Wednesday, July 11, 2007

God I love analysing things

I've come across two different songs about Jacob's Ladder, both the toy and the biblical story. I found some interesting comparisons to be made between them. The first song is a spiritual hymn* called "We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder."
It goes thus:

We are climbing Jacob's ladder, we are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, brothers, sisters, all

Every rung goes higher and higher, every rung goes higher and higher
Every rung goes higher and higher, brothers, sisters, all

Every new one makes us stronger, every new one makes us stronger,
Every new one makes us stronger, brothers, sisters, all

We have toiled in dark and danger, we have toiled in dark and danger,
We have toiled in dark and danger, brothers, sisters, all

We are dancing Sarah's circle, we are dancing Sarah's circle
We are dancing Sarah's circle, brothers, sisters, all**

Every round a generation, every round a generation
Every round a generation, brothers, sisters, all

We are climbing Jacob's ladder, we are climbing Jacob's ladder
We are climbing Jacob's ladder, brothers, sisters, all

Another version I found is a bit simpler:

We are climbing Jacob's Ladder x3
We're soldiers of the Cross

We run goes higher and higher x3
We're soldiers of the Cross

The interesting thing to note is how it talks about either the upward or circular journey, never the downward one. "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder" and " every rung goes higher and higher" are the upward references; "we are dancing Sarah's circle" and " every round a generation" are the circular ones.

Now, compare the old spiritual's lyrics to the modern song about Jacob's Ladder, Patrick Wolf's "Jacob's Ladder," with the lyrics being the following:

Jacob
Jacob ladder's falling down
Heaven is out of reach for us now

The golden gates
The closing clouds
Jacob's ladder's fallen down

The modern song talks about going "down" and "falling" in presumably both the physical as well as the spiritual sense. Is this simply a sign of our pessimistic modern lives compared to the optimistic past? Has the prevelance of the toy Jacob's ladder - which certainly seems to cascade down - influenced the lyrics? Or did I just stumble upon two oddly polar songs by coincidence and I'm reading far too much into this?***

All I know for sure is that both songs miss the point of the biblical story:

And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.****
(italics mine)

They went two ways; up and down. I guess I'm puzzling over this: why did the artists***** represent them going only one way and not both?

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Opinions? Other songs about the subject? If you have any of the above, please give them to me!

*It was labeled to as a "Negro Spiritual" but I'm not sure how PC that is
**Does anyone with more biblical knowledge know what this line means?
***Probably.
****Genesis 28:10-22, King James Version
*****By artists I mean lyricists. Most painters seemed to have little issue depicting the angels going both ways.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Insomnia

I've been plagued by moderate amounts of insomnia the past several days and I figured I might as well grab some ideas on what to do while bored and awake. The past two nights I've been awake I watched a movie, did tons of math homework and browsed the internet, along with failed attempts to figure out why the sandman is scorning me. I've had to avoid doing my English homework because I've found I use the larger words from my lexicon when I'm tired. This is great for my writing, although the writers block has stayed with me during this bout of insomnia. I'd also watch the sunrise but the area has too many trees to see a proper one.
What suggestions do other people have?

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Goodbye Menstration

There's an interesting article over at Slate about a pill that is designed to stop menstruation. Being male, I really don't have much of an opinion on this but I am curious about what other people think. Is this a good idea? A bad one?

Monday, May 21, 2007

Starcraft II

I'm surprised Taylor hasn't blogged about this yet...
Anyways, I'm here to tell you to sell your stock in any company that employs geeks or nerds. Especially Google, sell your stock in Google. Why? Because after nine years, the sequel to the computer game Starcraft was announced. That means any techy is going to quit their job to spend a few months in front of their computer playing this game. Considering how much of the economy relies on these techies, I'm worried about a major recession. But not too worried because I know I'll be too glued to my computer to worry about anything. This coming from the boy who hasn't played a computer game in nearly two years.

