Born Under Punches

perpetua: Pearl Jam“Yellow Ledbetter”Live in Buenos Aires,...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:55:16 -0500

Pearl Jam
“Yellow Ledbetter”
Live in Buenos Aires, 11/25/2005

Yeah, I’m listening to “Yellow Ledbetter” and I don’t know whether it was a box or a bag ahhh-yeeeeahhhhhhh…

See also: misheard lyrics for “Yellow Ledbetter” (which is where my friend Mike got the name for his blog)

I haven’t been able to sit through all of “Bohemian...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:54:00 -0500

I haven’t been able to sit through all of “Bohemian Rhapsody” in years, but throw in some Muppets and you have me hooked.

So many wonderful moments - but that Animal verse is especially fantastic.

African leaders advise Bono on reform of U2, warn of poverty in "listenable songs" - Boing Boing

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:22:43 -0500

African leaders advise Bono on reform of U2, warn of poverty in "listenable songs" - Boing Boing:

Hilarious.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-22)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:19:53 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-22):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

“(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea (live on Jimmy...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:26:33 -0500

“(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea (live on Jimmy Fallon)” - Elvis Costello & The Roots

Elvis looks svelte! Also, no offense intended to the Imposters, but “Chelsea” punches with the Roots backing him.

Oh, fuck my cock.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:18:54 -0500

(via jasontheexploder)

Combined with your change of icon, you win, sir.

"Another big point in Mayer’s tweets recently has been how much he hates it when someone says..."

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:08:00 -0500

“Another big point in Mayer’s tweets recently has been how much he hates it when someone says they “actually” like something. “Hey, that Black Eyed Peas song? I actually like it!” We live in this world where everybody is supposedly over “guilty pleasures,” but the language we use to talk about music or culture— or books or gossip blogs— says otherwise. The emphasis in Mayer’s song, then, is on not the “get stoned” but the “who says.” Who says I can’t say “Who Says” is one of my favorite songs of the year? (I like “Who Says”, what’s with your Animal Collective?)”

- des noise: THEY LOVE TO TELL YOU STAY INSIDE THE LINES

One of a number of great points in Marc Hogan’s essay on John Mayer. For whatever reason, we fall into the trap of having to “defend” our taste (or, if nothing else, placing a safe distance between ourselves and certain things, John Mayer songs being one of them) with this sort of backhanded praise. In that case, saying nothing might be more of an endorsement than telling everyone that you’ve come down from Mt. GoodTaste to anoint this lesser song as “acceptable.”

Anyway, his essay is an excellent read - go check it out.

What Should I Be Reading?

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:32:13 -0500

I’m finding lately that I’m mostly going through Google Reader (and Tumblr too, on occasion) just to clear it out rather than to read the actual blog posts in it. Of course, one Google Reader’s most useful features (personally, at least) is the ability to “skim” blogs that I’d only occasionally read otherwise. Lately, the skimming comes partially because I’m busy, but I also feel like I need some new things to read.

Long story short - what blogs (Tumblrs or otherwise) do you read that you think I should be reading? I’m flexible as to the subjects (my folders in Google Reader: Comics, Education, Miscellaneous (mostly comedy/entertainment/books), Music, Sports, and Technology but don’t limit yourself to that). Here’s a link to my shared items if that will give you a better idea of the things that catch my attention.

Any and all suggestions are welcome - thanks!

raptoravatar: Saves The Day- At Your Funeral Not much to add to...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:47:28 -0500

raptoravatar:

Saves The Day- At Your Funeral

Not much to add to this one beyond the fact that I love how this record strove for the big themes and, more or less, got enough claws into each to pull them all in.

Unabashedly loved this in the winter of 2002. I reacquired the album a little while back after getting “Nightingale” stuck in my head out of nowhere. It’s probably something I would immediately write off now, and that’s a shame, as Sam is absolutely right in his synopsis.

