EX NIKHILO

Grimes - Genesis (from upcoming 4AD Visions LP)

2012-01-28T08:06:00.000-05:00

my fav song of the new year so far

Obama Sings Al Green

2012-01-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

coolest President

Tebow: the miracles continue

2012-01-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

The underdog Broncos win when it matters most

Top Nine 90's songs I rediscovered in 2011

2011-12-29T18:58:00.006-05:00

The neo-80s craze has been blowing up for at least four years now. I am willing to predict that a neo-90s movement is on the horizon. We had better prepare ourselves. Here are some slightly neglected hits of the Clinton Era:

9. "Never Let You Go" - Third Eye Blind
Everyone remembers Semi-charmed Life, but this little ditty and its phaser lead guitar line are just as fetching.

8. "If You Had My Love" - Jennifer Lopez
An plaintive string arrangement underlies J. Lo's original hit. The video, which depicts some dude watching a Lopez music video online, pre-dated YouTube by half a decade.

7. "Creep" - TLC
I am hard pressed to think of another high quality pop song that makes such prominent use of the brass instruments.

6. "Pony" - Ginuwine
Ginuwine seems like the least subtle guy of all time.

5. "Another Night" - The Real McCoy
Another Night is, in my humble opinion, the pinnacle of 90s eurodance: catchy piano riff, energetic synth licks, and a solid mix of singing and rapping about unrequited love.

4. "Natural Blues" - Moby
I didn't really know that sampling existed when I first heard Natural Blues, so I assumed Moby was a soulful old black guy. I was pretty confused when I realized he was a tiny, nerdy hipster-vegan. Still love him though.

3. "Return of the Mack"- Mark Morrison.
Return? As if anyone had ever heard of Mark Morrison before this song. His quasi-Carribean accent is fantastic: "But I do/ But I do, do, do."

2. "Sadeness" - Enigma
Gregorian Chant Dance Hit!!! Haunting lyrics in Latin and French. Sweet didgeridoo solo. How is this not number 1?

1. "Missing"- Everything But the Girl
Best bloody simile in pop history: "And I miss you/ like the deserts miss the rain." Deserts do not merely miss the rain; they are defined by the lack of rain. To miss someone like the desert misses the rain is to conceive of yourself primarily as the absence of a person. Brutal. Add an eminently danceable beat, and you get one of the great pop gems of the 1990s.

The Top 11 Songs of 2011

2011-12-26T02:17:00.014-05:00

11. "Midnight City" - M83
The fantastic thing about Midnight City is that it hooks you within its first two seconds. It only takes M83 four notes to deliver the catchiest riff of the year and reel you in for four minutes of electronic pleasure. Disappointingly, the song doesn't have terribly much to offer beyond it's iconic synth hook (the sax solo toward the end is good but not unexpectable).

Bonus: Midnight City paired with Victoria's Secret angels produces one of the more pleasant commercials in history.

10. "County Line" - Cass McCombs
I usually don't have the attention span to appreciate singer/songwriter noodlings, but County Line's melodic tour of past pains is too pretty to ignore. In a lovely chorus, McCombs lays out his measured grief as he inspects a wound that he associates with his old home: "You never even tried to love me/ woah, woah, woah, woah, woah."

Hat tip: Wassel

9. "Balance" - Future Islands.
Under the influence of chillwavers like Washed Out, synthpop has become dominated by hazy layers of echo that often obscure the melodic value (or lack thereof) in a given song. Balance decisively rejects this trend. Here every synth streak and bass rumble cuts powerfully through the mix, and the semi-snarling vocals cap off a song that is all killer, no filler.

8. "Rolling in the Deep" - Adele
Rolling in the Deep eschews pretty much all the hallmarks of today's pop music. There are no effected guitars, no wacky synths, and no autotune. It's core is a plinking piano line, a muted acoustic guitar, and straight up powerful singing. What really puts it over the top is the bitter background vocals ("You're gonna wish you/ never had met me") setting the stage for Adele's cries of failed passion. The Jamie xx remix represents a step backward since it lacks that layering.

7. "Wildfire" - SBTRKT feat. Little Dragons
You expect an artist who dons an African tribal mask to come up with a primal sound. SBTRKT does that, but instead of using folk instruments, he relies on flickering electronic bass lines. Wildfire combines SBTRKT's best basswork with the piercing vocals of Yukimi Nagano to create a dupstep smash. As the artist's name suggests, sometimes less is more.

6. "Coastin'" - Cities Aviv
I've always thought there was something special about the way great melodies of the 50s and 60s sit in the collective unconscious (or at least mine). Coastin' cashes in on a lush horn and strings arrangement from a 60s tearjerker to create a luxuriant backdrop for Cities Aviv's controlled raps about his vision of a rise to greatness.

5. "Video Games" - Lana Del Rey
A pretty girl sings a very pretty song. (Del Rey's lips have been the topic of much discussion, but I find her hair more intriguing.) It becomes irresistible when her voice gets soft: "I heard that you like the bad girls/ honey is that true?"

4. "Nightcall" - Kavinsky
I have never encountered a movie that benefits as much from its soundtrack as 2011's Drive. The film is jam-packed with enticing synthpop gems, and Nightcall is perhaps the most memorable of the bunch. Its shimmering arpeggios are attractive enough. But when the robotic vocals (Young Jeezy?) kick in, you recognize is that is going to be a beautifully disturbing ride. See also: Under Your Spell, Real Human Being.

3. "Whirring" - Joy Formidable
In the indie world, rock bands with real guitars and real distortion might seem kind of passe. Software-based composers are the avant garde, while acoustic champions are the throwback counterpoint to the electronic movement. But with a delectable mix of fuzzed-out power chords and sharp melody, Whirring urges the listener to "Turn the dial on my words" and remember that it's still righteous to rock.

