tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7578501394593955362024-03-14T01:28:06.012-04:00The Ass FestivalJuliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-79635267230331081932011-01-20T19:47:00.000-05:002011-01-20T19:47:45.445-05:00A Bouquet of Rabbinic Wisdom<b>Pursuit</b><br />
retold by Doug Lipman<br />
<blockquote>Rabbi Levi Yitzhak walked down the main street of Berdichev, greeting all who passed him. To some he gave compliments; to some he offered blessings; of some he asked questions, then stopped to listen to their answers.<br />
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As the rabbi slowly made his way through the stream of people, one of his congregants strode through the crowd, elbows pumping with determination. Passing Levi Yitzhak, he murmured, "Sholom Aleichem, Rabbi."<br />
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Suddenly, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak shouted at him, "Stop! Where are you going?"<br />
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The man turned to face his rebbe. "I am pursuing my living, Rabbi," he growled. "Please let me continue."<br />
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Rabbi Levi Yitzhak smiled. "How do you know," he said, "that your living is not behind you, trying to catch up?" </blockquote><b><br />
How Do We Know?</b><br />
retold by Doug Lipman<br />
<blockquote>Some students of the Baal Shem Tov came to him one day with a question. "Every year we travel here to learn from you. Nothing could make us stop doing that. But we have learned of a man in our own town who claims to be a tzaddik, a righteous one. If he is genuine, we would love to profit from his wisdom. But how will we know if he is a fake?"<br />
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The Baal Shem Tov looked at his earnest hasidim. "You must test him by asking him a question." He paused. "You have had difficulty with stray thoughts during prayer?"<br />
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"Yes!" The hasidim answered eagerly. "We try to think only of our holy intentions as we pray, but other thoughts come into our minds. We have tried many methods not to be troubled by them."<br />
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"Good," said the Baal Shem Tov. "Ask him the way to stop such thoughts from entering your minds." The Baal Shem Tov smiled. "If he has an answer, he is a fake."</blockquote><br />
Also, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1R-zbgb5i0">watch this</a> (YouTube wouldn't let me embed it). "<i>Ich weiss als a Dybbuk esst nicht.</i>" (Forgive the poor transcription... haven't a clue how to write the language, though I can understand it better than I can Plautdietsch.)Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-46706956885807579662010-10-19T00:15:00.002-04:002010-10-19T01:20:34.597-04:00Learning ObjectivesJustin EH Smith has written <a href="http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/10/thoughts-occasioned.html">a timely piece</a> on the closing of foreign language departments and the end of education as the transformation of mind and body. I have very little mental energy at present, so I'll let him do the talking. <br />
<blockquote>The internal wiring of my body --the neurons and the nerves and the muscles-- simply has not been configured so as to enable me to even pretend for a second that I can play a violin. But look at Anne-Sophie Mutter's body. Is it so different? It is a woman's body, but it is not in respect of that difference that she is a violinist and I am not. Where is the difference, then? The difference, obviously, is in the way we were shaped and tenderized over the years. Her violinist-body and my slouching, contemplative, wholly non-musical body were shaped throughout the course of many years of handling, of <i>dressage</i>.<br />
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Now we're getting close to what I actually wanted to talk about: not music, but the humanities, and the state of higher education in general. There is, at this point, nothing we in the humanities can ask students to do that is analogous to what must be asked of anyone who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Anne-Sophie Mutter. We cannot say to students: "Welcome. We are here to rewire your neurons. We are here to completely transform you from the inside so that everything you do with your body (and mind, but that's an afterthought), every sensation and minute experience you have of your own capacities, will be entirely foreign from what you now know." Increasingly, in fact, universities are clamoring to assure students that no such transformation will take place. </blockquote>And later:<br />
<blockquote>To expect students to master a foreign language would be precisely to have a design upon the wiring of their brains, but such a design would entirely go against the trend, now fully dominant across the humanities, of creating, for every course, a parallel universe of so-called 'learning objectives', where the singular and obvious objective of a course cannot be mentioned, and instead one must speak vaguely of enhancing critical thinking skills, nurturing confidence in public speaking, learning to collaborate with others through small-group work, etc. But obviously the only legitimate learning objective of, say, a Greek course is to <i>learn Greek</i>. Once that basic commitment is abandoned, real education in letters is doomed.</blockquote>As I said, it's a timely piece, particularly as I sit here copying learning objectives from curriculum documents to paste at the top of each lesson plan. <br />
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In teacher's college, much ado is made regarding the potentially transformative nature of education. We are educating for big goals, like active citizenship and an equitable economy, and these will be achieved through community partnerships and character education initiatives! Because who isn't transformed by parent-teacher events and "Respect" month at school? <br />
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In a bit of spokesperson weirdness, I have found nothing more promising than the curriculum developed by the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dFrOTgAIzY">Hawn Foundation</a> (as in Goldie Hawn), which actually seeks to incorporate practices of mindfulness (meditation in public schools!) in order to develop gratitude and actual <i>peace of mind</i>. Neuroscience, it seems, has finally figured out what every wisdom tradition has known: that compassion requires spiritual disciplines in order to grow. Now if only we could think of all our learning as a transformative discipline, the results of which are not in our control.<br />
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Then maybe I wouldn't have to agonize over these damned lesson plans.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-60323996790057643012010-10-06T15:37:00.000-04:002010-10-06T15:37:11.977-04:00Life plansWhy college (and, I would add, life) should be less about career preparation and more about intellectual stimulation:<br />
<blockquote>I mean, seriously, look around you. They’re phasing out the concept of a “job” little by little anyway — you owe it to yourself, to your fellow temps, and to your online dating profile to at least be a halfway interesting person. </blockquote>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-82173407903702601102010-09-26T22:56:00.000-04:002010-09-26T22:56:41.666-04:00Das Leben der Anderen: An emotional responseIt's 1986. The East is heavy with coal. The concrete rises story after uniform story. There are rats in the attic of our soot-stained Ahrensfelde home and the cemetery nearby is equally greyed and barren. <br />
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I was three years old when we lived on the other side of the iron curtain, but the sights and especially smells of East Berlin still trigger an emotional response elicited by few other phenomena. Our memories of early childhood are, of course, sparse and reconstructed, and the importance I place on that time in my life is largely a result of subsequent developments, like that day in November three years later when my dad sat watching the television and crying. The result is that stories of life in the DDR, particularly when set in the 80s, automatically carry greater emotional resonance.<br />
