More New Videos

Posted a '90s video extravaganza!

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"
Hey, it's a band with two bass players. They have to be cool.

Therapy? - "Screamager"
The only Scottish band I know of whose name is a question. The song rocks.

Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"
Kinda grunge, kinda pop. The singer went on to be involved in Queens of the Stone Age.

Spin Doctors - "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me)"
One of the sweetest songs of the nineties. (Don't laugh. I'm still a cynic.)

And HOLY SHIT--DEAD END!
These guys are a Japanese rock band I first heard in the late eighties. They never recorded a bad song as far as I could tell. I never heard this one ("Serafine") before just now, but it's as great as the rest. I thought these guys were lost forever. I haven't heard anything from them since their Shambara album in about 1990. This makes me happy.

I promise to post something more substantial in the next couple days. Honest.

Happy Birthday, Michele!

Your age is now a square pyramidal number. You know--like the Egyptians' houses. Except you don't house dead people and all their material belongings for easier passage to the underworld.

Have a happy day! I love you billions.

Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David

Michele read this book and liked it, so she recommended it to me. I like it, too. It's funny--at times it's very funny--and fast-moving enough that I didn't feel guilty for reading a diversion rather than something more serious.

One note, though: The cover boasts a comment from Publishers Weekly that reads, "[A] fast, fun, heroic fantasy satire." But this is not a satire--it's a parody. It pokes fun at the conventions of the fantasy form, but it doesn't do so in order to comment on our culture or society.

This is a more mechanical twist of the form than Terry Pratchett generally produces (because Pratchett is king), but it's an amusing read with more depth than I would have supposed prior to reading it. Definitely worth the time.

I'm Weird

I've been accused of weirdness my whole life. I'm fine with that. Recently I've stopped eating meat, which makes me strange (even to myself, since I love meat so much), but it goes back a long way.

From the time I was ten years old I've been atheist. I remember reading stories from the bible when I was in Sunday school and thinking "Well, this didn't happen." And I figured everyone else was in on the joke.

Then I found out that others did think it did happen, and that there was no joke. Not intentionally, anyway.

So I'm weird. I know that. Part of my weirdness is expressed in my recent pescetarianism (seven months and counting). Here's some more of it: I'm green. Watch this. Minimize your stuff. Cynicism is the way to go. Materialism sucks. Ha.

More Videos

I posted four more videos:

Mark Knopfler - "What It Is"
I was reminded of this song when reading Jess's last post. It's a beautiful song. Subtle, understated, and the guitar just kills me.

White Spirit - "Watch Out" and Persian Risk - "50,000 Stallions"
Two songs I first heard on a compilation of obscure NWOBHM bands. I bought it on cassette in about 1989, and I'd love to find it on CD. These two songs are among my favorite, and a good idea of what heavy metal was in 1980.

Trouble - "At the End of My Daze"
Somewhat late in the heavy metal heyday, this song is deep into Trouble's doom-metal career, when they started going psychedelic (inventing stoner metal in the process). Great stuff, though. Enough bottom end to satisfy Sir Mix-a-lot.

Happy Valentine's Day

I was planning a long, rambling post about the holiday, but as it turns out I just don't have the energy for it. I'm happy this V-Day, but I'm one of the lucky ones. Our culture makes it too easy for people to get depressed on a day like this: If you're single you're a failure; if you don't spend a ton of cash on your spouse/partner/significant other/stalkee you're a failure; if you can't think of something brilliant to bestow upon your lover you're insufficiently romantic, and, therefore, a failure.

Something about the promotion of conspicuous consumption as a sign of affection rubs me the wrong way. On the other hand, having a day set aside for expressing love doesn't mean one can't express it the rest of the year, so what's the real harm?

Happy Thursday.

I'm Such a Nerd

I just posted a link in the sidebar. It's a YouTube link to a video about how John Locke* expanded on the philosophical thoughts of Rene Descartes and then George Berkeley** (pronounced "Barkley," because he was Irish) made a mockery of Locke. The video's pretty funny, even if the guys speak in a hard-to-understand gibber.

*Yes, the same as the name of the character on Lost. There's probably a reason for that--like Locke's a "man of faith" in both contexts.
**The University of California, Berkeley was named in George's honor, though the pronunciation has slid over the years to become "Burkley" instead of "Barkley."

More Changes

I tinkered a little with my sidebar again. I deleted a few links in the "I Respect These People" field, not because I no longer respect them, but because they rarely, if ever, post anymore. I added a field for other blogs I enjoy reading, or that I find useful, but don't personally know the bloggers beyond their blogs.

I also changed the names on the sidebar to match what people's posting names would read. We'll see how these changes go.

Another New Video

My distractions are generating distractions. I'm still reading Kant, and I'm still reading Sir Apropos of Nothing, but now I'm also reading William James's essay "The Will to Believe." Fascinating stuff.

