Where Del Taco, and I-banking meet; drown in the coagulation of hotsauce and corporate finance juices. Although, we don't talk too much about any of the aforementioned!
Well it's been a while everyone. I have been less than diligent about updating my blog about personal stuff, seldom feel inclined to do that over the internet I suppose.
This weekend was a pretty mellow mild mannered weekend, and even though it was I am still exhausted!!! Already looking forward to next weekend at Vanguard! Since I skipped out on EDC this year (I can't handle another hippie love fest) I am gunna hit up Vanguard. Next weekend at Vanguard we have C. Lawrence, Rank 1 (Piet) and Blake Jarrell. Lawrence was supposed to play back in May but I guess he had some back problems or something??? Regardless he got scheduled for next weekend.
I have yet to see Rank and Blake so I am pretty stoked. Over the past year I have really liked most of the stuff that Jarrell has produced, it has grown on me more and more. His remixes of the popular 'Louder', 'Chasing Cars', and Nalick's 'Breathe' are pretty solid productions. Will be a pleasant experience to hear them on the Funktion 1 system, which is just totally diamonds and gravy goodness. It makes me very feliz inside, haha! Not sure if there is going to be a guestlist for this event, but $20 isn't gonna be so bad I think. I'll find out if there is going to be a guest list, so email me if you're interested.
As far as the Sunday Feed goes, it's a little sparse and dry for those who aren't good company for finance gar-bage.
Dealbook - My new favorite blog of the week. Full of GREAT info about all the happenings of the M&A, IPO, IBD, etc... I love the place. Especially love all the great details about
In Between - Everyone knows the love I have had for Mr. van Dyk over the years. His old stuff is so mind-blowingly genius, that I would do little justice puring out my undying obsessive love for the cd's here. I will only say this: That the cd's will put you into total musical submission.
With the approach of the new artist album release (August 19th), he has started touring around (as usual) promoting the new album. I will regrettably miss him at Vanguard on July 20th, because I will be out of town. I am just excited because I am so tired of the mix album thing that has been going on for the last 2-3 years. Every artist making a mix (didn't care for PofD 2 at all blegh), and then selling it. COME ON! Sit in the studio and use the obvious creative talent you wowed us all with in the early 2000's. I swear, I would kill (yes, KILL) to go back to 2001 Innercity party and listen to Paul's set again live. As soon as Autumn comes on, that thing will melt your face (in a good way) hah!
Okay, that is enough of that. I had some other links, but will update this later in the week. And post some live sets that have come in. Got a really good Sasha set, that has been stock in my mp3 player for the whole week.
Been a while since I have written anything, so I thought to pound out a few thoughts I have been thinking about over the past couple weeks. As usual this is not a very ad hoc post, and is more a discombobulated hodge podge of news and random thoughts. This week is admittedly less serious than others...
I spotted this not too long ago, and it is hilarious! Perhaps it is just me and my twisted sense of humor, perhaps you are just too serious (it's possible...), but this has to be one of the best wikipedia categories ever: HERE
End of an Era: The whole concept of internet taxes is receiving more and more attention as of late. With the imminent death of internet radio (because of unfair and thoughtless taxes), the next in line to be strangled by taxes seems to be the internet as a whole. All though this will definitely have less of a strangling choke-hold than the i-radio taxes, it will still be a detriment to many of the websites we know and love. Wyoming Senator Michael Enzi is pushing for a bill to require taxes on all online purchases.
The Washington Post put the total lost state revenues from untaxed Internet sales in the neighborhood of $16 billion. A very considerable amount. I wonder what the money lost could have been put to use for?
Outsource Your Life: well I have blogged about crowdsourcing, outsourcing, and the likes, but this has to be the best yet. This takes the Mechanical Turk (if you don't know what that is, check it out!) to a whole new level. Good read!
Kobayashi Loses: Takeru Kobayashi, famous for being a tank when it comes to competitive eating, lost to Joey Chestnut, from CA. Kobayashi is nutz, he always blew the competition away when it came to eating hot dogs. However, Joey apparently finished 59 & 1/2 hot dogs in 12 minutes. Mind blowing.
And now, for the Sunday Read. This weeks is just a few short articles, as I found myself with a little less free time on my hands this week.
Painting Music - No this is unfortunately not the release of "Painting the Silence" (good track though), instead it is a really interesting interactive flash program that allows you to visually paint your music. The visuals are nothing stunning (this isn't as much of a trip as MilkDrop), but it still provides a good 10min+ of entertainment combining different instruments on the canvas messing w/ delay times, etc... Have fun!
