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April 30, 2004
Only 81 Shopping Days Left
My birthday is in two-and-a-half months. If anyone out there has $750 lying around that they would like to spend on me (attention kindly millionaires or estranged relatives trying to make nice), this is what I want for my birthday.
*sigh*
Posted in Quoi? | 30 April 2004 at 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (59) | Link
Back at the Hotel with Scrabble and an Orange
A rather lengthy (yet entertaining) excerpt from Marc Simpson's book, Saint Morrissey, on sex and the pop star who made "is he or isn't he?" a way of life.
Is there any sex in Morrissey?
"None whatsoever. Which in itself is quite sexy." Hah! Cheeky bastard!
Speaking of being trapped by sexuality, look out 2005! Under construction now in Wilton Manors, FL is Wilton Station, the first gated community—"upscale village"—marketed specifically to gays. As though building gated ghettos, destroying urban centers and further stratifying the population wasn't bad enough, now the housing industry is working it's way into marketing through identity politics. The complex will offer a martini bar, dry cleaning, lap pool, spas, waterfalls and a "Tiki Hut" on site for everyone out there willing to accept the rampant gay stereotypes and buy a home to support them!
"These people care greatly about their bodies," says the project's architect Vernon Pierce, a straight man who grew up with a gay sister. "The health club was viewed as extremely important, so we designed a facility that will be second to none."
"Another key area of concern was entertaining," says Pierce. "So we upgraded the kitchens' size, and made sure they're open to the rest of the unit." The gay contingent, he says, responded to the prospect of cooking while hobnobbing with guests. Pierce also expanded the terraces in many units to a whopping 7 feet by 19 feet.
"Because the gay community is gregarious," says Pierce, "we thought: Why not create a bunch of public spaces? We changed the design of certain units to incorporate a 9-foot-square front porch." Their research indicated that gays would actually furnish and use these porches.
All in all, the gay customer remained mostly true to stereotype. "They do demand a higher level of design," Pierce says. "So we put in a lot more detail. Nicer columns, nicer paving patterns." The result, judging from renderings, is a handsome development, not overly original, but "upscale" in that sun-drenched Florida way.
I care about my body, love to cook and entertain, pine for a yard but would settle for a balcony or better yet, a porch; I feel I'm very gregarious and am a veritable fascist about design quality. Thus, according to the builders' criteria, I am obviously one of "these people"—er, gay.
On an architectural note, I'd like to point out that I'm not very impressed with the overall design of the place. It's fussy and overly contrived. Further, the floorplans need some help. Who wants the laundry room and water heater right outside the master suite? Further, why is the study inside the master, and why is the walk-in closet inside the study inside the master? And what's with the big, L-shaped empty space between the master bath and private terrace?
Google goes public with a double-tiered stockholder structure and a fuck-you letter to Wall Street.
The Dandy Warhols have released a two-CD set of previously unreleased material, The Black Album/Come On Feel The Dandy Warhols, presently available only from the band's website. (And the most unattractive picture of the usually uber-sexy Courtney Taylor-Taylor that I've seen.)
Random piece in Chart Attack about the band that yours truly and company released an album for, once upon a long time ago.
Lead singer Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand gave a lecture about the merits of file sharing at Edinburgh University:
Alex had earlier told BBC news: "To be honest I'm all for song swapping online. Downloading music from the Internet is something I do myself and something that I'd be keen to encourage.
"From my experience it isn't necessarily the musicians themselves that are against it, but those companies involved in the music industry. The way the music industry is trying to regulate online sites at the minute is very heavy-handed - fining kids for downloading songs is just crazy." An excellent point sir, and well taken.
Posted in Quoi? | 30 April 2004 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1) | Link
April 29, 2004
The Festival of St. Malingerer
I don't know how many of you actually visit the interesting and/or amusing links I so carefully insert under the Detours menu to the right, but if you haven't visited 5ives.com yet you damn well should.
For an example of the brilliant wit therein, please see the following:
Five excuses to get you out of work today
1. You ate almost a quart of bad paella and have violent squirts
2. You accidentally fell on a set of bicycle handlebars in the shower and will need a day to get them dislodged
3. New Roman Catholic holiday: “The Festival of St. Malingerer”
4. Your beloved burro, Henrietta, has died from the cancer
5. You’re drunk on Jesus and don’t care who knows it
Posted in Quoi? | 29 April 2004 at 02:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (36) | Link
All I Ever Wanted To Do
The RIAA sues 477 more people! This round is primarily bringing charges against college students in the East and Midwest, and taking the total number of suits up to 2,454 since last summer. Oh, how I love the vultures at the RIAA!
