personal weblog of Jackson C Cooper
This statement by the Governor of Maine is a shining example of the kind of reasoning which gives me hope that we are witnessing a tidal shift of opinion in this country. We should all be so lucky as to be governed by persons with this capacity for clear, fair, and thoughtful logic.
Possibly second only to law school, one of the main draws which brought us to Chicago was the ready accessiblity of great live music. Louisville gets a decent number of national tours, but it simply does not compare. As law school has proven to be a powerfull black-hole of time-absorption, our ability to get out to shows has been severly hampered.
This summer, we will make this right. First and foremost, we have tickets to the Pitchfork Music Festival. Many good bands are already announced, with more to come. A big bonus was the recent addition of The Flaming Lips, whom I have shamefully failed to see until now. And now today comes a whole slew of additions, including Pitchfork faves M83, Wavves, and Fucked Up.
The sad story is that we will not be able to get to Lollapalooza. Having missed-out on the early bird tickets, we cannot swing the current $190 price. It’s a damn shame, because the lineup is amazing.
Update: Nevermind that last bit. We bit the bullet and bought tickets to Lollapalooza. Life is short, and there’s no excuse to pass up this kind of oportunity. Too many amazing bands, all a short train ride from our house. We’d be kicking ourselves for years to come if we missed this. It’s going to be a great summer.
In a year where I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts and audiobooks on the train and Beethoven in the background while reading case after case, I still managed to find 10 albums which I loved throughout the year. In 10-1 countdown style, here they are:
#10 The Watson Twins - Fire Songs
After the great album they made with Jenny Lewis, it was good to hear this Louisville-born duo put out a full release of their own. I didn’t hear much of their Southern Manners EP, but now I’m thinking of going back for it, because Fire Songs is great. Top tracks are “How am I to Be” and “Just Like Heaven” which both feature soulful song writing and beautiful harmonies.
#9 Will Oldham (Bonnie Prince Billy)- Lie Down in the Light
A little more of a country turn for Mr. Oldham, but a typically solid collection for a guy who clearly has no problem creating on a regular basis. Some of the best tracks here remind me of the treatment he gave to his back catalog on Greatest Palace Music. I read some pretty hateful reviews of that disc, but I still go back to it frequently. Apologies should not be required for creating and enjoying more accessible versions of great but originally very gritty and dark songs. Take my two favorite tracks on this recent album: “Easy Does It” and “So Everyone.” The former is a decidedly upbeat shuffle with some fiddle, finger-picked Telecaster guitar and Honky-Tonk piano which evokes a nighttime stroll in the woods. The latter is a slow-starting but eventually-grand production of a song about a public sex act as a way to demonstrate love. That’s precisely the type of song I want from Mr. Oldham.
#8 Calexico - Carried to Dust
I really fell for Calexico after the album with Iron & Wine and the track with Jim James on the I’m Not There soundtrack. Those records made me revisit a band I really didn’t like on first listen. Apparently I had only heard instrumentals before, because this album brought me all the way back around. Of course it feels like driving through a desert at night. It’s clearly supposed to. But I took a long road trip after graduating from college and spent many hours driving in the desert at night. I wish I had this album to keep me company then. Top tracks are “Victor Jara’s Hands” and “The News About William”. Just because.
#7 Vampire Weekend S/T
Having been isolated from radio, MTV and VH1 for most of the year, I didn’t initially realize how much attention this band was getting. I heard it first in a year-end wrap-up from 2007. The album was apparently floating around online for quite a while but was released officially in January of 08. I love this sound. I love the organ and I love the herky-jerky drum beats. I may not want to hang out with these guys, but I sure am glad they made this music. Top tracks are “Oxford Comma”. “Campus”, and “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance”. It’s party music across the board and I dig it.
#6 Gnarles Barkley - The Odd Couple
It took me a while to dive in to this album, but as the year wore on, this one grew on me big time. I still listen to St. Elsewhere more, but this one is catching up fast. There’s something perfect about Cee-Lo’s voice which keeps bringing me back. Top tracks “Going On” and “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” both give me what I want out of a Gnarles Barkley song: the voice, the memorable melody and the chest-thumping bass driving it all along.
#5 Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
This was a highly stressful year for me. I moved to Chicago, started law school, and had to live away from my wife for several months that felt like several years. I needed Bon Iver. Bon Iver was there for me. Like Iron & Wine before him, Bon Iver served as that warm blanket I pulled up over my head when it all got to be too much. Top Tracks “Skinny Love” and “Blindsided” were two of the more up-tempo numbers on the album, because even when I want that warm blanket I don’t necessarily want to go all the way to sleep.