2. "Surgeon" - St. Vincent
For a song about discomfort, Surgeon is ridiculously easy to listen to thanks to its serene synth sheen. But by the time you reach the chorus, the calmness starts giving away to a agitation marked by that nervous guitar riff. Meanwhile Annie Clark is singing about depression and mockingly asking for a surgeon to slice her open to relieve her pain. It's also nice to watch her, singing and fretting simultaneously.

1. "Believer" - John Maus
At first listen Maus' vocals here lie disturbingly low in the mix, quilted by tingling arpeggios. But I think the relative disregard for lyrical content is actually a virtue in this instance. Music is the highest form of art precisely because it is the least tangible and the most ethereal. Music, at its best, is an avenue to something universal and eternal. Appropriately, Believer is an appeal not to your cognition, but to your emotional and spiritual self. It's an anthem of hope that inspires not primarily with lyrics but with an incessant pulse and glassy synths. By the time you reach the chorus, you're ready to declare with Maus: "THEY CALL ME THE BELIEVER." And if, at the end of the year, you can say that, you're doing ok.

OTHER LISTS YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT:
My top 10 songs of 2010.
My top 25 songs of the '00s.

Year in Review: 2011

2011-12-25T00:57:00.000-05:00

Ex Nikhilo posts were few and far between in 2011. Thankfully the holiday season presents a good opportunity to reflect on the year and highlight some of its choice bits. So look for a few posts in the next few days on the best of 2011.

Top 10 Religion-themed pop/rock songs

2011-05-16T21:56:00.001-04:00

Using religious imagery is an easy way for songwriters to inject powerful emotional content into a 3-minute pop trifle. Here are some of my favorite songs that use this trick.

Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode. Not the best melodically, but probably the most clever/ devious incorporation of Christian motifs into a pop song.
Halelujiah - Jeff Buckley (covering Leonard Cohen). The prettiest of the bunch.
Like a Prayer - Madonna. Probably the obvious choice to be #1, but it's too tainted by karaoke performances for me to give it such status.
Jesus was a Crossmaker - Judee Sill. Her voice is kind of annoying, so I endorse this version.
Entertaining Angels - Newsboys. This is the only song on the list that is by a straight-up Christian band....I always felt like most Christian rock was pretty lame, but this song-- awesome and fun to sing along to with an Australian accent.
Faith - George Michael. Hate to admit it, but I like the Limp Bizkit version better.
King of Carrotflowers Pts. 2 and 3 - Neutral Milk Hotel. Does he really love Jesus Christ?
My Sweet Lord - George Harrison. Did you know that Harrison was the Kaavya of his day? He unconsciously ripped the melody for "My sweet lord" from the Chiffons' "He's so fine" and lost the ensuing copyright battle.
Judas - Lady Gaga. I feel like there's something lame about the synthwork here, but you can't help getting into that little ditty of a chorus. "I'm just a holy fool, and baby it's so cruel..."
Alive - POD. It's so bad, it's sort of good.

The Joy of Pets: Remembering Ripples

2011-05-14T20:59:00.001-04:00

The tough thing about being back home right now is not having my old buddy Ripples to play with. Rips expired this January at the ripe age of 14.5. He would have turned 15 this week, and I thought this was a good occasion to reflect on the joy he brought into our lives for so many years.

Ripples was in some ways a sibling to me. He was a tenacious defender on the basketball court of our driveway. He was a rambunctious playmate, who when sufficiently provoked, would go into uncontrollable fits of hyperactivity. He loved to play fetch with our socks. He was also the victim of very many of my pranks (see above for example); I had a great time dressing him up in daddy's ties or making him ride in Ammachi's wheelchair. And like any brother, he left me with some scars: when I was in elementary school, I tripped over his leash and snapped my upper right incisor, requiring a root canal and a crown.

As Smoys has pointed out, Rips was also like a child to me. I remember taking joy in teaching him to climb the stairs when he was a puppy. We were also proud of his ability to learn tricks. Daddy loved to make him do the "high-o silver" thing. I dutifully walked him, fed him, picked up his crap, and bathed him. I always snuck him about 4% of whatever was on my plate at the dinner table. In general, I took a joy from being in his presence that I imagine is somewhat paralleled by the love a parent feels for his child. Actually, a dog seems a lot easier to love than a child, since there is less crying, less talking back, and more unbridled affection.

Finally, Ripples was straight-up a pet and provided entertainment than only an animal can. He once caught a rabbit in the yard, vomited it up, and then ate it again. He could terrorize the neighborhood with his bark, and in a fury he chewed up parts of our front door when a cat, whom we named Juno, took up residence on our front step for a time (we think her presence kept him active in old age and extended his life). He was also clownishly dumb at times: chasing planes, barking at his own reflection, and exhibiting a marked preference for visitors of fairer complexions.

I remember that as a child I never wanted a dog because I knew I would be heartbroken when he died. And while it was indeed a tough day/week when Rips passed on to doggy heaven, I couldn't be anything but thankful for the entertaining and loving life he had with us. I really believe that getting Ripples was one of the best investments our family ever made, and in a culture where a lot of people are searching hard for happiness, I think getting a dog is a simple and powerful step in the right direction. Indeed there is some evidence that dog owners live healthier/happier lives than the general population. So to those considering getting a pet, I strongly endorse the idea.

Active Child: I'm in your church at night

2011-05-14T00:43:00.003-04:00

The harp fits neatly in Active Child's dream pop set-up. If I ever became wealthy, I think I'd give most of my money to the world's impoverished. Either that, or I would blow it on outlandish instruments like harps and keytars.

Breach of contract: impregnation edition

2011-03-24T22:31:00.000-04:00

A sterile man hires his neighbor to impregnate his wife. Contracts are breached. Irony ensues.

