VAGUE SPACE

Movie (Never Made)

2010-02-10T07:20:00-05:00

let's kill first the banker
with his professional demeanor
let's televise and broadcast the raping of kings
let our crowds be fed on tear gas and plate glass

'cause the people united is a wonderful thing

Download A Silver Mt Zion - "Movie (Never Made)".mp3

I know that you're dying
and I know I'm unwell
and together we sashay
through variations of hell

and as you walk through valleys of fear
the lure of my bed is ever near

oh, don't be afraid, though the parade
will not pass our way
it's nobler to never get paid,
than to bank on shit and dismay

Kollaps Traditioxales

2010-02-09T07:00:00-05:00

The new album from Silver Mt. Zion is titled Kollaps Traditioxales. Below is a song. It's awesome. They're awesome. I've got to admit, sadly, that I'm just discovering the band's awesomeness apart from Godspeed! You Black Emperor, but both Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward and He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms have dominated my playlists since the start of the year and it's not just because so many of their songs are about disillusionment with corporatism and politics and governments and greed. Well, that's not the only reason at least. I have a post later in the week of the song "Movie (Never Made)" from He Has Left Us Alone..., because the spoken line "let's kill first the banker" is just the absolutely perfect line about the state of our economy and our world and our life, today, in 2010, even though it was written ten years ago, in 2000, by a group of Canadian anarchists who were much better known at the time for instrument-fueled anthems for G!YBE that basically created the genre of post-rock music. But you don't have to love their politics, or even understand it, for I can't even consider that I have a clue yet what they're singing about yet. But their music is wonderful. And sometimes that's enough. The new album is out February 16th. Let's kill first the banker.

Tra-la-la

Jon Stewart on Bill O'Reilly

2010-02-08T07:33:00-05:00

I'm sorry for some of this post, but the YouTube videos were posted by a conservative guy, so you have to suffer through some Bill O'Reilly without Jon Stewart at the end of "Part 2" and at the start of "Part 3," but it's worth it for the greatness of Jon when O'Reilly gets around to interviewing him without whining about how "Fair and Balanced" Fox News is, which is so laughably laughable that the only people who would say it with a straight face are crazy people who don't "believe" in scientific facts, like you know, gravity or evolution, but do base their whole lives on "faith" in some magic being in the sky who judges whether or not your thoughts are sinful. Oh wait, I've probably gone a little too far. Just listen to when Stewart comes on. It's funny stuff.

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Two New Tracks from Joanna Newsom

2010-02-04T08:34:00-05:00

Drag City has released two tracks from the upcoming 3xCD Joanna Newsom album Have One On Me. Seriously, it's 3 CDs! Wow. I was wondering how she could possibly follow up her 2007 5 song masterpiece Ys, and I guess this is how. With almost as many CDs as there were songs on the album. You can listen to the mp3s for the first two leaked tracks at the Drag City website, or at the links below.

School Record for Wins to Start the Season

2010-02-03T01:16:16-05:00

Derrick Coleman. Carmelo Anthony. Billy Owens. Sherman Douglas. John Wallace. Lawrence Moten. Hakim Warrick. Rony Seikaly. Gerry McNamara. Jonny Flynn. Stevie Thompson. Preston Shumpert. Etan Thomas. I've seen all these superstars go through Syracuse since I started following Orange basketball circa 1988. I've seen the amazing John Wallace-led run to the Final Four in 1996. I've seen the more amazing Melo/GMac/Warrick run to the NCAA championship in 2003. I've seen Gerry McNamara win the Big East tournament two years in a row, all by himself. I've seen Jonny Flynn struggling to walk at the end of a 6 OT win over the hated UConn Huskies. I've seen Jim Boeheim lose in early rounds with top-seeded Derrick Coleman/Billy Owens teams. And I've seen him make long runs in the tourney with undermanned squads (a la 1996). But I've never -- and no one else has ever -- seen a Syracuse team start a season 22-1. Twenty-two wins. 1 loss. After destroying Providence last night on the Jim Boeheim Court at the Carrier Dome, that's exactly what the Orange record is. And it's fucking amazing.

This is already a year for the ages. Wes Johnson is a top 5 pick in the NBA Draft this season, but this is not a team that looked, at least at the start of the season, like one of those great Coleman/Douglas teams, or even the more recent great teams that have gone far in the tournament. This is looking a lot more like 2003, a perfect storm of talent and teamwork and the absolute perfect players in the zone defense to make it one of the toughest defenses to score on in the country, but also leads to a ton of fast-break opportunities, fueling one of the top 10 scoring teams in the country and the #1 FG shooting percentage team in the nation right now. Somehow we're not even first in the Big East (Villanova remains undefeated in the league), but I have never been more impressed with a Syracuse team that I've watched at this point in the season. Which makes sense. They've never had this good a record before.