For those of you who don't know anything about Starcraft, here's a bit of history: it came out in 1998, has sold 9 million copies and is still an incredibly fun game. It is a real time strategy game that revolves around three races, the bug-like Zerg, the religious Protoss and the human Terran. Not only is the game fun, but the cinematics are beautifully done and the characters and plot are actually, well, surprisingly good. I still rank Kerrigan as one of my favorite villians from any media. Oddly enough, Starcraft is pretty much the unofficial national sport of South Korea.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Phelp's hates Falwell

There isn't a word to describe what I'm feeling over this. Apparently Fred Phelp's and the hateful bastards* at the Westboro Baptist Church loath even the deceased Jerry Falwell. They're going to "preach" at his funeral.** Part of me feels sorry for Falwell. That isn't a big part of me. A bigger part of me is just swimming in the poetic justice of this. Falwell was a horrible bigot and the idea of having an even worse bigot ranting about how lenient Falwell was just seems awesome. A third part of me is trying to decide of Phelp's is some sort of sick performance artist who wants to make Christianity look bad.

*I normally try to avoid using words like that against people, but Phelp's is one who I think honestly deserves it.
**Don't look at that site unless you're prepared to deal with high blood pressure and excessive amounts of outrage.

Friday, May 4, 2007

It had to be on purpose...

Skywalkers in Korea cross Han solo is probably one of the best news headlines I've ever read.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Massacres and sympathy

Everyone has heard of the tragedy that happened at Virginia Tech this week. Most of the country felt and expressed sympathy to the murdered students and their friends and family. What most people probably did not hear about was the 170 people killed in Baghdad today. Little, if any, sorrow or sympathy was extended to the victims and their families in Baghdad by the rest of the world. Why is this the case? I'm not attempting to make people feel guilty about their sorrow for one tragedy over another, I'm simply curious as to why one event evokes emotions instead of another. Are we simply desensitized to the murders in Iraq? Is it because what happens in Iraq effects us less then what happens on a campus in Virginia? I don't remember much public condolences to the victims of the 2006 Mumbia train bombings yet the train bombings in Madrid in 2004 generated much sympathy. The number of dead were about the same, what caused the different responses? Is it because America has more shared cultural traits with Spain than India? One thing that I can be certain of is that when children are killed, emotions will be raised. The Columbine and Beslan school massacres both received much media attention and public condolences.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Sex, condoms and reproduction rights.

First, an interesting article in the NYTimes about sexuality and sexual desire. There's also another one that is, to put it frankly, about old peoples libidos. I found it refreshing that a major newspaper like the Times was pretty open about this kind of thing.

Even more surprising is New York City's new condom distribution plan. Basically, New York City has been giving out free condoms. Five million have been distributed so far. They've even got two short animations about the condoms (don't worry, the link is safe for work). The best part about the whole thing? Their slogan: "New York, we've got you covered." A major newspaper being explicit about sex and sexuality is one thing, a government agency being explicit and risque about it is even more amazing!

This isn't to say that all inhibitions about sex are bad. These inhibitions were sorely missed in the case where four middle school children had sex in a classroom while the teacher was out of the room. I'm not sure how something like this could happen. Is it glorification of sex in pop culture? Bad parenting? Declining sexual inhibitions?

Finally there is the case of an infertile woman* in Britain who is not allowed to use her frozen embryos that were inseminated by her partner. The man withdrew his consent to use the embryos because he did not want the emotional or financial burden of having someone raise his child. I feel sympathetic toward this woman, but I do think the court made the right decision.

Thoughts? Opinions? Comments?

*You might need a subscription to The Economist to read that article.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Silly movies

After a month of no posts (I was sick, had a play, had work), I know I should have something more meaningful than a link to a trailer for the new Die Hard movie and I actually did until I saw this. I'm very happy that at least one eighties action star looks like he can still be cool. Good ol' Bruce Willis. Unfortunately, Harrison Ford and Sylvester Stallone failed to do remain awesome in action movies. Do we really need another Indiana Jones movie with Harrison Ford*? Do we really need another Rambo movie? Did we need the first Rambo movie? I believe the answer to be no. Judging by the trailer, it looks like we do need another Die Hard movie.

I'll try to post something meaningful and intellectual tomorrow.

