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Monday, November 30, 2009
All True
Missed this last week, but I hear about this book day in and day out at work, and this is absolutely accurate:
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Your Year In Futurism
December is upon us, all the big releases are already pending, and it's not too early to lay out my top ten tracks of the year. 2009 was a fuckin' year for stormers. 2010's gonna have to mobilize early to beat this one:
10. Tiga - What You Need (Proxy mix)
This is the new hard. Proxy's champion dark sounds rival the best of Uberzone, Crystal Method and even Prodigy (just check his remixes of Liam's stuff. Scorchers). This track wound up mixing with a variety of styles this year.
9. Kidda - Doo Whot (Jaymo & Andy George's Moda mix)
Brings back big beat for a moment or two, only to abandon it completely for the worbliest of basslines I've heard all year. Jaymo & Andy George are gonna break it big in 2010.
8. Evil Nine - The Night
Such an amazing track. An epic, enthralling number. Evil Nine has triumphed with the most orchestral and pleasing track you can dance to since, well, Hybrid.
7. South Rakkas Crew - Robot's Revenge
Yeah. I wanted this one to come out a while ago. Hopefully it'll come out before New Year's. Good Christ, this is sick.
6. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Sickly Child
They have this name, and are mindblowingly awesome. It's worth pointing out that I discovered some of these tracks listening to Alex Metric's monthly radio show, and I think he's absolutely right, here. Just disgusting.
5. Popof - Faces'uch
Best elektro of the year. Just flawless, as is everything this dude divines.
4. Stanton Warriors - Good Vibrations
I'd hate to spoil this for you. Just let 'em show you how it's done.
3. Miike Snow - Black and blue (Tiga mix)
Down and dirty, spastic, spare and funky as fuck. Took me a few listens to adequately appreciate. He's doing a lot more here than you may first realize. Just the sexiest remix this year.
2. Passion Pit - Eyes as Candles (Grum vocal mix)
Another gem introduced to me by Alex Metric, Grum's jaw-dropping remix of Passion Pit was the theme song to my travels with Holly through the southwest this year. Incidentally, this is a bootleg, probably not for sale ever, and it's mislabeled on the internet as "To Kingdom Come".
1. Alex Metric - What Now
Good luck topping this in the rock meats electronic category. God. What a fucking storm trooper of a song. Hat's off, and good luck to Mr. Metric in his quest to top this himself.
And Happy Thanksgiving to all you lovers of the wobbly sound.
10. Tiga - What You Need (Proxy mix)
This is the new hard. Proxy's champion dark sounds rival the best of Uberzone, Crystal Method and even Prodigy (just check his remixes of Liam's stuff. Scorchers). This track wound up mixing with a variety of styles this year.
9. Kidda - Doo Whot (Jaymo & Andy George's Moda mix)
Brings back big beat for a moment or two, only to abandon it completely for the worbliest of basslines I've heard all year. Jaymo & Andy George are gonna break it big in 2010.
8. Evil Nine - The Night
Such an amazing track. An epic, enthralling number. Evil Nine has triumphed with the most orchestral and pleasing track you can dance to since, well, Hybrid.
7. South Rakkas Crew - Robot's Revenge
Yeah. I wanted this one to come out a while ago. Hopefully it'll come out before New Year's. Good Christ, this is sick.
6. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Sickly Child
They have this name, and are mindblowingly awesome. It's worth pointing out that I discovered some of these tracks listening to Alex Metric's monthly radio show, and I think he's absolutely right, here. Just disgusting.
5. Popof - Faces'uch
Best elektro of the year. Just flawless, as is everything this dude divines.
4. Stanton Warriors - Good Vibrations
I'd hate to spoil this for you. Just let 'em show you how it's done.
3. Miike Snow - Black and blue (Tiga mix)
Down and dirty, spastic, spare and funky as fuck. Took me a few listens to adequately appreciate. He's doing a lot more here than you may first realize. Just the sexiest remix this year.