Happy Birthday, iTunes! On the anniversary of the iTunes Music Store's first year of operation, sales are still strong and the catalog keeps growing. Further, there is good news for you audiophiles: Apple is negotiating the rights to digitize and release out-of-print albums on iTunes.
Jobs also noted Apple is working with labels to digitize out-of-print music and sell it in the iTunes store. On Wednesday, 45 singles and 45 albums from the Motown archive became available.
"Those (out-of-print) songs can now be monetized and preserved as part of the cultural record," McGuire said. "That's huge."
One of these days I'm going to give in and buy myself a swank little iPod, but not until the rechargable-but-not-removable battery issue is resolved in the upcoming models. Aside from that, if I'm spending that kind of money for a digital music player it's going to have to be at least a 40GB model so I can transfer as much of my CD collection over as possible. Perhaps someday I will be able to have my ultimate fantasy: a pink, 40GB iPod Mini.
*drool*
I haven't lusted over a piece of hardware like this since the introduction of the Titanium PowerBook. Mmmmmm. PowerBook.
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 29 April 2004 at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 28, 2004
The Boys Are Back in Town
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.
Posted in A/V Dorkout | 28 April 2004 at 09:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (105) | Link
April 27, 2004
Rotten? Sure.
In general weirdness, John Lydon (known more often as Johnny Rotten, of Sex Pistols fame) has selected Justin Timerlake to play the young Rotten in an upcoming film adaptation of Lydon's book, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.
Also, if you're in the mood for fun, check out the Twin/Tone website for video of The Replacements 1981 show at the 7th Street Entry. Exercise caution with the volume—the tuning is one of the reasons the show is legendary.
[Found via largehearted boy]
Posted in A/V Dorkout | 27 April 2004 at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 23, 2004
Turning Rebellion Into Money
I was excited about the upcoming presidential election for approximately two weeks. Those weeks were during the Democratic primaries, back when I thought someone with some substance—some real ideas, maybe—had a snowball's chance in Hell of being nominated. I was, quite obviously, wrong.
Before reading the quotation below, taken from a article about the GOP losing votes by alienating young voters and mocking the Democrats for trying to engage members of the hip-hop community, I'd like to mention my thoughts on the matter. Shocking even myself, for once I agree (in tone, if not in principle) with the Republican objection to Kerry's appearance on MTV. The excerpt below is horrifyingly patronizing. It isn't even creative condescension—he doesn't say anything at all, and he expects the youth voters to eat it up because he has something that sounds sort of nice to say about the music they listen to! Well, fuck you John Kerry. Fuck you and your trite party line about the poetry and violence of rap. Keep that up and I might vote for Nader just to spite you and the handlers that let you loose on the world with that bullshit.
On March 30, Sen. John Kerry appeared on an MTV news special for an interview, where he was asked about trends in popular music. "I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop," Kerry responded. "I think there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, because it's important."
It's important all right—if the kids who listen to rap don't vote for you, you're screwed. Aside from Kerry's repugnant little episode, I was terribly disappointed by Salon's coverage of the story, ironically explaining to the reader that the GOP pundits who are lambasting Kerry would "be tagged as playa hatas" in the rap community. Oh Salon, you smug, pretentious bunch of terrifyingly liberal idiots! What would your readership do if didn't have you to explain the intricacies of urban culture?
Posted in Damn Nation! | 23 April 2004 at 10:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (12) | Link
April 22, 2004
Toothaches & Novocaine
Aside from my ever-annoying incoming wisdom tooth and my impending afternoon appointment with my dentist to take care of it, today's news is interesting.
BayStar Capital, a major investor in technology, has sent a letter to SCO Group requesting the return of the $50 million investment made last October. SCO, as you might remember, is the company that is suing IBM, Novell, DaimlerChrysler and Auto Zone for what it perceives as outright theft from Unix. The loss of $50 million will certainly dampen the lawsuit against Linux, since carrying on four major lawsuits against very, very big companies is a time- and money-consuming process.
In keeping with my weekend's entertainment—watching movies, such as Last Call—the University of South Carolina just acquired a collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's scripts, written toward the end of his life while living and working in Hollywood, at MGM. Sadly, Fitzgerald was not cut out to write for the screen and only one of the manuscripts ever made it on film. The rest are all preserved, most in his original penciled longhand, suited best for the reading public that made him famous.
