I want to dance with somebody..!
Nathan noted to me that American Psycho is becoming a stage musical. If only THIS were the play they were doing in "High School Musical 3", I might go see the movie.
I kind of wish they'd quit trying to make everything a @#$%ing Broadway Musical. I am sure Brett Easton Ellis is equal parts horrified and delighted with the absurd idea of bringing the book to stage. Plus, you know, the sack of money they're giving him for a book he wrote when I was still in high school is probably easing the pain.
I'm sure the box office success of Sweeney Todd had some part in this show getting funding. But... I don't see this being a big sell to the tourists if they stay true to the book. (Hope they put the Bono scene back in, though...)
The Mighty Marvel Manner
Randy and Simon each sent me this strip. Not everyone is going to get it, but I assure you, its funny.
Cat Fancy
Stole this from Lauren's Blog.
An Engineer's Guide to Cats
Sunday, September 28, 2008
ACL Fest 2008 - Day 3
Today had, in my opinion, a better line-up.
We started off with Gillian Welch at the AMD stage (a stage that will need re-tooling next year, as sound bleed from the BMI and Dell stages caused all sorts of havoc). Welch played some of my favorite tunes, and got Allison Krause on stage to sing "Go to Sleep" from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. Honestly, it was my favorite set of my ACL experience, but I also have a few of her albums and am biased.
We then headed over to the AT&T Blue Room stage to see "Stars", who I thought were pretty darn good. I think I'd heard them before, or even saw them last year, but I was impressed. Decent set.
We regrouped at the Crack Flag back at the AMD stage for the Neko Case set, which was decent. I'm not sure I'll ever be into Neko Case the way other folks are, but her set (what I saw) was pretty decent. I think, had I not just seen Gillian Welch do more with just she, David Rawlings, and two guitars... perhaps I'd have been more impressed.
We (Julia P., Jason, Greg J. and others) cut down to the Austin Ventures stage to see Heartless Bastards. Honestly, I was a little disappointed, but I'd also built their set up into something pretty big in my head, so, there you have it. They didn't play "Into the Open", which made me sad. And, bands, if you have a 45 minute set at a festival where you're playing before the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley, DO NOT PLAY YOUR SLOW STUFF. Not if you want to not be overpowered by nearby stages and more rockin' sets.
Sound bleed seemed to be a far, far greater problem this year. I'm not sure if bands were turned up louder, if they scheduled quieter acts against louder acts, if the air pressure was different... but I noticed dit this year, and I never noticed it last year.
We returned to the Crack Flag positioned at the AMD stage for Raconteurs. I have something more than a passing interest in Jack White and his two main acts, and honestly wish I spent more time getting to know white Stripes and Raconteurs better. And, after the set this evening, I most certainly will be revisiting their stuff.
I basically flipped a coin on Gnarls Barkley/ Raconteurs, who both played at the same time. And, so, yeah... Raconteurs won out, and I felt like I saw a great show. Would love to see them in a real musical venue some time.
I skipped Band of Horses and left, so I could get home and not crawl into bed, exhausted, again as I have to be at work tomorrow.
I, technically, also skipped Foo Fighters, but here's the thing:
I don't like Foo Fighters. I never have. And there were all these rumors going around, like "it may be Foo Fighters final show... EVER."
Which, if I liked them, I might care. But I sort of feel the same about them as I do about Goo Goo Dolls, Blink 182, Maroon 5... All bands for which I have no antipathy, but that I just don't care about. So when you tell me its their FINAL show... well... okay. Enjoy.
Anyhow, that was my ACL.
I will post a few pictures this week.
We started off with Gillian Welch at the AMD stage (a stage that will need re-tooling next year, as sound bleed from the BMI and Dell stages caused all sorts of havoc). Welch played some of my favorite tunes, and got Allison Krause on stage to sing "Go to Sleep" from the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. Honestly, it was my favorite set of my ACL experience, but I also have a few of her albums and am biased.
We then headed over to the AT&T Blue Room stage to see "Stars", who I thought were pretty darn good. I think I'd heard them before, or even saw them last year, but I was impressed. Decent set.
We regrouped at the Crack Flag back at the AMD stage for the Neko Case set, which was decent. I'm not sure I'll ever be into Neko Case the way other folks are, but her set (what I saw) was pretty decent. I think, had I not just seen Gillian Welch do more with just she, David Rawlings, and two guitars... perhaps I'd have been more impressed.
