Afternoon Blag

INTRODUCING THE ECHO PARK TIME TRAVEL MART

2008-03-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

i just discovered stefan g bucher's 'daily monster' site, and it is premium. read about his involvement in the new 826LA. I'm a big fan of the whole mcsweeny's/826 scene and hope to volunteer at 826MI in ann arbor soon... i encourage everyone to get into this fine writing soon.

local food politics

2008-03-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

its sad how much news there is about local food and how little difference it seems to make... some good articles from the new york times:

The Vegetable-Industrial Complex

My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)

enjoy

why isn't intellectual 'property' taxed?

2008-03-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

some intellectual property borrowed from the LA Times:

Copyright This

Intellectual property’s social value may trump copyright law.

By Dallas Weaver
February 20, 2008

Jon Healey correctly points out that the debate over intellectual-property theft is complex because we are often dealing with "non-real properties." These properties cost nearly nothing to produce, and an infinite number of people can use the same property at the same time. And yet, we still want to treat them as if they were "real" property.

Significantly, some of these non-real properties have major effects on human welfare. Take, for example, the formula for "oral rehydration therapy," a mixture of salt, sugar and water. Although it could potentially be copyrighted, it has saved more lives in the Third World than almost anything else. The world is lucky that this formula is in the public domain, not copyrighted and subject to use charges that people who need it couldn't afford.

The present system treats these copyrighted works as a funny kind of real property with no carrying costs, taxes or significant fees. Without carrying costs, copyrights remain in force almost forever - even though, over time, the demand for the copyrighted material can fall to almost nothing. As the demand decreases, the value may remain, but it becomes effectively unavailable to, as the Constitution puts it, "promote the progress of science and useful arts." Witness all the copyrighted books, scientific journals, audio works and visual works that are out of print or otherwise unavailable because copyright law prevents the new, low-cost methods of distribution from being utilized.

In the scientific field, this has devastating effects on the advancement of human knowledge - which is just the opposite of the intent of copyright law.

As a member of a scientific journal's editorial board - and as a senior citizen - I see reams of manuscripts that just reinvent the wheel. Because the whole scientific enterprise has become so complex that non-electronic research is effectively impossible, many young scientists don't know and can't find out what has already been done from older, copyrighted, paper-based literature. This results in a huge waste of resources. The same can be said for copyrights in creative areas such as music and writing, in which older works with limited distribution could be built upon to "promote the progress of science and useful arts."

A solution to determining which works are in the "Mickey Mouse" category of copyrights and which are in the more socially valuable "oral rehydration therapy" class of work is not feasible for a government bureaucracy. However, if all copyrights were taxed at a fixed (but significant) amount per year to maintain the copyright (all registered through the copyright office and searchable), there would be a significant carrying cost and most of the copyrighted material would revert to "public domain" and become available to "promote the progress of science and useful arts." As intellectual property and copyrights become an even more significant part of our economy, and as copyright holders (not necessarily the creators) make claims of "stealing" as though it is real property, it should be taxed. Relative to copyrights' significance in our economy, the amount of revenue from this source should be in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

With a proper tax system, publishers like the L.A. Times or scientific journals may maintain a copyright for only a year or so before letting the content revert to public domain and letting Google and everyone else utilize the material for its small, but socially significant, remaining value. The human enterprise could continue to build on itself in these creative, sustainable and non-resource-consuming ways, with copyrights only applying to a small subset of this enterprise.

It should also be noted that some of the most valuable and significant intellectual property and creative works can't be copyrighted. For example, Mickey Mouse is copyrighted, but E=MC2 could not have been. Which was truly the more significant creative work?

Dallas Weaver is a scientist and consultant.

interesting perspectives

2008-02-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

the subprime situation explained

and

keith olbermann special comment

A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force

2008-01-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

uncle sam is trigger happy

renews my interest in putting my sabot where it doesn't belong

2008-01-21T10:13:00.000-08:00

I found this through my international law class and i find it amazing the CIA would distribute this. The whole contra thing is amazing... how did these people not get hung as war criminals? How can people still dig Reagan after our involvement in Nicaragua? I mean, I like this pamphlet, but I'm also a radical. But America, this bastion of democracy, would encourage sabotage as a means of political change is disappointing. After all the effort these people put into destroying a non-existent communist threat, how does the public trust them when they talk about the 'threat from islamo-fascists!'? Anywho, more about it on the wiki, and while you're there check out this documentary i have yet to watch but fully plan on doing soon...

