for what its worth...

I'm doubtful, that of the maybe 5 people i've talked to about music in the last year, any of them would be surprised by my favorite two records of the past decade. What Wilco and Radiohead achieved in the early part of the 2000's seems insignificant now, but at the time the internet was still nascent. By the time the music industry had time to catch up, it was nearly half a decade later.


I recently told someone that the Bush years had been the grimmest presidency since i was born (granted that is not a long time). The events of 9/11 brought the grim revelations of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to life. That raw emotion wound up ingraining itself in my memory instead of the increasingly insipid back story to the record. Pitchfork's (I hate to do it), Joshua Klein puts it best:

"The real story was the resonance of elliptical songs like "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart", "Ashes of American Flags", and "Jesus, Etc.", which often reduced crowds to hushed silence once 9/11 attached a real world frame to Tweedy's cryptic lyrics."

Radiohead changed the game by being the first band to fully utilize the internet and connect with fans in a way never seen before. Like Yankee Hotel Foxtrox, Kid A sought to navigate a technological age that for the better or worse is now how we now live. In this way, Kid A was a much more hopeful record than OK Computer, and still maintains all the emotionally affective qualities of its predecessor. Pitchfork's (i know twice now) Mark Richardson is again spot on:

"Thoughts about millennial techno-dread; fragmentation, broken transmissions, garbled communication; the feeling of helplessness that comes from having access to so much information about the world while not having the power to change any of it; the subtle and dramatic ways that electronics are altering our landscape and our consciousness. And there's still something there, though in some ways it's all now more intense. Part of our brains moved online in the last 10 years, and this will continue; it's not a good or bad thing; it's just the way it is. Refracting these developments through the prism of Kid A, it still resonates, even if so much has changed since. Radiohead were not only among the first bands to figure out how to use the Internet, but to make their music sound like it, and they kicked off this ridiculously retro decade with the rare album that didn't seem retro. Kid A-- with its gorgeously crafted electronics, sparkling production, and uneasy stance toward the technology it embraces completely-- feels like the Big Album of the online age."

a word about public education and adequate funding

"you would be much better served by a professor teaching this class then by a guy who doesn't even have his phd yet."

-this from a teaching assistant who was basically forced to teach a lecture today as a result of a huge number of faculty taking furlough days on the same day. this ta wasn't really forced but he 'manned up', as they say, to show up and provide me with the class time that i paid for. i'm lucky the professor at least acknowledged this fact and did not go as far as canceling class. (the faculty are required to take a certain amount of furlough days due to inadequate funding by our state as a result of a deep budget crisis.)

...enrage/d_

whoa...that's a tight jam

tv at its finest

thought i'd something more to say...

In virtue of being alive for the last couple of years, I'm sure you're well informed that most states are suffering serious budget crisis's. Illinois, no stranger to averse political situations, is currently one of those states. The crisis's ramifications on the funding of Illinois' public universities are beginning to gain long overdue attention. In just one absurd case, the state owes the University of Illinois somewhere near 400 million dollars. That is just one case (really, I'm not saying that just because I'm affected by that funding).

I'm not even sure where to start on this one, so i wont, but it's an awful mess. I can say with confidence that I am definitely not looking forward to the the tuition hikes come fall. If anything this is a sure sign (although not a surprising one) that we need serious reform of public education, not just in Chicago or other poor areas.

At least my only reconciliation (GOOD ONE) is that the public option is gaining momentum in the Senate again. If this state has one thing going for it, it is that both of its senators will support the the public option if it is included in the reconciliation process.

the malice of populism

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/opinion/26brooks.html

an interesting op-ed from conservative thinker David Brooks

I particularly liked this bit towards the end:

"The populists have an Us versus Them mentality. If they continue their random attacks on enterprise and capital, they will only increase the pervasive feeling of uncertainty, which is now the single biggest factor in holding back investment, job creation and growth. They will end up discrediting good policies (the Obama bank reforms are quite sensible) because they will persuade the country that the government is in the hands of reckless Huey Longs."

All of this seems fairly pertinent on the eve of the Texas gubernatorial primary. The third candidate on the Republican ticket is a proud member of the Tea Party. Yet Mr. Brooks appears to be right, current polls confirm the historical trend of another populist defeat.

not that anyone cares.....

but I came across an excellent article by Bill McKibben at The Nation about the current debate over climate change.

LinK: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100315/mckibben

A few tidbits from Mr. McKibben's article that I found interesting:

"For a gifted political operative like, say, Marc Morano, who runs the Climate Depot website, the massive snowfalls this winter became the grist for a hundred posts poking fun at the very idea that anyone could still possibly believe in, you know, physics. Morano, who really is good, posted a link to a live webcam so readers could watch snow coming down; his former boss, Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, had his grandchildren build an igloo on the Capitol grounds, with a sign that read: "Al Gore's New Home." These are the things that stick in people's heads. If the winter glove won't fit, you must acquit. "

I immediately began thinking, 'gee that sounds like something fox news would do'. Knowing that i rarely have an original idea, it was no shock that Mr. McKibben proceeded to mention how he thought that Fox had astutely capitalized on this story for further gains. The complete adherence to the particular view of this 'news organization' by one political faction of this country is not only utter absurdity, but also the reason why I often find myself compelled by the 'reporting' of the Fox News organization.

"Worried that someone is going to wreck your future? You're right about that, too. Right now, China is gearing up to dominate the green energy market. They're making the investments that mean future windmills and solar panels, even ones installed in this country, will be likely to arrive from factories in Chenzhou, not Chicago. "

This is a fear that I think is not only legitimate, but also one I share with the author for several reasons. Chief among them being the fact that by the time America catches up in policy, China, like the delivery guy in those Jimmy John's commercials, will be at your doorstep. (So much for that so called American ingenuity! Perhaps that is why Japanese auto manufacturers have dominated the auto industry...oh people want cheap economical cars that will help them save at the gas pump? Good thing it only took 10 years and a major safety recall to take them down a few notches. However I will save those thoughts for another time.)

Take what you will from Mr. McKibben's article, but it is fairly clear that his article is not merely about climate change or the science that legitimately backs it up. Rather it's focus lies with the way the public debate over climate change has been purposefully slowed, and in some cases manipulated, so as to ruin any chance at saving the planet and achieving the impending economic benefit that implementing said policies will likely have.

Bill McKibben is an environmental activist and the author of The End of Nature. He is responsible for starting the nationwide grassroots environmental campaign 350.org and its predecessor Step It Up. Mr. McKibben is currently a scholar at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.