Depthfunction's Blog

Erase - Rewind

2007-12-28T17:11:00.000-06:00

You know, it was only a couple years ago that I was barely able to come up with ten bands for my end-of-the-year review. This year, I took full advantage of my eMusic subscription and used up all forty downloads every month. Thus I introduced myself to an enormous amount of new music. By my estimate, I downloaded at least an album's worth of material from no less than THIRTY-FIVE different artists this year alone. That is an extraordinary amount of music. In fact, I don't think I ever bought that music in a year before—not even during my teenage and college years when I bought new and used CDs left and right. I can't imagine that I'll be able to top that amount next year, but who knows?

Of course, not everything that I downloaded clicked with me; a lot of downloads ended up in the recycle bin. But I liked most of it, and because I have such a long list this time, I've decided to narrow it down to only the top twelve artists/albums of the year. Once again, my list reflects my obsession with power pop and my near-obsession with post-rock.

Artist: Kristin Hersh
Song: “Winter”

Kristin Hersh's latest album, How To Sing Like a Star might have been my very first music purchase of the new year. All I know for sure is that I remember driving to and from work through the snowy and icy freeways of Missouri in January with Hersh's new album playing in my car. Kristin Hersh is one of the handful of artists whom I always make sure to support monetarily, even though she gives a lot of her music away for free. As long as she keeps recording music, I'll keep buying it.

Artist: Cinnamon
Song: “I Used to be Your Loneliness”

This band has been a bit of mystery to me. From what I've been able to gather, they released two full-length albums back in the late 90s and that was it. I also think they're Swedish. It's hard to know for sure because apparently “Cinnamon” is a popular name for bands. There have been at least three different bands, from different parts of the world, with this name in the last ten years, and none of them have had much success. (They're so obscure that I can't even find a mp3 preview track for my favorite song.) But whoever they are and wherever they're from, I really like their music a lot. They have kind of an early 70s Euro-pop sound—a sound that would spring up again and again in my music choices throughout the year.

Artist: Manda and the Marbles
Song: “Confidential”

And speaking of “retro”, Manda and the Marbles are straight out of the early 1980s. Their style of punk-pop sounds like they should be opening for the Buzzcocks or the Go-Go's. Their latest album was released a couple years ago, so I don't know if they still exist as a band, but I hope they do. This music is certainly a niche-market, but I like it and they do it very well. When I listen to their music I actually feel nostalgic for the 1980s which is crazy since this band is younger than I am.

Artist: The Minders
Song: “Jenny”

In the spring, I was all over the Elephant 6 Collective. I was already a fan of the Apples in Stereo, but last spring I started to listen to some of the other bands that make up the collective. In particular, I really enjoyed the Minders. They're a Beatles-influenced power pop trio that just makes strong, catchy pop songs. Once I discovered this band, some time in March, their music was about all I was listening to for about a month.

Artist: Arcade Fire
Song: “Intervention”

The Arcade Fire's second album, Neon Bible, is probably my pick for best album of the year. No sophomore slump for this band. Win Butler has been tagged the new Bruce Springsteen, and I have to say, that was the very first thing that I thought when I first listened to this album. It's interesting because I didn't get the Springsteen vibe at all on their first album (more Meatloaf than Springsteen, I thought), but here, on songs like “Intervention” or “The Well and the Lighthouse” the resemblance is just uncanny.

Artist: Low
Song: “Dragonfly”

Low's new album, Drums and Guns, was one of the new albums that I was really looking forward to this year. Their previous album, The Great Destroyer, was a little too commerical for my tastes. There are a million indie rock acts out there; Low doesn't need to imitate them. With their new album, Low took a step back towards their lo-fi roots, which is where they belong. They've always done their own thing, and while that hasn't led to great commercial success for them, it has led to great art for all of us.

Artist: El Perro Del Mar
Song: “God Knows”

Just about everything that I might say about this one-woman band (the singer sounds remarkably like Kate Bush; the music makes one think of Motown hits played at half speed; hooray for Swedish bands!) have all already been said by countless other reviewers. El Perro is just starting her career, and I expect great things from her in the future.

Artist: Badly Drawn Boy
Song: “Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind”

I picked up the latest from Badly Drawn Boy, Born in the UK, not long after it was released, but interestingly, I didn't really listen to the album much at the time. I was busy with my move, I guess, and had a lot of other things going on. It wasn't until later in the fall when I really sat down and listened to the album. It received some mediocre reviews from critics, many of whom concentrated their criticism on the apparently mediocre and not-very-poetic lyrics, but I thought BDB made a solid album, at least as good as his previous work.

Artist: The Essex Green
Song: “The Late Great Cassiopa”

Summer might have been called my season of Sasha Bell, as far as I'm concerned. This summer, I followed her work through three different bands: The Essex Green, The Ladybug Transistor, and Finishing School. All three bands produce basically the same kinds of songs so if you like one, you'll like the others, but I thought The Essex Green was the best of the three. As she does on the other two bands, Sasha Bell lends her voice, and some of her instruments, to a few of the songs as an indie pop session musician.

Artist: The Heavy Blinkers
Song: “Chloe's Christmas”

I notice that quite a lot of the music that I listen to comes from bands that employ both male and female singers. Several of the bands on this list (and even some of the new bands that I listened to that didn't make this list) share this personnel format. The Heavy Blinkers are one of those bands that make great use of different singers. Their music has evolved into a very retro, early 70s-ish, soft rock (see Cinnamon, above). I really like it, and in 2008, I really should seek out this sound, and the bands that excel in it, a little more.

