).

Kind of interesting stuff. Maybe just to me, I don't know...but it is so rare that I remember my dreams, I like to try and develop accounts of them that are as full as possible.

Oregon Country Fair - Nudity + Vanity + Awkwardness - Country

2007-06-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

While I typically hate stealing things directly from other sources, I feel the need to rip off The Hater here and point out the ridiculous 21 covers for the upcoming Bono-edited edition of Vanity Fair.

Basically they took 20 random celebrities, ranging from Bush, to Chris Rock, to Oprah...and each cover features one of them whispering some fact about Africa while the other person stares pensively at the viewer. The photography is a mixture of banality, insanity, hilarity, and...I don't know. But you have to look through them for yourself:

Muhammed Ali hanging out with Queen Rania!
Bono admiring the cut of Condoleezza Rice's suit!
Bush admitting to Desmond Tutu that evolution is correct!
Madonna giving Maya Angelou crabs!
The weird smore-threesome with Oprah inbetween Bill and Melinda Gates!

And while I'm finding things online and passing them off here in lieu of original content, there's a New York Times article that is worth a read about the long-term effects that entering public schooling sooner or later has upon kids. I'm always somewhat interested in education, although the statistic number-crunching that goes on in this education building that I work in has little to do with the improvement of a person, I suspect...but then maybe my greek definition of education (see my new blog headline!) would actually jive very well with the statistical software packages I spend my day installing, since the greeks loved numbers so. In any case, I was always younger than most everyone else in my class, and I was a total outsider...I know that if I were more on people's levels socially throughout elementary and middle school, I would not have focused my attention inwards and on books about science and whatnot. So it interests me, what types of things one ought to be learning at what age. Even more so, is whether or not comfort and stability really are the best path to self-improvement. If I was comfortable and stable in elementary school, would I have gone in a direction of wanting to be at the top? My desire for intellect was in many ways a desire for revenge. I would not have become a debater, and then backasswardly fallen into philosophy, that is for certain. In fact, I likely would be a musician right now if I weren't so interested in participating only in things that I can really be superior to all others at (a large part of why it is tough to get me to cook, for instance...I'll never get the thrill of a tiny little mental sneer as the result of my labours there).

O Coen Brothers, Where Art Thou?

2007-06-05T17:37:00.000-05:00

I apologize for my long silence. All my fingers were chopped off in a croquet accident this weekend and I had to wait for them to grow back. Or something. Also, I actually did write a long post, but it can't go up until Thursday for a very good reason.

There's another "long term blog project" that I've been working on - no, it isn't figuring out how to make the damn thing look decent. I am writing a post where I attempt to rank the top 50 Simpsons episodes. This is mainly just an excuse to make myself re-watch every Simpsons episode from seasons 2-10. In Season 4's "Brother From the Same Planet," Milhouse and his some other kids are planning to sneak into an R rated movie...

Milhouse: It's called Barton Fink!!

This is one of the better Milhouse episodes altogether (coupled with the "trab pu kcip!" bit later), but I haven't completed my ranking yet, so I'm not sure if it ends up in the top 50. Meanwhile, watching it did remind me that long ago I intended to see Barton Fink, but never got around to it. This quickly led to me looking up what the Coen Brothers are doing in the future - they've got some fantastic things coming out.

No Country for Old Men just showed at Cannes, and I like the reviews of it - if it is similar in tone to Blood Simple, then I'll be an excited man. Simple was the first Coen movie, which I saw in film class years back...huge fan of it, despite them not having developed their style yet (nor having yet discovered their "Steve Muse-chemi".

Burn After Reading....look at that cast! And we don't know anything yet about Serious Man or Hail Caesar...but I'm interested. Meanwhile, I just netflixed every Coen Bros film that I haven't seen yet - Barton Fink and Ladykillers.

I don't talk about movies much...largely because in general they mean less to me than music and TV shows, strangely. The way in which audio impacts me more strongly should be obvious from things I've said, and television speaks more to my collector's impulse...to either follow characters or a continuing grand narrative arc, to see every episode of a show I've decided to follow. Movies are just there...and I know a lot of people for whom the uniqueness of their experience makes them all the more cinephiles. But for me it just means that I don't feel like anything is missing if I don't go to the theatre to see the newest release. There's certainly a lot of movies that I'm very glad I have watched, but I don't have an itch that needs scratching if I don't. But remembering Fargo and Big Lebowski and Blood Simple and Hudsucker Proxy...I have an itch now.

Here's what music I've been listening to lately:

- Cee-lo Green Is The Soul Machine: To say I'm a Cee-lo fan would be an understatement. Especially after that turn on the Brak Show....The Art of Noise with Pharrell is an amazingly uplifting song, with more legs than anything off of Gnarles Barkley's debut album (although I fervently hope that he and Dangermouse keeps it going).

- Tio Bitar by Dungen. New release, Swedish psych/prog-rock. Listen to the song "Familj" on the avclub's review

- Mirrored by Battles. Crazy shit. I don't know how to describe it, read pitchfork.

Speaking of which, they have a new song available to download from the New Pornographer's upcoming album. I am not entranced by the song as I am most of their stuff, but I have a lot of faith in them, so we'll see.

Things I Learned from Pitchfork's Sasquatch! Photos

2007-05-30T15:26:00.001-05:00

Sasquatch! is perhaps the second best yearly music festival on the West Coast...set in the Gorge Ampitheatre in Central Washington, it is a gorgeous location in the middle of fucking nowhere. Glancing through Pitchfork's photos from the festival last weekend, I had some revelations, and thought I'd share them

1. Bjork is crazy. Also, astoundingly hot, despite being like 60 or so.

2. This chick from Arcade Fire dresses like she's from a Final Fantasy game.

3. My father's vision of hell has come to life.

4. I have a crush: On the girl on the left, and also on the person on the right (provided that is also a female, I'm only 60% sure...which means there's a 40% chance I'm now bi).

5. Lebron has his own bubblegum flavor. I couldn't for the life of me tell who it was from that picture, so I had to look it up. I thought that Lebron's mute lawnmower commercials were the weirdest thing an NBA player could be selling, but I think this unappetizing marketing push takes the cake:

6. MCA is fucking old.

7. Sometimes you just gotta take off your suspenders, kick off your shoes, and prance.

8. Apparently, Blackalicious is Black. Who knew?

9. Some band called the Tokyo Police Club exists, and uses the (almost) exact same brand of Epiphone that I used to have!!

10. Staring at this girl from Smoosh for too long will incite deep hypnosis. But it might be worth it.

11. Where Velma from Scooby-Doo ended up.

12. It is never too late to pretend that you're from 1969.

13. Sasquatch! is awesome.

age/sex/phenomenologist?

2007-05-28T04:09:00.000-05:00

I was having some uber late-night/early-morning gmail chat with a philosophy friend of mine, where I was taking the cantankerous position of trying to belittle some philosophy greats, while my friend tries to keep me grounded....thought it was worth putting here, if just to remind myself to think on this more so I can develop a more coherent presentation of this "hunch" I've got....name changed, of course.

Here's the philosophy part of it leaving out the rest:

Me: when i'm working on plato i'm constantly dazzled by his multilayered brilliance

4:28 AM JB: yeah, it's fuckin' insane

me: but then I don't think you walk away from plato with anything you wouldn't get from nietzsche, emerson, kierkegaard.....

all three of which are heavily indebted to him, but you don't have the temporal ambiguities involved

4:29 AM JB: eeeehhhhh

well, it would seem that in order to make such a claim one would need to have fully plumbed the depths of all those thinkers

4:30 AM to be able to know that he's not offering something significant that the others are...I really couldn't say

me: you're just inventing an impossible standard!

4:31 AM JB: well, i'm just saying what I think one would need to know in order to legitimately make the claim that plato offers nothing that the others don't

me: it isn't that I know the full extent of what he's offering, it is that the essence of what he's offering is transcendent the "depths of one's thoughts" in an important way

there should be an "of" in there...

4:32 AM JB: I'm not sure I'm following...could you rephrase what you're saying?

me: that was an awful sentence, I apologize =)

I mean that there's a reason Plato never to pen a literal list of his ideology on the highest matters (7th letter, right?)

4:33 AM never put to pen

and that reason was that he wanted his writing to stimulate philosophical mind-play

4:34 AM he was much more interested in showcasing the dangers of falling prey to things like pleasure, easy cop-outs (timeaus), false assumptions about doctrines...

than he was proving x or y

to liberate from what holds the mind down and set it in beautiful motion, was what plato sought to do...I think

4:35 AM JB: that there was a reason we can be pretty confident; what that reason is, I'm not quite sure, myself (although I have some hunches)

well, i guess i wouldn't disagree, but it would seem that one could go about doing this in many different ways, some much better than others

4:36 AM me: true

JB: that is to say, depending on what one is liberating it from, and what sort of motion

me: I guess I just think....we all live in the same meta-world, or whatever you want to call it

JB: this, as far as I can tell, would be a big diff between him and Nietzsche

what is a meta-world?

4:37 AM me: I was just about to type "we all live in the same world"

but then wanted to clarify against a possible definition of "world", and said that. I should have said "life world"

4:38 AM JB: i haven't read husserl, so i'm not up on what that means either...

sorry, just my own lack of understanding

but i think i see what you're driving at

me: well, we're all human, and seem to have minds that interact in the same basic ways

4:39 AM I just think that it isn't like any one philosopher has privledged access to some kind of truth that others can't decipher

which is why Heidegger's "last god" and some of that stuff is bullshit

JB: why do you think that such a privileged access doesn't exist?

me: because to think that you've pushed beyond the limits of what others have thought so radically that you need to go inventing new things for it....is absurd

4:40 AM JB: why absurd?

isn't this the nature of genius?

perhaps inventing, or perhaps (as Plato might say)...discovering

me: well, you can be really good at listening to your genius

4:41 AM and certainly there are ways of thought that have gone unarticulated by others

but you can always tell where and how a philosopher cheats by what it is they desire

4:42 AM and Heidegger desired to get at a foundation ever-more foundational

JB: what do you mean by "cheats"?

4:43 AM me: I think that you can pay attention to the world as hard and as openly as possible, but I don't think that you'll ever come away needing to describe something as the "last god"

4:44 AM or with Kant, I don't think you can ever discover 12 categories in symmetrical groups of 4

4:45 AM i'm not against taking leaps, since the conviction to never take leaps is itself a pretty large leap

but I do think people should be very suspicious of where they land and why, and that's what Plato sought to solve through paidia

paideia through paidia

4:46 AM JB: as to the first, i don't know what the hell heid means by that, so i can't really speak to it...

as to Kant, a triad of categories such as actuality, possibility, necessity does seem -- in terms of modalities -- pretty darn exhaustive

me: but the ranking and numbering of such was absolutely subjective to his desire for symmetry

4:47 AM for instance, why not un-necessity?

JB: how do you know that that was his motivation/reason?

4:48 AM and, he does have un-necessity -- he calls it possibility

me: oops, you're right... I mean, un-actuality. aka, fictionality

4:49 AM since he has the counter-part of necessity, but not that of actuality

JB: one could just as easily accuse the person who discovered integers of stacking the deck, and only finding integers because he desired symmetry

4:50 AM well, i'd think that fiction, insofar as it is actual, is something that falls under actuality

me: I don't know that that was his organizing telos or anything, but I don't really think they're an absolute necessary means of describing human experience

4:51 AM exactly my point, possibility and necessity also have a degree relationship.

JB: yes, which kant would acknowledge

me: so why one and not the other? he liked his groups

4:52 AM JB: well, perhaps i'm not sure what you mean by degree relationships

me: i think that if you pick apart the statement "there IS a category x or y"

4:53 AM you'll find that it says nothing at all

or rather, "when we are attempting to describe fairly essential properties that things have, we tend to use one of these labels"

4:54 AM JB: i wouldn't feel comfortable saying that one of the most brilliant humans in history set up one of the central elements of his philosophy just because he liked groups, or liked symmetry, and then unknowingly (or knowingly) just went around trying to find confirmation for what he wanted

i'm not sure what youre referring to

4:55 AM me: the critique of pure reason isn't my strong point, so I picked a dumb area to make an example out of kant =)

a much better instance of him cheating is in the 2nd critique

4:56 AM where he argues from an assumption in lots of places

like, he doesn't think we can comport to the moral order because of happiness, but he thinks we have to be rewarded in happiness eventually because of that

so he posits god from that basis

4:57 AM and no philosopher's ever going to be perfect, so I don't see this as a knock on kant's brilliance!

4:58 AM JB: i haven't read the second critique, but I do know that no genuine philosopher can be 'refuted' as easily as that

The Hows, Whats, and Gwuhs? of music distribution in the future

2007-05-26T21:23:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about what kind of model for music sales that we'll see in the future. I don't think any of the existing models are really all that viable - the notion of the physical record seems like a dead one, and the extreme DRM controls that the big companies are trying to stick to down services (I won't go out of my way to deride Apple in this post for a change, although I easily could on this front) make itunes and whatnot to be a non-starter for a large number of people. But are there any visible and viable alternatives?

I don't know if this idea has been floated before (I'm sure someone has posited it at some point), but I haven't heard anyone mention it. Isn't a somewhat likely means of resolving this issue that someday we'll move to a model where every RIAA song is available for streaming automatically, but you simply pay a small fee (like a cent) every time you listen to any song? Obviously we're not at the point technologically where you can stream high quality songs to any computer, mp3 player, car stereo, etc like that...but that's definitely coming in the near future.

Take the average song one downloads from a music service that charges $1 per song - how likely are you to listen to that song one hundred times? Even if it was a song you really liked, you probably were only going to listen, say, 30 times in the next year - that'd just be 30 cents! I think both sides would win, because people would feel free to listen to anything out there, browse around more musically, and end up getting into new types of music; listening more, paying more. And stupid things like overpriced singles would be a thing of the past; crappy EPs obviously aren't going to get repeat play, so artists would be rewarded for songs that were listened to more frequently, not just purchased once. Wouldn't that benefit a lot of indie artists? I think so. I know Rhapsody is kind of like this now, but

I'm not necessarily saying that this is a good idea, just thinking out loud on one possibility for what music distribution might look like someday. Obviously it would never be as egalitarian as I describe above - each song costing the same, low amount, all artists being available through this service, etc.

Josh M sent me this, which is well worth watching:

Acquired quite a taste, for a well made mistake

2007-05-24T18:05:00.000-05:00

I have always been fascinated with mistakes and how we come to rework our stances on previously held positions. There is not a steady plodding progress, marching through deduction after deduction until we piece together a new viewpoint. There is always a moment of revelation, where things spontaneously appear in a new way, and the cord that connects you to the person to believed differently just a few minutes ago is severed irrevocably - a kind of death you can never see coming. The important decisions are just means of marshalling your latent psychological inertia, getting it out of the way so the leaps forward that spring out of the genius (the slightly ajar basement door of the mind, to expound on Emerson's analogy for that particular faculty).

My freshman year at Whitman, I took my first course from the professor that would end up shaping my philosophical interests and career; one of the books we read on aesthetics was On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry, who centers the book on an experience she had regarding palm fronds. Never liking the look of palm fronds, she found herself underneath one on vacation and suddenly had an experience that required her to scrap a conviction she was once quite sure about.

I had something similar earlier this week when I listened to Fiona Apple's When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King... I had always believed that I disliked Fiona Apple. While I tend to be a sucker for female vocalists, I had never liked a certain group of singer/songwriters who I thought were more into lyric writing than interesting music. As much as I like the themes to be found in Alanis Morissette or Ani Defranco's work, I found their music to be bland, off-putting, whatever. A few songs were ok (and I really like a few songs by Tori Amos, but the rest are just ok). But I had lumped Fiona Apple in with this group, mainly just because of peripheral knowledge I had about her. I have definitely heard Fiona Apple songs before, but I've never really listened to any of her stuff before. So I was very surprised when a listening to her album found me ensnared, and while I don't think that Tidal is nearly as musically interesting, I am eager to listen to more of her stuff. Sometimes you look up so fast your preconceived notions don't have a chance to catch up with your eyes.

(Side Note 1: I think that a lot of the tendency to knee-jerkily dismiss FA is rooted in the old sexist hysteria assumptions...because she has been occasionally inconsistent on a few points, and had one stage breakdown, and admitted that she had therapy when she was young (because she was raped at 12 - shocking that she'd need some help after that!), people were very eager to be critical of her. But those same traits on a male receive very different reactions...)

