11.10.2009
11.09.2009
Monday = Music : Stop Motion
So I put up a link to Andrew Bird's video for Anonanimal, probably my favorite song off of Noble Beast, about month ago.
Today I saw two more great stop motion animation videos. I like this trend. Know of any others?
Today I saw two more great stop motion animation videos. I like this trend. Know of any others?
The Low Anthem - Charlie Darwin - Official Video from End of the Road Films on Vimeo.
10.21.2009
Wednesday = Words : Finally!
This is one of those rare instances of unadulterated good news from Washington:
The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws. The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
Criminalizing cancer and AIDS patients for using a substance that is (a) prescribed by their doctors and (b) legal under the laws of their state has always been abominable. The Obama administration deserves major credit not only for ceasing this practice, but for memorializing it formally in writing. Just as is true for Jim Webb's brave crusade to radically revise the nation's criminal justice and drug laws, there is little political gain -- and some political risk -- in adopting a policy that can be depicted as "soft on drugs" or even "pro-marijuana." It's a change that has concrete benefits for many people who are sick and for those who provide them with treatments that benefit them. So credit where it's due to the Obama DOJ, for fulfilling a long-standing commitment on this issue.
-Glenn Greenwald
The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws. The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
Criminalizing cancer and AIDS patients for using a substance that is (a) prescribed by their doctors and (b) legal under the laws of their state has always been abominable. The Obama administration deserves major credit not only for ceasing this practice, but for memorializing it formally in writing. Just as is true for Jim Webb's brave crusade to radically revise the nation's criminal justice and drug laws, there is little political gain -- and some political risk -- in adopting a policy that can be depicted as "soft on drugs" or even "pro-marijuana." It's a change that has concrete benefits for many people who are sick and for those who provide them with treatments that benefit them. So credit where it's due to the Obama DOJ, for fulfilling a long-standing commitment on this issue.
-Glenn Greenwald
10.20.2009
10.15.2009
Thursday = WThF? : Blog Action Day 2009: Baltimore City Schools Doing Something Right?
The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future recognized the Baltimore City Public Schools last month with the 2009 CLF Award for “Visionary Leadership in Local Food Procurement and Food Education” in hopes of encouraging school districts across the nation to initiate their own school lunch reforms.
Mathew Yale, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Education, told Geraci he’s most interested in learning about how the school system made so many changes without a significant increase in federal or state funding. Geraci says it takes a lot of hard work, ingenuity, and luck. Much of the equipment he’s received came through grants or donations. The trucks and milk coolers were a $1.3 million gift from the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association. But Geraci says if the feds gave the school system more freedom to spend federal dollars to purchase produce, his office would be able to buy a great deal more local fruits and veggies. His favorite example of typical waste inherent in the system is comparing the cost of locally grown apples to apples trucked from states as far away as Washington, almost 3,000 miles from Baltimore. A case of Maryland apples costs the Baltimore City Public Schools about $6, while a case of government-approved apples costs them about $56. Geraci says, “it’s outrageous! Why would we spend almost ten times as much money for food that we can grow in our own backyard?” He says, “it not only saves the City Schools money, it puts cash back into the local economy.”
Incorporating Meatless Monday into this year’s lunch menu plans, Geraci says, was another innovative cost cutting measure. The move not only saves the district money but it serves as an educational tool as well. Meatless Monday gives the school system an opportunity to expose students to different cultures, Geraci says, through various meat-free recipes and meals from around the world. U.S. meat industry lobbyists quickly grumbled about Baltimore’s lack of meat options on Mondays, inferring that the meals may lack proper nutrition and claiming menu decisions should be left to the experts not administrators. If the lobbyists had bothered to talk to the person who came up with the idea, Melissa Mahoney, they would have learned that she is a dietitian and that she ensured each meal surpassed all USDA required nutrition standards. Jokingly, Geraci testified in front of House Education and Labor committee members that he had “an unholy love of pork,” but he insisted that, “[Meatless Monday] is not about denying people meat. This is about beginning a conversation about alternatives… beginning a conversation about change.”
Read the full article at Civil Eats!
10.14.2009
Wednesday = Words : Equality
So I was at the National Equality March on Sunday, and I've been really disappointed with the media coverage, especially in comparison to the Tea Party protests. Glen Greenwald has a good piece on the larger issue and the Daily Show is on top of things, as always.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Gay After Tomorrow | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| CNN Leaves It There | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Queer and Loathing in D.C. | ||||
| ||||
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Queer and Loathing in D.C. - Radical Gay Agenda | ||||
| ||||
10.09.2009
10.08.2009
Thursday = WThF? : Hungry?
Bring in a tray of cupcakes for any group of people and you will find that they will flock to get them. As soon as they take a bite they will probably ask, "Who's birthday is it?"
Then you answer. "It's no ones birthday. These cupcakes represent the 50,000,000 children who weren't allowed to be born, who never had a birthday." The cake in their mouth will become dry and the moment will hopefully become quite somber. Then you say, "If you and I were aborted we wouldn't have a birthday party either."
-Cupcakes4Life explanation of National Pro-Life Cupcake Day
(via Jezebel)
10.07.2009
Wednesday = Words : SOLE
With each food dollar spent, we are all casting an essential vote. You can't buy a senator, the way the agribusiness lobbyists can, but you can say yes to locally grown tomatoes.
- Michelle Gienow
SOLE Food: Eating organically (and responsibly) on a food-stamp budget
9.30.2009
9.24.2009
Friday = Film
Some Days are Better than Others (trailer) from matt mccormick on Vimeo.
So I can't tell if this is actually going to be good or not, but at this point I am so in love with All Songs Considered, that I will see or do anything involving Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson and/or Carrie Brownstein. Also, from the producers of Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, so that's promising.
9.22.2009
9.21.2009
Monday = Music : AB & AC
So I know my faithful reader may be tired of so much AB, but watch him with AC and you will not be sorry.
9.17.2009
Thursday = WThF?
“I think the guy’s wrong. I think not only it was racism, it was justifiable racism. I mean, that’s the lesson we’re being taught here today. Kid shouldn’t have been on the bus anyway. We need segregated buses — it was invading space and stuff. This is Obama’s America...In Obama’s America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering, ‘Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on...I wonder if Obama’s going to come to come to the defense of the assailants the way he did his friend Skip Gates up there at Harvard.”
-Rush Limbaugh commenting on an Associated Press report that police no longer believe the assault on a white student by black students was racially motivated.
-Rush Limbaugh commenting on an Associated Press report that police no longer believe the assault on a white student by black students was racially motivated.
9.16.2009
8.17.2009
Monday = Music : Crazy in Love
So I have long maintained that Beyonce's 'Crazy in Love' is the best dance song ever. Now, in the hands of Antony and the Johnsons, it is something else entirely. Something magnificent.
8.10.2009
Monday = Music : Andrew Bird and Gothic Architecture
So I haven't put up any Andrew in a while, but I just watched this and it is beautiful! There is a whole series at Pitchfork, if you're interested.
8.07.2009
5.14.2009
Thursday = WThF : Ol' Massa Nixon
“Rock-a-bye the voters with a Southern strategy; Don't you fuss; we won't bus children in ol' Dixie! We'll put George Wallace in decline Below the Mason-Dixon line. We'll help save the nation From things like civil rights and inte-gra-tion! Weep no more, John Stennis! We'll pack the court for sure. We will fight for voting rights -- To keep them white and pure! A zillion Southern votes we will deliver; Move Washington down on the Swanee River! Rock-a-bye with Ol' Massa Nixon and his Dixie strategy!”
-From the 1970 Gridiron Club Dinner
WThF?
-From the 1970 Gridiron Club Dinner
WThF?
5.13.2009
Wednesday = Words : How the World Works
So I don't really fully understand what's happening with the economy right now (it has been posited that nobody does), but what I do know is largely thanks to Andrew Leonard's How the World Works blog at Salon. He has a great way of wording more in-depth articles in a way that I can actually begin to comprehend. He also draws some pretty nice conclusions of his own...
"The Journal observes that "the compensation effort is the latest example of the government's increasing focus on aspects of the financial sector that once were untouched." But who is to blame for that? Nosy, intrusive government officials, or bankers who failed to properly manage risk?
If you want to bid adieu to free markets, please direct your sweet sorrowful parting words to the people who were primarily responsible for blowing up the global economy -- and not to the governmental officials attempting to clean up the wreckage."
"The Journal observes that "the compensation effort is the latest example of the government's increasing focus on aspects of the financial sector that once were untouched." But who is to blame for that? Nosy, intrusive government officials, or bankers who failed to properly manage risk?
If you want to bid adieu to free markets, please direct your sweet sorrowful parting words to the people who were primarily responsible for blowing up the global economy -- and not to the governmental officials attempting to clean up the wreckage."
4.22.2009
Thursday = WThF? : ???
"We need to be very, very concerned about the harm, for our own children and all of these children...We are creating barbarians. Parents want something other than barbarians living down the street."
-Linda Harvey, spokesperson for NotOurKids, on their objection to the 13th National Day of Silence, organized by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network "to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment and effective responses"
WThF?
