...

another reason to hate ethanol

My Christmas Wish

Perhaps it is the amount of coffee I've consumed this Christmas Eve. Maybe the fact that I'm in my hometown typing this from what was formerly my bedroom but now an office for my family members remaining here. Could even be the way I'm listening to my last.fm radio from here and its playing old songs from high school until now. Anyone of them, I am still reflecting on my years as a high school student, and how I would love to be able to redo it with the little knowledge I have gained in my 2 years since graduation. The amount of political understanding I have gained, musical horizons expanded, and literature covered would make the experience of high school so much more exploitable for meaning. To be capable of sharing this with my desolately boring hometown is beyond my mind's perception.
This was sparked as well by the random article reading on wikipedia, leading to my devouring information on the events of May 68 in France. For a small town boy to comprehend that mere students could spark a revolutionary fervor in the world of French youth and workers alike, is like asking an ante bellum slave owner to accept human rights. Seems like an impossibly unbelievable happening, but it is very true. Despite May 68's eventual political defeat, with the French government winning more support in the elections established as a result of the protests, they're something that culturally Americans could never do. At least not with the way we're socialized today. The students stood up and for one another, they wanted a fairer education system for themselves and future French students. This snowballed into students (college and high school both), teachers, their supporters, and importantly workers demanding an improvement of social standards in France. The workers took factories, without the aid or organization of their unions, working in a unified fashion, like a single union formed from sheer will. Perhaps foolishly they refused the unions negotiated offers for increases of minimum wages and indeed all wages, but they stood on their principles, which were radical. Meetings of tens of thousands of students, speaking about overthrowing their government. Marches with hundreds of thousands demanding the removal of De Gaulle from power ("Adieu, de Gaulle!"), chanted through the streets of Paris. They might not have won electoral victory, they might still not run their own factories, but the French have something Americans can only dream of. The knowledge that they have, and could maybe someday again, unify in solidarity, across student-teacher, student-worker, and intellectual-worker divides to help each other attempt something truly noble.
France is no Soviet Union, Nazi Russia, or Fascist Italy. It was and is, a leading industrialized western nation, yet they did what American students would deem unimaginable. Americans need to lose their air of superiority among the world's nations, and accept that others have done things greater than we have mustered the will to do for ourselves. Europeans are knocking down borders, providing health care for its citizens, and possess far more democratic institutions. All the while, the United States "elects" leaders that continually show disregard for the world's people, in respect to climate change, human rights and starting wars that its unable to justify or maintain in a sensible fashion (if war can ever be done sensibly).
How fun would it be to go to class and recommend an article that might make a radical out of your classmate? Or to quiz one's 10th grade civics teacher of the reasons for Europeans having more democratic elections? Shake a few things up, even if it doesn't result in the a revolution, you did something worthy of doing. As the French graffiti artists of that spring month in 1968 put it, "Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible" (Be realistic, ask for the impossible).

Urban Chromatism

I dislike how cities are seen as the anti-thesis to natural settings. I dream of cities where they're as full of greenery and ecology as humans are able to live in. Bricks and concrete are not beautiful nor as helpful to people as a green roofs and living walls of plants could be. Congratulations to the Germans are leading the way in those roofs. Both the walls and roofs are able to help combat global warming and increase biodiversity by replacing the vegetation removed when constructing a building and by lowering the ambient temperature of a building resulting less energy needed to cool it. Besides they are delightful to look at. Google image that shit. I only hope Detroit realizes this before they are too far behind.
My largest problem with the Detroit area has to be the complete lack of a reliable and effective form of mass transit. There are only two options for transportation here. Either one can drive a car, which is expensive, stressful, and polluting or there's a poorly managed and not very expansive bus system. The bus is not very good for traveling far or quickly, though there are those that admirably make do with it. I've continually heard people around here saying they can't wait until the train goes through the suburbs to Detroit, that they'd use it all the time and not have to drive down there ever again. When are these trains that everybody keeps referring to coming? I haven't heard concrete statements concerning their construction. No movement has even been made on making a train linking Detroit to the airport and then to Ann Arbor to easy out of town travelers, businessmen and women, students and spur the local commerce of the two cities. It is not an unheard of idea by any means to have rail systems, both above and below ground, in fact in other cities of Detroit size they are common. Chicago and Portland have trains, Washington and New York subways, and many others. Why is Detroit hopelessly clinging to the past with supremacy of the automobile? Surely as the automotive industry further reduces its presence in the state the tide will more easily be shifted in favor of the more environmentally sound urban plan of mass transit and truly enter the 21st century.

we're living in the future

gotta say i'm jazzed about toshiba's micro nuclear reactor. i'm sure there's a downside but i think generating power locally will lead to more responsible usage. maybe it could make enough energy to run the essential needs of a couple of city blocks, with solar or those premium windbelts. i'm not sure which is more important - growing food or generating energy but i'm interested if anybody else has an opinion...

a world becoming more local and less centralized excites me. but healthcare is something we should try socialized and i'm glad that is seems to be some attention. it amazes me how many times in life good ideas get lost in the bullshit that is modern discourse.

anyone that chooses to waterboard somebody else should have it done to themselves, at least as a point of reference. i would take up a chance to be waterboarded in a situation i knew i was safe; it's still said to be one of the most terrifying experiences one could go through. going in front of the people and insisting its not torture without having any real knowledge seems like a foolish thing to do and shows a lack of character.