Against Providence, a mid-pack Big East team and therefore automatically dangerous, Syracuse started strong but then had some major defensive lapses combined with cold shooting and entered the half with only a 3-point lead. Wes Johnson took a bad spill in the first half on an alley oop attempt and hurt his hip. He hardly played in the 2nd half (we're told strictly for precautionary reasons) and yet, only about 8 minutes into the half, the Orange had stretched its 3 point lead to 20. Yes, twenty. They just came out and absolutely dominated in a way that the all-time great Kentucky or North Carolina teams in recent decades that had 6 or 8 NBA draft picks on them do. We have 1, maybe 2 NBA players if Andy gets a 2nd round flyer. Teams like this do not look this good, this perfect. But they did last night in the 2nd half. The final score had Syracuse win by 17, but it was not even that close. Providence's defense had something to do with it -- the second half they were playing the matador special -- but this was just a team that was playing at a level far above its opponent, one of the mid-pack teams in the best conference in the nation... with its best player on the bench! Remember, Wes didn't play nearly at all in the 2nd half, and not after the 18 minute mark. They did this with Kris Joseph taking over the Wes role as slasher/finisher/superstar, as he punched in a career-high 23 points on only 11 shots (9 of 11 shooting). And with Arinze Onuaku dominating inside to the tune of 20 points (10 of 12 shooting), Providence just had no answers. Andy didn't do much. Wes didn't do much (they combined for 17, even though they are our two leading scorers), and yet we won going away. Scoop and Triche didn't do much either. But the inside presence of Onuaku and Jackson, combined with a highlight's reel of slashing dunks by Joseph were all we needed to walk away victorious. This is just an amazing team. I'm going to keep reveling in the joy. And someday soon I hope, alongside Coleman and Anthony and Douglas and Wallace and McNamara and Warrick and all the other Syracuse greats who actually made a Final Four, will be the names Johnson, Rautins, Joseph, Onuaku, Jackson, Triche, and Jardine. Right now, they are about as good as it gets.

New Music Tuesday

2010-02-02T07:42:00-05:00

I just picked up tickets to see Shearwater, along with Wye Oak and Hospital Ships at the Bowery in March, and I can't wait, I'm really loving The Golden Archipelago, the latest album for them, to be released in February. I saw that the second track from the album "Black Eyes" has been leaked to the blogs over the past two weeks (while I've been stuck working insane hours) so I thought I'd join the fray. It's my favorite song from the album and one of my top 10 songs of the week.

Download Shearwater - "Black Eyes".mp3

Basia Bulat's second album was released last Tuesday, and it's as wonderful as her breath of fresh air debut, Oh My Darling. Heart of My Own shows some additional maturity and shows a full-fledged band acting as a full-fledged band, with stronger arrangements but the same magical pop sensibility that made her debut so refreshing. Check out "Go On" and go find a copy of the album.

Download Basia Bulat - "Go On".mp3

Teen Dream, the second album from Beach House, was the first leaked 2010 album I had, back in November and December, but it finally got its officially CD release date last week, and is definitely a contender for early (very early) album of the year honors. My favorite track among an album full of great tracks is "Silver Soul" and I've been waiting a while to be able to "legally" post this. But please go get a copy of the album to hear the full length yourself.

Download Beach House - "Silver Soul".mp3

Los Campesinos! came flying out with their third album in two years last week, a collection of poppy, happy songs that they've become known for, and for good reason. It's a strong album throughout and it's tough to find a favorite to post here, but check out this one for good measure. Romance is Boring is now available for purchase at an Amazon or iTunes retailer near you!

Download Los Campesinos! - "We Got Your Back".mp3

Woodpigeon's Die Stadt Muzikanten came out a couple weeks ago. Here's my favorite track from this really good album that definitely deserves more recognition than it's getting from the indie blogs so far.

Download Woodpigeon - "Morningside".mp3

The Magnetic Fields have released another album, Realism, and I heard that a movie (at Sundance?) was made, or is being made, about the eccentric force at the center of the band, Stephen Merritt. I also recently noticed that Merritt was one of the contributing editors of the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus, an indispensable volume in which he wrote blurbs about music-related thesaurus entries including the words album, sing, and verse, as well as subjects he also is singularly able to illustrate, including the words love, romance, genre, and tacky. Um, yeah, sure tacky... which Merritt describes as "anything aesthetically excessive", as opposed to "corny" (overly sentimental or countrified), or "kitschy" (grandiosely tasteless). He is a genius in many ways. And here's a track from Realism.