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I was bowled over by <i>Das Leben der Anderen</i> (<i>The Lives of Others<i></i></i>). Particularly impressive was the sympathetic portrayal of the committed ideologue even before his aesthetic conversion, who, because of his very commitment, cannot easily watch his beloved system be so abused by those in power. In fact, I wonder if the man's quiet dedication had fostered the sort of attentiveness that allowed him, after all those years, to recognize and be moved by the beauty in the world of the writer Dreyman. Perhaps ideologue and aesthete tread some common ground, ground unfamiliar to those interested only in personal gain and utility. <br />
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Of course, our sympathy for the quiet Wiesler increases due to his heroic sabotage of the Stasi system. There was much to appreciate about the DDR. Those who had few material desires, who had little personal ambition, could live quite comfortably and enjoy many of its definite advantages (I think always of the education and health care). But then there was the Stasi. A few years ago I sat in on a conversation between my father and the former pastor of the Mennonite church in East Berlin. They would not look at the records, they decided. What was the point? They were already reasonably certain that three of the members in the congregation had been active informants. <br />
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Accompanying the soot and the concrete were watchfulness and fear, strategy and enforced silence. Perhaps it's naïve to think this doesn't take place in our capitalist republic, but I simply do not live in fear of the government, and for that I am increasingly grateful.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-60880282660913722162010-09-23T17:48:00.003-04:002010-09-23T18:29:09.015-04:00Colour and the CanonMy regular perusing on 3 Quarks Daily led me to <a href="http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/09/in-praise-of-dead-white-men/">this article</a> by Lindsay Johns in which he offers a strong opinion on the "sensitivity" of education to the colonial history of thought. Much to highlight and much to explore.<blockquote>As black people, we cannot change history, and should not try to reject knowledge because of its provenance.</blockquote>I would find this statement more palatable if it were amended to read "wisdom" instead of "knowlege" for the simple reason that the "provenance" of wisdom is much less determinate than knowledge. As per yesterday's post, new knowledge is gained through a conquest of some kind, whereas wisdom is as likely to dismantle as it is to fortify.<br />
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Most welcome insight: <blockquote>Terence, regarded as one of the founding fathers of western drama, and a seminal influence on Renaissance humanism, was in fact a freed black African slave from Carthage. Saint Augustine, philosopher, theologian and intellectual bedrock of Christianity, was North African, from modern day Algeria. In our consciousness, we have come to see these figures as white. So the way the canon has been refracted through racist lenses does need to be incisively and intelligently critiqued.</blockquote>The uncomfortable truth that you will never hear me say in an education seminar: <blockquote>But it is undeniable that man’s inhumanity to man is only one part of the human condition. The dead white men never had to face the evils of slavery or the physical and emotional oppression of racism. Thus their minds were freer to range over the great philosophical questions, metaphysical quandaries and cosmological dilemmas. In short, they have been allowed to address man in relation to the macrocosm, as opposed to just the microcosm.</blockquote>He concludes that insofar as we want to teach <i>humanity</i>, we should consider the canon of "dead white men" profoundly relevant to every student. Interesting.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-14029540726212285902010-09-22T12:14:00.001-04:002010-09-22T12:25:37.521-04:00Demography and the Imperialist ImaginationThe will to know finds only idols. <br /><br />Idolatry is not a popular topic for Canadian educators, and writer John Willinsky instead describes the will to know as the intellectual interest of imperialism, for “at its root was a desire to take hold of the world”. In <span style="font-style:italic;">Learning to Divide the World: Education at Empire's End</span> Willinsky leaves aside any discussion of global capitalist empire in order to examine the even more direct consequences of European colonial expansion, namely the categorization and classification of the world. Our education system is predicated on this division and naming, and yet we rarely look at the political and economic conquest that accompanied this “new knowledge”. Willinsky proposes an educational accountability that teaches how our system of knowledge developed, thus complicating the divisions we too often consider given. We used geographical examples in my “School and Society” seminar, and I do think these make the point most spectacularly. Why is it more important to know the location of present day Brazil than it is to understand the political history of the region? Why do we learn the name Baffin Island without knowing how it came to have that name? <br /><br />Imperial education is the education of the industrial and managerial age. The conquering mind keeps hold of what it conquers by keeping it manageable, by orders and ranks. Our seminar also addressed the poorly-named hidden curriculum (could it be less hidden?), the task schools gave themselves of creating obedient and docile citizens through militant exercises. We were asked to think about how the contemporary school system replicates the status quo, but I soon became convinced that the “scientific” socio-economic model is unequipped to really speak to that question. <br /><br />To explain I must say a little about my professor, but let it be known that this dissent was already voiced in seminar. The professor has several convictions that quickly became apparent, stemming from his initial claim that one is either racist or anti-racist. He is convinced that all the students entering his class have internalized certain racial and social prejudices and that the only solution to these divisive attitudes is to name them and denounce them with much gusto. Wielding statistics as weapons, he made a simple morality tale out of every historical and contemporary situation and sought to teach all the supposedly white students about their privileged whiteness (regardless of the protests of an Irish and a Portugese woman). Europe (whatever that is) was the unequivocal aggressor and the colonial project was likened to WWII, “except the bad guys won”. Where does this get us?<br /><br />No study of colonialism can ignore the new manifestations of the imperial imperative, especially the push to classify the world according to monetary value. If our first task is to clearly identify where privilege lies, based on access to particular cultural communties and the wealth they command, we are accepting the dominant definition of privilege and only continuing the imperial project. We read a speech by James Baldwin for the same seminar in which he insists that the white people are the victims of their own oppression. They have deluded themselves; they do not know who they are. If only some of this wisdom could be brought into our pedagogy. If only we could learn that the managers of knowledge destroy themselves in their conceit. Such a claim upsets the neat division between victims and oppressors, but aren't these supposedly fixed divisions exactly what we should be challenging? <br /><br />There is a certain strand of sociological orthodoxy that desperately needs the arts, or even psychology, to begin to think about the human condition. Sociology (in its crassest form) makes its home in demography, using gender, race and class to “classify” the world, thus extending the imperial imagination it seeks to challenge. The task I give myself is to bring a Yoderian pedagogy into the classroom, one that denies the binary of conquered and conqueror, and to hold a Dostoyevskian picture of humanity, in which human beings are not known according to what they are, but according to their sufferings, desires, and loves. <br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xb_NbdeE2zU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xb_NbdeE2zU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Warning: This is the first of what may be a barrage of posts in response to the climate of contemporary teacher education.