Posted in Damn Nation! | 22 April 2004 at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 21, 2004
Wallpaper
Recently browsed by yours truly:
betterPropoganda, a new free and legal download site for fans of independent music of the rock and hip hop persuasion. The site, while similar in composition to Epitonic, focuses on newer music, as opposed to Epitonic's equally worthwhile and important focus on seminal music from the recent past. On the plus side, you can save songs that you like on betterPropoganda to a playlist for future reference. If you're like me and find yourself searching out music at work and promptly forgetting what songs you heard when you get home, that is a very nice feature.
Yet another in what appears to be a new trend, the Pitchfork spoof. RichDork, brought into being by the folks at Something Awful, asserts that "all written content was produced by eternal college students who were laughed at by English professors when we submitted rambling, vapid essays to them, which is why we now work at Border's bookstore, but one day we'll have our big break and then you'll see".
I've long suspected that Pitchfork is run by a group of bed-headed, bespectacled Dave Eggers fans with an insane prejudice for Radiohead. Apparently I'm not the only one.
Plus, lots of interesting things in the news lately:
IN P2P trading, Palisade Systems has designed a new program, Audible Magic, that purports to block the transfer of copyrighted materials on P2P networks. Endorsed by the RIAA, the filtering software is sold as part of a bundle of network-management tools and cannot be installed in the individual file trading software (such as Kazaa or Morpheus), but rather must be used on a network. Naturally, this is a major draw for colleges and universities who are being scandalized by student file sharing, as well as being hounded by the RIAA. I say it is creepy and invasive, not only because there is plenty of freely available legal copyrighted material for download, but because in addition to policing action on P2P networks, the software also searches any files transfered through email or instant messages. Three cheers for the impending police state! Hip hip hooray!
THE Governator has promised to have a 'Hydrogen Highway' up and running in California by 2010. Much, I'm sure, to your surprise and awe, I think this is an excellent notion...being put in place at a very bad time. We have already lost huge chunks of state funding for the arts and education; that money is instead being funneled into reinstating California's aerospace economy. And while hydrogen is the fuel of the future and a huge push—in the form of the $90 million it will take to create a workable network of hydrogen fueling stations, as well as all the funding for R&D on hydrogen-powered vehicles—is needed to get the ball rolling, something about this becoming a partisan issue weighted on the side of the party notorious for old (oil) money seems a little bit fishy to me, especially when the funding is coming from private sources.
IT'S just like Giuliani never left office! Veteran New York street artist James De La Vega is being charged with vandalism and facing up to a year in jail. Apparently even the enlightened minds of New Yorkers, living in the definitive urban locale, can't understand the important contribution of public art to metropolitan life.
Meanwhile Robert Johnson, the Bronx district attorney, recently told the New York Times, "We find it offensive that people come here and treat our walls as their canvas." As though there are not worse things that someone could be doing in a public space than using it to make art.
But in a country where works of art held in private collections are singled out and targeted simply because they upset the sensibilities of certain segments of the population (such as the uproar in 1999 over Chris Ofili's "The Holy Virgin Mary," part of the decidedly modern collection of eccentric collector and patron Charles Saatchi, being shown in New York), I suppose it is hardly surprising that we have only a vague idea of how to go about creating positive spaces amidst the thick of urban experience. We can barely keep a handle on preventing censorship for "real" artists being shown in museums, so why should a small group of urban (read: generally not white) kids be allowed to paint perfectly viable and non-gang-related pictures on walls in their communities?
IN political news, the New York Times ran a story yesterday about the new trend in campaigning: MRIs. Researchers at UCLA are using MRIs to study the levels and locations of brain activity triggered in partisan voters when they are shown various images, among them commercials for Bush and Kerry, as well as images from past elections. The study hopes to find out how people with strong partisan ties think about the techniques currently used to sway voters and, by proxy, how those techniques and others can be most effective.
Posted in Damn Nation! | 21 April 2004 at 11:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 19, 2004
Fireworks
The new New York Dolls sans Johnny Thunders...with Chrissie Hynde?
In serious news, I'd like to point out a little blurb from the wire. For those of you who are unaware or have not been following the conflicts between Israel and Palestine, Israel assassinated the leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a few weeks ago. After his death, Hamas members elected a more conservative (read: angry and violent) leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by Israel over the weekend. I'm not trying to say that either Israel or Palestine are right or wrong in this situation. I think both are pretty squarely wrong for one reason or another, but killing people with targeted missle attacks is only accomplishing one thing: it's pissing people off, and pissing them off at us.