(Side Note 2: The full name of the album is: When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight And He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand And Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights And If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land And If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right. I didn't say she wasn't quirky.)

This made me realize something else - like a boxer who discards roll after roll of disgusting flab (would this be a post without a gratuitous Simpsons reference?) - I don't need the Album du jour format anymore. My intent with that was to force myself to listen to music that I had but hadn't fully taken time to appreciate...and it worked. In fact, I found that I was suddenly spending my time listening to albums by folks like Islands, Junior Boys (thanks to a question by Nicole), Iggy Pop, etc., in lieu of doing the random shuffle thing. And Fiona Apple was the nail in the coffin - if I'm going to go out of my way to find and write about music anyways, then I don't need a gimmick to keep me going at that.

In other thoughts:
- Heroes finale, pretty bad compared to the rest of the season. Lost finale, pretty good compared to the rest of the season.

- In an interview with the avclub, Nic Offer of !!! talks about how he made up a "running on ecstasy" move the other night - which, was at the show they did at Boston! I remember that.

- Oh, and in a major coup, the Portland Trailblazers manage to snag the top pick of the 2007 NBA draft, which means they land either franchise center Greg Oden or mega-super-star in the making Kevin Durant. I personally hope they go for Durant, but either way....Portland's back on the NBA map in a big way, and it is very exciting. For a second I felt bad that the Celtics got shafted, since their future is so bleak at the moment...but then I remembered that Boston folks had the Pats and Sox to keep them going, and Portland has nothing else!

Tapes n' Crap

2007-05-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

Nothing's smarter than accidentally coming into work to make up some lost hours on what turns out to be graduation day! Aka, nothing to do (normally this would bore me, but since I have lots of things I need to read/write...)

Music

Saturday was the Tapes n' Tapes show at the Paradise (third concert I had seen at that venue in the space of three weeks). The first opening act - Harlem Shakes - had to cancel, so we (aka, Brett et moi) had to hang around drinking overpriced PBRs for an hour (the one time I'm there on time....). Also showcased that night at the Paradise was a demo for the upcoming 2k7 MLB game for the xbox 360. I'm not sure why this demo was worthy of being mentioned on the building's marquee sign. But then again, I'm not sure why people play baseball video games either, so what do I know.

The second opening act was Ladyhawk, which is a band I've never heard of. Forceful indie rockers...don't know how to describe them really. When Brett asked me what I thought of them, I shrugged and said "eh, I wouldn't steal their music." Two guys standing right behind us had a very different take, however. They shouted "LADYHAWK!!!" while the sound guys were setting up, "LADYHAWK!!!" before and after each song, and even "LADYHAWK!!!" a few times during Tapes n' Tapes' set. They also kept screaming for some song called "on paradise" or whatever to be played. I would assume that said song was never played, but since they kept shouting for the band after they were done, aanything is possible.

Tapes n' Tapes was excellent. They played 6 new songs not from their first album..5 of which were rough and lacking energy, but the last new one they played had a real kick to it. Otherwise, it was a pretty simple, excellent presentation of their tracks from The Loon. My favourite member of the band is easily the drummer, who combines more than competent drumming, incredible energy, and looking like the lab assistant in your bio chemistry class to be one of the more charismatic musicians I've seen in awhile:

(note, the above two pictures were not taken by me, my camera ran out of batteries during the previous night's luau party. they're stolen from pitchfork's photos from their show in New York yesterday. So imagine the same people 24 hours younger to get an idea of what they looked like when I saw them).

Politics

If there's one thing that gets me pissed off, it is the electoral college. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that the vote of those people who happen to live in states that predominantly vote for one party or another are essentially meaningless, while people who happen to live in places that contain a large number (but not TOO many) retards decide our fate. Basically, someone who votes in Ohio has a far, far higher chance of affecting the outcome of the presidential election than I do. Which means that those of us in non-swing states are essentially slaves to the people who lives in Ohio, Florida, etc. What I'm trying to say here, is that I have personally undergone the same level and intensity of oppression as black slaves.

Well, that was a joke. But I am pissed off about it. Not because of the abstract principle that Ohioans ought not be in the driver's seat on this whole fate of the world thing (although if you've known many people from Ohio you'll know how true that is). But because of the following two points:
1. People who don't have a motivation to vote tend to not vote nearly as much.
B. The abstract principle of civic duty tends to compel old people and wealthier people to vote more often than it does the young or poor.

Essentially, I think that America is, by and large, fairly liberal. But a number of factors contribute to this not being reflected in the polls to nearly the extent it should be. And I think that one of the biggest factors keeping people from voting is that they feel their vote doesn't count. I can't really blame someone who lives in Massachusetts who, such as myself, doesn't know much about local politics, and doesn't bother voting because it is guaranteed that the state will chose the Dems for President and Congress. But if each and every single person's vote counted equally, then it'd be a WHOLE different story, and I think voter participation in New York, California, etc. would skyrocket.

The only argument for the electoral college as currently constituted is that candidates will only target populous areas, and not really push forward a pro-rural area agenda. But I think that is a dumb reason:
1. Since when does campaign promises have anything to do with campaign actions taken? Most of Bush's policies have been the exact opposite of things he campaigned on. Candidates will cater to rural or urban issues if their base wants them to; reaction amongst party members has far more weight than geographic ones.
2. Rural area voters aren't remarkably good at standing up for rural area concerns. Aside from a few specific points, folks in rural areas don't tend to stand up for environmental causes, for example.
3. So what? I fail to see why the states deserve justice in terms of having all being counted equally, while people don't. (Of course, the current system doesn't even do that, since the states that happen to be swing states are the ones that get the attention from candidates).

Apple-hating:

I don't mean to return to this topic again and again, but one of my bosses mentioned something about Apple winning a Smithsonian design award (partially for the iphone, a product which has yet to be released! which is ridiculous). Thinking about that helped crystallize in my own mind the problem I have with the Apple (and increasingly, Nintendo) aesthetic.

If you think about objects that you have in the house, you can fit them under three main categories:
1. Pure utility. Tools are meant for a purpose, and are designed to conform to adhere to that purpose best. Hammers are built for hammering, not looking pretty. (Note: I spent about 20 minutes trying to track down a screenshot from the Who Shot Mr Burns Simpsons episode when Jasper goes "The sidewalk's for normal walkin', not fancy walkin'!" but failed miserably).
2. Decoration.
3. Furniture and architecture. These are where it gets interesting, because one has to balance form and function. The ongoing conflict (strife, if I wanted to make an obscure and not all that accurate Heidegger reference) between the necessities demanded by the form so as to be useful, and working around those limitations is where the beauty happens. When it takes ingenuity to blend form and function into an ideal partnership, that is why architecture can have aesthetic value.

(the mind responsible for the spread of white, banal evil)

So, where should electronic gadgets fall in? They exist mainly to execute a purpose, but because of their smallness and malleability they can be put into lots of different forms. But this is not like category 3 where one must actively work to balance the decorative desires with the demands of the form; there is nothing stopping one making a computer or mp3 player case look like whatever. Electronic gadgets have almost nothing to do in terms of constituting a dwelling; this is why most people try and have unobtrusive TV and stereo sets.

The goal and telos of a computer is to produce a display and allow for manipulation of that display in myriad ways. This has nothing to do with the appearance of the case - there is no strife, no work, no difficult, and thus no craft. The reason why this problem doesn't appear to the minds of most is because no one in America is concerned with such categorical distinctions, their aesthetics is encased wholly within the notion of sociocultural issues. For instance: fine wines = infinitely more expensive than fine beers, not because they are harder or more costly to make (they aren't), nor because they are better tasting or more complex tasting (again, aren't those things either), but because they have the perception of being more fancy - a purely self-enforcing prophecy. The twisted logic of capitalism dictates that because we must pay more for things that which are valuable, things that we pay much more must thus be more valuable. The simple mistake: just because A implies B, B does not imply A. But since everything we do goes into and affects our intersubjective weighing, judging, and ranking of other people, the notion that expensive items = superiority is well entrenched in our culture. The danger becomes when one spends their entire life working hard in order to earn more money, and ends up finding that that salary bump does not come with a guaranteed increase in happiness. But then I'm just stating basic facts now (yet basic facts that are understood by almost no one, as is evidenced by how every single person you see on a daily basis goes about their lives).

Thus, the slapping on of an aesthetic front to the world of computers and electronic gadgets has nothing to do with the improvement of those products, or enabling them to go about their purposes any better...instead, it entails the bringing of the technological culture into the larger society of "normal" means of weighing people by class and wealth. Before this, in order to be a computer enthusiast you almost certainly were not very "plugged in" to popular culture. By making the imacs and i-products into a bubbly gum, candy coated shell (the Nintendo Wii and DS as well), those products have been stamped as accessible and valuable by the frothy high-culture created by the swirls of capitalism. Nerdiness becomes re-appropriated; what was once the devotion to outsider ways of getting things done or entertaining, now becomes a sociocultural fashion statement of appealing to a souless twee aesthetic. Which is precisely why the people who are real apple enthusiasts end up looking like smug, unsympathetic nimrods like this:

I don't know why

2007-05-18T13:06:00.001-05:00

Distraction / This, traction

2007-05-17T01:22:00.000-05:00

(UPDATE: I just remembered (a week later) what the original thought was that spawned this post - all of the Nascar stories after Dale Earnhart left his racing team/company/whatever. The thought "why do people care so much about people driving cars in a circle" was resounding through my head, and that led me on to other things I felt like complaining about, forgetting the original in the process.)

Things I have a very hard time comprehending:

- Why anyone likes ska.
- Why women obsess over shoes (ok, I understand this one, I just don't want to: it is because women are taught from an early age that accessories and capitalist consumption lies at the heart of femininity)
- Why no one else in the house can tell that the TV is still turned on even when the cable is off; I can hear the frequency of it being on from downstairs.
- Why people care so much about Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Why people think that music gets worse the more other folks listen to it; as if there were a finite number of sound waves, and it is best to hog them all to oneself.
- Why people who supposedly like video games buy Macintosh computers. (Or, for that matter, why anyone who has a basic understanding of how to operate computers feels the need to buy a Macintosh computer).
- Why JP, despite somehow managing to claim strong roots in the mid-west, south, and north-east simultaneously, is the only one still living in Oregon.
- Why anyone cares about what Paris Hilton has done, ever.
- Why there are gay Republicans, black Mormons, or...actually, just why there are Republicans or Mormons (I don't really mean to single Mormons out; any heavily doctrinal religious belief is equally suspect. The only difference is that Mormons somehow got away with the "whoaa...I found these magical tablets" crap centuries after that stopped being an acceptable excuse. Oh well, just fashionably late to the crazy party, I suppose).
- Why people use Twitter (all the fun of having something to update without the hard work of having to think of anything to actually say, I guess)
- Why Walter doesn't understand the brilliance of Arrested Development.
- Why many liberals have fatally confused the maxim "bad judgments are bad" with "all judgments are bad."
- Why people think whiskey tastes better than tequila.
- Why Chelsea Clinton never returns my calls.
- Why so many people in their mid twenties think that it is prime time to get married and start breeding (unless of course they have lots of crops that need harvestin' - which, in all fairness to a number of my former high school classmates, many of them do).
- Why anyone thinks that it is enjoyable to watch the slow grindings of a popularity show unfold over months, and pretend that the American Idol winner will have any meaningful impact on the music world whatsoever (it would be like being in Leadership class for 5 months nonstop - eye gougingly fun!)
- Why people, in lieu of spending every minute thankful for the absurd and inexplicable fact of their existence, make annoying comments about things they don't understand, or devote their lives to petty/vapid goals, or buckle to tradition rather than suffer the pain of reinventing oneself in the fires of possibility...or really do anything aside from stumble around in awe, looking for others to share their wonder with.

- Why I'm writing here instead of on my paper.

Big Shot Jerk

2007-05-15T00:38:00.000-05:00

A paper on Plato and Homer has taken up my time, so much so that I was avoiding watching Heroes and the Phoenix/Spurs game to try and finish up. I was able to miss Heroes comfortably due to the wonders of bittorent, but the Suns game was another matter. I checked the score a few times, but when the 4^th quarter started, I caved, and knew that I had to watch in case Phoenix made an epic comeback. And lo and behold, they did, thanks to some amazing Steve Nash magic. But Robert Horry, out of frustration, slammed Nash into the announcer’s table, which sparked off a tense standoff, and also included Amare and Boris Diaw making moves to come off the bench to the floor – this might get them both suspended for game 5. If they aren’t, then I like Phoenix chances – just need to win two of the next three games, with home court advantage.

Another bonus to tuning in tonight was that Shaq was a guest on the TNT Inside the NBA show, to join Charles Barkley (the possible future governor of Alabama!) in providing colour commentary. It was predictably hilarious, but one thing stuck out – they had a photoshopped image of Shaq’s head on Raphael’s famous painting School of Athens, which depicts Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, and many other ancient greek thinkers in the forum. This is because one of Shaq’s many nicknames is “The Big Aristotle”. However, they put Shaq’s head on Plato’s body, not Aristotle’s! Strange that they would do the research to make that clever connection, and then not get it quite right as to who is who.

Two indisputable bits of proof on how Pitchfork is retarded:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/16385-shut-up-you-fucking-baby

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/16386-its-not-funny

But David Cross gets his hilarious revenge:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/10279-guest-list-david-cross-albums-to-listen-to-while-reading-overwrought-pitchfork-reviews

Tomorrow night - !!! concert/date! I’ve talked about their latest album Myth Takes before…and I’m real excited to see how their live show holds up (their first show at Coachella in 2004 was a large part of their buzz).

Yacht-Onslaught (Yachtslaught) Week part 2

2007-05-08T11:52:00.000-05:00

The below rambling refers to information that can be gotten by clicking on this link, that I'm linking too, right here, with this text, that will take you to a pitchfork story and improve your life and allow for comprehension of all.

So, that's pretty much the greatest CD release party ever, right? On a Yacht on the Willamette river, the audience provides the beats for the songs when the PA explodes, the band plays from within the audience...how is that not perfect?

Yacht Rock and Moi

2007-05-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

Below is a list of Classic Rock songs that I am UTTERLY POWERLESS in the face of...by which I mean I am overwhelmed with such a strange combination of nostalgia and rock and high school yearning, that I can't do anything but shake my head around and look like a man possessed. If I have a significant other who is having a baby someday, and I'm driving her to the hospital, and one of these songs comes on...I'm apt to forget what I'm doing. Very much the Desperado/Seinfeld situation.

Even though this isn't the type of music I listen to most often by any means, it is the type that has the deepest roots. Somehow while growing up amidst the Northwest adoration of grunge and alternative music, I became a devotee of 70s guitar rock. When I was learning to play guitar, I would leave Portland's area classic rock station KGON on ALL NIGHT while I slept....I think the unconscious night-long listening caused me to learn the rotation patterns so well, I could usually guess what song would come next. I've just hypnotized myself when it comes to this kind of stuff. Anyway, here are the songs that I can think of that seem the most powerful to me:

BTO - Let It Ride
CCR - Susie Q
Foghat - Fool for the City
Supertramp - Breakfast in America
Neil Young - Southern Man
The Guess Who - These Eyes
Atlanta Rhythm Section - So Into You
BOC - I'm Burnin' for You
Steely Dan - My Old School AND Peg (Steely Dan rules)
Eagles - One of These Nights
ELO - Strange Magic
Toto - Love Isn't Always on Time
Cream - White Room
Fleetwood Mac - Big Love
Tom Petty - Breakdown
Heart - Kick It Out
Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath
Santana - Everything's Coming Our Way

(OBVIOUSLY Led Zeppelin and Hendrix are in another category, both for being earlier, not yachty, and also way too good to elevate one or two songs of theirs over any others (although I almost added Zep's "In The Evening" to this list because it reminds me so much of many of these other songs in terms of just reducing me to a quivering mess beside the radio))

Listen to those 17 songs and tell me that something doesn't stir in your soul, and I'll call you a lost cause!!!

Ok, so I probably should have included the first episode...but I couldn't refuse the one where Oates tells Hall to "Get your dick out of your heart!!" Which is a line I resolve to use as often as possible.