Artist: Panda Bear
Song: "Bros"

Like the Arcade Fire, Panda Bear's album, Person Pitch, has made a lot of end-of-the-year top 10 lists, so one might accuse of me of jumping on the bandwagon with this one, but that isn't the case here. I was late to download it, and even then, I didn't listen to it that much. But I find that I keep returning to it again and again. With its heavy Beach Boys influence, it goes to the core of what I like most about power pop, but it tweaks that formula just enough to sound strange and experimental.

Artist: New Pornographers
Song: “Mutiny, I Promise You”

The new New Pornographers album, Challengers, was one of the most anticipated releases of the year for me, but I was left feeling a little disappointed. It's not a bad album, but it's just a different direction from their first three. Challengers is a little slower, and little more reflective and somber. That would be fine if it were what I had come to expect from the New Pornographers, but when I listen to them, I want to hear manic power pop. It's an interesting phenomenon how bands that start out understanding how to craft perfect pop songs inevitably “lose their way”. I don't know if it's because the creative juices stop flowing, the songwriters “mature” and feel like pop songs are beneath them, or they just get lazy or what. But it always happens, and I guess it's happening to Carl Newman now.

Artist: Fancey
Song: “Whoa”

One of the interesting things about The New Pornographers is that most of the individual members of the band each have one or two other side projects, not all of which necessarily reflect the sound of The New Pornographers. Guitarist Todd Fancey's side project, Fancey, though is similar to the power pop sound of the NPs, but Fancey takes the pop side of power pop to its sugary extreme. With super-happy lyrics like, “Christian eagles of today / You're flying heaven's way / On a miracle crusade / Flying on the wings of faith,” you just know that the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, but they're so damned earnest that they make you wonder sometimes. Fancey released a second album, Schmancey, this year, and it's even better than the first album.

I thought I'd also make a short list of songs that I really liked this year, but whose artists didn't make my list. These are just some great tracks that can't go unrecognized:
The Go! Team: “Fake ID”
Petra Haden: “Don't Stop Believin'”
Feist: “1 2 3 4”
The Epoxies: “Radiation”
The Polyphonic Spree: “Soldier Girl”
Gore Gore Girls: “I'm Gonna Get You Yet”
Minipop: “Precious”
Magnapop: “Stick To Me”
The Magnetic Fields: “Sweet-Lovin' Man”

My choice for my favorite artist of the year: Damn, this is a tough decision. Seriously, I could make an argument for each of the thirteen artists above, and if you had asked me to make this choice in March or July you would have received different responses, but I think I'm gonna have to go with The Heavy Blinkers. Even though they didn't release a new album this year (but I think they've got one on the way) their music just really clicked with me.

Science of You

2007-12-24T11:19:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning with teaching on my mind. In particular, I was thinking about science education.

In the past, I've often wondered if the state of science education in the US couldn't be improved by making science more accessible to ordinary, non-science types. When I think of science classes, I think of math because in many cases, solving math problems is all that one does. Thinking back to chemistry and physics classes that I took in high school, that was certainly the case. And it was certainly the case when I took an astronomy class in college.

Math obviously has its place in science, but the excessive math can also squash the layman's interest in science as well. A lot of people (I count myself among them) are interested in, and curious about, science, but we aren't necessarily interested in solving lists of math problems.

When I took astronomy class in college, the professor had a lecture-hall full of students eager to learn about the subject on the first day of the semester, but by the end of the course, we just wanted it to be over with, and the reason is because all we did was solve math problems. Nothing sucks the wonder and the grandeur out of the universe faster or more effectively than math.

What I would have liked to have seen in college--and perhaps some schools do this, but mine did not--is the science equivalent of a music appreciation class or a Shakespeare for non-English majors. Music appreciation is designed to expose students to great works of classical music and to teach them how to listen to such music and what to listen for, but without getting to far into the technical details of music composition. Shakespeare for non-English majors does the same thing: it introduces students to Shakespeare without going too in depth into literary criticism and analysis.

Why can't there be science classes for non-science majors? A physics for non-majors or biology for non-majors. In such classes, professors can introduce and teach the major concepts of these fields without dumping a lot of math into one's laps (solving math problems could be offered for extra credit). And if someone really likes the class and wants to go on to major or minor in, say, physics, then they can take the courses that are designed for majors and that have all of the math.

In America, science really suffers from negative public relations. A lot of people treat science, and scientists, with suspicion. Special courses that present science in an accessible way, designed for people who aren't going to be scientists but who may someday be in positions of authority regarding science (such as on school boards or in state legislatures) would go a long way to restoring science to a place of importance and respect in American society.

Flying High Again

2007-11-22T20:27:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while, TV news organizations come up with a new gimmick which, whether it contributes to the viewers' understanding of the news or not, catches on with just about every other competing news organization. Obvious examples that spring to mind are the use of Google Maps in news reports, or the cliche of the reporter going outside during a hurricane.

This week before Thanksgiving, the big "breaking news" story was that airports would be crowded, there would be delays, and lots of planes would be in the air (shocking, I know!). Apparently, there are a few websites on the Intarweb which allow you to track ALL of the planes in the air in US airspace at the same time. So all week long, the cable news networks kept running stories which used the real-time image of the US with the thousands of little airplanes, each representing a commercial airliner.

