How hazy, hot, and humid days begin in the Washington, DC metro area. This is was at 7:30am before the sun burned its way through.
_John
29 July 2008
Picture of the Day --29 July 2008
How hazy, hot, and humid days begin in the Washington, DC metro area. This is was at 7:30am before the sun burned its way through.
_John
28 July 2008
27 July 2008
26 July 2008
Picture of the day -- 26 June 2008
The splendor of tomatoes at the del ray Farmers Market. (Yes, it was very sunny this morning and it, of course, f'ed the white balance.)
_John
25 July 2008
When Talking Points aren't
After watching Scott McCellan dodge Chris Matthews' spittle for 4 minues and 22 seconds, pay attention when McCellan deadpans about the White House talking points and Fox News commentators. Color me shocked. I never would have guessed.
_John
24 July 2008
Funday Friday
Links to keep you busy at work. Skip the first one if you want as little thinking as possible today, though it is very interesting.
Humpty Dumpty principle proved by John McCain
Some cool time-lapse skateboard photography.
The funniest "Better know a..." on the Colbert Report in a while.
_John
image:"The Cracked Egg" from flickr Bill Gracey; "South Pas Symmetry" by Lia Halloran at "Dark Skate" exhibit at DCKT Contemporary
Humpty Dumpty principle proved by John McCain
Some cool time-lapse skateboard photography.The funniest "Better know a..." on the Colbert Report in a while.
_John
image:"The Cracked Egg" from flickr Bill Gracey; "South Pas Symmetry" by Lia Halloran at "Dark Skate" exhibit at DCKT Contemporary
Picture of the Day -- 24 July 2008
Wee. Phone battery died on the way to work, so I made due when I finally got home.
_John
Klassy
The twilight of the Bush administrations will be remembers for such classy gems as this one today in Berlin.
How low is this administration going to set the bar? Seriously.
UPDATE: Video and text of Obama's speech here.
_John
image: "Twilight Flight" from flickr Gale Franey
23 July 2008
Our Librul Media
22 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 22 July 2008
I got the task of holding the softball field, and that means I got to watch the clouds in the late July heat on the Mall. The glory of being a grad student. (I took the picture around 5:15pm, and it was sunny, hot, an humid. More fun with white balance.) Oh yeah, DIPS WIN! DIPS WIN!
_John
Wednesday means It's the Economy Stupid (Updated)
I think I will dedicate my Wednesday's to trolling the prior week's worth of economic news and posting what I found most fascinating. Maybe with a little help from my friends I can give you a bit of an insiders view on some item, but I will keep it simple for now. There will be links to what others have written, as well as some fun audio and video links, and very little commentary about economic matters because I don't really know that much myself. This week there is a bunch of stuff, since I have been saving it up.
Today the mortgage meltdown in a few easy steps. (I am center-left in my politics, so don't expect this or anything else to be a balanced. I am also a giant fan of PBS & NPR, so you will be seeing many posts from either or both.)
For starters, we will reach back in time to one of the most interesting podcasts of the year. This American Life is one of my all time favorite radio programs, and fortunately for me they podcast it so that I can actually listen to it on my time. In May they put together an incredible piece on this credit mess entitled "The Giant Pool of Money" (episode #355, in case you were wondering). Listen to it here or download it from apple here.
The next three are in rapid fire order, interconnected, and make the most sense in the order that I have them below.
The first is a report and interview from Bill Moyers Journal on how the mortgage meltdown had effected Cleveland and what the city of Cleveland did to try and stop it. It also focuses on the idea of usury, which for people of my generation seems like a quaint and outdated term, especially with its omnipresence in the Bible. It, however, is as important today as it ever was. Watch it here or download the audio from apple here video here. [Note: iTunes video, unlike the audio, is by show segments and not the entire show.]
The second is David Brooks' op-ed in today's NYT entitled "The Culture of Debt." Mr. Brooks always finds new ways to make me ever so proud once again that this seemingly harmless pundit is from Wayne, Pa. Brooks' touches on Moyers' piece as well as a Times article. My conclusion is that in Brooks' world personal responsibility does not enter the government or the business world. That and the Baby Boomers really are ruining the world by their actions or how crappy they taught their children. (Brooks will never say this, nor will any of the other Baby Boomer pundit class who are only grasping at what the modern world means. For example see Richard Cohen's op-ed in the Post today where he becomes your old codger next door neighbor. The Me generation still strutting its stuff like a balding peacock. By the way my last conclusion is what I draw from his op-ed and not a personal opinion.)