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-26802400080960970752010-09-12T01:36:00.002-04:002010-09-12T01:40:10.705-04:00Promotional PurposesMy friends are embarking on exciting projects. If you're in Winnipeg, you should listen to <a href="http://sceneandnotseen.blogspot.com/">this radio show</a>. And you should all keep an eye out for <a href="http://www.myspace.com/rococode">this band</a>.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-19861331647327290812010-09-12T01:32:00.003-04:002010-09-15T13:20:27.346-04:00City Livin'It's been two weeks since I moved, and I can tentatively say that Toronto agrees with me. What the apartment still lacks in furniture and décor (it's a slow process), it makes up for in space. This, along with the very good roommate situation and the nearby organic farmer's market, brings out a domesticity I haven't seen in three years. I've been washing walls and cooking like mad: beet borscht, fennel stir fry and sausages, Moroccan inspired kale, Greek salads. This is a very good development.<br /><br />Toronto is all about neighbourhoods. While every major street is packed with businesses, you won't find what you're looking for unless you're in the right neighbourhood. For example, don't really bother looking for bubble tea unless you're in Koreatown or Chinatown, and don't expect to find a fabric store unless you're in the Design District. Luckily, I'm within easy walking distance of the bustling nightlife of Little Italy/Portugal (rather indistinct at this point), and the ever more interesting Bloordale strip (Bloor between Dufferin and Lansdowne), home to some fabulous vintage/antique stores. <br /><br />My proximity to Little Italy (College Street) also places me near one of my favourite TO havens: <a href="http://www.soundscapesmusic.com/">Soundscapes</a>. The tiny store carries a fantastic selection of new albums and, more importantly, sells tickets to every concert with a fraction of the service charge Ticketmaster tacks on. You have to go elsewhere to dig through the bins, but at Soundscapes you can keep your eye on what's happening around Toronto, and even hear the occasional in-house concert. I already purchased tickets to the Eric Chenaux CD release, which happened tonight at a perfectly wonderful church venue called The Music Gallery, and to a Deerhoof/Xiu Xiu show, two bands I've been dying to see for years!<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7uFxsBdQ7Ug?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7uFxsBdQ7Ug?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />I was very nervous to cycle in the big city, but most of my fears were way off base. The vehicle traffic moves slowly, and bike lanes run on several major thoroughfares. I'm still terrified of getting too near the streetcar tracks. Getting stuck in one of those would be disastrous. It will also take some time to get used to the bicycle traffic! I'm not a great cyclist, but I have the right bike for city riding – a ten speed with cruiser handlebars (I feel very European) – and find myself constantly needing to pass slower bikes. This does not always work. Yesterday I was stuck behind a guy who was listening to an iPod and drinking a coffee while perched on a bike far too small for him (seriously, his knees stuck out at odd angles on either side) and tottering precariously back and forth across the bicycle lane. At least being trapped behind him for five minutes made for a good laugh! <br /><br />Another surprise: Toronto is friendly! I get the sense that, once you get out of downtown, people actually like conversing with strangers!<br /><br />I have some ambivalence about what I'm actually doing here. I have taken a scholastic step back and am enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program. Teaching is right on, but I already miss being a graduate student. However, the very different nature of the work means I will have time/mental energy for more discretionary reading, and without another forum for discussion, I imagine the blog posts will become more frequent.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-29578548422321360992010-09-08T22:31:00.008-04:002010-09-15T13:20:57.575-04:00Albums that changed the way I listen to music - Part IV of IV<span style="font-weight:bold;">Part IV of IV: New Trends</span><br /><br />Welcome to the final installment of this patchy attempt to analyze my own musical taste.<br /><br />Since 2005, one or two Canadian artists have dominated my musical landscape each year, due mostly to the excitement that builds with repeated live shows. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QG0Son49Mg">Final Fantasy</a> owned 2005, Elliott Brood was the sound of 2006, and Jon-Rae & the River dominated the summer of 2007. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5wzeNDQ_GM&feature=related">The Acorn</a> and Rock Plaza Central filled 2007 and 2008, each fueled by the release of a brilliant concept album, and the raucous bluesy gospel of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1lwWefA1FA&feature=related">Bruce Peninsula</a> marked 2009. I think I may have finally tired of Ontario death-country/folk-rock collectives. A very different strain of recent releases has done more to alter my overall experience of music in the last several years.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Panda Bear – <span style="font-style:italic;">Person Pitch</span></span><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jwwlCSHo50o?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jwwlCSHo50o?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />Also dating back to my summer of post-punk and gin, <span style="font-style:italic;">Person Pitch</span> is the perfect hot weather album. It sounds like The Beach Boys, if they had turned electronic and done even more drugs. This album was my introduction to that whole swath of recent music that takes elements of pop and combines it with the repetitive, mood-altering qualities of electronic. Prior to <span style="font-style:italic;">Person Pitch</span>, I couldn't really get behind music that eschewed typical melodies in favour of repetition; after <span style="font-style:italic;">Person Pitch</span> I began listening to Animal Collective and even found myself appreciating Philip Glass (I attended a ballet set to his music and had something of an “a-ha!” moment). Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear) seems to have his fingers in a lot of great stuff these days, collaborating with Atlas Sound (the solo project of Deerhunter's Bradford Cox) and with German ambient electro musician Pantha du Prince (see below). <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Zomby – <span style="font-style:italic;">Where Were You in ‘92</span></span><br />It took this great throwback house/dub-step album to make me realize that club music needn't be bad just because I don't want to dance to it. Only one or two of the tracks on this album actually makes me want to get up and groove (and that's only because I recently learned what house dance looks like), yet all of the tracks rock. Once the album began to make sense to me, I could hardly listen to anything else. <br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Pantha Du Prince – <span style="font-style:italic;">Black Noise</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TIhJs9Dak5I/AAAAAAAAA2o/ZXNi4aspbCo/s1600/koenigsee.