Driving the point home

I got called a jerk today for crossing in a crosswalk at a four-way stop. Somebody needs to make a shirt (or bumper sticker) that says, "STAB ME - I can't responsibly exercise my right to exist"

Proud heritage

The Word of the Day for August 24 is:

pariah \puh-RYE-uh\ noun
1 : a member of a low caste of southern India
*2 : one that is despised or rejected : outcast

Example sentence:
Sasha became a pariah among the experts in her field after publishing a highly inflammatory article.

Did you know?
"Pariah" comes from Tamil, the language spoken in Tamil Nadu, a state of India, and in parts of Sri Lanka. The predecessor of "pariah" is the Tamil word "paraiyan," which literally means "drummer." "Paraiyan" is also the name of an ancient tribal group whose members are included in the Untouchables, or Harijans, the lowest caste in India. Consisting mostly of servants and laborers, members of this tribal group traditionally beat their drums at festivals but were excluded from religion processions. "Pariah" was originally the English rendering of the name of that specific group. It was eventually extended to denote any member of the lowest Hindu caste, and finally used more broadly as a synonym of "outcast."

Two-thousand ninety-eight dollar baby

I finally joined the world of laptopery. Hooray. (To the left is Sonna, a horny kitten I have to tell to shut up and get away from me while I'm eating.) The aspect I'm most excited about is not having to deal with my shitty old PC any more. And, of course, I hear great things about Macs' media capabilities, so... if you all want to start mailing me things like a minidisc recorder, marimba, vibraphone, etc., I'll get cracking on that solo project that's been kicking around my brain. At any rate, I should be more available over the old interweb now that I have a home connection again.

Um, I had lots of pictures of cats on my camera for some reason. Here are a few. I actually like cats a lot. I just don't like it when they beg me for sex when I'm eating waffles.









Today's listening: The Goslings Grandeur of Hair, Isis Live IV, Isis Panopticon, playing music with Erik aka The April Decca

Movies (holy crap, I've been renting movies; very unusual for me, but I'm trying to get in the habit since I know there's so much good stuff out there): Audition, Thumbsucker, Monster, Repulsion

Current (re)reading: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

London calling (long distance)

Story in the Post today about Chinese punks. Not particularly deep, but pretty cool that it was on the front page.

In other news, I was checking out the scene reports in the current issue of MRR and, in reading about punk bands in Uzbekistan(!) and Tajikistan(!!), I came across the website for Tian An Men Records, run by a dude in France who puts out bands from places you wouldn't believe punk has taken root. Upcoming projects include comp LP's from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and yet-to-be-announced releases from Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Iraq. Plus a 13-year back catalogue that includes bands from Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Cuba, Nepal, Myanmar/Burma, and Brunei. Granted, the quality of the featured bands may not live up to the concept of punk rock generated in exotic corners of the world, but still...friggin' awesome. I'm going to try to put an order together and will report back if and when the records land on my doorstep.

No one understands my art

Review of the Aghast Desolate Legacy 7" from Punknews.com:

So, today I was downtown at a local indie record store, so I could buy the first Jawbox album. I had some money left over, but not enough for a CD, so I browsed through the 7” bin to find something that looked cool. I found Aghast's Desolate Legacy in the “Local Bands” section, and figured that if listening to it might give me a chance to actually go to a show for once, it might be worth spending the $3 for it.

Anyway, I take it home, open up the record sleeve, and read the lyric sheet first. I immediately knew it was a d-beat band, because of the first song:

Continual cycles of repression
Chaos never ending
Regional stability erodes
Chaos never ending
The arms have been proliferated

So, yeah, my expectations dropped a little, but they were still up there. I take it downstairs, put it on the automatic (so not punx) turntable, and listen. It was the most unbearable noise I have ever heard. Incredibly fast, poorly recorded, with feedback that actually hurt my ears, and the screechiest female vocalist I’d ever heard.

Then I put it on at 33 RPM.

Now it was listenable, but still really badly recorded. Even with the lyrics sheet, I still had trouble telling what the lyrics were. This wasn’t helped by the fact that the songs pretty much blended together. Basically, this is better than, say, that high school grind band that the principal won’t let play at the talent show, but it’s significantly worse than anything released by a “major” crust label, like Profane Existence.

All in all, I don’t think I would miss not having this. Still, I have to support local music, and I know I couldn’t play this well, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. If this is Aghast’s first release, then hopefully they’ll be able to get better recording equipment next time. If this isn’t their first release…let’s just say I won’t be getting their other records.

Oh, and the singer’s a guy.