Charlie Sheen quotes

2011-03-02T17:46:00.003-05:00

Charlie Sheen quotes as New Yorker Cartoon captions
(click image to enlarge)

Bonus: Who said it: Muammar Gadaffi or Charlie Sheen? Take the quiz

The Great Gatsby Game

2011-02-23T22:00:00.000-05:00

The Great Gatsby, as an NES game. http://greatgatsbygame.com/

The Decline of Blogging

2011-02-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

NYT reports on how social networking sites have displaced blogging:

Blogs went largely unchallenged until Facebook reshaped consumer behavior with its all-purpose hub for posting everything social. Twitter, which allows messages of no longer than 140 characters, also contributed to the upheaval.

Today if you just have a funny or interesting video or article to share, you'll probably get more views by posting it into the Facebook newsfeed than by adding it to your blog.

So why blog (especially in a post-Fisher era)? A few reasons:
1) If you have ever have anything substantial to stay, you still need a blogging format. Facebook and twitter don't give you enough space to add much flavor. On the other hand, few people will have the patience to wade through your longer expositions, so by fully embracing the advantages of long-form blogging you will probably render yourself audience-less.

2) If you like collecting your thoughts in a personalized format, a blog allows some individual expression that a facebook post does not. Facebook does not allow me to implement the delightful new-wave-ish color scheme you see here.

3) If you don't want to shove things in people's faces (via Facebook newsfeed), a blog is a relatively low-key way to present your thoughts/interests. Let your friends have the link and they can choose to read you when they want to. You're less likely to piss people off that way. And if you want the benefits of 1) and 2) but also want to shove your opinions in people's faces you can always post your blog address to facebook repeatedly.

Smashing Pumpkins News

2011-02-20T21:18:00.006-05:00

Billy Corgan twitters that the new Pumpkins bassist is in fact one of the little girls from the cover of the band's second album, Siamese Dream.

Just found out the weirdest news: our bass player Nicole (@xocoleyf) just admitted she is one of the girls on the cover of Siamese Dream. She said she didn't want us to know because she thought maybe we wouldn't let her be in the band.

Via.

Friendly Fires: Skeleton Boy

2011-02-10T22:55:00.002-05:00

Astute Super Bowl Commentary

2011-02-07T23:35:00.000-05:00

Should the Black Eyed Peas be executed during 1 of their shows?
Is the GROUPON CEO 'the chillest bro on the planet'?
Do yall hope that they pave over Tibet and build the Groupon HQ there?

and much more at Hipster Runoff.

Why disgruntled youths love Nietzsche

2011-01-17T23:17:00.004-05:00

Matt Feeney at Slate psycho-analyzes the typical angry young man and his affection for Fred Nietzsche:

If your social world fails to appreciate your singularity and tells you that you're a loser, reading Nietzsche can steel you in your secret conviction that, no, I'm a genius, or at least very special, and everyone else is the loser. Like you, Nietzsche was misunderstood in his day, ignored or derided by other scholars. Like you, Nietzsche seems to find everything around him lame, either stodgy and moralistic or sick with democratic vulgarity.

Plus, Nietzsche makes you feel smart (but you're not):

There's something in every book you're likely to pick up—some enticement of form or content or both—that addresses your horniness/alienation and flatters you in the pretense that, though you have no formal training and are actually kind of a crappy and distracted reader, you are doing philosophy.

I think this is all true as far as it goes. It's easy for brainy and cynical young men to take joy in Nietzsche's sniping at the world, his preference for the elite few over the many, and his slightly challenging but ultimately understandable and amusing use of language. But I think what's really appealing about Nietzsche is that behind that curmudgeonly facade, his philosophy is really just about loving life and fulfilling your potential. Of course when you take the facade away like that, it sounds really corny. So it is the combination of manly (sometimes brutal) trappings and uplifting outlook that makes Nietzsche the patron saint for embittered but still hopeful youths. Plus he had a rocking mustache.

Benny Hinn, Sith Lord

2011-01-13T22:13:00.002-05:00

Like many television evangelists, he has a dark side.

How to get fired

2011-01-13T09:10:00.001-05:00

Can Hollywood turn this into a feature film?
Via

Income Inequality

2011-01-06T21:53:00.001-05:00

Income inequality in the US has been trending upward for the past 40 years. That strikes most people as negative development, but there are many reasons that the divergence in incomes may not spell the demise of the working class as some fear.

1. Wealth gains in the form of benefits do not show up in income statistics.
As health care costs rise, the value of employer-provided health coverage rises also. So much of the recent increase in compensation for the average worker comes in the form of better health care coverage. But since employers' payments of health premiums don't show up in paychecks, they are invisible for the purpose of tracking changes in income. This is a big deal. For more, see this.
2. Much of the growth in inequality is explained by the aging of the population.
Per Tyler Cowen: There is usually greater inequality of income among both older people and the more highly educated, if only because there is more time and more room for fortunes to vary. Since America is becoming both older and more highly educated, our measured income inequality will increase pretty much by demographic fiat. Economist Thomas Lemieux at the University of British Columbia estimates that these demographic effects explain more than three-quarters of the observed rise in income inequality.
3. High earners are working longer hours, while everyone else is working shorter hours.
Economists note that people face a tradeoff between leisure and working time. Time spent working is time you can't spend with your kids, friends, spouse, concubines, books, pets, blogs, etc. The rich are earning (a lot) more but working more. The middle class is earning more but working less! That's not such a bad deal for the non-rich. Cowen points out that there are more single family homes than ever and thus presumably more people who have good reason to want to spend more time with their family than at work.

That's not to say that all is fair in America. As TC points out, financiers (much of the top1% of earners) are making a killing through taking huge risks where the industry captures the gains but the American public absorbs the losses through bailouts, etc.

Doctors with Guns

2011-01-04T09:33:00.003-05:00

Guns don't kill people. Guns heal people.

via Hart

Obesity Map

2011-01-03T23:34:00.001-05:00

Wilco is that speck of white in the middle of an otherwise obese Tennessee.

From CDC

How to get a good introduction to classical music (or indie rock) for $100

2011-01-02T22:25:00.001-05:00

Tyler Cowen gives his suggestions on how to get acquainted with classical music on a modest budget:

1. Start with a box of the Beethoven symphonies, either Gardiner or van Karajan cost only $20.
2. The Bach Brandenburg Concerti; the Pinnock set is basically $20 with the Suites thrown in.
3. Glenn Gould, both sets of the Goldberg Variations, $13.
4. Mozart, symphonies 40 and 41 and other late symphonies, $15.
That brings us to about $68. For the rest I would draw from Dvorak's New World Symphony, Schubert (Symphony 9 or Trout Quintet, with superb pairings on both CDs), assorted Chopin, Beethoven piano sonatas, or Monteverdi, or Philip Glass Songs from the Trilogy.

Sounds plausible. (The only classical music I know I'm into is Erik Satie). TC's post was prompted by a reader who gave some suggestions for how to get acquainted with indie rock for $100. My own recommendations would be as follows:

1. Pink Flag - Wire
2. Another Green World - Brian Eno
3. The Smiths - The Smiths
4. The Best of New Order - New Order
5. Marquee Moon - Television
6. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
7. Mass Romantic - The New Pornographers
8. Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol
9. In Ghost Colours - Cut Copy

No Radiohead necessary.

Happy 2011

2011-01-01T19:12:00.001-05:00

Everything is different but the same...things are more moderner than before. Bigger and yet smaller...it's computers....FERAE NATURAE FLAG FOOTBALL RULES!

Orthodoxy and Christmas

2010-12-20T17:15:00.003-05:00

I'm back in the Bible belt for the holidays, where the Christmas season is typically accompanied by complaints that America has forgotten the true meaning of Christmas due to commercialization, materialism, etc. But I'd argue that it makes perfect sense that a largely Protestant country like the U.S. would neglect the religious aspects of Christmas. I say that because in (most) Protestant theology Christmas is not in itself a terribly significant event; for Protestantism Christmas is basically incidental to Good Friday (and Easter). As the pastor at my parents' evangelical church put it in his Christmas sermon, Christ was born so that Christ could die and bear our sins. Christmas is merely the means to the end of the Crucifixion - the main event.

By contrast in Orthodox Christianity, Christmas itself is the beginning of the reconciliation of God and man. Where Protestantism views God as a judge who demands the spilling of blood (hence the crucifixion), Orthodoxy sees God as a parent who seeks reconciliation with his children by becoming man -- even unto death (thus the crucifixion is viewed as part of the overall Incarnation plan that begins at Christmas). This Orthodox understanding (at least in elementary form) was expressed in the views of some of the earliest church fathers like Irenaeus:

Irenaeus conceives of our salvation as essentially coming about through the incarnation of God as a man. He characterises the penalty for sin as death and corruption. God, however, is immortal and incorruptible, and simply by becoming united to human nature in Christ he conveys those qualities to us: they spread, as it were, like a benign infection. Irenaeus therefore understands the atonement of Christ as happening through his incarnation rather than his crucifixion, although the latter event is an integral part of the former.

This view not only gives us more to celebrate at Christmas (the beginning of the transformation of human nature), but also gives us a healthier picture of God -- God as a healer/ reconciler rather than a judge/ executioner.

My top 10 songs of the year

2010-12-19T19:27:00.005-05:00

Overall, my tastes are getting really pop-heavy and really light on rock and roll. My high school self would be perplexed.

10. CEO - Come with me
CEO is some side project of one of the The Tough Alliance guys so it had to be sweet. The bridge "I'm gonna bring you to my arms" is super.
9. Robyn - Dancing on my own
I thought it was a pretty weak year for top 40 radio tunes. The pleasure I got from listening to guilty pleasures like Nikki Minaj or Rihanna probably did not justify the guilt. But as STG pointed out, "Dancing on my own" is pretty much just a reincarnation of New Order's "Temptation". Therefore it is acceptable to love it?
8. Salem - King Night
Everybody loves Christmas music. And everybody loves witch house. Wait, maybe not on that latter point. But for the small sliver of the population that is crazy about "O Holy Night" and spooky industrial electronica, "king night" is a godsend.
7. Twin Shadow - Slow
The neo-new-wave trend is still going strong, as demonstrated by the streaky synths and quivering bass line in Slow. Also the dude looks like my dad I think.
6. Wild Nothing - Chinatown
Some straight-up dream pop plus a nice video about a cute puppy. P.S. Whenever you come up with a "chinese-sounding" melody are you supposed to title the song "China-something" (a la Bowie' China girl)?
5. Janelle Monae - Sir Greendown
The song brilliantly conjures up medieval romance both with lilting melodies and in its lyrics: "Sir Greendown/ come wake me in the night/ the dragon wants a bite/ of our love."
4. Yeasayer - ONE
I kinda miss the days when all my favorite songs were just drums and guitars and bass, but the synths move you in a different way. Software killed the guitar hero?
3. Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol
This song is actually from 1972, but it became an internet hit this year. The basic premise is that Italian people are mocking American rock music, singing American-sounding gibberish. A rocking good time ensues. Bed intruder song was another notable internet sensation.
2. Delorean - Stay Close
You get the feeling there has to be an anti-chillwave backlash brewing. One day kids are going to wake up and realize we have gone soft with our glittery synths and 80s nostalgia. Either that or we are going to get even more decadent and starting pining after 90's eurodance. Either way, now is a good time to be a music fan.
1. Sleigh Bells - Rill Rill
If you don't like it, you may not have a heart. It's unbridled sweetness -- basically a two-chord jam built around a Funkadelic sample and some twee vocals: "Wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces?/ What about them? I'm all about them."

UPDATE: In retrospect, my failure to include "All of the Lights" by Kanye West was inexcusable.

Randy Moss calls into talk show to bash Jeff Fisher?