The computer generated airplanes superimposed on the map were not to scale. So what we saw was a map of the US with thousands of airplanes the size of Massachusetts flying around. Apparently, viewers observed/complained, that it looked like these planes were all bumping into each other, so the networks found a new computer graphic template which zoomed in on specific parts of the country and gave the still-out-of-proportion airplanes some breathing space. However, now the little, generic-looking airplanes appeared to going in a vertical direction, as though they were little rockets blasting off into space. I suppose that when Christmas Eve rolls around, and news organizations do their NORAD-inspired monitoring of Santa Claus' journey, we'll see this graphic again and watch as Santa's sleigh weaves in between the static airplanes on the map.

But never mind how ridiculous these maps look, what is the point of using them at all? The fact that there are thousands of planes in the air at any given time is NOT news. The fact that Thanksgiving week is a very busy time for travel is NOT news. These maps, and the "news" reports that use them are useless and a waste of time.

Please, stop it.

The Power of Good-Bye

2007-10-11T10:41:00.001-05:00

One of the big stories of the day so far is Madonna's decision to dump her music label (Warner) and sign a deal with an independent promotion and distribution company.

We're beginning to see many big names in music making similar decisions to strike out on their own. Lately, Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have also decided to take control of their own destinies.

The RIAA frequently makes the argument that they have the artists' best interests in mind. But if that is true, then why are so many artists dissatisfied with the way they are treated by the RIAA's member companies? The truth of the matter is that the RIAA and the big labels are only looking out for the record company executives. The history of the music industry since the mid-20th century has been a history of large corporations abusing the creative talent that they employ and promote.

The big labels are irrelevant in this age of online distribution. The only possible reason why anyone would want to sign with a label would be a big label's ability to market and promote a new band that no one has ever heard of. But if you are a household name like Madonna or Radiohead, or if you have a large cult following like Nine Inch Nails, you don't need that same level of mass promotion--your music is going to sell no matter what. Today, it's easy--and relatively cheap--for a musician to record music independently. The internet allows for a wide variety of distribution models. And as Madonna has learned, you can hire an independent company to organize and promote your concerts and album releases. Artists don't have to follow the old model in which the labels took a huge cut from the profits of music sales. The new opportunities available today allow artists to keep more of the money that their music earns while also allowing them greater artistic freedom to pursue their own projects.

Market Traders

2007-09-30T22:03:00.000-05:00

I found a website this evening that estimates the monetary value of blogs. I've got a couple of blogs so I decided to find out if they are worth anything at all. First, I tried my other blog and found that it is worth $0.00. But then I tried this one, and found that it valued at $564.54 (!!!). That's $564.54 more than I expected. I obviously don't have any advertising on this blog, and, aside from the occasional executive and/or investigator from Capella University, I don't get a whole lot of traffic, so I'm not sure where the "value" of this blog is coming from.

It's an interesting tool, though. If you have a blog, try it yourself.

Everything Looks Beautiful on Video

2007-07-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

Recently, I have had the chance to watch what passes for news on cable TV. I've been away from cable news channels for a few years, and like Rip Van Winkle, I now find myself in a strange new landscape.

I have, over the past few years, been able to see short clips from YouTube, etc., of the travesties of journalism aired by Fox News, but what I didn't realize is to what extent the other channels like CNN and MSNBC have become "Foxified" as well.

The problem is that these networks no longer report the news. Instead, news stories are either sensationalized out of proportion (round-the-clock Paris Hilton coverage) or editorial commentary has replaced objective news reporting. The most extreme example of this is CNN's Headline News channel. Once upon a time, all this channel did, 24/7, was report the news. Now, during the prime time hours, it's all Glenn Beck and Nancy Grace. Instead of an anchor reporting the news, you get these bozos voicing their opinions on a small number--perhaps just one--of news stories. Instead of a just-the-facts broadcast where the viewer is left to make up his or her mind about the meaning and importance of the events of the day, you have these people telling you what to think.

You see this on all the channels now. Cable news is all about personalities: Beck, Grace, Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Keith Olbermann--these people aren't journalists; they're people who know how to rile up their audiences so that their networks will get higher ratings.

The sources of just-the-facts news reporting are dwindling. You can still get it from the traditional networks--ABC, NBC, and CBS, although the editorializing that one finds on cable is fast making inroads to these traditional sources. PBS, with its offerings of the NewsHour and the BBC is probably the best bet for news nowadays, but I foresee a time in the not-too-distant future when "journalism" in the US will consist of nothing but commentary and propaganda.

Night of the Furies

2007-05-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

Last night, Digg.com saw what can best be described as an online riot.

Context: a few months ago, the encryption code for HD-DVDs was cracked, allowing anyone with the code to make copies of HD-DVD content. The company behind HD-DVD technology used the DMCA to try to stifle the dissemination of the code. Interestingly, though, in the DMCA takedown notices, the code itself was mentioned, and since DMCA takedown notices are accessible to the public, the company, AACS, was inadvertently violating their own takedown notice--they needed to take down their own takedown notices.

If there's one thing the internet loves, it's irony, so this story--and the code that the AACS was trying to suppress--received even more attention. In the last few days, the AACS has begun issuing takedown notices to dozens of websites and blogs in a truly futile attempt to put the genie back in the bottle.

Digg was one of these sites. At least one story had been posted that mentioned revealed the code. But Digg didn't just delete the post, they also banned the person who had posted the story--and then when other Diggers started to object, Digg banned them as well.

Very quickly, the outrage among Digg users snowballed until finally, last night, virtually every story and every post made to Digg had to do with this controversy. Thousands of protest posts were submitted that contained the code, and Diggers demanded that Kevin Rose and the Digg staff either stand up for free speech or the riot would effectively shut the website down.

