About two years ago, my mother -- who was a young woman during the Vietnam War -- asked me why there was so little protest music today. I told her that the music business has a longer gestation period than it used to, and that songs against the war and talking about social issues were probably on the way.
Well, here we are at the end of 2006, coming up on three years into the Iraq occupation that has no name, and I still don't know where the protest songs are. I know they're out there, but I know they're never going to be on the radio. When I want to get riled up about the War in Iraq and the political mess we're in, I listen to Dylan's Masters of War and It's a Hard Rain Gonna Fall -- great songs, but they're forty fucking years old.
American Idiot just doesn't count. Great album, calls the president a gasbag, references september 11th, but it's a concept album, a punk rock opera, and it works more as a commentary on American culture that actually addressing social or political protest.
So where are the songs that feel how you feel? Where are the songs that are getting into the iPods and ears of people who don't consider themselves "all that political" and have to reconsider when they listen? Where are the songs with anger and intelligence and soul over the state of our world today?
Well, I've got two.
I got Tom Waits' Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards for Christmas, fainted, then got up and started playing it. Road to Peace is a seven-plus minute clear-headed indictment of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with no fuzzy metaphors and an almost pedantic, repetitve tune that doesn't allow you to wander off from the intent of the song. Listen to it now:
Road to Peace can be heard here on Tom Waits' myspace page.
Road to Peace lyrics are here
A few weeks ago I got turned on to Barenaked Ladies Fun and Games, which, for a group who tends to sing about chimpanzees and bank robberies foiled by nuns, is all the more a vicious and beautifully shocking "Fuck you" to the Bush administration and anyone within a hundred feet of it. We saw them perform it live at Radio City and the audience was silent through the entire thing, then roared with applause.
YouTube video of Fun and Games can be seen here
Anyone else?
As a short aside, I have to say when I heard Beyonce's "Ring the Alarm" a few weeks ago with that blaring horn in the background and Rage Against the Machine-style bullhorn vocal distortion, it was killing me that here was this great song that sounded like a war and she wasn't saying anything. Can you imagine what Beyonce alone could do for pop culture if she had an opinion about anything other than her man or her ass?
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
A really fucking oppressive tree. I' m sure after this hipsters will start wearing t-shirts with Castro and Chavez stenciled on to them for $40 a pop, because there's nothing like communism without context. While you're at it, pick up a onesie for my kid. I wonder if Castro will somehow come across as loveable in a get-out-of-my-yard, you-punks kind of a way, with subtitles. I can't wait.
In other news, Angelina Jolie recently discussed papparazzi (my God, I've seen names for obscure cured Italian meats that were easier to spell than that word) photographing her kids in an interview. I think the answer to this is similar to the call to send the kids of Republican lawmakers to Iraq under a draft -- with, admittedly, like one one-millionth of the urgency.
Proposed solution: Get the editors' names at the Star, US Weekly, etc and find out where their kids go to school, soccer practice and so on. Do this for the papparazzi (and ask them to send me a damn dictionary) while you're at it. Hire unknown photographers to photograph thse kids every waking step of their lives for a year. See how long their parents can tolerate it.
Within a few months, problem solved, fake news story (how pappa--ahh! are ruining the ethics of the country) off our radar and we can get back to shipping Muffy Tipperton off to ground ops.
More on Castro
and in case you didn't get the title of this post (with added bonus on how much Ms. Wawa loves Castro)
In other news, Angelina Jolie recently discussed papparazzi (my God, I've seen names for obscure cured Italian meats that were easier to spell than that word) photographing her kids in an interview. I think the answer to this is similar to the call to send the kids of Republican lawmakers to Iraq under a draft -- with, admittedly, like one one-millionth of the urgency.
Proposed solution: Get the editors' names at the Star, US Weekly, etc and find out where their kids go to school, soccer practice and so on. Do this for the papparazzi (and ask them to send me a damn dictionary) while you're at it. Hire unknown photographers to photograph thse kids every waking step of their lives for a year. See how long their parents can tolerate it.
Within a few months, problem solved, fake news story (how pappa--ahh! are ruining the ethics of the country) off our radar and we can get back to shipping Muffy Tipperton off to ground ops.
More on Castro
and in case you didn't get the title of this post (with added bonus on how much Ms. Wawa loves Castro)
Monday, December 18, 2006
We put the Corp in News Corp
Admittedly, this is a lazy post, due to infrastructure issues at SCTS headquarters (i.e. our pipes burst). So I'm going with the first thing I saw on Media Bistro this morning, the report of Judith Miller getting canned for poor judgement. Uh, no, not for publishing a book about OJ Simpson murdering his wife and friend written in an entirely new verb tense called "what if". It seems poor judgement applies only to third party hearsay about ethnic slurs.
From the NYT (I told you, lazy):
<Rupert Murdoch personally ordered the dismissal of Judith Regan, the publisher of a widely criticized O. J. Simpson book, after he heard reports of a heated conversation Ms. Regan had with a company lawyer on Friday that included comments that were deemed anti-Semitic, according to two people familiar with the News Corporation’s account of the firing.
Mark Jackson, a lawyer with HarperCollins, a division of the News Corporation that includes Ms. Regan’s imprint, reported the alleged comments from a phone conversation with Ms. Regan to Jane Friedman, HarperCollins’s president and chief executive.
“And then Jane called Rupert and Rupert said he won’t tolerate that kind of behavior,” said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.>
Here's a brief list of the behavior Rupert Murdoch will tolerate, to be updated when the infrastructure stops falling down. Please add anything you can think of:
Tony Blair
FOX News
Payola
Censorship
From the NYT (I told you, lazy):
<Rupert Murdoch personally ordered the dismissal of Judith Regan, the publisher of a widely criticized O. J. Simpson book, after he heard reports of a heated conversation Ms. Regan had with a company lawyer on Friday that included comments that were deemed anti-Semitic, according to two people familiar with the News Corporation’s account of the firing.
Mark Jackson, a lawyer with HarperCollins, a division of the News Corporation that includes Ms. Regan’s imprint, reported the alleged comments from a phone conversation with Ms. Regan to Jane Friedman, HarperCollins’s president and chief executive.
“And then Jane called Rupert and Rupert said he won’t tolerate that kind of behavior,” said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Here's a brief list of the behavior Rupert Murdoch will tolerate, to be updated when the infrastructure stops falling down. Please add anything you can think of:
Tony Blair
FOX News
Payola
Censorship
Friday, December 15, 2006
Math is hard, let's go shopping
The above is a quote from a voice-chipped Barbie that came out on the market years and years ago, prompting a group calling itself the Barbie Liberation Organization to switch those voice chips into GI Joes. This is also a favorite joke with my best friend, who made the switch from studying fluffy pretty words, like me, to becoming a statistician.
The US Census Bureau put out its 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States today. The abstract says, among thousands of other things, that adults and teens will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices. If you'd like to take all five of those months off, you might be able to get through the report in its entirety. Of course, that's not the intention but there's something perversely enticing about the idea.
For someone like me for whom the above title bears a grain of truth, you might do better checking out the press release. There's a surprisingly nice sense of humor as a gift to those of us who begin blacking out at the sight of so many numbers in so little context, such as "Pet owners walked an average of 1.6 dogs in 36 percent of U.S. households in 2001, while people were tolerated by an average of 2.1 cats in 32 percent of homes. (Table 1227) ". Also, apparently the US endangers more crustaceans than anyone else in the world.
I'm hoping to slowly wend my way through this thing and will post on it as is possible and relevant. If my statistician is out there, I'd love your two cents in the comments.
And from the world of statistical improbability, Tony Snow apologized to an NBC news reporter for calling his question about the Iraq Study Group "partisan". I'm impressed and just ever so slightly turned on.
The US Census Bureau put out its 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States today. The abstract says, among thousands of other things, that adults and teens will spend nearly five months (3,518 hours) next year watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to personal music devices. If you'd like to take all five of those months off, you might be able to get through the report in its entirety. Of course, that's not the intention but there's something perversely enticing about the idea.
For someone like me for whom the above title bears a grain of truth, you might do better checking out the press release. There's a surprisingly nice sense of humor as a gift to those of us who begin blacking out at the sight of so many numbers in so little context, such as "Pet owners walked an average of 1.6 dogs in 36 percent of U.S. households in 2001, while people were tolerated by an average of 2.1 cats in 32 percent of homes. (Table 1227) ". Also, apparently the US endangers more crustaceans than anyone else in the world.
I'm hoping to slowly wend my way through this thing and will post on it as is possible and relevant. If my statistician is out there, I'd love your two cents in the comments.
And from the world of statistical improbability, Tony Snow apologized to an NBC news reporter for calling his question about the Iraq Study Group "partisan". I'm impressed and just ever so slightly turned on.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Dead White Girls -- Across the Pond Edition
Today's major difference between the US and the UK in terms of reporting on murdered prostitues:
The UK cares about their dead prostitutes so long as there is a connection to Britian's proud whore-murdering history
The US does as long as a foot fetishist is involved
The US story-- of street prostitutes of various races murdered weeks and weeks ago, some of who were not reported missing at the time they were found-- will probably make international news now that a kink angle is in the mix as of today. Prior to this, the US story was buried in the TRAVEL SECTION of the NY Times, I guess because the main problem here is it could affect someone's itinerary.
At least the Atlantic City police sounded genuinely upset in previous articles. Nobody else seems to be. Maybe me.
