Continuing on my music kick:
William Shatner – I Can’t Get Behind That
Produced by Ben Folds, this stuff is wierd but totally awesome. Seriously, download it.
The Decemberists – July July
At first I was really put off by the quality of the lead singer’s voice, but these are just really catchy songs.
The Streets – You’re Fit But You Know It
Again, wierd at first. Didn’t like it all on first listen, but after listening to it like ten times, I think it’s funny as hell.
It’s pretty illegal for me to post these songs, so I’ll only leave them up for a few days. That said, I consider this free advertising for these bands. It seems like there’s a good chance someone will download one of these MP3s and then buy one of these records as a result.
Something about this quote from the propaganda/humor site enjoythedraft.com…
“John Kerry has been accused of many thing. Itching to start more wars is not one of them.”
… reminds me of this scene in Garden State…
Andrew Largeman : Do you lie a lot?
Sam : What do you consider a lot?
Andrew Largeman : Enough for people to call you a liar.
Sam : People call me lots of things…
Andrew Largeman : Is one of them liar?
Going to bed at this miserable hour, but I’m not sad because I’m going to drive to Pennsylvania tomorrow to see Niamh! I have about 4000 hours of books on tape in my bag, and it’s going to be great. Too bad I forgot the directions at school. Oh well, I’ll figure something out.
It will be wierd to drive around Bloomington in a car (my rental for the trip). I am so used to biking, I’ll probably cling to the side of the road and keep motioning for people to pass.
Enjoying: Postal Service – Such Great Heights and We Will Become Sillhouettes and some random songs by The Fiery Furnaces. Not thrilled with these Interpol guys. A lot of people like them, but they seem like a crappy version of the Doors. Maybe I’m listening to the wrong songs… The Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs I think are often kind of shite, but they have a few true gems.
Anyway, I’ll go pack and then get some sleep. Five hours or so. Wish me luck!
Posting from my PDA…
The great proliferation of artisans we see today is a product of TV and radio. With the coming of the user interface as the dominant medium, ART WILL DIE, and criticism will reign Supreme, feeding Off its own meager carcass.
Maybe. -
I won’t geek out–instead let me just say that I have a way of listening to music while walking around campus now. And today I was walking back from getting tickets for Dracula tomorrow night, listening to Postal Service (highly recommended) and feeling really happy.
It’s been raining today, and this weekend is supposed to be the peak of the foliage this year in Bloomington. The net result is that the colors are just astonishing. Dry pale reds are turned into deep wet, saturated reds by the rain. Astonishing, really. And it’s funny–the foliage was something I always figured was just a New England thing. And it’s fantastic back home, but I am getting a healthy dose out here.
Anyway, I was walking back to Informatics, staring down at the sidewalk absorbed in my headphones and the sidewalk turned bright yellow. And I looked up, and this beautiful maple was above me, it’s arms bending down around me with the weight of the rain. Greens and yellows coursed through the canopy, patterns of leaves spiralling up in vivid contrast with the overcast sky.
Many of you know I love to stare up at trees. Something about sledding as a kid, and lying in the sled in the woods at the bottom of a run, staring up at the trees, hiking in the woods, driving under a sunroof through back roads with trees leaning out over the car–something about those memories has really stuck with me.
So I just stood there, waiting for my music to run out, staring at this incomprehensible beauty. It was nice, I kind of teared up.
I just donated $100 to help run these TV ads. They feature mostly republicans, talking about why they are going to vote for Kerry. They are compelling, and honest, and I think they speak to people in a much more positive way than the attack ads campaigns often run.
If you think it’s important that the messages in these ads get out, please contribute also.
Leftover chinese again for lunch. Broccoli is sooooooo delicious. It is the wonder vegetable of the stir fry genre. Cauliflower too. This is perhaps why I enjoyed Aloo Gobi so much at Shanti, and why I tried to replicate it at home. These two delightful vegetables have a great flavor in and of themselves, but their physical configuration is such that they soak up whatever delicious sauce they are in. Every bite of broccoli in my chinese stir fry is eagerly anticipated and appreciated. I give a moments pause before each bite and say to myself “this is going to be good.”
And it is. Every time.
Saw La Boheme again tonight. I don’t remember who performed it the last time I saw it, which was a couple of years ago, but this time was better. The sets were incredible–three completely different, utterly elaborite, highly structural sets. Very nice. Went with Josh.
Ironically, Josh asked about riding home in the cold, specifically whether my hands got cold, and I told him they hadn’t yet. Ha ha. They were kind of cold tonight. Actually, there is a bunch of bike related stuff I could use:
- Thin gloves
- A little under-seat pack for work-out rides
- Splatter-guards for the wheels
- Reflectors for my bag
- A rack for the rear
- Either cages for the back or a milk crate that I can attach to it
- A flashing rear light, so I am a little more visible when stopped at red lights and stop signs at night
- Some long underwear (from home) for as the weather gets colder
So that’s a pretty long list. I’ll probably get serious about this stuff as it gets colder in the next couple of weeks.
I miss Niamh.
Enjoyed the debates. Kerry managed to do surprisingly well. He was mostly clear and to the point, and he did a much better job actually answering the questions than he or any of the other candidates did in the primaries. Still, it is a presidential debate, so there is always a certain amount of sidetracking.
I was just reading a poorly written article that I won’t link to that had an interesting premise: that Bush has actually flip-flopped quite a bit on the war.
When we first went to war, it was because Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and because there were clear ties to Al Quaeda. But now, it’s because he was a terrible dictator and we want to spread peace throughout the middle east, and he had the “capability” to make weapons.
Kerry, on the other hand, voted to authorize the use of force, but didn’t like what Bush did with that authorization. He has a point with his “right way to go to war, wrong way to go to war” bit, but nonetheless, you can’t give your drunk buddy the keys to your car and have no responsibility when he crashes it. Authorizing the use of force is authorizing the use of force.
Bush, of course, didn’t push that line because he doesn’t really think about things that way. Which is fine, but I think swing voters will look at the debate and feel like Bush didn’t really respond to Kerry’s statements, so much as attack him personally. And I for one am glad he didn’t.