Jazzitivity

2007-05-06T00:47:00.000-05:00

My paper writing procrastination continues...I went on FreeDarko (perhaps my single favourite blog in existence, to be quite honest...where else would people talking about basketball bring up Zizek?!?), started commenting on their recent entry musing about the Warriors victory over the Mavs, and that comment turned into a mini-essay on its own right, so I thought I'd share it here. (And if you think that my tendency to post quasi-related humorous images in all my posts is a clear rip-off of FD's style...then you're right on point, mon ami)

In the unlikely event you want to read the following and know what I'm referring to, you'll need to see this post first

**********************************************
Myriad thoughts:

1. Interesting dynamic created by BS's essential observation and the fact that Jazz embodied are playing the Jazz, a team that, in so many ways, are the least deserving of their name. And yet...who really thinks that the Warriors can prevail against Utah?? I wanted T-Mac to prevail for personal reasons, but watching Houston being forced into the same "Ok, let's make it a three point contest" game that the Mavericks foolishly volunteered for would have been not nearly as interesting. For the Warriors to be truly deserving of the title of "Jazz", then they would have to show that they can improvise for real - the Mavericks being the one key and beat that they have practiced soloing over time and again. Houston would have been them playing in the key of B after Dallas's Bflat...let's see if they know their scales in F (Utah).

B. Despite the immense wonderfulness of GS's play, I found myself really disappointed that the Mavs didn't advance. Part of it was just because I hated the Heat SO MUCH for what happened last year that only a Mavs victory would have erased that bitter feeling...and partly because I don't think it is fair to try to shove Mavs into the "boringly dominant" box that the Spurs live in. I don't think you can boil it down to old way/new way. One of the "older" ways, though, is where each position plays to the stereotypical position strength - general PG, couple shooting options, bigs that play D...etc. But Dallas isn't that - they weren't designed to be perfect as in one cohesive machine where everyone works together for one cohesive goal (like the Spurs), they were designed to give a cornucopia of options. They don't really fit together in some beautiful whole; they are all just really different parts each with a strange assortment of strengths, like a fantasy basketball team, but a really GOOD one. What was ironic about the GS victory is that the Warriors are in some ways the same - a bunch of pieces that don't really fit together in any necessary or intrinsic ways. The difference is that instead of having different roles, they basically all have the SAME one (how that breaks down depending entirely on context, which was the breath-taking genius of it all). Maybe it is a small difference, but a big enough one to explain why I love Dallas and hate the Spurs.

3. Aren't the Pistons (which probably has a better chance of being champs than any other single team at this point) another kind of Jazz? As I watched them dismantle the Bulls...I thought about how I've always adored watching them play, yet so many others seem to hate it. I find nothing boring in the unique ways the Pistons can impose their will on an oppontent...and it isn't because they're finely tuned, it is because they MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. The way they board, and steal, and crush the opponents offensive schemes, creates offensive opportunities that are unique every time. It isn't the rote forumula of "Duncan - good post position? Y = score. N = pass to Parker. Open lane? Y = score, N = pass to open three point shooter". I will content that the Pistons are just as good at improvisation (if not more so) than the Warriors team we've seen the past few weeks, even if it is a slower, darker, moodier kind.

Album du jour #20 - Sambalicious

2007-05-05T23:19:00.000-05:00

Cibo Matto - Viva! La Woman (1996)

Prior Relationship to Album: I can't remember how I came across Cibo Matto. I got ahold of their second (and last) major album (Stereo Type A) some 6 months ago, and it quickly became a favourite of mine...so of course I was going to track down the group's first album.

High Point: Cibo Matto is Italian for "Crazy Food," and that is certainly the theme in this album, since almost every song is named after some kind of food item. My favourite title and lyrics are "Know Your Chicken," but that's kind of an annoying song...the most interesting on that front has to be "Birthday Cake."

Low Point: The only track that isn't named in the gastronomical theme is, strangely enough, called "Theme." This has various interesting implications, and there are certainly moments in that song that I enjoy quite a bit...but at 10 minutes, it just isn't great enough overall to listen to.

What I Learned/Realized: You know I'm going to like this band, when wikipedia lists their affiliated genres as: Acid Jazz, Indie Rock, Samba, Trip-hop, and Shibuya-kei. That's a pretty fascinating combination even before you start making up new genres to throw in there. OK, just because it is Japanese and unfamiliar to me, doesn't mean it doesn't really exist...(although sometimes I wish that were the case)

Future Relationship to Album: I will listen to this probably once for every four or so times I listen to Stereo Type A. Fortunately I listen to that album quite a bit.

I just saw a commercial I liked a lot, where an insurance company was grafting rabbits feet back onto rabbits...and they had bunnies swimming!!! Wait, why am I rambling about stupid shit again? Oh yeaaaahh...finals. Back to writing about the Gorgias.

Electronicrap

2007-05-04T18:09:00.000-05:00

So I broke the crap out of my Nintendo DS yesterday - dropped it on pavement, and now half of the top screen is dead. I don't use it all that often, and almost never for DS games - but I do like playing those Final Fantasy remakes for the GBA when on the T or watching basketball. So I guess I'm gonna get a new one.

Meanwhile, my Creative Zen Touch has been only half functional for months - the adhesive keeping the headphones contact has come loose (which is evidently a fairly common issue with Creative DAPs), so the right headphone channel fluxuates in and out. I'm going to exploit Jason's electronic genius in the near future to try and do some exploratory surgery to try and solder the part on more firmly, but I think that whether that comes through or not, I can't help myself as far as biting on the new generation of the iriver clix is concerned (the 8 GB version is due out in the next month), which is getting glowing reviews.

Of course, most people reading this will not recognize any of those terms, or if they do, they'll think "if you need an mp3 player, why not get an ipod?" On the one hand, the ipod has almost always been outclassed by a better mp3 player. In terms of features, audio formats, battery life, price, and the hideous beast that is itunes, there has always been a competitor that either met or bested the ipod in almost all of those categories. From the Rio Karma back in 2002/3, to Creative players, to the clix and Trekstor Vibez now...of the millions who are buying mp3 players, a ridiculously tiny percentage of those people realize that a much better option is available for much less money.

Because of the goddamn marketing. Apple has proven to be brilliant at making everyone think there was only one viable option. This really typifies what I dislike about Apple as a company...ever since the imac, they've been so smug about pushing overpriced items that rely mainly on an aesthetic that I think is revolting (making electronics seem cute). They are monolithic (no one really likes Microsoft, but it doesn't matter because the hardware and software is really a gigantic spectrum of options from wide sources and types); for all the shit Microsoft gets for trying to bundle everything into Windows, Apple is way worse about that. And those commercials! They'd be more humorous if they weren't just a bunch of arrogant lies (no, Macs aren't inherently better at dealing with music, movies, images, or any of that shit). There are just a handful of applications that are better at dealing with one thing versus another, and those are mainly confined to higher level editing programs that no average user is ever going to use. The transition to Intel chips has added more complications - for instance, most researchers in social sciences use a software suite called SPSS to do data calculations (I'm a tech consultant in the education department, and basically every single professor and grad student uses this program), and SPSS hasn't been yet made to work on Intel-based Macs (which means all of the new ones). And Apple really has more hardware problems than most PCs...and when those problems crop up, you can't repaire it yourself like you can with PCs, or easily replace the parts!! And while I haven't paid any attention to the iphone, it is markedly clear (or at least stated by those in the know) that it is even more absurdly overpriced than other Apple junk. So I'm rabidly anti-ipods both because they don't make sense practically, but also because I just hate the company in general.

On another note...I just said the other day that I don't like flash games, but here's yet another one I came across that is freaking amazing. Adult Swim's Bible Fight. Eve, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Mary, Satan, and God fighting each other street fighter style. Wonderful, but I got frustrated and quit because I can't seem to beat Satan no matter what I do....

Album du jour #19 - You're sucking all over me

2007-05-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

I feel sick right now. On one hand I love what the Warriors did...but the Mavs deserved to be in the finals this year. What a clusterfuck.

This might give you all a small window into my personality: I still need to do my taxes! I think the last two years I've done them in June and August....

Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me (1987)

Prior Relationship to Album: This isn't a random choice...Josh and I like to force each other to listen to things we otherwise wouldn't, so that will be an exception to the typical "album shuffle" rule (other exceptions: when I'm listening to a band before seeing them live, whenever I'm dating a band member, or whenever else I feel like it).

High Point: I think I need to be 10 years younger and convinced that getting better at skateboarding is a good use of my time to appreciate anything about this music. If I was forced to choose one of these songs to listen to a second time...I guess I'd go with "In A Jar", which does the most to avoid the general annoyances I list below (but not nearly enough!). I didn't think I'd dislike this band so much, for all I hear of them.

Low Point: "Sludgefest". I couldn't tell when the song was ending, or just braying off into pointless distortion frenzys. I need my music to grip me, but in order for that to happen, the music has to grip itself internally, and this doesn't even get close to accomplishing that. Most all of the songs are comprised of indifferent lyrics over a "greasy" guitar track - greasy because I don't feel like it fits in any groove whatsoever, just slides along at its own self-absorbed pace - in turn over fast but yawn-inducing drums and bass lines. And no, this angry review is not revenge for Josh disliking Herbert's Scale (the album I challenged him to try out).
What I Learned/Realized: The other week I was trying to describe Tapes n' Tapes to Zach from upstairs, and we were having a hard time coming to any kind of concordance, because none of the bands I was trying to compare them to he was familiar with, and vice versa. After I described what TnT's music sounded like, he said "You mean...like Dinosaur Jr?" Now instead of "I don't know.." I can say "hell no...Tapes n' Tapes is really good, and tight, and cohesive, and not a waste of time."

Future Relationship to Album: I'm going to listen to it more to be the coolest kid in school!!

divinity; or, the sliver thin difference between Pessimism and Optimism

2007-05-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Many people have a "divine sense" - or whatever sensory experience it is in which something "beyond" is felt, determined, smelled...the echo of the last god ringing in one's ears. Some attribute it to a divine spirit, reincarnation, an established religion...whatever. But whence comes this sense/impression/conviction?

The problem with those enthralled by what they find in the world is that, lost in glamour, they rarely stop to consider the looking glass history has given them to look through. The prevailing assumption is that reality is....merely what is there. Science has made all substance an utterly transparent entity, always within reach, that can be made to dance to our whims. So how unsurprising is it that we have no faith that this prevailing sense of mystery that dogs us at every turn...could come from the same world we interact with everyday? We are given stories along with our mother's milk, stories both of the mind being raised up and stories where the darkness and mystery are cast away (will Conrad's Heart of Darkness even be sensible to future generations?). Of course we will feel the need to invent something else, something infinite, to try and contain our aspirations and dreams.

But how far can we assume such things? Is this feeling that there must be "something else", at its core, not essentialy just pessimism about the capacity of the world we are in to meet the challenge of our minds? What arrogance, to think that we can know the nature of Being so through and through so as to know that we have to look elsewhere for the cause of these feelings/thoughts! We are seeds, scattered or tossed rudely onto the ground. We see that these seeds can sprout high, and from there - assume that this cause must be magical? Is not the simpler and more honest conclusion to draw...that we might have been thrown into soil rich in ways we cannot see?

Heartbreak

2007-05-01T00:32:00.000-05:00

Despite leading the entire game, the Denver Nuggets just let the game slip away from them in the 4th quarter. My dreams of a Nugs/Suns semifinals are gone....

Speaking of heartbreak, I just found out that my old friend Zena is the subject of a short story about this writer called Scott Bryan's unrequited love for her, and that story was made into a short film! The film is Yellowville. I haven't seen Zena since judging at the debate nationals tournament in the summer of 2001, but we've kept in sporadic contact. Here's an old picture that explains why I find the above news not altogether surprising:

Enjoy the Silence

2007-04-30T19:10:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy week, with things going on, on a lot of different levels. I also have not posted anything in exactly one week. This is not a coincidence (the classic problem of the more you have to write about, the less time you have to document it).

Here's some of the running plotlines of the past week (there was plenty else going on as well that falls outside the boundaries of this space is meant to convey!):

Academia

Of course it is finals time, which means many people are spending so much time reading and writing that a large number of grad students now think that they are hummingbees, and spend their few breaks from their laptops doing frenzied dances meant to show their honeycomb bretheren how to get to the life-giving flowers of insight. Also they spend so much writing that they can't write a simple sentence without running on forever and shoving metaphors where they don't belong. But then again, I always write like that (because my guilty conscience knows I always should be writing more??).

As for moi, I've been in better shape than most semesters. For the first time ever, I'm going to war with detailed outlines for papers that have been actually run by (and heartily approved by) professors. A major realization I've had is that professors don't give degree of difficulty points. I've always refused to write about any of the major issues dealt with in the class. If Sallis spends 95% of the semester talking about Fichte, there's no bloody way I'm writing on Fichte (of course, this is also because I can't read more than one page of the Wissenschaftslehre without immediately losing consciousness). But just because I have contempt for anyone who uses any paper suggestion that the professor would make, doesn't mean that professors are going to shared my admiration of taking the rogue route. I still tend to write about strange themes, but I have gotten a lot better about writing to my strengths. My "areas of interest" have become clearer and clearer, and I've gotten a hell of a lot better at sticking to those. For my Husserl paper I'm writing on his potential contribution to Judith Butler and Levinas's ethics...and in my ancient greek knowledge class, I'm looking at the Gorgias (which is tied with the Symposium for dearest Platonic dialogue to my heart). Doing secondary reading and having outlines and quotations ready and running proposals by professors...are relatively new for me, so I feel more confident about my ability to produce great work on time...but that is still a long way from actually writing the damn papers! So we'll see how that goes over the next two weeks.

Music

I haven't posted any album du jours, but I have kept up my listening duties. I might retroactively go back and post some of these, but I've listened closely to a bunch of albums that are new(ish) to me: An older Fila Brazilla album, a Dom um Romao, a particular Fleetwood Mac song, Mocky, Beck's Guerro, etc. I still like writing up reviews - and will try to do so as much as possible - but the biggest goal is to ensure that I don't fall into the easy trap of getting "stuck" on something and not forcing myself to diversify, and thus far that has been a smashing success.

In other music news, I went to see Amon Tobin play last night. The thing about electronica shows is that you're never really sure what you're going to get, and how it will relate to the album stuff. "DJ sets" are often VERY different from what they do in the studio. When I saw Jamie Lidell a while back, it was far more "techno-y", because he was showing off his impressive capacity to create beats and music on the fly. Wasn't nearly as polished as Multiply, but a different kind of excellence. Likewise, Amon Tobin, who I love for his combination of jazz and latin rhythms with dnb and other interesting beats, lost almost all of the jazz, and ended up sounding like a dnb and IDM producer. Still some interesting stuff, but not near up to the level of his albums. Still worth checking out though!

Basketball

Wow. No one thought that these playoffs could hold a candle to last year's, but they seem to be shaping up to be just as epic, if not more so. Here's a breakdown of all of the series in increasing order of interestingness:

- Washington v. Cleveland. Lebron and the Cavs aren't playing inspired ball, but with the loss of both Caron Butler and Gilbert Arenas (who is going to be gracing the cover of the next NBA live!) had no chance, and lost in 4 games. I watched none of them.

- Detriot v. Orlando. Orlando started as one of the hottest teams, but levelled off in a big way, and were guaranteed fodder for the Pistons. Another sweep.

- Bulls v. Heat. The third eastern conference series that already went down in 4 games. This was a good deal more interesting than the previous two, however, because it was a rematch of the second round series from last year, and also the first time a defending NBA champion had ever done so poorly in the next year's playoffs. I watched one of these games, just to revel in the Heat-embarassment.

- Toronto v. New Jersey. This is the only eastern series still in question. New Jersey has looked like a lame duck all year, but really turned it on for the playoffs. I hope the Raptors win though. They're pretty kewl.

While the East has been pretty ho-hum thus far (Pistons/Bulls is going to be a real exciting 2nd round, though), the Western playoffs have been RI-FUCKING-DICULOUS.

- Phoenix v. LA. You know it is pretty absurd when a rematch between the most mind-blowing playoff series from last year is the least fascinating one this year. Part of that is just because the Lakers have taken a few steps backwards while Phoenix has gotten Amare back and healthy. Incredibly fun to watch, but never much in doubt.

- Houstin v. Utah. The only first round series that is tied 2-2 (game 5 going on right now, and tied at 79 all!), this is a tough series for me, because I really like both teams. Yao, McGrady (Rip Van Winkle!), the role players the Rockets have (and their coach, Dr. Katz).