The mayhem even started spreading to other sites, most notably Wikipedia. Any Wikipedia article that was even remotely connected to DVDs, Kevin Rose, or Digg was vandalized with the encryption code. Wikipedia administrators had to lock down dozens of pages in order to prevent the vandalism from spreading.

I was online last night and witnessed the whole thing. It was amazing to watch. I have never seen anything quite like it in the decade or so that I have spent on the world wide web. Like I say, it is best described as a riot. If Digg had been a physical structure, it would certainly have been looted and burned. Since the riot was online, no one got hurt, and Digg is still up today.

At last, late last night, Kevin Rose gave in to the rioters' demands and will no longer attempt to censor the encryption code or stories about it. This, of course, leaves them vulnerable to a lawsuit by the AACS, but it's hard to believe that the AACS is going to be able to go after anybody. At this point, there is no way to stop the code--millions of people have already seen it. And besides, AACS shares a large part of the responsibility for making the code public in the first place.

An Inch and a Mile

2007-04-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

One of the things that I worry will be the result of today's Virginia Tech shootings (besides copy-cat shootings at other schools) will be a new round of freaked-out parents and legislators proposing new security precautions at schools--in the case universities. The Columbine shooting 8 years ago transformed many schools into virtual prisons; I don't want to see the same thing happen to colleges and universities.

One reason is because new security steps would diminish the openness of colleges--which is one of their greatest strengths. Setting up security checkpoints around a campus would create an obstacle that should not exist between the public and the resources of higher education. Secondly, new precautions would be ineffective. Most college campuses are large, sprawling places with multiple points of entry. Building fences and gates would be costly and probably wouldn't work anyway, since the perpetrators of these crimes are often students themselves--people who are already on campus. Third, such precautions would be unnecessary. There may be a few copy-cat shootings in the next few months, but shootings such as today's shooting are so rare, so extraordinary, that any sort of precaution taken by any school would be an over-reaction.

In this case, no new policies of any sort would be the best policy to adopt.

Big Machine

2007-04-12T13:21:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the semester: when my classes are working on their research papers. Since so many students rely so heavily on the internet for research, I always spend at least a day giving them tips on how to find quality websites rather than letting them rely on Google or Wikipedia. One exercise that I have found useful is to give them a list of URLs and ask them to visit those websites and determine whether they would be useful sites for a college-level research paper--a sort of internet scavenger hunt. This semester, I have added a couple of new sites to my list of websites. One of them is Ray Beckerman's blog. Beckerman is the attorney defending a number of clients against the RIAA in some high profile cases. On the one hand, Beckerman's blog is just that--a blog, and blogging inhabits a sort of uncertain space between legitimacy and illegitimacy with respect to blogs' usefulness for college level research. On the other hand, Beckerman is as familiar with the legal issues surrounding the digital music as anyone else, so he is clearly an expert.

Anyway, I posted a link to his blog in my course wiki last week and asked my students to visit it. On Monday, I was surprised to receive a short email from the man himself--Mr. Beckerman--letting me know that he noticed I had linked to him and asking me to let him know how my class goes tonight. I'll send him an email tomorrow morning.

It's pretty cool hearing from "famous" people like that. I've had a couple such contacts in the past. I guess it's another example of how much easier it is to get in touch with people online--people that one wouldn't ordinarily have any contact with otherwise.

Same Time, Same Place

2007-04-06T19:31:00.000-05:00

Since the traffic to this blog has suddenly picked up in the last few weeks, I've installed StatCounter to help me find out just exactly how many people are visiting and where they are coming from. All are welcome, of course (except perhaps for a few certain individuals from Minneapolis--you know who you are!).

Say Anything

2007-04-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

The captured British soldiers were released from Iranian custody today. One of the big stories surrounding their capture has been their videotaped "confessions" in which they supposedly admitted that they had violated Iranian borders. Obviously, such confessions were a result of threats, whether implicit or explicit, from their Iranian captors. Even if they were never harmed physically, just the threat that they might placed on trial and face punishment according to Iranian law might well have been enough to compel them to cooperate in producing what were essentially propaganda videos.

This incident, though, raises interesting questions that we as Americans ought to be asking about the supposed "confessions" that have recently been made by al Qaeda prisoners currently held in Guantanamo Bay. Those prisoners have faced threats of harsh punishments, humiliating situations, and probably even torture. If we are so willing to excuse the "confessions" of the British soldiers, then how can we possibly accept any similar confession made by a prisoner of the US military?

Castles Made of Sand

2007-03-25T10:30:00.000-05:00

We’ve all seen them—the banner ads and pop-up ads for online universities like Capella or the University of Phoenix. They promise college degrees—even advanced degrees like Master’s degrees and Doctorates—in a minimal amount of time. They appeal to adults who work full time or who haven’t had the opportunity, time, or money to attend a traditional college or university. They are tempting, but are such programs really worth it?

I believe they are not. Online universities give the impression that they offer an educational experience equivalent to a traditional, brick-and-mortar college or university, but they do not.

Before I write any further, let me distinguish between those online universities, like Capella, which only exist online, from online programs and degrees offered by many traditional colleges and universities nowadays. A degree or certificate from an online program offered by an accredited, established school can usually be trusted more than a degree from a purely online school. It is those purely online schools that I am referring to here.

I am also not some luddite railing against technology. As a teacher myself, I can’t imagine teaching without technology, and I have been quick to embrace online applications like blogs, wikis, and online word processors. Technology is great and I make use of it in my classrooms whenever reasonable.

