"2666"

2666 was the only book I read during the winter of 2008-09. Busy personal schedules took a deep cut into my usual leisure reading time, and for 4 months or so, this nearly thousand-page epic was the focal point of my coffee table. It was probably better this way, because the constantly shifting story arcs paid no attention to regiment or structure. Nor did the writing style, or the rhetoric of the storytelling. It plumbed depths that I have never experienced in literature, and to savor them over an extended period of time was just as satisfying as the read itself.

2666 is a novel that leaves you on your own, grasping for meaning and toiling in uncertainty. And it's barely even a finished novel, as Roberto Bolano ran out of life at age 50 while furiously composing the five chapters that make up this book. That in itself creates the vast undertones of conflict, mystery, and themes of natural human degeneration that sweat through every page. How can you wrap your head around that kind of reading experience? I can't think of any other way to explain than this excerpt:

What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze paths into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench.

Is it that conflict and dark realism we're drawn to? Is the written story no longer a means of communication, but rather a reflection of what we're scared shitless of? I have my own personal conclusions about the array of characters and what was really happening in the village of Santa Teresa, but I feel too mentally exhausted to even talk about them. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Besides, a novel like this doesn't benefit from review; it exists in complete independence from any such attempt. I'd rather just place it on my bookshelf and think about how utterly fantastic it was.

Seinfeld reunion

A reason to get excited for fall TV: the cast of Seinfeld is reuniting for the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Curb is already an edgy hybrid of the classic show, but I can't imagine how potentially good this could be with all four original actors together in the anything-goes HBO environment.

Start to finish

This A.V. article lists the 25 greatest albums that work best when listened to from start to finish. It's a subjective hodgepodge of choices, some surprising (Deltron 3030), some not (The Wall). My personal choices would have to include, but not limited to, Tool's Lateralus, Supersilent's 8, Subtle's for hero: for fool, and The Mars Volta's Frances the Mute. Neglect any one aspect of any of these albums during a listen, and you lose considerable conceptual value. (thanks, rob)

1968

Vintage footage from a different time and world (was hoping for a vintage interview with Pops Hansen, but apparently they were shielding him from the hungry Manitowoc media):

Les Claypool - "Of Fungi and Foe"

There's no point anymore in stressing the fact that Les Claypool is a strange and wonderful bass player. We know this, and to expect anything different would defeat the purpose of anticipating everything he releases with train-wreck curiosity. One only needs to browse the photos of the four "gentlemen" on the cover of Of Fungi and Foe to know that there will be many grim surprises, anecdotes, and modern-life metaphors lying in wait, all wrapped in Claypool's signature mewling and bass work. We know this, so what exactly do we say about it now?

For starters, it's worth mentioning that Fungi really scales back on the heavy sludge that was present on 2006's Of Whales and Woe. The bass (and really, it's all about the bass) is more tight and poignant, and rather than "plowing ocean swells," Claypool seems content to muse about the cockroaches that skitter across the linoleum. Songs like "Mushroom Men" and "Booneville Stomp" literally take on that marching quality in both their pace and rhythm. Even for Claypool, this seems like an odd approach. I'm trying to figure out if it's a genuine change, or if it was just time to release an album and he worked with what he had. Either way, there are still great moments to savor, including the warped opening to "Primed By 29," and the interesting tale of "Errol" on track 6.

If you're like me, you'd probably agree that it's not the best Claypool offering to date. The problem is you just cannot look away. Call it a morbid fascination of damn skillful bass playing. However, there's without a doubt more on the horizon (Primus, anyone?) from Mr. Eclectic himself, so until then we'll just have to graze on this.

Dentist of the Apes

"No One Does it Like You"

The new Department of Eagles' video seems to be some sort of commentary on life, death, and sexism...I think.

Shifting educational curriculum

U.K. schools are currently proposing some major shake-ups in their educational curriculum (via kottke):

Children will no longer have to study the Victorians or the second world war under proposals to overhaul the primary school curriculum...However, the draft plans will require children to master Twitter and Wikipedia and give teachers far more freedom to decide what youngsters should be concentrating on in classes.

Technology has enabled us to access history with much greater ease, and therefore, it may be of more value to teach our children how to access that information, rather than directly spending time and effort on historical events themselves. It seems shocking at first, but if you consider what the information age is all about, it makes perfect sense. At some point, schools will have to start sacrificing "traditional" subject matter to accommodate the shifting dynamics of technology and communication. Will a textbook on WWII even be a relevant educational material in 10 years?

"Where the Wild Things Are"

Love how the Arcade Fire is paired up with the trailer; this movie has "promising" written all over it:

Musebin.com

Today I got a chance to speak with Adam Varga--creator of musebin.com--about some of the things I love/hate about the 1-line music review site. The "loves" definitely outnumber the "hates," as I really think that Musebin provides a great opportunity to provide a respite from the long-winded and uninteresting style of music reviews that plague the Web and music literature today. Everyone can type one or two sentences about their favorite (or least favorite) albums, so essentially, everyone is invited to be a music critic. And for me personally, the conciseness of text is a major springboard for further creativity in writing.

I think it's pretty cool that Adam has reached out to users for input; he definitely wants to see this take off, and I couldn't agree more. If you dig music, it's definitely worth your time to check it out. Find out what other people are listening to, read one-sentence summaries of everything from Led Zeppelin IV to Kid A, and utilize the wonders of brevity to voice your own musical opinions.

Twitter conference

Twitter is having a conference (via fimoculous):

The latest sign Twitter is either taking off or overhyped: Telecom (and media) industry vet Jeff Pulver is organizing a two-day Twitter-related conference, scheduled for mid-June in New York. The "140 Characters Conference" will "explore the effects of twitter on: Celebrity, The Media and Advertising."

It will be interesting to see if Twitter begins to pique the interest of academic researchers (if it has not already). There's already been considerable research into social networking sites and text messaging, so Twitter seems like the next logical step. Twitter combines the two and may provide some interesting analysis on simple texts supporting massive social populations and network-driven goals.

If I only had a brain

Yesterday, I passed a construction worker in the hall who was whistling the tune to Scarecrow's "If I Only Had a Brain." I had to chuckle at this for obvious reasons (no offense, construction worker), but later on did not find it as funny when I started whistling it myself. I couldn't help it. That tune is so catchy once you hear it, you can't stop yourself from unintentionally embracing its self-deprecating implications. Is it in your head yet?

"Surveillance"

It's Lynch-ian, and looks pretty cool:

Twitter animation

Though I love Twitter, this is too good to pass up (via clusterflock; for tyler):

Dataflux 0.1

An installation by Kit Webster that utilizes sound and strobe light synchronization. I especially like the use of the "clicks" of complete darkness that separate each light display.

Handsome Furs - "Face Control"

I have a friend who insists on referring to the Handsome Furs as the "Furburglers." I'm not sure why and it really doesn't have to do with anything in terms of this review, but sometimes that's the best way to start out. After all, 98% of all music reviews suck, usually by the end of the first sentence, so by inserting this interesting tidbit first, I've spared you the usual "With this album, so and so have created their most mature work to date and..." So please read on.

With the exception of the White Stripes and the Black Keys, two-piece rock outfits are tough to make work. For one, two people usually equals two instruments (especially live), so right off the bat, the fullness that you expect from rock and roll is lacking on Face Control. Alexei Perry's drum machine and synth do well enough to provide a sparse, sonic platform for Dan Boekner's guitar, but in the end, just don't hold up to other meaty two-piece predecessors. But arena rock is definitely not what the Furburglers set out to accomplish. This is, after all, a side-project (from Boekner's perspective), music made for shits and giggles and want of 80s-like nostalgia. Rather, the point here is probably to achieve a gritty and catchy minimalism, which I think they do quite well at times.

And since I started with a tidbit, here's another one to conclude, straight from Wikipedia:

The inspiration behind Face Control involves a peculiar aspect of club culture they observed while on tour in Eastern Europe: if party goers wish to reserve a table at a bar in Moscow, they must pay large sums of money through Paypal or with cash; however, their seat is still not guaranteed - bouncers have the authority to turn reserved patrons away from the bar based solely on appearance, which has been coined "face control."

Neat.

Struktable

An installation of the interactive, multi-touch Struktable from the recent Toca Me Design conference in Munich:



The photo manipulation towards the end is incredible...really puts the versatility of what you can do with a Flickr Pro account to shame.

Hampton Pollock

The making of:

Phone interviews

I realized today that I'm definitely the kind of person who prefers the face-to-face interview over the phone interview. There's something about eye contact and body language that I find very reassuring in communication, and that's just something you don't get when talking to a voice through a receiver. Phone interviews give you a false sense of having the upper-hand by letting you have your notes all spread out in front of you while sitting in your comfortable chair in causal clothes. I'd rather be thrown to the wolves wearing a nice suit, because a well-dressed physical presence at least lets you bite back.

"I'm Confused"

At first, I thought this was going to be one of those stupid videos showing the band playing "live" in a room full of party-goers. But then this Outbreak-Wolfman-Vampire-Terminator motif picks up and things get really weird:

"Choke"

Choke is basically Fight Club--psychosis, delusions, characters emaciated of happiness and contentment in the world--but instead of fighting, it deals in sex. That both movies are based on novels by the same author is blatantly obvious, but at the same time, interesting. It turns out that just as you can pick up on a writing style from book to book, you can do the same when those books are turned into movies. Although not a bad movie, Choke just isn't anywhere near as good as Fight Club was. The deadpan "How art thou?" line by the hospital receptionist is fairly side-splitting, though. That alone is worth the rent.

Innovative health club ads

A health club in the Netherlands is shaming people into joining their gym by installing scales in bus-stop benches (via cynical-c).

"Quarantine"

Similar to Cloverfield, Quarantine makes use of the hand-held-camera-perspective. But I'm still not sure what's more believable: giant monsters and rabies-like vampires, or the fact that someone would continue to film with a camera if those things were actually real and happening to them. That point-of-view is an artistic quirk that really does nothing for me, especially in the case of Quarantine. The scary ideas developed in this movie had a lot of potential, but the camera was being too nauseating to let them come to fruition. That said, the initial scene with "Mrs. Espinoza" was truly terrifying, and the final scene at least left questions and a lasting impression.

Winter 1972 Project

Purposeless art with no lasting value--a room covered in white post-it notes...

Bushman's Revenge - "You Lost Me at Hello"

If the masses of bikers that flocked to Milwaukee for Harley Fest last summer had any appreciation of the improvised, abstract styles of Rune Grammofon artists, Bushman's Revenge might have been a welcomed addition to the musical lineup. Listening to some of these punishing chords reminds me of greasy engines, steel wrenches, and oil stains on concrete floors. It's rock music that stabs a visceral fork right into the heart of what it means to be grungy and garage-like. However, it's the interludes of scrambled guitar and Moha!-ish noise that might turn away even the burliest of bikers.

Take "No Sleep 'til Hammerfest" for starters. The song starts out fairly bad-ass, with meaty hook-line-and-sinker, but quickly progresses into an indistinct mess of noodling. Eventually, it finds it way back to intelligible, but I feel that over the course of 8 minutes, interest would be lost, especially for a biker who's looking for something a little more straightforward to go with his chopper and leather jacket. The entire album carries much of this structure ("Bolehogda Rock City," especially), so you have to be patient before getting to the real good stuff. I don't mind it all that much; it's really a matter of balancing reward and risk. In this case, I'll put up with the wankery, because what precedes and concludes it is worth listening to.

Page entering the atom

Redefining writing and text

I really like this post by Mark Sample about public writing and text (via snarkmarket):

This is the primary reason I’ve integrated more and more public writing into my classes. I strive to instill in my students the sense that what they think and what they say and what they write matters — to me, to them, to their classmates, and through open access blogs and wikis, to the world.

In addition to making student writing public, I’ve also begun taking the words out of writing. Why must writing, especially writing that captures critical thinking, be composed of words? Why not images? Why not sound? Why not objects? The word text, after all, derives from the Latin textus, meaning that which is woven, strands of different material intertwined together. Let the warp be words and the weft be something else entirely.

Writing as text. That seems pretty obvious, but as Sample suggests, perhaps it is time to redefine text. This is something I've thought more and more about over the last couple of years, especially since I've become more interested and involved with digital texts. Text seems more comprehensive now, as visuals and sound play integral roles in online reading experiences. How we teach students to write text is going to become critically important in both learning and communicative endeavors. Maybe the days of writing a response essay to a reading are coming to an end? Maybe teachers should start implementing open-access blogs--like I was fortunate to experience--or Twitter into classroom settings?

DNA as audio

German scientists have apparently converted Chromosome 1 into an audio format and are streaming it online:

After some thinking and lots of tests, we are converting the whole human genome to audio and streaming them now to the Internet, 24/7. The idea is quite simple, every base is read and broadcasted instead converting it to a color. With DNA-Radio we don't visualize the chromosome, we sonify it and have now completed a full audio-visual DNA representation of human chromosomes.

It's like radio, everybody listening hears the same code at the same time, the audio never gets repeated and when we have aired all chromosomes, this project is over. Well, after doing some calculation we figured out that this will take quite a while. When we read three characters a second, it will take about 23.5 years or so until all code has been distributed over the internet.

In case you were wondering, here is the key to the image of Chromosome 1: green=adenine; red=thymine; white=guanine; blue=cytosine; gray=not yet determined. (via delicious ghost)

"The Wire" - Seasons' 4 & 5

Seasons' four and five ultimately felt like one big season, mostly because I watched both in the span of roughly 48 hours (in addition to prescription narcotics, DVD-watching time is one of the perks of having surgery). Compared to the first three seasons, the police/drug lord conflict was extremely subtle, but that change somehow lulled you into the lives of the characters--especially those on the street. Though Avon Barksdale was intricate, organized, and ruthless, I felt that Marlo Stanfield was a much more menacing kingpin. His character was emotionless and un-phased, and constantly kept you guessing for that villain-ish release. That release--it's short; be careful not to miss it--was more powerful and conclusive than anything that Barksdale or Stringer Bell ever gave. A perfect capstone to the series.

Youth and Aging

Theories and observations about youth and aging by Levni Yilmaz (via clusterflock):



I often find myself doing the subtraction method in my head, especially with professional athletes. I'm now older than most of the greatest athletes on the planet, which is odd to come to grips with because of how much you look up to them when you are younger.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - "Raising Sand"

I'll admit, Raising Sand was a Grammy's-inspired buy. I suppose part of me was intrigued by Plant and Krauss' show-ending performance of "Rich Woman," all draped in those dark and bluesy overtones. The minute I heard that song, I immediately made one of those mind-extrapolations where you begin to imagine what the rest of the album could be like before you actually hear it. Plant's voice would obviously dominate, mewling subtle reminders of Led Zeppelin throughout. Throw Krauss in the mix, and you would probably achieve a more refined, folky texture, one that was not too outlandish, yet unique enough to separate Sand from a "Robert Plant solo album." I was right. That was the formula which lead to Album of the Year, and thus, my purchase. But most of all, I think I really just wanted to hear why this album was picked over In Rainbows.

It's deserving of the title, no doubt. Raising Sand has a lot going on underneath the big-time names on the cover. It's extremely well-produced, utilizes world-class musicianship, and has some great songs ("Please Read the Letter," "Polly Come Home," and "Fortune Teller"). But I wonder about its staying power. Will anyone care about this album in 2 years? Probably not. Just like no one really cares about Supernatural anymore. Sand was a fantastic hit for 2008, but something about it does not bode well for long-term listening. In a way, it seems built to win Album of the Year (in the most literal sense), whereas, say, In Rainbows, seems built for future generations. For me, that's an important quality in an album, and Sand just doesn't have it.

Afternoon coffee

I'm on a mission to break the afternoon coffee habit. It's not so much for reasons of health or clean teeth, but because of feelings of dependency. Why should a cup of coffee dictate how I feel in the afternoon? It can dictate all it wants in the morning--that's a life-long habit I've surrendered to--but I need to find a different wake-me-up in the afternoon.

Dog travel sack

1936 Popular Mechanics' ad for dog-traveling sack:

Thoughts on Hampton reunion

I can't say that I'm disappointed, because all along I think I really knew that Phish 3.0 wasn't really going to be any better than Phish 2.0. This is Phish now, and that's something that everyone has got to get used to. They will never return to what they were, mostly because they just raised the bar too high over the years. Trey's older now, and he cannot maintain that speed or level of play anymore. That's the bottom line, and it's naive to think that they will get progressively better as they tour more. This is it. It will still be fun to go see them, but my peace is made and my perspective is settled.

What does concern me, in terms of history and legacy, is the new fan base and how they are already painting these shows as the "greatest shows ever." These fans have the benefit of immediate access to every Phish show over the last 6 years, and I'm guessing that's where the majority of them have sampled Phish from. Will any of them bother to dig for '90s shows? Maybe some of them will, but I'd be willing to bet that the new Phish fan will only want what's available for download from Phish, rather than hunting down all the real gems. I almost feel bad for them. They're jumping into this now and are having a skewed historical perspective of Phish. Hopefully some will be good students and look back, but in the age of immediate gratification, most will be satisfied with what they have now. But I suppose that is the cost of popularity, and it is inevitable.

Phish - 3/8/09 (Hampton Coliseum)

Set I: Sanity, Wilson, Foam, Bathtub Gin, Undermind, AC/DC Bag, My Friend My Friend, Scent of a Mule, All of These Dreams, Maze, She Thinks I Still Care, Army of One, Tube, Cars Trucks Buses

Set II: Down with Disease, Seven Below, Horse, Silent, Twist, 2001, Moma Dance, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Velvet Sea, Slave to the Traffic Light

Encore: Happy Birthday Leonard, Contact, Bug, Tweezer Reprise

"The Wire" - Season 3

Legalize drugs to reduce crime? Sounds like a far-fetched idea that might work for a television series, rather than reality. But The Wire doesn't hold back much from reality, so who knows...maybe the concept of "Hamsterdam" could work in some aspects of drug enforcement policy? Regardless of real life possibilities, I still do not have a favorite character in this series (although I dislike Herc and Carver; Herc's dumb and Carver's weak). I think that's a good thing, because it engages you more smoothly in the multiple story lines. I don't have to be anxious or excited about what happens to a particular character, thus making the series all the more surprising and powerful.

Phish - 3/7/09 (Hampton Coliseum)

Set I: Back On The Train, Runaway Jim, Brian & Robert, Split Open and Melt, Heavy Things, Punch You in the Eye, Gumbo, Reba, Mexican Cousin, It's Ice, Halley's Comet, Beauty of a Broken Heart, Guelah Papyrus, Lawn Boy, Run Like an Antelope

Set II: Rock and Roll, Limb by Limb, Ghost, Piper, Birds of a Feather, Wolfman's Brother, Prince Caspian, Mike's Song, Hydrogen, Weekapaug Groove, Character Zero

Encore: Day in the Life

"The Beast"

(via)

Phish - 3/6/09 (Hampton Coliseum)

Set I: Fluffhead, Divided Sky, Chalkdust Torture, Sample in a Jar, Stash, I Didn't Know, Oh Kee Pa Ceremony, Suzy Greenberg, Farmhouse, NICU, Horn, Rift, Train Song, Water in the Sky, Squirming Coil, David Bowie

Set II: Backwards Down the Number Line, Tweezer, Taste, Possum, Theme from the Bottom, First Tube, Harry Hood, Waste, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Grind, Bouncing Around The Room, Loving Cup

Pics from Chernobyl

These pictures from a tour of Chernobyl are quite sobering. They remind me of my trip to Dachau a number of years ago. Everything seems to be left in place, never to be moved or touched again.

How many miles can you walk?

This was a question on the health information sheet I was filling out at the doctor's office today. I wonder. I suppose I've never really tried before. 40 miles? 50 miles? How much time could I have? It would be fun to take a couple of days and just walk in some direction. Just to see how far you could go.

Almost time for Hampton

Though I won't be attending, I'm really looking forward to following the Phish reunion this weekend through Twitter and the blogosphere. I also read this recent article in the New York Times, which has me extra excited:

Late last year the four band members came together, by themselves, to make music in Mr. Anastasio’s Burlington barn and studio. They liked what they heard. And they resolved to be the version of Phish they prized most: the intently practiced, well-prepared Phish from the mid-90s. They started their Vermont rehearsals not with their countryish three-chord songs but with their intricate, suitelike songs that verge on progressive rock, like “Split Open and Melt” and “Foam.”

Keywords: "resovled" and "intently practiced." My fingers are crossed that it's going to be good again, like the Phish I prized most.

"The Clifford Ball"

A number of years ago--like any good collector of Phish's music--I acquired the bootleg copy of The Clifford Ball. To be honest, I never really listened to it that much. Maybe it was the quality of the recording, maybe I was just too busy collecting '97 shows, or maybe it simply slipped through the cracks, like so many '96 recordings (oddly) seem to do. Whatever the reason, my bootleg copy of The Clifford Ball was relegated to the binder stacks, with minimal listening time under my belt and no lasting impressions.

Fast forward to now, and I'm watching all six sets, and hearing the music in soundboard quality. Due to my past negligence, it all seemed new--until the last few minutes of "Mike's Song." That torrid groove, undulating over and over with "Simple" written all over it, suddenly made a mental connection with my sparse bootleg listening endeavors. I remembered that groove. It stuck out to me way back when--probably in a college dorm--and now it had resurfaced, on-screen and in color. For me, that was the greatest part about watching these shows--the moment when I remembered that groove, and finally saw the band physically play it.

Twitter rescue bid

This morning, I came across this article about a "Twitter rescue bid" for a British snowboarder lost in the Swiss Alps. Now, I find Twitter valuable for all sorts of reasons, and maybe in this case it would have helped organize and alert other snowboarders on the mountain to look for him. But reading the article, it seems that utilizing Twitter was a fruitless effort. The only valuable "tweets" simply indicated he was still missing, and led to no information about his whereabouts. Sadly, the man died before rescuers could reach him. I just find it interesting that so much emphasis was placed on the fact that his friends were trying to use Twitter to find him, rather than on the fact that help did not reach him in time. As if this sub-plot about an interesting new social networking technology made the story worth running.

"Do You Realize?"

Oklahoma's state legislation recently named the Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize?" as the official state rock song. However, judging from the comments after the article, it doesn't seem like all the residents of Oklahoma like the decision.

"When I Grow Up"

Fever Ray's second video, which is just as creepy as the first:

PowerPoint on Viagra

"Powerpoint is the Viagra of the spoken word"--that's one of the many dubious references Russell J. Craig cites in his article, "PowerPoint Presentation Technology and the Dynamics of Teaching". The article's bottom line is that there are over 30 million PowerPoint presentations given per day, yet less than 20 research articles exist showing that it is an effective means of teaching. Craig does a nice job of surveying some of the pedagogical and cognitive issues surrounding PowerPoint (i.e., linearity, the reduction of teacher to stagehand, promoting passive, non-critical learning), but admitedly offers little in terms of resolution. A rather disheartening read while writing online learning modules for my thesis work. Now I'll conciously know that I'm "disturbing the pedagogical peace."

"The Wire" - Season 2

There was such a sudden shift in setting in Season 2, that it almost didn't feel like the same show. It was all those containers stacked up on Sobatka's docks, I think. Something about those containers--and what was in some of them--completely diverted the entire cast of The Wire into a different element. I'm surprised the show's writers decided on that drastic of a venue change, given how intensely brutal and powerful the projects of Baltimore were in Season 1. The writing and acting were still phenomenal, however, and that factor alone made the transition from high-rises to docks seem natural.

The Oddity Faire

Les Claypool is my ultimate guilty pleasure in music, and I'm greatly anticipating his new album, Of Fungi and Foe, set to release on March 17th. Here's a promotional video for the upcoming tour: