Aug 31 2007
Those of you who are Vermonters probably know that the legislature has embarked on a :”listening session” of sort sto check in with Vermonters about the possibility of replacing civil unions with full-on marriage for gay couples. Beth Robinson, one of the attorneys in the original lawsuit that kicked off civil unions, has started a good discussion over at GMD that you should check out if you’re interested in those issues.
Aug 29 2007
Those of you who are my regular readers know I’m pretty much a fossil when it comes to music. Like Homer Simpson once said, everybody knows rock ‘n roll peaked around 1975. I’m pretty much a 1965-75 kinda guy, whatever the genre. Every now and then, something new catches my ear, but not too often. Whatever. I don’t listen to radio much, but when I do, one thing I notice is how friggin’ LOUD the newer stuff sounds today, like the whole song just pumps out at one volume, with very little dynamic range. Well, I’m not crazy. Although a bit on the technical side at times, Suhas Sreedhar’s article over at Spectrum Online confirms this:
The loudness war, what many audiophiles refer to as an assault on music (and ears), has been an open secret of the recording industry for nearly the past two decades and has garnered more attention in recent years as CDs have pushed the limits of loudness thanks to advances in digital technology. The “war” refers to the competition among record companies to make louder and louder albums. But the loudness war could be doing more than simply pumping up the volume and angering aficionados-it could be responsible for halting technological advances in sound quality for years to come…
The 1990s saw average amplitude levels go from around -15 dBFS to as much as -6 dBFS in extreme cases. Most songs in this decade, however, remained at around -12 dBFS. The 2000s saw the loudness war reach its height, with most current songs having an average level of -9 dBFS or higher. From the mid 1980s to now, the average loudness of CDs increased by a factor of 10, and the peaks of songs are now one-tenth of what they used to be. The loudness war is also not just confined to the big four record companies (Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony BMG, and Universal Music Group). Overcompression is now widespread and performed by independent labels and international record companies.
The only thing worse than crappy music is LOUD crappy music. Now you know.
Aug 28 2007
I know this is of marginal interest to most of my readers, and it’s old news by now, but Rowley has a few updates over at VT Secession updating you on SVR and VT Commons continuing slide into irrelevancy.
Aug 28 2007
In my post a few days ago, one of the things that I touched upon was how people are waking up to the fact that in the conservatives’ mad rush to privatize just about every aspect of our economy, that when profit is the ultimate motive, often human needs are pushed to the side with disastrous results, and that when you combine that with having people who are anti-government in power, the problem is compounded to epic proportions. Nowhere was this more apparent than the government’s inept handling of the Katrina disaster. And even more infuriating is the mindset that was all too apparent by those on the right as to how to benefit from the tragedy, as Rick Perlstein’s article over at TomPaine.com clearly illustrates. Jump below the fold for your morning outrage. Don’t spill your coffee…
Aug 25 2007
Ok, the most recent Name that Movie was “Joe“, from 1970 and directed by John G. Avildsen. It’s a flawed yet powerful film that stars Peter Boyle as Jow Curran, a racist factory worker and gun nut, who idolizes a man he meets in a bar who just killed the drug-dealing boyfriend of his daughter(played by an incredibly hot Susan Sarandon). Eventually, all hell breaks loose and Joe goes on a rampage. It’s definitely a period piece/message movie. At times, you think it’s a right-wing message that tapped into what traditional America was feeling at the time, but then it’s laid out to see how ridiculous it is. It’s somewhat dated, but worth checking out. Thanks for playing, and you can sleep well now, Brattlerouser.
Aug 25 2007
(crossposted on Green Mountain Daily)
It’s not easy being a right-winger in Vermont. They’re a real minority, especially the far right-wing variety, such as WDEV’s blowhard crybaby hatemonger Paul Beaudry, or corporate apologist “anything for the almighty dollar” John McLaughry, both great cases of “reality-challenged” people if I’ve ever seen any.
And that’s not likely to change anytime soon. The neo-con agenda is about as popular as spring-thaw dogshit, as is its President, the healthcare crisis is getting out-of-hand, there’s that disastrous war of choice, and many people are slowly waking up to the fact that the private sector doesn’t always do certain things better than the public sector (yeah, I know, there’s a million other things, but if youre’ reading a political blog you know about them already). And it’s becoming very apparent that when you have people in charge who feel that the government should be doing as little as possible, well, that’s what happens. They do as little as possible, not a good thing when you have disasters such as Katrina or ever-increasing numbers of children who don’t have access to quality healthcare. You can only sing the praises of “the market” so much before people start figuring out that “the market’ could really care less about them in any way except as a dollar sign, and the hell with their well-being if it doesn’t make someone some money somewhere.