And on the Jazz, Deron Williams, ex-Piston Okur, the trials and tears (and extra-marital allowances) of Kirilenko, the power of Boozer (a terror in HD)

- San Antonio v. Denver. The Nuggets, with my new favourite non-Blazer or Piston player Carmelo Anthony, really shocked the Spurs in game 1 to make this a fascinating matchup. They'll try to even out the series in game 4 tonight...this is the nearest and dearest series to my heart, because it is the only one in contention where I can strongly root for an underdog that is going against a monolith that has already won a ton of championships recently (the Spurs).

- Dalls Mavericks v. Golden State Warriors. So much has been said about this series. I can't do it justice. The astounding Warriors, the 8 seed, have just utterly stunned the Mavericks, which were the unquestioned top team this year. It would be completely unfounded in history for a team with such an epic regular season performance - nearly up to the level of the greatness displayed by the 70- win Bulls - to fall apart in the first round to this extent. Just read FreeDarko.com if you want to see thousands and thousands of poetic words on the sublimeness of this subject.

Other stuff

I typically don't like flash games. I can't exactly play games at work, and if I'm going to play a game in home, it is going to be an indepth one (CivIV). I haven't been able to play any video games in awhile! But my friend sent this to me, and I have to say that it is the best flash game I've ever seen.

The Last Stand

You fight off zombies, and then use the daylight to find better weapons and more survivors to help you out. If it were just a shooting game then it would get real boring real fast, but I'm a sucker for any kind of game where you improve as you go along (due to being raised on RPGs), and combining the two makes for a great effect, I think. Which begs the question: why are there no really good zombie games where you have to defend a fortress/mall/whatever, and have to spend your time fighting, scavenging for supplies, and building defenses??? Seems like that would be a big hit.

Zwa?

2007-04-23T17:19:00.000-05:00

I was looking through my class notepad for something, when I noticed this drawing I did from my last Husserl class (you can click to expand if you want to see how awesomtastic my handwriting is):

It showcases a philosopher sweeping up after a scientist, who appears to be tossing bits and pieces of history in his wake.

My question is - what does this mean, and why did I create it?! I have no recollection of this. Everything seems way more profound when you don't remember its origins (which is one of the suspicions I have of the tendancy of Heideggerians to obsess over correlations with ancient Greek thought...)

Album du jour #18 - Threepoint shot away

2007-04-23T03:24:00.000-05:00

Help! My need to be productive has been hijacked - by the NBA playoffs!

Last year's playoffs really got me into the game in a whole new way. Between ridiclously close games, thrilling come from behind victories, and a host of other dramatic stories and finishes....the '06 playoffs were widely heralded as perhaps the best ever. How could this year's possibly compare?

Well, they've gotten off to a decent start. The Raptors/Nets series is proving impossible to predict, and the Jazz/Rockets series will be a dogfight...but all that was nothing compared to what went down today, when both the Spurs and Mavs were horribly upset, and the Suns/Lakers game was a classic as always, with Kobe doing is best to one-up every bit of magic the Suns could pull off. I was ELATED to see the Nuggets beat the Spurs - and I hope beyond everything that they can keep it up. Went the other way on the Warriors/Mavs game (rare that I root for the non-underdog, and the Warriors, barely sliding into the playoffs, are the definition of an underdog) because I am determined to see the Dallas/Suns drama unfold in the finals. But it was all exciting, and I couldn't stick to my resolution to break away and write. I forgot 100% that Dice-K was pitching vs. the Yankees until I just now noticed on espn.com that the Sox won...my interest in that is a candle to the flame of fabulous basketball going on. It is going to be a long month. Man, I can't get over the Spurs losing....and for once, I'm motivated less by schaudenfreude than I am the wonderous thought of a Suns/Nugs semis.

Massive Attack - 100th Window (2003)

Prior Relationship to Album: Around my junior year of college I began to get into trip-hop (which has become a bad word in music critic circles, which is unfair, I thikn) and downtempo music. My progression in and through electronica went something like this (I'll save the more thorough sketch for my "history of music" post, a long one I've been working on in bits and pieces)

trance/club house -> psytrance -> ambient and IDM -> trip hop and deep house -> nu-jazz and latin house -> other stuff

Everything to the left of trip hop and deep house I have more or less stopped listening to (although some "IDM" gets a rare listen-to by me)...so Massive Attack is, in many ways, one of the electronic groups I have had the longest relationship with. Which makes it no surprise that it is laden with college-nostalgia for me.

And this nostalgia is unique in another sense; until recently, my listening habits were very rarely influenced by contemporary artists. When I was in middle school I was all about what was (kind of) current...R&B, grunge, alternative. But then the more I got into playing guitar the more I veered off into blues and classic rock, and I essentially stopped buying "new" music for a long period of time.

One other period (aside from current times) where I actually paid attention to current music was my senior year, when I was the RPM (aka, electronica) director for Whitman's radio station. I'm sure I've mentioned this before....in any case, the music I got via that avenue played a large role in opening new directions for me - err..when you read that last sentence to yourself, tone down how pretentious it sounds - and one of the albums was 100th Window. Of course I was already into Mezzanine (although I couldn't really tell my Portishead from my Massive Attack at that point), but this album led me to go back and pick up everything by Massive Attack. Which makes them one of the first bands that I ever got a nearly-complete discography of.

High Point: 100th Window isn't nearly as important or venturesome as Blue Lines or Mezzanine, but it is a remarkably efficient album. By which I don't mean song length (the average is in the 6-7 minute range), but in that it doesn't really take aim at doing anything but taking the strongest highs of Mezzanine and translating it into an album. Which makes it an impeccable, but not as amazing, album. The problem is that it doesn't do nearly enough to distinguish itself from itself, or Mezzanine. I have a hard time picking my favourite track due to this...the best of the bunch is probably 03 "Everywhen," but listen to it right after Mezzanine and it doesn't sound nearly as powerful. The other that I'm tempted to pick is 07 "Smalltime shot away," for reasons that escape me.

Low Point: 02 "When Your Soul Sings" would be a great song...if it wasn't UTTERLY INDISTINGUISHABLE from "Teardrop" off of Mezzanine (or rather, a version of "Teardrop" with less bite, and more Shenead O' Connor, who sings in a bunch of the songs). Shameless, really.

What I Learned/Realized: This album title refers to some book about security in the internet age...basically the idea that you only need to leave one window (out of a hundred) open for your privacy to be comprimised by the government.

I quote from Wikipedia: "Two weeks after the release of the album, Del Naja [the member of Massive Attack who was mainly responsible for this album] was arrested as part of Operation Ore, a police operation intending to indict users of web sites featuring child pornography. The charges were dropped a month later after no sign of such material was found on his personal equipment." Heh.

Future Relationship to Album: As much as it bothers me that this album feels...soft, in comparison to their earlier stuff, it is still among the best at creating that style I love of harmonic and powerful swells of darkness that paradoxically uplift. For me, this window opens onto a black yet prisimatic sky. And also grants me the ability to say cheesy lines like that with half a straight face.

Album du jour #17 - Moose and Gay Sqverrrll

2007-04-20T17:06:00.000-05:00

Wow - Menomena is doing a west coast tour that includes a show at Whitman College in Walla Walla....a show at Eugene's WOW hall, Visalia CA (where my father lives), and even Troutdale!! If only they did a show in Rancho Cucamonga, they'll have gotten to nearly every important city in my life in one go (well actually they're playing Pomona, which is pretty damn close...)

Boris with Michio Kurihara - Rainbow (2006)

Prior Relationship to Album: Recommendation from...I don't remember who? Haven't listened to it before...and boy, am I finding out how little of my music collection that I've really listened to. I should find some stupid reason to compel myself to listen to it randomly so I can't ignore things I don't know about...oh, wait! Anyways, this is a collaborative album between Boris, who, as wikipedia tells me, is part of Japan's "experimental doom" scene, and the psychadelic rocker Kurihara. I can only imagine that this album will be what it would be like if you took the two American music styles of doom metal and psych rock and threw in a bunch of atomic monsters and mutant tentacles that rape schoolgirls.

High Point: #06 Voce Sorriu Como Uma Marca D'agua. Most of the first half of the album reminds me most of a slightly harder edged Sigur Ros with Yes solos looped on top of them. It works better than it sounds when I say it (likely because I suck at writing about music). This song caught my attention more than most because it is upbeat, dark, and the guitar solo works really quite well. Also because the translation of the title comes out to "You Laughed Like a Water Mark" - which is the best song name I've heard in a very long time. Actually I didn't know that until after I picked this track, but I'm nothing if not a historical revisionist.

Low Point: #08 "Doce No 1". This sounds like what I used to do when I was 13, when I would turn my effects pedal to da MAX and shittily solo over my Soundgarden cds.

What I Realized/Learned: Japan has an experimental doom scene. And that experimental doom exists.

Future Relationship to Album: In situations where I'd normally play some Agaetis Byrjun but feel a little dirty, then I'll put this on.

A-Rod: I don't mind his absolutely incredible start to the season...partially because he had such a rough time of it last year, that him having a sterling start is a great story. But I really don't mind it when Jeter makes errors at 3rd, Riveria gets shelled, and the Yanks end up losing despite A-Rod's absurd homer hitting.

All I Want for Christmas is a Tech

2007-04-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

NBA Playoffs are here! Which is basically like Christmas. Which is enough justification to show this video I just stumbled across of Rasheed Wallace and some Pistons benchers singing Jingle Bells in a hilarious fashion (check out the REEEMIX!)

Shootings

2007-04-17T23:43:00.000-05:00

Three trains of thought having to do with recent shootings:

1. I've always gone back and forth on the phenomenon of being infinitely more outraged by tragic events that occur within our borders than those without. Not that we should be caring less about a horrific event...but what exactly is it that guides our instincts to feel vastly more sympathy for something that happens to a group of people just because they happen to reside within our borders? Is this merely a product of nationalism? (And if so, what is the "better" option - according this level of attention to every worldwide tragedy?) Or is there something more intrinsic about culture...and the disease, the weakness is rather mine for not seeing myself more fundamentally connected to it? On the one hand, I think that it is peculiar for such a unique and deep event such as grief (or prayers, for those that do such things) to be contingent upon borders on a map decided by imperalistic forces centuries ago. On the other, it may well be the case that there are positive reasons to be affected more by those who have a cultural attachment (and, for this to be the case, being affected by someone has to operate independently of the economy of "valuing" lives...in that these lives cannot be "worth" more). I'm not sure.

2. As early as yesterday afternoon, TV pundits were debating what effect this event would have on the relapsed ban on assault weapons (I saw this because Walter has a vastly higher prediliction for subjecting himself to the absurdity of Bill O'Reilly than I could ever stomach, along with a prediliction for leaving the TV on). Bill's guest, of course, claimed that restricting deadly weapons was not the right course here - she even suggested that banning assault weapons would be "counterproductive" (I would have given much to hear this woman's explanation as to how that could possibly be the case, but giving full accounts for one's arguments is passe in contemporary political discourse).

I have a fairly radical opinion on gun control: I think private ownership of lethal firearms should be entirely abolished. But I'm also protective of the constitution for the preservation of privacy and the like. How do I reconcile these positions? Through the magic of hermeneutics, that's how! (Otherwise known as: the belief that words have a living meaning, and we should pay attention to see what that meaning is).

The rationale given for the the right to keep and bear arms was not because humans have some inalienable right to guns, but to allow the preservation of a well-regulated militia. Why a well-regulated militia? The theory was that should the federal government ever try to turn tyrranical (terrible terrycloth tyrranasaurus!), the people could band together and check this by threatening to secede again. Basically, making sure that an American Revolution 2.0 could happen if it really needed to. What no one foresaw was the advancement of technology - at the time, anti-federalists were fairly mollified by the fact that they were well-assured the federal government's standing army would its ass kicked if the citizens ever saw the need to take action. Nowadays? Not so much - even a "well regulated militia" has basically zero chance against the federal army, since we don't got bombs, planes, tanks, body armor, etc. etc. The purpose, the organizing telos behind the amendment is deader than Thomas Jefferson.

That means that hand guns, shotguns...fuck, even assault rifles are insufficient to make a well-regulated militia that can "defend the security of the free state" (to quote the 2nd amendment). Does this mean we citizens get to have bombs and stealth fighter jets?? Of course not. Here's the logical problem confronting interpreters of the constitution. The original argument ran, that in order to have A (militia that counterbalances federal gov), we need B (rifles!). But no one can claim with a straight face nowadays that B leads to A any longer...it does, however, lead to rampant criminal violence! This is a case where the letter of the constution has come into *direct* conflict with the necessary meaning of that very bit of text. Does this mean we side with the technicality and continue to fuck up our country?

For defense against animals and rampaging humans, get tranq guns (you bet some efficient non-lethal tranquilizer handguns would hit the market soon after the repeal of the 2nd amendment, or recognition of its vestigial nature). For offense against animals (for those who just need to kill shit), get those fancy bow and arrows. How much easier would it be to stop gun violence if only police and military were allowed to have the lethal variety? There'd be a black market...but combating that would be a lot easier than leaving things the way they are now. Besides, schools could take most of that money being spent on metal detectors and the like and put it towards better counseling programs, for instance!!

Of course, this ought not be reduced to a gun violence issue...much more at stake. Just my train of thought touched off by the absurd "assault weapons are great!" claim that some talking head had the audacity to say on the day of this tragedy. One of the many ways I would fix the country if I suddenly had power to influence national policy.

(a few others: strict greenhouse gas emission limits and renewable energy standards, tighten restrictions on products that aren't energy efficient, replace the legal consideration of marriage with those of "civil union" and "civil union with children", legalize and tax the shit out of marijuana, replace sales tax with a flat income tax that affects all income earned in addition to 50 grand a year (in addition to a graduated income tax similiar to what we have now, but tweaked), increase state power to deal with envirnomental problems, universal health care, stop billions of useless military funding, add an amendment preventing congress from giving the president blank checks in wartime, abolish the electoral college, equal rights amendment...and transform the federal government into a committee run by 21 philosopher-kings appointed by SPEP)

3. Multiple people have requested that I pray - even ones who know full well that the notion of prayer does not play into any notion of the divine I have. So what does that accomplish? Does it really honor the memories of those who have died to offer an empty gesture that is ultimately just for the sake of people who want to feel like they're doing some by spreading prayer? I understand religious people doing it...but when they expect others to, it seems very strange to me. Being true to oneself is an ethical demand, I believe, and one especially relevant in the impossible task of honoring the dead. But maybe they're just reminding everyone who meant to pray but forgot to or something...maybe I sound cold, but a dedication to truth and ethics go hand in hand, broadly speaking.

4. On a totally different kind of shooting....what was up with Phoenix playing its starters in the game against the Clippers today?!? That's fucking absurd. They can't move up or down in any spot, and the Clippers are playing to stay alive in the playoff race. All that Phoenix is doing is creating a risk that one of its starters gets hurt, and an injury to Nash, Barbosa, Amare, or Marion would end their championship hopes RIGHT AWAY. Even injuries aside, the biggest threat facing these folks, given their weak bench, is getting tired (Nash especially sucks it up when he has his back spasms/has no legs under him)...were they just too competitive to give up a game that had no meaning to them? Dallas played the janitor and Mark Cuban's cousin against the Warriors tonight...who are going to get that playoff spot over the Clippers unless the Clips beat the Hornets (very doable) *and* the Warriors lose to Portland tomorrow (less likely). I'd rather see the Warriors in that 8th spot, so I'm not super pissed or anything (I bet a bunch of Clips fans will be), but Phoenix just ruined a chance to rest their crucial guys while losing the damn game ANYWAY. Idiots!

That being said, I can't wait for the playoffs.

Album du jour #16 - Death Through the Out Door

2007-04-16T15:02:00.000-05:00

Iiiiits Patriot's Day!! Aka, the "Massachusetts is the only state that's going to make up its own state holiday" day! Since I'm a descendant of Patrick Henry, I feel...well, not connected at all. But I do try to see if his charisma is hereditary; I go into work and say "Give me a raise or give me death!!" But they always choose death. (This might be because the "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" line was fictionalized after the fact, just like much of popular history).

Led Zeppelin - Coda (1982)
Prior Relationship to Album: Led Zeppelin. Definately the most important artist to me in my life thus far.

