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i just started a new set on flickr about albums or singles i like. i called it music klub. last night i just listened to a bunch of 7″, including the poky little puppy which was my theme song as a child.
heino ohne brille?
ok, so jeff is probably the only person who will be stoked on this, but here’s a video of heino before he adopted the glasses. it’s freaky!
this was me going insane at 6:30 tonight after being up for 14 hours and running on nothing but adrenaline. i was in the bubble of my precinct all day, so i didn’t really see what was going on. as soon as i announced the polls to be closed at 8pm, the janitors at the school started shouting “OBAMA!” they carried on intermittently for the next hour until i dropped off our ballots. it was weird.
i’m mostly bummed about prop 8. if i know you were opposed to prop 8, expect incoherent phone calls from me soon to complain about how you hate humans. seriously. i’m happy that bush is gone and that palin can’t ruin my uterus, but i really think that human rights took a hit tonight and it makes me want to hit people.
i need water and sleep. i’ll blog about my day at the polls tomorrow.
robojoe, aka dr j, and i carved these pumpkins for halloween. yes, the two small ones are for a & p. i wanted to put them inside the pumpkins, but that would be messy and they would need a bath and probably freak.
i’ve been too busy with other things - like school, work, and going to conferences. see that? that’s me at internet librarian 2008 making a fool of myself with the outgoing president of SLA, stephen abram. despite trying to be more professional, such as getting more involved with SLA, i still can’t stop dancing like an idiot.
come dancing
when i was a little kid, i was obsessed with the kinks’ video for “come dancing”. it’s not one of their best songs, but when i was 4 it would make me dance like a freak. it still sort of does.
another song that i can’t help but dance to is style council’s “a solid bond in your heart”.
the video reminds me of absolute beginners, a bit. i need more dresses.
this brings me to my youtube discovery of the night. i don’t know how i ended up looking for it, but i finally found a good live video of my favourite song from the jam- “running on spot.”
i feel guilty that that’s my favourite jam song, since it’s off their last album, but there it is.
this past weekend robojoe and i went on a mini holiday to lassen volcanic national park. i hadn’t been there in 20 years. we hiked to the top and i didn’t die. i did trip on the way down, slide a few feet, bang up my knee, scrape my hand and arm, and rip off the tip of my finger though.
this is my african violet that finally bloomed. i bought it years ago and all the flowers fell off and the thing seemed to be dead. it was always varying shades of green, but never flowered. some how, i got it to bloom last week. i feel victorious.
see… my mom has a knack to make things grow. she’d always buy near dead african violets from the grocery store and bring them back to life. now it seems i can, too. (though i am also responsible for nearly killing it.)
i just hope the thing doesn’t die again.
i am boring.
something just dawned on me tonight as i worked on a group project- i’m a boring person. to that end, it makes sense that i always identified with michael palin’s characters- he likes boring people. proof: eric othwaite.
china, the ioc, the olympics, and the world- a total farce.
“think of the athletes.” people keep telling me this when i tell them i don’t plan on watching the olympics- somewhat out of apathy for most of the sports, but largely out of protest.
“it’s not fair for the athletes. they have nothing to do with politics.” this ignores the obvious question- who wants to be an olympic athlete and what good is that for the world? (especially if they’re the sort that keep quiet, train, and rake in the bucks through endorsements. for them, the olympics are about money.) it’s not to say that i don’t think people should train to be olympians, but that alone doesn’t really make them heroic or noble. it’s not to say it’s their responsibility to take a stand, but it’d be nice.
it’s nice to see there are some stands being taken- the u.s. olympic team elected lopez lomong to carry the flag during opening the ceremony. lomong is one of the lost boys of sudan who became an american citizen last year. he is also a member of team darfur, which was founded by joey cheek and brad greiner. cheek made the news this week when china revoked his visa, no doubt because of his vocal criticism about china’s involvement with sudan. cheek was interviewed by the huffington post, encouraging the team darfur athletes who made it inside china. when asked about his feelings about his visa being revoked, cheek said:
They gave me a visa, let me have it for a month, and then, 24 hours before my flight, they yanked it from me. It was kind of ridiculous and petty. And it speaks to a broader problem. They’re so desperate to have the Games look like their version of a success that they would threaten anyone who says something they don’t like. This is the story in general. It’s not just about my visa. We’ve heard tales from other members of Team Darfur whose embassies have been approached by the Chinese. If they stay a part of the team, they’ll be treated as suspect individuals, scrutinized, receive extra security, be threatened with heavy handed tactics. And this is all over. It’s not just the Beijing officials, but the IOC [International Olympics Committee] and sponsors are being complicit in this. That’s something that needs to be responded to.
there’s a lot of money at stake for china, the IOC, the sponsors, and so on. they don’t want anything to spoil the party.