"The Palestinian government considers this Israeli terrorist campaign to be a direct result of American encouragement and the total American bias in favor of the Israeli government," said Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, echoing a widely held sentiment in the West Bank and Gaza.
Palestinian officials are furious with President Bush for sidelining them, endorsing Sharon's unilateral plan and backing Israel's demand to hang on to parts of the West Bank.
Does this seem like a very bad situation to anyone else?
Posted in Quoi? | 19 April 2004 at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (31) | Link
April 16, 2004
News Flash: Literacy is Good
In an attempt to cut the recidivism rate among convicted felons in California, the state government is considering re-instating the prison education programs that were cut during the crime legislation wave of the '90s. Unsurprisingly, 50% of convicts are illiterate; sadly, only 10% of that half of the inmate population are literate at a ninth grade level when they leave.
Call me thick but I still don't understand how it makes sense that educating prisoners is "soft on crime." That makes it sound as though education is a particularly enjoyable experience; going to public school isn't even fun on a good day (like graduation), so I can't imagine that going to school in prison is better than that. Aside from that, if prisoners are coming out of jail with no skills besides tattooing with guitar strings and Walkman motors, the prison system is just begging to be filled with repeat visitors. Shockingly, it took the California government ten years to realize this. Perhaps it would help if the people running the prisons were literate, too.
Posted in Damn Nation! | 16 April 2004 at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 15, 2004
What I Like About You
I'm a sucker for quizzes. Online or off-life, quirky or serious; if it's a quiz, I'll probably take it. My particular weakness is for personality quizzes, and today is no exception. I took an adapted version of the Myers-Briggs personality test (taken from Jungian psychoanalysis) and found out that I am an INFP personality—the Idealist.
While reading the synopsis, I blushed and stuttered a few times because it pretty accurately sums me up. Below are some highlights of the test:
One real problem area for the INFP is their intense dislike of conflict and criticism. The INFP is quick to find a personal angle in any critical comment, whether or not anything personal was intended. They will tend to take any sort of criticism as a personal attack on their character, and will usually become irrational and emotional in such situations. This can be a real problem for INFPs who are involved with persons who have Thinking and Judging preferences...If the opinion is negative, the TJ's attitude may be threatening to the INFP, who will tend to respond emotionally to the negativity and be vaguely but emphatically convinced that the negativity is somehow the INFP's fault.
INFPs are very aware of their own space, and the space of others. They value their personal space, and the freedom to do their own thing. They will cherish the mate who sees the INFP for who they are, and respects their unique style and perspectives. The INFP is not likely to be overly jealous or possessive, and is likely to respect their mate's privacy and independence. In fact, the INFP is likely to not only respect their mate's perspectives and goals, but to support them with loyal firmness.
(Full version available here.)
Posted in Quoi? | 15 April 2004 at 04:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2) | Link
Protecting Linux
I've blogged about this issue before, but the SCO Group's lawsuit over Linux is producing more and more interesting news. Today on salon.com there is an article about Open Source Risk Management, a firm offering insurance against future lawsuits over the ownership of Unix and the legitimacy of the Linux kernel. Basically, the firm is doing research, taking Linux apart and verifying the identity of each developer who contributed code to the system, checking the origin of each piece of code and comparing it to a massive database of software, in an attempt to have complete knowledge of the contents of Linux so as to safeguard users against claims of plagiarism, stealing or misuse.
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 15 April 2004 at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 14, 2004
LA-ology
In general, I like Los Angeles. Granted, I probably feel more kindly toward it because I grew up in close proximity to the city and have lived in it for the past six years. If you are willing to look for it, LA has a rich and interesting history, full of vibrant people and places. The architecture here is outstanding (if you like Arts & Crafts and mid-century modern a la Neutra and Schindler), the weather is impeccable, there are great record stores and restaurants, year-round farmer's markets, cheap bookstores (because no one here reads), some interesting bars and clubs, and there is no better place to be if you like film.
Unfortunately, that last recommendation is also the biggest problem with LA—other than the lack of useful public transportation, which necessitates owning a car and contributing to traffic. I'd even be willing to deal with the traffic if venturing out of doors didn't mean dealing with legions of struggling actors, or worse—people who have already made it in Hollywood. People come here to see stars; that's part of what drives the LA tourist economy. What people don't realize is that stars and the people behind them (producers, directors, screenwriters) are by and large the most self-centered, vain, narcissistic, tempermental and vacuous people on the planet.
