I hope those who vote on Tuesday will realize that "This feast of beauty can intoxicate ..., just like the finest wine. Come on all you stumblers who believe love rules. Stand up and let it shine" (Cockburn, Mystery. 2006).
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Obamageddon
I hope those who vote on Tuesday will realize that "This feast of beauty can intoxicate ..., just like the finest wine. Come on all you stumblers who believe love rules. Stand up and let it shine" (Cockburn, Mystery. 2006).
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Rethinking the 3 Rs
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Reckoner and Golden Fragments
I seldom can pass up the release of "lost" recordings, whether they be basement tapes or others, and the Golden Unplugged Album was no exception. On the whole the recording quality is poor and better recordings could probably be found on fan sites; however, the album does have a few treasures. Satellite of Love not only shows off Bono's impressive falsetto range (I wonder if he can still hit them) and features the unyielding Lou Reed. Lucille and Lost Highway are fun country renditions, though Bono cannot traverse the genre of folk nearly so well; Stan Rogers would have done much better with the Springhill Mining Disaster. The crowd's refrain Sunday Bloody Sunday is heart-warming and Dancing Queen (with Bjorn and Benny of ABBA) is lots of fun. The fun continues with the trio of songs lead by a Larry Mullen Jr. who sounds like Joe Strummer. Overall this album is for the diehard fan and not one I will listen to often given its poor, and varied, sound quality.
Since their earliest collaborations Bela Fleck and Chick Corea have belonged together. Their musical intellects match, though for some listeners the experience can be like watching an Einstein at the chalkboard. The bright, cheery, staccato music they produce engenders the humour in their performance: they frequently dare each other to play first or outshine the other. This album also features one of my favourite Fleck songs, Sunset Road, a good listen for the sophisticate.
Algerian reflections
This would all be fine if we could hide from the $2.8T loss banks have suffered, the price of the Iraq War, and the moral degradation of sites, such as Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. We cannot. Consider this quote I gleaned from Dahr Jamail:
... for seven years, France has been a mad dog dragging a saucepan tied to its tail, everyday unaware that we have ruined, starved and massacred a nation of poor people to bring them to their knees. They remained standing. But at what a price! While the delegations were putting an end to the business, 2,400,000 Algerians remained in the slow death camps; we have killed more than a million of them ...
--Jean-Paul Sartre, "The Sleepwalkers," Les Temps Modernes, April 1962
Jamail, of course, freely amends this quote for Iraq: America for France, 4.7m for 2.4m and 1.2m for 1m. Although it will likely take a few more decades for the average voter to comprehend how we got here and how bad it was ( is), we do need change. It is not hype and cannot be for the worse.
Dialling Dylan
Although I didn't enjoy all of his interpretations of the "classics" and the fact they were interpreted at all, I had to respect his choice: the master bard had a right to know better. All of this came to head when he finally moved away from the keyboard and picked up his guitar (actually when the roadie that so longed for stage-time gave it to him); the fans were munching on the few scraps they had been thrown, barely able to distinguish his playing on Just Like a Woman, when the song ended and they cheered for more. None came, not even one song during an encore; Dylan was once more difficult to pin down, an-iconic. Nevertheless, I didn't know any of the men in their late fifties that comprised his band and I wished for some frame of reference, so I yelled above the crowd to the die-hard fan in front of me who had been writing down a set list, "Wouldn't it be great if Robbie Robertson appeared on stage." The fan responded with some empathy, "You never know." You never do know, but the band had a solid vibe; if Dylan wasn't as well versed in the keyboard, that was o.k. It was good to commune with him once more.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Gold Nuggets
The insights continue, "Yet nowhere else in American literature is there a group of accomplished women writers so closely bound together by regional qualities of setting, character, and time" (1). "If Welty celebrates womankind, Carson McCullers and Flannery O'Connor struggle against it" (5). "... he has performed the part of St. George by defeating a 'dragon' which threatened to kill Denis's heir--and, by implication, to violate some sacred family spirit. That dragon is also the intruding urban machine in the pastoral garden ..." (82-3).
She also includes some spectacular quotes and the breadth of her research is impressive:
A fair young body trampled to death--
This beautiful, glorious Lady of ours!
Bring spices and wine and all the spring's breath.
And bathe her with kisses and shroud her with flowers.
O breasts whose twin lilies are purpled with blood!
O face, whose twin roses with ashes are white!
O dead golden hair, at whose far splendor stood
Millions of true souls entranced with delight!