The biggest question was: do I just include the first, original 8 tracks? Or add in the 4 that were included with the version from the Complete Studio Recordings set? (I own the cd with just the 8, but have the other 4 songs as well). The last 4 tracks aren't part of the Coda that I first listened to...but on the other hand, Coda is an album about odds and ends, celebrating Bonham's life and legacy by showing that even the left over tracks from various recordings could make a cohesive, quality album. So the more, the merrier.

High Point: Hard to pick just one, but my three favourite tracks are #1 "We're Gonna Groove" (incredible opener), #2 "Poor Tom" (the gentle but captivating drum line serves as the perfect basis for this song that slowly progresses from light as a feather to intense and pounding), and #12 "Hey Hey What Can I Do" (never released on an album before the boxed set re-releases, but one that gets a huge amount of radio play nowadays).
Low Point: 08# "Wearing and Tearing" - this song was designed to complete against the insurgence of punk...but it runs far counter to Page and Plant's strengths, and, compared to the rest of the material here, sounds out of place and kind of a mess.

What I Learned/Realized: "Bonzo's Montreux" - the all drums track - is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs in which it is possible to hear the squeak of John Bonham's bass drum pedal in the recording studio.

Future Relationship to Album: Zeppelin will never be dethroned from the center spot in my musicverse.

Philobloggery

2007-04-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

(of course that's actually a bad title, since it just means "love of bloggery" - but people have taken the prefix to be more associative than the suffix in the case of philosophy...maybe because we associate "soph" on its own primarily with the sophists? heh).

I've always wanted to utilize the strengths of internet discussion to advance philosophy. Back when I had a livejournal (oh, those wacky halycon days of youth) I created a group called "SublimeThinking" which was designed to bring together people interested in academic philosophy, to have monthly extensive discussions about group readings, as well as just general topics. While I did spend a great deal of time tracking down every gothy Nietzsche lover, Deleuze freak, and Kant nerd on livejournal, we never consistently did the planned discussion thing, and posting was infrequent. Since I gave up livejournal years ago, I stopped trying to moderate it...my tiny vision of building a spontaneous community of free thinkers somewhat dashed (although the group does live on to this day).

But now that I'm doing that blogging thing (I really wish they would invent a new word for it), I figured I ought to go see what the options are out there for continental philosophy-esque minded folk like I pretend to be. And, unsurprisingly, there is a lot more nowadays. I'm hoping that I'll make better use of my downtime at work to read these kinds of sites instead of, say, read about silly things. So you'll see me adding links to places I find that seem worth checking out.

For starters, I stumbled across a philosophy blog where someone gives a kind of snooty critique of the notion of continental philosophy...so I felt compelled to offer a snooty response. I feel like I owe it to everyone to catalog all of my petty internet comments.

Here's another comment I put on a site I came across, agreeing with the post's criticism of the Leiter Report (a rather sore subject to me):

I concur whole-heartedly. The Leiter Report is exceptionally awful at listing what schools are well regarded in the continental tradition. Depaul is an exceptional program if you’re interested in phenomenology, social philosophy, feminism, and the history of philosophy (among other things), one of the few best, really - and it doesn’t appear.

I don’t have a problem with a study that is unobjective in its dislike of continental philosophy, and subsequent refusal to solicit the opinion of any authoratative figures in the field (Leiter’s claim is that analytic studies of continental figures are the only way continental work should be taught, since “you can’t train the next Nietzsche” (paraphrasing)). I do, however, have a problem with the fact that he sees fit to pass judgment on a type of philosophy in an area that isn’t deemed fit to be actually represented. I was lucky enough to have professors who were able to fill me in on the larger picture, but I feel very bad for those looking for guidance on applying to continental programs and relying on the absurd lists of the Leiter Report.

I also agree that the reaction to eliminate all attempts at school rankings is juvenile. The best situation would be if there were a plurality of rankings, with full disclosure of their biases, specializing in giving information about programs in different areas. Then we wouldn’t have the problem of a biased monothilic ranking system without any visible dissenting voices.

But my grand ambition, aside from snooty comments that aide my procrastination fetish, is to meet thinkers from other schools, and find means of connecting outside the normal guise of academic circles to share and be exposed to as much insight as I possibly can.

Album du jour #15 - MYcapslockisBROKEN

2007-04-15T13:15:00.000-05:00

Mission of Burma - ONoffON (2004)

Prior Relationship to Album: Only vaguely aware of Mission of Burma as an 80s band, Josh insisted that I familiarize myself with what Mission of Burma was doing since their reunion. He meant the upcoming Obliterati in particular, but I got ONoffON as well to check it out. I've listened to a few songs, but not most of it, and definately not all the way through.

High Point/Low Point:

The problem with working from a pre-set template to these ADJ posts (a style I ripped off from the AVClub, in particular their "Commentary Tracks of the Damned" section) is that there isn't always something that fits each category well. I intended the "What I Learned" section to list the relevation I had about the music while listening to it - an invitation to the hope of an epiphany, even for music I had heard a great number of times before. But it doesn't always work like that, and when I lack any profound advancements in my musical understanding to share, I tend to fill that space with random trivia or whatever.

But in this case I've found that the categories I can't go about picking are the High and Low points...I tried to think of songs that I liked more or less than any others, but there really weren't any. It was like listening to a dial tone - each song has the same chords, the same horrendous vocals. The only song that sounds even remotely different from the others was #08 "Prepared,"...which goes for a different sound, but that sound is itself so bland, it is just another shade of beige. I need swells and dips and eventfulness in my music; sharply constrasting patches of light and shadow.

What I Realized/Learned: Two things:

1. I need to listen to Obliterati again - I remember vaguely liking it, although I haven't played it much. Either I have vastly different opinions on these two recent MoB albums, or I didn't pay much attention.

2. I have a closer association of music and colours than I thought; compelling and gripping music to me seems prisimatic by its very nature. I am very visceral about my art - there is a reason that two of the artworks I have up in my room are very elemental (Bachelard-ian) works on color -

Chariots of the Gods:

Four Meditations:

This connection between light and music, of a music that enacts the clash of color tones, and of visual art that evokes musical tones....I call audiochromology (because I love to invent pretentious terms for experiences I'm not totally sure I'm really having), and I shall have to dwell on it later. Perhaps the common element lies within the common term, and we have a kind of supra-senuous sense or "tone" that can manifest itself throughout different sensory mediums - hue and pitch? How about smell, touch, taste? Or are the three "bodily" senses distinct from the two more mental senses?

Future Relationship to Album: Not totally certain. I used to feel the same way about a lot of indie rock before I warmed to the genre. I might revisit it at some point to see if I can find my attention captured by something in here....but prospects for that seem as dreary as the current Nor'easter weather.

Bonus Link du Jour: On a completely different note, check out this person who turned a stuffed beaver into a computer case!!!

Album du jour #14 - Illusionary, Incidental Pasta

2007-04-14T16:54:00.000-05:00

Guns n' Roses - Use Your Illusion I

Prior Relationship to Album: I got my first cd player in 6th grade, a boombox that ran on 4 D batteries. Embarassingly enough, my first TWO cds that I owned were Kriss Kross....and another copy of Kriss Kross (long story...but much like all of my other stories from that period, it involves me having absolutely no understanding of how to interact with other people, thievery, and copious amounts of Brian-crying). Shortly thereafter I got into the "12 free cds if you sign with us" thing that the labels were doing back then (actually I would sign up to BMG's thing, get 10 free cds, buy a few obligatory ones, and then quit and switch to Columbia House...etc. etc.). I got most of my cds this way, but one time while wandering around Fry's (err...what was the place in Willsonville called before it was Fry's? Incredible something? Help me out on this, Josh), I saw a copy of The Spaghetti Incident...and I bought it. I didn't like it that much, but it didn't have the Guns n' Roses singles that I liked on it, so I picked up Use Your Illusion II. I don't think I ever did own UYI 1. I know I've heard all of this at some point...but maybe not in full album form. I certainly won't remember most of it.

High Point: "Double Talkin' Jive". Hard, uncompromising, and fast. Axl gets the fuck out of the way and lets Slash go to town. I love Rose on Appetite for Destruction, but not on this album. I'm sure the metal-by-way-of-blues style with the Flamenco guitar outro don't hurt either.

Second would be "Garden of Eden," for many of the same reasons above. Except the Flamenco part.

Low Point: I know there are moods I am in, during which I don't hate listening to "November Rain" - but I am almost never in those moods. Also, I think that "Live n' Let Die" is way overrated.

What I Learned/Realized: It may be called #1, but I think Use Your Illusion II is definately on top when it comes to quality.

Also - Slash's mother designed David Bowie's costumes from The Man Who Fell To Earth. FILLER!!!!!

Future Relationship to Album: Well, I'll listen to it more than the Spaghetti Incident, probably....

Pair o' docks

2007-04-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

I have so little of an interest in shoes, it has to tip over the line into active contempt. I don't like wearing nice shoes, I think women who spend too much money/attention on shoes are foolish, and I think that going beyond the bounds of necessity and basic comfort for something we put on our FEET is beyond wasteful.

The only thing that seems stranger than women who fetishize shoes are MEN who fetishize shoes. Like the guys who get limited edition Jordans and all that jazz. And yet...I'm interested in the jockeying that shoe companies are doing to try and land elite basketball stars. If you like reading about basketball stuff, then check out this link detailing the upcoming sneaker wars (courtesy of TrueHoop, as so many of the NBA side stories I read are).

EDIT: There is a pun relating the title of this post to its content that I didn't even get until I posted it (and read it out loud). I love language!

Brian and TV

2007-04-11T12:50:00.000-05:00

This weekend folks were watching Pirates of the Caribbean in the living room (I should probably see the sequel to that, huh), and a commercial announcing the new season of the Shield came on.

"Whoooo!" I fist-pumped. "One of the top 5 shows ever!"

Zach, one of the founding members of Zazz Incorporations, immediately asked me to name my top 5 in order. Uh....I immediately realized that my claim had a lot more to do with enthusiasm about the show's return after well over a year, and it really wasn't one of the 5 best TV shows ever. But how to rank them? I can't really compare comedies to dramas directly, so I should probably split it out into two lists. As for a ranking criteria note....I tend to try to combine "good for its time" with "good right now". Obviously you can't fault older shows for being, well, older (there has been a steady increase in the rise of quality of the best TV shows, unlike movies, I'd argue). But I also don't want to go nuts on the whole "this may not be funny anymore, but it was hugely inspirational to stuff I do like" angle - I think that you gotta weigh both factors.

Before I make any lists, I want to take a short detour to discuss one of the stranger phenomena I see: people who make very proud declarations of "Kill your TV! " or "I haven't watched TV since 1985" or whatever, and then go on to list 60 or 70 movies or so that they deem absolutely essential in their life. TV snobbishness is stupid; it is easy to watch only really amazing shows (many of which are of far higher quality than those 80 movies that people rewatch over and over) and ignore the rest of the crap. I have never seen an episode of American Idol, Grey's Anatomy, ER, Survivor, or really any reality TV show (save a one season stint of Project Runway), game show, etc. It just seems retarded to be proud of arbitrary excluding one visual medium...like people saying "I love books - but only ones you can read in less than two hours!!!". But it seems like more and more people are realizing that great TV exists.

Arbitrary lists

Dramas
1. The Wire - Only seen Season 4 of this, but if the rest are anything close to it...like nothing else on TV.
2. Deadwood - Higher quality than the Sopranos as far as cast, story, etc. are concerned.
3. The Shield - Gritty, engrossing.
4. Twin Peaks - Lynch = brilliance.
5. Sopranos - Certainly deserves credit for leading the TV renaissance. But I've never felt as attached to it as I have other things.
6. Heroes - Cheesy, but unafraid to do whatever to advance the story line. Proving that a pure network serial can work without stupid gimmicks that come to hurt the show (24's real time thing, Lost's flashbacks, etc.)
7. Veronica Mars
8. Lost
9. X-Files (I guess...I kind of hate this show in some ways).
10. House? Maybe...I'm already kind of tired of this show. Maybe Big Love?
Things I've never seen but might deserve to be in the top ten: Six Feet Under, Battlestar Glactica

Comedies
1a. Arrested Development - the most advanced form of comedy yet reached in any TV or movie, I think.
1b. Simpsons - Would be at the top easily if it had ended 4-10 seasons ago.
1c. Seinfeld

4. Venture Bros - The best show most people have never seen.

5a. The Office (US) 5b. The Office (UK) - A tough call, but a long running show that frequently manages an excellent portrayal of absurdity just barely edges out a short lived, flawless show about awkwardness.

7. Futurama
8. Home Movies
9. 30 Rock
10. Cheers

Sketch shows

1. Mr. Show (if only David Cross could get a guest spot on the Wire, he could complete the hat trick)
2. Kids in the Hall
3. Flying Circus
4. The State
5. Chapelle Show
6. Reno 911
7. Viva Variety

Notable mention: Inspector Gadget. Thailand put out a live-action version of the show:

We're Fighting!!!

2007-04-11T11:32:00.000-05:00

Multiple readers have whined that I haven't posted lately. I have two reactions:
1. I have multiple readers?
B. Ok fine. The real reason I haven't been posting is because I've been in a fight with this site. Basically I spent like 2 hours writing a super long post last Friday, and then I left it open for a super long time..and when I came back and tried to hit publish, it didn't work, and I ended up losing the whole thing (I usually write on a text file first, but sometimes don't...). And rather than re-type the whole deal, I walked away in disgust. And then I spent the whole weekend staying up at nights, finishing an overdue paper. And then I got in another fight - with my hair. You can see my myspace if you want to check out who won (I can tell you who lost: the lovely ladies of Boston). I've also been having too much fun listening to new things (LCD Soundsystem, The Field, etc.) to listen to the thing that came up randomly to do the album review (Guns and Roses, to be precise. Or Guns 'n Roses, to be slightly more precise. Shouldn't it be Guns 'n' Roses? Why is only one letter's absence significant enough to warrant an apostrophe? that's always bugged me).

For any Whitman people reading...this is precisely what we created CAAF for.

I PETA the fool

2007-04-04T02:15:00.000-05:00

"Look what happened to my fox! Someone cut off his little foot. Is it - Is it noticeable?"

I posted this over at the AV Club, but I thought it was worthwhile sticking here. Me ragging on people who think that PETA is the devil (the context being that PETA criticized Karl Rove for some joke he made about liking to kill little creatures during the White House journalist ball thing, and a bunch of posters got all worked up about how evil PETA is. What I forgot to point out is that they should be criticizing him for his rap, that was waaaaay waaaay crueler to animal and human alike):

PETA was being dumb here, no doubt. Their intentions aren't bad, but to choose Rove's feeble attempt at humor as a time to take things literally is pretty retarded.

That being said I don't really understand why PETA gets so many people worked up. I'm not on board with their program - I don't think animals should be treated like humans, for example - but what do they do that is so bad? As far as causes go, it is about a million times more understandable than the NRA or such things (I can't wait 5 days for me gun!). While I don't have a problem with animals being given a lesser status, I also don't really have a problem with rich people getting red paint thrown on them for wearing fur. Even ethical implications aside, I think that might be a net positive kind of event. But everyone makes them out to be such a sinister organization, when at best they just seem occasionally wrong-headed and kind of self-defeating with their bad publicity.

Album Challenge #1: Donerail

2007-04-04T00:54:00.000-05:00

My old friend Josh, also on board with the "force oneself to encounter new music" theme of this site's music, proposed a good idea wherein he and I would, on an occasional basis, suggest "new" albums (to that person) to each other for reviewing. This is a good idea, because in some ways we're very divergent in our interests (he put it well in his post, so I'll just direct you to that), yet in others we share similiar roots
(our friendship was built on three main pillars: 1. his contempt for me arising from how I acted in freshman year english class to try and attract the attention of the girl sitting in front of him (funny story, he and his father managed to accidentally ruin my first and only "date" with this girl), 2. debate, him because his brother was the coach and me because I was a fucking nerd, and 3. our love for guitar playing and the classic rock greats).

In any case, my first "challenge" him was Four Tet's Rounds, which I think is a pretty good choice as far as trying to pick a more or less purely electronica album that a non-electronica fan will almost definately enjoy. And his first to me is to listen to Donerail's first album "Disconnected." This is a band he's connected to - but not strongly enough that I would feel the need to not be a dick about what I think.

I'm awful at describing music, so I'll let the band speak for itself here:
"Bouncy Americana-roots music featuring introspective story telling and big guitars."