“but this is for the chinese people to be proud as a nation.” the whole, theme of china’s coming out into the modern era like it’s some sort of right. this argument does stick with me somewhat- because i know the average chinese citizen has every right to be proud that their nation is hosting the olympics, and that the world is looking at them in a somewhat positive light. the chinese government, however, has done nothing they promised and instead of truly modernising china to the benefit of its citizens, they have spent lots of money to put a nice shine on the event, though the infrastructure may be rotten. the birds nest stadium is stunning, but why didn’t they actually try to tackle the pollution problem earnestly, rather than performing some superficial changes weeks before the games which don’t solve anything, other than hurting beijing residents? the new subway system was a great start, but they could have really done some great things to tackle congestion but dropped the ball. (i’ve had to read a lot about china’s transportation issues in regards to the olympics, that’s a whole other monster.) when china was first awarded the olympics, they promised they would work to improve human rights issues. instead amnesty international reported that human rights have gotten worse as a result. the country has become more severe and paranoid, and the world let’s it behave as such.
it’s sad because normal spectators are unable to watch at the games, making it unlike any olympics in recent years. maybe it’s a sign that the ioc and china deserve each other for being so unconcerned with humanity. the chinese government, i would expect this from. the ioc is supposed to be better than that though.
of course all of this ignores what’s going on in south ossetia.
halbstark
when i can’t get kendrak as my handle on a website, i often use halbstark. i picked it up from reading about german youth movements in class. here’s a clip of the yankees playing their hit, “halbstark” on beat club. who knew it was on youtube?
years ago i tried to adopt halbstark as my dj name on kalx. nobody liked it. everybody thought i meant “half shark”, and they’d call in and tell me i should stick with kendra k. ugh. they won.
Gay marriage and my rights to a civil union
California Attorney General Jerry Brown created a good stir this week when he changed the wording of Proposition 8. Previously it “had been described as a measure to limit marriage between a man and a woman.” Now, it states “the initiative as a constitutional change to eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry.”
Prop. 8 backers are now going to sue over the change. Am I surprised? No. Am I annoyed? Deeply. I really want to see Prop. 8 fail. I applaud Brown for making the issue explicitly about civil rights- it’s not about protecting straight marriages, it’s about denying people the right to marry. Fundamentally that is wrong, and I would hate to see the state constitution explicitly diminish any groups civil rights. It also upsets me because it would retain a largely religious definition of marriage that isn’t entirely based on reason. Not exactly separation of church and state. So the will of the majority (and their beliefs) get to impinge on a minority. Fantastic. On the flip side, I know people who will claim their beliefs against gay marriage have nothing to do with religion, rather they’re “not natural” and ignore “procreation”. Hmm, so does that mean only people willing to have kids can be married? And what about gay couples who adopt or have a child? Really a marriage is just a contract between two people and society. This idea of a contract was central to women’s liberation in Victorian Britain, and it’s something that I think people can’t ignore. Why do gays want to be married? They want all the security provided through the marriage contract. How is that going to harm heterosexual marriage?
If there was a true state contract, removed from any cultural or religious values, allowing couples to enter a strictly civil union, then I would be for it. California has the Domestic Partnership law, which grants same sex couples and straight couples where one member is over the age of 62 a contract that allows them to most of the rights of marriage. What about straight couples where both members are under the age of 62? Oh, we can get married. What if we’re opposed to marriage because it’s definitions are bigoted and tied to religious beliefs? Then you’re screwed.
I’ve been entertaining the idea of a civil union for years now, and I can’t do it. Of course I’m too stubborn to cave in to the terrible definition of marriage we have today- I’d rather not compromise my values. (This might not be fair to my other half.) Will the world end because of this? No. Is it silly? Yes. I’m starting to feel that I might have to fight for my right to domestic partnership if Prop. 8 passes, because then I surely wouldn’t want to be married in the state of California.