4.20.2009
Monday = Music : Bill Callahan
So I saw Bill Callahan play a record store show very similar to this one last week, and he was superb! I bought the new album (and, in a gloriously awkward exchange, had him sign it), and I have spent more time listening to it than to Andrew Bird, which says a lot about how great it is. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Callahan, he used to record as Smog, and he is the very baritone backup on Joanna Newsome's "Only Skin".
4.15.2009
Wednesday = Words : Glenn Greenwald Smacks Down!
First Obama:
"As much as anything else, what fueled the extreme hostility towards the Bush/Cheney administration were their imperious and radical efforts to place themselves behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy and above and beyond the rule of law. It would require a virtually pathological level of tribal loyalty and monumental intellectual dishonesty not to object just as vehemently as we watch the Obama DOJ repeatedly invoke these very same theories and, in this instance, actually invent a new one that not even the Bush administration espoused."
New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ
Keith Olbermann's scathing criticism of Obama's secrecy/immunity claims
TPM: "Obama Mimics Bush on State Secrets"
Obama and habeas corpus -- then and now
An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses
The differing views of the "rule of law" in Spain and the U.S.
Then the Right:
"All of the enabling legislation underlying this Surveillance State -- from the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act, from the various FISA "reforms" to massive increases in domestic "counter-Terrorism" programs -- are the spawns of the very right-wing movement that today is petrified that this is all being directed at them."
The ultimate reaping of what one sows: right-wing edition
"As much as anything else, what fueled the extreme hostility towards the Bush/Cheney administration were their imperious and radical efforts to place themselves behind an impenetrable wall of secrecy and above and beyond the rule of law. It would require a virtually pathological level of tribal loyalty and monumental intellectual dishonesty not to object just as vehemently as we watch the Obama DOJ repeatedly invoke these very same theories and, in this instance, actually invent a new one that not even the Bush administration espoused."
New and worse secrecy and immunity claims from the Obama DOJ
Keith Olbermann's scathing criticism of Obama's secrecy/immunity claims
TPM: "Obama Mimics Bush on State Secrets"
Obama and habeas corpus -- then and now
An emerging progressive consensus on Obama's executive power and secrecy abuses
The differing views of the "rule of law" in Spain and the U.S.
Then the Right:
"All of the enabling legislation underlying this Surveillance State -- from the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act, from the various FISA "reforms" to massive increases in domestic "counter-Terrorism" programs -- are the spawns of the very right-wing movement that today is petrified that this is all being directed at them."
The ultimate reaping of what one sows: right-wing edition
4.09.2009
Thursday=WThF?: Michele the Sent-Down Girl
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a bill intended to enhance volunteerism in the U.S:
"It's not volunteerism at all. I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically correct forums."
4.08.2009
Wednesday=Words: Walk
"There is only one way humans are made to move. They are made to walk. There are many other ways to get around. You can canoe, for instance. Or paraglide. Or jog. But these modes of transportation are not the staple of human mobility. Walking is unavoidable, a necessity for those with two working legs.
The entire scheme of nature, and the human's place within it, is built around the understanding that humans use their legs to move. It's a great unspoken assumption. The earth expects humans to walk."
4.02.2009
Thursday = WThF?
NRA spokesman Bart Barnaby stated “food lovers and gun lovers have a ton of things in common, maybe for the food lover it’s seeking out that crazy fish you kind of know you’re not supposed to eat, while for the gun lover it’s killing that animal that might be considered kind of borderline endangered.”
WThF?
4.01.2009
Wednesday = Words: The Inevitable
"You know, I see so many parallels between what’s happening in our economy overall and what’s happening in our food systems, there are parallel philosophies. We’ve over-valued certain things, we’ve forgotten certain things. Just like the money between banks in this way that everyone is counting it as collateral and we have home prices ascending but everyone knew it was a paper empire that was going to collapse. This is the same as planting 20 million acres of a GMO corn in the first year that this corn is released. Inevitably, there are going to be problems with that. That we are going to break down the reciprocity with a particular pest control, whether it’s inserted into the genome of the corn or hand applied by an organic gardener corn silk, we are going to lose the effectiveness of any pest control strategy if we put it out on 20 million acres at the same time. So, the probability that we are going to see a collapse of industrial agriculture parallel with the related collapse of our financial system is just not prophecy, its inevitability."
-Gary Nabhan interview at Civil Eats
3.16.2009
3.09.2009
Monday=Music: Marching Bands
So I like this marching band trend. Radiohead played with USC at the Grammys. Andrew Bird's new video features Mucca Pazza. And who can forget the Ohio band from Dave Chappelle's block party?
Anyone know of others?
1.25.2009
Weekend Update
So I finished my grad school application!!!!!!