Einstein: His Life & Universe - An interesting article that sums up some intersting facts about Ein's life in a very general sort of way... I enjoyed reading it, being as I have yet to read the Wiki on him. This is good for those that don't have the strength to read a full biography. A great four page summary! "It is important to foster individuality," he said, "for only the individual can produce the new ideas." Ron Paul on CNN - Interesting youtube clip from CNN interviewing Ron Paul. I thought the dialogue was interesting, and am not supporting Ron as a presidential hopeful. My vote is still up in the air. I don't know who I want to win office... I just enjoy a person who says what he thinks without worrying about stepping on the toes of his party members.
The Office Aside from the Sunday read, I would just have to praise the season finale of The Office. However, before the praise: Now, I'm not one to become involved in stupid things like, fictional relationships on TV sitcoms but I just have to say that Karen > Pam, in an infinate number of ways. That being said, the last scene is priceless! "We're done." ..... "whaa?". Beautifully executed. Gah that other girl is so irritating = dumped = awesome. The math in this article is indeed revolutionary, no?
Music Jon O'Bir's May Promo Mix (right-click save as) As for upcoming events! Anyone going to go see Filo & Peri @ Circus on Saturday? Not sure I am gunna hit up them, but definitely going to be in LA-la land for Jon O'Bir next Saturday. Woohoo, I grabbed his may Promo mix, and love it! Congrats to him for getting his radio show on Florida's 93.5 Dance FM too, keep up the good work!
As for other music news, Smashing Pumpkins' new CD is due out in a bit (July 10th), and I found a nice stream of their track 'Tarantula" here. Enjoy! Played on KROQ, I'm not sold on it, but perhaps it will grow on me.
Up and Coming: Rants and Raves in Swedish, End of the Neo-con's, Having fun with AI (Alt.Inv, not Artf.Intl.) Vi ses!
The Sunday Read: occasionally I like to post links to a few though provoking interesting reads that have sparked my interest over the week. Hopefully you will find some merit to reading these although some are longer than others.
Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves - an interesting read one that I hadn't gotten around to (among the many!!! I Haven't even cracked open War & Peace yet... hehe). However, Leo Tolstoy wrote a great piece hear about alcohol and tobacco usage and his opinions concerning it. I feel that perhaps his reasoning behind all of it could span the depth of not only alcohol and tobacco, but also any narcotic substance.
I am not necessarily saying that Tolstoy's reasoning is correct here, but rather I think his observations are pretty spot on with mine. Although my interpetation is a bit different.
Convienent Skin Cancer Therapy - It will affect most of us (I believe the odds are like 1:4) at some point in our life. It makes me happy to know that there are people who are alieviating the pain that is usually required to treat most types of skin cancer.
What is Google? - Short read from a well-known French philosopher, has some interesting thoughts about what google is (yes, we all know it's a search engine...)
There were some other things I read, but none of them really seem relevant now, thus I'll leave the list short and sweet.
As usual I have to do a little music plug for the LA/OC-ites:
7/14/07 - Giant Village - Armin van Buuren in downtown LA, should be a good time, specially considering Armin will play an 8hr set. Very excited. BUY HERE
7/20/07- PVD @ Vanguard - I shan't pass up a great couple hours w/ Paul on the Funktion One system! BUY HERE
If you are reading this and you don't know what Coachella is, it is safe to assume that you have been living under a rock for quite some time. That being said, I can start my review... well I personally don't want to go into extreme detail for each of the people I saw, because there were just too many good bands to review. But I will give a little blurb for most of em'.
We can start with the camping situation. It was fairly organized, and wasn't too bad, our neighbors were pretty chills for the most part, but a few of them were morons, but nothing that I didn't expect. Showers were actually pretty nice, and I was surprised to get some hot water. Although it was so bloody hot that I honestly didn't want to use the hot water. I think for the majority of the weekend it was a 100+. I drank seriously 30 waters/gatorades in 3 days. The prices inside the festival for food and water was a rape, but I there was nothing to be done about it. The Hawaiian BBQ place kept giving loads of chicken to fuel me through the arduous long dancing nights.
The crowd was mostly younger people in their 20's, but for some of the bands there were some people who showed up who were like 15yrs old, and then there were some urban cougars on the prowl...