*What we really need is a new Indiana Jones movie with Nathan Fillion.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

80's Cartoons

Certifiable proof that the eighties rocked. Thirty minutes of 80's cartoon openings. Those thirty minutes gave me so much nostalgia. I have distinct memories of watching about half of those cartoons and more hazy memories about another quarter. There were a few great ones that they didn't have (Alvin and the Chipmunks), but it was pretty comprehensive. There were also a few horrible ones on there. I managed to avoid the Zelda cartoons as a little kid and watched one relatively recently. It made me want to destroy my brain. Ugh. No decade is without it's flaws, I suppose. Anyways, watch that link if you grew up on eighties cartoons like I did and want to kill thirty minutes.

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

"Vaginal rejuvenation" and "revirgination"

According to the Washington Post, "laser vaginal rejuvenation" is a relatively new and unstudied cosmetic surgical procedure that is gaining popularity. The three main reasons for these procedures are "to enhance sexual gratification by repairing tissue damaged by childbirth, to give women a 'youthful aesthetic look' or to make those who are not appear to be virgins." While I think that the first reason listed is a perfectly good reason - after all, if you're having sex you ought to be enjoying it - I think the second two are absolutely repugnant.

The only people who need their genitals to have a "youthful aesthetic look" are porn stars. In any other case it is simply cosmetics taken too far. While I find them distasteful, having breast implants or other forms of cosmetic surgery can be used to attracted a partner. But a woman doesn't need a "youthful" looking vagina to attract a potential partner because by the time the potential partner can see her genitals he's moved well past the stage of "potential."

I don't have many comments on the use of vaginal rejuvenation surgery to "make those who are not appear to be virgins." I've never understood societies (creepy) interest in having men deflower virgins. Revirgination, as it is called, is a short procedure that basically puts the hymen back in place. The WP paraphrases a N.J. gynecologist: "the "revirginization" operation has become increasingly popular as a gift for men." I'm sorry, but this just frightens me. I'm not going to even get into how this surgery doesn't actually "restore" virginity.

While the revirgination is a physically harmless procedure, the laser vaginal rejuvenation surgery has not been studied in any detail. Nobody knows what the long term effects are, how often it actually works, how often it doesn't etc. As a general rule of thumb, anything with the word "surgery" in it should be studied carefully before it is available to the general public. The fact that many women are subjecting themselves to a potentially dangerous treatment for the sake of their physical appearance is worrisome.

I'm not calling for a ban on these surgeries, just more detailed studies. I also think that people as a whole need to stop encouraging this sort of thing. Frankly I find it disgusting that some women are so insecure that they have cosmetic genital surgery and that their husbands are in support of this. People focus far too much on their physical appearances and the amount of time and money that is wasted on these surgeries is further proof of that.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Night Watch

Last night I turned the TV on to watch Lost but it was mysteriously in Spanish. After failing to turn the show into English I gave up and decided to watch this odd looking Russian fantasy/thriller movie called Night Watch. Apparently this movie was the first Russian movie to get more than 2 million dollars domestically, so I figured it would have to be at least decent.

I put the movie in and after spending about ten minutes trying to get it out of the bad English voice-overs (what is up with my TV and languages? yeesh) I started watching it. It begins pretty badly with some exposition about the forces of light and darkness meeting on a bridge and battling and nobody can win so there's a truce blah blah blah. It looks corny so far. Then we fast forward closer to the present and start getting into the plot.

The plot of the movie is pretty basic. The forces of light and the forces of dark monitor each other by having the good guys police the night and the baddies policing the day. Our hero Anton is drawn into this when the good Night Watch stops a witch from performing some sort of magical abortion on Anton's wife (somehow this would get his wife back to him). Anton's magical powers awake after some stylish scuffling (including some weird doll-spider thing coming to life and someone transforming into a tiger) and we fast forward again into the present where Anton is now a vampire.

To say any more would spoil the plot as well as reveal that I really didn't follow it. This movie shouldn't be watched for the plot, it should be watched for the setting and style. It turns out that post-soviet Russia mixes really well with the dark modern fantasy setting. The mood that the setting conveys is the second-best part of the movie.

