Top 5 week of 7/22

1) Uncommon Carriers by John McPhee. This really is a fascinating book. The premise is that John McPhee just tags along with the folks that move commodities across the United States. He rides along with haz-mat truck driver for a couple weeks and on barge through the Illinois river. I grew up reading the beats and folks like Henry Miller and Charles Bukowski. Now I really focus on history and non-fiction. So I am old but gosh darn it I more knowledgeable and probably more interesting to talk to at a BBQ or maybe not.



2) DEVO. DEVO out of all the new wave bands was the one middle America loved to laugh at the most. I am sure there were countless folks in early 80's that dressed up flower pots on their heads for Halloween. But they were really a great band.

3) Intelligence Squared. Discourse in America is pathetic. But what suffices for debate on CNN & MSNBC is well crap. It is this childish back and forth. So I was very happy to find this new podcast by good folks at NPR called Intelligence Squared. Last night I listened to the arguments on proposition "the global warming is a crisis". Listen I am a liberal sort that believes in environmental issues but the debate gave me pause. I was really surprised that in the 70's there was a lot doomsday stuff about global cooling.

You should listen.



4) Small Pond Fishing. With the new baby coming I haven't got to get away and fly-fish up in the mountains like I like too. I think that maybe coming to an end anyway. But I did sneak away to little pond at a city park I am close to on Sunday. I've always believed you make do with what you have. There is something glorious about water...you stick enough if it on top of the earth your bound to get something living in it. Sunday, I witnessed blue heron nesting, a turtle swimming, and a cormorant fishing. I fished for some big carp and I caught a couple of little bass. Don't worry I catch and release thus, no fish were harmed in the making of this blog entry.



5) Ultrasound. Geeze that is some crazy stuff.

ghost in the machine

If you haven't already checked it out already please read Kappa No He's Blog this week on the Japanese myth of tsukumo-gami, which basically are inanimate objects that have reached their 100th birthday and then become animated living spirits. Apparently you can tick them off during there inanimate stage and when they become animate lookout. "...they do have the capacity for anger and will band together to take revenge on those who are wasteful or throw them away thoughtlessly," says wikkipedia. So I will be spending this weekend with my durable goods atoning and apologizing for the abuse I have shown them. If only I had known.

Top 5 week of 7/15/07

I've got plenty excuses for my absence from the blog...but I will just move along to another awesome top 5:

1) Of Montreal. I picked up a lot music from my town library. It never ceases to amaze me what they stock on the shelves. Anywise I checked out Of Montreal CD entitled..."Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer?" I promptly checked in the CD at the end of borrowing period but it still showed up as checked-out on my account. I was worried and so I brought it to the 70-year-old Librarian's attention who promptly read out loud the title from the computer at the top of her voice, "Hissing Fauna Are You The Destroyer?" and just kinda stared at me. I just shrugged my shoulders. Enjoy.







2) Gardening like a hippie. Well the gardening is doing well. And I've been reading a lot of garden books by radical small farmers and gardening folks like Wendell Berry and Gene Logsdon. In between the microwave and McDonald's we forgot about good food and what it takes to make it. Anywise I suggest everybody read the omnivores dilemma and grow some food. I am now stepping off my soap box.



3) Pickled Pig's feet. I've been trying to cook more so I bought Rick Bayless's Everyday Mexican. In my town is a large immigrant Mexican population which translates into some great restaurants and some really good places to buy authentic Mexican ingredients. So a couple weeks ago my wife and I were at Mexican market and there they were on the meat counter-- a big jar of picked hooves just bobbing away. You feel very primitive eating the hoof and all but what the heck they aren't all that bad. Really we all eat the butt of the pig without blinking. I suppose my great grandfathers ate much worse.

4) Actually not dressing up in some weird costume to ride a bike or, alternatively, not riding to increase your lactic threshold or to break some record. Just riding a bike to enjoy it. (Note Craig's Photo...you should totally buy it from him).

5) Being a dad. So we are expecting at the Dart household so I am technically not a dad yet but close enough. I am pretty excited I am going to start watching a bunch of Leave to Beaver, Father Knows Best and My Three Sons re-runs to really work on my dad-a-titude before the tike comes a long.

New Music: Panda Bear

I have been jonesing for some new music for some time now. I don't know why, but I've burned through so many indie-pop bands over the last couple years, I'm feeling adrift on the indie music seas. There have been a few interesting sounds to keep me interested. The one that has held my attention the longest is the second album from Noah Lennox a.k.a. Panda Bear entitled Person Pitch. The album runs along psych/trance lines, yet the music evokes a bubbly, summertime wave a la The Beach Boys. That kind of music would usually have me running in the opposite direction, but Panda Bear manages to weave a dark undercurrent that prevents the album from sending the listener into a diabetic coma.

I don't know what the hell is up with this music video. Someone spent too much time with the video effects machine at a public-access, TV station. Enjoy the tune.