F R I D A Y
Arctic Monkeys: Really good show, the lead guy is very talented, but they need to work on their band-banter. It was pretty boring banter, that was basically "I'm Britt-Ish, blabla". Regardless it was a great show, and was nice considering they came on around sunset Friday evening.
Jesus & the Mary Chain: Wow, not impressed at all. It wasn't horrible from technical standpoint, but their lyrics were horrible. Stupidity spouted from the mic would be a simple and concise way to sum them up.
Interpol: Way good band! Their performance was awesome. Very impressed and was pleased!
Bjork: First impressions were this chick is Icelandic, and she's insane. It was very upbeat, and interesting. I gained a new respect for her, because before I have seen her I just thought she was straight-up weird. I classified her in the same group as aliens, magicians, carni-folk. However, my opinion is changed! I have a better appreciation for her weirdness and she actually is one of the most creative artists I've seen. I didn't stay the whole time for her stuff, because I wanted to see
DJ Shadow: Started off playing his older stuff--which I love--but then started playing stuff off the newer album. I had to bounce back to camp to hop in the shower, so I didn't get to catch all of his set unfortunately.
S A T U R D A Y
The Fratellis: Fun fun fun! Was really having a blast dancing to them, met some 日本人 and we spoke Japanese for a while. I was impressed that they came all that way for Coachella. Unfortunately none of the girls were interesting =( but it was still fun to chat for a bit! Regina Spektor: Got bored listening to her, plus she was on main stage, and it was incredibly hot, so I didn't have the stay power to listen to everything, and I bounced over to Mojave tent to see
Hot Chip: Superior. Hot Chip owned me pretty bad, I couldn't make it in the tent just because it was sooo hot inside, it was at least 10+ dgrs hotter because of all the dancing people going crazy. I have never been a big fan of the rock+EDM bands (like Infected Mushroom, not my thing); however, I really seemed to dig Hot Chip. I caught like 4-5 tracks and they were rocking and upbeat but nothing too intense like InfMshrm. MSTRKRFT: Caught the first half of their set, and holy wicked basslines everywhere. It was disorienting when I first went in... I was feeling a bit dizzy and I'm it was because of the heat+bass. They are an interesting group, but I wasn't able to stay for the whole set. Arcade Fire: What a fun band to watch. I love it when people demolish their own equipment... NOT! Man, at least you could toss it into the crowd to please some fanboy, and fulfill his life's dreams instead of smashing it on stage. Very fun to watch though I guess...
RHCP: Definately the performance of the night! When the back LCD came on, I was pretty starry-eyed, it certainly was very cool to look at. They are definitely a band where you can tell that they are veterans at the concert thing. Fly told some lame jokes, and band-banter was entertaining and engaging. The performance was awesome, lighting, sound, vocals, guitar solos galore, it was a stew of coagulated music juices, where sweet and sour, salty and spicy, combined to provide a most enjoyable musical experience! Hah! What a lame description!
Tiesto: Wasn't expecting to be blown away, but WHY do you have to play the two worst tracks on your album. Dance4Life sucks, nobody likes it, should have dropped some wicked remix of Driving to Heaven or something... bah. I was pleased that he closed the set with Adagio for Strings, that was cool, very reminiscent of Tiesto in concert. The lighting was sweet, but the visuals in the back were absurd! Since when did people jumping around in leotards become aesthetically 'cool' I must have missed the memo on this one.
S U N D A Y
Explosions In the Sky: Awesome! I love the instrumental rock, and they are so so SO talented!
Paul Van Dyk: KILLED IT! WOW! The beginning of the set had sooo much potential, but the energy kinda decreased a bit during the middle and then picked up at the end. 1.5hrs is really just too short to accomplish anything decent. There were a few new tracks of his new album that got played. "Stormy Skies" actually is a lot better live than I heard on the radio rip that was circulating around a bit ago. Everyone had a good time, met a really cute girl but her friend kept interrupting when I was talking to her... anyway, all in all VERY FUN!
Rage Against the Machine: Everyone started pushing to the front about 30min before Rage was supposed to start, and so it was getting really crowded (unfortunately there were not a lot of females =(, which I don't blame em' it was a ruff crowd), but we were packed like sardines and we were still by the main stage tech box (i.e. not too close, but not very far away from main stage). They come running on stage and this HUGE Rage flag drops in the background and that is when the Rage vortex started. I swear I pushed, carried, time-warped, whatever it was, 60ft closer than where I was in a matter of a few seconds. The gravity of the band, was sucking all the people closer and closer, and I was feelin' a bit uncomfortable, but I couldn't help buy smile. The show was great, people were going nutz, I had like 3 people dropped on my head because there was so many people crowdsurfing, and I was bouncing all over the place (although, I tried my best to steer clear of the mosh-pits, too old for that stuff).