Temporary Distractions

I've been snowed in all weekend. Thankfully, we have a snow-blower, which is probably one of the coolest things ever invented. Doesn't really work well when the snow is really heavy though.

Some things to do while you're bored:

Overcompensating is a great comic.
Eyezmaze has a collection of fun games.
Amantia Games are really fun too, but kind of hard.

get your shirt on!

threadless extended their sale until the 19th... because nobody wants to see that.

Games, the culture of gratification

Today, I've acquired a set of two games, one I know, and another I wish to learn. I love the game backgammon. It has too long had this reputation as a game for advanced gamblers, that is played in shady places or high stakes casinos. The game is really a rather simple one to learn and play fairly well. A friend and I were taught how to play by a guy in a few minutes and we proceeded play it for five hours that night alone. Being mostly lucky, backgammon is really not something that needs a large amount of practice to stay reasonably competent with. I highly suggest looking it up for the next time you're just wasting time with a friend. The hardest part is getting a set to use, thought they are certainly for sale at establishments that would sell board games, it is much nicer to find a stylish and more unique set from someone that has shit laying around and making an offer for it (odds are they don't know know to play it or haven't in a long time). On the other hand, this mahjong seems a bit more complex, but that could be just my inexperience speaking. I was the good fortune to find an excellent set at a Salvation Army store not too far from my home. I could not bring myself to pass up such a glorious opportunity. This isn't the solitary game that people play on their computers either, but rather a four person game of strategy luck and skill. I'm very excited to learn this game, and once again I find myself thanking China for some magnificent culture.

Two stunningly dressed gentlemen partaking in backgammon.

Also, the band called The Inclined Plane, should be sought by all. They're quite astonishing pop music from Connecticut. Absolutely worth the time it takes to hunt them down.

Je désire des avant-garde et musique concrète

First, I am not gonna translate that for anyone, if you can't figure it out, you really don't understand how to read, simple as that. Second, I really could do with a good source for this type of thing, I've got minimal amounts of it now. However, I'm not referring to modern experimental or avant-garde artists. I want the pioneers, the first to make this sort of shit, like Clara Rockmore's explorations of the limits of the theremin and Noah Creshevsky's collages of sounds paired with original instrumentation before sampling was in style. The men and women that preceded the rage, like Karlheinz Stockhausen (sadly recently deceased) and Pierre Schaeffer are what I'm looking for. I want to know where this crazy electronic world we live in was truly born musically. If anyone has some they can send me or knows were a novice can sharpen his teeth on such subjects, please assist me with comments.

Stockhausen was a totally all mad scientist, very premium.

Hello fellow sufferers!

So I just finished reading Nil: A Land Beyond Belief, and it was a fantastic read. I really couldn't put it down. Crisp artwork, great story, and all around great piece of work. It mostly concentrates on death, and the expressed interest people have in it. The main character is Nul, who lives in Nil - a dystopian post-apocalyptic country inhabited completely by nihilists. To actually believe in anything other than nothing is against the law. As you can tell, it's pretty ironic and satirical right off the bat. Nil is at war with Optima, which is populated with, you guessed it, optimists. Many abstract concepts and literary devices are transformed into literal, tangible objects.

Much like the film Brazil, or a Jasper Fforde novel, Nil urges you not to take it seriously. However, lots of laughs and some pretty deep realizations later, and you begin to realize the book isn't just straightforward jokes about people's beliefs, but there's a lot of other things going on under the surface there. James Turner (the author) criticizes everything from religion to restaurants, grinning all the while. And if you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at all - there's many jokes that point right back at his own story. Everything is over-satirized, over-exaggerated and absolutely over the top, and Turner knows it. I think that's one of the things that keeps this book funny.

It's also very hard to talk about this book without discussing the artwork - it's not normal. It's very stylized: black and white, 2-dimensional characters, and over-complex backgrounds with propaganda strewn everywhere complement the writing very much. At a glance, everything looks the same, but look closer - each character is very finely detailed and is vastly different than the next. Each building, every street lamp, the countryside - it's all drawn in painstaking detail, - and little things like lit bombs scattered around, people jumping out of windows, and old-timey flying machines in the distance all beg you to scour each page searching for something new and fun to see.

If you see it in your local bookstore/comic shop, I strongly recommend picking it up. Even if you don't normally read comic books (or "graphic novels" to you snobs out there), Nil is worth taking a look at. It's a hell of a read with a great story and some really interesting ideas. If you're really interested, head over here.