The best part of the movie is the stylish scenes. This movie was shot with barely over a 4 million dollar budget, but I really couldn't tell. We've got CGI effects of people appearing and disappearing onscreen, we've got people morphing into animals, we've got cars flipping over through the air and plenty of other cool bits. I can't really describe how cool some of the scenes are, especially the ones where the good guys enter "The Gloom," a sort of alternate reality place that didn't make much sense to me.

The final thing to note about this movie is the subtitles. I don't know why this hasn't been done before, but Night Watch uses subtitles incredibly well. When one character yells, the subtitles are big and come right out of his mouth. When another character is half-dead and struggling to get the words out, the subtitles are small and flicker. Thankfully this effect isn't overused; if anything it is underused.

In the end, you're only going to like Night Watch if you enjoy modern fantasy movies and if you don't mind getting lost in a convoluted plot. If you do like modern-fantasy stuff, this movie is going to be easy for you to enjoy. Personally, I thought it was great but it definitely isn't for everyone.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Favorite albums!

Because lists disguise the fact that I barely update this thing. Or at least not enough for my liking.

1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
A rumination on life, death, the afterlife, God, Anne Frank, love, alienation and who knows what else. This is my favorite album. As a whole it sounds like nothing I've ever heard while each individual piece sounds familiar (except the zanzithophone and singing saw, those were both new to me). There's your standard guitar, bass and drums and added onto that are an assortment of horns, organs, and the afformentioned singing saw and zanzithophone. All of it sounds pretty bad the first time you hear it, especially Jeff Mangum's singing. The lyrics are incomprehensible on first glance as well. If you do what I do and stick with it, hopefully you'll grow to love this as much as I have.
2. The Moon and Antarctica - Modest Mouse
Yet another rumination on life, death, the afterlife and God. This one stops at Anne Frank, though, and goes onto dehumanization and solitude. Isaac Brock's voice takes some getting used to, but it really carries across the desperation he tries to convey. My favorite part of Modest Mouse is their thematic dichotomy (I love that word): trailer trash and poetic musings. They break down when the trailer trash aspects take full force, but thankfully that doesn't happen here.
3. Agaetis Byrjun - Sigur Ros
A third musing on life, de- forget it. I've got no clue what this Icelandic band is singing about, but man is the singing good. These are really slow moving, ethereal sounding songs that, again, take a while to get used to. Sparse drums, simplistic basslines, cool piano and a guitar played with a cello bow, plus a string quartet and an awesome male falsetto.
4. Kid A - Radiohead
Paranoia reigns supreme with Radiohead! Also, good experimental rock music. These dudes are the innovators of rock. There's one truly ambient piece here, but the rest are mostly electronic/rock songs. They're the most accessible so far on this list.
5. Picaresque - The Decemberists
In order... a song about a child monarch, a double suicide by star-crossed lovers, the tragic death of a barrowboy, a song about a second-rate sports player, a love story about a secret agent and a government bureaucrat, a song about an old person waiting for a letter from their long lost love, an anti-war song, one about a novelist, child prostitutes, vengeful sailors in a whales belly and finally a plain old poetic song. All with big and archaic words and folk-rock instruments. Seriously good stuff if you're into that sort of thing.
6. The Runners Four - Deerhoof
Deerhoof! The best Deerhoof! An hour of it! They rock, rock and rock. Their drummer is awesome, their guitarists are awesome, even their high pitched Japanese singer is awesome (especially now that she can sing well)! Either you'll love Deerhoof or hate them.
7. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian
Bluesy, folksy, rocksy songs. Sexuality, religion and love are covered here. The coolest thing about these songs is that they cover specific characters who are vividly drawn within a few minutes. "Judy and the Dream of Horses" is a definite favorite.
8. F# A# (infinity) - Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Pretentious, long songs that start slow, get fast, climax and then dissolve into ethereal sounding sounds, with rants and monologues put in for good measure. There are three songs on here, but that's still a good hour on the CD. A really good piece of music, if you ask me, but I wouldn't recommend it to most people.
9. The Lemon of Pink - The Books
I bought this on the title alone and I'm really glad I got it. The Lemon of Pink takes acoustic guitars, cello and "foundsound" which is basically voices from movies, TV, video games and wherever else they dug it up and mashes it together into really easy to like songs. As strange as it sounds, this is the kind of music I can relax to.
10. The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place - Explosions in the Sky
Guitar, guitar, bass and drums, all instrumental. More slow build ups to big climaxes. Instrumental music is tough for me to describe, it seems. They follow a pretty set pattern of the intro, build up, climax and rest but they do it so damn well!

