Harvesting the Ephemeral
Tuesday February 28, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
In talking about Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Consolidated and even the Beastie Boys, I think it's best to discuss Pop Will Eat Itself (PWEI) first. Because it all began with them after all. They started as an indie guitar band, but there music soon became a fusion of rock, pop and rap which was dubbed "grebo."
It all culminated and peaked in their amazing release, "This Is The Day...This Is The Hour... This Is This." The CD is filled with great songs, and I would have to say my favorite is "Not James, We're Busy." But the quintessential PWEI song is "Def.Con.One." Take a heavy guitar riff and decent drum beat, sample "The Twilight Zone Theme" and "Funky Town", and tongue-in-cheek lyrics that comment on the Reagan era and you get one heck of a song. Make sure you play the prelude "Poison To The Mind" first though to set the mood. If you're interested, there's a decent remix by Steve Smith (Real format).
Take one!
Take two!
Take three!
Right about now! (right now)
Ten to doomsday, moving fast...
Heads up! Mind that blast.
No time to sleep, it's Def.Con.One.
Can't get no sleep as the ticking ticks on,
No time for fear, it's Def.Con.One,
No time to eat but get me some ...
Big Mac, fries to go...
Big Mac, fries to go...
Get me Big Mac, fries to go...
Get me Big Mac, get me fries to go...
Watchman!
We love you all...
Hup! Hup! Heads up!
Ground floor coming up...
How sick is Dick?
How gone is Ron?
How sick is Dick?
How gone is Ron?
What's the time?
It's Def.Con.One!
Say, what's the time?
Just get me some ...
Goodbye city, hello moon,
Hands up! Vote Dr. Doom!
You know it makes sense...
It's Def.Con.One, hey! What's occuring? What goes on?
It's the only choice...
So get me some ...
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Music, iTunes, Grebo
Bad Visual Pun ... in Distractions
Well, at least I got a good laugh out of it. But then again I love stupid jokes. 
If you don't get it, I will gently refrain myself from calling you "heathen!" and instead tell you it's a play on the opening line of Shakespeare's Richard III. From enotes.com:
"Now is the winter of our discontent."
--From King Richard III (I, i, 1)
The opening words of this play reflect the persona of Richard, a deformed angry man who hates the world that he believes hates him. In this soliloquy, we see the workings of his mind, and how he is always aware of his hideous appearance. "Deformed, unfinished, sent before" his "time into this breathing world, scarce half made up," his personality has grown warped. He is so ugly that the dogs on the street bark at him; women scorn him. And, so, since he "cannot prove a lover" he is "determined to be a villain." Shakespeare's Richard, with all his deformities, both of body and mind, is considered a physical manifestation of the corruption of the monarchy during the War of the Roses, a bloody moment in English history. In this long soliloquy, Richard makes no apologies for his villainy but rather embraces it and gives cause.
If you are interested in Richard III, but feel it's too daunting or complicated, I highly suggest Al Pacino's "Looking For Richard." An amazing cast walks through the play and explains the play through rehearsals and discussions.
» Tags: Shakespeare
Friday February 24, 2006
Monty Python's Personal Best ... in Distractions
And now for something completely different ...
“Monty Python’s Personal Best,” a series of six outrageous one-hour specials showcasing the groundbreaking comedians with new footage and original clips, will premiere on PBS February 22, 2006. Each of the five living Pythons — John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin — produced and wrote his own episode, and collaborated to create the sixth special in honor of deceased member Graham Chapman. The episodes will air over a three week period in two-hour blocks on PBS on February 22, March 1 and March 8.
» Tags: Monty Python
Song of the Day ... in Music
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, formed in 1990, was a San Francisco based duo of Michael Franti and Rono Tse. They attacked issues such as homophobia, misogyny, and racism. Smart cutting lyrics, sampling and scratching, beats from various musical styles and Franti's Chuck D like vocals were weaved together to produce an amazing debut album, Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury. Too bad they didn't last. Michael Franti is still active and putting out good music with Spearhead.
Usually people will point to "Television, The Drug of the Nation" when you mention Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. But I'm going with ""Language of Violence" for the Song of the Day.
"The first day of school was always the hardest
The first day of school, the hallways the darkest
Like a gauntlet, the voices haunted
Walking in with his thin skin, lowered chin
He knew the names that they would taunt him with
Fagg*t, sissy, punk, queen, queer
Although he'd never had sex in his 15 years
And when they harassed him it was for a reason
And when they provoked him it became open season
for the fox and the hunter, the sparks and the thunder
that pushed the boy under, then pillage and plunder
It kind of makes you wonder how one can hurt another
But dehumanizing the victim makes things simpler
It's like breathing with a respirator
It eases the conscience of even the most conscious
and calculating violator
Words can reduce a person to an object,
something more easy to hate
An inanimate entity, completely disposable,
no problem to obliterate
But death is the silence
in this language of violence
Death is the silence
But death is the silence
in this cycle of violence
death is the silence
It's tough to be young, the young long to be tougher
When we pick on someone else it might make us feel rougher
Abused by their fathers but was at home though
so to prove to each other that they were not homos
The exclamation of the phobic fury
executioner, a judge and jury
The mob mentality, individuality was nowhere
Dignity forgotten at the bottom
of a dumb old dare and a numb cold stare
On the way home it was back to name calling
Ten against one they had his back up against the wall and
they reveled in their laughter as they surrounded him
But it wasn't a game when they up jumped and grounded him
They picked up their bats with their muscles straining
and they decided they were gonna beat this fella's brain in
with an awful, powerful, showerful, an hour full of violence
Inflict the strictest brutality and dominance
They didn't hear him screaming, they didn't hear him pleading
They ran like cowards and left the boy bleeding
in a pool of red 'til all tears were shed
and his eyes quietly slid into the back of his head
dead...
You won't see the face 'til the eyelids drop
You won't hear the screaming until it stops
The boy's parents were gone and his grandmother had raised him
She was mad she had no form of retaliation
The pack didn't have to worry about being on a hitlist
But the thing they never thought about was that there was a witness
to this senseless crime, right place wrong time
Tried as an adult one of them was gonna do hard time
The first day of prison was always the hardest
The first day of prison, the hallways the darkest
Like a gauntlet the voices haunted
Fagg*t, sissy, punk, queen, queer
Words he used before had a new meaning in here
As a group of men in front of him came near
for the first time in his life the young bully felt fear
He'd never been on this side of the name calling
Five against one they had his back up against the wall and
he had never questioned his own sexuality
but this group of men didn't hesitate in their reality
with an awful, powerful, showerful, an hour full of violence
Inflict the strictest brutality and dominance
They didn't hear him screaming
They didn't hear him pleading
They took what they wanted and then left him bleeding in the corner
The giant reduced to jack horner
But dehumanizing the victim makes things simpler
It's like breathing with a respirator
It eases the conscience of even the most conscious
and calculating violator
The power of words, don't take it for granted
when you hear a man ranting
Don't just read the lips, be more sublime than this
Put everything in context, is this a tale of rough justice
in a land where there's no justice at all ?
Who is really the victim ?
Or are we all the cause, and victim of it all ? ..."
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, iTunes
Wednesday February 22, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
While in custody of the Eastern Cape security police in Port Elizabeth, Stephen Bantu (Steve) Biko sustained a head injury during interrogation. Doctors examined him as he lay naked on a mat and manacled to a metal grille. Eventually he slipped into a continual, semi-conscious state. A transfer to hospital was recommended. Biko was transported, lying in the back of a Land Rover, to Pretoria – a 1,200 km to journey that took 12 hours.
On 12 September, Steve Biko died from brain damage. Alone and lying naked on a cell floor the Pretoria Central Prison.