Download The Magnetic Fields - "You Must Be Out of Your Mind".mp3

Midlake, oh Midlake, coming off of the Van Occupanther album that took some time but eventually grew on me as one of the great albums of 2006, have finally come out with their follow up, The Courage of Others, releasing today. And while many of the songs are really, really good, the entire album feels oddly flat to me, with a certain sameness in sound that wasn't as evident in the more wide-ranging Van Occupanther. I was expecting a lot from this album, so I'm mildly disappointed, but there's a good chance it may grow on me like their previous work. Below is my favorite track.

Download Midlake - "Winter Dies".mp3

Heima

2010-02-01T00:55:01-05:00

Last night I watched a little of Sigur Ros's DVD Heima, I don't know why, I just think I needed something peaceful and warm after the month I've had at work, working long hours and every Saturday in January and early mornings and caffeinated days and I know a lot of people live their whole lives with jobs like this so I shouldn't complain and I don't mean to complain but I'm fucking glad January is over. I have one more week at the client -- this week -- and then I'm done there. I don't know what the future holds for me and my career after this, I really feel at a crossroads after this experience, but I hope that I will be able to get back to regular blogging, or at least have a moment to breathe. I apologize for the somewhat sporadic and perhaps not compelling postings here this month (and since October, really), but February marks the 5th year anniversary of Vague Space, a milestone I never planned to reach, but now that it's here, it's something to be proud of and I hope you'll keep reading if you've always been reading. Tomorrow will at least have a New Music Tuesday, just like the old days, and hopefully by next week I can get back to regular posting. What does any of this have to do with Sigur Ros? I'm not sure. I can't even remember why I started this post. I can't even remember why I started this blog. But something about the calm of this music and the beauty of Iceland helped me forget the stress of my last month of work for a moment and now that it's nearly the end, I am just trying to breathe again.

Survive and Advance

2010-01-30T16:31:29-05:00

Holy shit. This is what the NCAAs will be like I fear. Highly favored, coming out cold and then scratching and clawing to somehow scrape out a victory. Winning games like this is how you win an NCAA title. And Syracuse just won what was easily the most exciting (if not best played) game of the year, beating DePaul 59-57 this afternoon. Syracuse came into the game riding a 7-game winning streak, a #4 ranking in the country, and a Monday defeat of rival Georgetown (who beat Duke today) by double digits. DePaul on the other hand, had lost 20+ straight Big East games before a last second miracle win over Marquette (who beat UConn today, who beat Texas last Saturday -- yes, in college basketball, especially the Big East, any team can win on any given day -- except Rutgers), and the Demon Deacons came into the game with a lowly 1-7 mark in the conference. But they jumped out to a 16-6 lead and then extended it to an 18 point lead with some poor play from the Cuse and some great shooting by DePaul. But then Boeheim put on the press, DePaul got all kinds of frazzled and a 16-0 run late in the 1st half ended up cutting the lead to 2. DePaul went into the half with a 35-31 lead but at that point, I wasn't very fearful that the game would even end up close, let alone that we might actually lose.

Syracuse did come out strong at the start of the 2nd half and the lead was down to 1 when DePaul called its 3rd timeout (this becomes important later). Their interim coach (longtime coach Jerry Wainwright was let go in December) settled the team down and DePaul went on another strong shooting run, extending the lead to 6 then 7 then double digits again and all of the sudden, with about 10 minutes left, we were in huge fucking danger of losing the game. The DePaul crowd was going nuts, the Syracuse fans in attendance were in shock, and the Syracuse scorers just couldn't put the ball in the basket. I wouldn't say that we necessarily played all that poorly in the 2nd half, we just couldn't make shots, DePaul was making theirs, and with no margin to play with, we were in huge trouble. Boeheim put the press on again (why he ever took it off is beyond me) and DePaul struggled again, taking themselves out of their offense and then wasting their 2nd to last timeout just trying to get the ball inbounds. With about 8 1/2 minutes left, Syracuse trapped a guard who had just hit a three the previous trip, and he called the team's final timeout to preserve the ball and their then 8-point lead. But without any timeouts, this young team couldn't handle the pressure or make any adjustments and were just trying to hang on to survive for the rest of the game.