So, that's the list of music I like! I think my descriptions petered out at the end. Ah well.

Music and catharsis

Today was a long, miserable day. I get home and the first thing I do is put a CD on, turn the volume up and lie in bed. Forty five minutes, I'm feeling a thousand times better and ready to continue with life. Why? How does a piece of music cause me to feel rejuvenated? For that matter, why do I have such a strong emotional attachment to this album? There doesn't seem to be any rational basis for these things. Frankly, I don't have any good theories on this.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Book review!

As terrible as it sounds, I just finished reading my first book this year. I've got to start finding more time to read.

Review time: "Only Revolutions" by Mark Z. Danielewski is a novel written in free-verse. The story is about two teenagers named Haley and Sam who are perpetually sixteen years old. The novel consists of two monologues, one by Haley and one by Sam, about their seriously deranged road trip across the United States. The book is a love story between Haley and Sam, a metaphor on the decline of the American Dream. The main theme comes across in the different ways that Haley and Sam view the same events. When they are confronted by The Creep, one of the two antagonists in the book, Haley sees Sam fighting him off while she cowers in the corner while Sam sees the exact opposite. This continues right up until the tragic end, even when it is physically impossible for the two characters to see opposite things happen. There is a lot of figurative language and wordplay in this book and whether or not you should read it largely depends on how much you enjoy figuring out just what the heck is going on. Personally, I enjoyed the poetic language, but I know it isn't for everyone. Overall, this is one of the best books I've read. It has strong themes, good pacing, good character development and a plot that still manages to come through despite the fact that you get conflicting information from both monologues.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Music and Artistic Integrity

I was watching TV earlier this night when a commercial for Phoenix University came on. I normally tune out commercials, but this one had something that caught my attention: the song playing in the background. The song was the chorus for "The Bleeding Heart Show" by the New Pornographers, a song that I instantly recognized. This got me thinking about artistic integrity. What would constitute a musician "selling out" their artistic integrity? Can musicians ever sell out their artistic integrity?

There are a couple actions that people view as signs of a musician losing their artistic integrity. For starters, many people think that a band selling a song license for use in a commercial would mean that the song or band has lost their artistic integrity. Another commonly considered act of selling out would be when a musician starts writing music for a specific audience in the hopes that they'll earn more money on it. Having someone else write music for you is also considered a way to lose artistic integrity.

Imagine your favorite song, the one that you consider most special to you. Now imagine this song trying to sell you a car. Something that is emotionally powerful and special is being used to peddle merchandise. Surely this is a breach of artistic integrity? Well, maybe not. The music is going to be the same, whether or not it is selling you Pepsi. Besides, what if your favorite musician is a literal "starving artiste" and needs the money to survive? What if it is a choice between letting their music sell a product or the musicians having to take a retail job and therefore have less energy to focus on music making? Wouldn't that be selling out?

What if an artist starts writing catchy popular tunes with no emotional value just so that they can make more money? Is this selling out? To give a real world example, the band Modest Mouse has been writing pop tunes that really lack a lot of the emotional qualities of their earlier work and they're becoming more mainstream and doubtlessly making more money because of it. But if writing your music to a larger audience so that you can make more money takes your artistic integrity away, then Mozart, Bach and almost every other classical composer has no artistic integrity. Pretty much everything they wrote was paid for by rich men or churches who wanted a specific song for a specific mood. Mozart wrote some tunes for some rich guys kids, tunes that are considered to be "art" by a large number of people. The same example can also be applied to architecture: the architect is getting paid to design a building in a specific way, but it is still considered art. Just because the composer wants to make a living off of music does not mean that it is not art.