Anyway, I also posted a link to a video for D.A.D.'s song "Grow or Pay." Powerful stuff.

And another link for "Jihad," which is maybe too pertinent for our time. And it's a solid rock song.

For Fans of Firefly and Indulgent Guitar Solos

The first bit of news for the day is of a novel in the Firefly universe. For fans of the TV show and subsequent movie, Serenity, it should be an interesting diversion. Here are the two best parts:

1. It's free to download here.
2. It was written by Steven Brust, an accomplished fantasy author and product of Minnesota.

Actually, Steve wrote this novel hoping to have it published, but Joss Whedon decided he didn't want any novels written about his creation, so he squelched it. As a result, since Steve can't make any money on it he decided to post it online as fan fiction. Should be interesting. The comments I've read so far have ranged from appreciative to fawning, but since I read those comments on Steve's blog, that's to be expected, I guess.

The second bit is not really news. It's just a cool clip of an old concert--specifically, a Cacophony concert, and Jason Becker's guitar solo. It may be completely self-indulgent, and the spandex and big hair date this for what it is, but there's no denying the man's skill. It reminds me of my first year in the MFA program. I'm a pretty good typist. My fingers fly, and I rarely make errors. But one day I walked into 206A to the sound of machine-gun typing. Jess was on one of the computers and Jen Brown was on the other (the Crapintosh sat quiet, as usual), and they were both on fire with the typing. It really was unreal to witness two people blazing away on the keys like that, every fingerstroke finding the right key without pause. That's what Becker's solo is. Every note intentional, blazing execution. It's posted on the right sidebar.

Amazing.

Trying Not to Be Cynical

I would like to think the majority of the American public is intelligent and capable of processing basic information. I'd like to think the humans who live near me have some sort of competence. And then I'm faced with this:


------ Race Results Display ------------ VOTES ----- % PRECINCTS

(DEM) FOR PRESIDENT ---------------------------------- 18 OF 2220
HILLARY CLINTON ------------------------------------------ 2,899 --- 45.49%
BILL RICHARDSON ---------------------------------------------- 97 ----- 1.52%
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD -----------------------------------------35 ----- .55%
BARACK OBAMA ------------------------------------------- 2,434 ----- 38.19%
DENNIS J. KUCINICH ------------------------------------------------ 36 ---- .56%
JOHN EDWARDS ---------------------------------------------- 804 ------ 12.62%
JIM ROGERS --------------------------------------------------- 68 ----- 1.07%

I'm not even going to get into the Republicans, because they're all idiots. But look at this. Richardson, Kucinich, Edwards, and Dodd have all dropped out.

And people are still voting for them.

Fucking idiots.

My Hero

Okay, so that might be a bit dramatic. Tom Waits isn't really my hero, but he is the musician I admire most, and has been for about six years. His creativity, versatility, and quirkiness make him (to me) the musical equivalent of Flannery O'Connor and Nathanael West. You just never know where he's taking you.

So I posted his video for "Lie to Me" on the right. Actually, this is a Waits song that even Michele can like. Usually she just wants to hand him a cough drop, because his voice is so abused, but for this song he employs a clean voice. For the most part.

Just for contrast, I've included a 1977 recording of Waits singing "Tom Traubert's Blues." His voice is in fine, gurgly, gravelly form on this performance. I love it. Michele will not.

An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender

A little more than six years ago Aimee Bender visited Mankato for the Good Thunder reading series. At that time I went to every reading, but I only bought the author's book if it really had an impact on me. This book, and Bender's reading, were the best from that year--and maybe the best I saw in my Mankato years. I bought her book and waited in line for her to sign it, and I must have babbled at her for a few moments because her inscription reads:

For Jason-
Thanks for your kind words!
best,
Aimee Puglea

Actually, I'm sure that last word is supposed to be "Bender," but it wouldn't seem so without prior knowledge. If her signature got a little slapdash after so many repetitions, it didn't matter. The story she read and her reading of it were both perfect for the occasion.

The story, An Invisible Sign of My Own, is about Mona Gray, a young woman who's been motivationally paralyzed since the age of ten, the year when her father announced that he was sick (though he showed no sign of illness) and stopped doing anything. That's when Mona started quitting everything--especially the things she excelled in. Mona's a quirky woman: she knocks on wood almost constantly, she's obsessed with numbers, and for a twentieth birthday present she buys herself an ax.

Everything about this novel works, from the fairy tale prologue to the swirl of recurring motifs and images to Mona's likeable voice and believable internal struggle. It's a story driven more by dramatic tension than by a central conflict, but every moment is enjoyable and the development of the story is unlike anything else I've ever read.

Strange that I haven't picked up a copy of anything else she's written. Maybe I'm afraid the rest of her work will disappoint me after this.