But that’s not stopping the downtrodden few in Vermont who like to think of themselves as the “right-wing intellectuals” of the state. C’mon, don’t laugh, that’s mean. There’s a new Vermont right-wing think tank out there, the Lyceum Society of Vermont. What’s this all about? Jump below the fold for more.
Aug 24 2007
I’m a mixed bag when it comes to guns. I like shooting (I only have a .22 but would like to get a shotgun and perhaps a revolver). I think “Dirty Harry” is one of the best movies ever, in no small part due to that huge .44 Magnum. I think hunting for food is really the most respectable way to get it, in that primeval-order-of-the-universe way, although if you hunt strictly for “sport” and you’re not going to eat it, you’re a real asshole. Gun control laws should be handled on a regional basis. And I think this country is too frickin’ violent, and easy access to guns and the constant glorification of them in the media most certainly plays a part in it.
But I have a real problem with “gun love”. You know, the gun nuts who obsess over them and rant about how the “must” have guns, with zero restrictions, that we should all arm ourselves, etc. They usually also have an idiotic bumper sticker such as “Charlton Heston is my President” or “Terrorist Hunting Permit” . It’s not too hard to get these people in a tizzy. The funniest thing these yahoos like to talk about is how they need them to somehow protect them from the government. Yeah, riiiiiight. Short of having your own army, if the guv’mint comes gunning for you, you’re toast. Sure, you may take a few feds down before you go, but you’re going to look like a bloody piece of head cheese when the shooting finally stops.
I think I’ve written about him before on here somewhere, but one of the biggest assholes on the planet seems to be über-redneck Ted Nugent. You may (or may not) remember him for his exhibits of masterful songwriting back in the 70’s such as “Cat Scratch Fever” and “Wango Tango”. And that shitty “Damn Yankees” band in the early 90’s with some guy from Styx and a guy from Night Ranger. Quite the supergroup.
Anyways, the self-proclaimed “Motor City Madman”, finding himself utterly irrelevant in the music world today, has made a niche following with the hyper-gun-nut hunting crowd, with his “Kill it and Grill It” show and his tendency to utter things occasionally that make Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter look like geniuses. The latest, from Rolling Stone, by way of Gun Guys- a not so subtle gun dig at Clinton and Obama.
Renegade right-winger Ted Nugent recently went on a vicious onstage rant in which he threatened the lives of Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Decked out in full-on camouflage hunting gear, Nugent wielded two machine guns while raging, “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. Hey Hillary,” he continued. “You might want to ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch.” Nugent summed up his eloquent speech by screaming “freedom!”
Freedom to be an ass, I guess. And he’s got it in for those goddamn lib’ruls, too:
Nugent was quoted in a Wall Street Journal story blaming “stoned, dirty, stinky hippies” for “rising rates of divorce, high school drop-outs, drug use, abortion, sexual diseases and crime, not to mention the exponential expansion of government and taxes.”
Yep, it’s all my fault, apparently. Did I tell you I’m also responsible for the Ford Pinto, ABBA, new Coke, and the 8-track player? Now I think the headline that says “threatens to kill” is a bit over the top, but it doesn’t change the fact that this man is seriously becoming more and more unhinged as that prune of a brain of his continues to shrivel, yet another voice of the right-wing ugly brigade.
Aug 23 2007
Shameless self-promotion time again, kids. If you’re in the central VT area and have nothing to do this Saturday night, come see my funk project, Lingo Mungo, at the Black Door in Montpelier. The fun starts around 9:30, and don’t forget to say hi to the bass player.
Aug 23 2007
It’s been a while since we’ve checked in with pup central….
Fredo takes over the bed.
Deleted scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The results of my first attempt at dog haircuts.
Aug 22 2007
To the few regulars I have here, just wanna let you know I haven’t stopped, I’m just incredibly busy with that house-raising thing. Your regularly scheduled FBC B.S., plus the answer to the last Name that Movie will appear shortly. Thanks for stopping by.
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