Thirdly, there is the claim that if you have something written for you by someone else, it has no artistic integrity. I don't think that there is much to this claim. Dividing up the work of writing a song does not make the song less artistic. I like writing songs and poems, but I'm a bad singer. Does that mean that nobody can sing the songs I write? Or that if they do, those songs have no artistic value? I hope not. I still put a lot of time and effort into the songs, even if I can't sing them.

I think that for the first two claims - licensing and changing what you play - there is some validity. I think I'd feel sick and cry if any Neutral Milk Hotel songs were playing on a commercial. Those songs have a lot of meaning to me and, yeah, they're special to me. Context changes the song to some extent; music videos, for example, add new meaning to songs. I think the same would happen if a song is in a commercial, the context would be changed and whenever you heard the song you'd think "Pepsi." This is only a problem for some songs. I don't think it matters much for the New Pornographers song that was advertising a college. It's a good power pop song, but it doesn't mean much to me. It is only when the song has a meaning to the listener when it becomes a problem.

The second claim, that a musician changing what they write for the sake of money, has more weight to it. This is a case where a musician is willingly deciding to stop making "art" and to start making a product. The difference between a contemporary musician selling out and, say, Bach selling out is that there wasn't a concept of selling out a few hundred years ago. Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse can sell out because there is a concept of selling out, Bach couldn't because the norm was to make your art on commissions from rich noblemen.

So, while there is some validity to the claims that some musicians are selling out, I think that a lot of the arguments are weaker than they appear. A lot of the cases they should not even apply. With Modest Mouse, their older songs are darker and a lot more depressed while the newer ones are happier and more upbeat. Maybe Isaac Brock isn't selling out, maybe he's just happier? Or maybe he did just want more money. Maybe the folks in the New Pornographers needed the money to pay the rent or maybe they wanted a jacuzzi. There's really no way to know when a musician loses their artistic integrity except when their songs and the emotions they are trying to express ring hollow to you.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Properties of God

There are some problems with a completely atheistic view of the universe. For starters, how the heck did the universe come into existence in the first place? One of the common answers to this is "the universe didn't come into existence, it has always been here." There is a problem I can see in this argument. If the universe has been around for an infinite length of time, how could we ever get to the present? If you go infinitely far back into the past and then start going forward, you would never reach the present because it is an infinite distance away. Another common answer would be "the universe just came into existence." This doesn't work unless you find some sort or property that the universe has that would allow it to pop into existence. That sort of property, one that would allow something to appear out of nothing, would violate the first (?) law of thermodynamics which states that you can't add matter or energy to a system.

So, the universe being created by itself would violate one of its own rules. This is a problem, especially since it obviously has been created by something. What's a puzzler like myself supposed to do? Theorize some sort of answer, of course! Since the universe doesn't have an infinite past and because it has to have been created by something, I'm going to try to theorize what that something is. Since most cultures call that something God, I'll stick with that name. This isn't the Judeo-Christian God or the Muslim God or any of Hindu's many God's, just a general creator-type being.

The one property of this God that I've got here is that it is what created the universe. What does that mean for God? Well, it means that God isn't constrained by the natural laws of physics, for starters. God doesn't have to worry about adding or subtracting matter or energy from the universe since it can obviously do that already. That means that God's could everywhere at once or even nowhere. Also, time doesn't necessarily have to work with God the way it does with everything else. This makes theorizing about God's behavior really, really difficult.

I'm going to try really hard to post more of my beliefs about the world that really don't jive well with the scientific view. Possible subjects for the future include free will and the source of morality!

Friday, January 5, 2007

Some writing

I've got some new writing that I've been working on. This is mostly just a break for me; I wanted to write something without any idea of where I'm going with it and with no prior planning.
Without further delay, a random bit of writing!