Third and final stop is Jim Sleeper's response article to Brooks' op-ed over at the TPM cafe. The passionate wrist-slapping (if not full on slap in the face) of Brooks is easily seen despite the typos. It is long, but well worth the pay off if you thought that Brooks' article was even somewhat believable.
Keep your chin up, it could be worse. We could be Zimbabwe. Though they don't have that ex-Senator, lobbyist, and economic adviser to McCain laying in the weeds telling us all that we shouldn't be whining about the economic problems of this country. I think that is a winning strategy, don't you?
_John
image: "pig money box" from flickr cupcakes for clara
21 July 2008
Event Horizon
In case you missed it on Friday, Bush stated that he and the al-Maliki government had agreed on "general time horizon" for the removal of US troops from Iraq. I didn't, but needed to let it marinate in my mind, and I have come to this staggering conclusion: What the FUCK is a time horizon? They just made that term up. It doesn't exist in the world of mathematics, physics, any other science, or anywhere else for that matter. If President Bush should ever call on me to ask him a question, I would politely decline since he and his administration have bypassed lying and moved straight on to making shit up.
_John
image: "Lone Oak on the horizon" from flickr Compund Eye
They aren't just going to be hot in your mouth
What cute jalapeno peppers, oh why do you cause salmonella? The FDA has found that the recent out break of salmonella can be traced to a strain of salmonella that came from Mexican jalapeno peppers. Lou Dobbs must either have a shit eating grin or be very very angry tonight. So avoid Mexican jalapeno peppers for a while, and lay off the jarred salsa for a while too.
And the tomato industry is now claiming that the salmonella scare cost the industry approximately $100 million. Glad the CDC and FDA are staffed well enough to handle these outbreaks. Republicans again proving that when they run the government that the government is indeed a problem. That idea of small (and crony) government is also working out well, isn't it...Republicans? Conservatives? Anyone? Can't wait to bail out the tomato industry. Money for every industry!
_John
image: jalapeno peppers from flickr Alec Saunders
Monday Mental Break -- Environmental Plans edition
I have been meaning to post on T. Boone Picken's plan for a while now, but got a bit lazy. With Al Gore rolling out his plan in a speech last week I thought it was about time to put up the plans side by side. I hope to do some analysis later, but as for now consider them educational videos to distract you from doing work.
First up PickensPlan. I have a sneaking feeling that this is going to be too large for the blog, so just head over to his site if it is clipped.
And Al Gore's speech. A shorter edited version can be found here.
_John
First up PickensPlan. I have a sneaking feeling that this is going to be too large for the blog, so just head over to his site if it is clipped.
And Al Gore's speech. A shorter edited version can be found here.
_John
20 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 20 July 2008
On the way home through Rock Creek from a morning soccer game.
_John
19 July 2008
Food Alert
Reuters is reporting that the CDC has lifted the salmonella warning on tomatoes. Go, eat, and enjoy. Oh yeah, the CDC still has no idea what is causing the outbreak (and it is ongoing), it just ain't the tomatoes anymore. I'll let you know if they pick another vegetable. For now, I will continue my usual avoidance of all vegetables that aren't starchy, lettuce, or tomatoes from the farmers market.
_John
images: tomatoes from flickr Oz Baby
18 July 2008
Newsweek on the Mall
Newsweek does a rather decent story on the somewhat sorry state of our National Mall. I have played soccer and softball all over the Mall to varied qualities of the fields. Let's also remember that there are tons of sporting tournaments, events, marches, sightseeing, picnics, and polo games to mention but a few uses that the Mall serves for both locals and tourist. It's a nice easy read for the weekend (or beginning of the week if you don't stop by on weekends.)
Here you go.
_John
Why history is important
Oh my Bruce Bartlett, you can't be serious. In today's WSJ op-ed, Bartlett is trying once again to argue that the GOP is the party of civil rights.
If you need to ask what is stupendously wrong with this argument, please head directly to your local college/university and audit a US modern history course. As for me, I am going to go throw up and pray that we start teaching school children in this country the history of this country.
_John
Everyone knows this, but it’s worth repeating: the Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and was established in 1854 to block the expansion of slavery. The Democratic Party was the party of slavery. […] |
If you need to ask what is stupendously wrong with this argument, please head directly to your local college/university and audit a US modern history course. As for me, I am going to go throw up and pray that we start teaching school children in this country the history of this country.
_John
Picture of the Day -- 17 July 2008
Unbeknownst to me the cell phone battery was just about dead when I left the house this morning. Late evening shot for you.
_John
17 July 2008
16 July 2008
Dumber by the minute
Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!
