Monthly Archives: December 2008

“Nostalgia is a powerful feeling; it can drown out anything.”

–Terrence Malick on filming Badlands, which is set in the oft over-romanticized 1950s.

K, sorry to gloat when I’m right, but GUH-DUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

This is hypnotic…

Are you’re a unabashed fan of Christmas/Holiday music, but you are sick and tired of hearing the same versions of the same songs over and over and over – especially when they’re suddenly interrupted 2 bars before the end with one of those annoying “K-Earth 101!! Holiday Favorites on the Radio!!!!!” shockers?

Yeah. Me too.

Well, that’s all over.

Tune into my favorite internet radio station, The 1920s Radio Network.

Every holiday season they play the best in little-known Christmas gems and obscure versions of holiday classics from the early part of the 20th century. You are always sure to hear stuff you’ve never heard before, and it’s all wonderful.

Create a nice holiday environment in your place without having to hear that damn Wham song 19 times.

I’m in Cali now visiting my family for the first time in a year (!). It’s beautiful outside, but Long Beach isn’t exactly a Winter Wonderland, so I need all the old-timey Christmasin’ I can get!

Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times has listed the JACK Quartet’s Xenakis show at Le Poisson Rouge as one of “the most memorable classical music presentations of 2008”:

The Jack Quartet, an ensemble of young string players devoted to contemporary music, played the club in October. I would never have expected to see a young crowd at a downtown nightclub erupting with whoops after performances of the four hypercomplex, cutting-edge string quartets by Iannis Xenakis. But in this setting these dense and kinetic works came across to this open-minded audience as just more hip, wild, out-there contemporary music.

Awesome, boys! Unfortunately, I missed this particular show. But I, and you, can catch them at their next NYC concert on March 1st at Tenri.

Click here to hear JACK killin’ some Xenakis.

Here’s a nice story (with video) about a doctor who is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to increase awareness and funding for my medical condition, HHT.

There’s more on HHT.org:

Scott is a part of a family of five generations of HHT patients, including his three children. Scott’s hope is that his climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro will help to increase the awareness of HHT. Currently, 9 out of 10 of the HHT population (68,000 US citizens) are not yet diagnosed due to widespread lack of knowledge by medical professionals and, therefore, are at risk of stroke, hemorrhage, and death.

Given Scott’s history of anemia and the presence of a pulmonary AVM, he debated whether or not to attempt this climb. “It seemed worth a try” states Scott. “The HHT Foundation and the doctors interested in this disease have done great things for people with HHT, including most of the people in my immediate family. Studies that have been performed have taught us a great deal about the natural course of the disease as well as treatment options for it.” Scott further commented.

Cool story. I definitely would not have the balls to rock Kilimanjaro, probably even if I didn’t have da HHTizzle. Special Osler-Weber-Rendu props the the good doctor!

It’s a snowy day in New York City, so I’m staying in for most of today. In honor of my voluntary convalescence, here’s the original trailer for one of my new favorite films of all time. The Sergio Leone masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West:

I cannot recommend this film highly enough, especially for those skeptical of the “western” genre. Leone infuses the tradition with a heavy dose of classic Italian neorealism and good old late-60s grit and grime. I love it. It is the perfect example of an anti-western, so perfect in fact that it redefined the genre (in a way voiding the “anti” aspect!).

Finally. I have an RSS feed of their latest additions and having to watch films that literally noone knows (seriously, not even the directors) be added daily to the list was starting to, ya know, grind my gears or something.

But this snowy morning’s list made me smile a bit. All the Back to the Futures plus Swingers. Nice.

Oh yeah, and Encino Man. Any, uh, Pauly Shore fans left out there? Brendan Fraser? Encino Man is available. Just putting that out there in case anyone wants to watch Encino Man. It’s online. Netflix. Encino man is. Check it.

Now, y’all may know that I’m pretty deep in the Obama camp. I voted for him, I’ve written a lot about him, and I think he’ll generally be a great president. But one of the major differences I have with him is the issue of gay marriage. He’s against it. Let’s not do the whole he’s for civil unions bullshit, he’s against gay marriage and that’s all that matters. Well, in one of his recent hands-across-the-aisle gestures, he’s invited Orange Country megachurch Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Aside from being a pastor at a megachurch – which I think is evil enough – Rick Warren is of course super anti-gay and rallied hard against Prop 8, comparing being gay to incest, polygamy, and pedophilia:

Look, I get that he’s reaching out, that he’s not only going to be the president of the blue half of America. I get that, I encourage it. But this is frankly a slap in the face to gay people, straight up. Picking this douche at a time during which gays are feeling increasingly persecuted across the country should be pretty insulting. One thing I’m getting the sense of with Obama: he is not afraid to take advantage of those with whom he is in good favor. Gay people by and large love Obama. He can afford to smack them around a bit to woo the fundamentalists. When it all comes down to it, he’s a politician.

Ouch. This is gonna hurt:

If the authority does not receive new sources of revenue, it seems likely that the base subway fare could rise to at least $2.50, from $2, starting in June. A monthly unlimited-ride MetroCard could rise to more than $100, from $81.

There is also talk of reducing service, making express trains local, and increase tolls over the bridges. Personally, I think that drivers should bear the brunt of the costs. There are way too many cars in the city as it is, if they have to discourage a group of commuters, discourage the group that we need less of, not the group we need more of. Tolls baby. (Sorry driving friends!)