2010-12-18T23:51:00.007-05:00

This blog was founded for two main purposes: 1) sharing awesome 80s music, and 2) advocating the firing of Titans coach Jeff Fisher. Project #2 looks like it may be about to bear fruit, as more and more people are realizing that Fisher has accomplished incredibly little in seventeen years as coach... Some fan named "woody" called into a Titans talk show this week calling for Fisher's head. Which wouldn't be a big deal except that Woody sounds an awful lot like Randy Moss. Check it out.

hat tip fassaf and ak47

Onyx Cave Christmas Sessions

2010-12-11T22:51:00.002-05:00

Listen to the Christmas session from my band, Onyx Cave

Obama Tax Reform

2010-12-10T00:05:00.002-05:00

nyt:

The objective is to rid the code of its complex buildup of deductions, credits and exemptions, thereby broadening the base of taxes collected and allowing for lower rates — much like a bipartisan majority on Mr. Obama’s debt-reduction commission recommended last week in its final blueprint for reducing the debt through 2020.

Simplify the tax code? Then what will we talk about in TAX class?!

Money makes you happier. Up to a point.

2010-12-06T19:52:00.004-05:00

Happiness increases with household income until income reaches $75,000, at which point happiness plateaus.

States with highest top tax rates

2010-11-23T21:51:00.001-05:00

....TAAAAAX

The 10 Highest State Income Tax Rates For 2011

Forbes, The 10 Highest State Income Tax Rates For 2011:

Hawaii: 11% ($200,000 single/$400,000 married)
Oregon: 11% ($250,000 single/$500,000 married)
California: 10.3% ($1,000,000 single & married)
Iowa: 8.98% ($64,755 single & married)
New Jersey: 8.97% ($500,000 single & married)
New York: 8.97% ($500,000 single & married)
Vermont: 8.97% ($379,150 single & married)
Maine: 8.5% ($19,750 single, $39,550 married)
Washington, D.C.: 8.5% ($40,000 single & married)
Minnesota: 7.85% ($74,780 single, $132,220 married

via

The decline and fall of facial hair in India?

2010-11-21T23:52:00.003-05:00

Today's Indian male is rebelling against the classic mustachioed look:

"The mustache represents all the aspects of old India -- the corruption, the baddie cop in an old film, the government job for life -- that the young generation want to leave behind," said McCallum, a pogonologist, or student of facial hair. "Besides, no one wants to look like their parents."

But why would youth in Asia forsake this sort of greatness?:

Ram Singh Chauman of Jaipur claims to have one of the world's longest mustaches, measuring an impressive 12 1/2 feet. He had a bit part in the 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy" and was featured on a Lonely Planet magazine cover. He now charges modeling fees.

Bob Dylan: Tonight I'll be staying here with you

2010-11-12T21:00:00.003-05:00

I'm not a giant Dylan-booster, but there is something awesome about the Nashville Skyline album.

Marijuana use by race

2010-10-28T00:05:00.002-04:00

We asians- so abstemious.

via

Billy Bragg: A New England

2010-10-26T22:17:00.001-04:00

Built to Spill: Carry the Zero

2010-10-25T00:50:00.001-04:00

Couldn't find a carry the zero vid anywhere on youtube, but this vimeo one is pretty hypnotic

Sunset Hooping 'Carry the Zero' from Kali Deno on Vimeo.

The rent is too damn high party

2010-10-20T00:02:00.008-04:00

Only in New York could you build a political party around the fact that rent is too high. (Yes this guy is a candidate for NY governor).

Why don't McMillanites vote with their feet and move to a lower cost-of-living area...no one is holding them hostage in the most expensive city in the country.

So you want to go to law school?

2010-10-19T21:39:00.002-04:00

The cynicism is strong in this profession.

Pre-law girl: "it must be so fascinating to help poor people with their legal problems"
Lawyer: "what's fascinating is that you will be one of these poor people --except you will have $100,000 in law school debt."

The importance of standing desks

2010-10-17T23:12:00.002-04:00

One of the major lessons I took away from my summer job is that I need a sitting-standing (adjustable) desk. Sitting down all day feels terrible, and science now confirms that it is actually terrible for you:

But when we sit, researchers say, important biological processes take a nap. An enzyme that vacuums dangerous fat out of the bloodstream only works properly when a body is upright. Standing also seems to ward off deadly heart disease, burn calories, increase how well insulin lowers glucose and produce the good brand of cholesterol. Most of these processes occur - or don't - regardless of whether someone exercises. Human beings need to stand.

Smart kids drink more

2010-10-16T22:52:00.002-04:00

A new study:

"More intelligent children, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, grow up to consume alcohol more frequently and in greater quantities than less intelligent children."

"It is important to note that both income and education, as well as childhood social class and parents’ education, are controlled in multiple regression analyses of these data from the US and the UK. It means that it is not because more intelligent people occupy higher-paying, more important jobs that require them to socialize and drink with their business associates that they drink more alcohol. It appears to be their intelligence itself, rather than correlates of intelligence, that inclines them to drink more."

Things that won't make you happy and why

2010-10-14T23:00:00.005-04:00

Cracked explores why power, money, beauty, and other things that we are after typically won't make us happy. One big reason that these things fail to truly raise our happiness levels is the psychological power of adjustment or adaptation:

Your brain adjusts feelings of happiness downward after you've reached some goal or other. It regulates the good feelings, presumably so that you have motivation to reach the next goal instead of just lounging by the pool for the rest of your days.

If you understand the fact of adaptation, you might be inclined to say we should stop striving after power, money, fame, and the like. If all that striving isn't going to bring you happiness (you'll just get acclimated to the new wealth/beauty/fame/whatever), you might say- what's the point? Might as well just settle into an easy and contented life? That seems to be the message that the Cracked authors and many happiness psychologists are laying out.

The counter to that is that there is something that is more important than happiness/ contentment. Perhaps living a life of achievement and excellence is more important than living a subjectively happy life. As my man J.S. Mill put it "better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." Money, power, beauty, and fame sound shallow when we think of them as life goals. But if we see them as proxies for excellence, then they should become a little less repulsive.