#4 The Black Keys - Attack and Release
When I was less in the mood for warm blankets and more in the mood for kicking puppies, The Black Keys were there for me. Still one of the best live acts I have ever seen, their recorded material continues to grow and expand. Perfect gruff voice, chunky guitar sound and pounding drums always take me to the place I want to go. Attack and Release is right. Top tracks are “I Got Mine” and “Remember When (Side B)” both stomp the anxiety right out of my head on first listen. That never stops me from listening over and over again, just to be sure.
#3 Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
If you don’t enjoy this album, you don’t like pop music. And if you think that a mash-up is an easy thing to craft, I invite you to try your hardest to top this masterpiece. You will fail. This man clearly has the entirety of recent pop music living in his brain, squishing around with itself creating beautiful little music babies from all the intermingling. There can be no top tracks on this sort of beast, but the moment at 2:26 in “Like This” when Metallica’s “One” and Lil Mama’s “Lip Gloss” come together is one of the most perfect moments in music history.
#2 She & Him - Volume One
I already had a love for the musical work of M. Ward. I already had a love for the film work of Zooey Deschanel. Now I love them together for She & Him. Great songs and great arrangements that make me happy every time I hear them. They are all good, but my current top tracks on this album are “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here” and “This is Not a Test.” Sometimes the hype is exactly right.
#1 Fleet Foxes - S/T & Sun Giant EP
These records are everything I love about music right now. The big reverb laden vocal harmonies, the big echoey drums, the big reverb laden guitar. Yes. This is it exactly. It’s almost unfair to put anything else on my top albums list because I listened to the Fleet Foxes so much more than anything else. I think I could realistically say that I listened to these records ten times as often as everything else on the list combined. This music drilled directly to the part of my brain which creates the warm happy feeling of home and lit up those synapses like a supernova. These are songs that will be with me for the rest of my life.
Top tracks from the Fleet Foxes: “Ragged Wood” tops them all. It finds all of my buttons and stands on them with full weight. Other top tracks include “Your Protector”, “Oliver James”, “English House”, and “Mykonos”.
I would be remiss if I did not point out that when I first heard Robin Pecknold’s voice, all I could hear was Jim James from My Morning Jacket. It took many listens to separate them in my head. As a huge MMJ fan, that’s a big compliment. And after many repeated listens, I can now hear clear distinctions.
In a year when MMJ put out an album which was stripped of many of the things I loved about them in the past, the Fleet Foxes brought those things and brought them hard. I still love MMJ and I do actually like the new album. But this is the music which spoke to me this year. These are the songs which will define 2008 for me.
On the eve of the election, I am making my prediction. It is perhaps a little hopeful when it comes to Georgia and Ohio. Those are the states that I could very well be wrong about. My gut tells me that the African American vote in Georgia is going to be the big surprise, and that the GOP GOTV efforts are going to be pathetic, leading to underperformance in Ohio and Florida, where the GOP ground game won the last two presidential elections.
Made with the Real Clear Politics Election Map Maker.
****UPDATE****
I was overconfident about Georgia and North Dakota and underconfident about Indiana. I’ll gladly take those errors given the end result.
It’s always nice to see that someone who makes great music might also be a fun person to be around. I definitely get that impression from this interview with The Black Keys. I really hope I get to see them in concert again soon.
A fascinating discussion between two powerful minds. They talk about science, religion, evolution and atheism in clear and concise terms.
An interesting item on Drudge this morning. I hope that puts to rest any attempts to paint Einstein as religious. Those attempts are of course massive simplifications of his complicated understanding of the universe.
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Cory Doctorow’s new novel: Little Brother. He has made it available as a free e-book download and a DRM-free audiobook, in addition to the dead tree edition. It tells the tale of a young hacker named Marcus who is swept up by the Department of Homeland Security after a terrorist attack in San Francisco. Doctorow paints a picture of what can happen when the government takes advantage of a terrified and anxious population in order to impose overwhelming but ineffective security measures. Do yourself a favor and buy the audiobook. Do your friends a favor and buy them a copy.
This is for all by web design brothers out there.
via Search Engine
I have been thoroughly enjoying a couple of podcasts lately. While driving or while working, I like to have something interesting buzzing in my ears, and these two productions have been very satisfying.
Point of Inquiry: I downloaded every episode (over 100) and I have been working my way from the beginning to the present. Produced by the Center For Inquiry, this podcast features fantastic interviews with some of the smartest people in the world. So far, I have enjoyed the episodes featuring James Randi, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Eugenie Scott and Joe Nickell. I have a lot left to go, and I can’t wait to work my way through the rest.
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: Hosted by Dr. Stephen Novella, this podcast covers a lot of the same ground that POI covers. It has a bit more of a current events focus (or maybe I just haven’t gotten to the more current episodes of POI). And of course it features the witty repartee of Rebbecca Watson. So that’s worth the price of admission right there.