I deal with people in the film industry all day, every day and I can safely assure everyone that they are exactly how you imagine them to be, and I mean that in a pejorative sense. (I thought State and Main was an excellent representation of what Hollywood is like.)
In the way of proof, I'd like to offer exhibits A and B as representations of the personalities that are symptomatic of the industry at large:
EXHIBIT A: The Quotable Harvey Weinstein, head of Miramax.
To the personal trainer hired by his wife Eve, who was greatly concerned for Harvey's health: "I don't have time now, here's a fifty, get the fuck out of my office."
Filmbrain's all time favorite Harvey confrontation has to be the one with Elliott Goldenthal, composer and husband of Frida director Julie Taymor. Harvey and Taymor had been arguing over a test audience's reaction to the film. Always the gentleman, Harv turns to Goldenthal: "I don't like the look on your face. Why don't you defend your wife so I can beat the shit out of you."
[Borrowed from Filmbrain]
EXHIBIT B: The Quotable Quentin Tarantino, self-aggrandizing director of derivative films.
If He Were Teaching QT101 —
EW: If you were teaching a class on your own films, what deficiences would you point out?
QT: The answer is none. I'm sure somebody else might find weaknesses, but I can't. If there's a weakness, I don't do it — you'll never see the scene.
Quentin On Marty —
"I really do think directing is a young man's game....If I say Martin Scorses's movies are getting kind of geriatric he can say, F--- you, man! I'm doing what i want to do, I'm following my muse, and he's 100 percent right. I'm in my church praying to my god and he's in his church praying to his. There was a time we were in the same church, and I miss that. I don't want to go to that church. If I was headed to that church, I would write novels."
[Borrowed from Cinecultist]
I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be afraid to say such things about Martin Scorsese. He's scary and powerful and I don't believe he'd think twice about ridding the world of someone as over-appreciated and untalented as Quentin Tarantino.
Posted in Damn Nation! | 14 April 2004 at 11:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (58) | Link
Sadistic Tendencies
Trying to design a site and a blog that will appear somewhat the same across browsers and operating systems is a pain in the ass. The new redesign looks great in IE 5+ and absolutely wretched in Safari (my browser of choice), since apparently CSS compatibility is still an elective thing. I won't even discuss Netscape because it is, for most intents and purposes, useless.
Further, I keep my screen resolution at 1024 x 768 or higher at all times, but I feel obliged to design for 800 x 600 for those people who don't want to scroll sideways to see everything. The basic gist of this rant is that designing for the web sucks when you are trying to make one thing that is compatible with a thousand different quirky variables.
Why can't we all just agree to author for 1024 x 768 as a minimum screen resolution using CSS2 and XHTML 1.0? Why can't we force all software developers to make browsers that support those languages? Why, why, why?
I'm done whining now, and yes, I know the world will never have a complete, unifying web standard, or at least not for a long time. But a girl can dream, can't she?
Feel free to report bugs here. I'll be putting up a new design shortly, but this one will have to suffice for now. Happy Spring!
Posted in General Nonsense | 14 April 2004 at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2) | Link
April 13, 2004
Bear Away
For his part, Klempner [owner of Aron's Records] laughs at the assertion that file-sharers don't hurt music sales.
"I've seen no evidence in our store to support that," he said. "I've had people walking in here saying 'I used to spend $300 a year on music and now I don't need to.'"
I have two things to say in response to Mr. Klempner's comments:
01. Why are people walking into your record store to tell you that they don't buy records anymore? That seems slightly illogical.
02. I know for a fact that Aron's has not been doing well for a number of years. The selection is mediocre and the prices are much too high (though they do have a nice selection of music 'zines); the only thing they have going for them is the bi-annual parking lot sale, and even that is only marginal.
I would venture a guess that what is hurting Aron's sales more than file sharing is the Amoeba Music that opened up a few blocks away—with six times the floorspace and selection of Aron's and better prices. Despite my fascination with music and my preference for independent music stores, I would rarely go out of my way to shop at Aron's. I consistently go out of my way to shop at Amoeba because I know I stand a much better chance of finding what I want and paying less for it.
Perhaps, Mr. Klempner, you should take into account that people can shop for the same records elsewhere and pay $200 instead of $300. That might account for the random shoppers who come into your store to discuss why they don't buy from you anymore.
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 13 April 2004 at 11:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2) | Link
The Wretched Life of a Lonely Heart
Congratulations! You are a GRAMMAR GOD!
If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be.
How grammatically sound are you?
Posted in Quoi? | 13 April 2004 at 10:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (3) | Link
April 12, 2004
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong
From now on whenever anyone gives you trouble about drinking beer (well, Guinness), you can throw this at them. Sobriety be damned; bring me a pint!
Posted in General Nonsense | 12 April 2004 at 05:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (27) | Link
April 09, 2004
Anklebiters
I'm a big fan of Cary Tennis, the advice writer on salon.com. He generally gives very thoughtful, insightful advice to people who have serious concerns: adultery, children, engagements, long-distance relationships, etc.
The one area where Mr. Tennis and I regularly disagree is the matter of children. Every now and again he gets a letter which goes something like this: "When my wife and I got married, we both agreed that we didn't want kids. Things have been wonderful, but now she wants kids and I don't. What should I do?" Generally, the advice writer errs on the side of giving in, while I am loathe to ever compromise on an issue as serious as having children.
Mr. Tennis' most recent column is a letter in that very vein, and I wanted to share a passage from it that perfectly echoes my sentiments about having a brood of *shudder* children:
My wife is, understandably, ready to have children. I am not. I don't think it's even a matter of my being ready. I just don't want them. Over the last five years I have, for the first time in my life, spent time with children. I have become the favorite uncle. I love being the favorite uncle. I have fun playing with the kids and taking them to the zoo or aquarium. The thing I like the most about it is being able to go home to my life -- my nice, quiet, orderly life -- at the end of the day. I see how all of my family and friends' lives are with children, and I find it horrifying. I dread having my life turn into that. Amen, bro.
My response in this case would be to tell your wife to suck it up. (Cary Tennis' is that wanting to keep one's life to oneself is selfish and won't provide people to put you in a nursing home when you hit 65, so either end the marriage or give in and have the kids.)
I say that you both agreed on the terms of your marriage; just because she has decided that she wants kids does not mean that you have to change your mind and decide that you want them. She knew how you felt going in, and if she thought that somehow, miraculously, five years into the marriage you would change your mind about it too, that's her problem. Not to imply that women are fickle, but really—there are a great majority of women who hit 30 and want kids. We all know this.
Thankfully, I'm so selfish that this will never be a problem. If I ever feel like the clock is ticking too loudly, I'll get another dog. They listen better anyway, and you have to ask them to speak.
Posted in General Nonsense | 9 April 2004 at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 08, 2004
God Dammit!
It fucking figures: Braid is getting back together and going on tour with Minus the Bear, but only on the East Coast and Midwest. Not LA. Rrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I repeat: fucking RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Posted in A/V Dorkout | 8 April 2004 at 11:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2) | Link
Dead Disney
"Dead Disney"
George Thompson / Burlesque of North America
I thought this was a really great image to illustrate the first of a rash of interesting articles from my morning surfing: "The Mouse Who Would Be King", about two books on the effect that Disney and the Empire of the Mouse have had on copyright law. Both are hopeful for a future that likely won't happen, though Lawrence Lessig's summary of digital copyright law is downright chilling. The future of creative work is stifling and not getting any better.
"When the Edge Moved to the Middle": Thurston Moore on the legacy of alternative music and the influence of Kurt Cobain. Touching and lucid explanation of the phenomenon that is Nirvana and what "alternative" rock actually is/was to the people who lived it.
In a strange related note, I just found out that Thurston and J. Mascis were in the New York Superscum, one of the backing bands that preceded the Murder Junkies, GG Allin's backing band at his death.
I don't know how many people have been following the story, but the vote on Measure 04-A in Inglewood (building a new Wal-Mart Supercenter next to Hollywood Park) was defeated.
The Inglewood vote against Wal-Mart, 60 percent to 40 percent, was a victory for a coalition of unions, churches and community groups who said the development would have driven local retailers out of business and gutted the city's legal, environmental and planning powers.
Despite the fact that the vote was defeated, as mentioned in the article, the primary impetus for the negative vote was the fact that Wal-Mart was trying to circumvent state and local regulations for development by putting the issue on the ballot after local government turned it down. Unfortunately the opposition didn't come from concerns about Wal-Mart's anti-union policies, concerns over zoning and development issues such as traffic, or the fact that Wal-Mart offers low wages and limited options for healthcare, which translates to a potential victory for future Wal-Marts when they comply with regulations.
(For an insight into what it's like to work at Wal-Mart, check out Nickel & Dimed).