Of course, ideally you'd be able to be both subjectively happy and a high achiever. But I think it's hard to deny that same drive that pushes one to work extra-hard and maximize achievement is at odds with a hakuna-matata-type personality.

*the picture is from the Cracked section on power

Jurgen Paape: So weit wie noch nie

2010-10-08T09:25:00.003-04:00

gotta be the sweetest thing ever sung in German

Elliott Smith: Ballad of Big Nothing

2010-10-01T07:28:00.001-04:00

"Throwing candy out to the crowd/ Dragging down the main" Commendably terse summoning of imagery

College costs shoot up; college grads' earnings stagnant

2010-09-17T23:03:00.002-04:00

source

Salem: redlights

2010-09-06T10:02:00.002-04:00

Cunning juxtaposition of fried industrial beats and that sweet lullaby vocal. Is the band name meant to conjure witchy imagery?

The highest paid athlete of all time

2010-09-05T21:50:00.003-04:00

...in inflation-adjusted terms is the Roman charioteer Diocles:

The very best paid of these—in fact, the best paid athlete of all time—was a Lusitanian Spaniard named Gaius Appuleius Diocles....Twenty-four years of winnings brought Diocles—likely an illiterate man whose signature move was the strong final dash—the staggering sum of 35,863,120 sesterces in prize money.

His total take home amounted to five times the earnings of the highest paid provincial governors over a similar period—enough to provide grain for the entire city of Rome for one year, or to pay all the ordinary soldiers of the Roman Army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year. By today’s standards that last figure, assuming the apt comparison is what it takes to pay the wages of the American armed forces for the same period, would cash out to about $15 billion.

Ok, that last assumption seems pretty stupid, but it's still good to know that we're not the first era to treat our athletes like kings.

Via Marginal Revolution

Obama and the ground-zero mosque

2010-08-16T22:27:00.002-04:00

Peter Wehner = exactly right:

It’s hard to understand what President Obama is trying to achieve by wading into these waters. If his purpose was to speak out in behalf of the importance of religious liberty in America, the point is so obvious that it doesn’t need to be made. No serious person is arguing against religious liberty. If the purpose of Obama speaking out was to advance inter-faith comity and ensure that tensions don’t rise in America, then he has damaged that cause.

I think Obama just let his inner con law prof get the better of him. His statement was damaging to the cause of religious tolerance and probably even more damaging to his public image.

Track review: OMG (Usher)

2010-08-10T19:55:00.004-04:00

Lyrically, this song is total rubbish. for example:

Honey got a booty like pow, pow, pow
Honey got some boobies like wow, oh wow

Sweet rhyming man. haha boobies. I think in 6th grade we figured out that you could spell boobies with numbers on your calculator. 5318008. (turn your calc upside down). But no one past the age of 11 has ever used the word boobies. So props to Usher for pushing lyrical boundaries in that way. Also you have to appreciate him choosing to say "o my gosh" and declining to take the lord's name in vain.

But the beat is pure gold. The croaking and zooming synths make this solid 2010 club material. But what puts it over the edge is the sports-arena-chant "o-o-o-o-o-o" that capitalizes the chorus. The chant takes a typical song about dancefloor lust and blows it up into an NBA-finals-size celebration of some girl's boobies. Awesum!

Grade: A-

P.S. Will-i-am is horrible

2010-08-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

Synthpathic: waiting in lounge

2010-07-26T23:38:00.000-04:00

...nu jazz?
SynthpathiC - Waiting in Lounge (Album vers.) by SynthpathiC

Carrell's Parody of LeBron's decision

2010-07-18T23:03:00.003-04:00

"I have five doubts"

New Cut Copy

2010-07-17T13:51:00.002-04:00

...from the forthcoming album. it seems rather uninspired... they seem to be trying a bit of the experimental beatles sound. Just no strong melodic line to go with the trippy production.

LeBron to Miami

2010-07-08T22:23:00.005-04:00

Disgusting. so desperate to win that he would play second fiddle to D. Wade and waste his talent. it's a move of desperation--fear that he can't build up and lead a winning team--cowardice...I think the cliched obsession with winning really got to him. The winningest player of our era is Robert Horry (whom I love), but he isn't really in the upper echelon of players. It's not winning that matters but excelling-- playing great basketball. And both he and Wade will be impaired in their ability to reach their full potential and dominance since they'll have to share responsibility and the ball.

Having children decreases happiness

2010-07-06T22:24:00.003-04:00

The data is pretty clear:

“The broad message is not that children make you less happy; it’s just that children don’t make you more happy.” That is, he tells me, unless you have more than one. “Then the studies show a more negative impact.” As a rule, most studies show that mothers are less happy than fathers, that single parents are less happy still, that babies and toddlers are the hardest, and that each successive child produces diminishing returns.

It's perhaps a distinctly modern problem:

Before urbanization, children were viewed as economic assets to their parents. If you had a farm, they toiled alongside you to maintain its upkeep; if you had a family business, the kids helped mind the store. But all of this dramatically changed with the moral and technological revolutions of modernity. As we gained in prosperity, childhood came increasingly to be viewed as a protected, privileged time, and once college degrees became essential to getting ahead, children became not only a great expense but subjects to be sculpted, stimulated, instructed, groomed.

But maybe happiness (in the sense of pleasure) isn't that important in the grand scheme. Perhaps happiness is better conceived of in the Aristotelian/Millian sense-- happiness as fulfillment and accomplishment. And on that metric, having kids is probably a pretty good investment.

True faith to the U.S. Constitution

2010-06-28T23:35:00.001-04:00

I took my oath today:

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

XTC: Making plans for Nigel

2010-06-25T22:32:00.001-04:00

Al Gore's secret

2010-06-23T23:45:00.003-04:00

Drudge recently had a sweet headline: GLOBAL COOLING: Gores split after 40 years of marriage...well now it comes out Al had been messing around. He was looking for a happy ending after a massage...this while he was on the road making speeches about climate change.