Can someone please tell me why I saw this five or six times on MSNBC today? It's cute and kind of funny, but it is NOT news. Every anchor doesn't have to play the whole thing and then wax fantastic about how funny it is. It's not like there are two wars, a recent spike in inflation, the housing market melting down, the multiple problems caused by a weakening US dollar, our idiot in chief invoking executive privilege for the umpteeth time, or oh, I don't know, a presidential campaign just to name a few. Wonder why people have less and less respect for the press.
Update: ABC World News and as of 8:45pm every MSNBC show today has show it in its entirety. I need a drink
_John
Laughing past the graveyard
Why the teevee press isn't embarrassed by being skewered by John Stewart and Stephen Colbert on a nearly nightly basis is unknown to me. Perhaps they just giggle along and can't see the truth behind the laughs.
_John
15 July 2008
14 July 2008
This (mini) Week in Softball
The mini week was last Thursday through Monday and entailed three games on vastly different fields and hundreds of miles between them. Thursday night the mighty Diplomats mustered only 11 players for their game against The Jolly Rogers – the combine forces of the Navy and Marines. This was the first time the lads and lasses of F&M had played on a real softball field, which was in the shadow of the Capitol dome. Despite being undermanned and over matched, our heroes put up a valiant effort in a 7-18 loss. [injuries sustained: ankle contusion from a direct strike of the softball on my ankle as wildly thrown by the opposing shortstop.]
A drive to Pa on Friday to visit my father recovering from a minor surgery lead me to my old haunts of the church softball league on Sunday afternoon. Unlike the previous years with the mercurial UCC@VF team, there was only one error, and we put a stomping on Good Sam for an 11-3 win.
Back down to dc after dinner and during the rain. Left late, the drive much longer, and I got less than five hours of sleep. Up bright and early on Monday to return the rental car and then off to work. A large iced coffee and CliffBar in the afternoon and I was ready to go mentally. Severely undermanned, we squared off against Scarred Hitless. Short one man in the outfield and against a power hitting team, it was going to be a high scoring affair. Unbeknownst to our heroes, their bats were on fire and they lit up the scoreboard. Just not as much as their opponents, losing the game 28-30. [injuries sustained: tore something – maybe my groin or a muscle neighboring it, and reaggravated my right bicep tendon injury.]
_John
Picture of the Day -- 14 July 2008
Outta the way tourist, can't you see I am trying to take a picture of the castle?
_John
There's something wrong with the AP's Washington Bureau
The Politico has the answer, it's "accountability journalism." And my title isn't ironic Mr. Fournier, it's a fact.
More on the press, specifically those Inside the Beltway, when I have a chance.
_John
More on the press, specifically those Inside the Beltway, when I have a chance.
_John
Mental break Monday
It's a touch over ten minutes, but well worth every second. Be careful if you laugh loud, you might want to wait until you get home. Also there are a few profanities, and one NSFW moment, so if you are worried wait until you get home.
Update: Working out the technical glitch...should be working again soon.
Later Update: Seems like the old version of Firefox at the office is having problems with the YouTube clip and I am too tired today to figure it out. Here's the link if you are having a problem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcQ7RkyBoBc. I need coffee...
_John
13 July 2008
12 July 2008
11 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 10 July 2008
Busy night, busy morning, busy day, busy weekend. I will try to get back on schedule soon.
_John
09 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 09 July 2008
It was around 3:00pm when I took this picture. There were multiple street lights on all over the neighborhood. A odd overcast day with no rain.
_John
69-30
On the floor of the Senate today a Senator was missing to cast a vote the Medicare bill. The final vote was 69-30 in favor of the bill. (It was a very important vote no matter whether you are for it or against it.)
Which senator was MIA? Obama? Nope, he was there. Ted Kennedy? No, he came back to a standing ovation to vote for the first time since his brain cancer surgery. A senator that no one has really heard of? Wrong again.
Drum roll please....
John McCain. Leading by example.
_John
p.s. He and his campaign refused to answer questions about how he would have voted if he had been there. Looks like the new Rove hires are already spinning their magic.
p.s.s. According the the intrepid scorekeepers at the Post, the Medicare vote marked the 76th consecutive tally McCain has missed. Now that's change I can believe in.
Which senator was MIA? Obama? Nope, he was there. Ted Kennedy? No, he came back to a standing ovation to vote for the first time since his brain cancer surgery. A senator that no one has really heard of? Wrong again.
Drum roll please....
John McCain. Leading by example.
_John
p.s. He and his campaign refused to answer questions about how he would have voted if he had been there. Looks like the new Rove hires are already spinning their magic.
p.s.s. According the the intrepid scorekeepers at the Post, the Medicare vote marked the 76th consecutive tally McCain has missed. Now that's change I can believe in.