"The Commission finds that the death in detention of Mr Stephen Bantu Biko on 12 September 1977 was a gross human rights violation. Magistrate Marthinus Prins found that the members of the SAP were not implicated in his death. The magistrate's finding contributed to the creation of a culture of impunity in the SAP. Despite the inquest finding no person responsible for his death, the Commission finds that, in view of the fact that Biko died in the custody of law enforcement officials, the probabilities are that he died as a result of injuries sustained during his detention."
Nelson Mandela said this during his address at 20th Anniversary of Steve Biko's Death:
"History called upon Steve Biko at a time when the political pulse of our people had been rendered faint by banning, imprisonment, exile, murder and banishment. Repression had swept the country clear of all visible organisation of the people. But at each turn of history, apartheid was bound to spawn resistance; it was destined to bring to life the forces that would guarantee its death."
The Song of the Day is, of course, Peter Gabriel's "Biko."
"September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko
Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja
-The man is dead
And the eyes of the world are
watching now ..."
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Apartheid, iTunes
Tuesday February 21, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
Whenever I think of "The Bullet or the Ballot", the chorus of Rage Against the Machine's "Bulls on Parade" plays in my head ...
"Rally round tha family! With a pocket full of shells!"
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Music, iTunes
The legacy of “X” ... in Reading
41 years ago today on February 21, 1965 ...
Three gunmen rushed Malcolm X onstage at a speaking engagement in the Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom. They shot him 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
I remember when I first head about Malcolm X. I was curious. So I read. And I read "The Ballot or the Bullet." An amazing speech. I read with wide open eyes and forgot to breathe. You may not agree with the message, but you can not deny the passion.
"This is why I say it’s the ballot or the bullet. It’s liberty or it’s death. It’s freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody. America today finds herself in a unique situation. Historically, revolutions are bloody. Oh, yes, they are. They haven’t never had a blood-less revolution, or a non-violent revolution. That don’t happen even in Hollywood. You don’t have a revolution in which you love your enemy, and you don’t have a revolution in which you are begging the system of exploitation to integrate you into it. Revolutions overturn systems. Revolutions destroy systems."
Additional info:
» Tags: Malcolm X, Black History
Tuesday February 14, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
"Trista Pena" by the Gipsy Kings. Turn down the lights, and light the candles. Put the song on, and ask your love to dance. Slow, cheek to cheek, with only thoughts of her. For a few precious minutes, put the world on pause and let your heart beat with untethered passion.
Yo se que un dia voluera
Triste pena
Yo la voy a guscar
Yo no me acuredo de ella
Amor amor amado
Amor bien agitando
Amor con mi querer
Hoy para vivir
Amor confundi
Y no sage llorar
Hoy para vivir
No sares confundir
Un amor de verdad
Pero ya lo siento ya
La que mas queria
Amor mas agitanado
Amor mas agitanado
Amor ya sin tu querer
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Love, iTunes, Valentine
The Language of Love ... in Life
|
And she speaks to me
in the language of love
the words that tumble from her lips
circle their arms around my neck
and whisper to me
of warm spring days
of chasing rainbows
they remind me ...
I'm inspired to sift through
the sands of my secret beach
and rediscover the pieces
of my favorite dreams
dreams I had buried long ago
to hide and protect
I'll clean and polish them tenderly
to place them in her hair and her eyes
and in her hands
for that's where my dreams belong
she speaks to me
in the language of love
the words that slip from her lips
to catch my breath and weave their
magic in my skies
they refresh me
like the first spring rain
like her tender first kiss
how I remember when ...
|
Tuesday February 07, 2006
Song of the Day ... in Music
Back to the 8-track theme.
Chicago was a rocking band in the 70's. Unfortunately for them they were eventually hit by a bad case of sappy ballad syndrome courtesy of Peter Cetera. But let us not think about that right now. Let's focus on when they rocked, their full on brass section sound, and Terry Kath's guitar work. Let's pull out that old Chicago II album, and play "25 or 6 to 4." There ... much better!
What does the Chicago lyric "25 or 6 to 4" mean? You can check out the explanation over at the Straight Dope.
