I've got webspace (and easy access to a domain) and, for at least a while, free time.
What I'm wondering is - how should I use it? I've considered several standard things (bloggin' it, forum, specialized social bookmarking, etc) but I really can't pin down one thing.
So, TL. What do you need? What sort of website would you be interested in visiting? What would be useful to you right now (hobbies-wise or not)?
Feel free to throw anything out there from StarCraft related stuff to sports to politics to porn. I don't see myself entering the porn business but it helps illustrate what I mean here. :D
Be creative. Give me ANYTHING that pops into your head as long you are actually interested in using it.
Okay, in an attempt to make up some good will for taking a premature victory lap in my last blog, here is a mix for you to download.
In addition, I included a couple of videos for the songs so you could get a feel for what was on the mix. Keep in mind, youtube has very low quality sound, so the songs are significantly better.
Tracklisting:
freelance whales – generator ^ first floor phoenix – 1901 ellie goulding – wish i stayed animal collective – grass trail of dead – another morning stoner lose campesinos – the sea is bjork – joga booka shade – darko sleigh bells – crown on the ground saint etienne – spring (air france remix)
How to Stop Worrying and Start Being a Yankees Fan
The New York Yankees have a commanding lead in the World Series.
You might be a Yankee fan. Good for you. If you are an American and not a fan, this is the time of the year in which you complain about how terrible the big bad Yankees are. If you are not an American, this may be nothing but confusing to you.
As a native New Yorker and very pleased Yankee fan, I invite all nonaligned folk to consider jumping on the bandwagon.
As a fan, I won't particularly respect you, but nothing would annoy Red Sox fans (and similarly sanctimonious and annoying Phillies' fans) more. So join in!
Here's an introduction:
The New York Yankees are the most hated team in North American sports.
They're the Evil Empire. They're the Damn Yankees. They're the Bombers. They're the Pinstripes. Why?
Since the first ring in 1923, they've won 26 World Series championships - that's one quarter of all titles won to date. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most titles with a distant 10.
The Yankees have sent 44 players to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Without a doubt, they are the team with the greatest tradition in American sports.
Ah, but what do those haters say?
The Yankees are regularly derided as a team which buys its championships. The Yankees 2009 payroll was $201,449,289.
It's understandable that quaint Mom and Pop owned organizations such as the rival Red Sox would complain - after all, the Sox regularly spend well over $100 million per season ($122,696,000 in 2009, $133 million in '08). Just like your Mom and Pop!
The millions of dollars aside, the Sox spend 66% of the Yanks payroll and win 26% of the championships (most of which came in the 1910's).
EVIL!
If you're going to be a (bandwagon) Yankee fan, you'll need a rundown on the rivalry.
The Red Sox - Yankee Rivalry is one of the oldest (100+ years) and certainly the most intense in American sports.
I won't list in detail the history of the rivalry - that's what Wikipedia is for - but suffice to say, wearing a Yankee hat in Boston will invite something terrible. Wearing a Sox hat in New York might get you denied service in several fine establishments.
It's really fun.
In fact, during the 2008 US presidential campaign, the rivalry was spoken about in nationally televised debates.
• Late October, 2007: Former mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani, a staunch Yankee fan, said during his presidential campaign that he was going to cheer for the Red Sox during their World Series appearance against the Colorado Rockies. Giuliani justified his support of the Red Sox by claiming to be a fan of American League baseball. The next day, the New York Post and New York Daily News printed doctored photos of Giuliani as a Red Sox fan on their covers with the headlines "TRAITOR!" (Daily News) and "RED COAT" (Post). Topps would parody this in a 2008 baseball card where Giuliani is CGI inserted into a picture of the Red Sox celebrating their 2007 World Series championship as if he is celebrating with them. • November, 2007: During the YouTube Republican Presidential Debate run by CNN, Giuliani was asked about his support for the Red Sox by one of the questioners. In response to the mayor's answer, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who was in office during the Red Sox 2004 win, claimed that all Americans are united in hatred of the Yankees.
And for good measure, here's another interesting fact from the rivalry's Wikipedia page.