07 July 2008
06 July 2008
Entertainment wrap-up: June 2008 edition
On the right you will see what I am listening to (mostly new) and reading (mostly classic American literature). What is missing is the movies that I have seen, which have become numerous due to a relatively recent loosening of constraints on my free time. Below is my review of music, literature, and cinema from last month.
Music
It's been a mediocre first half of a year for music. Last year some of my favorites disappointed me, but some new bands I picked up made it one of the best years in a while for new music.
Billy Bragg, Mr. Love & Justice
I have the deluxe edition, which included full band and solo versions of each track, and I must say that this is Bragg's best album in years. Perhaps a bit unexpected that he went with love and relationship songs, but it is his album and I am not one to criticize him for what he wanted to put out. (I have read a few reviews that take him to task for not writing an album doused in his typically strong leftist politics.) The best tracks are "I Keep Faith," "Sing Their Souls Back Home," "Mr. Love & Justice," and "The Johnny Carcinogenic Show." Unless you are a huge Bragg fan – I am not – there is no real need to buy the deluxe album. Bragg does very little difference on the solo acoustic versions of his songs that warrants the extra bucks.
Bottom line: 3/5, Good, but not great.
Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
I still have an unknown soft spot for taste testing emo. Perhaps it was wanting too much to listen to my brothers' albums the defunct 1990s emo pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate. And then like a junkie always hoping that they would put out an album as good as In Circles, but they never did. They had some very strong songs, but their subsequent albums were generally uncohesive wrecks. Which brings us to the band made popular by "The O.C." &ndash I have seen every episode of that show...ah the things you do for love. Their previous albums have had some strong songs and had a theme, but lacked maturity. DCfC have finally made a grown up album, though not nearly as spectacularly as Bright Eyes did with amazing Cassadaga. This is DCfC's best album to date lyrically and musically, and it sounds like some of Wilco's early stuff. (Wilco is my favorite band, despite their shitty effort last time out.) Still generally sad and focusing on relationships, but there is something more there this time. If you liked 'em before you will love this; if you hated 'em before, then you might hate 'em less; if you were on the fence, this should tip the balance one way or the other for you. Best tracks include "Bixby Canyon Bridge," "Cath...," 'You Can Do Better than Me," "Long Division," and the haunting "The Ice Is Getting Thinner."
Bottom line: 3.75/5, give it a listen
Jason Mraz, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
I am as confused about my listening to Jason Mraz as you are. Not a good musician or a talented rhymer. Funny at best, confusing a worst. Well he has grown up with this album with a collection of introspective semi-autobiographical and non-goofy love songs. It, however, renders an album without a soul and still too many mostly skippable tracks. Best songs include "Love For A Child," "Details in the Fabric" (featuring James Morrison), and "If It Kills Me."
Bottom line: 2/5, borrow it from a friend
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Global A Go-Go
It is hard to judge this 2001 album as it was his last. It is a melding of a ton of different music styles from around the world, some of which work and others don't for me. My favorite track, "Johnny Appleseed," was used as the title song to HBO's short lived "John From Cincinnati." The show was a lightning rod for viewer as some liked it and others hated it, while others were pissed that David Milch sacrificed the fourth and final season of (the best show on tv) "Deadwood," so get the bizarre "John From Cincinnati" made. Back to Global A Go-Go, the best tracks are "Johnny Appleseed," "Mega Bottle Ride," and the long "Minstrel Boy."
Bottom line: 3/5, Good, but not great.
Literature
My writing is honestly not very good, and what I have learned is that people I know who I consider good writers are avid readers and have been since childhood. As my mother can attest, I hated reading through early college. I would read when I had to, but it was cursory to get general plot lines and characters &ndash the writing itself was inconsequential to me. In college and throughout most of graduate school, I have read a ton of history and enjoyed it, but let's face it academic writing is incredibly dense and jargon filled. (Surprising that most historians can only get published by academic publishing houses, huh?) Anyway, so a person who I grew close to for a while before a falling out of her making, convinced me to start reading some fiction. I decided that I would in the evenings when my dissertation work had burned a hole in my brain. Further I decided on American classics, since that is a giant hole in my knowledge base and I pretend to be an American historian most of the time. I will throw in an occasional modern one in that I might have laying around or someone loans me. Since they are all classics, they should all be read, so I will not assign any kind of score to them here or in the future. I will with modern books.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The first and only recommendation by the person who started me on this enterprise. It is short and tightly written, and a book I had never read before – this will be a theme. They playing out of the white and red communist civil war by farm animals was, however, not a subject matter all that interesting to me and further convinced me that I needed to get back to American literature.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I "read" this as an undergraduate in an intro to English course. The actual book is the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case in Critical Controversy and I remember reading some of the essays at the end of the book for my paper, but I had no recollection of any of the text Twain wrote. I found this book a slow go as Twain captured the way that the barely educated Finn and uneducated Jim spoke. I read slow enough as it is, so when the author adds to me reading even slower I get frustrated easily. This book took more patience to get through than I thought and the pay off just wasn't there for me. I see why it is a classic because of the subject matter and how well Twain tells a story. I am glad I read it, but this is not a book or author I will be returning to any time soon.
Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon
This is the first book that I have ever read by Mallon, and I must say that I was extremely impressed by his writing and ability to weave historical and fiction elements together. The story is that of the two people who were in the booth with Abraham and Mrs. Lincoln when he was assassinated. You would think that the story would end with the assassination, but that only occurs a bit past the midway point. It is a story of love, longing, and loss in every way but the physical. The story is told primarily through the third person, but has emotionally important chapters told through the first person in the form of letters and diary entries. The ending comes completely out of the blue and makes the book one of my new favorites. The setting of the book is in Albany, NY and Washington, DC, so for me I could picture the latter locations. I have a great friend in Albany, so when I see her and her husband this fall I am going to search out some of the Albany locations, probably to her chagrin. You have been warned Danielle.
Bottom line: 4/5, well worth your time
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I read this book in high school, but I probably watched the movie and ever so lightly scanned the book so as to not disturb the pages. (Another trick I used too much in high school to avoid reading.) The copy I have is a first edition that I took from my grandmother's apartment after her death a few years ago. It has been well read, but it contains no marks on the pages and yellowing of the pages due to her chimney-like smoking. Other than that it is in perfect shape. I could not put this book down most nights as I was captivated by a story that I already knew like the back of my hand. I now understand why this book is a modern classic beyond its important message on race, but for its writing. I was floored by the simplicity of the writing and only wish I could say so much by saying so little I would be a happy camper. My favorite part about reading it was that I knew Scout and Jem weren't going to die and the Arthur Radley was going to save them, but I was literally on the edge of my seat when I was reading it like I didn't know what was going to happen. The writing will probably never cease to amaze me.
Cinema
Movies have not been on my radar for a while as my long time better half and I didn't agree on a lot, including movies. We have since parted, so despite going to movies alone, I have headed back to the cinema in big way recently, though mostly documentaries.
Standard Operating Procedure by Errol Morris
Morris won an Academy Award for For of War and he deserves another one for this superb piece of film making. It is the story of Abu Ghraib prison as told by the people who were there. They are at times people I felt empathy for and at other times I thought that there were more than deserving of the scorn that was heaped upon them. Morris does not wield a big stick like Michael Moore, but through the subtlety of the answers that he gets from his interviewees he makes the audience ask more questions than the movie will ever try to answer. It is at its core an indictment of the Bush administration's lose of American morality that we used to hold up as a shining example to the rest of the world.
Bottom line: 5/5, See it at the first chance you can. If it doesn't win an Academy Award the Academy can, well...you get the point.
Surfwise, by Doug Pray
There was more to this movie than I imagined. I thought it was going to be about a surfing family and their trials and travails, but it was so much more. The documentary take a very strange turn about midway through and then again at the end. It is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Bottom line: 4.5/5, See it.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, by Chris Bell
A documentary about steroids that walks the gray line between their legality and morality versus illegality and immorality. Bell has two brothers who both use steroids, and he even dabbled in it once before deciding they were not for him. So this is a personal story as much as it is about steroids in American culture. This documentary is more in the style of a Moore documentary, but has much more humor and lacks the preachiness of the recent Moore films.
Bottom line: 3.75/5, Try to see it. You won't be disappointed if you have an understanding of American athletics/ultra competativeness, if you don't you might not understand the essence and much of the humor of film.
The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan
I like M. Night's movies, except Lady in the Lake, and think that the criticism for some of his movies after The Sixth Sense have been because reviewers want a repeat experience of Sixth or something different from the movie Shyamalan made. This movie was not his best though it fits the summer movie watching audience to a T. It is a pinch over 90 minutes, and moves breezily. The writing isn't great and some of the shot choices were questionable, but not nearly as questionable as the casting. Zooey Deschanel was dreadful and had no chemistry with Marky Mark, who I think was better than most of the reviews. I mean how much can you do with a costar who is as robotic in delivering lines as she is in her emotions. I never bought her for a second and wondered what she did to get the role. A new mystery from M. Night Shyamalan.