2. Passion Pit - Eyes as Candles (Grum vocal mix)
Another gem introduced to me by Alex Metric, Grum's jaw-dropping remix of Passion Pit was the theme song to my travels with Holly through the southwest this year. Incidentally, this is a bootleg, probably not for sale ever, and it's mislabeled on the internet as "To Kingdom Come".
1. Alex Metric - What Now
Good luck topping this in the rock meats electronic category. God. What a fucking storm trooper of a song. Hat's off, and good luck to Mr. Metric in his quest to top this himself.
And Happy Thanksgiving to all you lovers of the wobbly sound.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Citation
And if you don't read and read deeply and if you don't
possess whether you memorize it or not, you don't powerfully and
deeply possess very strong works of literature and thought indeed,
then you will impoverish your thinking. And if we impoverish our
thinking, if it becomes any more adulterated than it has already in
the last third of the century, then I would fear for what is, after
all, most precious about this country...
...But I would fear for the political future of democracy in this large
and varied country if we really do stop reading deeply and holding on
to what we read, if we stop reading the best that has been written,
because then I think we will not think as clearly or as well and we
will be subject to demagoguery.
- Harold Bloom, circa 2000
possess whether you memorize it or not, you don't powerfully and
deeply possess very strong works of literature and thought indeed,
then you will impoverish your thinking. And if we impoverish our
thinking, if it becomes any more adulterated than it has already in
the last third of the century, then I would fear for what is, after
all, most precious about this country...
...But I would fear for the political future of democracy in this large
and varied country if we really do stop reading deeply and holding on
to what we read, if we stop reading the best that has been written,
because then I think we will not think as clearly or as well and we
will be subject to demagoguery.
- Harold Bloom, circa 2000
Thursday, November 19, 2009
"Line"
I've been standing askance of Twilight since I discovered what it even was in the first place. I was content for awhile not to have any dog (or wolf) in that fight, while being basically sympathetic to the common-sense feminist complaints against Meyer's Teenage Chastity Porn with a Mormon Agenda™.
Its underlying themes of sex without touching, of abject attachment, of co-dependence, of deep, black snake moan need at all times for a superhuman man to protect you, the obsession with Edward, the constant description of....
...well, I've read detailed take-downs from people who've read the book so I didn't have to, and this is a damned good one: (part 1) (part 2)
For a surprise, read through this interview and you'll discover that Kristen Stewart is thoughtful enough to see what's wrong with Edward and Bella's relationship:
You have to question their (Bella and Edward's) motivations - to watch two people so unhealthily devoted to each other.
'The weirdest f**king themes run through this story - like dominance and masochism.'
This thoughtfulness doesn't preclude her staying on for the set-for-life status, and frankly, who could blame her?
So, other people, I should say mostly women, have fought this fight, and I've stayed out of it. Until now. Because this shit just gets creepier and creepier, and I can't ignore it anymore. I would say that most of the women I sell the books to at my bookstore are thirty-five or older. And this used to be all about Edward, but it's not now.
Like I just said, I work at a bookstore. I work at a corporate bookstore. I had never heard of Jon and Kate and the cabbages until I started working in a spot near the tabloids. I see all the trash. Less than five feet from where I work we have the Taylor Lautner bookmarks. We can barely keep them in the store.
Ladies, here's Lautner's IMDB page.
Look closely. Need help? Allow me:
11 February 1992
Guess what that means!
It's not about Edward anymore. It's all about Jacob.
And you are all pedophiles.
But your condition gave me the opportunity to laugh at this, so thanks!
Its underlying themes of sex without touching, of abject attachment, of co-dependence, of deep, black snake moan need at all times for a superhuman man to protect you, the obsession with Edward, the constant description of....
...well, I've read detailed take-downs from people who've read the book so I didn't have to, and this is a damned good one: (part 1) (part 2)
For a surprise, read through this interview and you'll discover that Kristen Stewart is thoughtful enough to see what's wrong with Edward and Bella's relationship:
You have to question their (Bella and Edward's) motivations - to watch two people so unhealthily devoted to each other.
'The weirdest f**king themes run through this story - like dominance and masochism.'