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 317px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TIhJs9Dak5I/AAAAAAAAA2o/ZXNi4aspbCo/s320/koenigsee.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5514738780367131538" /></a><br />Again, once I really started listening to this album, I could hardly listen to anything else. Never thought I would become a fan of ambient electronic, but here it is, my favourite album of 2010 thus far. The songs emerge gradually, taking on many textures and rhythms, and then changing altogether in one moment. This album will never be boring. Incidentally, the cover art has been my desktop background for about seven month. It shows a tiny church accessible only by boat on the edge of the Koenigsee in Bavaria, a perfectly gorgeous spot.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Dirty Projectors – <span style="font-style:italic;">Rise Above</span></span><br />Dave Longstreth et al have really made waves in the Brooklyn music scene in the last few years, and hence, in the North American music scene. Their latest full-length, <span style="font-style:italic;">Bitte Orca</span>, is the critical darling and crowd favourite, and they have since had relatively high-profile collaborations with David Byrne and, most recently, Bjork. This output has all been fantastic, but, as I mentioned in <a href="http://theassfestival.blogspot.com/2009/06/o-v-e-r-d-o-s-e.html">a post</a> from last year, I'm still partial to the earlier “cover” album. <span style="font-style:italic;">Rise Above</span> is Longstreth's rewritten version of Black Flag's 1981 album of the same title, and the combination of the simple punk lyrics and the sparse instrumentals makes this a painfully vulnerable listen. Like a Xiu Xiu album. The alternating minimalism and crashing noise seems characteristic of a lot of “avant garde” pop rock these days, and I like it. Frankly, they're not that great live, so here's the album version of my favourite track. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/teiHUFmIv7U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/teiHUFmIv7U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Thus endeth the series.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-82761486946486924302010-09-03T13:00:00.001-04:002010-09-03T13:02:04.629-04:00What for privacy?Justin EH Smith is awesome again:<blockquote>To the oft-expressed concern that too much of our life is finding its way online, to be mined and held against us by future Orwellian governments and humorless employers, I always reply, what life? I have no life left other than what leaves a digital trace. Do you? Are you sure?</blockquote>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-32699158550297488192010-08-28T14:46:00.003-04:002010-08-28T14:47:52.766-04:001965I watched the first episode of Mad Men Season 4. Nice start. Even better end: <br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X4wBr2wdE9U?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X4wBr2wdE9U?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-1272152814902676672010-08-21T22:15:00.004-04:002010-09-15T13:34:32.138-04:00Dionysus and the CrucifiedTwo days from now I will be defending my M.A. thesis. I conclude the entire paper with the following paragraph: <blockquote>This paper began with a quote from Erich Heller: “[Nietzsche] is, by the very texture of his soul and mind, one of the most radically religious natures that the nineteenth century brought forth, but is endowed with an intellect which guards, with the aggressive jealousy of a watchdog, all approaches to the temple” (Heller 11). Heller identifies a tension between Nietzsche's intellectual atheism and his residual Christian piety, but this thesis presents another option. Nietzsche does not struggle to rid himself of religiosity; rather, his struggle <span style="font-style:italic;">is</span> his religiosity. The Dionysian faith of which Valadier speaks so eloquently requires a constant overcoming, a constant vigilance against idols, and a constant affirmation. Nietzsche is religious because of, and not in spite of, his resistance to the security of human constructions. </blockquote>More later.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-89680874329754985392010-07-29T13:19:00.007-04:002010-09-15T13:21:48.169-04:00Roll CreditsI love the breadth of material Justin Erik Halldor Smith covers in his blog. Recently he has posted <a href="http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/07/seriously-what-about-cousin-marriage.html">an anthropological criticism</a> of militant political correctness, <a href="http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/07/what-are-eastern-and-postcolonial-voices.html">an important tirade</a> against the Western hegemony (and failed history) perpetrated by philosophy textbooks, and <a href="http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/07/against-eighties-music.html">some suggestions</a> on how <span style="font-style:italic;">not</span> to age as a music fan. Of the last piece he writes: <br /><blockquote>The overwhelming response to my recent post against eighties music was that I should quit worrying and just 'listen to what I like'. It would take a naïveté I can barely imagine to believe that this is what one is doing when one listens to music. Music is music, but it is also (and this is especially true of pop music) a sort of totemic cosmology: an imposition of order on the world through distinctions of value. </blockquote> Read <a href="http://www.jehsmith.com/1/2010/07/against-eighties-music.html">the post</a>.<br /><br />Incidentally, I like The Cure. It's like constantly being in the end credits of a pleasant if rather plot-less 90s movie, and that's a cosmological order I can live with.<br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RS_ux2H473I&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RS_ux2H473I&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />Or the better version. Jangle jangle.<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/X6L8rHyzQj0&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/X6L8rHyzQj0&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-10571362364904875782010-07-20T23:37:00.005-04:002010-09-25T00:26:37.937-04:00Albums that changed the way I listen to music - Part III of IV<span style="font-weight:bold;">Part III of IV: Retrospective Expansion</span><br />
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The past four years have brought remarkable growth, and each album below marks my appreciation of a whole new genre. Two out of four were released in 1979. The Talking Heads also released <span style="font-style:italic;">Fear of Music</span> in 1979.<br />
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Peter Gabriel – <span style="font-style:italic;">So</span> </span><br />
Purchased on sale at HMV (remember when that was a thing?), this album was the grown-up version of my adolescent love for all things 80s. While jammed with his <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1tTN-b5KHg">biggest</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9CD4_3wChM&feature=related">hits</a>, it's not his best – that honour goes to the third self-titled album (including <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7AsGFttLVU&feature=fvst">this</a> track), generally just called 3 – but it got me hooked on Peter Gabriel and, soon after, on Kate Bush. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">The Slits – <span style="font-style:italic;">Cut</span> <br />
</span><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jMlKQL4hTmQ&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jMlKQL4hTmQ&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