Bottom line: 3/5, not a waste of time, but might be a waste of money if you are going to pay more than $10 to see it. I saw it as a matinee, which made it worth it.
Brick by Rian Johnson
My twin brother got me this a few years ago for Christmas, but I ended up leaving it at my parents' home when I left to come back home. I got it back and then it has collected dust for the intervening time. Not something the ex would have liked I though, and I was correct. It was an superb movie and is definitely worth renting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is excellent in this movie. I was leery of Gordon-Levitt until I saw The Lookout on cable a month back. He was incredible in both roles, and I think he will be the next Heath Ledger-type of actor. By that I mean he will be able to handle the big roles of major movie houses as well as small indie movies with equal aplomb. I look forward to his future movies, though I see that he is in the GI Joe movie...that can't be good. My only minor quibble with Brick is the over stylized language that Johnson employs. When the actors are speaking quickly or over each other it is hard to follow.
Bottom line: 4/5, Go rent it.
Mongol by Sergei Bodrov
Run to see it. I am not going to give away the plot, except that Temudgin is my favorite characters this year. This is a foreign film that came out last year and was nominated, though didn't win, the Academy Award – IDIOTS. I thought the best foreign film in 2006 was Pan's Labyrinth, so I obviously am good for picking the second best foreign film each year. The movie is subtitled, but it is much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in that it is not dialogue intensive and it become almost natural to read the lines by the midpoint of the movie.
Bottom line: 5/5, Run, don't walk, to see this movie.
Music
It's been a mediocre first half of a year for music. Last year some of my favorites disappointed me, but some new bands I picked up made it one of the best years in a while for new music.
Billy Bragg, Mr. Love & Justice
I have the deluxe edition, which included full band and solo versions of each track, and I must say that this is Bragg's best album in years. Perhaps a bit unexpected that he went with love and relationship songs, but it is his album and I am not one to criticize him for what he wanted to put out. (I have read a few reviews that take him to task for not writing an album doused in his typically strong leftist politics.) The best tracks are "I Keep Faith," "Sing Their Souls Back Home," "Mr. Love & Justice," and "The Johnny Carcinogenic Show." Unless you are a huge Bragg fan – I am not – there is no real need to buy the deluxe album. Bragg does very little difference on the solo acoustic versions of his songs that warrants the extra bucks.
Bottom line: 3/5, Good, but not great.
Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs
I still have an unknown soft spot for taste testing emo. Perhaps it was wanting too much to listen to my brothers' albums the defunct 1990s emo pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate. And then like a junkie always hoping that they would put out an album as good as In Circles, but they never did. They had some very strong songs, but their subsequent albums were generally uncohesive wrecks. Which brings us to the band made popular by "The O.C." &ndash I have seen every episode of that show...ah the things you do for love. Their previous albums have had some strong songs and had a theme, but lacked maturity. DCfC have finally made a grown up album, though not nearly as spectacularly as Bright Eyes did with amazing Cassadaga. This is DCfC's best album to date lyrically and musically, and it sounds like some of Wilco's early stuff. (Wilco is my favorite band, despite their shitty effort last time out.) Still generally sad and focusing on relationships, but there is something more there this time. If you liked 'em before you will love this; if you hated 'em before, then you might hate 'em less; if you were on the fence, this should tip the balance one way or the other for you. Best tracks include "Bixby Canyon Bridge," "Cath...," 'You Can Do Better than Me," "Long Division," and the haunting "The Ice Is Getting Thinner."
Bottom line: 3.75/5, give it a listen
Jason Mraz, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.
I am as confused about my listening to Jason Mraz as you are. Not a good musician or a talented rhymer. Funny at best, confusing a worst. Well he has grown up with this album with a collection of introspective semi-autobiographical and non-goofy love songs. It, however, renders an album without a soul and still too many mostly skippable tracks. Best songs include "Love For A Child," "Details in the Fabric" (featuring James Morrison), and "If It Kills Me."
Bottom line: 2/5, borrow it from a friend
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, Global A Go-Go
It is hard to judge this 2001 album as it was his last. It is a melding of a ton of different music styles from around the world, some of which work and others don't for me. My favorite track, "Johnny Appleseed," was used as the title song to HBO's short lived "John From Cincinnati." The show was a lightning rod for viewer as some liked it and others hated it, while others were pissed that David Milch sacrificed the fourth and final season of (the best show on tv) "Deadwood," so get the bizarre "John From Cincinnati" made. Back to Global A Go-Go, the best tracks are "Johnny Appleseed," "Mega Bottle Ride," and the long "Minstrel Boy."
Bottom line: 3/5, Good, but not great.