Renegades of Funk (a personal favorite...):
Other Cool Stuff: The tesla coils were sweet! The fire machine, the wierd clown guys that cooled everyone off with the water mister guns, the girl that took the hook and sinker, the Japanese Kook fans LOL!, the guy who ripped his pants wresting the girl in line for gatorade (better leave the wrestling mask at home next time), and much more!
Jag bara sitter och stirrar i skärmen hela dagen och nu har jag faktiskt lite yr i huvudet (så mycket att jag behövde lägga mig ett tag, det påminer mig om Lucille i Arrested Development!). Det är ju slutexamen och jag har ingen tid att gör nåt annat än att studera. Det suger! Men sådant är livet!
Japanska kursen håller på slaktar mig, särskilt min japansk samtal klass. Alltså jag tycker att kursen är väldigt bra, men än då när det gäller slutexamen så hatar jag alla mina kurser. Jag tycker det är ganska dumt att satsa så mycket på ett prov. I alla fall så hoppas jag att jag får bra betyg.
Jag har lite dåligt nyheter för er som tycker om Trance. Jag fick det här i brevlådan idag ifrån Ludwig Holm som står så här:
"Sebastians Remix på The Longset Journey kommer troligtvis inte släppas, tyvärr. The Longest Journey kommer släppas väldigt snart med en rad remixer, håll ögonen öppna!"
Jag fick en rip ifrån EnigmaT, och jag tyckted då som jag gör just nu, den låten är en av den bäst jag hörde i 2006. I alla fall, jag tycker att Ludwig är en bra producent och om han fortsätter med sina skapningar kommer han att påverka den ganska stillastående trance scenen. Lycka till!
Music: Headstrong feat. Tiff Lacey - Symphony of Soul A great follow up to the last track that was released by Headstrong, "The Truth", of which David West did a massive remix for. Tiff does a great job on the vocals, without making them cheese. I like her voice in the track, it's not overbearing. Good job!
I'll post the regular tomorrow, heard the new Ulrich Schnauss CD? It's awesome, I'll review it maybe tomorrow, it's the only thing keeping me sane through finals.
What are you eating for breakfast? If it's not a healthy serving of Sunlight, you best be doing something else like avoiding all those sugary cereals and eating Wheaties.
Casey Keyworth's (Breakfast) tracks are the new object of my trance affection. I think I featured the remix he did (w/ whats that other guys name, Mike? I know you from TA...) of Filo & Peri - Ordinary Moments, which was a MONSTER of a track... yet to get the attention it deserves.
Wow, I remember the first time it floored me, which hasn't happened because much of todays trance & prog house is not branching out and being creative. I admit that it is hard to not do rehashes of stuff that has already been done. That being said, Breakfast really brings it... His new track "The Sunlight", is really shedding light on the genre that has been stagnant for a bit. It was featured on Above & Beyond's radio show not too long ago, and now is getting stormed on ASOT with good response.
This track produces immediate smiles guaranteed. I believe the track is signed to Flashover.
Breakfast - The Sunlight As if I needed to add any more inane babble or introduction. Just download it and thank me later on TA!
Sunday Hodge Podge: An eclectic group of articles that have caught my eye over the past few days. A real post later on this week. Gearing' up for finals so short on time currently.
Things are Getting Better - A great read from the journal New Republic, which is in my opinion a pretty liberal magazine in general, but nonetheless, a great read here. I think that because we often hear of violence so often we would think that it is increasing. I would just say, that there is still too much...
Atheist's Wager - Interesting, nothing real 'new' in the argument for or against a belief in God, but being as I don't use this as blog as a plug for my own or anyone else's religion, I will simply sum up my thoughts as this:
Without being prideful, I feel Atheism is in part a result from a flawed understanding of God. It is because the person (like many Christians even...) doesn't really understand what God is. It seems to me that many base their disbelief because they are told God has x,y,z, characteristics, but fail to see how these attributes are apparent and demonstrated in the world here. I would compare it to someone who received the wrong prescription for their glasses. More often than not, the wrong prescription is a result of pride, disappointment, OR more importantly false conflicting beliefs inside Christianity. However, in order to really understand and see things as they are and will be we need to have the correct framework to 'get' what is going on.
