Stranger Things Have Happened, I Know

"You are not alone dear loneliness. You forgot but I remember this". Cryptic, but poignant. We all know that our world is in a state of upheaval (at least the ones without blinders on their eyes), and maybe a bit of upbeat defiance can help.
"There's a world out there. Don't you deny it. Give it one last wish" I won't sit hear and attempt to break down the love I feel for this album. Is it enough to say that with many thousands of songs to choose from, I choose to listen to these 13 over and over again. I guess I do it with many albums, but Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace surprised me and brings out great feelings of joy at the same time as I take a hard look at the world. Like what the Daily Show allows me to do. Thank you, Foo Fighters.

There is such great beauty in the world, and such ugly violence and hate, and yet it is all part of this vessel, earth. There is no good without evil, so much of the writing I have read has stated. The yin and the yang. So what does this mean to the state of the world? Have we, mankind, doomed this little blue, green, and white ball to wither because we can't seem to find a balance with this vessel we have been set to steward. We have upset the balance, and we are tipping this planet. Is it too late to right the course? I don't know, but we can ONLY act as if we can. If we don't act as if we can, then it will not happen. Do we really ONLY need to beleive, and we are not? Are we really waiting for Neo<-(see if you can read this jump in logic)? Or are we really supposed to somehow ALL make the jump in belief?

So I will make a few little observances of the album. David Grohl seems to be staving off the celebrity worship that is in place in 'Statues'. "We're just ordinary people, you and me". Both placing the listener with him, and at the same time saying that time will solidify us in only memory in the end. "Time will turn us into statues, eventually"

Even the instrumental, the Ballad Of The Beaconsfield, is beautiful.

Defiance: "My time has come, this means war." - Bonus track, 'Once And For All'

If you read this message and want to hear the album, go out and grab this off the Internet(s) for testing purposes. Let me know if you don't know how. Then buy it when you see the band at a show. Or listen to clips of it here, once it is released: Foo Fighters Official Site.

Daily Show, Canada!

"Let the man who makes the most mistakes, but repeats the least, learn the most."
I may very well be heading in the right direction.
When you seem fairly certain that the society in which you live in is heading in the wrong direction, how do you learn to cope with the knowledge and still function in that society?
-I think I've found that the only way to cope is to look at the beauty in the world, and hold hope in your heart, and search for solutions. We must at least try to move in the right direction, even if it does appear that we are living in the 'post' era.

I very much like that living in Stowe allows me to watch the Daily show on the hour three hours in a row starting at 11. I think I'll go watch the Canadian showing now.
-Damn, Alberto Gonzalez stepped down, and Jon Stewart played the clip where he spoke about his 'memories' of his time as an attorney general. This is just following Jon noting how his show has mad a amnesiac character out Gonzalez' repetition of "I Don't Recall"

The commercial for Resident Evil makes me think of the days when the movie will be released TO advertise for the video game, as they will be made on the same platform. Doesn't Final Fantasy kind of already do this?

Alan Greenspan just imparted a good deal of knowledge on the nation on the Daily Show. I love the way Jon framed him in the interview to ask the questions I'm often thinking of. I hope you were all watching. If not, got watch it on Onegoodmove.org


I love the new Foo Fighters album. I listen to it over and over. They have managed to make me have hope for Rock music, still, even on it's seeming deathbed. Maybe the few (Incubus, RATM, Foo) can hold the flag for the true Rock, the thing that looks to be only left to the realm of memories and the School Of Rock. More about the Foo later...

Daily Show - Week of August 24th

photo by: Norman Jean Roy

The Daily show is on an absolute role, and Jon Stewart is at his best as Rob Riggle enters Iraq (For REAL) and shows footage of what many of the soldiers feel about some statements made in the political arena, and making a general jackass of himself in front of the soldiers (usually humorous).

The guest tonight (the 23rd of August 2007) was general (citation needed) Nigel who helped develop the US counter insurgency field manual. This document outlines the ways to try to be more effective in the current state of warfare we find ourselves in. Though the reasoning to begin the war was false, we still need an effective strategy to deal with the situation we are currently in. It was nice to see someone who is actively attempting to better the situation the soldiers are in. It is good to see someone taking the lives and welfare of the Iraqis as equally important, on both a humanitarian level and a logical level. The logic of the general was in such amazing juxtaposition of the amazingly ironic and invariably idiotic statements of the president. The day's moment of zen: "Can't you see the humor in that" of course I can't. It is so sad, you the president, can't see the humor in your statement on delusion (citation needed).

