Technology Update and Music Review

Were I to stumble upon Steve Jobs at the bar, I would genuflect and beg forgiveness for my dalliances with non-iPod/iTunes products.

Apparently these days one's second anniversary should be celebrated with mp3 players, not wood or tuna or whatever Letitia Baldrige would lead you to believe. My wife gifted me the iPod 60G clydesdale of the Apple stable. While the device itself is light years beyond others I've sampled (and returned only to have the replacement break again), it's the seamless marriage of iTunes software and the iPod that makes this work so well. I avoided Apple products for years because I'm fundamentally against proprietary-ness, but in this case I'm more than willing to live with it.

The iTunes music store is much more expansive than I expected. I've tried to trick it with very deep cuts and local bands and it has rarely disappointed (it doesn't have Tin Soldier by the Small Faces which I'm desperate to find.) Podcasts are readily availble and easily handled by both devices. I'm sure in the other world I'd have to visit multiple sites to get music, TV shows, videos, podcasts, and audiobooks, but in the world of iTunes they are all readily available and simple to acquire. So I'm looking at the frustration of Musicmatch, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, Rhapsody, eMusic and the rest of their ilk in the rear view mirror. These clunky combinations with all the Windows friendly mp3s are way more hassle than even a moderately tech-friendly guy like me is willing to stomach. Also, the battery life if far superior and the styling is no contest.

So with that, I give you my first iTunes playlist (boringly titled iTunes Playlist1) composed exclusively of songs I've recently downloaded that I did not posess for whatever reason (in no particular order because I shuffle):

Sunday Morning Coming Down - Kris Kristofferson: Been there, dude...a lot. So spare (with the inimitable haunting Hammond B3) and evocative, one wit said you could smell the chicken frying. One of the most lonesome songs since Hank. "...and it echoed through the canyons like the disappearing dreams of yesterday."

Lawyers, Guns, and Money - Warren Zevon: If Hunter S. Thompson had written songs, he'd have penned this one. "Send lawyers guns and money, I'm a desperate man: I'm hiding in Honduras and the shit has hit the fan."

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon: If it weren't for the piano, I'd recommend this song for Six Feet High and Rising...with Susanne singing (like the Ronstadt cover.) "She put me through some changes Lord, just like a Waring blender."

Reptile - The Church: Great catchy hook from underappreciated 80s band that reminds me of some of the great Stone Roses songs.

Hash Pipe - Weezer: I think I denigrated Weezer on a past post or comment as not worth the title of a band that got better with age (with the caveat that I loved Hash Pipe.) I've never owned it...now I do. I'm betting that Hash Pipe is some of their early stuff.

California Stars - Wilco with Billy Bragg: Kicked-up Woody Guthrie capturing the early 20th century ethos of the Golden State. Listen for the fiddle. "I'd like to dream my troubles all away on a bed of California stars."

I Got You - Split Enz: An 80's song that I never heard enough to get burned out on. For some reason I think of the Boomtown Rats.

She Took a Lot of Pills (and died) - Robbie Fulks: Alt-country kitsch. Found on the third installment of the great Insurgent Country set put out by Bloodshot Records. "Nothin' in the world seemed to matter to her so she took a lot of pills and died."

On a Plain - Nirvana: Straight up rock song that moves along like a locomotive. Not beat to death like the other songs on the baby in a pool album.

Loose - The Stooges: Perfect heir to the MC5 as my pre-punk band of the year. Massive bass-line with shock-value lyrics and Iggy taking you on a trip. More than serviceable cover by Alejandro Escovedo's punk side-project Buick McKane (who I saw open for Son Volt back in the day.)

I Am One - Smashing Pumpkins: I'm a bit prejudiced against this band because I see their fans as a bunch of overly pale girls with too-black hair, piercings and an air of vapid pomposity. Once you get past that, they can rock with anyone.

Bullet with Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins: Just fucking rocks. Once you get the chorus in your head, "Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage," it will not leave.

