Category: Culture

Sound of Music

I’ve been on a bit of a sound wave this morning – with my earlier posts – and the slightly more heated than anticipated comments on my anti-U2 post. I’m not surprised. Bono’s public Christianity makes him a bit of a sacred cow.

But I don’t like to criticise things without offering solutions here are 5 bands that are better than U2. In my opinion*…

  1. Radiohead – both Coldplay and U2 wish they were as politically aware and musically diverse as Radiohead – incidentally – Radiohead are apparently recording a new album.
  2. Muse – another British band with less people and more musical talent (and a greater talent per capita ratio) than U2.
  3. Gomez – They are to alt.Country what the muppets are to puppetry. Defining. Actually they’re incredibly difficult to pigeon hole.
  4. Athlete – For those of you who like U2 because they’re easy listening try Athlete, or Death Cab for Cutie – both equally compelling in sound but less self-righteously musically annoying.
  5. Augie March  – not only are they Australian, intelligent, poetic, they’re “easy listening” without being middle of the road inoffensive babble.

There’s six bands in a list of five bands that I find more sonically pleasurable than U2. Here are 10 more that fit that category off the top of my head (or out of my iPod – which does contain a bit of U2 – early U2, back when the Edge didn’t look like the kind of guy you’d keep your children away from at public parks).

If you like saccharine music and just can’t help yourself – why not listen to Dave Matthews, or Simon and Garfunkel…

  1. Smashing Pumpkins
  2. Weezer
  3. Architecture in Helsinki
  4. Blur
  5. Oasis
  6. Cake
  7. Custard
  8. The Dandy Warhols
  9. Placebo
  10. The Panics

Those are just the bands – there are plenty of solo artists or balladeers who write nice, sweet music who are infinitely more compelling than a 50 year old who petulantly refuses to remove his sunglasses. I won’t list them. I think I’ve made my point. Why listen to one band that tries to appeal to every aspect of musicality and becomes middle of the road when you can embrace diversity which lets you appreciate the whole road, bit by bit.

That is all.

*I’m not sure this needs to be said on a blog. That’s kind of the point.

June 5, 2009

Not you too?

This article pretty much sums up why I don’t like U2 (and Coldplay for that matter).

U2 have long been so ubiquitous that their music has threatened to lose all meaning – for me, it happened around 1988 – but of late, they have truly excelled themselves. Some questions: when Bono is photographed going to church in New York with Blair, what does that do the idea of rock as The Other? Is their slide heartening proof that, after years of handwringing about music becoming so pan-generational and pro-establishment it had lost all meaning, there may actually be a point where the great unwashed realise a group stands for absolutely nothing, and recoil? If so, watch out Coldplay.

Are you a U2 fan? Are you offended by such snobbery?

June 4, 2009

Ooh, Aah

Eric Cantona is, for a Manchester United fan, about the closest thing you can get to perfection. He left the game on his own terms – years before many would argue that he should have – and now he’s an actor. And his latest film, where he plays himself, is getting rave reviews.  Here’s the trailer and a couple of other pieces of Cantona magic…

Here he is killing the devil…

Here he is umpiring in Nike’s awesome “cage fight” football commercial…

Here’s why he’s regarded so highly…

And here’s the bit where he kicks a Crystal Palace fan in the head…

June 4, 2009

Morality play

If you haven’t been keeping up with the interesting and constantly evolving debate on morality occuring on this post… then perhaps you should be.

After our Westminster Confession session finished last night conversation turned to this same topic – a discussion of morality, with particular reference to gay marriage.

I suggested that, consistent with my stance in that other thread, Christians shouldn’t be imposing our moral standards on others – and that in fact this is a strategically bad idea because the greater the gap between Christian behaviour and social standards the more powerful the witness of our difference becomes – which I see as one of the essential roles the Old Testament Law played (it marked Israel as different).

One of the counterpoints to that argument was that God’s judgment against nations follows immorality (eg Sodom and Gomorrah). While this can, taken to extremes, lead to church groups picketing soldier’s funerals – there may be a point.

Though I wonder if the lack of general morality is in fact part of the judgment – rather than there being cataclysmic consequences there are societal consequences where we pay the price for our actions.

I also wonder why those Christians who believe that the “judgment against the nations” means hastening the rapture, tribulation and judgment day aren’t arguing for the sort of behaviour that would bring things to a hasty end. It seems inconsistent.

However, this is essentially an incredibly long preamble to today’s slightly crass XKCD comic – which perhaps makes the point… morality is a slippery slope.

June 3, 2009

Happy Birthday: Tetris


Tetris turned 25 yesterday (or today, depending on where you sit on the international date line). 25 years ago Russian progammer Aleksei Pazhitnov sat down and wrote the most addictive game ever.

It is arguably the greatest Russian invention ever. Greater even than the Great Moscow Circus.

The Guardian has a great feature on the game to celebrate the milestone.

Twenty-five years ago, inside the bowels of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a young artificial intelligence researcher received his first desktop computer – the Soviet-built Elektronika 60, a copy of an American minicomputer called a PDP-11 – and began writing programs for it.

But not numerical ones. He ended up creating one that would infest the dreams of those who played it, spurring addictions and even the suspicion that it was a Russian plot to divert the youth of America in a pointless exercise.

Here’s what it originally looked like…

And here’s what the creator looked like in 1989…

And here’s what he looks like now (on the right)…

And here are all my previous Tetris posts to mark the occasion.