Literature
My writing is honestly not very good, and what I have learned is that people I know who I consider good writers are avid readers and have been since childhood. As my mother can attest, I hated reading through early college. I would read when I had to, but it was cursory to get general plot lines and characters &ndash the writing itself was inconsequential to me. In college and throughout most of graduate school, I have read a ton of history and enjoyed it, but let's face it academic writing is incredibly dense and jargon filled. (Surprising that most historians can only get published by academic publishing houses, huh?) Anyway, so a person who I grew close to for a while before a falling out of her making, convinced me to start reading some fiction. I decided that I would in the evenings when my dissertation work had burned a hole in my brain. Further I decided on American classics, since that is a giant hole in my knowledge base and I pretend to be an American historian most of the time. I will throw in an occasional modern one in that I might have laying around or someone loans me. Since they are all classics, they should all be read, so I will not assign any kind of score to them here or in the future. I will with modern books.
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The first and only recommendation by the person who started me on this enterprise. It is short and tightly written, and a book I had never read before – this will be a theme. They playing out of the white and red communist civil war by farm animals was, however, not a subject matter all that interesting to me and further convinced me that I needed to get back to American literature.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I "read" this as an undergraduate in an intro to English course. The actual book is the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Case in Critical Controversy and I remember reading some of the essays at the end of the book for my paper, but I had no recollection of any of the text Twain wrote. I found this book a slow go as Twain captured the way that the barely educated Finn and uneducated Jim spoke. I read slow enough as it is, so when the author adds to me reading even slower I get frustrated easily. This book took more patience to get through than I thought and the pay off just wasn't there for me. I see why it is a classic because of the subject matter and how well Twain tells a story. I am glad I read it, but this is not a book or author I will be returning to any time soon.
Henry and Clara by Thomas Mallon
This is the first book that I have ever read by Mallon, and I must say that I was extremely impressed by his writing and ability to weave historical and fiction elements together. The story is that of the two people who were in the booth with Abraham and Mrs. Lincoln when he was assassinated. You would think that the story would end with the assassination, but that only occurs a bit past the midway point. It is a story of love, longing, and loss in every way but the physical. The story is told primarily through the third person, but has emotionally important chapters told through the first person in the form of letters and diary entries. The ending comes completely out of the blue and makes the book one of my new favorites. The setting of the book is in Albany, NY and Washington, DC, so for me I could picture the latter locations. I have a great friend in Albany, so when I see her and her husband this fall I am going to search out some of the Albany locations, probably to her chagrin. You have been warned Danielle.
Bottom line: 4/5, well worth your time
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I read this book in high school, but I probably watched the movie and ever so lightly scanned the book so as to not disturb the pages. (Another trick I used too much in high school to avoid reading.) The copy I have is a first edition that I took from my grandmother's apartment after her death a few years ago. It has been well read, but it contains no marks on the pages and yellowing of the pages due to her chimney-like smoking. Other than that it is in perfect shape. I could not put this book down most nights as I was captivated by a story that I already knew like the back of my hand. I now understand why this book is a modern classic beyond its important message on race, but for its writing. I was floored by the simplicity of the writing and only wish I could say so much by saying so little I would be a happy camper. My favorite part about reading it was that I knew Scout and Jem weren't going to die and the Arthur Radley was going to save them, but I was literally on the edge of my seat when I was reading it like I didn't know what was going to happen. The writing will probably never cease to amaze me.
Cinema
Movies have not been on my radar for a while as my long time better half and I didn't agree on a lot, including movies. We have since parted, so despite going to movies alone, I have headed back to the cinema in big way recently, though mostly documentaries.
Standard Operating Procedure by Errol Morris
Morris won an Academy Award for For of War and he deserves another one for this superb piece of film making. It is the story of Abu Ghraib prison as told by the people who were there. They are at times people I felt empathy for and at other times I thought that there were more than deserving of the scorn that was heaped upon them. Morris does not wield a big stick like Michael Moore, but through the subtlety of the answers that he gets from his interviewees he makes the audience ask more questions than the movie will ever try to answer. It is at its core an indictment of the Bush administration's lose of American morality that we used to hold up as a shining example to the rest of the world.
Bottom line: 5/5, See it at the first chance you can. If it doesn't win an Academy Award the Academy can, well...you get the point.
Surfwise, by Doug Pray
There was more to this movie than I imagined. I thought it was going to be about a surfing family and their trials and travails, but it was so much more. The documentary take a very strange turn about midway through and then again at the end. It is funny, sad, and heart warming.