As an aside, check out how the Times' readers get their panties in a knot over the correct use of "Ripper" versus "Strangler"in the comments section of the first story. Their main concern here is getting out their copyediting ya-yas. I'd love to see someone try that with Nicholas Kristoff; he'd probably have them kidnapped and airmailed to Darfur to see what they should really be getting upset about. I love the Times, but sometimes the readership baffles me. On the day after elections, the most read and emailed story on the site was about how to bake bread that doesn't require kneading. Because that's going to change the course of history.
The UK cares about their dead prostitutes so long as there is a connection to Britian's proud whore-murdering history
The US does as long as a foot fetishist is involved
The US story-- of street prostitutes of various races murdered weeks and weeks ago, some of who were not reported missing at the time they were found-- will probably make international news now that a kink angle is in the mix as of today. Prior to this, the US story was buried in the TRAVEL SECTION of the NY Times, I guess because the main problem here is it could affect someone's itinerary.
At least the Atlantic City police sounded genuinely upset in previous articles. Nobody else seems to be. Maybe me.
As an aside, check out how the Times' readers get their panties in a knot over the correct use of "Ripper" versus "Strangler"in the comments section of the first story. Their main concern here is getting out their copyediting ya-yas. I'd love to see someone try that with Nicholas Kristoff; he'd probably have them kidnapped and airmailed to Darfur to see what they should really be getting upset about. I love the Times, but sometimes the readership baffles me. On the day after elections, the most read and emailed story on the site was about how to bake bread that doesn't require kneading. Because that's going to change the course of history.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
In Other News From The Wild, Wacky World of Guns
Since the last post is basically a couple of "guns are for kooks" stories I thought I'd give the NRA a fair shake and post what is listed on their site as their top news story. If you want the fabulous framing photo of hot babes with rifles, fathers and sons bonding after having just executed a deer, and, of course, the White House, go to the link for the full media experience.
For the record, I have no problem with a law-abiding gun user keeping a gun in their house for protection, hunting, or blowing innocent soda cans off a fence as long as it's not my fence. The gun users I have a problem with are the millions who are NOT in the NRA, and that is who the majority of legislation is aimed at. I'd like to read more about how the NRA is going to help cut down on criminal misuse of the Second Amendment -- I'm sure no one is standing up and testifying for muggers', drug runners' and bank robbers' right to bear arms. Are they? And if so that couldn't possibly be because that's who gun dealers are actually selling to, could it? Nah.
As a crazy liberal, that's actually all I'm asking for, no bullets through my window or through my friends. I'll be looking that up soon.
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=2482
ELECTION 2006 RE-CAP
Thursday, November 09, 2006
On November 7, 2006, the American electorate took out its frustration and anger on the Republican Party and turned over control of Congress, not to mention governors’ mansions and majorities in several state legislatures, to the Democrats. Importantly, however, on a day that saw voters expressing dissatisfaction over conduct of the war, over political corruption and over competency to govern, Americans cast their votes for record numbers of pro-gun candidates, both Democrat and Republican.
Many of the newly elected office holders pledged their support of the Second Amendment while on the campaign trail. They got elected when voters took them at their word. Those same voters, which certainly include first and foremost NRA members, will be closely watching them to make sure they walk the walk as well as talk the talk. NRA will make sure opportunities for tests of true intentions are not long in coming.
Change in Washington, D.C., will be very real. Extreme opponents of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms have been elevated to seats of power, especially in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker and John Conyers is set to take over the powerful Judiciary Committee. Anti-gunners will also assume the chairs of important sub-committees. The power shift is balanced in part by the fact that Second Amendment champion, and former NRA Board Member John Dingell, the longest serving member in the House, is set to regain the reins of the Energy and Commerce Committee and will be a powerful voice for gun owners rights among his colleagues. Pro-gun Democrats will also chair some very relevant committees and sub-committees.
There will be battles ahead, and, with the 2008 elections on the ever-nearing horizon, NRA members and their fellow gun owners must remain ever vigilant. We must let our representatives, both Democrat and Republican, know one thing: we expect our Second Amendment rights to be respected.
Again, thank you for all you have done this election year, and all you will continue to do in the future.
For the record, I have no problem with a law-abiding gun user keeping a gun in their house for protection, hunting, or blowing innocent soda cans off a fence as long as it's not my fence. The gun users I have a problem with are the millions who are NOT in the NRA, and that is who the majority of legislation is aimed at. I'd like to read more about how the NRA is going to help cut down on criminal misuse of the Second Amendment -- I'm sure no one is standing up and testifying for muggers', drug runners' and bank robbers' right to bear arms. Are they? And if so that couldn't possibly be because that's who gun dealers are actually selling to, could it? Nah.
As a crazy liberal, that's actually all I'm asking for, no bullets through my window or through my friends. I'll be looking that up soon.