500 starbucks to close? big deal.
it’s been amusing to me how many people are talking about the starbucks slated to be closed in this country. you’d think the sky was falling. i suppose it’s because starbucks brought a sense of quality to the masses, but seriously- i’d be surprised if there weren’t small, local coffee joints that are comparable (if not better) around. one of the starbucks on the list is my local one in berkeley, that i think i might have been to a couple of times. i can think of three other local coffee shops within two blocks of it, all of which i visit semi-regularly. i know in the bay area this is easy, but it’s sticking to some sort of principle. hell, i try to avoid peets because even though they are local, i can tell they have starbucks-like aspirations and their coffee’s just not that good.
for coffee, my favourite beans still come from boulevard coffee in carmichael. (95608!) my parents only drank boulevard coffee at home for good reason- it’s great. i know the roaster is obsessed with quality and freshness and it translates into what he sells. (i also worked there before going to berkeley.) when i buy boulevard coffee for people, they’re always surprised with how good it is. i know there are some other local roasters who care just as much, and they aren’t peets. blue bottle’s a little insane though.
the real thing bugging me about the starbucks people, is that these are the same folks who like shopping/eating locally. starbucks is anything but that. stop talking about sustainability and helping the local economy, and actually find the local roaster and support them. starbucks is really not that good.
sheffield wednesday have posted something on their website that got my eye today. they’re soliciting pictures of fans wearing wednesday kit in front of global landmarks to be printed in the program. unfortunately i don’t think they’d care about the campanile, but the golden gate bridge is close by.
with that.. i also will join wednesdayite so i can vote on the take over. huzzah!
charlie’s a biter
my friend j.t. sent me this youtube video. a- charlie’s a huge baby. b- what do you expect when you stick your finger in a baby’s mouth? c- charlie seems pretty happy with himself.
who really considers coldplay and travis to be britpop?
the reason i ask this question is because i got hooked on a couple of britpop documentaries on youtube this weekend. (the britpop story and 7 ages of rock: british indie music.) both mentioned that while oasis’ be here now pretty much signaled the end of the britpop movement, popularity of bands like travis and coldplay really signified the end. a- those two bands were entirely mainstream (not really “indie”), and b- they didn’t have much of the defiance and anger underlying most of britpop. i suppose there could be a c- they’re both as insipid as all hell. keane would also fit that bill.
i remember when i was in high school, and travis and coldplay were first hitting the states- i and my friends who liked britpop didn’t think much of those bands. other people, who weren’t really into music, took to them like a horse to water. it was good in some ways, to see people become excited about music, but on the other hand it’s a little sad when they go for something pretty dull. i never told my friend who went from only liking cheesy top 40 to becoming obsessed with travis and coldplay that she just jumped from one bore to another- i actually went to a travis show with her because nobody else wanted to go- but i kept hoping she’d jump into something deeper. that never happened. she’s happy though and i’m happy for her.
at kalx it would occasionally be annoying when somebody tried to call coldplay britpop, but there were enough people who actively cared about the genre that it wasn’t an issue. now the genre is dead and coldplay are the new u2 or radiohead.
this is all timely since coldplay’s new album came out last month. when i was in seattle i was upset that the experience music project weren’t selling any pacific northwest garage albums, though there was an exhibit about that scene, but they did have a whole wall devoted to viva la vida. last night i googled “who actually likes coldplay?” and found this piece, why i hate coldplay by andy gill which looks at why most everybody who doesn’t purchase coldplay’s albums loathe the band. the telegraph also looks at why critics largely hate coldplay despite public support. even msnbc asks that question.
i don’t really have the answer. i won’t even say i hate coldplay, rather i find them boring and don’t understand why people think they’re the second coming of anything. of course this is coming from somebody who works at a college radio station, grew up listening to punk garage, and never really got into mainstream music. (my love of rem at the age of 7 not withstanding.) i know i’m not the target audience and i know i’m not your average music fan, so i guess my not liking coldplay is expected. the reasons can be distilled to this:
the music is tediously derivative.
the songs all sound the same, and not in a billy childish/hasil adkins kind of way.
they’re totally the establishment.
chris martin’s an insufferable tit and so is his wife.
the rest of the band puts up with that tit and doesn’t tell him to shut up.
oh well.
wasting money
when i was teenager i desperately wanted a fred perry polo shirt, but i knew there was no way in hell my parents would fund that. as an adult i buy them, not too often, as work clothing. there are only two clothing labels i’m really a sucker for- fred perry and ben sherman- and my work clothes show it. (actually, you can add american apparel in there as well since it’s plainer than dirt.)
i’ve been looking for this claret and blue and white tipped fred prerry for quite some time. it seemed as soon as i started looking for it, you couldn’t buy one in my size anywhere. well, i found it in my size and i’m going to get it. will anybody else appreciate my style? no, though i have had a couple of patrons compliment me on my shirts before.
see, i’m trying to be somewhat stylish and mod. maybe, when i’m really a real librarian i’ll start wearing the skirts and such and put everybody else to shame.