A good place for oldies you never knewsies

For those that haven't run across this blog before, Lost-in-Tyme is a prime spot to find old gems (and unfortunately some really bad older stuff now and then too). However, they're quite the blag to inspire to be blagging like. I've gotten really fucking insane shit from it like Swedish psych that nobody I know has ever heard of (Norrbottens Järn, Älgarnas Trädgård) and Japanese noise bands live records (Fushitsusha). Definitely worth the time to check out what these fellas have to say. Much of the music dates from the 60s and 70s but I've seen releases all the way up to this decade, but never anything that I was familiar with prior to reading about it on the blag. Tons of psych, krautrock, folk, classic rock, and even jazz and the like if you want it. Furthermore, to their amazing credit, they've provided links for you to download most everything they write about. Plus, you don't even have to feel bad for not supporting the artists (though that's never stop me in past) because they're overwhelming likely not releasing music these days and might even be dead for all we know. The only downside is that many links are thru rapidshare, which is lame because that site only allows one download every 2 hours for non-members (anyone wise enough to refuse paying them for what is free at a dozen other sites). Sometimes there'll be a be a link to sendspace as well, which is good, there is only a need to wait for one download to finish before starting the next.

On another note (excellent pun), Working For A Nuclear Free City has a new double album entitled Businessmen & Ghosts and it is a fantastic electronic album for anyone concerned.

There's also the album by The Teeth that's recently come out called You're My Lover Now, which is a rather good rock album with folky influence and some rather rough singing that I enjoyed.

Additionally, the new Sunset Rubdown release Random Spirit Lover was damned awesome. I absolutely loved it. I highly suggest that all who read this get it if they have not.

Smooth

Hey kids.

Yacht Rock.

something to do in flint... (since having a job isn't on the list)

heavy stones in flint!

smart use of simple machines

old is new again

vertigo

more one-up-man-ship

poke a whole in the sky... jobs

for window washers?

indexed

best blag full of wit...

index cards never the same

elucidate life

cat lady!

six cats lurk around

and maybe a brain toxin!

please don't eat me, cats

China, where they're learning the art of badassery

For those that don't know, that guy there is my brother, he likes to blag a bunch. Which is good for a blag page, I do suppose myself. I will only have music related shit to talk about for now.
Now, when people think Rock n Roll, for few does China quickly follow. However, there is a growing underground scene in the far eastern nation that doesn't get the attention that it deserves. They've got a really diverse line up of styles, ranging from punk to indie pop to noise to garage rock and riot grrrl. Plus, since the government really doesn't care for this shit, they are really the rebels most rockers just wish to be these days. So here, I'm making it easy on you and gonna give you some links for finding out about this shit.

This is a link to a magazine article covering China's punk growth: http://www.factmagazine.co.uk/da/42298

This is a wiki-style site full of Chinese groups:
http://wiki.chaile.org/index.php/Main_Page

And this is an article on one of my personal favorites, the experimental band White: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/589

Best for last, this a great page with photos and descriptions of some of China's best artists:
http://www.heroic-cinema.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=22;sa=showPosts

in my house

this is in my house

tina, lesley,& aaron

i fondle my beard


the object of my desire:
shop.lomography.com/seagull

red and gold of course

soon

okay so avery fessed up to penning up the spacebar. i'm glad these are sarah's kids and not mine. cause you know they're nice and all but need way too damn much attention. also grateful avery can't read this. don't want to give the kid a complex or anything...

blagarific

this is griffen. he's a swell lad. his contribution to this post was using a pen to scribbling on the spacebar. i'm gonna go eat fish now.

So, I made a blag

I don't really understand all this "blog" talk here. I'm rather certain that it is blag. Anyhow, this was created at the prompting of man named for a common garden vegetable. Being my first blag I think it will of course take time to come to its own, but wisely, I did not refuse his suggestions. Hopefully there will be several people that will balg on this blag, as I'm no blag hoarder. However, with a lack of what else to speak of I shall blag about what I've been listening to.
First of all, to all those poor souls that have missed out thus far. You must heard Os Mutantes and Caetano Veloso. Simply the most stunningly amazing Brazilian music, nay any music I have ever heard. Just get the early stuff and work your way to more modern and you'll be fine.
Second, I've been listening to much more post-rock as of late. In this genre I have been wowed by Efterklang's new releases. They are some beautiful songs. If These Trees Could Talk, a band coming close to post-metal, is quite impressive as well. And some other notables among them are Raccoo-Oo-Oon, This Will Destroy You, and the new comers Motionless. Many of these post-rock albums can be found on the Sordo Archive this is a prime site for uploading for friends on the internet to easily be directed to or to find something you might never have heard of otherwise.
Along that vein, on Sordo I've found to amazing albums. A album by a San Franciscan folk group The Dodos (I found them of Sordo as Dodo Bird, but I believe this to be an error) has caught be ear with the exceptionally fantastic release known as Beware Of The Maniacs. It is full wonderful instrumentation with guitar, piano, and thunderous drumming that keep it to the folk roots it certainly draws heavily from, but at the same time the wonderfully beautiful sing makes the songs into more than mere protest songs (as some can certainly be construed as) but excellently composed musical pieces. I envy the talent of this group to make such standards into something so uniquely endearing.
Another folk-rock album that has attracted my attention is the album of Ezra Furman And The Harpoons that is entitled Banging Down The Doors. This album reminds me strongly of Bob Dylan. Some outstanding sing is performed by Mr. Furman on this. It all at once makes me want to stand up and cheer as well as sit brooding and thoughtful about life.