Better Man - Pearl Jam: One of the most sing-alongable songs I've heard. I'm just now getting into the grunge scene. I hear Seattle is the next big thing.

Shambala - Three Dog Night: Great 70's pop that makes you want to howl along. This band had so many great songs and they see the benefit of a great organ...

Never Been to Spain - Three Dog Night: I get addicted to this song every five years or so since Bruce first played it for me in college. I fuck the lyrics up all the time, but you can't get it out of your head.

Hasselhoff Fix

Anyone needing their Hasselhoff fix should go here immediately. Big Dave with a leather suit, a giant boot, and a full orchestra elates his German audience with an inimitable version of the Glen Campbell gem, Rhinestone Cowboy. No shit.

Immigration

Even though I think much of the recent immigration hubbub is just smokescreen for a crumbling government, I'll weigh in:

Fence: What? We didn't have one? Sure, build a fence, we're a country for chrissakes. If I need a fence around my property, we should damn sure have one around our border.

National ID Card: Sounds like a fine idea, and don't just limit it to immigrants. As strongly as my civil libertarian streak is, this just doesn't frighten me. I have a passport and a driver's license and a SSN, so it seems to me we already have national ID cards. It seems to me that if you don't want identification, you're probably up to no good.

English as National Language: Don't agree. Blatant attempt to stir up xenophobia among rednecks. I agree that immigrants should learn English, but if they don't do we give them a ticket?

Deporting 12 Million People: Right, let's see that. Look at more pragmatic solutions, like the one Bush suggested that caused a schism in his party. Whatever you do, don't deport the guys that cut my grass.

Speaking of which, that didn't seem very savvy politically. Is Rove shivering in his boots about being indicted that he's lost his usual acute political perception? Bush's biggest problem right now is defectors from his own party, and then he comes out with his amnesty suggestion which is a handgrenade to party unity. I don't get it.

More Evidence Iran is the new Third Reich

Disturbing news out of Iran:

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

Yipes. When is the Munich moment?

Must Eat Restaurant in Chicago

As many of you may know, Chicago is a bounty of good eats. The surprise of the trip came from a tip from a (frequent) patron of The Lodge on Division (Rush St. area). If you go to Chicago, you need to fight your way into Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders. Order the Mediterranean Bread and individual Pizza Pot Pies. This was some of the best eatin' I've experienced...and I've eaten a fair bit.

I don't really even know how to explain the Pizza Pot Pie except amazing. Now, you're likely to wait a fair piece. The Maitre'd is a strange fellow that doesn't write names on a list, because he has the unique ability to recognize faces. Well, we were told an hour wait and luckily there was a friendly pub across the street, The Clark Bar, so we headed over there to return a little over an hour later. When we headed back, the wife MF'd her way to immediate seating. The rest was awesome eating. Highly recommended. Beware, cash only...which makes me think: I can't remember ever eating at a cash-only restaurant that wasn't fantastic.

Maps and Legends

Thanks to Mike D. for posting in my absence. Please feel free to keep posting.

I just returned from a very nice trip to Chicago. Upon arrival, I received this very interesting link to a site that builds upon some of the interesting maps from the 2004 election that poo-poo the idea of red and blue states by showing actual results adjusted for population density (or as purple, as I like to call myself.) These maps show the countries of the world adjusted in size for over 100 different indices like 2050 populataion, tobacco and alcohol exports, grain imports, and the like. Obviously the US doesn't show well for exports. The map I would really like to see would show net service exports where I think we would look pretty well...or maybe investment.

Car Ribbon Things

There are precious few things that I detest more than the fake magnetic yellow ribbons that adorn just about every car, and especially truck, in Texas. They all invariably say, "Support the Troops." My response, "Fuck you, you cretinous inbred. I'll support whomever I choose to support and no amount of redneck advertising is going to help." I don't understand the motivation for this sort of display any more than the motivation of people still driving around with Kerry-Edwards bumper-stickers. Is it a need to belong?

