stop counterculturalism now

This Week in Olympic Culture - Scandal Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Since the faking of some Olympic opening ceremony fireworks is old news, another great scandal has luckily arrived to make my work day more interesting.

Here is the set up.

Setting: Olympic opening ceremony singing of "Ode to the Motherland", to be sung by an elementary school aged girl

Plot and conflict: "Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremony's musical director concluded that the only solution was to use two girls instead of one. Miaoke, a third-grader, was judged cute and appealing but "not suitable" as a singer.

Hilarity ensues, and one must assume, shame on the family of the less attractive, but better singing, girl. It's hard to be 7 years old in the Motherland.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:15:00 +0000

I set up ping.fm so I can microblog and status update all over the place, but it seems now I have nothing to say

Hipsters

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Hipsterdom is the first "counterculture" to be born under the advertising industry's microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group - using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.

Link to Adbusters article, a good read on the ins-and-outs of the counterculture of hipsters with their one-gear bikes and legwarmers or what-nots.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:16:00 +0000

Why does the wind rustle instead of something else?

The color of glass on my tongue.

And frustrations.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Oncologists only talk to advanced cancer patients 37% of the time about the "end-of-life." I think that is so sad, that our society is so pro-life and death-phobic that doctors neglect to discuss such an important event humanely with their patients. I first heard about this on the News Hour on PBS but it's gotten more play in the press recently, which I think is so important.

I hope the NIMH study on whether physicians discuss end-of-life issues gets a lot more press and sparks a greater discussion in American households.

family, fun, & fireworks... how American

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Photos from my family trip to Grand Lake for the 4th of July (see also the Flickr Slideshow).

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:46:00 +0000

I want to share here a touching post about writing that a supervisor of mine wrote, I stubled upon it when searching for her email address.

brent.soup.io

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:38:00 +0000

To save you time, and to waste more of mine online, I have now out-nerded myself. I now have a fully operational life stream, tumbleblog, and procrastination machine.

Phrase of the Day: Nuke the Fridge

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Nuke the Fridge

Sample usage: "Man, when Peter Parker started doing the emo dance in Spider-Man 3, that franchise officially nuked the fridge."

Everyone start using it so it'll become even more annoying and we can go back to using Jump the Shark, like the good ol' days

Girl Talk

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Girl Talk is on top of his mashup game... mashing up Radiohead, Sinead O'Connor, the Police and the like (I can't list the rappers because I can't keep 'em separate these days). The new album, Feed the Animals, has leaked onto the interwebs, and you can stream it legally on Myspace. Read the Pitchfork interview for details.

Le Sigh

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:12:00 +0000

So, I didn't get the internship I interviewed for last week (again). I always get my hopes up because it always seems so... close, like it's in my hands but then it slips away. This quote made me feel better temporarily, George Carlin on too many colored ribbons: "Red for AIDS, pink for breast cancer. I've got a brown one. It stands for eat shit motherfucker!"

RIP, George Carlin

Tag Galaxy

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Here is a fun way to browse the universe of flickr photos. And here is a fun way to use your friends Flickr or Facebook photos as your desktop wallpaper.

Quote of the Day: Teddy Roosevelt Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Do what you can, where you are, with what you have, for as long as possible.

Teddy Roosevelt (see right) said that. Although he was a racist (see right), he was fine orator. He also preferred to be called "The Colonel" after retiring from his position in the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. Later, as president, he asked Congress in December 1901 to curb the power of trusts/monopolies "within reasonable limits." His Congress "did not act but Roosevelt did, issuing 44 lawsuits against major corporations." He did things 'imself.

hPDA / work update

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:23:00 +0000

hPDA: I needed to look up what Workflow referred to... You know, for work. So I spent a little time on Wikipedia. Thankfully, I came across an important personal organizing tool for those overwhelmed psychologically by the current trend of using "computers" to stay organized: the Hipster PDA.

Work update: I am beginning to understand the meaning of the phrase, "A camel is a horse designed by committee." And Dilbert and Office Space are now amusing in new ways. I'm frightened of what else may be coming...

How could it be?

