Still At War?

April 28, 2010
Two great movies on war in the past 24 hours. First a My Lai documentary on PBS, which was one of the heaviest pieces I've ever seen, bringing us through the events leading up to the worst civilian massacre of the Vietnam war and though its execution. Men who were there and involved with mass slaughter of 500 unarmed villagers explained, almost rationally, why they committed this atrocity, and a photographer presents his magnum opus of War's Worst. In the heat of battle and under constant fire from invisible enemies, it is reasonable to expect men to lose their heads,…

The Ascent of Money

April 20, 2010
I just finished reading Niall Ferguson's book and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of finance. It is a fascinating look at the evolution of money and mankind from hunter-gatherer to creditor-debtor. The Incas were perhaps the last great moneyless empire but they were eradicated by conquers intent on claiming the metal in their mountains, a symbol of wealth and power in their own culture; and while rocks and metals could be immediately traded or transformed into goods and services, bankers took the concept temporal with loans and interest, creating stocks, derivatives, insurance, mortgages and futures.…

The Flaming Lips

April 18, 2010
I had heard rumors about this band... I have listened to them for years (Vaseline was in the prime of my middle school-MTV watching years) and have heard they put on an amazing spectacle but had never seen them live until last night in Poughkeepsie. This rumor turned out to be completely true. The show was at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and they transformed a drab empty space into a vivid party; giant balloons, confetti cannons, giant bug costumes and hundreds of laser pointers distributed to the crowd accompanied by joyous music made the evening a truly special experience. But…

Fired!

April 14, 2010
In the half of my lifetime that I have been working, I have been relieved of my duties twice. The first was at my very first job at an ice cream store, where I was accused of scooping kids cones too big. While she did have a point, I maintain that she was also completely crazy and not a person that I wanted to be working for anyway. The second time came last week, when I was told by a certain Upper East Side preschool that my one-day-a-week contract would not be renewed because "movement is more than just running…

Thank you Phil for reminding me!

April 5, 2010
They play at least 162 games in a season, which makes the value of each one so small, but last night was the very first and after months surviving on other sports I allowed myself to watch it as if it were game 7 of the World Series. Plus it was against the Yankees. Beginning of Baseball season also means beginning of patio season, which is where I write this now and where we grilled last night, opening BBQ season with spicy kebabs v. spicy chicken (Daliente!); a great night of hanging out with friends watching The Sox deliver a…

i hate everything

April 1, 2010
Life sucks. Anyone who believes otherwise is an ignorant fool. Being alive is nothing but ugly disappointment everywhere you look: all your hopes and dreams will be crushed by reality, which is just a painful death march. Every day depletes your soul as you become the zombie slave our society feeds on. In the grand scheme of things, you are nothing, infinitesimal in the pointless existence of the universe. Joy is a fleeting illusion. Love will only break your heart. Good is dead.

Karaoke

March 19, 2010
I had a few great karaoke experiences this week. On Saturday night, our crew traveled to Koreatown for the classic room rental and sang and screamed into a microphone to various selections from our cultural history. The background music is cheesy MIDI accompaniment, and the words are superimposed on ridiculous Korean films, but it is still one of the most fun activities I can think of participating in with my friends. There is something very intoxicating (besides the copious alcohol consumption) about belting out a song that you've listened to passively hundreds of times. When you are given license to…

Charango

March 13, 2010
When I was in Peru, I was entranced by this 10-stringed instrument and found a workshop where I watched a craftsman making these Andean ukuleles. I had to have one. It is a beautiful instrument with a haunting sound that I had heard forever in the subways and streets of the world, often accompanied by a flute called a zampona. My charango makes a cameo in my latest Record recording, around 2 minutes in. Peruve it!

Propellerhead Record

March 11, 2010
This blog is written irregularly for sure, but when almost two weeks go by with no word from me, I am concerned. Where have I been these first few weeks of March, if not dutifully transcribing my every move on the ORG? It turns out I have been in front of my computer for most of that time, playing with a new piece of software that is SO MUCH FUN! I have been a user of Propellerhead's synth rack emulator Reason for a long time; it is an amazing studio tool with unlimited sound synthesizing potential, but it has always…

Music!

February 27, 2010
When I first heard Fela Kuti, I was a senior at Middlebury and it sealed the fact that I needed to visit West Africa as soon as possible, which I did eight months later in Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali. Unable to visit Nigeria then, I was transported on Wednesday to Lagos (sort of...) on Broadway and treated to some great Afrobeat courtesy of Antibalas and (an actor portraying) Fela. He was an incredible character and fierce musical guerilla warrior, constantly antagonizing his oppressors and receiving due punishment. The music he created is hypnotic and powerful, wise and inspiring, and…