I don’t like reblogging the same thing twice in a row, but Nitsuh really nailed it there. He...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:23:07 -0500

I don’t like reblogging the same thing twice in a row, but Nitsuh really nailed it there. He said it better than I tried to put it (and eventually ended up deleting due to being braindead exhausted this week). Definitely worth reading.

agrammar:

“What I do is try to put something in every review I write that I think is actually an interesting point or idea whether or not you care about the band or are ever going to hear the record. I don’t always manage it but that’s the idea. Probably it says something awful about the times in which we live that I have to think of ideas as ‘easter eggs’ like this, but oh well!”

—

Blue Lines Revisited: Roundtable Discussion: The Role Of The Record Label (via bwall05)

This strikes me as a pretty basic foundation of good criticism, and it’s definitely something Tom’s great at.

It’s also interesting to me, because I’ve always been happy — maybe even happier — to read about music I don’t think I’ll buy or hear. This isn’t necessarily because I love reading or criticism (though I suppose I enjoy both). It’s because it’s a quick way to learn what’s going on. People don’t much like to think of themselves as “music journalists” these days — criticism seems more apt and noble — but there’s a journalistic function even to criticism: on some level you’re telling people what’s happening. And one main purpose of journalism is so we can learn about stuff without having to go out and experience it ourselves, something that comes in handy when it comes to foreign wars / genres I hate hearing.

Obviously knowing a lot about “what’s happening” in music isn’t a top priority for most people; it’s not like all those records have some great global import. More than ever, there’s no central “what’s happening” that people could hope to keep up with anyway. There are a ton of different things happening, and the dominant mode of learning-about-music online is one of rapid, efficient sorting and discerning: using quick cues (like point ratings) and the speed of your mouse finger to find as much music you actually want to hear as possible in every given moment. No reason to waste time on something you’re not interested in when your web browser has a “back” button and an address bar right there in front of you.

But this is honestly different from the ways we treat other topics we’re interested in: most of us will, for instance, read just as much about politicians we can’t vote for (or against) as we will for our actual representatives. Because, well: we want to know what’s going on. The same thing held for print music magazines, which didn’t come with “back” buttons: stuck on a bus with a copy of one, you’d be a lot more likely to read about the genres and bands you didn’t like. Not just out of boredom, but to have a better idea of what surrounded the stuff you did like — what other people were listening to, or the ways they talked about it, or just what kinds of sub-trends and mediocrities and bad ideas were floating around your preferred genre, and what interesting conclusions might be drawn from them.

All this is just an attempt to argue the obvious: that reading a couple interesting things about music you don’t want to hear can be useful and actually even fun. It can even, in the end, make you more efficient at figuring out what you do want to hear — you might wind up with a better perspective on the territory, rather than just a laser focus on acquiring things that are already to your tastes. You might wind up with better ideas and tools for thinking about stuff. Or, yes, maybe you’ll just read a review of something you don’t care for but browse away thinking “oh, that was an interesting idea in there about X.”

"What I do is try to put something in every review I write that I think is actually an interesting..."

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:54:35 -0500

“What I do is try to put something in every review I write that I think is actually an interesting point or idea whether or not you care about the band or are ever going to hear the record. I don’t always manage it but that’s the idea. Probably it says something awful about the times in which we live that I have to think of ideas as ‘easter eggs’ like this, but oh well!”

- Blue Lines Revisited: Roundtable Discussion: The Role Of The Record Label

Nation Planning Surprise Party To Cheer Up Conor Oberst | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:34:32 -0500

Nation Planning Surprise Party To Cheer Up Conor Oberst | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

BDL Book Review: Chris Ballard's 'The Art of a Beautiful Game'

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:31 -0500

BDL Book Review: Chris Ballard's 'The Art of a Beautiful Game':

yourmandevine:

This is a pretty cool day for me — publication of the first in (what I hope will be) a series of book reviews for Ball Don’t Lie, Yahoo!’s fantastic basketball blog. Much love to its indomitable editor, J.E. Skeets, for giving me an opportunity to take a swing.