So, what is the problem with these online universities? Well, first of all, you need to understand that these “universities” are for-profit businesses, first and foremost. Now, it is true that all institutions of higher education are businesses to some extent—if they weren’t then they wouldn’t be charging tuition. But for an online university, the bottom line is indeed the bottom line. In order to pull in as many students/customers as possible, they set their standards for students low—they will take anyone who is willing to pay. If you contact a representative—or are contacted by one—you often aren’t speaking to a guidance counselor who has your best educational interests at heart, you are speaking to a salesperson who has to meet a quota and bring in as many paying customers as possible, or, like a telemarketer, they are promptly fired.

But isn’t this like a community college? Don’t community colleges also accept anyone with a high school diploma or GED and an open checkbook? Yes, but there is one very important difference between online colleges and community colleges—the community in which they are based. Community colleges are rooted in a particular city or a particular region. It is in their best interests to provide the best education they can to their students because those students will go out into the community and demonstrate the quality and effectiveness of the education they received. Online universities may accept students from across the nation—perhaps even around the world. At the end of the day, a corporation headquartered in one state doesn’t care whether a student in another state can achieve his or her career goals. The corporation has made it money, and there are still 49 other states filled with potential customers.

If you are going to pay money for your own education, then you need to be sure that you are receiving the highest quality of education possible. As someone who has received a Ph.D. from a legitimate institution of higher education, who has been around teachers and professors my entire adult life, and who has been on the job market and understands the reputation and prestige that accompanies various kinds of institutions, I can tell you that online universities are considered the bottom-of-the-barrel with respect to where a professor would hope to teach. I would only consider teaching for an online university only if every other option available to me has been exhausted—and that includes teaching in high school or grade school. The professors that you find at these online universities are definitely not the best of the best.

Many of these online universities accelerate their students’/customers’ education by offering them credit for “life experience.” Certainly, if you are looking for a promotion within a company, or a better job with another company, then one’s previous work experience should definitely play a role, but one of the purposes of higher education is, and should be, to teach you something new. That’s what education is—learning what you didn’t know before. No matter how much real-world experience one has, one can still learn something new and broaden one’s knowledge. This is especially true when it comes to graduate studies. Here, your ideas and knowledge need to be pushed to the next level; you shouldn’t simply be given a pat on the head and told that you already know what you need to know. If that were true, then why are you wasting your time in a classroom—online or otherwise? You should be seeking an education, not an affirmation.

I think it is the availability for Master’s degrees and Doctorates from online universities that I find to be most disturbing. For one thing, no online university, no matter what resources they may have at their disposal, can match the full range of educational resources at hand at a Research I or Research II university. Online universities also aren’t going to be able to offer their students/customers the same range of assistantships and internships that would allow students to practice and put into use—in a real world environment—the lessons they have learned.

I also can’t believe that such advanced degrees, especially in fields like education or psychology, would be worth anything at all on the job market. In such fields, where the job market is already flooded with recent graduates sporting advanced degrees from traditional universities, a student with a degree from an online university would almost certainly get passed over for a student from a traditional school. To some extent, I think online universities depend upon the ignorance of employers about whether a school is online or not. Most universities have names that make them sound like liberal arts colleges, like Brighton University, Kent College, or St. Regis University.

So if you are thinking about going back to school and getting or completing a college education, please do, but let the online university option be your very last option. When it comes to a quality education, there are no short-cuts, no bargains. Like anything else worth pursuing, it takes a commitment of time and effort.

Thinking About Enrolling at Capella University?

2007-03-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Educate yourself first:

Here
And Here

Hello Capella!

2007-03-21T09:10:00.001-05:00

It's nice to know that SOMEBODY is reading my blog!

CENSORED!!

2007-03-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

I Wanted It, But Now I'm Not So Sure Anymore

2007-02-09T18:18:00.000-06:00

I've always been very interested in the issue of file sharing, at least as far back as the collapse of Napster. It's been fascinating--and very frustrating--to watch this debate evolve. My position is that digital music and the online transfer of music (and movies), whether via the marketplace or through "pirated" means, is inevitable. It's baffling to me to watch the member companies of the RIAA ferociously fighting this movement towards the digital realm.

In the last couple of years, the RIAA companies have insisted upon placing DRM technology in their music when it is sold online. It is a strategy doomed to failure because any and every DRM restriction can be cracked by someone determined to get around it. The buzz this year, though, is that 2007 will mark the end of DRM, and that all music companies will begin to release their catalogues on unrestricted MP3s. Just this week, Steve Jobs posted an open letter advocating the end of DRM restrictions, and there are rumors that EMI is planning to drop its insistence on DRM. Warner and Universal are still holding steady, but I think that once one member company of the RIAA gives up DRM, the rest will quickly follow.

It makes perfect sense that they would. Currently, if they sell music through iTunes, they are selling restricted music that can only be played on iPods. If they agree to start selling MP3s, then their music can play on just about any music player, and they will be able to sell their music through the other online music stores that are popping up. It makes sense that the more outlets for music and the more music players that can play music files will only lead to more sales.

Apple's deal with the RIAA companies is that Apple is forced to enshroud their AAC files in DRM, and that if Apple's DRM is ever cracked, then the companies can withdraw their catalogues from iTunes. But as it currently stands, it seems to me like Apple is holding all the cards--if Apple decided to sell unrestricted music files, would the record companies really be able to withdraw their music. They could, but it would be like committing suicide, given the declining sales of CDs and the growing demand for buying and listening to music online.

