April 28, 2004
The Boys Are Back in Town
Posted by nerdling | April 28, 2004 09:59 AM
Hey you! Yes, you. You should order the new Mission of Burma album. It comes out May 4, and it is their first album in 22 years. That's almost as long as I've been alive. So go buy ONoffON. You'll like it, I know you will.
Speaking of records to buy, here's a list of the records on my "To Buy" list of new and upcoming releases:
Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
Mission of Burma: ONoffON (May 4th)
Communique: Poison Arrows (June 15th)
Merge Records 15th Anniversary Compilation: Old Enough to Know Better (July 13th)
On creative—"new wave"—cooking in the NY Times: some of the suggestions do sound completely disgusting, but I must say that I am intrigued by the roasted red pepper and onion powders, as well as the martini cubes. As for the deconstructed clam chowder and saffron-n-shrimp sorbet with chorizo crisps and scallops, I think I'll pass. But if you're one of my friends, be on the lookout for pickle chips and vermouth foam at my next party...
Speaking of food, new advances in agricultural technology (primarily DNA maps that make gene identification much easier) have resulted in smart breeding, a process which allows scientists to manipulate the naturally occuring—but often dormant—genes of plants to produce the most hardy and high-yielding crops possible.
Even better than the fact that such manipulation leads to plants that can be grown organically with few or no pesticides, because researchers are not engaged in any form of transgenics, the processes do not need to be (and indeed, usually cannot be) patented, likening these developments to the grassroots R&D of the open source computing community. The ease and inherent value of this sytem could be without limit (particularly in developing nations where cheap and hardy are rare commodities in farming), especially because it could mean the downfall of Big Ag companies like Monsanto.
Also in the Times today: If "South Park" is one of television's great comedies, it's not great for being reckless; it's great for being a series of funny, topical parables. A-fucking-men to that.