The highest praise that I can give Devine as a writer is that he makes his subject compelling and exciting to everyone, whether you care about the subject or not. Of course, if you’re interested in it as well (and especially when he was writing about records, basketball, or jokes), then you’ll appreciate the depth and nuance in his text.

All that to say, whether you’re a hoops fan or not, he makes that book sound incredibly fascinating. I’m sure he’d appreciate a comment over at BDL if you dig it as well.

daveholmes: My sources at the mothership tell me MTV will be...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:13:11 -0500

daveholmes:

My sources at the mothership tell me MTV will be showing some classic episodes of Remote Control late-night tomorrow. Will provide specifs when I get them. Set that TiVo!

Haven’t had a chance to write my thoughts about this yet. Remote Control is this strange mirage-like memory from my childhood. If I try to think about it, I can’t recall too many details other than watching it and being endlessly amused when I was 7 or 8. Then, in unlikely times, something will rise up in my memory only to evaporate just as fast.

Regardless, it’s sad to hear about someone dying prematurely. I’m eager to watch these episodes, too!

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-15)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:30:39 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-15):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Good versus Excellent

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:55:11 -0500

In a lesson this morning with my high school freshmen, I asked the question of whether they would rather be “good” at something or “excellent” at it (first, in the context of me calling their parents and commenting on their abilities in class, then generalized to take academics out of it).

An overwhelming majority immediately declared that they would rather be “good,” citing expectations, motivation, and pressure as the distinction (which was what I wanted out of the discussion - the connotations of one word versus another). Even at their favorite thing in the world - karate, art, texting, etc. - a surprising amount said they’d rather be “good.”

I’m kind of stunned. Should I be?

yourmandevine: bwall05: gary: HOLYYYYYYYYYYYY CRAP!!!!!!!!! :)...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:18:20 -0500

yourmandevine:

bwall05:

gary:

HOLYYYYYYYYYYYY CRAP!!!!!!!!! :) 30 Rock just hooked up Crush It with some serious Love!
kashifpasta:

A @garyvee character on 30 Rock… yet again, the writers on that show manage to stay funny, relevant, entertaining and heartfelt all at the same time. What an amazing writing room that would be to watch.

Is it just me, or did it seem like they were satirizing this? We were supposed to think that that guy was kind of a dick (the same way we were supposed to find the Top Chef woman’s persona as vapid), right? Or did I completely misread this?

Not only were we supposed to think that he was kind of a dick, we were supposed think he was a complete fraud, empty of content, directly contradicting the things he says and not giving a shit about the client he says will be his top priority.

Good. I was worried that I needed more coffee.

gary: HOLYYYYYYYYYYYY CRAP!!!!!!!!! :) 30 Rock just hooked up...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:16:52 -0500

gary:

HOLYYYYYYYYYYYY CRAP!!!!!!!!! :) 30 Rock just hooked up Crush It with some serious Love!
kashifpasta:

A @garyvee character on 30 Rock… yet again, the writers on that show manage to stay funny, relevant, entertaining and heartfelt all at the same time. What an amazing writing room that would be to watch.

Is it just me, or did it seem like they were satirizing this? We were supposed to think that that guy was kind of a dick (the same way we were supposed to find the Top Chef woman’s persona as vapid), right? Or did I completely misread this?

Venn diagram tee shows the bittersweet between happy and sad -...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:32:56 -0500

Venn diagram tee shows the bittersweet between happy and sad - Boing Boing

"The addition of two new co-editors is the first of a series of changes coming to the site. We’re..."

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:16:43 -0500

“The addition of two new co-editors is the first of a series of changes coming to the site. We’re working on a number of new product features that we think will help transform the blog into something more.”

- A Note To Our Readers « Idolator: Music News, Reviews, And Gossip

This is a joke, right?

Also, the two new bloggers’ introductions only perpetuate the myth that informal writing has to be bad. Just because you’re cashing a check for writing a blog doesn’t mean that you have to throw extra letters into the word “that” or write like a fifteen year-old with a livejournal.