Another thorn in the RIAA's side has been Apple's pricing. The greedy record companies want variable pricing which would allow them to charge however much they want for particular tracks. Apple won't let them do that, but without DRM, and with the freedom to sell their music anywhere they want, they would be free to open up their own online stores, or make deals with existing online stores, to sell their music for however much the market will allow.

I hope this year does mark the end of DRM. Once the RIAA embraces the new world we live in and stop fighting the inevitable, the future of the music industry will become much brighter.

Half Blast

2007-01-14T16:35:00.000-06:00

Just sticking it to the RIAA.

The Book Lovers

2007-01-12T22:01:00.000-06:00

Digg had a link to this website which has a list of novels that are more resistant than others to film adaptation. There aren't a lot of surprises in the list; it includes works by Joyce, Proust, Becket and Pynchon. I, of course, would probably add any or all of Stein's novels to the list.

Also not a surprise is the fact that most of the novels on the list are 20th century novels. Much like their artistic counterparts in painting and sculpture, novelists in the 20th century less concerned with representing "reality" than were most of the novelists of the 20th century. In fact, it seems to me like movies--especially mainstream, Hollywood-style movies--share a lot in common with 19th century novels, in terms of narrative creation. They tend to follow a coherent, chronological narrative set in more-or-less realistic and recognizable locations with characters that the reader or audience can relate to on some level. 20th century novels might have some of these characteristics too, but often they are missing at least one of them, and the novels on that website's list are missing most of them, if not all.

This leads me to wonder if film is not a somewhat conservative form of art. To be sure, there are some filmmakers that also eschew the conventions and cliches of popular cinema, and which are more interested in "art" than in "entertainment", but for most of the history of filmmaking, the process of making a movie is obviously so much more expensive than the act of writing a novel, that in order for the filmmaker to continue doing what he or she loves--making movies, there must a return on that investment. Thus, the conventions of storytelling on the big screen must be adhered to.

I suppose the growing ubiquity of video cameras and websites like YouTube will mean that the 21st century might finally see some radical experiments of filmmaking, and this century-old form of art might at last come into its own as "art".

Turn the Radio Off

2006-12-21T14:58:00.001-06:00

Well, I've resumed my blog just in time for my end-of-the-year list of music that I listened to in the previous year. This year I've got a pretty big list. I've always thought that when I stop caring about new music, I will have died just a little bit. This year's list shows that I'm still alive.

This time, I've arranged the list in more-or-less chronological order.

Morrissey – Ringleader of the Tormentors

Song: "The Father Who Must Be Killed"

In 2004, when Morrissey released You Are the Quarry, I suggested that he consider retiring, because he was never going to produce another album in his career that was that good and this was an opportunity to go out on top. His latest effort has so far proved me right. There is one good thing about his refusal to retire, though, and that is that he is now singing Smiths songs at his concerts.

Stereolab - Fab Four Suture

Song: "Whisper Pitch"

Stereolab had an unobtrusive release this year. Technically I guess it’s an ep collection, but I had never heard any of these songs before, and there’s about a dozen of them, so from my perspective it is an album. Again, nothing special, but there are a few really strong songs.

Dressy Bessy – (Everything)

Song: "Baby Six String"

Back in 2001, when I first discovered Stereolab, I was shocked and ashamed that I had never heard of the ‘Lab before, and I set out to download/buy every song of theirs I could find. I had the same experience when I discovered Dressy Bessy last spring. Their music is the purest example of power pop this side of the New Pornographers, and in some ways, their music is actually superior to the NP. Without question, they were my favorite band of 2007, and what’s sad is that I think they are already defunct.

The Apples In Stereo – (Everything)

Song: "Signal in the Sky"

Dressy Bessy is usually spoken of in conjunction with The Apples in Stereo. They’re both cut from the same musical cloth: power pop bands with lots of catchy hooks. For my money, though, Dressy Bessy does this much better, and the lead singer of Dressy Bessy does not have as annoying a voice as the lead singer from The Apples. Still, they are a very good, underrated band.

Voice of Beehive – (Everything)

Song: "Scary Kisses"

I had a rough summer working 40 hours a week at a crappy job. The pay was decent, but the work left me physically exhausted and mentally numb. The next four bands helped me survive the experience. Voice of the Beehive is actually an old girl pop band from the early 90s. They didn’t really go anywhere, and I hadn’t heard of them before until I began searching for whatever power pop I can find. They made some nice, catchy songs, though.

Belle and Sebastian – (Everything)

Song: "Funny Little Frog"

Much like Dressy Bessy, I’m a little ashamed that I have jumped on the B&S bandwagon late, but this time, it was more my fault. I’ve heard of B&S for at least a couple years now, but I never bothered to really listen to their music until this year. They’re very good, but the comparisons to the Smiths, I think, are unjustified.

Sing Sing – (Everything)

Song: "Going Out Tonight"

Born form the fiery ashes of Lush, Sing-Sing’s Emma Anderson explores new audio directions. I’ve known about this band for a while but it wasn’t until I signed on to my eMusic account that I was finally able to hear them.

Pipettes – We Are the Pitpettes

Song: "Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me"

As I browse the end-of-year best-of lists on the internet, everyone seems to have forgotten about the Pipettes. I haven’t forgotten them. Their ironic/nostalgic polka-dot pop was one of my few joys over the summer. The big question with this band will be how long before they start taking themselves seriously (and thus destroy the whole point of the band).

Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat

Song: "Rise Up with Fists"

I’m not sure if I should include Jenny Lewis’ album or not because I don’t think I ever got around to picking up all of her songs. I really like her song “Rise Up With Fists,” though, and she has a clever video for it too. This is one of the more overtly political albums of the year—and maybe that’s why I’m torn. Unless your name is Natalie Merchant, I’m not really interested in hearing you sing about politics and social issues.

Mekons – Pussy, King of the Pirates

Song: "My Song at Night"

I actually don’t know much about the Mekons. This album isn’t necessarily indicative of their music because it is a collaboration with novelist Kathy Acker. Recorded shortly before Acker’s death, it features Acker reading passages from her novel Pussy, King of the Pirates accompanied by music and songs inspired by the novel.

Komeda – (Everything)

Song: "Fire"

I stumbled upon a song by this Swedish band by accident and immediately had to download everything they’ve made. They’re not always listenable, but when they are good, they are very good.

Broadcast – (Everything)

Song: "Papercuts"

A fine example of post-rock. Here we have a rather unattractive lead singer performing bland, mellow lyrics accompanied by groovy late-60s lounge music mixed with weird feedback and computer sounds. I like them.

Yo La Tengo – I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

Song: "Watch Out for Me, Ronnie"

One thing that I learned from this album is that, in the future, I won’t need to download an entire Yo La Tengo album. They have a lot of very good songs, but they also have a lot of crap that isn’t worth playing once or twice.

Love Is All – Nine Times That Same Song

Song: "Aging Had Never Been His Friend"

Love Is All’s debut album is one of my favorite albums of the year. What sets this band apart and really makes them something special is their lead singer who, though she isn’t an especially talented singer, is able to convey a flirty yet confident attitude with her voice, kind of a mix of PJ Harvey and early Harriet Wheeler. And their songs are pure adrenaline.

Sufjan Stevens - Christmas

Song: "Hey Guys! It's Christmas Time!"

In time for the holidays, Stevens released a 5-cd (5!) box set of Christmas songs—some traditional, some original. Usually, when an artist releases a Christmas album it is an indication that their downward slide has already begun, but Stevens recorded these songs over the past few years while at the height of his creative powers. The result is an exceptional and completely un-ironic collection of music. Some critics have wondered whether Stevens’ wholesome naivete is real or just an act. This collection settles that question once and for all.

The Grates – Gravity Won’t Get You High

Song: "19 20 20"

If the White Stripes were fronted by an Aussie chick on a pogo stick who wasn’t at all interested in covering obscure blues songs from the 1940s, they might be inclined to call themselves The Grates. Enough said.

The Go! Team – (everything)

Song: "We Will Not Be Defeated"

The Go! Team’s music sounds like an amateurish mash-up of cheesy 70s showtunes and a recording of some inner-city high school cheerleading practice. It’s just like that, except it’s good.

Joanna Newsom - Ys

Song: "Only Skin"

Newsom’s new album has been receiving a tongue bath from critics, but personally, I wasn’t quite as impressed as everyone else seems to be. Perhaps part of the reason is because I was partly spoiled when I downloaded some live versions of three of the five songs on this album late last year, so half the album was just a retread of what I had heard before. Mostly, though, I think that this album is just too ambitious. A few years from now, when Newsom is at the height of her creative powers, she might be able to pull off a one-woman opera, but right now, it just doesn’t hit the mark.

I might have been inclined to name "Only Skin" as my Song of the Year, but that award must go to Dressy Bessy's "Baby Six String". Dressy Bessy might not have released an album this year, but they were without question my favorite band in 2006.

Disasters, disappointments, and “do not dos”:

Paris Hilton

WTF? Seriously, anyone who bought this album should be shot. This is the best reason why the major record companies are completely full of shit.

Regina Spektor

Yeah, she’s cute and all, but she can’t sing worth a damn. Usually that’s not a big problem for me (*cough*Joanna Newsom*cough*) but this girl really, really cannot sing. She can’t write either. The comparisons to Kate Bush are a deep insult to Kate.

“We’re the new [insert legendary band here]!!!”

It’s one thing for critics to draw comparisons between a band and some other band from the past—how else can one contextualize a band’s sound through the written word alone? But problems occur when the new band in question begins to believe the hype. Thus, Oasis believed they were the new Beatles. Yo La Tengo believe they are the new Velvet Underground. Belle & Sebastian believe they are the new Smiths. The Hold Steady are trying to be the new E-Street Band. Bands can never live up to that kind of hype, and so long as the comparisons persist, their music will always be a disappointment when they could have been judged on their own merits.

Summertime in Winter

2006-12-20T18:04:00.000-06:00

Well, as of today, I am finished with the fall semester in which I taught five classes on four campuses for three colleges. My daily living pretty much consisted exclusively of a routine of preparing to teach, teaching, grading, online tutoring, and driving (lots and lots of driving)--rinse and repeat for 3 and a half months. Now that I'm done, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. It feels weird knowing that I don't have to grade any papers tonight nor do I have to prepare for a class tomorrow.

I was kind of expecting disaster to occur this semester, but I managed to keep up with all of my grading responsibilities. Grading eats up most of my time. What I did have to sacrifice, though, was my job search. Now that I've got some free time, I should be able to send off a bunch of applications, and I'll be able to keep up with that in the spring.

I'd like to think that I have a lot of time to rest, but the spring semester begins in the middle of January. Luckily, I'll only have three classes next semester, so it won't be nearly as hectic. Also helpful is that the classes that I'm teaching were all classes that I taught last semester, so much of the work that I put into planning assignments and lesson plans won't need to be repeated this next semester. I'll change a few things, as I always do, but most the syllabi will remain the same.