Well, I'm clearly not the intended audience for this music, since that description only bats .500 for me - not its fault, but I'm not going to be drawn naturally to Americana-roots or to introspective story telling (as I've said before, I suffer from an almost utter inability to follow the story-threads in music unless I basically look up the written lyrics). Bouncy and big guitars, however, are big thumbs up from me (what would a band with just those two elements look like? Tapes 'n Tapes, maybe - another portland band! Of course, T'nT might well have story elements that I've never noticed). I'll try and be thorough to accomodate the "challenge to new things" format, but since my review skills are bad you're probably better off just listening to clips from the songs for yourself -
http://cdbaby.com/cd/donerail

It starts off with a song that is pretty tight on instrumentals but suffers from lack-luster vocals (this last part is characteristic of much of the album. The strange effect of the beginning of each verse flailing about, only for it to sync up tonally on the way down. If you just listened to the last half of each vocal line, you'd be in pretty good shape. This is particularly evident on #04 "Portland.") "Long Division Exit" is one of the best tracks instrumentally, though, because the experimentation and guitar diversity that Donerail likes is dispersed throughout the song, not just bunched up at the end (which is the problem with the second song, "Drenched." That and the fact that the blues solo doesn't really mesh well with the style of the song whatsoever.)

"No Caroline" is my favorite track - the vocals aren't hidden behind anything, the song knows when to be soft, when to be loud, when to experiment, and is just well balanced over all. The best thing it has going for it is how the staccato lyrics lay on top of the laid-back accompanying main guitar melody .

"Portland," again, scores high in the guitar experimentation category (although there's a little too much lead guitar diddles in a few spots), is ok with everything else. The line "Portland I miss you....we rely on each other/Like a sister and a brother/Or - a drunk and his lover" - who is the drunk and who is the lover? I'm not totally certain. "Gale" is kind of forgettable. And not really very much like a gale, unless a gale sounds like one constant, lazy, ambulatory guitar solo.
"Vicodin Dreams" should be named "Expensive effects pedal purchase justification song". I love a lot of the things being attempted in here; it just needs a complete rebuilding. Like a castle made out of a bunch of awesome LEGO pieces that are all kind of jumbled together.

"Circle" resets to the early-album-energy kind of song. Fast, short, enjoayble ditty. "Unwind"'s decent, but kind of muted overall. The last part of the album features songs that grab your attention for being fairly different from the preceding stuff - "Violet" has some sweet moments, "My Son is Sane" is typical fare but plays with silence to achieve some good energy. "You", on the other hand, is pretty flat energy wise. And as for "Bozeman - Radio version" - they mean like a 1920s radio. The silent-movie-soundtrack recording technique is interesting, and makes for some cool guitar sounds, but you're still left kind of wondering why it is happening.

So, the album knows how to explode and innovate on micro levels - just not at a macro level, and not consistently. That, plus the big vocal inconsistencies, is what holds it back from successfully blending Wilco-esque stuff with other alternative sources (that I'm not musically literate enough to identify, but are clearly there).

Brown Sugar

2007-04-03T18:46:00.000-05:00

Keith Richards, apparently, once snorted his dead father's cremated ashes along with some cocaine. Hmm...would this fact make me like the Rolling Stones a bit more? *listens*......nah, they're still pretty boring.

James and I fix sports

2007-04-02T15:24:00.000-05:00

This might fall below the "worth posting" threshold...but what the hell. A silly IM conversation I just had with James, a friend I stole from Walter (not that it was any of my doing...they were arch-enemies already).

Joxer Jameson: whats up sugar tits?
Brian: my breasts are cinnamony, thank you
Joxer Jameson: hah noted
Brian: not much
Brian: you?
Joxer Jameson: same
Joxer Jameson: watching the bosox
Brian: it is too early for baseball again
Joxer Jameson: suck me
Brian: here's my problem with baseball
Brian: there's too many games
Joxer Jameson: agreed
Brian: every day when I check NBA results, if lowly Seattle, say, stomps the Spurs or whatever, I'm like "oooh! damn! that's a big deal!"
Joxer Jameson: that it tough
Joxer Jameson: which is why football season is so greta
Joxer Jameson: its short and intense
Joxer Jameson: but
Joxer Jameson: baseball is still a great game
Brian: no, football's worse, because the amount of talk and hype is WAY out of proportion to the amount of game
Joxer Jameson: haha
Brian: and it is hard to track elite performers who can take over a game
Joxer Jameson: half the fun
Joxer Jameson: no way
Joxer Jameson: you jsut need to do your own research
Joxer Jameson: cant pay too too much attentian to sports writers
Brian: no, I mean, I know I don't know the plays they run and all that shit
Joxer Jameson: yeah but when you watch as many games as possible you know who the play makers are
Brian: but say, Brady and Manning will never square off against each other at the same time
Brian: I think that is lame
Joxer Jameson: oh like head to head?
Brian: yeah
Joxer Jameson: on the field at the same time?
Joxer Jameson: that should be a game
Brian: basketball achieves the perfect blend of the individiual and the team - you have to have both at the same time
Joxer Jameson: haha
Brian: I would like football more if there were two offenses at once with two balls
Brian: and the offense also had to play defense vs. the other side
Joxer Jameson: haha yeah
Joxer Jameson: that would be interesting
Brian: so then the penultimate play could be setup
Joxer Jameson: id like to check that out
Brian: where one QB is throwing a long TD pass
Brian: and the other QB blocks it by throwing their ball so that it hits the other ball in midair and knocks it off course
Joxer Jameson: haha
Joxer Jameson: that would take insane acuracey
Brian: that's why it is penultimate
Joxer Jameson: hahaha
Joxer Jameson: lets start it
Joxer Jameson: 10 men for each team at once?
Brian: awesome
Brian: yeah
Joxer Jameson: i see how this could happen
Brian: we'll call it "Double Quarter-Pounder....WITH DEATH"
Brian: although there wouldn't be much death
Joxer Jameson: haha
Joxer Jameson: maybe not in YOUR version
Brian: we have competing leagues already?
Joxer Jameson: just competing teams
Brian: oh, ok
Joxer Jameson: yours will, naturally, be massacered
Brian: this is true

Words - a tidbit

2007-04-02T03:26:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I am in the midst of something (in this case, an all night paper writing session), and I have thoughts I don't want to lose entirely...which I will if I don't write them down somewhere. Sometimes I'll try to preserve them by making incomplete posts about them. In other words, this will be disjointed and incoherent.

Words - thinkers of language make the mistake of treating words as if proper nouns for ideas (idealism). Idealism hangs on often not because Plato sticks in the back of throats, but because we treat words like names, and assume they must have their unique subjects. Just as "Mike" and "Mike" can be two differnet people, we think that a word that adopts two meanings is split in twain in all but superficial means. Say "sanction" - a word that is its own antonym. A ruler sanctions an activity...another ruler puts sanctions on another country. Permission/restriction. No one doubts that words can have wholly different - or even opposing - meanings. But people persist in their belief that each word carries with it a footnote to one specific meaning, and the first sanction is really just "sanction1" in the dictionary, and the second is "sanction2". But a word does not mark an evocation to a trailing static definition - it is a conduit to openness to the other. The depth at which radical intersubjectivity runs is proven by any single word in the dictionary. Analytic philosophers, those who are afraid of language becoming relative, etc....are extremely pessimistic about the capacity of humans to create meaning-giving context!!

Caputo Lecture

2007-04-01T17:42:00.000-05:00

John (Jack) Caputo visited BC on Friday, to run a seminar and provide a lecture. Caputo is one of the bigger fish in the (medium sized?) pond of contemporary continental philosophy. The first was based on a paper on Derrida's notion of the "Democracy to come" (a venir), and the lecture was on deconstructing Christianity. The two projects sound very different, but really dovetail together. Caputo follows Derrida's working with Christian terminology, but isn't interested in anything approaching traditional religion (as many of the audience members couldn't quite grasp in their questions...they made many queries coming from the perspective of god as a divine being).

In the democracy paper, Caputo takes up Derrida's statement of a "democracy to come" as a means of heeding a (transcendently ethical) call for justice. The roots of this lie with Levinas, who saw the very foundation of ontology as being based in an infinite ethical imperative we have to the Other; alterity makes a call upon us to continually become a responsible Being-for-the-Other. "Ethics" is not based on any telology, is not a system designed to keep social order, is not at all based on sympathy (a kind of violence, for Levinas, to try and deny the radical otherness of the Other), does not lead to happiness, etc.

Derrida and Caputo do find something phenomenologically compelling about this call, but want to found it better than Levinas (and move a tad away from his absolutist position that, ontologically, it is "pre-ontology"). For Caputo, the democracy to come doesn't have to do with an ideal political state - instead, due to the nature of the call, it cannot be something pre-anticipated or fore-grounded in any way. What we call "democracy" now is merely a historical marker. It need not even be a "democracy", what we are called towards. The "democracy to come" is a means of showing how the call to responsibility for the other is grounded in the hope of a justice that is not (and cannot) happen in the future, but instead is abjectly futural - an essential element of time's flow itself. Democracy is thus just the best placeholder term we have for a transcendent ethical "source" for this call we find that evokes us.

Much is the same with Caputo's treatment of Derrida's "religion without religion" - and I believe this is the difficult that confronted listeners who themselves were Christian in background. Christianity is really just the best placeholder name we have for this religion of weakness that is called for by alterity. Christianity and Jesus are merely paradigmatic because a careful hermeneutical reading of the roots of Christianity (up until Paul, really - he and everything thereafter predominately marks a grand departure from the essence put forth by Jesus...a literal misreading of the poetically-intended "miracles") shows the paramount place of weakness. What is truly divine is the humbling of the self, and the giving of the self for others - invitation, non-violence, sacrifice. Basically as far as you can get from the contemporary concept of Christianity! (to the extent that Christians are involved in charity today, I believe is analogous to capitalism's dependency upon welfare, a means of warding off awareness of the fundamental corruption of the basic institution. The boat with an ever-widening hole comes with a bucket! It never fails to amuse me the neo-conservatives that want to roll back the stance the federal government has taken to social programs since the 30s...there is a reason that American support for communism was growing exponentially up until the New Deal. Talk about hacking one's own legs off...).

My thoughts on what Caputo has to say: generally positive. But one of my friends whose opinion I value mentioned that he always found Caputo to be more style than substance..and in many respects that is the case. Caputo is certainly the definitive stereotype of "continental philosophy writing" that aims to be ultimately evocative without much literal concern for justification. But he does raise some phenomenologically valid points - the way in which "democracy to come" refers to a structure of temporality and not a specific, hoped for event/state of affairs I liked quite a bit. But the notion that the call must be wholly other seems to retain that unquestioned and unjustified claim of Levinas's - and is not in tune with my (admittedly not well established) reading of Derrida's trace. I think the very notion of something as infinitely other is a fun but dangerously vapid byproduct of idealism, and good phenomenology does not point to such a thing (both Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology; even in the Beitrage, where Heidegger gets the closest...there is still the faintest echo of silence in nearness to the Last God...and he backs away from that whole business in later works).

Also, I posed a question to Caputo about the relationship between Nietzsche's holy Yes (from the third metamorphoses of the spirit, aka the child) and receptiveness to the call, and he agreed that Nietzsche's interest in a justice-sans-ressentiment is somewhat similiar to his theology of weakness, but he feels that the source of Nietzsche's ethics ultimately boils down to overflowing which is "phallic". It cannot be weakness, a true gift, unless it is giving of one's self, not giving of what one has left over.

But is that really the meaning of Nietzsche's overflow? Or is Caputo commiting the sin he warns others about by not reading something as a poetic metaphor? I suspect that Nietzsche doesn't mean that one ought to give of oneself only after being completely satiated. Indeed, Nietzsche is interested in how far the human spirit can go in affirming despite pain and suffering and loss. The difference is that one must be able to say "Yes" to that giving - it must be through that peculiar kind of strength - or else ressentiment creeps back into the picture. There is a world of difference between trying to turn weakness into strength, and in recognizing that one can (and should!) with-stand any amount of weakness due to a higher order of strength. That sounds a lot like ressentiment, but that is because it is not meant duplicitously here. I will explore this topic a great deal more when I write the first essay in my humor series - exploring whether or not Nietzche's golden laughter is at heart tender or cruel. I may well incorporate Caputo's analysis into that paper, given the way in which I find myself spiraling back to that subject.

Album du jour #13 - Menomenology + Concert Review

2007-04-01T16:10:00.000-05:00

This post has been waaaay too long in coming, but my determination to get various academic obligations out of the way and a Caputo-laden Friday (as well as pursue a small semblance of a social life for a few nights a week) has delayed me.

In short, on Tuesday I went to see up and coming Menomena with Jon at Great Scott. FANTASTIC show. What I didn't expect was to see two very quality opening bands too. The first, Land of Talk, was the biggest surprise. Elizabeth Powell is an outright amazing vocalist - and every guy in the bar was immediately in love with her. At the end of the show I purchased a Menomena poster (based on the Neverending Story...I had to), and asked Powell to sign it "I am not in this band, but I am still a stone cold fox." She found that so amusing she gave me her cd for free - which, coincidentally ehough, was given a good review on Pitchfork the very next day.

The second opening band, Fields of Music, was very tight, but just wasn't as memorable to me as Land of Talk. As for the Menomena show, it was impeccable. I was originally going to review the most recent album and then write about the differences I noticed in the show...but everything was just more dynamic. They're a fantastic life band. So I'll just talk about the album and you can imagine that turned up to 11 for the show.

(why liz powell would be popular even if she wasn't a good musician):

Menomena - Friend or Foe (2007)

Prior Relationship to Album: I was altered to it in Febuary by my good friend and fellow philosophy nerd Jon Burmeister. But it might be arrogant of me to refer to him as a peer - he's the PhD-est of the PhDs! Or something like that. Anyways, he was able to predict exactly my kind of music. Menomena is creative, orchestral, jazz, funk, and all with a passionate independent voice. I wish we had better terminology to talk about the myriad types of rock that exist nowadays...because "indie rock" brings to mind stripped down music with no extra layers. My favourite "indie rock" groups do strip away traditional rock habits to get down to a raw musical center, but then build on that and weave creativity around it, like undoing a knotted yo-yo only to tightly re-wrap it. For instance, Menomena makes as much use out of bass sax and chimes solos as they do their own voices, keyboard and guitars.

High Point: #05 Weird. I can't think of any track in recent memory that puts as much pure driving force behind each note. Second might be #10's Evil Bee.

Low Point: Mostly that there aren't more bands like this one...but as far as the album is concerned, #08 My My. Not that it is a bad song per se, but it has the least Menomena-uniqueness. Would be at home in the last half of a New Pornographer's album, easily.

What I Realized/Learned: Great Scott gets some damn good acts (I saw Jamie Lidell there awhile back). And Portland might have the best music scene in the country.

Future Relationship to Album: It makes me feel like God is rubbing my tummy!

In other news:

I mentioned the relationship of the Chinese to basketball in the NBA post...so I had to point out this link - a list of nicknames the Chinese have for various NBA stars. We have really been slacking as far as nicknames are concerned recently; at best, we've just been using things like K-Mart, or D-Wade...which aren't nicknames nearly as much as efficient names. I'm definately calling Carmelo Anthony "Sweet Melon" from here on out. And It is amazing that no one in the US ever came up with "Stone Buddha" for Duncan before.

Pop Quiz: Who's my favourite President? Yup, that's right, Franklin Pierce!! What a rockstar.

Uhhh.......

2007-03-29T11:33:00.000-05:00

Karl Rove rapping! That's all I really have to say.

Album du jour #12 - Compijubulation

2007-03-27T07:41:00.001-05:00

Groove Armada - Another Late Night (2002)

I found myself in trouble when I get shuffle...the first result was Bjork's Big Time Sensuality, which is a 13 minute EP, which doesn't qualify. But the second result was Groove Armada's Another Late Night, which is a compliation album. I had intended to skip past albums that are mostly compilations - it is technically a "DJ mix", but not enough editing was done to really achieve the level of uniqueness that I would normally mandate. But I decided to go through with it, because 1. I felt like listening to it 2. They're a fairly important band for my music history, and 3. The next album was a random Jefferson Airplane one (I felt the need to get their discography the other week, for some strange reason).