Forget oil, the new global crisis is food

2008-01-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

The financial post has an insightful article on the coming food crisis. I personally welcome the change and hope it will drive consumers to be more responsible in their eating. It boggles my mind that so many people "just have to" live in the suburbs and have a yard, just for the pleasure of spraying it in chemicals and mowing it with a dirty two stroke lawnmower. Last year i bought a dirty two stroke rototiller and used it to tear up the lawn and plant vegetables. I had about a hundred and forty plants, many of them growing bigger than i could have imagined. I had to give food away to my friends and have slow food potluck\cookout\dinner parties just to try and use most of it. I do feel bad for people that don't have yards to grow their own produce, but they should look to community gardening. I'm (hopefully) starting a community gardening class soon, so i'm sure i'll have more to say on this...

Exaltation where exlatation is do

2008-01-19T00:15:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say, I'm a huge admirer of the European Union and the entire concept of an international bloc of culturally and geographically linked nation-states working together in a world too often dominated by poorly run superpowers (basically the United States, but I do believe more shall join the ranks soon enough i.e. China and India). Furthermore, they're way ahead of all others on establishing legislation is ensure sustainability for themselves. For example, the bloc is on top of encouraging the development of alternative energy sources, for which they have set themselves benchmark goals to achieve implementing. To this end they've held true, with the proposal to pass legislation making sure that bio-fuels that are imported to the EU are created in an ecologically beneficial fashion only. This is in advance of even minimal exploration of this by the American government or the new rising economic players. Seeing a potentially helpful technology in their fight against climate change; they've taken steps to see that it isn't misused or misrepresented as it all too often is by proponents of bio-fuels like BP or farming groups, that are looking for profits over results. This is a laudable objective of governments to take. Even though it still has a way to go, just the mere fact that is considered in the open discourse of the union is fantastically beyond most everywhere else. I truly hope that the laws come to be enforced to their proper ends.
Another awesome feature that has been applied in the EU that I think could be learned from is the Schengen Agreement. This is basically a treaty that allows for citizens of member nations to travel about all member nations more easily, without the need for border checking (though this isn't one hundred percent true, but way more so than other places). This eased the restrictions of trade and economic co-operation of the members, as well as surely reducing the cost of having to maintain border stations. The opposite trend is happening in the United States however, with the move towards requiring passports for even Canadian border stops for American and Canadian citizens. Personally, being born and raised extremely close to the US-Canada border, this is a hassle that many citizens that don't need to cross the border will just not see as necessary, only hurting the mutually beneficial trade of the countries. Not to say many won't get passports that did not own them, but there will be a sizable amount that consider the extra cost a luxury they aren't lining up to spend their money and time on. In addition, this rule as been delay many times, perhaps due to the governments sluggish pace to ready themselves to the conversion or fears of the economic repercussions. Maybe it is the Bush administration's rhetoric to secure the nation that drives this; seeing that they certainly aren't holding to this very well with other ideas (namely Iraq). Yet this can't be the best answer, an alternative plan might be found in strengthening relations with the Canadian government on this issue. Naturally, if the Canadians have a secure border and the US does as well, then it will be a homogeneous unit that shall not necessitate increasingly restrictive policies for traveling between the two. Being the United States' largest trade partner, damaging commercial links with Canada seems generally unhelpful for the declining economy in America. What is most paradoxical to me is the way both presidents of recent times have so strongly supported free trade agreements, yet this seems in staunch opposition to such ideals. I'm no fan of free trade treaties, but this just doesn't add up in my mind.