Jon's guest yesterday was Barak Obama. I am proud to say it seems in this early stage that Vermont is very much getting behind him. If he has to run on one thing, returning common sense and logic (and of course compassion) to the office of the president is a great thing to run on (watch the interview). It will help bring the many who believe there is no logic or compassion in the current state of American 'politics' (fear mongering). Obama was GREAT on the show, and I hope he is on as many chances as he gets. He was even funny. From yesterday's show, the true highlight was Jon going through the casual stages of American problems (self created) in the Middle East (and Afghanistan). Just in case you are reading this and didn't see the episode, news citation here. He went through the history of 'rescuing' the Middle East after the news that the US is giving Saudi Arabia, including when Dick Cheney said going into Iraq (original desert storm) would cause a quagmire. Very funny. Very not funny. SON OF A ..... WHAT THE F..... and we don't rescue ourselves...

What did Jon mean by 'midnight basketball?'?

-Brief political rant. Bread and Puppet: "We're all screwed" Hahahahaha...

Fuct

D

The Best Of 2007

The music released this year has been wonderful. Here are my favorites:

The top 20 of 2007
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows (Vocal Post Rock)
2. Amon Tobin - Foley Room (Symphonic Breakbeat)
3. Serj Tankian - Elect The Dead (Hard Rock)
4. Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (Post Rock)
5. Foo Fighters - Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace (Rock)
6. Free The Robots - Free The Robots Ep (Psychedelic Indie Electronic Rock)
7. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (Apocalyptic Industrial Rock)
8. Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (Indie Rock)
9. White Stripes - Icky Thump (Lo-Fi Indie Rock)
10. The Good, The Bad, And The Queen - (Self Titled) (Rock)
11. Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur (Post Rock)
12. Blockhead - Uncle Tony's Coloring Book (Instrumental Hiphop)
13. Low - Drums And Guns (Shoegazer)
14. John Butler Trio - Grand National (Jam Rock)
15. Flow Dynamics - Flow Dynamics (Funk)
16. Kate Nash - Made Of Bricks (Punk Folk Pop)
17. Quantic Soul Orchestra - Tropidelico (Latin Infused Funk)
18. Hooverphonic - The President Of The LSD Golf Club (Triphop)
19. Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night (Big Beat Electro)*
20. Cocosuma - Pointing Excitedly To The Sky (Post Rock Folk Pop)

The next ten (21-30):
Wax Tailor - Hope And Sorrow
Belleruche - Turntable Soul Music
God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge
Gudrun Gut - I Put A Record On
Bamboos - Rawville
Dub Pistols - Speakers And Tweeters
Ez3kiel - Naphtaline
Au Revoir Simone - The Bird Of Music
Money Mark - Brand New By Tomorrow
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha

The next ten (31-40):
Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
Pilote - Pop Will Make Us Free
Unkle - War Stories
Feist - The Reminder
Tomahawk - Anonymous
Beastie Boys - The Mix Up
Emilie Simon - L'Olympia
Jumbonics - Talk To Animals
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Isis EP
Rjd2 - The Third Hand Instrumentals*

The next ten (41-50):
Laura Veirs - Saltbreaker
Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild
Bjork - Volta
Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
And So I Watch You From Afar - This Is Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It EP
Marilyn Manson - Eat Me Drink Me
Joanna Newsom And the Ys Street Band - EP
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum
Joss Stone - Introducing Joss Stone

Other albums of note: Sigur Ros - Hvarf/Heim, Nostalgia 77 - Everything Under The Sun, Ben Harper - Lifelines, Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass, Air - Pocket Symphony, Tori Amos - American Doll Posse, Sage Francis - Human The Death Dance, Pg.Lost - Yes I Am, Marsmobil - Une Affaire De Mode Et De Musique, Holy Fuck - Holy Fuck EP, Cake - Bsides And Rarities, Burning Spear - The Experience

Fair (but not great) albums (usually with a few good songs): Satellite Party - Ultra Payloaded, Nightwatchman - One Man Army, Underworld - Oblivion With Bells, Chris Cornell - Carry On, Velvet Revolver - Libertad, Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock, Will.I.Am - Songs About Girls

Unheard albums:
Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
Trey Anastasio - Horseshoe Curve
Kula Shaker - Strangefolk
Caribou - Andorra
Athlete - Beyond The Neighborhood
Iron And Wine - The Shepard's Dog
Mum - Go Go Smear The Poison Ivy, Let Your Crooked Hands Be Holy
Wyclef Jean - The Carnival II

Bands I want to try to listen to their 2007 releases: Panda Bears, Spoon, Bright Eyes, Deerhoof, Shins, The National

Possible 2008 Releases:
Sia - Some People Have Real Problems (Jan 8th 2008)
Black Crowes - Warpaint (March 4th 2008)
Massive Attack - Weather Underground
Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
Murs - Murs For President
Moby - Last Night
Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero Part 2
Blur?
Cannibal Ox?
Cure?
Peter Gabriel?
Gnarls Barkley?
Jack Johnson?
Muse?
Portishead?
Scott Weiland?

* The vocals on RJD2's album 'The Third Hand' are a disappointment. The instrumental version is much better
* Do It Again (the first single) is the worst song on the Chemical Brother's album 'We Are The Night' except Salmon Dance. Most of the rest of it is phenomenal.