Short Timer

It's a slow blog week. We're getting ready for vacation--2.5 weeks between Croatia and Amsterdam--and haven't had much time for anything but work. But it'll all soon be worth it. We'll visit friends, we'll eat and drink more than our fair share, and we'll relax relax relax.

I'll be blogging it over at chrishess.blogspot.com as the interwebs are available, so check in over there if you want to see the gratuitous vacation snaps.

Happy Spring, y'all.

(That's the Croatian coast pictured up there.)

The Decline of Newspapers: A Wrinkle

A notable exception to the rule on the death of print journalism: The Austin Chronicle. From an article in the NY Times:

At a time when daily newspapers seem to be going away at the rate of one a week and weeklies are madly cutting to stay afloat, The Chronicle, which has revenue of approximately $8.5 million a year, has not laid off anyone, has no plans to do so, and its business is off just 7 percent in the last three years.

Major dailies are dying off at an alarming rate. But the Chronicle thrives. A big part of this can be credited to SXSW, which is run by the Chron. But, also, it's the paper itself. I've never seen a paper tied so closely to a community the way Austin is to its Chronicle. It's all local stuff. Everyone reads it every week. And people talk about it.

Writing for that paper was an honor, and if I still lived there, I'd still write for them. Here's hoping they continue to thrive.

The Other Side of Rick Steves

You know Rick Steves. He's the PBS travel show guy, glasses and a backpack, friendly well-meaning slightly nerdy dude who gets to go to all the cool places.

Well, there's a lot more to him that we thought. This piece in Salon goes deeper into issues more controversial than he addresses in his shows, like politics, Iran, terrorism, and legalization of marijuana.

The funny thing, to me, is that his views seem so radical when indeed they are just common sense gleaned from having seen more of the world than his own backyard. Maybe coming from him, more people will pay attention.

Panda Bear Live

For some footage of Panda Bear performing live, from a film being made by Mike Tyson. (No, I doubt it's that Mike Tyson), jump on over to Pitchfork. Click to the last bit, with Panda Bear performing.

UPDATE: I was re-hosting this video, but I couldn't figure out how to make it not start automatically on loading the page, so I took it off.

Reinvigorate Your Outrage

It's tough to keep the bile up for so long, isn't it? But here's a little recharge for you, in case you missed it.

Some firms are taking bailout money and donating it to political campaigns.

Outrage can be tiring.

First Day of Spring

Rain's expected this weekend, and a friend said the trails above the Military Reserve were dry. So I aired up the IF and hit it at lunch. Glad I did. Awesome ride, and the trails today are nice and dry and grippy.

Time to get back out there, y'all. Happy Spring.

Obama to Iran

The man is making the effort. He's using media in new (for the White House) ways and getting his message out to everyone he thinks needs to hear it. And this is an interesting way to show he's got the balls to talk directly to Iran, to the government and the people.

Barack on Leno

He's so good. He gives a good interview here, breaking things down in understandable terms and making government seem very reasonable. A thoughtful, intelligent, funny, classy president.

And Jay isn't even a total idiot in asking questions.

Themselves Mixtape

Over at the Anticon records website, they're giving away a mixtape put together by Themselves and mixed by Odd Nosdam. Can't tell you much about it as I'm downloading it right now, but I can't imagine it's anything but the shizznit.

Grab it.

The Presidential Garden

Sure, it's a fluff piece. But it says a lot. The Obamas installing and tending a garden, raising and eating organic food, sends a strong message and could start a great trend.

And it sounds like they've got some good stuff picked out.

Ugh

Palin is robo-polling in Iowa.

*shudder*

Let's enjoy the next 6 months before the '12 campaigning begine.

Tonight on the Range

Free tickets to Ratatat!

That's right, I'll have 2 spots on the guest list, +1 each, for the Ratatat show at the Knitting Factory on March 28. That's next Saturday. It's gonna be a killer show, so tune in, wait for the announcement, and give me a call. (Good during Wednesday's show only.)

And as for new music, pff: NASA, Obits, Lady Sovereign, The Submarines, The Very Most, Condo Fucks, Dan Deacon, Upsidedown Astronauts, St. Vincent, Blind Pilot, Electric President--the list goes on and on. More Neko, more AC, more M.Ward, more of all the good stuff.

Tune in Wednesday, 5 to 7mst, at www.radioboise.org.

Step Up, Broker Scum

Friedman hits it on the head in his column this morning.

Everyone's pissed off about the AIG brokers getting bonuses, as he says, "after their company — 80 percent of which is owned by U.S. taxpayers — racked up the biggest quarterly loss in the history of the Milky Way Galaxy." No kidding. But, as he also rightly points out, horrible as it is to swallow, our government can't just break the law to prevent them from getting their bonuses.

What it boils down to is that these brokers need to show the decency that so many Americans are showing right now. They need to step up and sacrifice. They need to give the bonuses back. A powerful point:

I live in Montgomery Country, Md. The schoolteachers here, who make on average $67,000 a year, recently voted to voluntarily give up their 5 percent pay raise that was contractually agreed to for next year, saving our school system $89 million — so programs and teachers would not have to be terminated. If public schoolteachers can take one for schoolchildren and fellow teachers, A.I.G. brokers can take one for the country.

Now, I agree with you: Hoping for common decency from these people, who as we have seen by their actions are certainly driven by nothing but money and greed, is a long shot to say the least. But if they did, it'd send a signal, and it'd help Obama deal with the backlash from this.

We as a people have lots of anger management issues right now. It's a tough time to be calm. But we need to find solutions, not just scream and cry. This, unlikely as it seems, is a small piece of a good solution.

Read the column, it's good stuff.

They Are the Resurrected?

The Pitchfork rumor mill's got a good one today.

Will the Stone Roses, leaders of the Madchester scene, get back together for a run at the summer festival circuit this year? Is it time to break out the day-glo and strobe lights and trip out to Fool's Gold?

I loved this band. I can think of worse things that could happen.

Bad Economy = Better Kids?

In the discussion about the effects of our economic travails on our society, there's an interesting opinion: Buckling down on consumerism is good for kids. And it's a tough idea to argue with.

Entitlement (in the non-governmental sense) breeds spoilt kids. That only makes sense. When 6-year-olds have cell phones and every single kid who can push a button has an X-Box or Playstation, when toys worth hundreds of dollars are just expected, when after-school activities and summer camps and sports camps and kid clubs keep kids from doing chores or having real responsibilities, we've got a problem.

Interesting opinion on this in the Detroit Free Press. From that:

By and large, today's kids have no chores. Their parents are too busy running them to completely superfluous after-school activities that may build certain skills, but fail to build what endures: good citizenship -- which, by the way, parents once maintained began in the home. Not on the ball field.

I don't have kids yet, but again, I have a hard time arguing with this. Chores are good. Responsibility to family is good. Expecting to have things handed to you is bad. So, maybe the downturn is good in this way, too. Silver linings, right?

Thx Jessflynn.

Neko Is the Horn Section

Cool article in the New Yorker online edition about Neko Case and her new record, Middle Cyclone.

It's a great record--to my mind and ears it's the best thing she's done, building on the style she solidified with Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. She's moving away from country and alt.country into something far more her own. And the new place suits her very well.

SF-J pegs it good here, although he doesn't seem to grab onto the theme that haunts me when I listen to this record: Namely, that Neko in this record is, literally, a force of nature. But that's my interpretation. And yours is...?

Earmarks My Eye

I've grown so sick of hearing people (mostly Republicans) whine and cry and stamp their feet about earmarks that I can hardly stand the word anymore. Earmarks are the new Lobbyists, a catch-all word that's become code for all the other side's political evildoing.

But, like lobbyists, all earmarks are not bad. Every person who complains about them has them inserted into bill after bill by the rep or senator for whom they voted. No matter who you are. And, most likely, you're in favor of the things the earmarks brought or would bring to your state.

As Obama's critics continue use earmarks as their most common artillery, it's worth looking at who's doing the earmarking. Slate provides such a service today. Here are the top 10:

1. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.: $474 million
2. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.: $391 million
3. Mary Landrieu, D-La.: $332 million
4. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa: $292 million
5. David Vitter, R-La.: $249 million
6. Christopher Bond, R-Mo.: $248 million
7. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.: $235 million
8. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii: $225 million
9. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.: $219 million
10. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa: $199 million

Notice anything? Maybe that 6 of the top 10 are Republicans? And that the top 2, who dwarf everyone else, are Republicans?

And that's not even the best stuff. How about the hypocrisy of righties like Mitch McConnell: After inserting $76 million of his own earmarks, he voted against the bill because it spent too many taxpayer dollars. WTF? And Vitter and Grassley, both on the list above, followed suit, voting against the bill they helped inflate.

So, enough with the talking points. Enough ignorant railing against the evil earmark. Pay attention to what your reps are doing, look a little deeper (like, beyond the word "earmark") and see what the money's for, and maybe, just maybe, try understanding that this is no normal budget or spending bill for no normal time. We're taking drastic measures because the Republican administration of the past 8 years screwed us so badly that we have to.

Every administration needs opposition, even very vocal opposition. But educate yourself first. Otherwise, you're just Rush Limbaugh.

Geoengineering?

Intriguing post about "climate intervention technology." And maybe a tiny bit chilling:

More and more prominent climate and energy scientists have expressed support for studies into various geoengineering approaches, such as sequestering carbon in the ocean by growing large swaths of algae.

From TPM

Legends of Punk

Fascinating article about the unearthing of Detroit proto-punk band Death, in today's NY Times. I, like most, I suspect, had never heard of these guys. Which only makes the legend all the cooler. And now I look forward to getting my hands on their re-released record.

Wallace Unfinished

There's an interview on the NPR site with D.T. Max, who has just published a piece called "The Unfinished" in the March 9 issue of The New Yorker, the same issue in which a piece of Wallace's unfinished novel, here titled "Wiggle Room," appears.

The Max interview is interesting in its look at Wallace's work and the expectations put upon him by himself and by the literary community. It also dips into Wallace's suicide and the depression that plagued him.

The story, or excerpt, is as dense and wonderful and frustrating and impressive as is the rest of Wallace's work. Apparently the entirety of the unfinished novel will be published, though of course it is impossible, given Wallace's drive for precision or pursuit of perfection in voice and assembly of his larger works, to know if what we end up with is what he would have released on the world.

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