DePaul took the air out of the ball completely (they'd been playing most of the shot clock most of the game anyway) and while this took them out of their offense -- they weren't scoring much anymore -- it also ate away at the time, making every Syracuse possession crucial. Kris Joseph hit what Boeheim called his "first 3-pointer in 2 months" to close the lead to 5. Then Scoop Jardine came down and hit a 3 of his own (Andy and Wes -- our normal 3-point shooters -- were both very cold from outside today) to cut the lead to 2. After another steal, or perhaps just a rebound, the ball was advanced up to Wes Johnson who slammed home one of several highlight-reel dunks for him in the game, and we were tied! with about 4 minutes left. Again, DePaul couldn't take a timeout, and they didn't get a good look on the next possession, leading to another runout break finished off by Jardine in traffic in the lane with his patented "scoop" shot. Oh baby! We suddenly had the 54-52 lead.

DePaul would miss again and the lead stretched to 56-52 on a Joseph score and then Rick Jackson had one of his -- I don't know -- 10 blocks in the game to jar the ball loose which led to another potential fast break... but the ball bounced the wrong way and Jackson had to go retrieve the it on the sideline which led to a horribly, unbelievably bad judgment pass by Jackson back into the middle, stolen by a DePaul player who had an open lane to the basket. Luckily, Joseph got back just in time to hack the shit out of him (without, fortunately, an intentional foul call) and the kid missed both free throws. Joseph hit 1 of 2 of his own, giving us a seemingly comfortable 57-52 lead. But their best player, a shooter named Will Walker, banged home a deep three and the lead fell to 2. Wes Johnson had another highlight reel dunk to put the lead back up to 4 but DePaul managed another score with 1 minute left and the lead became 2 again. Andy Rautins took an ill-advised contested deep three with 9 seconds left on the shot clock (and immediately after a Boeheim timeout, so maybe it was set up for him?) and DePaul got the rebound and the ball with a chance to tie... or win. No timeouts left, still, so they had to go on their own, but Syracuse stopped them, knocking the ball out of bounds with 9 seconds left in the game.

The pass went out to Will Walker deep. Rautins stayed tight on him, he passed it away but got it back and Rautins was screened this time and unbelievably!!! Walker stepped forward on a dribble with a fairly wide open three to win the game... and it clanged off the back rim. DePaul got the rebound but the kid wasn't able to get the shot off with Rick Jackson's hand in his face and the game was over 59-57. Big win. Huge win. Horribly exciting win. And how the fuck Scoop and Kris didn't go help Andy cover DePaul's best player when he's about to shoot a 3 to win the fucking game is beyond me, but he missed, it missed, and we won. And Syracuse is now 21-1. I don't believe in fate or in miracles or any of that crap, but that was pretty much a miraculous victory. A game we could have and maybe even should have lost, to a team that had no right to be staying with us, but it was a win. And we'll take it. Survive and advance.

The iPad

2010-01-27T14:58:27-05:00

Apple has just revealed details on the iPad, which looks just like a big iTouch. It has all the same capabilities of the Touch, including videos, games, Internet, apps, iTunes (it's a big iPod), YouTube, mapping, calendar, etc. PLUS it will have a Wi-fi and a 3G version (using AT&T) with pre-paid (no contract to AT&T!) data plans ($15 for Wi-fi only and $30 for 3G) that will allow you to surf and use the iPad from anywhere at any time, getting email and everything, just like an iPhone, only bigger (and minus the phone). It will also challenge Amazon's Kindle as an ebook reader, as the announcement today included a description of it's e-reader capabilities and an iTunes-like bookstore, which for a writer like me, is a pretty big deal. If we can get more young people to start reading in between videos and video games on their new iPads, then it's a good thing for everyone.

Overall, it's pretty much what everyone was expecting the iPad to be, but seeing it all big up there in Steve Jobs' hands made it look all the more wonderful. The price points are reasonable -- starting at $499 for Wi-Fi only 16 GB and up to $829 for 64 GB 3-G version. The Wi-fi versions will ship in 60 days, the 3Gs in 90 days. It's sort of between an iTouch/iPhone and a laptop and with a portable plug in keyboard it can double as a laptop for email/iWork applications/Internet surfing, plus the portable large-screen video/Internet/gaming device that the iTouch is. Check out CNET's live blog (that's where I got all these screen shots from) for more information.