Calvin & Hobbes - Who doesn't love C&H? Here is a Q&A about em'.
For this weeks post, I decided to tickle the scholar in all of us, by sharing a very thought provoking article written for The American Scholar by Robert Lanza. Dr. Lanza has done EXTENSIVE work on "the cell of cells" aka stem cells, and is part of the reason that this science has not been tossed by government! Dr. Lanza showed that stem cells can be extracted without killing the embryo. Recently he got stem cells to grow into retinal cells, having hope for some forms of blindness. He is VP of the respected the research giant Advanced Cell Technology which has numerous accolades for the important work they do.
They are focused with theraputic stem cell research, not reproductive (cloning), so don't be turned off immediately by their work. That is one thing that has severely bothered me with criticisms of stem cell research. People are so worried that we are going to clone a human, and therefore become alienated to the idea of stem cell research without factoring in the INNUMERABLE solutions that this research can provide if given the proper funding and support. Anyhow...
His article is very provocative and engaging, and I found that it really gets one to think about 'what we know' in a very different light. I think though that he will be crucified by much of the scientific community, because what he offers is a very different than the solution of the common scientific community to the question of life and its origin.
Some of the ideas which were most appealing to me included this statement: " Most of these comprehensive theories are no more than stories that fail to take into account one crucial factor: we are creating them. It is the biological creature that makes observations, names what it observes, and creates stories. Science has not succeeded in confronting the element of existence that is at once most familiar and most mysterious—conscious experience. "
We can only understand reality in so much as we perceive it. Classic example of this is those that thought the world was flat disk. That was relative reality for them, and it was true in so much as they could observe it. Nowadays, we pride ourselves in how far we've come in our perception of how things are and will be, but we fail to see that this is only true as far as our ability allows us to perceive reality. We are so quick to discount things that we can't understand empirically, without realizing that perhaps we don't understand because we have not yet learned how to observe the phenomenon.
In all, the article is amazing, and Dr. Lanza has nailed most of my sentiments and feelings concerning 'modern science' by means of succinct thoughts in a very cogent paper. Hats off to him, for a very telling paper.
Music: Vanoni Ornella - L'Appuntamento So, the song is in Italtian, and I have no idea what is being said, but I love the melody and 5$ to the person who spots what movie this is from. It's been sitting on my hard drive for a while, wanted to share. Good mellow evnin' drive tune.
So, many of us have heard one of the great tracks of late 06' early 07' "Amnesia Brothers feat. Jennifer Rene - Louder ". Blake Jarrel did a killer remix of this track no? Anyhow, I loved the uniqueness of this girls voice, and it was a fresh new voice to the dance music scene. She got hooked up with Jose Amnesia by my friend Arturo B. (you're a good man!), and before she knew it she was doing her first track.
Blake Jarrel's remix really exploded the track on the scene and I was totally hooked on this girls voice after this. Her voice is so clear, and not overwhelming; the perfect accompaniment to some good dance tracks.
I thought to put some comments in a recent interview with Jennifer her in this post. It seems that you are on the right path in regards to dance music right now. Where do you see yourself headed in this industry ?
Jennifer Rene: After many years of indecision and an attempt at college, I was still stuck wandering what it was I was meant to do with my life. A year ago, it literally slapped me in the face. Music. The dream of it all suddenly started to seem not so far fetched the more I practiced the reality of itself. I want to do it all. I want to continue singing my heart out. I’m almost ready to start the DJ part of it, and I want to be able to travel the world playing and singing music for people to give them the rush on the dancefloor we all so deeply reach for. I want to see my name in the top 20 on the DJMag 100 someday. Yes, I have my faith I will get there! One day I will turn to producing and remixing as well. It’s crazy all the ideas I have even now of songs I want to do a bootleg for or tracks to mashup or melodies and beats I get in my head and think “Man I wish I could throw this down in Logic now!” I really want to be a stand out female in this music genre as its so dominated by men. I want to get recognition for being a female artist. Where they say “Who’s the guy that’s spinning now? HOLY S*** its a female!” I also want to be able to take some of the dance music I do and push it towards a more commercial dance crowd. It’s just a matter of getting that right sound to the right hands for the right widespreading to the masses, and then their ears will open and they will follow. Dance music is on the rise and will prevail! Most importantly, I want all of this as my career and have dedicated my entire life to my love for it. I will be playing music into the night up until the point they scream “Get that grandma off the decks!”