...also today was one of the great sports days of the decade. to be discussed

The economics of prostitution

2010-06-23T00:21:00.002-04:00

Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh's paper:

Street prostitutes earn roughly $25-$30 per hour, roughly four times their hourly wage in other activities, but this higher wage represents relatively meager compensation for the significant risk they bear....Where pimps are active, prostitutes appear to do better, with pimps both providing protection and paying efficiency wages. Condoms are used only one-fourth of the time and the price premium for unprotected sex is small. The supply of prostitutes is relatively elastic, as evidenced by the supply response to a 4th of July demand shock. Although technically illegal, punishments are minimal for prostitutes and johns. A prostitute is more likely to have sex with a police officer than to get officially arrested by one. We estimate that there are 4,400 street prostitutes active in Chicago in an average week.

Via

Make vuvuzela noise a constant part of your life

2010-06-18T19:31:00.001-04:00

Here's Ex Nikhilo with vuvuzelas. Add them to any website.

Ali G interviews the NBA

2010-06-16T20:39:00.001-04:00

I particularly like the bits with Steve Kerr. Also love that Horry made it into this.

Classic TV: Dinosaucers

2010-06-15T23:53:00.002-04:00

I've never met anyone else who remembers watching Dinosaucers. I thought I might have dreamed it, but I found the youtube clip. The show brings together the typical child's most salient interests: aliens and dinosaurs -- in the form of aliens who are dinosaurs.

England v. USA: re-enactment...in legos

2010-06-14T23:54:00.001-04:00

Kate Bush w/ David Gilmour: Running up that Hill

2010-06-13T23:08:00.001-04:00

Nikki Haley is secretly Indian

2010-06-09T22:47:00.004-04:00

Law school has put a stop to or at least a gap in my days as a political junkie. So I am only now realizing that the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina is Punjabi. Nikki Haley's real name is Nimrata Randhawa.

And apparently some of the good people of South Carolina aren't taking too kindly to her Indian-ness:

On June 3, 2010, on the internet political talk show Pub Politics, Sen. Jake Knotts, a South Carolina lawmaker and supporter of Haley opponent Andre Bauer, repeatedly referred to Haley as a "raghead" or "fucking raghead", saying "We've already got a raghead in the White House, we don't need another raghead in the governor's mansion." The Republican state legislator later apologized for the slur, saying the remarks about President Barack Obama and state Rep. Nikki Haley were meant as a joke.^[31]^[32]

The effects of drinking: perceived and actual

2010-06-09T22:25:00.004-04:00

via

Nietzsche Family Circus

2010-06-07T23:05:00.003-04:00

NFC is exactly what it sounds like: a random Nietzsche quote paired with a random Family Circus cartoon....:

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

Country music --> seppuku

2010-06-06T23:13:00.008-04:00

As you'd guess after reading this study, Nashville has its share of sadness.

Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work. The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce, southernness, poverty and gun availability.

via

here's an old country favorite of arvind's...it's pretty positive in tone

North America's most Bohemian Cities

2010-06-05T18:23:00.005-04:00

from Richard Florida: The index charts the concentration of working artists, musicians, writers, designers, and entertainers across metropolitan areas.

Life expectancy as a function of GDP per capita

2010-06-04T21:19:00.004-04:00

via will wilkinson. click to gigantify.

The Knife: Silent Shout

2010-06-03T21:16:00.002-04:00

I discovered today that this is the best song in the world for driving in an underground parking garage. Like if they re-make All the President's Men, they should play this during those meetings with Deep Throat.

Pythagoras contra beans

2010-06-02T21:14:00.005-04:00

More quality B. Russell:

[Pythagoras] founded a religion of which the the main tenets were the transmigration of souls and the sinfulness of eating beans. His religion was embodied in a religious order, which, here and there, acquired control of the state and established a rule of the saints. But the unregenerate hankered after beans, and sooner or later rebelled.

According to Philosophical Misadventures, Pythag wasn't the only one: Cicero wrote:

So Plato bids us go to our beds with our bodies so composed that there is nothing that brings distraction of disturbance to the mind. That, it is thought, is why the Pythagoreans are forbidden to eat beans which cause considerable flatulence and are thus inimical to those who seek peace of mind.

Roxy Music: Take a chance on me

2010-06-02T21:12:00.001-04:00

i'm old enough to be listening to adult contemporary music now i think

Two points on primitive Greek religion

2010-05-31T23:43:00.005-04:00

The first chapter of Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy examines the religious background against which pre-Socratic philosophy developed. a couple of interesting parts:

1. Russell emphasizes the philosophical influence of the frenzied Bacchan cult, in which instinct and passion and union with God gained footholds as ideals rivaling reason and prudence... "[The] mystical element entered into Greek philosophy with Pythagoras, who was a reformer of Orphism, as Orpheus was a reformer of the religion of Bacchus. From Pythagoras Orphic elements entered into the philosophy of Plato, and from Plato into most later philosophy that was in any degree religious."

2. BR also notes that certain Greek communities that worshipped Pan engaged in the practice of beating the idol in times of scarcity. Where most primitive religious devotees tried to bribe their deities with sacrifices, these guys decided to intimidate their god into helping them. Brilliant.

Neko Case: This Tornado Loves You

2010-05-27T22:40:00.003-04:00

unorthodox song structure. i think the catchiest part is at the beginning: "i want youuuuuu" and that only appears twice on the front end.

Choice quotes from wikipedia

2010-05-23T23:51:00.002-04:00

"Very few types of underground music are completely hidden—except perhaps the underground rock scenes in the pre-Gorbachev Soviet Union"

Mt. Eden Dubstep: Still alive

2010-05-17T20:32:00.001-04:00

Bob Sinclar: Love Generation/ Gigi D'Agostino: I'll fly with you

2010-05-15T21:58:00.003-04:00

mather happy hour classics. i find them interesting as upbeat and fun songs with generally uplifting lyrical content that are made more poignant by a certain melancholy in the melodies.