The troop ribbons could become much less incendiary to me if they would just preface their message with an "I". I would still harbor many of the same prejudices towards these folks, but I would not feel like I was being told what to do by the likes of them. "I support the troops." Good for you!

Of course these types of public displays always seem to generate cottage industries. Take the plastic bracelet craze. NASCAR now has plastic bracelets signifying something. My company handed out red bracelets to symbolize our "turnaround plan." I suppose by wearing them, we were supposed to experience more solidarity with the other poor saps. (n.b. I never wore one.)

I'm always heartened when trends reach this phase because it signifies the end-phase. And so it goes with the magnetic trunk ribbons. On my walk in from the parking garage today, I saw the familiar fake ribbon design on the back of an SUV. As I neared the vehicle, I could tell it was not yellow and it did not implore me to do anything. It was white and polka-dotted with basketballs. The only verbiage...I love basketball. I expect I'll soon see a magnetic ribbon announcing to the world that Dachshunds are the greatest dogs and that my money and my child go to Baylor. The bumper-sticker we all know will have been twisted around to make a ribbon bearing phrases no more innocuous than my best day working wasn't as good as my worst day fishing. I can't wait.

Chi-town

I'll be in Chi-town for a week, but I did manage to get one taker for some guest blogging. I'm hoping to be back and refreshed by the end of the month.

Wonderful Opportunity!

Due to vacation, training classes at work, and general drunkeness, my blogging volume has been severely impaired. Therefore I declare May to be guest-blogging month. Send me an email to steve_buck_1999@yahoo.com if you think you can churn out a couple of paragraphs a week (and who can't?) Pseudonyms are accepted (and encouraged.) The only technical skill required is the ability to type (although I'll be happy to show you how to link.) As you know, all subjects are fair game including overt works of fiction.

I'm planning on being back to full-steam on June 1, so this is a limited engagement. Wouldn't "Guest-Blogger" look great on your resume! Looking forward to hearing from somebody...anybody.

Iran and Opium

This article takes a serious look at life inside Iran. I had no idea Iran leads the world in Opium usage by percent of its population. As expected, this is because nobody has a job and two-thirds of the population is under 30. The article also explains how the current hardline rule sprung from this desperation.

Continuing the parallels evident between Iran and the Third Reich, this seems similar to Germany's situation after WWI when they were punished severely by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler responded by giving everyone jobs rearming the country. Iran is responding by building nuclear weapons, which engenders a sense of pride in the otherwise forlorn population.

The author reports from the city of Shaft. I wonder if he planned that?

New LCD

No, not a new LCD TV - the press has unearthed a new Lowest Common Denominator and her name is Jordan Susch. Here's Jordan's story in her own words:

“I’m a true example of how Harry Potter books can open your life to witchcraft,” said Jordan Susch. Susch says she read the first Harry Potter novel when she was in the fourth grade. Two years later, she says, she and her friends were practicing witchcraft.“We wanted to know if spells, potions and curses worked. By the seventh grade, I was so depressed, I set a date to kill myself,” Susch said.

How's that for a logical leap? She was depressed because her curses didn't work? Or because she's an idiot with idiot parents. I feel very confident that if you are suicidally depressed, there's more to it than the Half-Blood Prince.

So of course, the answer in Georgia is to ban the books from the school library because of the Lowest Common Denominator. Luckily she's found common-cause with a busybody mother with too much time on her hands. Closed-minded parent Laura Mallory said, “I want to protect my kids, children and others from evil, not fill their minds with it.”

Let's hope she's shielding her precious children from other fiction containing evil witchcraft like turning water into devil-liquor.

Hu?

There was a protest today at a joint appearance by President Bush and Chinese president Hu Jintao (or somesuch). Some gal started hollerin' at Hu about persucuting the Falun Gong religious sect. Good for her, I thought as I read the story. It couldn't hurt for Hu to finally get a little lip as well. What pissed me off is that Bush "expressed personal regret to Chinese President Hu Jintao for a protest during an elaborate welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn Thursday." There should be 100,000 Chinese-Americans on the Capitol Mall tomorrow showing Hu what it's like to have some freedom.