• April 13, 2008, Rumors of a construction worker burying a Red Sox jersey in the concrete of the New Yankee Stadium are verified after anonymous tips led to the location of the jersey. The worker, identified as Gino Castignoli, had buried a David Ortiz jersey in what will become a service corridor in the hopes of cursing the new stadium. After extracting the jersey from underneath two feet of concrete, Yankees' President Randy Levine indicated that the shirt would be donated to the Jimmy Fund to be auctioned for the charity long associated with the Red Sox.
So, let's catch you up to the present day.
This season, the Yankees won 1st place in their division (American League East). They won the pennant (the American League Championship) and right now they are leading the World Series 3-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies, a longtime rival of our cross town idiots, the New York Mets, are the defending 2008 World Series Champions. They're only 24 away from tying the Yankees total (but it looks like it's going to be 25 pretty soon)
To answer the next hostile question: It seems like the Yankees will lose tonight (but I wouldn't underestimate the Phillies ability to blow it). If they do lose, the Evil Empire has two chances to win the championship in New York. I'm not going to complain about the prospect of an in-town win and a parade, you know what I mean?
To my friends in the city of brotherly love: I don't think your notoriously rowdy fans are doing their jobs. A-Rod's feelings don't seem to be hurt by your steroid chants. But keep it up!
To my neighbors to the north in New England: Congratulations! The Philadelphia faithful have taken after you like a child takes after their whiny, self-righteous father in denial about his drug problem - only, they don't (yet) have the hilariously hypocritical recent history of steroid use like both of our teams do. But you keep chanting about steroids and money! It'll be a long season for a lot of you!
To the unaligned: Consider the dark side. It's a lot of fun.
if you've got a few minutes to blow, i'm wondering what you think about american news media. to answer your next question, no, this isn't a homework thread (although id love to cite a TLnet poll in a paper of mine. my professors would love it). this is personal curiosity - admittedly, i am a journalism student who may end up working in the industry and so its more than just a casual curiosity.
these questions are being asked mostly with americans in mind but foreigners should feel free to answer and elaborate what its like on their shores.
let me preface this by saying, yes, i know that these questions and the terms in them are vague. even the terms 'media' and 'news media' are, imo, too vague. however, many people often think of 'media' as a single entity. in addition, similar polls use similarly vague wording.
Poll: Do you trust American media? (Vote): Yes, most of the time (Vote): No, most of the time
With that in mind, do you think American media is becoming more or less trust worthy?
I ask this because I think there's this real problem in America with mythologizing the past (positively or negatively) with respect to many, many things.
I was thinking and writing about this in a larger context and I came to the realization that I don't know what the fuck most people think the news media was like in, say, the '50s or in the '20s, or, really, even what people today think of the news media even in the '80s.
Poll: Has American news media become more or less trustworthy over the years? (Vote): American media has always been basically trustworthy. (Vote): American media has never been basically trustworthy. (Vote): American media has become more trust worthy. (Vote): American media has become less trust worthy.
In case you're wondering, I think the questions are important simply because you can't fix the perceived problems with news media today without understanding its history.
And people definitely do perceive a problem. In similarly vague polls, a significant percentage of Americans have repeatedly said that they don't trust a lot of what news media says.
That's the big question of this thread: is it getting better or is it getting worse? Why and how?
Fuck Buttons' new album, Tarot Sport, was released recently. Here's the lead single. I start with this because it's probably the most accessible of their stuff.
There have been quite a few genres the band and album have been assigned to: industrial, post-rock, noise, electronic and the precisely descriptive “experimental.” And that’s all true, it really is.
And, in the course of all of the critical praise showered on Hung and Power, no one doubts the beauty of the soundscape, the wonder of exploring of some far off place within yourself and that some seriously heavy shit is going down in Tarot Sport.
stream the album here . And note that some of the youtube videos are cut off. Lame, I know. Also, you should know that every youtube except for the top is from the preceding album.
I love big noise that, when played at the appropriate volume (just above whatever the max volume possible is), engulfs you. I love soundscapes heavy enough to warrant a warning. I really, really love Fuck Buttons.
Fuck Buttons are the musical duo of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power. Their previous album, 2008’s Street Horrrsing, is the sort of album I put on at 3 or 5 in the morning. It’s beautiful, expansive and dark-ish. I recommend it highly.