There was a little cafe in the middle of everything. The huge everything swallowed whatever building was put into it, digested it for a decade and by the time it was spat back out. Whatever new and innovative architecture was originally there was erased under layers of graffiti and third-rate repairs. The cafe that was in the middle of everything somehow managed to avoid this curse. The walls were free from gang slogans and teenage love notes, the sidewalk in front of the building was somehow kept clean and all the lights inside worked. Last generations jazz hits softly slipped out of the speakers and filled up the room. A teenage barista served steaming espresso's to customers taking a moment out of their day to recharge their batteries. College students with Macbooks typed away at essays. In the corner of the room, two teenage boys quietly talked to each other.

"I feel like I'm drinking up her golden hair whenever I see her. I'm just swimming in it. Swimming in everything. She's beautiful."
"You, my friend, are completely and totally infatuated."
"No no, this is love, man!"
"Keep your voice down James or we'll get thrown out. I don't want to get thrown out of here because you're blabbering about your current crush and you've deluded yourself again into thinking this is some sort of love."
James took a bite out of his over-sized cookie. "No Dion, this is different from Alexandra. This time it's totally love."
"Chew swallow talk. Chew swallow talk. It's disgusting when you can't keep the order of things straight." Dion took a sip from his coffee and swallowed it loudly before continuing. "And what about Melinda? Didn't you love her?"
"Well, that's diff-"
"And Nadia?"
"That was just-"
"I've got a whole list of people that you've 'loved' and it is getting on my nerves that you keep deluding yourself into thinking that every girl you make out with is your one true love."
James glared at Dion. "You've got no sense of romance in you."
Dion finished his coffee and stood up. "No, I don't. Ready to go?"
James stuffed his half-eaten cookie into his mouth and nodded. "Yupth."
"Disgusting."

The city was everything to its inhabitants and everything was the city. The people were the city. The stores they shopped in, the food they ate, the salty water they drink, the air they breathed. It was all the city. Light flooded onto the streets from the cracks between skyscrapers. A beggar, fresh from the sewer, pleaded to every passerby for money so that she could survive another day. A well dressed man with a holy book held high shouted with a clear voice over the crowded streets.
"The bubble that shields you from the outside world will burst!" People ignored him. "Those who are saints shall be saved!" People rolled their eyes at him. "Those who are sinners shall drown in the flood!" People glared at him.

Dion and James flowed through the river of people. They gushed exuberantly around the shoppers with their empty pockets and filled bags. They trickled guiltily past the beggars. They bubbled mockingly at the man with the holy book.
"What about a turban?" James asked.
"Why would she like a turban? I mean, does she wear turbans, are they fashionable?"
"I dunno."
"Of course you don't! You're so totally in love with this chick, but you don't know anything about her!" Dion's left hand started shaking and he held onto it with his right one. "Stupid drunken whore..." he muttered.
"I know plenty about her!" James barely glanced at Dion's hand.
"I doubt this. Like what?"
"Like she's a great kisser."
Dion rolled his eyes.
"And she's got the moves, if you know what I mean." James thrusted his pelvis back and forth a few times.
"Please never do that again. You're polluting the fresh air." Dion's hand stopped shaking.
"You're starting to sound like preacher-man, buddy boy."
"Preacher-man says not to sin and while I say don't tell me about your sins. There are plenty of good reasons to ignore his advice - and I know you're so eager to list them but please don't - but I've got a large number of very detailed reasons why you shouldn't tell me about your bedroom adventures." Dion looked around at the tall buildings around him. "Where are we?"
James looked at the streets in front of him. "I've got no idea."
"I've never seen these buildings before. Shouldn't we have arrived by now? This... this must be part of the conspiracy!" Dion starred directly into James's eyes. "They're on to us."
James's pupils dilated and his eyes opened wide with fear. "They're on to us!? What are we going to do!" He spun around, waving his arms wildly. "What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? Why are they on to us? What did we do? We're doomed, man, doomed!"
Dion had a look of contempt on his face. It was the special look that he only used when people were acting idiotically. "You're so easy. We overshot The Windmill, that's all. It's two blocks behind us."
James calmed down. "Oh."
"Come on, let's go."



The Windmill is definetly going to be some sort of Don Quixote reference, I just don't know what kind of reference.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Music of '06

Since everyone is making their "top 10 albums of 2006" lists, I thought I'd join in. The only problem is, I only got eleven albums from this year and two of them were local bands that didn't so much as publish their music as burn CDs and give them to people. That being said, I'll make a nice list of albums I like without conforming to any silly predetermined set of numbers!

