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On the war on Christmas, its proponents, their credentials or lack thereof and what to do about it.
Hey remember the future? With the rocket cars and the robots? It wanted us to tell you it’s here, and it wants to take a walk with you.
So, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem: has Daft Punk really played at your house?
“Of course not. I used to play house parties in punk rock bands. You don’t really get paid, but what you do is sell a ton of merchandise, and get a place to sleep. When I got into dancing, taking E and being optimistic, I thought; wouldn’t it be great if some kid wanted Daft Punk to play at his house? So he rings the agent who says they’ll cost $40,000 and he saves for seven years and finally gets enough money and flies Daft Punk over. And, of course, they’d have no idea where they would be landing, ‘cos the rider includes two first-class tickets on Air France. And the kids would be earnestly trying to meet all the rider requirements, but Daft Punk would still end up playing in the basement next to the washing machine, which we all did. A local hardcore band is supporting, and the PA consists of all the local kids’ amps and stereos taped together. I thought that would be like the best show that anyone would ever see. My goal is to actually make that happen for a video - find a really great punk rock house, get Daft Punk to play, and LCD Soundsystem would be the opening local band. It just makes me happy.”
When I was about 13 I watched All the President’s Men for the first time. I suppose I did this for several reasons; some sense of obligation stemming from the indoctrination into politics courtesy of my family, or maybe the closer tie of my dad’s journalistic career. Whatever the reason I was not as outraged then as I have gradually grown to be. In my early twenties I began to see Bob Woodward as a modern-day Murrow, toppling the greed and hubris of Washington and attempting to separate their misdeeds from those of the good guys. As usual, I may have been a bit to quick to try and find a ‘good guy’ when maybe none existed, maybe not even Woodward.
According to Tina Brown in a fine article by Jay Rosen:
“When Woodward hears political gossip it’s not a couple of lowly hacks at the office water cooler — it’s a transaction between one Big Beast at the heart of the power jungle and another. He hoarded the info for some larger reportorial purpose because that’s what Big Beasts do. They don’t waste time fiddling around with the quotidian crumbs from the dish of the day when they’re aiming to haul in the big, fat story we’ll all be chewing on for months.”
Woodward and Bernstein broke Watergate due in some part to their lack of access to the Nixon White House–another administration with a ‘do not question, with us or against us’ policy–not their wealth of it. After those stunning revelations, the odds and ends of which carried on until very recently, Woodward found himself at the center of everything. A post Watergate Washington was one in which it was more dangerous not to talk to Woodward than to sit down and give him a few minutes. With that much power in tow it’s a very short ride to a place where you’ve lost touch; where you’re inside the bubble looking out.
Boys and girls, welcome to Dixie. Here’s your official handbook containing nuggets of wisdom about native Americans (and others) such as:
Q. Was it not wrong to drive them away and take their lands?
A. It was, and God will judge the white man for it.
Q. May not some of the wars we have had, have been such judgments?
A. Very likely.
An interesting read if only to see how glacially the American south moves. Most of these opinions are unchanged nowadays down here; they’re just rephrased. (Via MetaFilter)
Claiborne Paul Ellis - born January 8 1927; died November 3 2005. “A Retrieved Reformation” and “A Christmas Carol” all wrapped into one.
Before the Garden State soundtrack Frou Frou were not a household name. It’s arguable that even a spot on the soundtrack made them into one, but it certainly made them big enough for lead singer Imogen Heap to jump ship and record a solo disc, Speak For Yourself. On it she shows why she was the soul of Frou Frou, and expands on her already considerable body of Bjork-meets-Jan Hammer dance pop. The accompanying press release explains a bit better the reasons for the break up with both her label and her band:
Working with Frou Frou partner, Madonna and Britney producer Guy Sigsworth had been “an apprenticeship in making amazing records,” says Heap. But Heap was adamant that with her next project, she should get the recognition she deserved. “It’s not Guy’s fault, but with Frou Frou, everyone assumed the man did all the production and engineering, mixing and programming and that the girl – me – just sang,” explains Heap. “And I have to say that really irritated me. We did everything together. I’d been programming on Macs since I was twelve and that was more of a love to me than singing ever was.” After her break-up with Universal/Island, Heap felt the time had come for change. “I loved working with Guy,” she says. “I’d learnt so much from him and all the other various collaborations I’d done over the years. Now I was bursting with ideas and just wanted to get my hands really dirty!”
There are some real stand out tracks here, including the disc opener “Headlock” and the absolutely gorgeous vocoder marvel “Hide and Seek”. My only problem with albums like this is that the chances of seeing a performer like this live are so slim. I’d imagine seeing a song like “Hide and Seek” done live would be pretty amazing.
Ever wanted a screenshot from a DVD you’re watching on your Mac, but realized that Apple had made it impossible for reasons best known to the MPAA? Damn the man!
And how about the Walker, Texas Ranger clip Conan has been holding out on? Here it is! All the secrets are out of the bag today!
See, I’m much more pleasant after a bit of sleep.
(And I stand corrected about the MPAA thing; apparently Apple’s DVD player software sends an MP4 stream directly to the video card for best playback. As far as the OS is concerned you’re sitting there watching a blank screen, so there’s technically nothing to take a picture of. MPAA still sucks!)
