Posted by pat at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is an experiment. I saw this extremely odd, yet entertaining, video at Salon just now. They include the code to embed the video in your site, so I thought I would try it. We’ll see how it goes.

Actually, they screwed up the code, but I managed to figure out what was missing and insert it. Hope you like it.

Posted by pat at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two words—no, three: Wasabi and Soy Sauce. All right, four—oops, I mean five. Wasabi and Soy Sauce Almonds. Where are the cardinals when you need them?*

If you don’t like wasabi, stay far away from these babies. But if you do, oh my….

At this rate, hey, maybe I could get a sponsorship from the almond company? So no more plugs. My mouth is full anyway.

Posted by pat at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This morning I transcribed part of the Colbert Report from Wednesday night because I thought it was so funny—only to find that AlterNet had done the same thing, and their entry includes video.

Posted by pat at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A funny thing happened on the way to the 4 Sknns reunion—actually it’s not funny at all. A week ago last Sunday night, Gary Charlson was going into his house after playing a gig and slipped on the ice. He broke his leg/ankle/foot/whatever very badly. He is still in the hospital, with something like 18 pins and a couple plates holding his bones together.

So, the 4 Sknns reunion gig February 3 has been postponed. We don’t have a new date yet, partly because Gary needs to work out with his doctor what is going to be possible when. Also Issues is booked nearly every weekend and we will need to figure out something between Blayney’s available dates and ours.

Issues will play all night Saturday, February 3, instead of just the last couple sets. Cliff Eveland will perform the role of the Stage Right Guitar Player. Stay tuned for news as to when the reunion gig will be rescheduled.

Meanwhile, 4 Sknns CDs and DVDs are nearly finished and will be available to order from the website soon. I talked to Larry Brewer at Great Plains TV yesterday, who put together the DVD 2-disc set, and he said it was the most fun editing he’s ever had. Not to hype things too much; I still haven’t seen anything or heard the CDs, so I can’t say. Not that I would be objective anyway.

Guido will be in town next week and is supposed to get me some CDs of 4 Sknns live material not included on the discs for sale. I’ll pick some cuts and put them on the website for download.

On behalf of the band, our apologies for the postponement. I know people have bought plane tickets and made plans to come into town just for this gig. Please understand we wouldn’t change it if we didn’t have to.

Posted by pat at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I just want to state for the record that my new addiction is Blue Diamond Lime ’n Chili Almonds. I also have it on good authority (and Elise, you may want to make a note of this) that dill pickle potato chips are the bomb.

Posted by pat at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought this was interesting: Americans’ support for a female president is significantly exaggerated, researchers say. It turns out that when answering pollsters’ questions, people feel a certain pressure to give socially acceptable, i.e., non-sexist, answers.

This isn’t exactly earth-shattering news, though it certainly has implications for Hillary Clinton, and similarly, for Barack Obama. What was most interesting to me, as a former student of research in social psychology, was the methodology the researchers employed.

Persons quizzed as part of a nationwide telephone poll were asked how many of four statements made them angry or upset, things like gasoline prices, overpaid athletes, seat belt requirements, and corporations polluting the environment. About half of the respondents were given a fifth statement: a woman serving as president. A significantly larger number of the respondents became angry when the fifth statement was included. On the basis of this finding, the researchers concluded “it is extremely likely that those who are angered by the prospect of a female president are not going to vote for a woman.” In fact, while only 5–15% of the public say they will not vote for a woman presidential candidate, this poll indicates the true number is more like 26%.

Even more suprisingly, the findings were consistent across demographic groups: more educated people, younger people, and women all showed about the same resistance as other groups.

Posted by pat at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Just as I hoped, YouTube came through:

Colbert on O'Reilly
I thought it was pretty funny, as I noted last night.

O'Reilly on Colbert
When Colbert held up O’Reilly’s book, I thought I was going to lose it. And again, with the photo at the end.