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 8 April 2004 at 10:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (29) | Link
April 07, 2004
They See Your Every Move
What scares me about articles like this is not that multi-national corporations and the government are trying to find avenues to gather personal information and invade privacy. I take that as a given; the companies want to know what I am up to so they can find more ways to sell me stuff, and the government wants to know what I'm doing so they have a better idea how to, uh, influence the populace.
I take it as a given that there are plenty of people who have personal information about me in their keeping, whether I gave it to them (or want them to have it) or not. The scary thing about the future we're facing if RFID laws are passed is that not only will there be large corporations (including the government) that have access to a lot of your personal information, but they will know where you are, physically. All the time. If you want them to or not.
That's just one step closer to absolute power, kids.
Posted in Private Eyes Are Watching You | 7 April 2004 at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me
Echoing a sentiment I have shared many times in the recent past, I think it's fair to say that Prince is coming back from the vague nether-region of weird where we lost him for most of the late '90s. If you require evidence, just look at this lyric from his new album, Musicology:
Wish I had a dollar / for every time you say / "Don't you miss the feeling / music gave you back in the day?"
Oh! It seems this is a good time to mention that thanks to Donnie Darko and the success of Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World," Tears for Fears are back and releasing a new album this spring. Listen to clips here.
Speaking of Donnie Darko, writer/director Richard Kelly has two new movies in pre-production: Knowing, which he is writing and directing, and The Box, written by Kelly and directed by Eli Roth, writer/director of Cabin Fever. Roth is also working on 2001 Maniacs, a remake/sequel of the 1964 film Two Thousand Maniacs!, starring Robert Englund. In other upcoming movie news, Kelly's friend Lucky McKee, writer/director of May, is directing a new film called The Woods. I'm looking forward to both of Kelly's films, as well as McKee's, which sounds suspiciously like Suspiria or everyone's favorite Aaron Spelling-produced TV movie, Satan's School for Girls. Bring on the sacrificial virgins, says I!
This is the last one, I promise: Dead & Breakfast. Yet another in what appears to be a string of terrible horror movies starring Jeremy Sisto. May was good, but how can he possibly explain Wrong Turn? I'm still not sure how that movie got funding.
Posted in A/V Dorkout | 7 April 2004 at 11:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2) | Link
April 06, 2004
I Heart Taxes
Until now, the public debate over the Bush tax cuts has played out along predictable, partisan lines. You've heard it so often, you can probably say it along with me. Bush argues that cutting taxes for all Americans stimulates the economy and will make everyone more prosperous. His stated goal: "Lower income taxes for all, with the greatest help for those most in need.'' Meanwhile his opponents say the bulk of the tax cuts have gone to the well-off. Bush and his opponents are both being factual—but, as we'll soon see, they use convenient facts and ignore inconvenient ones.
The blather from both sides obscures the real, but largely hidden, agenda behind the Bush tax cuts. Bush has been open about each item he wants: lowering taxes on capital income, such as dividends and capital gains; creating two big new income-sheltering investment plans; eliminating the estate tax. But he's not been at all forthcoming about the ultimate effect of his program. If Bush gets what he wants, the income tax will become a misnomer—it will really be a salary tax. Almost all income taxes would come from paychecks—80 percent of income for most families, less than half for the top 1 percent. Meanwhile taxpayers receiving dividends, interest and capital gains, known collectively as investment income, would have a much lighter burden than salary earners—or maybe none at all. And here's the topper. In the name of preserving family farms and keeping small businesses in the family, Bush would eliminate the estate tax and create a new class of landed aristocrats who could inherit billions tax-free, invest the money, watch it compound tax-free and hand it down tax-free to their heirs.
I've always been suspicious of investments as a form of income. Perhaps I'm old-fashioned but getting something for nothing doesn't seem kosher, so I avoid it. Apparently I've missed an amazing racket, though I still get to sleep soundly at night knowing I'm not doing anything shifty. And I get to wake up early to go to work and earn my heavily-taxed salary.
Oh capitalism, how I love you.
Posted in Damn Nation! | 6 April 2004 at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (61) | Link
April 05, 2004
Sidenote
I read an article today on reuters.com about how the independent label Sub Pop, best known for it's involvment in the Seattle grunge scene of the early '90s, is making a comeback with a strong roster of artists and even stronger sales. While I can't dispute that the label does put out some good stuff—I own more than a few Sub Pop releases—I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the information on the second page:
Sub Pop is 49% owned by Warner Music Group, but all its product is handled by Warner's independent arm, Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), rather than WEA.