"Waiting for the break of day
Searching for something to say
Flashing lights against the sky
Giving up I close my eyes
Sitting cross-legged on the floor
25 or 6 to 4
Staring blindly into space
Getting up to splash my face
Wanting just to stay awake
Wondering how much I can take
Should I try to do some more
25 or 6 to 4
Feeling like I ought to sleep
Spinning room is sinking deep
Searching for something to say
Waiting for the break of day
25 or 6 to 4"
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Music, iTunes, 8-track
Dragon: A Commercial & CG Water ... in Artistry
Dragon is an amazing commercial for United Airlines. The story is the visualization of a child imagining what his father does at work. Hand cut-out paper characters are wonderfully animated using the stop-motion technique (can you say labor intensive?) It was directed by Jamie Caliri, who did the closing credit sequence for Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. United Airlines has the commercial as well as a making-of documentary (also very cool) on their site.
And now for something mechanical. Think you've seen good computer-generated water? Then you should check out Flowline's demo reel. What's really impressive is that the clip is rendered in one pass and there's no compositing. Oh and the shark is pretty cool as well. 
» Tags: Animation
Friday February 03, 2006
The Day The Music Died ... in Music
On February 3, 1959, a cold winter's night, a small private plane took off from Clear Lake, Iowa bound for Fargo, N.D. It never made its destination. When that plane crashed, it claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Three of Rock and Roll's most promising performers were gone. As Don McLean wrote in his classic music parable, "American Pie", it was "the day the music died." (from www.fiftiesweb.com) Wikipedia also has an entry "The Day the Music Died."
» Tags: Music
Song of the Day ... in Music
Pausing for a brief intermission from the 8-track theme ...
Yesterday I spent the day getting my butt kicked by a migraine. At first I put up a fight, but the migraine would have none of that and put a serious hurt on me.
So I did the prudent thing and gave up - I swallowed my pill and went to bed. I took a bow and bid farewell to Thursday, and told the world I would see it again on Friday.
"I Don't Care Anymore" by
Phil Collins is a bitter song to say the least. It's the quintessential break-up song. Phil does a great job of changing his voice with the lyrics - you can feel the heat of his anger emanating from the speakers. "Preach it Brother!" The drums are fantastic, increasing in volume and force as the song progresses. If you played the drums (like me), this is one of those songs that gives you a great workout.
And to tie it all together ... the pounding drums reminds me of the migraine. 
The song was featured on Big E's Episode 72.
Well you can tell ev'ryone I'm a down disgrace
Drag my name all over the place.
I don't care anymore.
You can tell ev'rybody 'bout the state I'm in
You won't catch me crying 'cos I just can't win.
I don't care anymore I don't care anymore
I don't care what you say
I don't play the same games you play.
'Cos I've been talking to the people that you call your friends
And it seems to me there's a means to an end.
They don't care anymore.
And as for me I can sit here and bide my time
I got nothing to lose if I speak my mind.
I don't care anymore I don't care no more
I don't care what you say
We never played by the same rules anyway.
I won't be there anymore
Get out of my way
Let me by
I got better things to do with my time
I don't care anymore ...
Well, I don't care now what you say
'Cos ev'ry day I'm feeling fine with myself
And I don't care now what you say
Hey I'll do alright by myself
'Cos I know.
'Cos I remember all the times I tried so hard
And you laughed in my face 'cos you held all the cards.
I don't care anymore.
And I really ain't bothered what you think of me
'Cos all I want of you is just a let me be.
I don't care anymore D'you hear? I don't care no more ...
You know I don't care no more!"
Additional info:
» Tags: Song of the day, Music, iTunes, 8-track
Globalful ... in Distractions
It's Friday. and I'm recovering from a migraine. I'm in that mood, not just any mood, but that mood. So I need an attitude adjustment, something to set me right. Globalful. My eyes open wide and the stream of words bore into my brain, and I smile. He's brilliant. And handsome. Damnit I'm jealous. At least the migraine is gone.