June 3, 2009

YouTube Toosday: Con job?

Young Cons – the Young Conservatives (unless it’s a parody) have some issues separating America from the “Kingdom of God”… but this is pretty funny.

“The more money we spend the more mine is worth jack, the Bible says we’re a nation under God…”

Umm, that’s probably the Pledge of Allegiance you’re confused with…

June 2, 2009

YouTube Tuesday: Entertainering

Giant Pianos are the new black (and white), or at the very least the new Dance, Dance, Revolution.

Sadly, there are heaps more where that came from.

June 2, 2009

Pick your battles

This SolaPanel post comes at a particularly relevant moment what with all my inner-argumentative-angst navel gazing and debates about what issues are worth fighting for.

  1. Fight for what is right. (truth)
  2. Argue for what will work. (tactics)
  3. And keep quiet about everything else. (preference)

Fight for the God-given Biblical principles, argue for how to put them into practice and just leave all the personality or preference issues up to each person to work out for themselves.  I can hesitate on preference, in a meeting I can even back down on my view of tactics, but I must never back down on truth.

Me, I fight on all three, but care about 1 and 2 almost equally (and interchangeably – the media is the message afterall… Or something like that).

June 2, 2009

Things I don’t Care About: The fuel subsidy

Premier Bligh has decided to scrap the 8c a litre fuel subsidy. I don’t really care. Anything the government is subsidising is being paid for by us (the tax payer) anyway. So it seems that I’ll get taxed less and have more money to spend on the things that go up in price. Balance. Plus, there have been a number of price hikes in recent years to cover increased fuel costs – and I haven’t noticed decreases to cover the drop in fuel prices since. So it should all just work itself out.

That’s what I think anyway. I wonder why all the lobby groups in the world are up in arms about increased costs when we’re still about 22c ahead of where we were six months ago. I tried to make our line on the issue consistent with my thinking – but keeping the customers (the tourism industry wants the subsidy) satisfied won the day. Oh well. More fool them.

June 2, 2009

At liberty

For those of you reading from the top of the page down – in the last post I mentioned some comments from Dave on a previous post, you should read that… anyway, he also had this to say:

“I think it taps into broader questions of what the role of the government is. Liberalism says the role of the government is to provide as far as possible for the liberty of its citizens and should interfere as little as possible with the choices citizens make. This depends on a shift from ‘government’ to ‘individual’ as the centre of moral decision making.”

I’d be interested in your thoughts on whether or not the government ever had a role to play in “moral decision making”… I would have thought that always essentially occurred via the individual because the government is not operating behind closed doors.

I probably lean towards classic “liberalism” but not so far as libertarianism as suggested by others in previous clean feed debates.

But you know who is a libertarian? WWE’s Kane. That’s who (or at least the guy who plays the character – Glenn Jacobs) – don’t ask me how I know this, but if you’re political views align with a guy who looks like this it’s probably time to reassess…

May 31, 2009

Acrobatricks

Some people are physically capable of doing amazing things. Like this guy.

May 29, 2009

Creature Features: Pygmy Jerboa

When it comes to internet phenomenons I don’t normally go for “cute”, and I’m not one of those animal people – unless the animal tastes good. But this little critter is awesome. It’s a Pygmy Jerboa. Robyn will no doubt now ask me to get one as a pet…

May 29, 2009

Holy Consigliore?

There’s a story I’ve been following a bit – and thinking about writing about – about a family who didn’t want their son receiving medical treatment for cancer because it is “inconsistent” with their religious beliefs. I don’t know where the Bible talks about radiation therapy, or in fact not receiving any medical treatment. Jesus even said something about the sick needing doctors – not the healthy (to paraphrase without context)… But it’s ok, because they’ve relented. The boy gets treatment. Hooray. The really awesome thing though is the name of the family’s lawyer. Tom Hagen. The SMH reports…

“This family clearly loves and cares for Danny,” attorney Tom Hagen said. “The environment at the Hausers’ home is loving and caring. It is a healing place. Their main interest is in making sure Danny is OK.”

If my name was Tom Hagen I’d totally become a lawyer too. Though I’d specialise in entertainment law. And this would be my business card and I’d have these cushions on chairs in my waiting room. This would appear to be him – so if you want an awesomely named lawyer in the states – check him out. He works for these guys, who are currently virtually “under construction” and (according to Google he votes/donates Republican…)

May 27, 2009

YouTube Tuesday: Chk, Chk, Boom

There’s a slight language (and racism) warning to this video. Though I assume that unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve already seen it.

Opinion on this whole situation – where a 19 year old gives a fake eyewitness account to a TV camera after a non-fatal shooting – is pretty split. I’m in the “I think this was a hilarious way to teach the media a lesson about verifying sources and not looking for a sensationalised quote at all costs” camp.

Seriously, reporting of this sort of shooting with “on the spot, live to air” broadcasts – or even rapid fire report filing – lends itself to this sort of treatment. And I hope she (Clare Werbeloff) rides this 15 minutes of fame as far as it takes her. The media deserve it – and the associated condemnation/celebration being carried out in print and over the airwaves just perpetuates the problem and justifies the behaviour.

May 26, 2009

Eurovisions of grandeur

What do you get when you cross Eurovision rehearsals and some awesome Segway moves? This post. That’s what.

May 24, 2009