Poneman says, "The mom-and-pop stores are the taste-making stores. As such, ADA is the superior distributor, because they have at this point established enduring relationships with a lot of those stores."
I already knew that Jonathan Poneman is a greedy, manipulative shithead but this is a bit much. The mom-and-pop stores are not the taste-making stores; they are the elitist-making stores where the people who care enough about music not to buy it at Wal-Mart shop. As such, whether they are the taste-making stores or not, they are also the stores where people are more likely to be just slightly annoyed that a label (insert Sub Pop, Matador, Trustkill, et al, here) that was doing just fine on its own feels the need to sell half the company to some huge, crafty, money-grubbing entity that sucks the blood of its young to sustain itself.
ADA is a better distributor because it maintains the illusion of independence (to soothe the consciences of anyone who still feels responsible to the music community) with the added bonus of major label backing. ADA is a better distributor because WEA owns half of Sub Pop and they want a return on their investment; such money is easier to get when your bands are showing up on "indie" record stations, KROQ and MTV.
Then again, I suppose it isn't that hard to give up money that you got by screwing the bands on the roster out of it.
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 5 April 2004 at 03:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
April 02, 2004
I'm Not Getting Paid Enough
Human For Sale says I am worth exactly $1,976,942.00. That's a far cry from my current hourly wage.
Posted in Quoi? | 2 April 2004 at 04:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Link
Don't Be That Guy
Check out the archives of live performances over at archive.org. They didn't have what I was looking for specifically (Ted Leo's cover of "Dancing in the Dark"), but they do have a nice collection of recordings featuring the Minutemen, dos, fIREHOSE, Fugazi, the Murder City Devils, the Gin Blossoms, Big Head Todd and the Monsters and the Mekons. Oddly, they also have 44 recordings of Toad the Wet Sprocket. That seems like an awful lot to me.
But please, use caution! The also have 228 Grateful Dead recordings, plus 629 (no, that is not a typo) archived String Cheese Incident shows. I've known some drug addled idiots in my life but really—who smokes that much pot?
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Wednesday, May 19 at Spaceland—Don Caballero, motherfucker!
Posted in A/V Dorkout | 2 April 2004 at 02:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (13) | Link
All and Sundry
I have currently visited 24 of the 50 states, or 47% of the good ol' US of A. What I don't understand is how I have missed Washington and Florida. When you look at a map of my travels, it's obvious that I don't get to the Midwest or Northeast very often, but I've obviously been all over the West and Southeast, somehow completely missing the northernmost and southernmost continental states on each coast. I just don't get it.
Despite missing those two, though, I think my travels have been fairly complete. I've been on buffalo and boar hunts, been rafting on the Flathead River, hiked along (not in) the Grand Canyon, hiked in Sedona...yes, all in all I've been blessed with excellent travels. I've even been to Mexico and Montreal, and I made it back alive and unscathed by the loathing of the French Canadians.
Oddly enough, I've never been to the three states I probably should have: Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois; the birthplaces, respectively, of my grandfather, grandmother and mother.
I might fill out some of the conspicuous gaps on my map soon, though. I'd like to get together the money to attend the Allied Media Conference at Bowling Green this year, but that isn't guaranteed. I'd also love to make it to this year's Paper and Book Intensive in Portland, but I really don't think that will happen either: I've already used up my travel budget for the year. Barring a miracle I will be at home this summer, drinking beer and listening to my records, which really isn't a bad way to spend time.
Posted in General Nonsense | 2 April 2004 at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (47) | Link
April 01, 2004
Someone Needs to Do This for LA
Posted in Damn Nation! | 1 April 2004 at 04:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (29) | Link
DIY Punk Rock Since 1972
Brent Hansen, President & Chief Executive, MTV Networks Europe added: "MTV Networks Europe is and always has been the home of independent music and artists. By signing this deal we are making a firm statement of our unwavering commitment to indie artists and labels, and affirming their value and importance to us and our business."
Their value is the reason why a coalition of indie labels had to hire VPL to negotiate a compromise when MTV Europe tried to cut royalties to independent labels by 50%. That is an unwavering commitment, all right—to making money by whatever means necessary, particularly screwing the little guys.
And yet the labels keep coming back for more punishment. Haven't we all learned at this point that MTV and the rest of the industry will fuck you over as hard and as long as they can?
Posted in Corporations and Creativity | 1 April 2004 at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (579) | Link