McCartney doesn't care

2010-05-14T19:35:00.001-04:00

"it's terrible news"

via jc

Bear in Heaven: Lovesick teenagers

2010-05-14T19:18:00.001-04:00

Willie Hutch: I choose you

2010-05-10T22:34:00.000-04:00

WaPo confuses Malcolm X for Obama

2010-04-29T11:31:00.002-04:00

unbelievable

Luomo: Tessio

2010-04-28T23:55:00.000-04:00

classic bush!

2010-04-20T21:34:00.000-04:00

i miss him

Kaavya-t emptor

2010-04-18T23:58:00.001-04:00

i was just thinking how that would have been a good title for an article during kaavya-gate. 4 years too late alas.

monty python: argument clinic

2010-04-18T21:57:00.000-04:00

via mr

The Cure vs. Timberlake

2010-04-17T15:04:00.001-04:00

lullaby v. my love...much nicer than Ewing v. California, or whatever I'm supposed to be reading

Teenage Fanclub: Metal Baby

2010-04-15T21:56:00.003-04:00

straight up power pop!

Best Coast: Sun was high

2010-04-12T20:29:00.002-04:00

it has to be a special riff if you're going to play it non-stop for two and a half minutes ...but if you can listen to it for 2.5 minutes, you probably could go for another 5.

awesome dunk

2010-04-12T17:53:00.001-04:00

turned sour

Talking Heads: Nothing But Flowers

2010-04-09T17:42:00.002-04:00

"this was a pizza hut; now it's all covered in daisies"

Christianity as a Trolley Problem

2010-04-08T10:41:00.003-04:00

Trolley problems are famous set of puzzles in moral philosophy that are meant to test our intuitions about moral justification. the basic question is this: if a trolley is on track to kill 5 people who are sitting on rail, are you morally justified in pulling a switch which redirects the trolley to another track where it will kill only one person (most people say yes)? A variation asks you if you's be justified in pushing a fat man into the path of the trolley to stop it from crushing the five.

Your answers to these types of problems are thought to show whether you reason consequentially (believing that you should take action to reach the best outcome even if that means harming one innocent person) or a deontologically (believing that you should not act to harm the one person even if failure to act results in five deaths).

I'm wondering whether people schooled in Christianity and particularly those brought up in the penal-substitute tradition are particularly inclined to be consequentialist thinkers. After all the good news according to at least some interpretations of Christianity is that one person (Christ) died so that the rest of humanity doesn't have to go to hell. So Jesus is like the fat man who stops the train that would have crushed the human race, right? If you buy into that as a central feature of your spiritual life, you might think consequentialism is a great way of reasoning in general.

Cocteau Twins: Heaven or Las Vegas

2010-04-08T10:40:00.000-04:00

Josef K: Endless Soul

2010-04-04T22:56:00.002-04:00

somewhat under-appreciated scottish post-punk dudes

Perhaps the main reason Orthodox Christianity > Western Christianity

2010-04-03T22:03:00.006-04:00

Orthodoxy doesn't see God as a bloodthirsty figure who demanded Christ's death as some sort of penal substitute for sinful humans:

As a result of this sin, mankind was doomed to be separated from God. This was mankind’s ultimate dilemma. The solution to this problem was for God to effect another change in human nature. Orthodox Christians believe that Christ Jesus was both God and Man absolutely. He was born, lived, died, and rose again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through God’s participation in humanity, human nature is changed thus saving us from the fate of hell (Orthodox reject the idea that Christ died to give God "satisfaction," as taught by Anselm, or as a punitive substitute as taught by the Reformers).

I think the Western idea of a God who demands blood as penance for sin is out of sync with Christianity's commitment to a loving/lovable "pater noster" God.

See also:

Thus, the soteriology of the ecumenical councils (and hence of Eastern Christianity) is based not on putting us juridically “right” with God, but on the existential healing of human nature through the person of Jesus Christ. As Bishop Kallistos Ware notes in his introduction to Orthodox theology and spirituality, The Orthodox Way, Orthodox soteriology is inescapably linked to Christology and may be described “salvation as sharing”.[57]

Frida Hyvonen: Jesus was a cross maker

2010-04-02T07:44:00.000-04:00

cover of Judee Sill

Busta Rhymes: Gimme some more...guess the sample?

2010-04-01T23:24:00.003-04:00

"flip mode is the greatest." what's the source of the violin lick?

Hitchcock's psycho!

Songs that are secretly the same song/need to mashed up #1

2010-03-29T20:49:00.001-04:00

Passion Pit's "Little Secrets" and Neutral Milk Hotel's "King of Carrotflowers pt. 1"

America's looming VAT: why you should spend big now!

2010-03-27T09:52:00.006-04:00

With Obamacare adding another cool trillion or more to America's large ($8 trillion) and growing public debt, it's easy to see that we are headed for a fiscal reckoning. The best bet is that the U.S. will soon implement a value-added tax (VAT), similar to a sales tax. As Krauthammer puts it:

American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation...all of the European Union has the VAT. Huge VATs. Germany: 19 percent. France and Italy: 20 percent. Most of Scandinavia: 25 percent.

Right now we are enjoying the benefits of a social welfare state without paying the taxes to support those programs. Truly the best of times! Unfortunately this can't go on forever. The VAT looms ahead.

Now since the VAT is going to make future consumption more costly relative to today's VAT-free consumption, we consumers need should accelerate our current spending to take advantage of the relatively low prices prevailing in 2010! Eat, drink, and be merry--for tomorrow we VAT.

Junior Boys: Bits and Pieces

2010-03-25T20:04:00.001-04:00

Dreams

2010-03-22T19:23:00.002-04:00

I dreamed that one of my professors gave me an exam where the first question was to interpret the meaning of Eno's "King's lead hat." I raced through it. Afterward I went up to my professor and asked him how meta we were supposed to be in answering the question (yea what the hell?). I then realized that I had forgotten to write the second essay on the exam, and I asked him whether I could make it up. He made a disapproving face.