Prior Relationship to Album: I first encountered Groove Armada - as most do - with their popular (and frankly, annoying) club tracks. They cropped up here and there, but I didn't explicitly listen to any of their albums until I started my job as the RPM genre director for my college radio station (aka, I would get the new electronica stuff and be in charge of selecting what goes into rotation and reviewing it and whatnot). One of the first albums I got was LoveBox, which made me realize that Groove Armada was a chillout group that liked to get its tentacles into the occasional rock and hard house tracks. I've listened to Another Late Night in bits and spurts. ALN is a series of DJ mixes designed to showcase the artists inspirations, not unlike the DJ Kicks series.

High Point: #13 "Strawberry Letter 23" is amazing, I think. A mix of folk rock and disco, it achieves a breezy but moving balance..and then ends the song with a 2 minute synth/sleigh bells solo. #08 "Memory" also needs to be mentioned; admist a sea of picturesque chill-out tracks, this one brings with it the most complete accompanying image. For me, that image is a proud stroll down the city streets of Philadelphia on a summer dusk, and anticipation for the possibility of love that can only be felt on such environments.

Low Point: #10 "Raise the Dead" wins the "good idea, didn't go anywhere with it" award. The “Breathe” remix by Open Door can be great, but it alternates between engrossing and jarring.

What I Learned/Realized: That Four Tet, Jamiroquai, Belle & Sebastian, and Kid Loco all have entries in the Another Late Night series...and I have none of them! This will be remedied shortly.

Future Relationship to Album: I can't forget one of the bands that got me into deep house and downtempo music...and as this is an album of their influences, these are roots that grow down to tickle the feet of my soul!

I've been listening to Menomena's Friend and Foe over and over again the past few days..because Jon and I are going to go see them play tonight! None of my friends know who they are, but they're the type of experimental indie music that I can really get into. I'll have a review of that album, as well as my show thoughts, tomorrow.

Brian and the NBA

2007-03-26T21:02:00.000-05:00

I've been writing a number of post drafts - ideas for things to flesh out later. Many of these are just titles; since the title is the most important part of any piece of writing, I've always believed (which has led to my bad habit of working in at least one pun into the title of nearly every academic paper I've written). One of the common themes of many of these have been blurbs detailing background information on my relationship to various aspects of my life. I decided to finish one of the less pertinent but more fun ones, especially that the high point of the basketball season is upon us.

I also chose to finish out this post because of an amazing finish to the Detriot/Denver game tonight. It wasn't on TV, but I saw the recap - 'Sheed, fresh off of serving a suspension for having a league-leading 18 Technicals, made a MIRACLE half-court 3 to force overtime and helped the Pistons win. One in a million shot, check it out on ESPN (or whenever it goes up on Youtube).

My relationship with sports has always been tenuous. I was an avid baseball fan in my youth; the kind of kid who had to collect every single baseball card from that year's set (go Topps, screw you Fleet and Upper Deck!). I would go to Angels games when I was 6-8 and living in Riverside...Anaheim being closest, and the team that my neighbour and friend Warner was a fan of (I was way more into the Dodgers due to Orel Herschiser). My real favourite team was Oakland - I was NUTS about Jose Canseco back when Mark McGuire was seen as his Robin. I was too young to be cognizant of the fact that he was a figure of mockery even then (at one A's game someone sitting near me threw a nude blowup doll onto the field while shouting his name).
While I played baseball for 4 years following my move to Oregon (I was a good hitter, and passing shortstop, I had a hard time doing things like running...lack of willpower to push myself. Also I was a social outcast and didn't like my teammates), my enthusiasm for the game dwindled a great deal. Without a MLB team in Portland, this was hardly shocking. Going to a few Mariners games wasn't enough to keep the passion alive. While Portland is destined to recieve a pro baseball team in about a decade, all they have now is basketball. And a fairly proud history it is, given that after winning their NBA title in 77, the Blazers were in the playoffs every single year until 2004. I moved to Portland at the perfect time; the early 90s Blazers led by Clyde the Glide Drexler (now on Dancing with the Stars! Which I would watch if I was immortal and life wasn't too short) made the NBA finals, losing only to Jordan and the Bulls. You couldn't go anywhere in Portland without seeing gigantic "Rip City" posters everywhere. It is strange, but Oregon is perhaps the second biggest basketball state aside from Indiana (whose importance is dwindling) - Nike and Phil Knight reside there, which is why U of O football and basketball players have better facilities then perhaps any other team, college or pro. And Paul Allen, the owner of the team, is one of the richest people in the world.

Of course, I was only somewhat interested in the Blazers at that point. Too poor to attend many games, but I watched a ton (and my mother's ballroom dance troupe performed at a number of halftimes). Sports in general lost any and all importance in high school and college, and I went some 4 years without watching any TV whatsoever - but my love for basketball remained. Unlike the anonymous warlike strategical grit that permeats NFL games, and the slow pace and largely individual hitter vs. pitcher duels that comprise baseball, the NBA holds by far the largest entertainment factor for me. I think it comprises the best dynamic between team cooperation and individual triumph.

I'll cut the history lesson for now, and get into what I originally intended to do - list my teams in ranking of favourite to least favourite! My determination for this is, all other factors being equal, which team would I prefer come out on top. I'll explain a little bit about my relationship to each team.

1. Portland - Mostly above. While I loved them even in the "Jail Blazer" era, their recovery from that - highlighted by the impressive 2006 draft maneuvers to get the best two rookies of the year, Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge, for essentially nothing has made this an exciting and very promising rebuilding time. Soon the Blazers will be back in the elite Western Conference teams. (Update. I was just talking to josh about why Zach Randolph, despite putting up career numbers, needs to be traded. Here's a pretty good reason why).

2. Detriot - Partly due to my Trail Blazer affiliation. My favourite player of the time was Rasheed Wallace, and I transfered my affection to the Pistons when he moved there. This trade brought the Pistons together, the trade that won them a championship. And even more importantly, they ended the reign of the hated Lakers Dynasty at a time when I was increasing my focus on basketball (aka, out of college and thus had a TV). Most hate their slower style of play, but I absolutely adore watching them play. Not just because of their players - Detriot plays a style that is unique. Other teams play great defense, but no one else can just break down their opponents capacity to play the style of basketball that they wanted to. It isn't just that the other teams plays are well defended against; you can really see their planned execution getting ground up and spit out. The only team, announcer, and crowd that really thrive off of that gritty, smashmouth kind of feeling. Brutal and beautiful.

3. Dallas - Not a team I've supported for long. The sheer dominance of Dirk Nowitzki that even increased after Nash's departure has made them a fun team. A young and awesome coach, and a team so impressively deep. Like the Pistons, the team can be won by any number of different players. The Pistons probably have less consistency in who their leading scorer will be any given night than any other team (Hamilton? Billups? Wallace? Tayshaun? C-Webb? who knows!). Dallas used to be the same, although now Nowitzki has raised his game to the level where he's almost always throwing down 20 or 30. Which is why he is far and away the MVP this year. I just want this team to get a ring, especially since they got robbed last year. My interest in them will dip after they manage that.

4. Denver - Why Denver? Because they're fun to watch offensively, they're kind of underdogs, and Carmelo Anthony is far and away my favourite of the '03 draft wonder children. I'm real into AI as well; paradoxically, his departure from the 76ers this year made me like BOTH teams vastly more. I just wanted Iverson to play for a contender very badly, and for the 76ers to get into rebuilding mode.

5. New Orleans - Simple: CP3. Chris Paul might be the likable player in the league (well, tied with Brandon Roy). Plus I'm a big fan of Tyson Chandler now that he's improved so dramatically (making the Ben Wallace trade look even dumber for the Bulls).

6. Phoenix - The most joyable team to watch, ceratinly, thanks to Steve Nash. He didn't deserve the MVP the past two years though...I would rank this team higher, but Amare isn't very likable (although you have to root for his remarkable knee surgery recovery), and Marion is too sullen to like that much. Raja Bell and Barbosa are my two favourite players on this team, easily. It would anger me greatly if this team didn't win a ring in the next year or two, though...if Dallas wins one this year, then I'll shoot Phoenix ahead of them in terms of teams I want to succeed. Nash et al deserve one before they have to break apart this current lineup.

7. Toronto - I like Bosh, and the wacky Europeans here. Plus they're Canadian, big underdog factor.

8. Houston - In my more overt sports hating days (now I just have contempt for the NFL, and an interest in the stories about baseball but not really watching baseball itself) I used to think that sports were utterly unimportant in the bigger picture (I was more into, say, Fantasy Congress Leagues in college.) But Houston's a big example why this isn't always the case. People have talked a lot about the future relationship of the US with China, wondering how events will shake out given our past and their growth in power, soon to eclipse our own. One reason why this China as the new superpower thing doesn't concern me too much has to do with one simple fact: Tracy McGrady has the best selling jersey in China. The Chinese are becoming more and more obsessed with basketball, and due to Yao Ming being on the Rockets, the Chinese have really responded to the NBA and the Rockets in particular. I don't think it is at all implausible that two 7 footers, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian (who will be drafted in the 4-10 range in the upcoming NBA draft), will be crucial players in US-Sino diplomatic relationships in the future.

9. Boston - I live here, shouldn't I like them more? Well, geography doesn't mean everything. I hope they improve though. Getting Kevin Durant would bump them up a ton.

10. Washington - Gilbert Arenas! Agent Zero! The most honest athlete ever, and the first to blog extensively. Just check it out and you'll fall in love with him.

11. Utah - I liked them back in the Malone/Stockman era, just because they put up a valiant effort against the Lakers and Bulls.

12. New York - Mix of likeable and really hatable players on this team (screw you, Starbury). But for such a storied franchise, they really deserve more success.

13. Minnesota - Mainly because they were a foil to the Lakers. And KG deserves a ring.

14. Orlando - Darko!

15. Atlanta - I root for underdogs, and the Hawks are, well...underdogs.

16. Seattle - Washington State love. Although they'll be in Oklahoma in a year or so...

17. Golden State - Some interesting players this year (Ellis, Beidrins, Peitrus). Don Nelson's the coach, so they're basically a 2002 era Mavericks team with less talent and more injuries.

18. Sacramento - I used to like the Kings a lot more. Then Bibby fell from grace and they traded for Ron Artest.

19. LA Clippers - The not-Lakers LA team. Also, Sam Cassell has huge balls, and will demonstrate this fact.

20. Charlotte - 'Stashe!

21. Philadephia - Hope they rebuild.

22. Memphis - This is the NBA city I'm most likely to live in from 2008-2010, sadly. So I feel some hope that they'll get better in time for that.

23. Milwaukee - I have less feelings about Milwaukee than I do any other team in the league. Utter neutrality.

24. New Jersey - Their most likable player is Jason Kidd...and he beat his ex-wife (although to be fair, she beat him a lot too).

25. Chicago Bulls - All the signs of a team I don't really like. Former overly-long dynasty? Check. Pistons rival? Check. I hated Ben Wallace for leaving to them, because he transitioned from underpaid workhorse anti-hero to over-paid underperformer on a team I didn't like. Glad the Pistons didn't pay him, but sad to see him go.

26. LA Lakers - From the above comments, you'd think they'd be in last place. But while I still am not a huge Kobe fan, it is much harder to hate the 2005-2007 era Lakers, with their young talent in Bynum and Farmar, and Walton progeny (aka, son of the greatest Blazer ever). If Kobe left this team, I'd be a much bigger fan.

27. Indiana Pacers - Brawl, 'nuff said (see bottom).

28. Cleveland - Ok, so I'm not a Lebron fan. I have a hard time accounting for this. Just my dislike of the universally annointed King? I'm not sure.

29. San Antonio Spurs - The Spurs don't have any one dislikable (except perhaps Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen), but they put me to sleep. Duncan has more rings than he does smiles in his lifetime, Parker suffers from the fate of French and Spanish players to be much less jovial and amusing than the German/Eastern European ones (although the rap album he recently put out in French was pretty hilarious). I just want them to stop winning. It is getting boring. If they win the Western Conference this year and shut out the deserving Suns and Mavs, I will be PISSED.

30. Miami Heat - Part of this lingers from last year's ridiclous Semis and Finals...I feel like I should like Wade, but I don't. And while I LOVE Shaq as a person, I can't stand any team he is on. Basically he carried a good percentage of my Laker dislike on his shoulders with this transfer, fair or not.

And while this post is roughly 50 times larger than I had planned on, one more thing I have to share...since I like to bury the entertaining stuff at the bottom. Apparently in Finland they have a test all high schoolers have to take to graduate, and one of the questions was on identifying art. Apparently on these tests and government documents they meant to put Picasso's Guernica, but instead they put a mock basketball version of the painting that blog Wizznutzz created to commemorate the infamous Pistons/Pacers brawl (note 'Sheed's baldspot):

See the full story here

Update: My friend alterted me to a great video of Sheed practicing these ridiclous shots (I've seen other footage of him working on that 3/4ths court shot...he has such amazing arm strength he can actually shoot that far with a quasi-regular stroke) which I have seen before, but forgot to include here.

Album du jour #11 - 5.1derfulicide

2007-03-23T15:15:00.000-05:00

The Killers – Sam’s Town (2006)

Prior Relationship to Album: I had never heard Hot Fuss, so The Killers were new to me when Pitchfork et al reviewed this album to relatively high acclaim. And since I haven’t really listened to the first one yet, my listening won’t be coloured by the “letdown by comparison” phenomenon that seemed to be prevalent amongst most reviewers.

High Point: I almost went with “Bling”, but I have to pick #07 “Uncle Johnny” for this spot. Mainly due to the relaxed and more confident energy that really makes it stand out from the rest of the album (or maybe I just like the bass line more).

Low Point: #03 “When You Were Young.” I have a hard time distinguishing this song from “For Reasons Unknown.” Like, I will switch back and forth between the two and they sound nearly identical. So maybe my feeling that WYWY is derivative exists because I think it sounds too much like a song on the same cd that I feel is slightly better. I don’t know. (Not surprisingly, this was their biggest hit single to date).

What I Learned/Realized:

- Brandon Flowers was “inspired” to try adding a guitarist to his band by going to an Oasis concert. I think Oasis deserves royalties for a brilliant idea like that!

- The Killers have a rivalry with Fall Out Boy. Which kind of reminds me of third grade when I used to shove around the quasi-retarded boy.

Future Relationship to Album: On first listen through I enjoyed this quite a bit, but I feel the need to doubt myself a bit. You see, I just picked up a new sound card and 5.lderful speakers, and it kind of makes everything sound utterly amazing. (Also, my new 22 inch LCD monitor makes winamp look *really* cool, but I don’t think that is influencing my judgment nearly as much). But then I put on Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise just now, and it is blowing me away. (If he does Oregon, I will go fucking crazy). So maybe I’m just going to over-estimate all music until I adjust to my new toys.

Album du jour #10 - japtastic

2007-03-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

Lili Haydn - Lili (1998)

I haven't done one of these in a few days. Computer foibles, St. Patrick's day, frantic weekend paper writing, March Madness, and Hegel grad student conferences (or, the skipping of) all conspired to limit my time.

Prior Relationship to Album: JP and I went to see Page and Plant perform at the Rose Garden in the summer of 1998, obviously a big event (especially given how Led Zeppelin obsessed I was at the time...not that I am any less so now). Lili was the opening act, and I don’t think I’ve ever been as enamored of an opening act as I was of her. But what were the chances of me being interested in a gorgeous, dark haired, angsty rock violinist? Somewhere between one hundred and ten thousand percent, to be precise. I bought her cd and got it signed – even though waiting in line in order to do so meant that I missed the first few minutes of Page n’ Plant’s intro. (Interesting sub-thought: I’ve officially declared the cd format to be dead to me, since the thrill of owning something physical has worn off, especially since it is really no less physical than the part of my hard drive that I ripped this album onto…but while you can transfer cover and booklet art to the computer, I can never transfer her signature. Will people struggle with the loss of that kind of attachment to a physical, temporal object in an increasingly digital world?)

High Point: #03 “Real.” It is tough for me to reconcile the fact that I pay almost no attention to the sense of lyrics of music that I’m listening to (I’m interested in the musicality of the voice, but rarely what is said, which is why I don’t mind singing along with “Jesus is just all right with me” or misogynistic blues lyrics or whatever, but I don’t give a shit about compelling personal stories told via indie rock)…but this is an exception. The defiant feminist tones here I cannot specifically relate to, but can generally (is this similar to how white people can be moved by, say, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man?). Is this just because it is a female singing? A strange relationship to the (m/)other I have indeed! But even without all that crap, this song rocks hard.

