Category: Journal

'Meh'st Week Ever, January 25th

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1. OBUSHMA!
obushma2. Photo Clichès

Somebody missing the point.
Somebody missing the point.

3. Mr. Rogers was a badass.

6. He was genuinely curious about others. Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others.

And it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host).

On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.

4. High speed cameras:


5. Satellite photos!
dccm20jan2009-9701
6. Funny unique phrases:

Fensterln: German for climbing through a window to avoid someone’s parents so you can have sex without them knowing.

7. Pretty interesting daily routines of famous people:

Erik Satie

On most mornings after he moved to Arcueil, Satie would return to Paris on foot, a distance of about ten kilometres, stopping frequently at his favourite cafés on route. According to Templier, “he walked slowly, taking small steps, his umbrella held tight under his arm. When talking he would stop, bend one knee a little, adjust his pince-nez and place his fist on his lap. The we would take off once more with small deliberate steps.”

When he eventually reached Paris he visited friends, or arranged to meet them in other cafés by sending pneumatiques. Often the walking from place to place continued, focusing on Montmarte before the war, and subsequently on Montparnasse. From here, Satie would catch the last train back to Arcueil at about 1.00am, or, if he was still engaged in serious drinking, he would miss the train and begin the long walk home during the early hours of the morning. Then the daily round would begin again.

Roger Shattuck, in conversations with John Cage in 1982, put forward the interesting theory that “the source of Satie’s sense of musical beat–the possibility of variation within repetition, the effect of boredom on the organism–may be this endless walking back and forth across the same landscape day after day . . . the total observation of a very limited and narrow environment.” During his walks, Satie was also observed stopping to jot down ideas by the light of the street lamps he passed.


Monday Thoughts

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

Today I attended an introductory class taught by one of my friends on Magic: The Gathering. I cannot say that I am interested in pursuing it as a hobby, but I was impressed by how much he and his friends knew about the rules and conventions of the game. I was also impressed by Wizards of the Coast’s ability to basically print money and siphon kid’s money away one $15 deck at a time.

The other thing of note today was that I watched the Obama Inauguration concert at the Lincoln Memorial that happened on Sunday through HBO’s webcast. Although I was intrigued by the strange choices of “special guests” (Steve Carrell and Jack Black in particular somewhat distracted from the history that they were reading by, well, being themselves), holy cannoli, there was some godawful music. There were signs of disaster from the very first performance when Master Sargent Caleb Green messed up the national anthem because he couldn’t hear the orchestra. The performers may look cool on the steps of the monument, but the logistics were not set up for good musicianship. In many cases, the performers were many yards away from their backing musicians, and there was no way that they could see them.

Aside from that, there was some terrible musical kitsch. Jon Bon Jovi, apart from being a completely irrelevant musical figure, absolutely murdered “A Change is Gonna Come.” Josh Groban sang a horrific version of “America the Beautiful.” The attempt to “update” the song failed for the same reason that it does when Protestant megachurches add rock accompaniment to hymns; the strict cadence of the hymns does not go well with the rock and roll beat. I laughed as Sheryl Crow and Will.i.am just ignored Herbie Hancock’s strange departure from the key signature in “One Love.”

In fact, the surprise standout of the concert, I thought, was Garth Brook’s abbreviated versions of “American Pie” and “Shout.” I know it was a cold day, but he was the only performer that looked like he was ignoring the cold and actually having fun.

'Meh'st Week Ever – Sunday, January 18

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

Part of a new weekly series on things that I find while perusing teh internets.
1. The Bush Years This fascinating graphic from The Atlantic magazine gives a visual comparison between data from 2000 and 2008: the Bush years. Some dramatic, but unsurprising contrasts (like Apple Computers market capitalization and GM market cap) as well as some that are relatively static, and therefore surprising (crime rate and number of active-duty military personnel).bush-map
2. Imitation of Life This one is a long one, but I find it fascinating. I first caught this as a passing reference in a discussion on Pam’s House Blend of Ken Blackwell, the black Ohio Republican who is trying to become chairman of the RNC. He publicly defended the controversial parody song “Barack the Magic Negro,”and more importantly to the readers of the Blend, he also supports the GOP’s standard issue homophobia. The Blend was taking down the argument that gay rights are not civil rights because gay people can choose to be in the closet. They referenced the practice of many light-skinned blacks of “passing” and how that was a contentious issue back in the day among both the black community and the wider society. Then they made a passing reference to Imitation of Life, a 1959 movie about the horrors that can happen when people deny their race. The end of the movie is a melodramatic scene in which the light skinned daughter of a black woman who has been passing as white (the daughter, that is) throws herself at her mothers coffin, knowing that it is too late.


When I watched it, I was tickled, because at the time, I thought the woman playing the daughter was unquestionably white. I looked her up, and found that Susan Kohner (b.1936) is the daughter of a Mexican actress and a Jewish film producer. That’s as far “ethnic” as Hollywood was willing to go at the time without actually hiring black actors. There are notable exceptional multiracial entertainers working in Old Hollywood, the late Eartha Kitt being a good example, but there has been progress since then. Maybe one day we will even see Latino actors and actresses that can go their whole careers without playing gang members, field workers or maids.
Clearly not black.
Clearly not black.

Continue reading “'Meh'st Week Ever – Sunday, January 18” →

Soft Opening

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

This is the first post in my new categories “LOST” and “Obama.” I am already excited for the 20th and 21st of this month. The double header of the Inauguration and the season premiere of LOST may prove to be more than I can handle.

At any rate, I will be blogging the inauguration and every episode of LOST this season.