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rumsfeld

I've been soaking up the recent public thrashings of Donald Rumsfeld by former Generals. The response from the White House and their proxies has been disingenuous, as usual. Claiming that there are 8000 Generals and only 6 have spoken out...therefore, Rummy's the man for 7994 Generals is statistically criminal.

However, the White House is in a serious pinch here. They should have taken Rummy out in 2004 when he offered to resign. Since then, Bush has done a swan dive in the polls. Firing Rumsfeld would mean Senate confirmations of a replacement...on TV every day. As bad as the news is for Bush as it is, this would be much worse as Democrats would seek to capitalize and Republicans would seek to distance. Bush has no choice but to keep Rummy on.

Tom Cruise Stays Relevant

If there was any doubt who would fill the Michael Jackson freak-out void in the news...

The Mission Impossible star, 43, said: "I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there."

Who Moved My IED?

This post by Walter Kirn, substituting for Andrew Sullivan makes an interesting connection between vapid corporate sloganeering and the Iraq War. It's also well written and disparages my current professional vector (Six Sigma) which I like. He writes:

For Iraq, I blame the managers, of course, but I also blame their reading lists. More than once, while predicting victory, Donald Rumsfeld has used the magic words "Tipping Point." This new pop formula for achieving vast results from relatively limited efforts has turned out to be one disastrous abracadabra.

He goes on:

Behind every failed war is a failed metaphor (remember The Domino Effect, the Vietnam-era version of The Tipping Point?) that mesmerized its masters into waging it, kept them waging it once they started losing it, and immobilized them with disbelief when it turned back into intellectual smoke.Behind every failed war is a failed metaphor (remember The Domino Effect, the Vietnam-era version of The Tipping Point?) that mesmerized its masters into waging it, kept them waging it once they started losing it, and immobilized them with disbelief when it turned back into intellectual smoke.

I like that line "Behind every failed war is a failed metaphor..."

Musing on Idioms

We're all familiar with the idiomatic expression about a "wrench in the works" - meaning to screw up a plan. However, while listening to a Brit on some chat show the other day they referred to a "spanner in the works." I was aware that spanner was British for the American "wrench," but I was surprised to find an idiom that translated. One of the most difficult parts of learning any new language are idioms, because they infrequently jump languages. I guess it's a little easier in the situation at hand, because it's just jumping dialects.

I doubt that the expression "junk in the trunk," about large-assed women, translates to "junk in the boot" in England. Would Commander Cody sing about a "Lorry-drivin' Man?"

Back to the Bar

You can put the temperance movement on hold because it's safe to drink in bars in Texas again.

Chicago Intelligence Needed

The wife and I are planning an excursion to Chicago next month. We're interested if anyone has unique sites/restaurants/things to do while we're there. We'll probably knock out Wrigley and the Art Institute, but are curious if anyone has any deeper recommendations.

Detroit Dwarf City

If you were considering starting up an all-dwarf Kiss cover band, forget about it. It's been done. Twice. And there's some ill feeling between MiniKiss and TinyKiss with the potential for a mini-fistfight. I sense a reality show, but would it be Fox or MTV?

Wedge Issue Picks Up Steam

I was struck by the following headline and subhead in the LA Times today: "Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies: Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue."

The point the fringe religious right is making is that their religion requires them to speak out against homosexuality, and therefore a university regulation banning the harassment of gays is an infringement on their freedom of religious expression. Isn't this about like Islamists saying that their religion requires them to kill infidels, and therefore laws against murder are a abridgement of their freedom of religious expression? I can't see myself supporting anyone that uses religion to allow harassment of others, but I might support this: I'm sure there's some shit in the bible where God or Jesus or someone says to reap the bounty of the earth...therefore making a plant (pot) illegal limits my religious expression.