I lived for a summer with four guys in a rambling Wolseley house. Post punk was the soundtrack to gin drinking and Nintendo playing. Gang of Four, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjP4NQYB6xs">Delta 5</a>, The Raincoats, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn8H9XSgOOI&feature=related">Young Marble Giants</a>, a smattering of concurrent albums by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSougxfOC00">The Fall</a> – a new musical landscape had opened. The Slits were especially beguiling, not only due to the palpable lewd-ness of the whole enterprise (I mean, that band name and that album cover?!), but because they combined the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btaEkk5iECY">vocal and instrumental chaos of The Raincoats</a> with consistently catchy tunes (and because of the awesome "performance" video above). “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHqxLRUOs20&feature=related">So Tough</a>” was the initial standout track, though now I couldn't name one. Ironically, this album was my gateway to more mainstream sonic strangeness: Devo's <span style="font-style:italic;">Are We Not Men</span>?, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fnXpuCJldI&feature=related">The B-52s</a> self-titled 1979 (!!) album, and, more recently, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Gh-GH8Miw">Bow Wow Wow</a>'s excellent <span style="font-style:italic;">See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!</span> (Yes, that's the album title.) Ari Up was my route to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMJc3qFZgPY&feature=PlayList&p=5DB77FD042723A65&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1">Annabelle Lwin</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">The Kinks – <span style="font-style:italic;">Are the Village Green Preservation Society</span></span> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3d8moA2Iksg&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3d8moA2Iksg&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
I read an interview once during which the musician was asked “The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?” and he answered “The Kinks”. Kind of a douchey response, but I'd have to say the same. Given that my acquaintance with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones was primarily through hits compilations, I never could consider myself a committed fan of either. Even after closer listens to <span style="font-style:italic;">Abbey Road</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">Sargeant Pepper's</span>, <span style="font-style:italic;">The White Album</span>, and so on (<span style="font-style:italic;">Rubber Soul</span> remains a glaring oversight) my most beloved Beatles track is their rendition of “Twist and Shout”! (But seriously, it's flawless.) <span style="font-style:italic;">The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society</span> made a significantly deeper impression on me. I've mentioned my love of “Big Sky” on this blog before, but the whole album is perfection. My touchstone for contemporary chamber pop and British invasion sounds – can't say much more about this classic. <br />
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Michael Jackson – <span style="font-style:italic;">Off the Wall</span></span> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5X-Mrc2l1d0&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5X-Mrc2l1d0&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
I've always been a Michael Jackson fan, despite the fact that I came of age in the “Earth Song” era during which his performances involved being raised up in glory while the little children came unto him (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqIEU6RfUo">yikes</a>). “Man in the Mirror”, live clips from the Dangerous tour, and his duet with Janet on “Scream” made strong impressions on me at a young age, but it wasn't until much later that I paid any attention to what was going on between “ABC” and “Thriller”. A <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSiRRkwQ1GE">fantastic bit of choreography</a> set to the title track was my first real exposure to Off the Wall. It did what really good choreo does: it made all the intricacies of the music visible. And that's some intricate music! Every song on the album delivers, as does all proximate output from The Jacksons (the <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjW1iq4IO2k">Destiny</a></span> and <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcNVofHFqvc">Triumph</a></span> albums are superb). The impact of this album cannot be overstated. It single-handedly exploded my unthought division between music to dance to and music to listen to. <span style="font-style:italic;">Off the Wall</span> played while I studied, while I rode the bus... everywhere, and a whole whack of soul, Motown and funk followed (Al Green, Earth Wind and Fire, etc.). It's impossible not to consider the racial element of the story: this album radically altered my relationship with “black music”. Funk bass, slow jams, and soul vocals were no longer just “fun” but became, in one important sense, the height of musical accomplishment. The album also marks a return to “polished” studio sounds – <span style="font-style:italic;">Off the Wall</span> isn't <span style="font-style:italic;">Otis Redding Live at the Whiskey a Go Go</span>. Now I listen to hits from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUOkg4jFNus&feature=related">Janet</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNj9bXKGOiI">Luther Vandross</a> without any sense of irony. And MJ himself plays on my iPod far more than any other artist!Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-65760078640218991332010-07-20T16:49:00.010-04:002010-09-15T13:22:55.520-04:00Albums that changed the way I listen to music - Part II of IV<span style="font-weight:bold;">Part II of IV: The College Years</span><br /><br />This list differs considerably from a list of most listened-to albums of the same time period, the latter of which would find Ben Folds, Sarah Harmer, and The Weakerthans at the top. While these artist were setting high standards for pop/folk/rock music, <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HQTOoJrTm8&feature=related">Rockin' the Suburbs</a></span>, <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLl91MV3Ozo">You Were Here</a></span>, and <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVoJUASn_g4&feature=related">Left and Leaving</a></span> didn't serve to broaden my horizons in any obvious way. A few things did.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Constantines – <span style="font-style:italic;">Shine a Light</span></span> <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEZRLeCNFuI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/wkGevRhtXYY/s1600/shine-a-light.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEZRLeCNFuI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/wkGevRhtXYY/s320/shine-a-light.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496169652734990050" /></a><br />Oh lordy, I love the Constantines. I've <a href="http://theassfestival.blogspot.com/2009/06/o-v-e-r-d-o-s-e.html">discussed this band</a> on the blog before, praising their live show, and it was indeed their Shine a Light show (which I believe I managed to see twice) that made a fan of me. From the humming guitar of “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izccSXNFLc4&feature=related">Nightime/Anytime (it's alright)</a>” to the drunken bass in “Insectivora” to the dramatic choreographed breakdown in the title track, these guys were (and are) dynamite. <span style="font-style:italic;">Shine a Light</span> slips a little when Bry Webb leaves the mic, but I still insist this is their best album (and if you don't want to take my word for it, take <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1589-shine-a-light/">this</a>). Creative rhythms, powerful lyrics (the equivocal line “we may never be angels, oh we're lousy with the spirit” has been stuck in my head for years), and sheer energy keep these guys at the top and raise the bar for straight-up rock. (Sorry. I found no good live footage of the band. Poor sound quality all around.) <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Cat Power – <span style="font-style:italic;">You Are Free</span></span><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/poGk-bo7Wmc&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/poGk-bo7Wmc&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />Unlike the Constantines, Chan Marshall has not remained a favourite, but this album opened a world of melancholy lo-fi-ish indie offerings, which is a broad enough designation to cover most of what my friends listened to in college (Low, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Royal City, Pedro the Lion), and opened the door for chick music that was cooler than Ani DiFranco, like Julie Doiron and Sleater-Kinney (okay, that's a bit of a stretch - my Sleater-Kinney love has little to do with Chan Marshall). Also, <span style="font-style:italic;">You Are Free</span> is just plain great. Simple, haunting. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Joni Mitchell – <span style="font-style:italic;">Blue</span></span><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YuaZcylk_o&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0YuaZcylk_o&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />Classic albums are classic for a reason. <span style="font-style:italic;">Blue</span> is Joni's masterpiece, making obvious her songwriting skill and stunning voice, both exemplified on “A Case of You” (one of the best songs of all time?). I sang along, I played “River” on the piano, and I learned to appreciate the brilliance of songwriters before my time. Within the next year or two I'd picked up Carole King's <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urt2cy7AqFs">Tapestry</a></span>, Cat Stevens' <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghoS6iJTrYc">Tea for the Tillerman</a></span>, Fleetwood Mac's <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jMHu9jfNk&feature=related">Rumours</a></span>, and Billy Joel's <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxBjKa8KcW0&feature=related">The Stranger</a></span>. Sheesh. Those are fantastic albums.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br /><br />Stereolab – <span style="font-style:italic;">Sound-Dust</span></span> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEZNID9lM1I/AAAAAAAAA2Q/wqmlpxU-Fqc/s1600/stereolab+sound+dust.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEZNID9lM1I/AAAAAAAAA2Q/wqmlpxU-Fqc/s320/stereolab+sound+dust.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496165196150158162" /></a><br />A friend of mine went off to Iowa to study jazz after high school and the two roadtrips we took to visit him were filled with great music. They mark my introduction to Sigur Ros (first impression: whiny crap... don't worry, I mostly changed my mind) and to Stereolab. I can't figure out why my 18-year-old self loved Sound-Dust as much as I did, but I purchased the album soon after and wholly committed to it. Simultaneously electronic and orchestral, lyrics (when there were any) in another language, songs changing dramatically mid-way – safe to say I'd never listened to anything like it before. Although the album does not seem to have immediately revolutionized my music collection (except that I might credit it with re-orienting me to Bjork), it did teach me that I can love very different sorts of melodies and arrangements.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Velvet Underground – <span style="font-style:italic;">The Best of the Velvet Underground</span></span><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/6xcwt9mSbYE&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/6xcwt9mSbYE&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />A compilation should probably not be included in this list, but I picked up <span style="font-style:italic;">The Best of the Velvet Underground</span> for $7 at a Future Shop off the Trans-Canada highway while on a road-trip with the family when I was 19, circumstances more dissonant than the tracks on the album and definitely worthy of mention. Despite never before having listened to music like this on my own initiative, I quickly loved “Sweet Jane” for its steady guitar and Reed's remarkable vocal delivery, and grew to adore the satisfying build of “Heroine” (still the best track). Nico's thick voice was already familiar from her songs on The Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack, and so “Femme Fatale” and “All Tomorrow's Parties” immediately enchanted. This collection is one dynamite track after another, and I still occasionally choose it over the full albums. The band that spawned a thousand bands introduced me to the droning and the disarray I would come to love in a thousand bands.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-27825447467849204642010-07-16T22:25:00.009-04:002010-09-15T13:23:27.108-04:00Albums that changed the way I listen to music - Part I of IVAt the risk of alienating my loyal Nietzsche-lovin' readers, it's time I wrote about music once again. I've been making this list for over a year (some ideas just don't go away) and have decided to present it in four installments.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Part I of IV: Coming of Age</span><br /><br />My adolescence was dominated by MuchMusic and CMT, by singles and spectacle and not albums. My dad listened to CCR; a friend's older brother listened to Beck's <span style="font-style:italic;">Odelay</span>, Green Day's <span style="font-style:italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmJxtgmsqAE">Dookie</a></span>, and Collective Soul's first album; bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and Soul Asylum were in my imagination with videos like “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrivjzw0RlI">1979</a>” and “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLQ2TIul8pI">Misery</a>”; I noticed Madonna's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12wP5W2R0wY&feature=related">sexpot days</a> and loved her <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0628NtGJAWQ">softer dark-haired days</a>; Amy Grant's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PddJStucKQ">Heart in Motion</a> was one of the first tapes I purchased; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjgdhr5fRUA">Bush</a> was the first major concert I attended. All this is to say that my formative music-listening years contained a wide range of influences but few obviously dominant ones. In 27 years of life, a single album stands heads above the rest. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Paul Simon – Graceland</span><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kFecU-Xa4Jc&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kFecU-Xa4Jc&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> <br />I was eight years old. My dad was studying in Rothenburg ob der Tauber for the summer and we joined him for a few weeks. The winding roads and rolling hills of the Frankische countryside were bathed in sunshine and Graceland played on the cassette deck. I remember it as the constant soundtrack to childhood car trips, to poolside summers at camp, to studying for university exams. A lifelong favourite album, I guess, and many of my generation can relate. We were raised on this phenomenal song cycle, which mixes the dominant African sounds with a smattering of zydeco and heavy 80s production. Paul Simon is responsible for my early melodic sensibilities, my love of good bass parts and for vocals that do something other than sound pretty. (An aside: a few years ago I got into a heated debate on whether Simon or Garfunkel was the better singer. It seems to me that if Garfunkel is your answer, you have missed out on what singing can actually be about. No one beats Simon's lyrical delivery.) The duet with Linda Ronstadt taught me to harmonize, “You Can Call Me Al” taught me dance, and the images of the band playing to large crowds in Africa had a hand in the development of my global consciousness. Nowadays I eat up everything released by <a href="http://www.soundwayrecords.com/">Soundway</a> or <a href="http://www.strut-records.com/node/266">Strut</a> Records, and several favourite current bands feature African guitar sounds prominently (think Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, The Dirty Projectors). I could go on, but <a href="http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/paul-simon-graceland.htm">someone else</a> says it better.