And already there's an app from MLB.com for their Gameday feature, as well as the ability to watch full-screen LIVE MLB games

#4 Syracuse 73, #11 Georgetown 56

2010-01-26T07:10:00-05:00

Here's a recap of my day yesterday:

1) Power goes out in my neighborhood at some point overnight Sunday, somehow I woke up at 6 am and noticed this so I didn't miss work

2) Batteries in my flashlights didn't work (because I can't tell you the last time I used a flashlight), so I had to get dressed, shave, and eat breakfast using the only two candles I could find in the house

3) Fearing my order from Whole Foods from the day before would go bad if the power didn't come back on, I put my chicken, eggs, and milk in the freezer on ice, assuming worst case I'd be home by 3 or 4 (as scheduled) and deal with the power problem

(NOTE: In the 10 years I've owned this house, not once has the power gone out for any extended period.)

4) Due to the rain, it took me an hour and a half to get to work, so I was late arriving to set up for the first class (I've been teaching a software system for a client for the past month, pulling ridiculous hours, including working from 6 am to 4 pm on Saturday, even though I'm getting fired from my position when this teaching job is over, regardless of how well I do or how much time I put in... seriously, let's just move on)

Download Arcade Fire - "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)".mp3

5) There were no visitors spots available at the main building so I had to park in the auxiliary lot, a mile away. In the rain. Pouring, torrential rain.

6) I had to walk through a lake between the pavement and the sidewalk, so I was soaked through to my socks when I entered the building.

7) Class begins and I find out that my co-worker who is supposed to assist in teaching the first class and then take over for the 2nd, the afternoon class, got delayed in Detroit and won't be around until 2.

8) It's the worst class we've had so far -- students are inattentive and don't want to be there. Sort of like me, except I'm teaching it.

9) At noon, I check the email again. My co-worker still is in the airport. Now won't be arriving until 5. Since I'm the only one there, I have to run the 2nd class, when I was supposed to leave at 2.

10) Co-worker arrives around 5:30. I've already taught both of the day's classes, finally ending around 6:30. I left my house (in the dark) at 7 this morning. I get home (in the dark) at 7:30 tonight. I'm still getting laid off in a month. Seriously.

11) On the way home, I stop at the gas station to get on my Droid and have Direct TV record the Syracuse/Georgetown game at 7 pm that I never even considered I might miss when I left my house at 7 this morning.

12) I walk in the door and see that (1) the power's back on - *yay!, but (2) the Direct TV box is on, but not recording... why? No freakin' clue.

13) Also, my milk, eggs, and chicken are now frozen, so my chicken dinner is not going to happen. All I've eaten since I left the house at 7 is a half a PB&J sandwich that I brought for lunch (expecting to be home by 3 or 4 at the latest).

14) Apparently, Georgetown had opened the game with a 14-0 lead, but by the time I start watching, Syracuse is only down by 4.

15) I pause the TV and go to heat up some soup real quick because I'm starving to fucking death when I get a phone call on my home phone and I try to talk but they can't hear me on the other end. Why? No idea. Seriously, NOTHING IN TECHNOLOGY EVER FUCKING EVER WORKS.

16) I have my soup and go to eat and watch the Syracuse game, but the Direct TV box is stuck on a screen that says : Box has overheated, must cool down below 122 degrees. I have never ever in 2 years of owning Direct TV seen this problem before. Does it have something to do with the power being out? The humidity from the rain today? The phone? The fact that NOTHING IN TECHNOLOGY EVER FUCKING EVER WORKS? I don't know.

17) I miss the rest of the first half of the Syracuse game. And as of right now, 2 hours later, the box is still not working (I think it's at 123 degrees... just a few more seconds!)

18) I eat my soup in the kitchen watching the Syracuse game on the other TV. Syracuse is now up 7 at the start of the 2nd half. How? No idea. Why did I miss it all? Because everything fucking sucks. Am I happy? Not so much. Go Cuse?!

18) Syracuse beats the hated Georgetown Hoyas 73 to 56.

19) I have homework due tomorrow that I never got a chance to do because I worked all day Saturday, was doing other homework Saturday night and Sunday morning, actually tried to do something social Sunday afternoon for the first time since this horrendous job started at the first of the year because I figured I could get the homework done when I got home on Monday, but I didn't, and I haven't, and I wish I didn't care but I do, and fuck everything. Also, I have to read an entire book by Thursday (two, actually, but I finished the first on Saturday night -- yes, after working from 6 am I came home and read an entire 200 page book for class), but my schedule is such that I will not be back in my house until Wednesday at noon, because of work and class. Again, fuck everything. Oh, and my knee is killing me. It had been getting much, much better, but I haven't been able to get to the gym in a week and it's killing me right now.

20) Syracuse is 20-1. Woo hoo!

21) F Lenny.

22) Thanks for reading. I'll write again in March.