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=2482
ELECTION 2006 RE-CAP
Thursday, November 09, 2006
On November 7, 2006, the American electorate took out its frustration and anger on the Republican Party and turned over control of Congress, not to mention governors’ mansions and majorities in several state legislatures, to the Democrats. Importantly, however, on a day that saw voters expressing dissatisfaction over conduct of the war, over political corruption and over competency to govern, Americans cast their votes for record numbers of pro-gun candidates, both Democrat and Republican.
Many of the newly elected office holders pledged their support of the Second Amendment while on the campaign trail. They got elected when voters took them at their word. Those same voters, which certainly include first and foremost NRA members, will be closely watching them to make sure they walk the walk as well as talk the talk. NRA will make sure opportunities for tests of true intentions are not long in coming.
Change in Washington, D.C., will be very real. Extreme opponents of our Right to Keep and Bear Arms have been elevated to seats of power, especially in the House of Representatives, where Nancy Pelosi will become Speaker and John Conyers is set to take over the powerful Judiciary Committee. Anti-gunners will also assume the chairs of important sub-committees. The power shift is balanced in part by the fact that Second Amendment champion, and former NRA Board Member John Dingell, the longest serving member in the House, is set to regain the reins of the Energy and Commerce Committee and will be a powerful voice for gun owners rights among his colleagues. Pro-gun Democrats will also chair some very relevant committees and sub-committees.
There will be battles ahead, and, with the 2008 elections on the ever-nearing horizon, NRA members and their fellow gun owners must remain ever vigilant. We must let our representatives, both Democrat and Republican, know one thing: we expect our Second Amendment rights to be respected.
Again, thank you for all you have done this election year, and all you will continue to do in the future.
Score Two for Texas
With apologies to my dear friends in Austin. I know, I know, the red states have blue veins but they also have an awful lot of bright, bloody red.
From today's Reuters:
Lawmaker Aims To Allow the Blind to Hunt http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T154047Z_01_N11175774_RTRUKOC_0_US-BLIND-HUNTERS.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough
Real Estate Agent Gives Guns to Homebuyers http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T135303Z_01_N11282317_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-GUN.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough
Thanks to Drew for the tip!
From today's Reuters:
Lawmaker Aims To Allow the Blind to Hunt http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T154047Z_01_N11175774_RTRUKOC_0_US-BLIND-HUNTERS.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough
Real Estate Agent Gives Guns to Homebuyers http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=&storyid=2006-12-12T135303Z_01_N11282317_RTRUKOC_0_US-LIFE-GUN.xml&src=nl_usoddlyenough
Thanks to Drew for the tip!
Dude, I really have to get back to work, but --
Every blogger in the world should sign up for this, and speak up in this p.r. educational session for how to deal with the baffling scary blogsphere. One of the speakers actually has "Kryptonite" in their job title, which is sort of meta-genius and also just a bit funny.
From the Bulldog Reporter:
<
What to do when a blogger sandbags your company, news or CEO? What’s the smartest — and most fruitful — way to build long-term relationships with bloggers in your space now . . . before crisis strikes? Join Bulldog Reporter’s PR University for an exclusive panel of blog-savvy crisis communicators to learn the answers to these and many more critical questions designed to demystify the blogosphere — and to give you the proven step-by-step tools, tactics and techniques you need to respond to online rumors and detractors so you can protect and promote your brand online with greater confidence and success. >>
http://www.bulldogreporter.com/conferences/crisisonline-reg.html?s=crisisonline-email
From the Bulldog Reporter:
<
What to do when a blogger sandbags your company, news or CEO? What’s the smartest — and most fruitful — way to build long-term relationships with bloggers in your space now . . . before crisis strikes? Join Bulldog Reporter’s PR University for an exclusive panel of blog-savvy crisis communicators to learn the answers to these and many more critical questions designed to demystify the blogosphere — and to give you the proven step-by-step tools, tactics and techniques you need to respond to online rumors and detractors so you can protect and promote your brand online with greater confidence and success. >>
http://www.bulldogreporter.com/conferences/crisisonline-reg.html?s=crisisonline-email
The Great Myanmar Debate
From today's Onion.
As an aside, I'd rather see a baked potato named man of the year than the guys who invented YouTube, who didn't invent YouTube this year but sold it to Google for more money than they deserved, setting off a frenzy of bullshit Web 2.0 companies in the tech sector. I'm all for Web 2.0, but I'm not for a tulip fiasco. Anyhoo--
What's actually up with Than Shwe http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Than_Shwe&oldid=93916121
As an aside, I'd rather see a baked potato named man of the year than the guys who invented YouTube, who didn't invent YouTube this year but sold it to Google for more money than they deserved, setting off a frenzy of bullshit Web 2.0 companies in the tech sector. I'm all for Web 2.0, but I'm not for a tulip fiasco. Anyhoo--
What's actually up with Than Shwe http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Than_Shwe&oldid=93916121
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