(Full disclosure: I am writing this before being completely finished so that I can triumphantly post it later today when I am actually finished. I'm hoping it will help motivate me to actually finish.) So yeah, that is exciting, but means that this is going to be a pretty boring post because all I did this weekend was work on my application.
Oh, except this kid I know (Full disclosure: He's my brother.) was the guitarist in the Maryland All-State Jazz Ensemble and their concert was last night. It was actually quite impressive.
So, what did you do this weekend?
1.17.2009
1.14.2009
Wednesday = Words: Grist
So I feel a bit heretical about this, but after many happy years with Salon.com, I have found a new on-line news source love. Grist is fantastic! Especially their blog, Gristmill. They do some amazingly detailed environmental reporting, as well as some fun features. I will continue to rely on Salon for general political news, as well as their important feminist coverage of the world, but expect to see a lot of Grist in my shared items to the right. Happy reading!
1.13.2009
Monday = Music: Noble Beast
So I promise that this is the last Andrew Bird post for a while (at least until I see him in New York at the end of the month), but this weekend I listened to the NPR first listen chat with him about his new album Noble Beast, and I think that you should listen to it, too. The first few times I listened to the album, I have to admit that I didn't love it. Well, I loved the song Anonanimal, but it is the one with the most loops and swirls and sounds the most typically Andrew Bird. It is still my favorite song on the album, but I have come to love the album as a whole, instead of trying to break it down into songs. It is really just beautiful. I know that I am gushing, but I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to Andrew Bird. I'm like a thirteen year-old fangirl. Anyway, the NPR interview made me love the album even more. He had a lot of interesting things to say about what he was trying to do and why and it made me appreciate the album even more. You should listen to it. And then you should read his New York Times blog posts. And listen to the album, obviously. And see him live because that is really the only way to truely appreciate his music. Okay, thanks for indulging me. I will lay off for a little while.
1.10.2009
Friday = Film: Top 5 of 2008
So I didn't see too many films in theaters this year, but here are my top 5:
Wednesday = Words: Top 5 of 2008
Top 5 books I read this year (regardless of when they were published):
1. Atonement by Ian McEwan
2. The Game by A.S. Byatt
3. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
5. Snow by Orhan Pamuk
1. Atonement by Ian McEwan
2. The Game by A.S. Byatt
3. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
4. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
5. Snow by Orhan Pamuk
Monday = Music: Top 5 of 2008
5. Attack & Release - The Black Keys
I am ashamed to say that I have not listened to this nearly as much as it deserves. It blows me away every time I put it on.
I Got Mine - The Black Keys
4. Wolves and Wishes - Dosh
Martin Dosh is breaking down my resistance to wordless music one amazing loop at a time.
If You Want To, You Have To - Dosh
3. Lie Down in the Light - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Weird, wonderful Will comes through with a really solid, pleasing album. He isn't very flashy, so I sometimes forget how plain old good he is.
Easy Does It - Bonnie Prince Billy
2. The End of All-Purpose - The Heligoats
I havne't been able to find out too much about Chris Otepka, the guy who seems to basically be The Heligoats, but I first fell in love with the song Kind/Brutal, then the whole EP.
Been a Drill - The Heligoats
1. Soldier On - Andrew Bird
My love of Andrew Bird is obvious and well documented, so just enjoy the song.
The Trees Were Mistaken - Andrew Bird
I am ashamed to say that I have not listened to this nearly as much as it deserves. It blows me away every time I put it on.
I Got Mine - The Black Keys
4. Wolves and Wishes - Dosh
Martin Dosh is breaking down my resistance to wordless music one amazing loop at a time.
If You Want To, You Have To - Dosh
3. Lie Down in the Light - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Weird, wonderful Will comes through with a really solid, pleasing album. He isn't very flashy, so I sometimes forget how plain old good he is.
Easy Does It - Bonnie Prince Billy
2. The End of All-Purpose - The Heligoats
I havne't been able to find out too much about Chris Otepka, the guy who seems to basically be The Heligoats, but I first fell in love with the song Kind/Brutal, then the whole EP.
Been a Drill - The Heligoats
1. Soldier On - Andrew Bird
My love of Andrew Bird is obvious and well documented, so just enjoy the song.
The Trees Were Mistaken - Andrew Bird
New Year Update
So I took a major holiday time hiatus, but I am back. Actually, I am avoiding writing grad school application essays, but at least my reading public will benefit.
I am about to post some 2008 Top 5 lists, but first...
My 2009 started off exceptionally well! I was in New York with friends going to parties and museums and movies and just generally enjoying myself. I saw Christmas Tale, which felt exceptionally long, and Milk, which was exceptionally good. I also took advantage of free/pay what you want nights at MOMA, the Guggenheim and the Brooklyn Art Museum.
How was your New Years?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