We (Julia P., Jason, Greg J. and others) cut down to the Austin Ventures stage to see Heartless Bastards. Honestly, I was a little disappointed, but I'd also built their set up into something pretty big in my head, so, there you have it. They didn't play "Into the Open", which made me sad. And, bands, if you have a 45 minute set at a festival where you're playing before the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley, DO NOT PLAY YOUR SLOW STUFF. Not if you want to not be overpowered by nearby stages and more rockin' sets.
Sound bleed seemed to be a far, far greater problem this year. I'm not sure if bands were turned up louder, if they scheduled quieter acts against louder acts, if the air pressure was different... but I noticed dit this year, and I never noticed it last year.
We returned to the Crack Flag positioned at the AMD stage for Raconteurs. I have something more than a passing interest in Jack White and his two main acts, and honestly wish I spent more time getting to know white Stripes and Raconteurs better. And, after the set this evening, I most certainly will be revisiting their stuff.
I basically flipped a coin on Gnarls Barkley/ Raconteurs, who both played at the same time. And, so, yeah... Raconteurs won out, and I felt like I saw a great show. Would love to see them in a real musical venue some time.
I skipped Band of Horses and left, so I could get home and not crawl into bed, exhausted, again as I have to be at work tomorrow.
I, technically, also skipped Foo Fighters, but here's the thing:
I don't like Foo Fighters. I never have. And there were all these rumors going around, like "it may be Foo Fighters final show... EVER."
Which, if I liked them, I might care. But I sort of feel the same about them as I do about Goo Goo Dolls, Blink 182, Maroon 5... All bands for which I have no antipathy, but that I just don't care about. So when you tell me its their FINAL show... well... okay. Enjoy.
Anyhow, that was my ACL.
I will post a few pictures this week.
ACL Fest 2008 - Day 2
Well, I didn't make Day 1. Which kills me, because the guy who is probably in my top 3 musicians, David Byrne, played yesterday. But work blew up, and so what are you going to do?
Depending on my source of livelihood this time next year, I'm going to maybe not buy a three day pass, if I go next year.
Today I saw:
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - who I fully recommend.
Erykah Badu - who played a really nice set of stuff I didn't really know. I had a brief flirtation with the music of Badu about ten years ago, and then lost her debut CD somewhere in my moves since. Anyway, I thought she put on a great live show.
I was going to see MGMT, but I couldn't get close enough without spillover from other stages, so I went to see:
Electric Touch - who claimed to be a local act, despite some sort of UK accent. They were good, and I plan to see if they are as local as they claim.
The Natchito Herrera All-Stars, who played Cuban-style jazz and were a lot of fun.
I wandered over to watch the end of Spiritualized, but wasn't too crazy about what I saw and heard.
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band played, and I didn't like the first part of his set at all, and actually wandered off for a burger, came back, and dug the remainder of the show, including a good cover of "Kodachrome".
Iron & Wine played next, and I kind of got stuck guarding the Crack flag area as everyone else ran off to go hear Iron & Wine across the field. (The lesson, if anyone asks you what you're about to do, always insist you're about to leave). So I kind of missed Iron & Wine, who I wanted to see.
And, Beck closed out the night, playing pretty much his hits, if he has such a thing.
I am tired as heck and am going to bed.
Depending on my source of livelihood this time next year, I'm going to maybe not buy a three day pass, if I go next year.
Today I saw:
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - who I fully recommend.
Erykah Badu - who played a really nice set of stuff I didn't really know. I had a brief flirtation with the music of Badu about ten years ago, and then lost her debut CD somewhere in my moves since. Anyway, I thought she put on a great live show.
I was going to see MGMT, but I couldn't get close enough without spillover from other stages, so I went to see:
Electric Touch - who claimed to be a local act, despite some sort of UK accent. They were good, and I plan to see if they are as local as they claim.
The Natchito Herrera All-Stars, who played Cuban-style jazz and were a lot of fun.
I wandered over to watch the end of Spiritualized, but wasn't too crazy about what I saw and heard.
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band played, and I didn't like the first part of his set at all, and actually wandered off for a burger, came back, and dug the remainder of the show, including a good cover of "Kodachrome".
Iron & Wine played next, and I kind of got stuck guarding the Crack flag area as everyone else ran off to go hear Iron & Wine across the field. (The lesson, if anyone asks you what you're about to do, always insist you're about to leave). So I kind of missed Iron & Wine, who I wanted to see.
And, Beck closed out the night, playing pretty much his hits, if he has such a thing.
