Who Do You Think You Are?

This is probably the cockiest pose I've ever seen a Robot make in real life.

The Armpit Collection XXV: My Heart Should Be Well Schooled

My heart should be welded solid by rock n roll, country, blues, jazz and anything deeply soulful I've heard at this point, but no. I as any other am susceptible to the romantic, fortunately.

I first heard Chet Baker on some dusty old cassettes that had fortunately remained in the car we were wielding, riding through New Mexico. His voice is like a cloud cover. It made me wonder where it came from and why.

His trumpet playing is a different story and has a deeper complexity and more ambiguous musical legacy.

I've initially held back from including this Chet collection (it's all vocals) because I thought I would find the Chet Baker that truly called to me and I've humbly heard some of his music. It's besides the point that I've read his biography. His commercial music surpasses the personal legacy of the man. His path is nothing short of astounding; pathetic, sad and yet understandable and shockingly realistic.

It's a grower and a real blessing to be able to reach back into a quintessential era in America and feel that you're connecting to the tone of a generation, even before it was romanticized.

The Best of Chet Baker Sings

TGIF

A Quick Look @ French Fries & Homogenization In America

The orange and red maps show all the locations of McDonald's in the United States and the bottom blue and green maps show all of Wal Mart's. A good many of these dots are probably McMart's. Am I supposed to be happy for these corporations' success or completely terrified?

“If You’re a Viper,” you’re always a viper.

I just read this great article on marijuana in New York Magazine. It's a lengthy piece on the history and current illegalization practices taking place in the city:

Pot hasn’t been the preserve of the Birkenstock wearer for years. At least the last three American presidents have been tokers, and you know Bush inhaled, for all the good it did the rest of us. Obama will no doubt tread lightly with the health-care loonies on his neck, not to mention the conservative black clergy he doesn’t want to alienate, but he’s already presided over curtailing federal busts of medical-marijuana dealers who are in compliance with state laws. A lively blogosphere debate ensued over whether Obama could really afford to expend any of his political capital on a bud-in-every-bong policy, as the legalize-it forces were hoping. But the move confirmed officially what many had long known. Pot smoking simply does not carry the stigma it once did, even in the straightest society...

The fact is, New York City is the marijuana-arrest capital of the country and maybe the world. Since 1997, according to statistics complied by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, 430,000 people age 16 and older have been pinched in the city for possession of marijuana, often for quantities as little as a joint, a reign of “broken window” terror-policing that kicked off in the nasty Giuliani years and has only escalated under Bloomberg and Ray Kelly. More than 40,000 were busted last year, and at least another 40,000, or more than the entire population of Elmira, will be busted this year. Somehow, it comes as no shell-shocker that, again according to the state figures, more than 80 percent of those arrested on pot charges are either black or Hispanic....

The scenario of what happens on the street, as told to me by several arrestees, is remarkably similar. It goes like this: You’re black, or Spanish, or some white-boy fellow traveler with a cockeyed Bulls cap and falling-down pants. The cops come up to you, usually while you’re in a car, and ask you if you’re doing anything you shouldn’t. You say, “No, officer,” and they say, “You don’t have anything in your pocket you’re not supposed to have, do you, because if you do and I find it, it’ll be a lot worse for you.” It is at that point, because you are young, nervous, possibly simple, and ignorant of the law, you might comply and take the joint you’d been saving out of your pocket. Then, zam: Suddenly, your protection under the Marijuana Reform Act vanishes because the weed is now in “public view.” The handcuffs, the paddy wagon, and the aforementioned court date soon follow....

Blogerature: Bernard Mickey Wrangle

Tom Robbins has written a handful of books (and experienced a hell of a life). My ol' lady got one of his books as a present a few years ago and passed it to me. Since then, I've blazed through 4 or 5, each time with a revitalized feeling about American novels and the imagination. I've also slurped up quite a bit of tequila - drink of choice for the title referenced character from Still Life With Woodpecker. Robbins has a refreshing disregard for reality limitations. Many of the characters in his books are strong, hold some bizarre mystical powers or exaggerations, and lay claim to ideals. This makes for fun reads. I try to pick out books and follow my intrigue, but as all of us who dive around the book store know, sometimes you pick boring loser books. Thus I return to the authors I know. Robbin is one of the people who you just read everything he's written.

And that Idealism Rears it's Head

That title is a reference to my comment about the 50 things the Internet murdered. If only we could "try" it. So the Flaming Lips I feel have never done anything but release good progressive, honest, relevant art for the past 10 or 15 or however many years. They have a new double discer coming out, which apparently will make many iterations. Of course the artwork, sound, delivery, every god damn part of the release looks and is cool, which is what makes them ideal.

It's being streamed in it's entirety on the Colbert Report's website, that's what the image is from.

I read something about the sound being between "Instant Karma" and a Miles later era band. Which now upon listening to most it, isn't necessarily true, but it's much more interesting than anything any of "the shits" are putting out.

[the shits refers to any band, act or publication that is any way associated or touted as indie, hipster, etc.]

Two More Interesting Articles

This one is from Timothy Egan's New York Times blog titled "Working Class Zero."

The first nine years of the new century have yet to find a defining label, something as catchy as Tom Wolfe’s “Me Decade” of the 1970s or the “Silent Generation” of 1950s men in gray flannel suits. Bookmarked by the horror of 9/11 and the history of a black president, the aughts certainly don’t lack for drama.
But last week, lost in the commotion over the brat’s cry of Joe Wilson and the shotgun blast of rage in the Washington protest, something definitive was released just as this decade nears its curtain call.
For average Americans, the last 10 years were a lost decade. At the end of President George W. Bush’s eight years in office, American households had less money and less economic security, and fewer of them were covered by health care than 10 years earlier, the Census Bureau reported in its annual survey.


The second article comes via Drexel University. Gave me some interesting takes on Inglorious Basterds, a movie both loved and hated by many.

The plot of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is ridiculous. A group of Jewish American soldiers are recruited by a Tennessee mountain man played by Brad Pitt to kill Nazis during the Second World War. Along the way they discover a plan to screen a new propaganda film by Goebbels at a cinema in Paris. All the top Nazis will be there, Hitler included. Exterminating them in one fell swoop will end the war. A few twists later, that is exactly what happens. So what's the point? What is it about this counterfactual and openly farcical scenario that so intrigued Mr. Tarantino?


pic via New York Shitty

50 things that are being Killed by the Internet

Found this link on This Isn't Happiness. Here were a couple I could relate to:

1) The art of polite disagreement - While the inane spats of YouTube commencers may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of the blogworld seem incapable of accepting sincerely held differences of opinion; all opponents must have "agendas".

11) Music stores - In a world where people don't want to pay anything for music, charging them $16.99 for 12 songs in a flimsy plastic case is no business model.

34) Mainstream media - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Rocky Mountain News in the US have already folded, and the UK's Observer may follow. Free news and the migration of advertising to the web threaten the basic business models of almost all media organisations.

42) The nervous thrill of the reunion - You've spent the past five years tracking their weight-gain on Facebook, so meeting up with your first love doesn't pack the emotional punch it once did.

Lets Barf

This Isn't Happiness

A couple months ago I heard about this awesome photo site "This Isn't Happiness" which features lots of cool retro pics interspersed with modern art and (everyone's favorite) classy pictures of naked chicks. Here is the link. Someone updates the site all day long (making it a great site to return to). Below is a sampling. Enjoy!

Thank You, President Bush

"Thursday's annual Census Bureau report on income, poverty and access to health care-the Bureau's principal report card on the well-being of average Americans-closes the books on the economic record of George W. Bush…. On every major measurement, the Census Bureau report shows that the country lost ground during Bush's two terms. While Bush was in office, the median household income declined, poverty increased, childhood poverty increased even more, and the number of Americans without health insurance spiked."

source

Anything on how much dumber Americans have gotten? This whole health care issue has exposed a lot of the nation's stupidity.

Running Through the Rain Forest

I know what you're thinking... "What is K.Fed doing in the rain forest?" Hardy-har-har, I get it. No, that's me, silly; I'm in the rain forests of Nevis, West Indies on a hiking adventure. We met up with our trusty tour guide, Jim Johnson, who is truly a god amongst men. He's like a computer science professor, Bear Grills, and Jedi all rolled into one. He told me he could survive alone in the jungle for years. I believe him. He has expert knowledge of all Nevisian flora, fauna, merriweather. He knows every trail, insect, and hidden ruin on the island. He also assaulted a doggy murderer with his own dead dog... Oh, and I got the hat in a strange Chinese-owned shop in the middle of Charlestown. It was white mesh and read "SPARKLER," thought the "S" and the "R" on the end were in a different font as the rest of the letters. Some confused it for "PARKLE" making it even harder to explain.

Cuba/Guns

"Alright, I want Cuba on the cover, give him a gun of course, and have him look slightly off to the side...sternly"

Weird and Twisted Nights

Last week, I heard this song in the new Gonzo documentary and first thought it was Elvis. I was surprised when the film said it was performed by Hunter S. Thompson & Ralph Steadman. Then I realized it made perfect sense.

Today, I discovered a compilation album put together by Hunter. The album is no longer available (unless you want to spend), but would make a great mixtape/Hunter commemorative. I think it was played at his funeral.