This thoughtfulness doesn't preclude her staying on for the set-for-life status, and frankly, who could blame her?
So, other people, I should say mostly women, have fought this fight, and I've stayed out of it. Until now. Because this shit just gets creepier and creepier, and I can't ignore it anymore. I would say that most of the women I sell the books to at my bookstore are thirty-five or older. And this used to be all about Edward, but it's not now.
Like I just said, I work at a bookstore. I work at a corporate bookstore. I had never heard of Jon and Kate and the cabbages until I started working in a spot near the tabloids. I see all the trash. Less than five feet from where I work we have the Taylor Lautner bookmarks. We can barely keep them in the store.
Ladies, here's Lautner's IMDB page.
Look closely. Need help? Allow me:
11 February 1992
Guess what that means!
It's not about Edward anymore. It's all about Jacob.
And you are all pedophiles.
But your condition gave me the opportunity to laugh at this, so thanks!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Maddow's Stunned Silence
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Well. You may say, "why not just ignore this, it's just like watching a train-wreck and there's nothing you can do about it, anyway".
And I say to you, this is really happening right now. And believe me, a great number of people take this rhetoric seriously. Many others on their side do not. But you should be apprised.
(and with people like this in the spotlight, egging their kind on, we really need to be vigilant)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Lock-Step
People buying Palin voucher last night:
Customer 1: She's the only one who made any damned sense during that whole election. Not like that jack-ass who's in there now
Customer 2: AMEN
Customer 1: They act like being able to skin a moose and fire-
Customer 2: -fire a gun
Customer 1: -a gun, yes, that disqualifies her from being president!
(she wasn't running for president. You know that, right? I mean, yes, obviously she could've been president, in her position, god help us all, but, remember John McCain? War Hero? Accomplished Senator? No?)
Customer 1: If I keep hearing that the economy's improving I'm gonna puke.
So, is this a majority of southerners and other hard-line conservatives? This is what Karl Rove has programmed them to be? People who hear not policy, or words, just code? She makes sense? In what hypothetical linguistic way?
I know, I know, I shouldn't be surprised. Still, cheering for high unemployment and rooting for economic catastrophe because it would hurt Obama seems to be their past time, never mind who was in charge when we were attacked, or who was in charge when the economy tanked. And do they, or Sarah Palin have our best interest in mind? Do I really have to ask any of this?
And no, for the record, since you're boiling down the opposition to your addled Alaskan horror-show to some perceived elitist wash, against hunters, it is not because she can fire a gun and skin a moose. That doesn't automatically disqualify a candidate. How it counts as a credential, however, for the most difficult job on the planet, you have all yet to bother to explain.
Hate to vent about it, but I have to endure this throughout the holiday season now that this farce of a book is out on the shelves. And I won't get mad, 'cause y'all lost. Hope you keep losing, but could you find better ways to cope if and when you do?
Customer 1: She's the only one who made any damned sense during that whole election. Not like that jack-ass who's in there now
Customer 2: AMEN
Customer 1: They act like being able to skin a moose and fire-
Customer 2: -fire a gun
Customer 1: -a gun, yes, that disqualifies her from being president!
(she wasn't running for president. You know that, right? I mean, yes, obviously she could've been president, in her position, god help us all, but, remember John McCain? War Hero? Accomplished Senator? No?)
Customer 1: If I keep hearing that the economy's improving I'm gonna puke.
So, is this a majority of southerners and other hard-line conservatives? This is what Karl Rove has programmed them to be? People who hear not policy, or words, just code? She makes sense? In what hypothetical linguistic way?
I know, I know, I shouldn't be surprised. Still, cheering for high unemployment and rooting for economic catastrophe because it would hurt Obama seems to be their past time, never mind who was in charge when we were attacked, or who was in charge when the economy tanked. And do they, or Sarah Palin have our best interest in mind? Do I really have to ask any of this?
And no, for the record, since you're boiling down the opposition to your addled Alaskan horror-show to some perceived elitist wash, against hunters, it is not because she can fire a gun and skin a moose. That doesn't automatically disqualify a candidate. How it counts as a credential, however, for the most difficult job on the planet, you have all yet to bother to explain.