Low Point: #09 “Daddy.” Still very good, just a tad repetitive. And not nearly as technically interesting as the instrumental that follows.

What I Learned/Realized:

- George Clinton called her the “Jimi Hendrix of the violin.”

- Her parents allowed her to choose her own name. For awhile, she went by the name “Helicopter.” Cool! I might have to steal that. The letting my child pick her/his own name part, not the calling myself Helicopter part. Although…..Helicopter Ward. Has a ring to it!

Future Relationship to Album: Never lending it out to a girl to try and impress her with my soulfulness ever again. I did that once with a girl I dated very briefly in college….took me months to get it back.

Philobracketology

2007-03-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

So my original philosophy in approaching the bracket was to make a few daring and crazy picks, figuring that the only way I could win would be if those insane things went down....since otherwise you basically have to get every early pick correctly.

Well, now I feel stupid, because I almost *have* gotten every early pick correct. My daring moves were Gonzaga in the sweet 16, Long Beach over Tenn, and Oregon to the finals. If I hadn't have been trying to go for intentionally crazy moves I would have picked UCLA over Gonzaga, and I wouldn't have picked Long Beach (who just lost by 40 points). But I got the UNLV and Winthrop picks right this morning...if I can get Creighton over Nevada, then I'll be in pretty damn good shape. But it is all for naught unless Oregon makes a really, really deep run.

I'm beating the crap out of most people though. #1 among all BC students! The way Facebook compares you to your friends, schools, and networks is really cool. I'm just enjoying mild success while it lasts (and avoiding the blizzard outside).

Update: I went to Whole Foods to buy some fancy cheese with my new loan money (I am very fiscally responsible...), and as I was walking back in my room to catch the end of the Creighton/Nevada game, one of the announcers was saying "....was arrested for marijuana possession...". I love basketball.

Meanwhile, my standings aren't doing so hot after Creighton lost. Oregon won in a surprisingly close game, which might help serve as a wakeup call to push them to do better in the next few rounds (Porter won't always shoot 30%). I'm at 20-3, and have tumbled from #252 on all of Facebook to #25,000 or so.

Album du jour #9 - Would you like a jar of flies with that?

2007-03-15T00:16:00.000-05:00

Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies (1994)

Utterly outstanding weather. A whistle-while-I-work time at the office. A little shopping, a lot of wine, some sublime correspondence, the best NBA game of the regular season (Dallas and Phoenix in double over time, Phoenix won but I can't complain too much), a little God of War II, and now my favourite Alice in Chains album to top it off. A la Ice Cube, I'd have to say it was a good day.

Prior Relationship to Album: I associate Alice in Chains predominately with late angsty nights as a frosh in college. In particular the songs on this album...just mesmerizing. I don't even know how to describe it, but some music for me has a dark, harmonic, just immensely powerful feeling - and this is the epitome of that type of music (DJ Shadow being another).

High Point: In a "Nutshell": listening to this song (and Rotten Apple, and Whale and Wasp, the other two nearly tied for the top spot) after midnight, on max volume on headphones, when you're coming down from being drunk and/or high (although not the latter anymore!), breathing in the night breeze as it wafts in through the window....bliss. I have goosebumps big time. This and "Midnight in a Perfect World" are the last two songs I'd want to listen to if I was seconds away from death.

Low Point: No, it is all necessary. I refuse the question. I'm sure if there were more than 7 songs there'd be one that wasn't absolutely essential, but it is a tight grouping.

What I Learned/Realized: Jar of Flies was the first and only EP ever to reach #1 on the Billboard US album chart. And this is the first work of theirs to feature bassist Mike Inez!

Future Relationship to Album: Try to have it available at all times in case impending death is imminent. Am I the only one who has "just before death, press play" songs?

In other news, I finished my NCAA bracket this afternoon. Now, I'm not trying to go for complete accuracy. My theory is that it is impossible to win any kind of pool or competition if you go with the likeliest picks (not that I am in any actual non-online pool - my philosophy friends don't like sports, my roommates don't like college basketball, and my co-workers...well, after a scandal in which BC bball players were throwing games due to betting pools 3-4 years back, they make a HUGE stink about disallowing any such pools). This is because everyone makes those same picks - so even if you get the final four right, to have any shot at winning everything you have to get every single early round pick correctly, which is basically impossible.
So instead, you have vastly greater odds to gamble on a long shot and be one of the people who picks some crazy shit. For example, I have Oregon going to the final round. Now this is partly loyalty for my home state (I was born in California, but that doesn't count...and I've spent hours and hours arguing with JP, Russ, and Paul about this), but mainly because I think they have a fairly decent shot considering the versatility of their guards, etc....and if they actually do make it that far or even to the Final Four, then that will get me a leg up on nearly everybody else. In any case, here's my bracket for anyone interested.

Insane weekend! I'm looking forward to every bit of it (and yes, the weekend begins the minute I get out of class Thursday evening).

Album du jour #8 - Stealers of arctic-circle candy

2007-03-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

Fragmentorchestra - Fragmentorchestra (2002)

Prior Relationship to Album: So after watching and falling in love with Linklater's philosophy-major-ego-stroking movie Waking Life, I wanted to find more stuff like its soundtrack. The Waking life sountrack was played by the Tosca Tango Orchestra, and is a jazzy, trippy tango shuffle that is really amazing. But knowing nothing about any form of classical music - let alone unique ensembles that played avant-garde piano/viola numbers - my only lead was to go looking for other bands that had the word "orchestra" paired with something that sounded weird. Lo and behold, I stumbled across something that was in fact nothing like what I was searching for, but was still pretty good. Fragmentorchestra, a little known group that does acid jazz (and when I talk about "acid jazz" here, I don't mean real acid jazz, where a jazz band just does weird shit...I mean a combination of acid jazz, house, and prog house. A more accurate title is "European nu-jazz", but "acid jazz" is commonly used for this kinda stuff because people get the genre lines fairly blurry).

High Point: "De Muse" and "Sambita" both take the cake. The band really lives up to its name; intricate elements, traces of things. Lots going on for anyone whose listening ear doesn't automatically turn off when it comes to electronic "chill out" type music. (and most people do shut off their attentiveness when there aren't vocals, punchy rock hooks, etc...which is unfortunate).

Low Point: "Spirits Voice" is just so-so.

What I Learned/Realized: Earlier attempts to find out info on this band have been in vain because they're Italian, and not many people state side are aware of them. Also because the internet is divided over how to spell their name.

Also, from the myspace page of one of the guys in the band, they have a really weird fascination with some ghetto Italian version of Alice in Wonderland....

Future Relationship to Album: Probably the same. But I'll be more wary of Italians. It is pretty good, the openminded amongst you ought to check it out.

Album du jour #7 - Faux-incest, real rock

2007-03-12T04:09:00.000-05:00

The White Stripes - Elephant (2003)

Prior Relationship to Album: Oh, well, everyone knows this album. Myself included. That's kind of handy, since I should be writing anyways (hooray for all-nighters! Although this is more designed to correct my atrocious and random sleeping habits than a helpful means of getting work done).

High Point: I'd like to say "Black Math" or "Ball and Biscuit", but I have to go with the plebs on this one: "Seven Nation Army" is clearly the best song on this cd, and edges out those two. So I'm boring, fuck you.

Low Point: "Hypnotise".

What I Learned/Realized: All five albums (six if you include forthcoming Icky Thump) have songs with the word "little" in the title!

Future Relationship to Album: "[It's] got [me] in [its] pocket".

In other music news, I don't get the Arcade Fire. I didn't get Funeral, and I don't get Neon Bible. Is this a temporary mistake? Perhaps - I haven't listened to either very extensively yet. I detested Modest Mouse when I first heard them in college (although I took a liking to other indie groups immediately...), so repeated listenings might make me change my mind. And given the universal lavish praise, I clearly have to give Neon Bible at least a decent chance to convince me. But I just can't get over how little I care about the music when I'm listening to it, and usually I have a very visceral reaction to things that move me......so I don't know. If I could land it as an ADJ then I could go into more depth on the subject, but the almighty Album Shuffle button does not heed petty mortal concerns in its decision making process.

Phonograpic (continued)

2007-03-10T01:09:00.000-05:00

A few odds and ends before philoso-rambling:

- Since this blog in large part revolves around a gimmick having to do with albums (albeit a gimmick interesting only to myself), I have to give big props to the clever idea the folks at Merry Swankster had. In the vein of the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament, they're having a March Madness showdown of the top albums of the '90s. Go check it out and vote on the matchups that have occured thus far - I'm banking on Daft Punk's Homework and Magnetic Fields to succeed well beyond their rankings and go far...who's the Duke of this bunch? Neutral Milk Hotel feels like Syracuse to me for some reason, and Radiohead is clearly the Tar Heels. Nirvana = Florida? (if Joakim Noah shoots himself and prevents a repeat of the NCAA championship, don't say I didn't warn you).

- Speaking of college basketball, I'm watching the Pac10 semis game between Wazzu and USC. I would LOVE a Wash State v. Oregon finals, but USC has managed to hold the lead for 3/4ths of the game. At least Cal did away with UCLA - meaning the Ducks are almost certainly winning this thing. UPDATE: Damn it, USC won. Well, that will make tomorrow's game more exciting, since I get to root for a team I like against a team I hate.

And now to continue the train of thought from the other day. There I laid out a brief sketch of Schopenhauer's thoughts on music, to touch upon the notion that there might be a connection between truth and music...could music have significance not only for aesthetics, but for epistemology?

Speaking very broadly, the common conception of truth is founded upon the model of vision. A thought or state of affairs is seen as one intricate image (or, if it temporally complex, akin to a video clip), and its veracity lies in the extent to which this mental picture comports with a real picture of the physical world. It has always been recognized that appearances can be decieving, but to address this problem it was assumed that the fault lay with the incomplete capacities of the human perspective, but the "divine mind" would have a perfectly clear picture of all Being. The notion that thinking is basically a kind of mental seeing (insight) has persisted in a number forms. The metaphysical was always built upon a bedrock of the physical being most pre-eminently visual (hence the close connections between eidos, forms, ideas, images, etc.)

Phenomenology differed from this insofar as it sought to subvert the dominance of metaphysical systems; most of the disputes that rage within the phenomenological tradition as to how successful each figure was at this. One way of reading the unfolding of thought amongst these figures is to see them as working to subvert the metaphysical assumptions made by their predecessor. In Derrida's view, Husserl and even to some extent Heidegger were affected by a metaphysics of presence. For Derrida, giving primacy to what is present to the senses in lieu of absent is a mistake; every phenomenon is instead a spectrum of presence and absence. (To defend Husserl, this may have been a reductionist view of him, given his emphasis on how every impression relies on forward protention and retention of the past). But confusion over how to interpret this reigns, largely because vision as a model for truth does not give leeway for there being a spectrum; either you can see something or you can't. Blurriness doesn't suffice (it doesn't incorporate the temporal element of differance, for instance).

Could this confusion be cleared up if we saw truth as more analogically related to hearing? Unlike sight, hearing operates not as an on or off switch, but only due to a complex concordance of spacings, distances, echos, resonances, etc. A thought is more like a musical chord than anything else - synthetic thought takes disparate moments in experienced life, joins them together, and rings forth their combined essence. As Heidegger rightly pointed out, untruth is not the privation of truth, but instead the same notes out of order...a note played in the wrong mode! Every truth contains untruth, just as every chord contains a number of octaves and off-tones (I don't know the technical terms for these things, I've forgotten most of my music theory background) that are subsumed into the dominant harmony.

This relationship has crept into language in a few specific ways. A "sound" theory is not just a "good" one - if you call a theory sound, then you are saying that it achieves a form of coherence not only internally, but also with the world at large...it is not just logically valid, but also an organizing principle that "rings true" with experience at large. And it is no accident that Husserl, when writing about the phenomenology of time, switched from visual examples to melodies, since no moment can appear as a moment unless it the mind also intends in any given moment the temporal contextual surroundings of the moment, the past and future knit together, the horizonal limits against which each tone reverberates so as to be heard at all.

The difficulties that one runs into trying to compare competing discourses of truth vis-a-vis experience are obviously much more complex than this, but perhaps finding more common ground is less a matter of trying to determine who is more metaphysical than whom, but instead seeing that many of the differences turn around the difficulty of trying to boil down thought to one of our senses, when our mind is comprised of a number of richer processes that interact in myriad ways.

Album du jour #6 - Dial "Brian" for Pointlessness

2007-03-10T00:56:00.000-05:00

Bonobo – Dial “M” for Monkey (2002)

Prior Relationship to Album: Bonobo is a downtempo artist…I got this album back when I was working as the electronica genre director for my college radio station. It was a kind of fun gig, because basically I would get all of the electronica albums that labels would send us, and I would write labels asking for more…and I would get to copy everything before putting it in the cd changers. Although most of it was junk and didn’t end up in. Anyways, Ninja Tune sent us this record, and is one of my favourite labels. I know I’ve listened to some of this album before, but it has been so long I don’t remember a thing about it.

High Point: 06 “Pick Up”. I can’t think of any interesting ways to describe how and why this song is great, so I’ve asked They Might Be Giants to pinch-hit for me:

Low Point: The second half of 03 “D Song”. Starts off strong, and then turns into that Lunesta commercial where the magical green butterfly puts you to sleep.

What I Learned/Realized: Bonobo’s real name is Simon Green, is my age, and is from the UK (Brighton, to be precise). And he became one of the new “downtempo pioneers” at the age of 18. At the age of 18, I was playing a lot of Heroes of Might and Magic and thinking that I was cool because I would order the “feminine energy” booster pack with my Jamba Juice. I could be doing more with my life.

Future Relationship to Album: Try to listen to this album more….after I get published. (Although technically I have been – but that doesn’t quite count).

Being-Mused

NBA Lines Day 7

NBA lines day 6

NBA Lines Day 5

NBA Lines Day 4

NBA lines day 3

NBA Lines Day 2

NBA Lines day 1

Your present?!? You're *my* present!!

Album du Jour #22 - What The Funk

Tote Rag with a Rote Tag

Dr. Jekyl and Mr Snide

New HBO show with David Cross and Bob Odenkirk

things that are things that are things that are

I love the local news

Eating Bubblegum Pie

vapid, ho!

Bibles, Beats, Bliss

Fergie pisses on herself my childhood

Golden Unlaughter

How to exploit nature betterly

He's like some non....giving-up.....school guy!

Making Sense on the Dollar

Open Wide For Some SOCCERRRRRRR

ambulatory epiphanies, take 2784

Brian and Music

Bananas Made Me Arrogant

Fallicle of Rome

Last on this subject, I swear

iPhone = Iraq War

meloncollie

Why do Scottish love wearing kilts??

iPhoning It In

Album du jour #21 - Sticks and Stones

Illegal Craigslist Postings

Michael Cera Sexppreciation Day

Crap Boobs Crap....Hell Damn Fart

faseptic

Invention is the Daughter of Grogginess

Bpork

When the Fat Italian Sings

Hitchhiking on the Information Super Highway

Just when I think there's no hope for the Japanese...

Waking Li(fe)brary

Oregon Country Fair - Nudity + Vanity + Awkwardness - Country

O Coen Brothers, Where Art Thou?

Things I Learned from Pitchfork's Sasquatch! Photos

age/sex/phenomenologist?

The Hows, Whats, and Gwuhs? of music distribution in the future

Acquired quite a taste, for a well made mistake

Tapes n' Crap

I don't know why

Distraction / This, traction

Big Shot Jerk

Yacht-Onslaught (Yachtslaught) Week part 2

Yacht Rock and Moi

Jazzitivity

Album du jour #20 - Sambalicious

Electronicrap

Album du jour #19 - You're sucking all over me

divinity; or, the sliver thin difference between Pessimism and Optimism

Heartbreak

Enjoy the Silence

Zwa?

Album du jour #18 - Threepoint shot away

Album du jour #17 - Moose and Gay Sqverrrll

All I Want for Christmas is a Tech

Shootings

Album du jour #16 - Death Through the Out Door

Philobloggery

Album du jour #15 - MYcapslockisBROKEN

Album du jour #14 - Illusionary, Incidental Pasta

Pair o' docks

Brian and TV

We're Fighting!!!

I PETA the fool

Album Challenge #1: Donerail

Brown Sugar

James and I fix sports

Words - a tidbit

Your present?!? You're my present!!