Tarot Sport, on the other hand, is an all-day affair. It’s more welcoming but just as heavy. It’s bright(er) but not bland. It’s beautiful, too, and is Fuck Button’s best album yet.
“Surf Solar,” the album opener, prepares you for the change as soon as the warm, 4-ton drums drop. The expansive texture, by now a Fuck Button’s signature, remains. But as soon as the warped and glitchy electronic riff kicks in, the listener is made aware of a soon to be difference: precision. In fact, the song sounds so sharp that it might be carving its name into my arm. If you don’t fall in love with this song, this album (and this band and probably this genre) is not for you.
Maybe the biggest surprise for fans and critics alike is how easy it is to immediately love this album. Street Horrrsing was given widely good reviews but often with a caveat or two: it was difficult. It was welcoming for a scary, loud noise record, sure, but in the grand scheme of things – not so much.
Tarot Sport is different in that respect. No, it’s not something you’re likely to hear on the radio tomorrow but then, you don’t really care about that. It’s got its own brand of welcoming.
“Rough Steez” reaffirms that Hung and Power can, in fact, still be evil whenever they choose. But, in the context of the album, it is only a stepping stone to the wonderful and sad requiem, “The Lisbon Maru.”
As the album progresses, the old challenge occasionally returns. Looping electronics and drums at once create an enormous space and bring back the difficulty innate to the genre. However, if you’re not hooked by the time “Olympians” comes on, you never will be. Those of us who are can get past the droning prologue (that is, if we don’t appreciate it – many, many will). After the prologue, there is nothing to “get past,” only a characteristic epic to enjoy.
There have been quite a few genres the band and album have been assigned to: industrial, post-rock, noise, electronic and the precisely descriptive “experimental.” And that’s all true, it really is.
And, in the course of all of the critical praise showered on Hung and Power, no one doubts the beauty of the soundscape, the wonder of exploring of some far off place within yourself and that some seriously heavy shit is going down in Tarot Sport.
But you, the listener, only notice that you can’t really help but dance. So do that.
This is a lovely, folksy chant full of brightness and lightness and determination. It is the perfect opening track for a debut album. Sufjan Stevens would be proud, as would Animal Collective and The Postal Service. So am I, and I have no connection but a vague geographic one and, now, an emotional one based pretty much on the above song. I’m gushing like a school girl over here and all I want to do is see them live as soon as possible.
“Freelance Whales have managed to channel something eerie, dreamlike, and seemingly autonomous – the sum of the players being much more than each individual part” – Mark Steffen, HEAVEmedia
“Amazingly, Freelance Whales are even more arresting live than they are on record. They exhibit the exuberance of a young band that feels lucky to be sharing ideas with their audience” – Leo Maymind, Earfarm
“It just doesn’t feel like kids we grew up with should be this free, so we figure this five-piece has been transported from some alternate universe or simpler time when being gleeful was more important than anything else.” – RCRD LBL
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's law that grants him immunity from prosecution has been overturned. Berlusconi, a media tycoon who uses his control over the press to stay in office (I've met dozens of Italian activists who uttered the improbable phrase, "Thank God for Rupert Murdoch, Berlusconi can't bully him," which should give you an idea of what sort of person he is), passed the immunity law, arguing that he couldn't govern effectively if he could be sued or criminally prosecuted for wrongdoing. Several pending lawsuits will now go forward.
Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, suffered a setback yesterday when Italy's Constitutional Court overturned a law granting him immunity from all prosecution while in office. The court, composed of fifteen members, five of which are appointed by the Prime Minister, voted 9-6 to lift the immunity.
Berlusconi, vehemently opposed to the decision, had said immunity would allow him to govern without "distraction" from the courts.
Berlusconi is no stranger to controversy and political fights. This decision nearly guarantees that his many opponents will not be retreating in the near future. Similarly, it is unlikely that Berlusconi or his many allies and assets will back down.
The Prime Minister owns large advertising, publicity and publishing companies. He holds significant interests in cinema, insurance and banking firms. Additionally, he owns the soccer club AC Milan.
His opponents are spread across Italy, Europe and the entire Western world. They include some of the most powerful media voices on the planet. For instance, Rupert Murdoch has had direct legal and political clashes with Berlusconi.