I Touch Myself

2006-09-07T18:23:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've begun Rasterbating (that's with an "R" and not an "M"). I've had so much blank wall space in my apartment for so long, but I've never really known what to do with it. I've considered traditional posters, but I don't want my place to look like some dorm room. I've wanted to something somewhat artsy, but on my budget, my options have been limited. Then, a few days ago, I stumbled upon the Rasterbator web site and I knew that's what I have to do.

I've already created my first rasterbated poster: a poster of Audrey Hepburn (yeah, it's cliche, I know) that I have hung up in my bedroom. The poster looks nice and I'm really happy with it. I'm going to make more such posters, but I haven't settled on what those posters should be of.

The other problem that I have is that the Rasterbating process uses up a lot of printer ink. I've gotten around this so far by simply making use of the printers in the SLU library. It costs 5 cents a page, but that's a hell of a lot cheaper than a new printer cartridge. The Audrey Hepburn poster is a poster of a black-and-white photo. Some of the other poster ideas that I have had would involve color, but I'm not surehow I want to proceed with that.

Here's a picture of my first Rasterbation:

Signal in the Sky

2006-07-30T10:24:00.000-05:00

A couple decades ago, I remember watching an episode of "Star Trek" when one of the characters made the casual remark that television, as a form of entertainment, would/did not last beyond the mid-21st century. At the time when I heard that prediction, I thought it was absurd. What could replace television? Growing up, my parents had a TV in virtually every room of our house--even some of the bathrooms, and there was always a television on. Sure, there were, and have always been, other forms of entertainment, but it seemed like nothing could usurp television completely.

Flash forward to 2006, where the television set in my apartment sits gathering dust. I watch maybe an hour a week at the most. You might expect this to be the part where I snobbily say that I'm not one of those philistines who waste their lives in front of a television set. Actually, though, I watch as much video content as ever before, only I watch it via the internet, not on my television set.

It's not just the YouTube (and other amateur) content that I watch, but the broadcast and cable networks are putting more and more video content online. There is such a wide variety of content online now, which I can watch when I want, that recently, I have mused that if my TV were to die, I probably wouldn't bother to buy another one. Video may be here to stay, but the "television set" and its place in the American home, I think, is moving towards obsolescence. It won't happen right away, since high speed internet access isn't universal in this country, but I think the day will come--perhaps by the middle of this century--when the television set will be a relic of the past.

My Song at Night

2006-07-20T10:33:00.000-05:00

Last night a really bad storm hit St. Louis and knocked down some trees and power lines. I was at work when the storm hit, and the place where I work has its own electric generator, so we were able to carry on in comfort. At the end of the shift, as I drove home through patches of darkness and light, I had to be careful to avoid debris in the street.

When I got home I found the power was out in my neighborhood. Worse than the lack of light, though, was the lack of air conditioning, because that day had been one of the hottest of the year so far. My apartment, even after I opened the windows, was still about 10 degrees warmer than it was outside. I tried to spend a couple of hours outside on the steps of my building--until about 1:30 a.m. Since it was night, the temperature wasn't too bad--not really cool, but not uncomfortably warm either. But, of course, the mosquitos and other bugs were out in force, so eventually I had to go back inside. I tried to sleep, but the heat made it very difficult. At last, at around 4 in the morning, when it seemed like I could hardly take it any more, the power was restored and I could hear every air conditioner in the complex turn on.

This morning, I can see all of the debris outside, twigs and small branches everywhere. A very large branch was snapped off of the tree behind my building.

Dirty Mind

2006-07-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Pipettes released their first full-length album the other day. I've been watching this band with some interest ever since I discovered them via Pandora two or three months ago. They're sort of a cross between the Supremes and the Sex Pistols. Indeed, despite their outwardly family-friendly, rated-G appearance, they really have more in common with the spirit of punk rock than with the girl groups of the 50s and 60s.

When I first discovered them, I wasn't sure if I should jump on their bandwagon or not. I didn't want to get caught up in some Spice Girls or early Britney Spears rehash. A visit to their website, however, set me at ease. There, I found that they had a manifesto, of sorts, and I decided that any band that describes their objectives in this way:

Let us continue to expand our temporal and spatial borders in this fashion and let us do so using the tools at hand. Like a bricoleur we shall construct our histories from what we already have around us, what is available to us immediately and what we already know . . . . But we will never be limited by our own boundaries, never hypostatized into a bind from which we cannot move. We must grow and at all times be reaching out, through the personal relations we already have and that we constantly create and develop on a daily basis. Art, according to John Cage, is not a thing made by someone but a process through which everyone involved learns and experiences new things.

is certainly a band that I can support.

Jolene

2006-07-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

In the course of my morning web browsing today I somehow found myself at the website for the Family Research Council. I visited their section on television because I often hear how they are always complaining about indecent content on network television. I expected a bitchfest, but I found they don't complain about very much. One article, though, mentioned "a model riding a mechanical bull in an unnatural manner" which led me to wonder, "Just how would one ride a mechanical bull in a natural manner?" When Early Man first encountered mechanical bulls in the wilderness and got up enough nerve to ride one, was there a manner in which one naturally rode.

But then, of course, I remembered Leviticus 13:26, which reads: "And yea, I say verily unto you that thou shalt not ride the mechanical bull in a way that is an abomination to Him, the Lord thy God." So I guess that settles that.

I suppose the model that the FRC got upset about was riding her bull sort of like how Katie Jane Garside rides hers in her video for "Jolene":