Don't end up like Ffirth

2008-01-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

Some people might have seen the link on wikipedia to a fella named Stubbins Ffirth. I think his story is a good illustration of many people's fears. Now, this guy thought it was the shit at medical science, moreover he seemed to have a taste for theatrics. To set his stage, this was a time, late 18th and early 19th centuries, when they were none too sure how yellow fever worked in his day, but they sure as hell knew it was killing a bunch of folks. Anyhow, our man Ffirth was only a trainee doctor, but being a hot shot decided he'd test his theory that yellow fever was non-contagious on himself. To this end, Firth did a great many things to himself involving the vomit of diseased patients, as well as their urine, blood and saliva. He went so far as to eat the vomit to show that the disease wasn't able to spread from person to person. Although certianly putting on a flamboyant spectacle for his contemporaries, he was wrong. As a Cuban would prove later, mosquitoes were the cause of the disease's rapid spread in the summer months. So, as funny as it may seem to us, he spent part of his short life (a mere 36 years) eating the vomit of the diseased to prove a something that in the end was false. Luckily the mosquito link wasn't discovered for decades after his death, otherwise that's be really embarrassing.
However, my point is that, even if you or I don't go so far as to eat the bodily fluids of others, not to mention the sick, we still could devote our lives to something that is rather meaningless in the end despite its appearance otherwise in the present. It's a very scary fact to face up to for me at times, but I suppose there is little less anyone can do but try. And Ffirth did plenty of that, we all must admit.

seriously people...

2008-01-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

"This chart depicts the public acceptance of evolution theory in 34 countries in 2005. Adults were asked to respond to the statement: "Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals." The percentage of respondents who believed this to be true is marked in blue; those who believed it to be false, in red; and those who were not sure, in yellow.

A study of several such surveys taken since 1985 has found that the United States ranks next to last in acceptance of evolution theory among nations polled. Researchers point out that the number of Americans who are uncertain about the theory's validity has increased over the past 20 years."

the world’s nicest social-housing complex?

2008-01-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

deputydog has a nice post on alt-erlaa, a public housing complex in vienna. extra premium. i don't have any clever insights to add, just a renewed hope for the world...

There are some lucky bastards yet!

2008-01-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

Sometimes there is so much bad news aloof that one is amazed to see a fella get a break of luck. Like Voltaire wrote in Candide, everyone thinks they've got the worst lot in life. I feel that I've escaped the worst, and I wish I could say everyone would be able to feel like that, but it simply isn't true. Some people get breaks, others get something horrible. To contrast, one man fell 500 feet to the ground and survived. Unfortunately his brother did not make it, falling as the same time, but I mean his family suffered only half the losses it rightfully could've. Yet I'm also going to recommend a book I'm still in the process of reading, I'm over half way though. It's gripping enough that I believe I should tell people about it as soon as I can. The book is entitled What Is the What and it covers the fictionalized, but reality-based life of a Sudanese refugee. The author, Dave Eggers, using the outline of a man named Valentino Achak Deng's life to create a story to tell of the hardships and complexities of being a child unlucky enough to have been born in a time and place of warfare. It really makes anyone that has half a heart think about how much they've gotten just have birth. Even though events in this book are fictional is nature, they are things that very well could have happened to people, and many times did, just not in the exact order or fashion that Eggers put in. It is like a Candide for children of the Sudan, and compelling and encompassing tale that explains their point of view.

...

2007-12-26T21:31:00.000-08:00

another reason to hate ethanol

My Christmas Wish

2007-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

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 chang e, 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

2007-12-20T19:37:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-18T22:17:00.001-08:00

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

2007-12-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-12-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

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

Games, the culture of gratification

2007-12-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-12-11T06:08:00.001-08:00

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

2007-12-11T02:36:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

Hey kids.

Yacht Rock.

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

2007-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

heavy stones in flint!

smart use of simple machines

old is new again

vertigo

2007-12-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

more one-up-man-ship

poke a whole in the sky... jobs

for window washers?

indexed

2007-12-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

best blag full of wit...

index cards never the same

elucidate life

cat lady!

2007-12-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

six cats lurk around

and maybe a brain toxin!

please don't eat me, cats

China, where they're learning the art of badassery

2007-12-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-06T16:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

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.