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sloan – One Chord to Another</span><br />This album taught me that Canadian rock music is about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qffy6uHkcTU">having a good time</a>, about <a href="http://www.sweetslyrics.com/409077.Sloan%20-%20AUTOBIOGRAPHY.html">not taking yourself too seriously</a>, about horn sections. I remember the release of “Coax Me” off of Twice Removed, but One Chord to Another was the first complete Sloan album I heard and it stuck far more than did any of the Silverchair/Bush/Our Lady Peace/Moist mess that was Jr. High. Unlike Daniel Johns/Gavin Rossdale/Raine Maida/David Usher, I actually wanted to hang out with Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson. Carrie Brownstein once wrote a post for <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/">her NPR blog</a> on the theme of “favourite band whose prominent influence on one's music listening is too often overlooked”. Hers was The Ramones (because she is obviously cooler than I). Mine would have to be Sloan. I own all their albums and know all but the most recent two backwards and forwards, and yet would rarely think to list them as a favourite. So here it is: I have loved Sloan since age 14. Their influence has been huge.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sheryl Crow – The Globe Sessions</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEEbynhcZwI/AAAAAAAAA2A/wVfuyhI6QMQ/s1600/sheryl+crow+globe+sessions.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEEbynhcZwI/AAAAAAAAA2A/wVfuyhI6QMQ/s320/sheryl+crow+globe+sessions.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494703576785381122" /></a><br />I listened to a lot of mediocre pop music in high school: S Club 7, Amanda Marshall, Nelly Furtado's first album, The Corrs, The Spice Girls, The Backstreet Boys (though I'm convinced these last two groups transcended their mediocrity through sheer charisma and force of will). Sheryl Crow's bluesy third album was a far cry from all of this, and I cherished it. I can still call to mind the smell of the liner notes (rather like radishes, for some reason); I recall thinking deliberately and carefully about song structure and guitar sounds; I remember falling in love with the surprising rhythmic shift in the first chorus of “Maybe That's Something” and the unison voice and guitar in “Riverwide.” Her recording of Bob Dylan's “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiGMqbXb8J8&feature=related">Mississippi</a>” is superb, and is likely my first conscientious appreciation of his songwriting. Given that I listened to little folky, bluesy, singer-songwritery music up to this point, this album seems to have been some kind of watershed.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Greg Macpherson – Balanced on a Pin</span><br />It should already be abundantly clear that I was no musical savant in my youth. I only listened to Radiohead by proxy, I mostly forgot about Bjork after <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wQ3szTnEy8">her videos</a> stopped being played on MuchMusic, and the big American “indie” rockers (Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel, Modest Mouse) were nowhere near my radar. What was on my radar, however, were the bands playing in my hometown. Our little community of 3500 had a thriving music scene. First my older sister's friends and then my friends played in surprisingly popular local bands, and several guys worked hard to book touring groups to play upstairs at the local curling rink. I saw Moneen play in that rink more than once! Of course, Winnipeg artists like B'ehl and The Bonaduces came around occasionally, but they were both playing less by the end of the 90s. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEEcw303DGI/AAAAAAAAA2I/JvDcKPBVRyY/s1600/Greg_MacPherson.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 224px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rEV74s6mMZQ/TEEcw303DGI/AAAAAAAAA2I/JvDcKPBVRyY/s320/Greg_MacPherson.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5494704646313675874" /></a> I first heard of Greg Macpherson on a five hour car trip to the 1999 student council conference in Russell, Manitoba. My good friend (who remains a good friend to this day) had a live recording of “Invisible”. I thought G-Mac sounded like crap but was totally intrigued. Once I heard him play “Slowstroke” (back when it was called “Carol Channing”) and “Company Store” live, his raw energy and arms (see photo) had convinced me. This album was one of my first introductions to low-budget recordings, to albums belonging to a particular place, to artists you could reach out and touch (metaphorically speaking, unfortunately). When he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbbS6VzUq8c">sang about the “yellow-green tile floor”</a> of the Canadian prairies he was singing about my world.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-42978631071131336072010-07-12T15:33:00.004-04:002010-07-12T15:39:12.565-04:00Artistry and Invention Part III occasionally carry on inspiring facebook conversations and recently found myself summarizing Nietzsche's notion of willing backwards in a drunken late-night message. I like how it went:<br /><blockquote>Fatalism with respect to the past is a tricky thing. Nietzsche (and do I know anything else?) advocates nothing more (and nothing less) than amor fati (love of fate), but it is not of the past per se. It is of the whole. And we are always, in some sense, creators of that whole. In broad strokes: to affirm our lives now we must affirm the past, but in inventing our lives now we also invent the past. You know?</blockquote>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-58522355851227384212010-07-04T22:45:00.004-04:002010-09-15T13:34:56.507-04:00I have googled "procrastination"The last post on <a href="http:hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html">Hyperbole and a Half</a> documents the writer's inability to manage responsibilities. It hit a nerve, particularly the following bit:<br /><blockquote>Then the guilt from my ignored responsibilities grows so large that merely carrying it around with me feels like a huge responsibility. It takes up a sizable portion of my capacity, leaving me almost completely useless for anything other than consuming nachos and surfing the internet like an attention-deficient squirrel on PCP. </blockquote> She hasn't written a single post since.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-23004875374395340002010-07-04T22:35:00.002-04:002010-07-04T22:39:48.987-04:00PosturingWould I be making better progress on my thesis if I sat in a proper desk chair at a proper desk? If I sat upright rather than curled up on myself? The image above might as well be titled "Julia at work". That is, if I owned a luxurious pink robe. Would I be making better progress on my thesis if I owned a luxurious pink robe?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-6085668233322361812010-07-03T21:38:00.006-04:002010-07-04T14:39:16.698-04:00LayoutI'm hopeless when it comes to formatting decisions. With the many options now available, this may not be the end of major layout changes. I really like the weathered wood or the quirky quilt, but both seemed pretty disingenuous - too rural and crafty, a far cry from my current life and from the tone of these posts. Then I chose the books without titles, but it's a bit busy (and eerie... I mean, what's in those books?). So wall-paper it is... for now.<br /><br />Can anyone tell me how to centre my title image?Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-63200990081506849682010-06-28T23:31:00.003-04:002010-06-28T23:38:03.503-04:00Artistry and Invention<blockquote>Even in the midst of the strangest experiences we still do the same: we make up the major part of the experience and can scarcely be forced <span style="font-style:italic;">not</span> to contemplate some event as its "inventors." All this means: basically and from time immemorial we are--<span style="font-style:italic;">accustomed to lying</span>. Or to put it more virtuously and hypocritically, in short, more pleasantly: one is much more of an artist than one knows. <br /><br />In an animated conversation I often see the face of the person with whom I am talking so clearly and so subtly determined in accordance with the thought he expresses, or that I believe has been produced in him, that this degree of clarity far surpasses my powers of vision: so the subtle shades of the play of the muscles and the expression of the eyes <span style="font-style:italic;">must</span> have been made up by me. Probably the person made an altogether different face, or none at all.</blockquote><br />Beyond Good and Evil §192Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-63269668042262275932010-06-28T23:03:00.005-04:002010-06-28T23:18:39.834-04:00The Protestant Work Ethic and the End of Religiosity<blockquote>Has it ever been really noted to what extent a genuinely religious life (both its microscopic favorite occupation of self-examination and that tender composure which calls itself "prayer" and is a continual readiness for the "coming of God") requires a leisure class, or half-leisure - I mean leisure with a good conscience, from way back, by blood, to which the aristocratic feeling that work disgraces is not altogether alien - the feeling that it makes soul and body common. And that consequently our modern, noisy, time-consuming industriousness, proud of itself, stupidly proud, educates and prepares people, more than anything else does, precisely for "unbelief."<br /><br />Among those, for example who now live in Germany at a distance from religion I find people whose "free-thinking" is of diverse types and origins, but above all a majority of those in whom industriousness has, from generation unto generation, dissolved the religious instincts, so they no longer even know what religions are good for and merely register their presence in the world with a kind of dumb amazement.</blockquote><br />Beyond Good and Evil §58Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-69063600767410571272010-06-15T13:15:00.005-04:002010-06-15T14:24:45.582-04:00The ProjectI am ostensibly writing a thesis these days (that is, when I'm not watching mediocre episodes of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlhHTdDqoBc">Big Bang Theory</a> and YouTube clips of Cristiano Ronaldo and his beautiful... footwork). It finally has a title: "Dionysian Distance: Reading Nietzsche with Jean-Luc Marion". <br /><br />The first chapter addresses Marion's explicit account of Nietzsche's project in his early work <span style="font-style:italic;">The Idol and Distance</span>. Following Heidegger, Marion finds that although Nietzsche opens up the possibility of the manifestation of the divine in absence by "sounding out" the idolatry of the metaphysical tradition, he nonetheless remains idolatrous because he privileges presence. In a much less Heideggerian vein, Marion insists that although Nietzsche understands and is even sympathetic to the Christic figure - he who would pour himself out for the revaluation of all values - he cannot imagine the possibility that, in this abandon, one might be met by a divine who enacts a similar abandon.<br /><br />The second chapter continues with Marion's conceptual pair, idol and distance, to suggest that the presence of the former does not necessarily exclude moments of the latter. I do not disagree with Marion's accusations of idolatry, but show that Marion himself, in his recognition of the dramatic element in Nietzsche's work and his attention to the nature of writing generally, allows the accusation of idolatry to function as the beginning and not the end of an interesting reading of Nietzsche. This chapter remains the fuzziest at this point (read: non-existent), but will definitely examine Nietzsche's use of aphorism and poetry to suggest that distance belongs to the character of the writing.<br /><br />The third chapter, like the first, is predominantly exegetical (which makes that middle chapter really pesky - it's real purpose is to explain why chapters one and three are in the same thesis). I examine <span style="font-style:italic;">Thus Spoke Zarathustra</span> using Marion's terms in order to find moments of abandon and self-sacrifice (which are everywhere, really), and to suggest that, quite often, Zarathustra <span style="font-style:italic;">does</span> expect an encounter in these moments. I look particularly at the appearance of a feminine other and song at so many key moments in the text. Although the name Dionysus never appears in the text, Nietzsche clearly considers <span style="font-style:italic;">Thus Spoke Zarathustra</span> his most Dionysian of works (he even insists that if <span style="font-style:italic;">Zarathustra</span> is the question, Ariadne is the answer), precisely because of the risk it demands and the expectation it contains. Hence "Dionysian Distance". <br /><br />The whole project is propelled by several convictions. First, that Christian thinkers read Nietzsche poorly when they seek to find the fatal flaw which will allow them to dismiss his work. This is probably a bad way of reading anyone, but especially someone who wrote to incite and not to establish a contained and self-enforcing system. We should allow ourselves to be challenged and shaped by Nietzsche even if we don't agree with all he has to say. Second, that Nietzsche's interest in musicality and myth is simply the best sort of philosophy, a philosophy that leaves open the possibility of radical encounter in a way that is rarely found in writing at all. <br /><br />I like this project. Unfortunately, I don't have the skill or dedication to do it credit. <br /><br />Please, if you're reading this and have any relevant thought at all, do add a comment or question. I need some feedback.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-75179522858606852172010-06-14T16:48:00.003-04:002010-06-14T17:04:25.977-04:00Unexpected approvalAn und Fur Sich, winner of the best blog tagline award (“You cannot fuck the future, sir — the future fucks you.”), is a vibrant theological community of sorts, dominated by the sharp tongue (figuratively speaking) of writer/scholar Adam Kotsko. I have recently enjoyed his <a href="http://itself.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/change-is-underway-in-the-uk/">commentary on Red Toryism</a> and look forward to skimming his <a href="http://itself.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/awkwardness-now-available-for-pre-order/">new book on awkwardness</a>. He is notoriously severe in his response to blog commenters (although I must say, said blog commenters say a hell of a lot of idiotic things) and is my intellectual superior by... well... I'm not sure I have sufficient measuring tape. So you can understand how much it pleases me that when I recently <a href="http://http://itself.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/two-problems-with-christian-identity/">commented on one of his posts</a>, he not only took me seriously but actually quoted what I had written and wrote back "This is really great". <br /><br />I have a rather modest scale for measuring accomplishments.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-757850139459395536.post-29895238212979484302010-06-06T15:26:00.005-04:002010-06-13T20:13:41.502-04:00The Abysses of HeavenThe first several tracks off Kate Bush's Hounds of Love are some of my favourite songs of all time. Pitchfork is currently featuring an extended documentary on the album. Below you can watch the discussion of the title track and "The Big Sky". I'm definitely a fan of layered percussion. <br /><br />[Video no longer available.]<br /><br />I find it curious that more than one of my favourite tunes has the title "Big Sky." Not a coincidence, I think.<br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C88yb-OVNmw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C88yb-OVNmw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wiyrFSSG5_g&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wiyrFSSG5_g&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328208631699986801noreply@blogger.com1