I am tired as heck and am going to bed.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
RIP Paul Newman
Paul Newman has merged with the infinite.
We've lost him at the age of 83.
I've only seen a fraction of Newman's work, but, hell... what red-blooded American made it through college without watching "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
For the Ladies: I also have a firm memory of taking a class on "relationships" at UT, and talking about ideals for men and women, and the cacophony that hit the 400 person auditorium when Mr. Newman's image was presented as the ladies went a bit nuts. Well done, Mr. Newman.
There's no question we've lost one of the best who will ever grace the screen. Few actors have been smart enough to follow Newman's lead either in choice of roles or in his example for how he lived his life off the screen (the food line has been able to give $200 million to charity).
You'll be missed, Mr. Newman.
Friday, September 26, 2008
To Infinity, and Beyond...!
Sweeeeeet.
Sure, financial news is dire... but just as the Depression brought us aerial circuses and barn stormers, so should be turn our eyes to the fellow who just strapped a kerosene powered jet-wing to his back and crossed the English Channel.
Here's the article.
Sure, financial news is dire... but just as the Depression brought us aerial circuses and barn stormers, so should be turn our eyes to the fellow who just strapped a kerosene powered jet-wing to his back and crossed the English Channel.
Here's the article.
This Moment in History - Watching the Financial Crisis
It's always odd to live through a moment in the news that you realize is becoming a moment in history. I've been around the block long enough to recognize them when they crop up, I think (and getting the history degree doesn't hurt, especially once you see how these things cook up when using primary source documents in research). And, Leaguers, this story is picking up enough steam to maybe be one of those events.
And while the events of the current financial collapse won't be recognized in the same manner as, say, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, etc... it could be recognized in much the same way as Black Thursday. And you know what the big difference is between those events (aside from loss of life and the road to war)? The mistakes made along the way are amazingly clear in hindsight.
I am unsure what to make of the bailout. We're getting a plea from a government that has made a lot of claims over the years insisting that the public rush to get behind them, but its a governments whose credibility has been tragically diminished thanks to requests for blind faith (and this isn't just opinion here. I'm going off well known polls, Sunday morning show consensus, etc...) and then finding their goodwill has been taken advantage of.
Add in the idea that the government hasn't ever really reacted this way before to financial crisis, and the American public surely isn't too excited about finding themselves holding the bag (taxwise) for what's seen as nothing less than an act of hubris by people who would as soon step on them as speak to them.
The American public seems to have a feeling in their gut that the bailout plan is the wrong way to go, and you can't blame them. After all, where's the bailout for the people losing their homes? Why are CEO's for failing companies regularly receiving "golden parachutes" after driving their companies into the ground and losing their jobs? Why were the financial policies of the past few years ever allowed if anyone was aware of the potential risk? And whys hould we be expected to pay for their risk? When so many people have already lost so much thanks to participating in their risky behaviors? And it seems hopelessly mired in the notion that the financial well being of the country should be based in propping up the wealthy (and wealthy institutions) to support the trickle down effect theory of economics.
That's not to say I believe that $700 Billion should be set aside for people who took loans they couldn't afford, but I don't see the value in putting your $700 billion in fewer baskets over spreading the wealth when the institutions seem to lack the discipline to handle the money they have/ had. (Either way seems to be a dud. I wonder how historians and economists of the future will see the economic stimulus checks we got this summer. FYI: Mine was spent in Costa Rica. Viva America!)
Economists will be studying the past six years for the next fifty. And, I assure you, we'll do it all over again in my lifetime when another generation is running things, doesn't know their history and believes the people in their same jobs of a few decades back were merely fools who couldn't handle things the way THEY can.
In a way, we sort of know what will happen if the bailout doesn't happen. We have a major financial crisis and have to hit the reset button. And while it will surely hurt many, many people, its something that may serve to force our economy into a natural equilibrium. Joe Average on the street has no faith in the companies who have failed in the first place, so why would we give them $700 Billion again (whether that's how the administration looks at it or not, it's our dough...)? In short, if we think we're about to bottom out, anyway, why go further into national debt throwing good money after bad?
Frankly, I'm a bit stunned that this plan came from the White House. But if I were an outgoing President, I wouldn't be too keen on letting the end result of eight years of my economic policy being financial collapse of the US, either, I guess. So I'd be looking for some stopgap to try to keep that from happening. Nobody wants to be remembered as going down in flames in the same manner as Hoover.