Hate to vent about it, but I have to endure this throughout the holiday season now that this farce of a book is out on the shelves. And I won't get mad, 'cause y'all lost. Hope you keep losing, but could you find better ways to cope if and when you do?
Pharmacology and Its Benefactors
Very pretty tech house. Not my style, usually, but I dig VonStroke.
His and Justin Martin's "Beat That Bird" was a large track this year. Doesn't mean I'm strayin' from breaks, even as the best sounds have strayed, often to "electro-house", which, at its best, I will just call breaks, because I can.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Don't Care
Via this post at Sully's, via an email to The National Review:
I'm 26 years old and my generation holds very strong views on this topic... in my experience, mostly in support of same-sex marriage. Personally, I'm on the fence about it. But for most people my age, that is not good enough. The peer pressure to support gay marriage is enormous. Which is precisely why I refuse to give my (socially mandatory in many circles) full-throated support to it. When friends tell me it's a civil right and denying gays their "universal right to marriage" is the same as forbidding whites and blacks to marry, it makes my skin crawl . . . but I don't know how to argue against these points. I just know deep down there's something fishy about the arguments.
Your "skin crawls" because such statements implicate you personally. You don't know "how to argue against these points", because you have no argument, precisely because there is no morally righteous argument to be made against equal rights, save the one you dredge up from fraudulent, Judeo-Christian sophistry. As if Jesus said anything about homosexuals, but never mind.
Sullivan takes the Christian approach in arguing for our rights. I prefer not to. I simply don't care if any of you are ready or not. I'm especially less impressed by the ethical "sophistication" that requires you to wait and see if you're an "individual" before you do the right thing. You will never be an individual in all things, even as many things are not so black and white.
But, all those who possess rights I do not, tread carefully with me about how equitable I should be with my attitude.
I'm 26 years old and my generation holds very strong views on this topic... in my experience, mostly in support of same-sex marriage. Personally, I'm on the fence about it. But for most people my age, that is not good enough. The peer pressure to support gay marriage is enormous. Which is precisely why I refuse to give my (socially mandatory in many circles) full-throated support to it. When friends tell me it's a civil right and denying gays their "universal right to marriage" is the same as forbidding whites and blacks to marry, it makes my skin crawl . . . but I don't know how to argue against these points. I just know deep down there's something fishy about the arguments.
Your "skin crawls" because such statements implicate you personally. You don't know "how to argue against these points", because you have no argument, precisely because there is no morally righteous argument to be made against equal rights, save the one you dredge up from fraudulent, Judeo-Christian sophistry. As if Jesus said anything about homosexuals, but never mind.
Sullivan takes the Christian approach in arguing for our rights. I prefer not to. I simply don't care if any of you are ready or not. I'm especially less impressed by the ethical "sophistication" that requires you to wait and see if you're an "individual" before you do the right thing. You will never be an individual in all things, even as many things are not so black and white.
But, all those who possess rights I do not, tread carefully with me about how equitable I should be with my attitude.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Idiot Food
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The 11/3 Project | ||||
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I've just had somebody tell me that Beck's viewers don't buy into his claims completely, that it's just entertainment. I would urge against that kind of apologia, because first of all, yes, many, many of them do, including members of my family who snatch up every book he recommends and parrot out things to me they've heard him say on the hate channel. Same goes for the countless people who walk through my checkout line, buying his "books", some spouting off to me and others in line about how today's young better listen to this righteous man.
But the most pressing advice I can think of to urge against this apologia is that plain garbage should be avoided, no matter how "entertaining" it might be for appealing to your basest instincts.
Beck's show is poisoning the body politic, three million scant viewers (as compared to overall population) or not. He has every right to host his own show and spout off as much crazy shit as he can think of. But that doesn't mean it's harmless. Everyone should actively curb intellectual and cognitive pollution. It's easily as harmful as any other kind.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Sunday, November 01, 2009
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