Here is Eugenie Scott and the National Center for Science Education’s response to the ridiculous propaganda piece featuring Ben Stein. If I had any respect for Stein, it is now gone. His association with this dishonest, malicious attempt to confuse people about the reality of science and the scientific education of children is disgusting. Good for Scott for taking these enemies of science to task.
A scathing piece from Christopher Hitchens about Hillary’s Bosnia fabrication. He makes a convincing case that her lie is deeper than I had previously understood.
Lessig’s presentation about Obama and the Pennsylvania primary.
As an American of mostly Irish descent, I highly recommend this celebration of classic Irish culture.
via BoingBoing
And from my favorite thing to come out of Ireland recently (the movie Once) I present Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova:
One of my favorite bands, My Morning Jacket, has been hard at work on a new album. Thanks to a link from Backseat Sandbar, I found some videos of them performing a bunch of the new songs. If you don’t mind spoiling your dinner, head on over to Breakfast on Tour and indulge yourself. I like what I hear so far.
It was the last morning before heading home from a quick weekend trip to Chicago. We lost an hour due to the time change, and thanks to a call from our agent the day before, we now had to get up at 6am to make our way home in time to clean before he was to show the house to a prospective buyer.
We slept well in the plush bed at the W Hotel. We just didn’t get enough of that good sleep. Our rushed schedule and the $12 price tag on the least expensive room service breakfast item led me to procure breakfast from the McDonald’s next to the Hotel.
We were packing our bags after finishing our extremely greasy and delicious sandwiches when I noticed the picture on the side of the paper bag which previously contained our food. I grabbed the bag and held it to my chest before Medina could get a look. I asked her: “What picture do you think is on this side of the bag?” Looking at the picture of the drum set on the opposite side, she made the reasonable guess of “a guy playing guitar.” I told her she was wrong. I also told her that it was a bit unfair, because no person on the planet, (with the exception the person responsible for the creation of the be bag) could have guessed.
That’s right. It is a woman. In a wheelchair. Rappelling.
Good for her. I am proud to know that she is not limited in her enjoyment of the outdoors. But why? Why is she on the outside of my bag, the bottom of which has been made translucent by grease. Why is there a woman in a wheelchair rappelling down the side of my bag?
This is supposed to explain, but it does not. There is clearly more to be learned about this interesting and inspiring woman. Perhaps I should thank the bag. For with out it, I would never have known about Terri.
One of my favorite TV shows is Law and Order: Criminal Intent. It is a favorite because it features Vincent D’Onofrio. He is one of my favorite actors. I believe the phase “creepy mellow” was invented just for him, and his character on L&O:CI is a fantastically dense, troubled individual. It’s the kind of character which is not often portrayed on cop shows. David Caruso wishes he was half as good as Mr. D’Onofrio.
It was not long after I got into Criminal Intent that I realized Mr. D’Onofrio was also in one of my favorite movies: Full Metal Jacket. He played the troubled fatbody Private Pyle with souch vicious intensity that it is difficult to remember the entire half of the movie after he removes himself from the story.
So tonight as I was sitting in front of the TV, paying little attention to what was on, I was shocked to see that Mr. D’Onofrio has a small roll in another cinematic masterpiece: Adventures in Babysitting. That’s right. In one of that intricately crafted story’s many sub-climaxes, he makes a dramatic entry. Slowly decending on a hydraulic lift, he is revealed in all his glory. The titular head of Dawson’s garage. The sledgehammer-toting: Thor!
An interesting exercise, the Political Compass is an evaluation of your political profile, based on answers to several sets of questions. Ben was looking for his old results, and it lead me to find my previous results. I don’t have the old image, but based on the old numbers, these results seem very similar.
From the wonderful Bad Astronomy Blog, a nice concise rebuttal to the argument that science requires faith. This is an argument which is frequently put forth by persons who are threatened by science in general and evolution specifically. Phil Plait runs a great site, and this particular post is a great introduction.
My favorite line:
“it’s difficult to reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into”
Do yourself a favor and read the whole thing.
I’m selling the laptop on which I am currently typing. It is a very nice machine and I would like to find it a nice home.
Details Here.
The way the questions are framed in this interview makes me think the interviewer was looking to humiliate a clueless kid at an Obama rally. I can’t be sure of the interviewer’s motivations but that’s the impression I get. The subject of the interview stands his ground admirably in the face of some aggressive questioning.
It is nice when you find that someone has realized an idea that had yet to crystallize in your own head.
This article provides a nice evaluation of where value will be created in an economy which finally accepts the reality of ubiquitous free copying. My interest in intellectual Property law has a lot to do with how our laws deal with this issue currently, and how we will deal with it in the future. (via GeekPress)