Bottom line: 4.5/5, See it.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, by Chris Bell
A documentary about steroids that walks the gray line between their legality and morality versus illegality and immorality. Bell has two brothers who both use steroids, and he even dabbled in it once before deciding they were not for him. So this is a personal story as much as it is about steroids in American culture. This documentary is more in the style of a Moore documentary, but has much more humor and lacks the preachiness of the recent Moore films.
Bottom line: 3.75/5, Try to see it. You won't be disappointed if you have an understanding of American athletics/ultra competativeness, if you don't you might not understand the essence and much of the humor of film.
The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan
I like M. Night's movies, except Lady in the Lake, and think that the criticism for some of his movies after The Sixth Sense have been because reviewers want a repeat experience of Sixth or something different from the movie Shyamalan made. This movie was not his best though it fits the summer movie watching audience to a T. It is a pinch over 90 minutes, and moves breezily. The writing isn't great and some of the shot choices were questionable, but not nearly as questionable as the casting. Zooey Deschanel was dreadful and had no chemistry with Marky Mark, who I think was better than most of the reviews. I mean how much can you do with a costar who is as robotic in delivering lines as she is in her emotions. I never bought her for a second and wondered what she did to get the role. A new mystery from M. Night Shyamalan.
Bottom line: 3/5, not a waste of time, but might be a waste of money if you are going to pay more than $10 to see it. I saw it as a matinee, which made it worth it.
Brick by Rian Johnson
My twin brother got me this a few years ago for Christmas, but I ended up leaving it at my parents' home when I left to come back home. I got it back and then it has collected dust for the intervening time. Not something the ex would have liked I though, and I was correct. It was an superb movie and is definitely worth renting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is excellent in this movie. I was leery of Gordon-Levitt until I saw The Lookout on cable a month back. He was incredible in both roles, and I think he will be the next Heath Ledger-type of actor. By that I mean he will be able to handle the big roles of major movie houses as well as small indie movies with equal aplomb. I look forward to his future movies, though I see that he is in the GI Joe movie...that can't be good. My only minor quibble with Brick is the over stylized language that Johnson employs. When the actors are speaking quickly or over each other it is hard to follow.
Bottom line: 4/5, Go rent it.
Mongol by Sergei Bodrov
Run to see it. I am not going to give away the plot, except that Temudgin is my favorite characters this year. This is a foreign film that came out last year and was nominated, though didn't win, the Academy Award – IDIOTS. I thought the best foreign film in 2006 was Pan's Labyrinth, so I obviously am good for picking the second best foreign film each year. The movie is subtitled, but it is much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in that it is not dialogue intensive and it become almost natural to read the lines by the midpoint of the movie.
Bottom line: 5/5, Run, don't walk, to see this movie.
Picture of the Day -- 06 July 2008
The sun finally came out in the late afternoon, so out I went.
Flickr is updated with the holiday weekend pictures.
_John
05 July 2008
04 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 04 July 2008
Yeah, so I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Perhaps the spirit of the day got to me because I biked to Mt. Vernon today – milepost zero on the Mt. Vernon trail. The round trip from my apartment was probably just shy of 20 miles. I haven't rode more than five miles in a long long time, so this was quite an undertaking. The bike held up, I kept a good pace, and I am tired, though, surprisingly not very sore...right now. It helped that I had a good rabbit for most of the trip there, though I was planning on only biking for ten miles today, so maybe the rabbit was not so good. Anyway it is the first time that I have made it to Mt. Vernon by bike or any other means. It was, of course, packed (I have pictures to prove it), and I didn't walk the grounds because I was a sweaty mess and in bike gear, and because I wasn't paying $13 dollars to fight tourists.
I took a bunch of pictures along the way, so unless something else catches my eye I am going to use those throughout the holiday weekend as pictures of the day. Make sure you check the flickr site after Sunday evening for the complete holiday collection.
Hope you all had a happy and healthy Fourth.
_John
And please remember that the U.S. Constitution is the most important document in the history of our country. Suck on it Declaration of Independence!
03 July 2008
Picture of the Day -- 03 July 2008
The powers that be took pity on us and let us out of work today at 3:00pm. I went and bought some more classic American literature (post on that soon), and then killed some time downtown since it was already rush hour fares on metro. I must have looked like semi-idiotic taking pictures with my cell phone and cursing under my breath that the tourists kept getting in my shots. This one was kind of a lucky shot because the sun just peaked out from behind a cloud when I clicked it. Postapoloza over the holiday weekend, so you will have something to do during your Monday and Tuesday morning coffee breaks.
_John
ps. It's the Ben Franklin statue outside of the Old Post Office Building in case you were puzzled. Go Dips!
02 July 2008
01 July 2008
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