Music

A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

Nothing like terror alerts, Footloose and ESPN NFL 2K5 to cap off a fun but tiring weekend! Something in Bloomberg's demeanor during today's press conference suggested this particular alert is the real deal and not some post-Democratic Convention political boogeyman cooked up by Karl Rove and friends. He looked intense and tired, like he'd been up all night, and his statement was an unusually page-bound reading of a carefully worded script, equal parts calm and alarm. That I work a few blocks south of the NY Stock Exchange and right across the street from a Prudential office building didn't help…

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

Just read the text of Kerry's prepared speech - not the transcript of the one actually delivered which varied slightly - and can't help but think in terms of the poetry slam: 4.8 for content, 3.0 for performance. Which in this image-obsessed, media-driven world, one where George Bush is able to successfully present himself as a "regular guy," is a scary thing. For those that worry about how my vote will ultimately be cast, understand that intellectually, I realize Kerry is exponentially better than Bush, hands down. Philosophically, though, it offends me that he is my only "viable" choice, as…

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

Hip-hop. Or, more specifically, rap music. Like your ex-con cousin on the verge of his third strike, I have a love-hate relationship with it. He will always be family, and every now and then I like to spend time with him, but for the most part, I'm over it. Was reading a preview the other day of Def Jam Vendetta II, a fighting game coming out for the XBox that features several prominent rappers and a hip-hop related theme, and went from geeked to disgusted by the end of the article. I love fighting games and the concept for this…

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

Got this off of nihilistic kid's LJ friends list: It's been my experience that everyone does something that, to them, is meditation. You know, something that centers them, that makes them focus on nothing in particular - kina like Pirsig's Motorcyle Maintenence or that crazy guy in the corner that smells bad and his babbling to himself about conspiracy theory. One hopes it's not quite the same as the latter, but you get the point. My question, then, is what is it you do? What brings your life into focus, or lets you just sort of center yourself?For me, there's…

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

I used to be the king of mix tapes, whether for myself or girlfriends, and Napster has brought back old memories as I've been digging through my CD collection to create playlists of music I haven't listened to in ages. Way back in the day - when vinyl still ruled and CD players were only for the rich - I mastered the pause/play, pause/stop, pause/rec on our cassette recorder, turning out inspired, seamless mixes designed to accentuate certain moods, from slow jams to party mixes. I used to buy 12" like I was a real DJ and one of my…

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

You're Avante Garde Indie. You listen to abstract music like free-jazz and Krautrock. You drink too much coffee and you scare the fuck out of the rest of us. We're afraid to call you pretentious because we know that we all just don't get it. There are few of you out there, and most of you will probably die soon. You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize. brought to you by Quizilla

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A guillotine, a Sister of Battle, and a scrapbook picture from the 2001 National Poetry Slam.

2003 In Review

This will have to last through Monday... 1. What did you do in 2003 that you'd never done before? Contributed $$$ to a political campaign. 2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Don't generally make specific resolutions other than to be true to myself. I am resolving to quit (or more likely, drastically cut down on) drinking. It's been 17 days... 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not that I recall, though Frandie announced they're expecting early next year! :-) 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. Knock…

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