(Simms, Trampled to Death)
In a similar vein, the newly released, American and British Writers - The Spoken Word, appears to be an impressive collections that has received favourable reviews. These CD's contain audio clips from famous authors, including the only recordings of Virginia Woolf and Arthur Conan Doyle.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Grim Reaper and Other Innovations
A very clever new book, worthy of occupying a spot next to the Geist Atlas, is The Grim Reaper's Road Map: An atlas of mortality in Britain. This tome maps how people died; that is, for each cause of death, the number of deaths is represented by a shade of colour. Thus, at a glance, you can determine in which neighbourhood (1,282 total) people are more likely to die of a heart attack or under the blade of a knife.
Grasping change
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Final Debate
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Election 2008: What now?
Will Harper be able to pass more legislation? No, he did just fine prior to the election. Instead, we will have to watch Baird embarrass us in places like Bali. We'll also watch Harper do whatever the U.S. president says; the only consolation is the huge leap in the polls by Obama, so there's less chance of a militant Harper. In Victoria, we'll have to hear about Lunn trying to place the blame on experts. As a side issue, I hope Lewis sees the folly of his decision not to back Penn, for Lunn got in for the fifth time without a majority. (Of course, some blame may be placed on Penn for abandoning the Greens in the first place, for many were hesitant to back a Liberal despite her track record). The biggest question is whether Harper will make a definable accomplishment. (After all, it's hard much the past surpluses have padded his economic performance). Will he really pass stiffer environmental regulations or just duck-and-run with Baird?
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Technological encounters
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Second Presidential Debate
Barack on the other hand rose above the fray, he did not shy away from prioritizing energy, Medicare, and entitlements and he rose above comments, such as, "You know, nailing down Senator Obama's various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall." Obama stuck to the issues. Now the question is whether Americans will do the same. Timothy Garton Ash notes that Democrats score better on the economy (he cites Kinsley's post), but that "Americans are gripped by the politics of fear." McCain spoke of the need for the government to "give some trust and confidence back to America," but doesn't America need a dose of reality, out of which they can begin to hope rather than fear?
Monday, October 06, 2008
VP Victor
With the gloves off, Tuesday's debate should be great.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Child Soldiers No More
He then outlined the history of the child soldier weapons system, and its capacity, which encompassed the roles of mine clearers, prostitutes, ambush decoys, front-line soldiers and messengers. 300,000 children are involved, many forcibly, in the world today; not only in Africa where their involvement is widely known, but also in countries like Colombia and the Philippines. He described its origins: how battle lines, rules of engagement, and defined enemies eroded after the Cold War. The horrors of war have become the horrors of humanity. Nevertheless, Dallaire sees the solution in the essence of humanity; only by recognizing the humanness of every human can we make progress. We can no longer categorize human suffering by their assets; we can no longer let the insecurity of one super power dictate the globe's actions. Old models, such as peace keeping, do not work in this world. Rather middle powers, such as Canada, who have no imperial aims can facilitate the Responsibility to Protect (R2P); furthermore, the empowerment of women and education can facilitate change. The most touching story, for me, was his account of the child soldier, who with a shaky trigger finger and the barrel of the gun in Dallaire's nose, released his finger from the trigger when he spied the candy bar in Dallaire's hand.
At first Cockburn's laid back demeanour and the bright opening bars of his first song, seemed incongruent with Dallaire's depiction of the world; his footnote about Flor de Caña being mistaken with Florida Canyons only deepened this misgiving. However, as his performance wore on, I soon realized that his banter was a gift and that this evening had an ebb and flow: the subject was too severe to absorb for three hours straight. I soon found myself immersed in his talent; yes, he still has his chops. Nice touches, such as his falsetto on Lovers in a Dangerous Time, also added to the evening, however, his passion for peace was never far away. Despite my enjoyment, I still had a nagging feeling that Dallaire wouldn't appear on stage with Cockburn, but this sensation was quieted by Cockburn's announcement, "Let us bring Dallaire, after all this is no ordinary evening." What ensued was fabulous; Dallaire recounted two stories while Cockburn provided background music. As Dallaire told his tale of seeing the same look in childless boy's eyes as in his own son's and another of the shame that had cloaked girls who were rape victims, I encountered the power of story. The cadence of his voice, which matched perfectly with Cockburn's lick, only lulled you enough to make the sting of the horror tolerable. Thanks to both these extraordinary people this issue is indelibly etched on the minds of many.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Debate Double Header
The Leaders' Debate, on the other hand, was dominated by May; on second thought, she didn't dominate as much as stand out. She wisely used the attention from the controversy of her inclusion in the debate to raise her profile and broaden her platform. I did enjoy Dion's pointed questions and comments to Harper, and to be fair Harper did well in responding to them. In addition, the debate was characterized by the good old fashioned Canadian technique of yelling over each other, which is absent from American debates.
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