Foals–Antidotes
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Since this album came out in March, and the web is packed with thoughtful reviews about these guys, I won't bother. Let me just say this is one of the best albums of the year. This song has Cure-ish moments, but don't let that fool you. It's all about the rhythms. Thanks to Eric Greenwood for making me notice these guys.
It's a dicey thing to criticize a Nobel Prize winner, but I find myself even more loath to take a position contrary to that of Harold Bloom. Nevertheless, here I go: Portuguese Laureate Jose Saramago's novel Blindness is a flawed work that has its gripping moments and images but that nevertheless falls far short of greatness. Blindness tells the story of a city/country/world whose population is stricken with a contagious form of blindness. The reader follows the first handful of people who lose… Read More
Somehow I missed this band on their first release, Beautiful Seizure, but on the strength of this sophomore effort I'm completely on the Volcano! bandwagon. Paperwork is not an easy album to digest, especially if you simply let it play in the background. Don't do that: it demands your full attention. So much is going on in most of these songs that they must have been written with flow charts. Unusual beats and time signatures merge into one another, and the melodies--sometimes several different… Read More
Norm Cook + David Byrne + Dizzee Rascal = The BPA: Toe Jam
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
If this doesn't make you happy, you've got issues.
Read More
Blindness by Jose Saramago
Saturday, August 30th, 2008 It's a dicey thing to criticize a Nobel Prize winner, but I find myself even more loath to take a position contrary to that of Harold Bloom. Nevertheless, here I go: Portuguese Laureate Jose Saramago's novel Blindness is a flawed work that has its gripping moments and images but that nevertheless falls far short of greatness. Blindness tells the story of a city/country/world whose population is stricken with a contagious form of blindness. The reader follows the first handful of people who lose… Read More
It’s Texas: The Teachers Have Guns
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
The New York Times reported on Thursday that in Harrold, Texas the schoolboard has approved a motion to allow teachers to carry concealed handguns at school. The idea, apparently, is that this will help prevent a massacre by discontented students.
This is a really dumb idea, for several reasons.
1. This makes teachers an easy source for a weapon. These people are not trained to fend off attackers. If someone wants to shoot students and teachers in the school, now they don't have to prepare by planning and purchasing a gun--they can, in the heat of the moment,… Read More
This is a really dumb idea, for several reasons.
1. This makes teachers an easy source for a weapon. These people are not trained to fend off attackers. If someone wants to shoot students and teachers in the school, now they don't have to prepare by planning and purchasing a gun--they can, in the heat of the moment,… Read More
Barack Obama–He Completes Us
Friday, August 29th, 2008
I love Barack, but this is fucking hilarious.
Read More
Byrne and Eno Colllaboration–Album Available
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Radiohead Webcast
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Volcano!–Paperwork
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 Somehow I missed this band on their first release, Beautiful Seizure, but on the strength of this sophomore effort I'm completely on the Volcano! bandwagon. Paperwork is not an easy album to digest, especially if you simply let it play in the background. Don't do that: it demands your full attention. So much is going on in most of these songs that they must have been written with flow charts. Unusual beats and time signatures merge into one another, and the melodies--sometimes several different… Read More
Driver loses his marbles on I-35
Monday, August 25th, 2008
If you were in a traffic jam on Saturday morning, it was because an 18-wheeler full of MARBLES jacknifed, spilling its load.
The 18-wheeler full of banana peels, on the other hand, made it safely to the home of one Wile E. Coyote.
Read More
The 18-wheeler full of banana peels, on the other hand, made it safely to the home of one Wile E. Coyote.
Read More
Japanese Foot Pads Debunked
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008
Last spring, I was eating dinner in a semi-fancy restaurant that incongruously had flat screen TVs playing news in the corner. (This is very Dallas, by the way.) My taste for food faded as I saw a commercial for Japanese Foot Pads which reportedly sucked various toxins from your feet while sleeping. It was both gross and grossly implausible. Here's the ad: