Cyclone of Indifference

		wCyclone of Indifference
		We're all deviating from the same path

		wArchives:
		photos search the archives: cheers -- HOME --

		wMine other sites:
		Idle Time The Pop Group Edge (languishing) Lupe links open new windows

Technorati Profile

		wbe smart

		Thursday, June 27, 2002
		Ha! If you'd told me 20 years ago (or earlier this afternoon, for that matter), I would not have believed the day would come. In fact, there were even jokes about it. But it has happened. I bought a K-Tel compilation! When I was a kid, K-Tel used to have (maybe they still do) the corniest ads on TV, pawning these really lame compilaton LPs. I remember a cartoon in Flipside (LA hardcore punk 'zine) (or was it in Maximum R'n'R?) back in the mid-80's that showed an old punk, still with mohawk, even though he was clearly geriatric, watching TV and seeing a K-Tel ad for all these old punk bands, Black Flag, and the like. "Honey, get me a pencil!" Well, Black Flag is indeed on this K-Tel compilation, along with The Fall, Flaming Lips, Mekons, Minutemen, etc. And a really funnily titled (and pretty good) track by Half Japanese, called "U.S. Teens are Spoiled Bums." As Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) used to say, I mark this day with a white stone. (Just for the record, I bought the CD second-hand.....) posted at 6:19 PM


		Two messages in my inbox this morning: from my phone company: Celebrate Your Patriotism! Then, send us a photo of what the red, white and blue means to YOU for a chance to win one of 10 Intel� Easy PC Camera Video Phones. from Wordsmith.org's Word a Day: histrionic (his-tree-ON-ik) adjective 1. Of or pertaining to actors, acting, or theater. 2. Overly dramatic or affected. I tire easily of hysterical patriotism. Great quote I found on wordsmith.org, while checking the above link: If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? -Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, Nobel laureate (1918- ) Wordsmith.org also has an anagram generator. When was the last time you heard the term 'Information Superhighway?' I'd forgotten that term. Anyway, its anagram --among others-- is "A rough whimper of insanity." I like that. posted at 8:51 AM

Wednesday, June 26, 2002

apropos of nothing:

1. Wire - The 15th
2. Wire - Map. Ref. 41° N 93° W
3. Alternative TV - Lost in Room
4. The Gun Club - John Hardy
5. The Fall - Middle Mass
6. Dolly Mixture - Dead Rainbow
7. David Bowie - Can't Help Thinking About Me
8. The Beatles - It's All Too Much

posted at 10:27 PM

		Friday, June 21, 2002
		Now listening -- while trying to fix a Unix box that has been hacked (the Ramen worm) -- to Bad Brains ROIR Sessions. Sailin' On is one of my fave songs. I is excellent. A lot of it is just excellent. posted at 9:53 AM

		Thursday, June 20, 2002
		Awhile back, I was blogging about how searching pop group on Google now turns up my page on the mighty Pop Group, but I don't feel as good about the fact that the only people that visit my Lupe page (my current musical alias) are searching for La Lupe, who apparently was a "legendary Cuban vocalist" and "the Latina equivalent of our Elvis Presley." I feel sorry for anyone looking for La Lupe and getting Lupe. Speaking of music, --well, I don't know about Lupe, but I guess we can include La Lupe in the world of music-- I'm enjoying a little downloaded music right now. Currently, I've got Trans Am's Future World on repeat. I was going to say I'd learned about all the music I'm listening to from folks on the web, but that's not the case with Trans Am. I'd never heard of Trans Am. I went to Emo's to hear Panasonic (or Pan Sonic, legally) that my buddy Robert had turned me on to (ultra minimilast electronics on recordings, totally over-the-top static-fest live - brilliant!). The creme de la creme of the local electronica scene was there. The headliners were Trans Am. I was going to leave, having never heard of them, but they just got me with their perfect hybrid of prog rock, post punk and Kraftwerk vocals. I've seen 'em a couple of times now and still end up drooling on my chest while punching the air in a full-on Ozz-fest salute. They're just mind-numbingly good live (even if the bass player always wears the same satin shirt - what is that all about?! Jon Anderson and Chris Squire? [of Yes, for you poor children that didn't grow up in the late 70's]). Ha! I've been trying to figure out how to work that logo into a blog! It was a reach, but I did it. As non-linear and discontiguous as I wanna be. (Rambling might be more accurate....) Anyway, to ramble on and get back to my other listening this evening, two songs discovered through reading other people's blogs. AKMA's blog on the Psychedelic Furs and the misspelling thereof, which I've blogged back about, led me to the newer Psychedelic Furs song "Alive" that AKMA said he was searching for online. Found it on Audiogalaxy (RIP?) and it is really nice. As pretty as Ghost in You. I really was a fan of their earlier, weirder, post-punk stuff and didn't keep up with 'em, but this one's really pretty. For once in my lifetime, I'm not sad For once in my lifetime, I'm not down. The other is El-P's Squeegee Man Shooting. (I know I was talking about Yes and Prog Rock, but no, this is El-P, not ELP. And don't worry, I'm not going to post Emerson, Lake and Palmer's logo. It wasn't as great as Roger Dean's Yes logo. Hmm, wonder how many people have a Yes' logo tattoo. Maybe I should have one as big as Henry Rollin's Search and Destroy tat done on my back. Or not.) This one I heard about from Stevie Nixed. Jury's still out on El-P. I've read a bit about him and I don't know. I like that track, though. posted at 10:09 PM

Here's one of the characters from the market in Marrakesh. Don't know what he was up to or why he had a scorpion on his face, but he charged me to take his photo. This photo you can click on for a larger version.

posted at 5:08 AM

		Wednesday, June 19, 2002
		Jenni and I had dinner at Marrakesh, a Moroccan restaurant, this evening. Brought back memories of my trip there when I was a lad. In every photo south of Casablanca, I look very nervous (I think I was suffering from dysentary when this photo was made, on our way back from Marrakesh). It was a nerve-wracking trip, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything. posted at 10:33 PM

		Tuesday, June 11, 2002
		Don't you wish you lived in Texas? It is, according to weather.com, currently 97° F., "feels like 101° F.", with the current humidity (heat index). That would be 36° C., feels like 38° C. Seriously considering turning on the air conditioner. Or going swimming. posted at 4:24 PM

		Monday, June 10, 2002
		I really need to step away from the computer and start winding down --gotta go to work tomorrow-- but I just received AKMA's What is Postmodern Biblical Criticism? in the mail today, and dang me if it's not one of those books, so far, that I'm underlining just about every sentence. Since I've been blabbing (I mean 'blogging') off and on about meaning, I'll just quote this lovely nugget. Just as people got used to the idea that the earth is not immovably fixed at the center of our universe, so they can get used to the idea that our arguments, claims, convictions, truths, rules, and so on do not depend on having an absolute philosophical (or theological) meaning. The world and meaning may be in flux, but some things fluctuate more slowly than others; if we think and argue carefully, the absence of a foundation won't trip us up. posted at 10:15 PM


		I almost missed it entirely. A partial solar eclipse happened over North America around 7:00 PM CST. I went out at 7:25 with a piece of black negative film (cut off the end of a strip that had Gibby of Butthole Surfers, circa 1982 or so, singing in his underwear on the other end) and checked it out. Looked like someone had very gingerly taken a tiny nibble off the bottom of the wafer of the sun. posted at 10:02 PM


		The net is an amazing thing. (Duh.) I was just re-reading my reference to unbehagen. I've always liked the sound of that word, often repeating it, totally ignorant of its meaning, and here, all these years later, I finally think to look it up. Well, obviously, it wasn't in the forefront of my mind, or I would've gone to the library or borrowed a friend's German dictionary... but with the net, you don't have to go to 'all that trouble.' You think of something, and before you can wonder about it for very long at all, you look it up. Simply amazing. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, necessarily. I wonder about a lot of stuff... I could be stuck here, looking things up forever! Similarly (and almost a case in point -- aagh, there I go again...), with p2p file sharing monsters like Napster (RIP) and audiogalaxy, you suddenly remember a song from long ago, and voila, there it is playing out of your computer speakers a few minutes later. (A caveat to my shameless plug for the hometown boys over at audiogalaxy... -- no, I don't know them -- watch out, because they are as evil as all those other p2p MERCHANTS, and they do install spyware crapware with their satellite software. EVIL! I was just talking to Toast over at www.breakmyface.com, whose site I help with, and he said there are cracked versions available that do not install Gator --hiss!-- just go to Google, and search spyware audiogalaxy, and you should be able to find a 'clean' version, and learn how to clean the one you've got. I want the local boys to do well, but good god! installing spyware surreptitiously is not nice. Next thing you know, they'll be selling your name to the Recording Industry --hiss!-- OK, I'm off my soapbox now.) This instant knowledge, instant answer to questions long lingering in the back of my mind, and my addiction to this phenomenon reminded me of an OLD (early 90's?) Jesus Jones song, which I thought was Info Freakout, but which is called 'Info Freako.' Boy, were they ahead of the curve. That is the perfect internet-era song. Info Freako, There is no end to what I want to know. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it online. Probably because a Greatest Hits is scheduled for release, as I read on the official Jesus Jones site. posted at 9:13 PM

		Saturday, June 08, 2002
		"The best way to avoid stupidity is not to be afraid of looking stupid." Well, amen to that. This could be the theme of my blog. I am afraid of looking stupid. But not as afraid as I used to be. (Obviously. Here I am bloggin' my dumb thots in public!) Because, as Sternberg says, "People often fail to learn because they do not want to look stupid." What's worse, being stupid or looking stupid? Stoopid. Hot damn. 11:11. posted at 11:11 AM

		Friday, June 07, 2002
		Google Search: pop group Well, I'd say it's a fine day when you can search pop group without quotes in Google, and my page dedicated to THE Pop Group comes up first. It wasn't always thus. When I first got access to the internet, one of my first searches was for "The Pop Group," and let me tell you, there was precious little about THE Pop Group. I'd get Style Council (coz of their album, Confessions of a Pop Group), Spice Girls, and countless pathetic, generic little pop groups all striving to reach the top of the pop charts. So, in May of 1997 (roughly, what, 17 years after The Pop Group disbanded?), I began working on correcting that sorry state of affairs. I put up a one-page website dedicated to The Pop Group, including everything I knew about them at the time, which was precious little. In no time at all, though, people started finding my tiny site and helping me make it bigger. It's been fun. And now, 5 years later, you can actually find something about this phenomenal little band from Bristol's past when you get on the net. posted at 5:00 PM

Thursday, June 06, 2002

Follow your dreams
Did I just urinate ?
Directly into the wind
www.unbehagen.com

I like this idea a lot (no, not peeing in the wind). Sounds like something I would've done if I'd thought of it. This fellow, Christophe Bruno, at unbehagen.com bought AdWords at Google and tried to substitute poetry for commerce... didn't work. Google rejected him for not generating enough traffic. People prefer advertising over poetry, apparently. Damned shame.

Incidentally, it just occurred to me to go to the translator at dictionary.com and look up unbehagen because it was also the name of an early Nina Hagen LP. According to the translator, it means "uneasiness."

posted at 4:26 PM

		Tuesday, June 04, 2002
		... posted at 7:19 AM

		Monday, June 03, 2002
		Bluh. It's hard to stay awake at work when you're on drugs. Started my western medicine yesterday, antibiotics and codeine-fueled cough syrup. Maybe I should be chillin' in my crib listening to DJ Screw. posted at 11:33 AM


		Kayaking. Yeah. John and I did a little paddling on the Guadalupe River yesterday. (Remembered the sunscreen this time.) The river is pretty low - we need rain! (And looking at the clouds to the north, we might just get it.) It was low enough that we could put in where we usually take out and paddle upstream, which was strenuous in parts but just enough to be a challenge. Of course, we had to portage a couple of the bigger rapids. After paddling upstream awhile, we turned around and rode the rapids back. We parked our boats and hung out at Rock Garden, a short, rocky stretch of rapids that is a blast at higher levels and wasn't so bad yesterday. (Here's a pic of me running it at a higher flow.) Anyway, we hung out there and watched the people in inflatable rafts and inner tubes try to navigate the rapids. People are so trusting of water. I think it's partially the overly protective world (country, not world - not true of all countries, like our neighbors to the south [Mexico]) we live in that makes them think, "They wouldn't rent us tubes if this were dangerous!" We saw lots of nasty spills and people just being pummelled down the falls, sans tubes and rafts. By the end, John wanted to rename the place "Darwin Falls." Also saw a little bit of wildlife. Watched a snowy egret fishing right above the rapids, and saw what I think was a juvenile great blue heron lurking in the shallows and shadows. posted at 7:22 AM