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:01:00 +0000

The sun and stars and everything, everything
and I'm 9 to 5, 6 to 4, or, yes, outside the wall
knowing everything, watching and waiting, born into captivity
I set the stars free

Watch them, on a string
I could, I'm capable
Stirring, and such

It's a small day to be alive
And without a small hand to hold

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Fri, 30 May 2008 06:40:00 +0000

I could write a million words here about the way the ground used to swallow me up and comfort me on the catastrophic days, but that's not the way things are. I could write about saying goodbye or lonely cities and schizophrenic music. But it's disingenuous. And I suppose I must have changed. I would pull everything together if I could. I would bring it, rushing, towards the center, with hurricane force winds and clouds of disaster. That is, if disaster was on my mind. But I can't even try to understand and piece it into the puzzle. I guess there is no puzzle. There is only the goodbye hanging in the air. Perpetually. And if the ground fails to swallow me up I'll just lift it up and contemplate the weight and feathered lightness of the summer sky.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:24:00 +0000

Indiana Jones IV Review, via Jeff

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:49:00 +0000

I don't do show reviews (Jeff does that, and better than TV Guide anyway), but you should be watching "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." The NYTimes thinks so. And the news media in this country is never wrong. Or, well, rarely. And usually when they get things wrong it's about something more important than TV.

While I am ranting and being random, you might also want to check out the opposite end of the television spectrum as well and partake in PBS's American Experience on President Bush, Sr. While trying to avoid sounding review-ish, I'll just say it was super interesting. Another feature 'Bush's War' about his son's administration was even more interesting and works well as a crash course in recent American political history.

Quote of the Day: Philip K. Dick edition

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:23:00 +0000

"Whom the gods notice they destroy. Be small...and you will escape the jealousy of the great."

To differ

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:04:00 +0000

He stood in the street, an executive in a shade of grey, awakening from an empty horror

He hung his head, expecting the pounding and blood to spill uphill toward his temple

Instead a silence separate from the surrounding distractions welled within and He grew

He shed his mind's self referential image
Dying a thousand death, He paid it no mind

Heavy and cast off, as a cryptid awakening to
An unbelieving world, He took wing

Though unable to stop the flow of rivers
The Mokele-mbembe was reborn

And He found paper, sat down, lifted his chin to the sky, and then wrote these words:

It's no use

I am
And I love

And it's still no use

Today I choose to be free

on understanding

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:05:00 +0000

content and context, window dressing, who needs
everything, we all need, we all do, the
pictures of animals and toys all in bright
colors exploding in my brain

competing needs, competing teams, but we also
had much more I believe and that's still true, a tandem in
our hands not under our feet, especially and especially
and especially raw, poetic

brass notes on high, to hold, on to the bend
break, on water on all wonder
and attraction, sinking soft briefly spoken
dream traps, conversely, upon this, you awaken

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:12:00 +0000

I'm digging the new My Morning Jacket song, out this Spring... take a listen at NPR's All Songs Considered. New Deathcab, Portishead, etc. available for a listen as well.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:34:00 +0000

Return of the SuperNerd?

It flows both ways like we all should have learned from the tide. Intelligently designed, I have small and modest ideas in me that something is running away, under my feet, a metaphor of thunder storms that hesitate to calm us. Sitting in a small chair, opposite a screen door that leads to wind and rain, I forget all the times the shepherd's song brought me back home, with the cows, for the sleep that lasted from dawn until dusk until your eyes brightened against my melting heart and the world was one step from tomorrow. It's been four days. It's hurricane season and a thousand trumpets scream for my full attention. This is for good. If only the waters were calm. If only consistency would reign. Kissing you, an urge to flee, let's try try try again.

Connection is a primary human urge.
Freedom or independence is another.

If you really want me to return, in full force, seven or eight things may explode, and I am still afraid that I may be one of them. This is the last seal, the curse of regret, and the last chance to reanimate my southern cross.

Haarp

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:50:00 +0000

So, looks like Muse put out a raucous live cd, H.A.A.R.P. (link goes to Pitchfork review). I haven't taken a listen yet. Anyone else pick it up yet? I'm curious about the included DVD...

noreply@blogger.com (Brent) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:42:00 +0000

Have you ever had a dream where you received guidance from an animal or spirit that provided you with wisdom or perspective? In other words, have you ever met your guide, in whatever form, in a dream or vision? I am not sure that I have had such a dream although I believe in the power and truth of spontaneous moments of clarity and vision, whatever their origin. Here is some dialogue from one such experience I recently heard tale of:

There is no need to worry.
It does not end here.
It does not end ever.