1. "The Crane Wife" by The Decemberists. Three movement songs based on Japanese poems? Twelve minute long epics about kidnapping and murder on a mysterious island? Civil War songs with wordplay on Stonewall Jackson? Yes on all accounts! The Decemberists hop around genres more than they usually do in this album with usually good results. The best part about them is that they're almost the only band that has me rushing to the dictionary while listening to songs.

2. "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" By Neko Case. This entire album is carried by Neko Case's voice. It's kind of alternative countryish and it isn't something that I would ever see myself liking a lot, but her voice is one of the best out there. She's an incredible singer and a pretty good songwriter. The instruments kind of sit in the background and provide atmosphere and beat, but the album does not need any catchy hooks or verse/chorus/verse structure. Everything seems to work even though it abandons a lot of the general song format.

3. "Return To The Sea" by Islands. Fun, quirky pop. Lots of catchy music with fun yet semi-morbid lyrics. Its all fun and games with Islands, even when they're singing about the end of humanity.

4. "IBM 1401 a User's Manual" by Johann Johannsson. A modern classical album? I'm not really sure what the exact genre for this kind of stuff is, but it has lots of strings and no backbeat. The album opens with a really mournful phrase that was recorded way back in the sixties or seventies on one of the earliest IBM computers (hence the title). The phrase continues throughout the first song while an orchestra build up the music around it. The songs here are really great and emotional, but the album is plagued by the composers need to have a minute or two before and after almost all the songs were the music slowly gets louder and then slowly fades away. Even if you don't listen to the album you really ought to check out "The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black" which is a really moving piece of music.

That is it! My recommended music from the year 2006. There were a couple other albums that I liked from this year, but they weren't really all that great. 2007 looks like it will be a fun year, with new Deerhoof, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, the inevitable Fiery Furnaces, the probable Decemberists and the likely Animal Collective, the pretty likely Feist and the Explosions in the Sky albums! Plus new bands I've never heard of!

Monday, January 1, 2007

Somalia and militant Islamists

A brief bit of summing up: the United States and allies invades Afghanistan in order to destroy the extremists there - including the Taliban - and to set up a free and democratic government. So far there's been mixed results from there. The United States also invaded Iraq, with the horrible results that followed. Then there's Iran, which the United States has failed to deal with, mostly good ol' extremist Islamist Ahmadinejad and his nuclear ambitions. My point for this is to show that the United States does not have a good record for dealing with militant Islamic extremists.

Now, to get more specific: In 1993, the United Nations started UNOSOM II; its task was "
to assist in the reconstruction of economic, social and political life" of Somalia after it was ravaged by a civil war. A year later, after losing eighteen soldiers in Somalia's capitol of Mogadishu, the United States withdrew. Since then Somalia has basically been without any central government, there's lots of lawlessness and murder and all that bad stuff that goes along with being a poor African country torn apart by feuding warlords.

In early 2006, much of Somalia - Mogadishu included - was taken over by a group of militant Islamists. Tensions were risen, there was talk about Al-Qaeda opening up a new front there in the "war against western imperialists" (their wording) or the "war on terrorism" (ours). The United States didn't seem like they could do much of anything, what with being bogged down in Iraq, the United Nations wasn't ready to send anyone in and Somalia barely had a recognizable government of its own, let alone one that could defend itself. Then, December 24th of last year, Ethiopia launched an attack against the militants. By now, the militants are out of most of Somalia, out of Mogadishu and basically defeated. The government of Somalia is stepping up, showing its muscles and beginning to act like a government with some semblance of control over the situation. Just remember that Ethiopia - a country that couldn't afford to pay off its debt, who has an estimated fifty percent of its population below the poverty line - was able to pull this off.

What I've been wondering the entire time that this has played out is really a simple question: Why can't the United States do this? What happened here in Somalia that did not happen in Iraq? What did they do that we didn't do? Honestly, I can't wrap my head around this.