The court decision points to the possibility of Berlusconi being prosecuted in at least three cases and possibly more. At least one case charges him with corruption and bribery.
"I'm the universal record-holder for the number of trials in the entire history of man," said Berlusconi in July 2008, "and also of other creatures who live on other planets."
Critics have long charged that the Prime Minister holds undue, illegal influence over the Italian media. Mediaset, a company founded by Berlusconi, comprises three television stations and holds half the national viewing audience.
RAI, one of two "competing" Italian broadcasters, is state owned. On several occasions, Berlusconi critics employed by the channel have been fired, causing an international uproar but making few waves in the national press.
The Economist, a UK newsmagazine which has had memorable clashes with Berlusconi throughout his life, alleges that the Prime Minister exerts influence over 90% of all national television broadcasting in Italy.
In response to the judicial decisions, Berlusconi accused the court, the media and the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, of favoring the left-leaning liberals over himself, a self-described "center-right" politician.
Approval ratings for the Prime Minister have dropped below 50% but most observers agree that he is in no danger of being replaced even though several opposition members have called on him to step down in response to the decision.
In 2004, three years after Berlusconi took office, the freedom of the Italian press was downgraded from "Free" to "Partly Free" in the Freedom of the Press 2004 Global Survey done by Freedom House, an American democracy advocacy and research organization. This was due to the Prime Minister's influence over RAI coupled with his private holdings.
Reporters Without Borders, an international freedom of press advocate, has threatened to add Berlusconi to "our list of Predators of Press Freedom," a first for Europe. Jean-Francois Julliard, the R.W.B. Chairman, asserted that Italy ranks last in press freedom in Europe.
In response to the many controversies which dogged him, the Prime Minister earlier this year declared, "I am tempted to direct and strong actions against the media because of their disinformation about me."
This remark was interpreted by many as "declaring war on the press." As the statement spread around the world on the strength of the internet, responses included anger and disbelief that the man who controls a large portion of the Italian media would threaten "strong actions" against it.
Some opponents accused Berlusconi of being a fascist in the style of "Il Duce" Benito Mussolini. Several have taken to calling the current Prime Minister "Il Douche." Berlusconi has not commented on the nickname.
Can some Italians give me their 2 cents here? How is he viewed over there?
Europeans and Americans with knowledge of the situation would be appreciated, too! I've read up on him (wikipedia, the vast number of articles about him in the international english press) but I feel lacking in knowledge on what people there actually think.
CaucasianAsian, you are awesome and I totally dig what you're doing in your blogs with the song of the week. However, we have totally incompatible music tastes! At least as far as I can tell. Maybe not, who knows.
The point is, here is an alternative! Band of the Week #1
I present to you Boston's Passion Pit! Perfect for those drunken sing and dance alongs that you have been itchin' to have. Despite residing on the always trustworthy Frenchkiss, Passion Pit aren't cool. Their approach to danceable rock music is more Friday night than year-end-list. It's also distinctly, for a lack of a better term, American. It's extroverted, brash, and unconcerned with nuance, each synthesizer used for maximum melodic impact instead of texture.-p4k
I knew someone who went to school with them. He IMed me with some songs, asking 'what do you think?'
'Because everyone hear laughs at these.. and then everyone here loves them.'
'I think I love them.'
Me too.
That same friend saw their first ever live show. It was in some small room in Emerson College in Boston. They missed notes, guitar strings broke and my friend was fairly sure that - despite loving them - this band would never make it.
Ha. They're fuckin huge. 2 sold out shows in the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan.
On Facebook, Iranians are asking the South Koreans to wear green for the Iran Korea World cup qualifying game on June 17th in Korea, as a show of support for Iranian people.
I know some of you live there or know people there or know forums where you might be able to post about it. That place should be a fuckin' sea of green.
In the words of all of the old SC greatest game ever polls - SOMEONE TELL THE KOREANS!
Seriously, if we can get the word out to them for some video game polls, we can do this.
I'm in love with Emilie Simon. It's a sort of recent development. She's playing in my city tonight but I'm not sure I can find a buddy to go with. AGH.
Émilie Simon (born 1978 in Montpellier, France) is a singer and composer of electronic music.
I recommend going to youtube and listening to these in high quality.
I don't even speak very much French - but who cares?
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