Whether right or wrong on this bailout request, unfortunately the current administration has burned through its goodwill and claims of wise leadership (I guess they call it political capital). Which is another lesson in government to you future leaders of America. Sooner or later you might actually need for people to get behind you on something, so you better not waste and/ or drop the ball on the first two or three requests.
Part of me wonders if Bush did more harm than good in going begging to the public for their support instead of leaving the idea of the bailout as more of an abstraction without a face.
Part of why I'm writing this post is that LoM might be your daily bit of goofiness, but it's also got a multi-year archive at this point. So it seems a shame to not mark some of this stuff for posterity for myself. Especially if I suspect that events as they unfold will be part of our national narrative. So I can see if I was right or wrong in my predictions, and see how what I was thinking about the news as it unfolded.
So, yes, perhaps a bit selfish, but I hope it'll have some value for me in the future.
And while the events of the current financial collapse won't be recognized in the same manner as, say, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, etc... it could be recognized in much the same way as Black Thursday. And you know what the big difference is between those events (aside from loss of life and the road to war)? The mistakes made along the way are amazingly clear in hindsight.
I am unsure what to make of the bailout. We're getting a plea from a government that has made a lot of claims over the years insisting that the public rush to get behind them, but its a governments whose credibility has been tragically diminished thanks to requests for blind faith (and this isn't just opinion here. I'm going off well known polls, Sunday morning show consensus, etc...) and then finding their goodwill has been taken advantage of.
Add in the idea that the government hasn't ever really reacted this way before to financial crisis, and the American public surely isn't too excited about finding themselves holding the bag (taxwise) for what's seen as nothing less than an act of hubris by people who would as soon step on them as speak to them.
The American public seems to have a feeling in their gut that the bailout plan is the wrong way to go, and you can't blame them. After all, where's the bailout for the people losing their homes? Why are CEO's for failing companies regularly receiving "golden parachutes" after driving their companies into the ground and losing their jobs? Why were the financial policies of the past few years ever allowed if anyone was aware of the potential risk? And whys hould we be expected to pay for their risk? When so many people have already lost so much thanks to participating in their risky behaviors? And it seems hopelessly mired in the notion that the financial well being of the country should be based in propping up the wealthy (and wealthy institutions) to support the trickle down effect theory of economics.
That's not to say I believe that $700 Billion should be set aside for people who took loans they couldn't afford, but I don't see the value in putting your $700 billion in fewer baskets over spreading the wealth when the institutions seem to lack the discipline to handle the money they have/ had. (Either way seems to be a dud. I wonder how historians and economists of the future will see the economic stimulus checks we got this summer. FYI: Mine was spent in Costa Rica. Viva America!)
Economists will be studying the past six years for the next fifty. And, I assure you, we'll do it all over again in my lifetime when another generation is running things, doesn't know their history and believes the people in their same jobs of a few decades back were merely fools who couldn't handle things the way THEY can.
In a way, we sort of know what will happen if the bailout doesn't happen. We have a major financial crisis and have to hit the reset button. And while it will surely hurt many, many people, its something that may serve to force our economy into a natural equilibrium. Joe Average on the street has no faith in the companies who have failed in the first place, so why would we give them $700 Billion again (whether that's how the administration looks at it or not, it's our dough...)? In short, if we think we're about to bottom out, anyway, why go further into national debt throwing good money after bad?
Frankly, I'm a bit stunned that this plan came from the White House. But if I were an outgoing President, I wouldn't be too keen on letting the end result of eight years of my economic policy being financial collapse of the US, either, I guess. So I'd be looking for some stopgap to try to keep that from happening. Nobody wants to be remembered as going down in flames in the same manner as Hoover.
Whether right or wrong on this bailout request, unfortunately the current administration has burned through its goodwill and claims of wise leadership (I guess they call it political capital). Which is another lesson in government to you future leaders of America. Sooner or later you might actually need for people to get behind you on something, so you better not waste and/ or drop the ball on the first two or three requests.
Part of me wonders if Bush did more harm than good in going begging to the public for their support instead of leaving the idea of the bailout as more of an abstraction without a face.
Part of why I'm writing this post is that LoM might be your daily bit of goofiness, but it's also got a multi-year archive at this point. So it seems a shame to not mark some of this stuff for posterity for myself. Especially if I suspect that events as they unfold will be part of our national narrative. So I can see if I was right or wrong in my predictions, and see how what I was thinking about the news as it unfolded.
So, yes, perhaps a bit selfish, but I hope it'll have some value for me in the future.
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