Presidential Debate (Remix)

I'm kicking myself for not knowing that this event was happening in my city! Check it out: three MIT grads remix the debate in real-time to help visualize linguistic patterns that emerge over time. It's coming to NYC and Washington DC, so maybe if you're lucky, you could get to one of the debates!

The Shiny Teeth Win The Race

Hollywood = Entertainment

I have always rejected the most obvious and apparent realities on the grounds of them being obvious and apparent. Entertainment designed to entertain me immediately inclines me to not be entertained. I've always, for some unholy reason, preferred metaphysical rumination to unmitigated entertainment. This does not mean I don't like to enjoy myself; rather, I am extremely skeptical of institutionalization and industry, i.e. of predefined modes of communication, or more accurately, entertainment, which is really just the facilitation of self-communication with your desires.

Professional Sports = Politics

In high school I had a reputation as a fierce debater as well as a dedicated athlete. Competitiveness was (and still is) in my blood. This is why in the year 2000, as many of us were, I was completely crestfallen when Bush won. I wanted my side, the Democrats, to win. But we didn't. C'est la vie.
But is it really? I only see the simplicity of the race in retrospect; at the time, I didn't just want us to win, I thought we HAD to win, that we were right and they were wrong. The realization I had that the righteousness I felt was so completely subjective caused my interest in party politics to completely disintegrate. Interestingly enough, around the same time, my once-intense interest in pro sports (NHL included) began deteriorating.

So what is the relationship between professional sports, politics, Hollywood, and entertainment?

Dolla dolla bills, y'all. Each industry proudly functions competely (yes, competely) detached from the harsh realities of sustenance living and resource scarcity that the majority of the world faces. These enormous industries seek only to communicate with our desires. In doing so, they have contributed to an atrociously gross inflation of the global economy while simultaneously inundating the world with unbelievably influential aesthetic modes of desire-fulfillment and identification. But this is the beauty of such a system; they are not accountable! The humans who "run" the industries are midwives at best. The consumer/voter/movie-goer is the true architect. We certainly decide what they feed us, Coke or Pepsi, but what if we don't want either? The simple libertarian answer is, "don't like it, don't buy it." But other people are, and it's an issue of principle, not of choice (which is informed, ideally, by principle). The imperative to consume, to slake, to satisfy, to choose, is what drives today's economy. This makes everyone from an ontological standpoint primarily a consumer. Looking at this fact from an ethical standpoint, there are two reactions one can have: resignation and outrage. The former entails drinking Coke while spouting some anti-corporate rhetoric while outrage is punching (or wanting to punch) anyone you see holding a Coke bottle. This creates a continuum of ethical disposition. Very often I tell myself that I should be outrage and only outrage, but the human in me is always asking, "what's the point?"

Desire Can Be Disgusting

I have very little faith in the integrity of the majority of my desires, thus I feel sick that essentially the same structure of desire-communication seems to inhere in all Western industries and institutions. It's contingent, as opposed to necessary (read: Communism), collectivist thinking. What "sells" is king. It is self-imposed oppression. It is your civic duty, your Existential responsibility even, to identify as a chooser, thus a consumer. The complete appropriation of all vital resources on this earth make rejecting this responsibility basically an impossibility, so DRINK UP!

Athletics & Aesthetics

To those in the know, Dennis Rodman was quite a fine basketball player apart from the shenanigans he is more widely known for. This is why I was not (that) surprised when I read that Phil Jackson recently named Dennis Rodman the best athlete he ever coached (also, if I am not mistaken, this is not the first time he's gone on record as saying this). Reading his name in the news again after so many years prompted me to search on YouTube for some Dennis Rodman vids. I began typing "Dennis Rod..." and a drop-down suggested search terms list popped up, blithely suggesting "Dennis Rodman Kicking Cameraman." Who am I to say no?

At 4:15, Rodman extends his foot into the crotch of a seated, defenseless cameraman. Classless? Yes. But seriously, that guy has introduced himself as the guy Dennis Rodman kicked in the balls so many times, I'm sure the pain is gone. The real question I suppose is if it has gotten him laid.

the Coney Island Annual Mermaid Parade

We came. We went. We saw. There were boobs and tassles and tails and fins and sequins and floats and wigs and body paint and heat and sweat and cool cars and starfish over nipples. A large hallelujah for the likes of glorious Coney Island.

I'm just as unsure on the the "how" end of it --

This American Life: Prom

This American Life is my favorite program on NPR. It's amazing for many reasons, it doesn't tackle political issues like many NPR programs. There are no bi-partisanship arguments, it's an easy going, nearly relaxing hour of radio. Creator Ira Glass has developed one of the most interesting and captivating radio programs on the air waves. A long time correspondent for many public radio shows, Ira Glass finally and deservedly got his own program syndicated in 1996 broadcasting from WEBZ in Chicago and it's been entertaing listeners ever since. Every Sunday I set my radio dial in my car to 89.1 at 3:00 just to listen to stories of average American people who run into interesting events. It relates to everyone and it can either make you laugh, smile or cry. There are many episodes that stick out in my mind but a couple of weeks ago This American Life reran (sp?) a four act show about proms. Personally my prom was less than average, I really didn't even want to go--I remember I had to awkwardly and nervously drive my date in her Father's massive pick-up truck. These stories were particularly interesting to me for not only their somewhat intense subject matter but also for nostalgic reasons, memories of high school,why prom sucks, why after prom is awesome because you are 17 or 18 and get to drink massive amounts of alcohol and make terrible mistakes, etc. Here is a link to the show Episode 186: Prom. You can listen to it there, I hope you enjoy it and perhaps you can recall how awful or awesome YOUR prom was.

This American Life airs on NHPR every sunday at 3.

Surf the Channel

I don't get cable. Recently I have had an immense wanting for some television. I realize the avenues of internet television are plagued by the same Charles Schwab advertisements a la Richard Linklater "Scanner Darkly" real-life/animation editing style. If you go to NBC.com to watch "The Office" you watch more commercials than you do on an actual television. I have however found a great website which hosts a plethora of television programs without commercials. Many of the shows I have watched are hosted on sites like Megavideo or Veohtv, which are fast, but you should probably be on a browser like Firefox if you don't want to be bothered with a slow stream. Although Surf the Channel doesn't have every episode of every season necessarily, they do a pretty good job regardless. For free streaming TV go here: Surf the Channel

Mustaches in the Morning

I thought some of you guys may appreciate this: It's an article dedicated to mustaches on this morning's boston.com front page. You can even vote on which ones are the best!

Song Review: I'm Coming Home (parts 1 & 2)

A favorite professor of mine once told our class "I'd trade a hundred Arethas for one Mavis." While I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment, the fact remains that the majority of music that one is likely to hear by the Staple Singers is their vastly overrated and uninspiring major-label work from the '60s and '70s, wherein they re-recorded folksier renditions of their early gospel hits and spirited covers of contemporary pop songs. A straight up comparison between these recordings and Aretha Franklin's records from the same period does not come out favorably for the Staples family. However, take the time to dig deeper into the records they cut on Vee-Jay records between 1955 and 1961 and Dr. Downhome's claim seems less hyperbolic and more a simple statement of a clear fact. On The Best of the Vee-Jay Years (Shout! 2007) the Staple Singers are revealed in all their reverb-laden, ethereal gospel glory and Mavis Staples (still a teenager when most of these songs were cut) emerges as the stunning centerpiece of this musical family.

Young Mavis had the vocal talent to be a star in any genre but in "I'm Coming Home (parts 1 &2)" it becomes clear that no other genre but gospel could ever be as deserving of her formidable gift. Pops Staples is an impressive vocalist in his own right, but when paired with his daughter's other-worldly contralto his own voice becomes deferential, almost too innocent and inexperienced to do anything but provide only the most modest support and harmony. The song opens with a few ominous, echoing notes from his guitar and for the next seven minutes the song belongs to Mavis as she exhorts the audience to notify heaven of her imminent arrival. For Mavis, salvation isn't a desire but an inevitability. A child who is "born to die," she sings of her ascent to heaven as a triumphant homecoming, and her unwavering self-assurance is almost intimidating to listen to. Death holds no fear in this song, and Mavis seems to be only passing time until she regains her rightful place in heaven. As the song develops, a hundred Arethas for one Mavis begins to sound like a bargain. We may listen to Mavis Staples sing, but Mavis Staples sings to God.