Armin's recent ASOT recently featured several of Jennifer's new tracks, including my personal favorite "Jose Amnesia feat. Jennifer Rene - Wouldn't Change A Thing (Blake Jarrell 190dB Remix)". I love the prog/house just as much as the next person, but honestly I really have a soft spot in my heart for those vocalists that are often featured in the EDM scene. I will definitely be following this girls career as she continues to blossom. Best of luck to you Jennifer!
Music: Armin van Buuren - A State of Trance Episode 293 Since it is now popular to bash on ASOT, I hope that none of you will be offended that I am featuring it here. If you listen to the set, it is really a very well done set, and is one of my favorite ASOT's this year. In the beginning several of Jennifer's tracks are played, and it a great start. ENJOY!!!
Today's post is somewhat of a discombobulated hodge podge of thoughts, that I kinda threw together last minute... If at any time you find it boring check this out. Sure to entertain.
Thank-goodness student elections are over. BYUSA says that they are " dedicated to serving the BYU student body and advising the BYU administration." Pft! They advise the BYU Admin, just as much as the Cave of Caves on the West Bank, the Hebron Museum!
Let's truthinize a bit...
What I find funny, is that neither party admits to the fact that the BYUSA does nothing of any real interest to most students. The lofty claims and over-promising perma-smiles eager to put the title "Prez" on their resume (not to mention a scholarship & stipend...) have received the decision and it's over. The accosting with fliers--which I quickly dumped in the trash--is over! I would honestly rather watch CNN re-runs of Osama videos with Krinkov waving Islamic Fundamentalists.
On a more serious note, I am glad to hear that congress is gearing up to start evaluating a withdraw from Iraq. Although I am definitely irked that it looks like it is mostly partisan vote, the House Appropriations Committee passed legislature that would send Iraq troops home by Sep. 2008. However, this doesn't mean that they are coming home, the bill still has a long way to go, before it would be final.
I have a couple thoughts on giving a definite time line for withdrawal. I am not so sure that enforcing a very definitive time line is a good thing. I personally would like to see some sort of way to start measuring progress through use of a provisional time line. By enforcing some sort of provisions and requirements that would have to be met before we would start withdrawing would be a far better solution.
It is obvious that America doesn't want an open-ended Iraq war. A time line is a good way to enforce this, but I think that making it too definite and not flexible enough for army commanders to work with is a bad decision. An even worse decision is to make no decision at all. While sounding a bit ideological, party loyalty is not an excuse for lagging to extend support to our troops.
Other Happenings this week: 月曜日に、プロボ神殿の近い丘に、スケートボートしました。丘に来たと、勾配は、険しすぎないとおもいました。でも、スケートボードしながら、急に険しくなった、それから、早すぎたに行ったから、友達は飛び降りました。「なんて女の子だ」と思ういました。それから、突然、スケートボードはいわにぶつけった。私はセメントに飛びました。頭がぶつけったから、道の中で、まごまごに起きました。友達は、手伝って帰ってくれました。今、さわんにだぼくしょうをおって、たくさんきずがあります。大変だった。
Went and bought my ticket to go see Midlake tomorrow night. Looking forward to a good time, of nonsensical lyrics and talented musicians. Their last record "Trials of Van Occupanther" was introduced to me by a friend, and I have grown to like this a lot. They have a real fresh sound, and it is a great listen to put you in a mellow mood, and without exaggerating, I would say it is one of the best albums I've listened to in years.
All of the band members are in fact very talented musicians who all play an assortment of instruments, ad it all combines together for a very rolling mellow musical experience. It is the kind of music that you just don't have to take seriously to enjoy. It blows my mind when I turn on the radio stations and listen to the absolute crap that is enjoyed by so many. Club-rap, really can only be enjoyed at the club to be honest, and even then I would avoid it usually just because it spells hoodrats and trouble!
The weather is finally becoming tolerable here in UT, the depressing snow and cold is abating to some refreshing spring warmth. Gah, it is amazing the change in outlook and attitude as Spring approaches. There are some that argue that weather should not affect your moods, but for me, it is unavoidable. When the warm returns, I feel a ease, I guess it must have something to do with returning to my 'natural habitat'. Hah!
Nu vill jag skriva på svenska, för att jag har inte gjort det i länge! Det suger faktiskt att jag har inte så många svensk kompisar att snacka med, men 仕方がないね？Ibland så lyssnar jag till www.sr.se och det känts skönt att höra ren svenska igen. Men, i alla fall, idag har jag tänkt mycket på ilska och vrede. Det finns ingenting som är mer älskande och mild än människor, men på samma gång finns det ingenting som är mer grymt och elak än människor. "Livet liger på godhet och harmoni, inte med fasa och skräck, utan med kärlek, som blir ett band av gemensam bistånd."
Om man kan inte behärska sin vrede, gör det inget. Jag har sett många som använder sin vrede för att låta mäktigt och sånt, men om man kan inte resonera med sina känslor så han en idiot. Det är som en soldat, om man kan kontrollera honom, så är han av mycket värd. Men, om han gör vadsomhelst han vill, så är han ingenting, till och med han kanske blir obehagligt ね？
Det är best om man bara slå sina börjande irritationer tillbaka, än att ge dem plats i sin hjärta. Så tro jag!
Two great tracks, I believe I have already given enough praise to Midlake, but 'The Hotel Lights', are also another great band that was formed in the radioactive fallout of Ben Folds 5. The tune also just has a great rolling melody with some retro sounds in it. I love the clap snare that is prevalant and carries the song throughout. Well composed pieces here! ENJOY!
We'll jury's in, and Libby is guilty. It would definitely take a stretch of the imagination, or some sort of 'step through the looking glass experience' to think otherwise. But it is unlikely that he is going to get roasted too bad in the slammer. I mean, if he still gets convicted after all the appeals I am betting the maximum sentence is going to be three years.
Big Whoop!
I mean, it's not like this guy robbed a 7-Eleven. He lied to a grand jury about his responsibilities and his job... and then claims his 'I forgot' bs. He and his wife should be very thankful for those three years, considering in all possibility it could have been 25 years. What will really cook me is if President Bush gives him a presidential pardon. However I doubt it will happen, because Bush is already roasted by the American public as is.
My favorite quote so far is: Wilson, whose wife left the CIA after she was exposed, said, "Convicting him of perjury was like convicting Al Capone of tax evasion or Alger Hiss of perjury. It doesn't mean they were not guilty of other crimes." Hah!
Music: Daft Punk is rumored to be making a come back to North America!!! Although, I will admit the credibility of this is questionable, here is the tentative schedule that is floating around the net:
7/21 LA- Sports Arena 7/27 Berkeley- Greek Theatre 7/29 Seattle- Wamu Center 7/31 Denver- Red Rocks 8/3 Chicago- Lollapalooza 8/5 Toronto- Arrow Hall 8/7 Montreal- Bell Centre 8/9 NYC- Keyspan Park
I could think of worse places that they could have the performance, I mean I think that the LA Sports Arena will do okay, although the acoustics there are miserable in my honest opinion. I just hope a bunch of the candy-kids don't come to wave their mickey-mouse gloves at DP for this one. Still, I AM SO STOKED! People will be talking about their Coachella performance for the next 10 years. Mindblowingly good. WMC: Is going to be kicking off pretty soon, and I am happy to see that www.tranceaddict.com is sponsoring "A Night with Sander Van Doorn"! Cheers to TA. I wish I could hit up WMC, but being as my university has boycotted the wonderful idea of Spring Break, this is impossible to say the least. Plus I already blew a ton of money on Coachella tickets. Miami would be at least 1K in trans/tickets/food/hotel etc... Maybe in the future years! *dream*
Our good friend Nick Bracegirdle is finally making another album. I havn't been so hot about his last single that he put out, but I am excited for a new album. Nick dumped Universal records (thank-goodness), and is now back w/ Modena. Maybe this means he will come over to the US, and tour a bit during the summer?
The album release is scheduled for "summer 2007", so that will mean that promo's get sent out (I'm guessing...) about May-ish. My dream would be that Chicane would do a live PA, around sunset time, to close Sunday Night at Coachella. Wow, that would be amazing. I hope that Nick will go back to the style of his older more baelericy ibiza-y stuff like that which was released on "Far from the Maddening Crowds" por favor ;) I still get goosebumps from the 2000 Palladium Set (LEGENDARY, if you need it msg me). What would be smart is if he did a North America Tour, so we could all pay him homage at a concernt ne?
"When it rains it poors", so unbelievably true. All my midterms scheduled on Friday, and then procrastinated my ISYS till tomorrow. My teachers all seek my ultimate demise. Tnite is gunna be a late night/early morning
Christopher Lawrence is however in SLC? Hah! Occasionally Salt Lake does get a few good DJ's in town. Saw CL in Cali over the summer and he really pounded some hard trance tunes with the occasional epic track in his set. I am looking forward to a good time on Saturday (if I don't pass out after my test...) Wish my ear plugs would get here in time for this... det kommer att vara skit coolt!
It's at "in the venue", not so stoked about the venue... we'll see.
This week--before I post my Japanese spiel--I wanted to dedicate this post to one of my favorite producers. Every song I have heard from this guy has been a very enjoyable listening experience. Most hip-hop these days is anything BUT 'moving music'. It's moving in a sense that, yes, it will probably get a club moving, but the content provided by the lyrics is anything but moving.
The man behind the name is せばじゅん (Jun Seba), and so he played around with his name to get Nujabes. He is from Tokyo, and is the most refressing producer I have heard this year. Although most of his stuff has been around for a while (i.e. pre-2005), I didn't really get into his music until I heard the Samurai Champloo OST's. He has a bit of a jazzy flavor to his music, and often lays his hip hop beats under some light piano, flute, acoustic guitar, and other various instruments. For his lyrics he seems to get some pretty good rappers, most of em' I've never heard of, but regardless they still are top-notch. The product of that is some of the best most enjoyable beats that I've ever heard.
As if the pre-war intel couldn't get anymore ridiculous...
Let's review some of the key players: Lewis "Scooter" Libby: former Chief of Staff to the VP, is in on-trial for cooking the intel on pre-war Iraqi nuclear threat.
Douglas Feith: this neoconservative was in charge of the "Office of Special Plans"--a right wing intelligence gathering agency--leading up to the war in 2003.
Ahmad Chalabi: the once hailed "George Washington of Iraq" by neo-cons, that was part of the three-man group that formed the Iraqi National Congress (INC), a group that was trying to get Saddam ousted.
Here is the main problem: The information channels that have long been established were circumvented because they didn't suite the desired taste. Here the US has several agents in the field, producing information that went against INC reports. Instead of relying heavily on CIA intelligence, we were second guessing them by establishing things like the Office of Special Plans.
What were they doing? They were authorizing 'back-channel' talks, and intelligence shopping with shady characters like Manucher Ghorbanifar (Iran-Contra scandal), and Ahmed Chalabi. Ahmed produced a lot of the info that was used to make the case against Saddam. Back in 2002, Robert Dreyfus from "The Nation" reported:
"Even as it prepares for war against Iraq, the Pentagon is already engaged on a second front: its war against the Central Intelligence Agency.," he wrote. "The Pentagon is bringing relentless pressure to bear on the agency to produce intelligence reports more supportive of war with Iraq. ... Morale inside the U.S. national-security apparatus is said to be low, with career staffers feeling intimidated and pressured to justify the push for war." Much of the pro-war faction's information came from INC, even though "most Iraq hands with long experience in dealing with that country's tumultuous politics consider the INC's intelligence-gathering abilities to be nearly nil. ... The Pentagon's critics are appalled that intelligence provided by the INC might shape U.S. decisions about going to war against Baghdad. At the CIA and at the State Department, Ahmed Chalabi, the INC's leader, is viewed as the ineffectual head of a self-inflated and corrupt organization skilled at lobbying and public relations, but not much else."
Now recently we have Douglas Feith under fire because today the information Feith presented to the Whitehouse--supposedly 'credible'--that showed a relationship between terrorists and Al Queda. This was shot down today by Mr. Gimble (Inspector General for DoD). He said that Feith's actions were sometimes "inappropriate" because they "did not clearly show the variance with the consensus of the intelligence community... [they] did not provide 'the most accurate analysis of intelligence' to senior decision-makers..."
It seems to me more and more that the intel that supposedly justifies us going into Iraq, becomes less and less credible as time goes on. Relying on biased information, and trying to bias the credible information is not grounds for war.
Well, in the next few days I thought I would post my essay I wrote in Japanese. I am quite proud of how it turned out. For all those Nihonzin: 間違ったら、ちょっと電子メールしを私に出してくださいませんか？
“You can’t put an economic chokehold on this emerging force of democracy... There has to be a business model that allows creative Webcasters to thrive and the existing rule removes all the oxygen from this space.”