I guess some people were expecting some kind of giant confrontation between the two, and were disappointed. I thought O’Reilly said more than he intended in the second clip when he mock-confessed, “I’m just an act.” To which Colbert replied, “If you’re an act, what am I?” The audience got it, and roared with laughter. Maybe it’s a little too true to be funny, but I’ll take my giggles where I can get them these days.

Posted by pat at 02:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

General Barry McCaffrey, in testimony to the Senate:

First, we must commit publicly to provide $10 billion a year in economic support to the Iraqis over the next five years. In the military arena, it would be feasible to equip and increase the Iraqi armed forces on a crash basis over the next 24 months (but not the police or the Facilities Protection Service). The goal would be 250,000 troops, provided with the material and training necessary to maintain internal order. Within the first 12 months we should draw down the U.S. military presence from 15 Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), of 5,000 troops each, to 10. Within the next 12 months, Centcom forces should further draw down to seven BCTs and withdraw from urban areas to isolated U.S. operating bases -- where we could continue to provide oversight and intervention when required to rescue our embedded U.S. training teams, protect the population from violence or save the legal government. Finally, we have to design and empower a regional diplomatic peace dialogue in which the Iraqis can take the lead, engaging their regional neighbors as well as their own alienated and fractured internal population.

I don’t know if he (or the other generals who testified today) is right or not. But isn’t it funny what a breath of fresh air it is to hear an actual plan?

Via Salon’s War Room.

Additionally, Juan Cole explains how the Bush escalation plan is based on a fundamental misreading of the enemy. Among other things, he notes:

The guerrillas know they cannot fight the U.S. military head-on. But they do not need to…. Iraq is a country of clans and tribes, of Hatfields and McCoys, of grudges and feuds. The clans are more important than religious identities such as Sunni or Shiite. They are more important than ethnicities such as Kurdish or Arab or Turkmen. All members of the clan are honor-bound to defend or avenge all the other members…. The guerrillas mobilized these clans against the U.S. troops and against one another. Is a U.S. platoon traveling through a neighborhood of the Dulaim clan, where people are out shopping? They hit the convoy, and the panicked troops lay down fire around them. They kill members of the Dulaim clan. They are now defined as the American tribe, and they now have a feud with the Dulaim. Members of the Dulaim cannot hold their heads up high until they avenge the deaths of their cousins by killing Americans….

President Bush in his speech Wednesday imagined that guerrillas were coming into neighborhoods in Baghdad and in the cities of Al-Anbar province from the outside. He suggested that…U.S. and Iraqi troops should clear them out and then hold the city quarters for some time, to stop them from coming back. But the guerrillas are not outsiders. They are the people of those city quarters, who keep guns in their closets and come out masked at night to engage in killing and sabotage.

Okay, I’d be thoroughly depressed now if wasn’t for having seen Stephen Colbert on Bill O’Reilly’s show earlier. Colbert was brilliant and had me laughing out loud several times, but the best part was watching how, when Colbert would deliver a fawning (and utterly ironic) compliment to “Papa Bear,” O’Reilly would smile and glow. He just can’t help himself, the giant gasbag. Oops, time to go watch the Daily Show and O’Reilly’s appearance on the Colbert Report. Hopefully all this stuff will be on YouTube or something tomorrow.

Posted by pat at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’m a big fan of the Beatles, no denying it. Just the same, I just about came out of my skin listening to an All Songs Considered podcast on a new CD of Beatles music. Produced by George Martin’s son, Giles Martin, with his father’s advice and the blessings of the surviving Beatles, it was put together to provide music for a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like a cheesy nightmare. It’s not—it’s absolutely astounding. Working at Abbey Road, Giles Martin took the individual tracks and digitized them into Pro Tools (and now finally there is a digital backup of the multi-track tapes; there wasn’t before, if you can believe that). What you have to understand is that all the remastering of Beatles music you’ve heard, for CDs or whatever, comes from working on the mono or stereo master tapes. It’s sort of like listening to the record and turning up the bass or treble. More sophisticated, but essentially the same process.

With this record, Giles Martin actually had access to the individual instrument tracks. Now the legendary Abbey Road engineering shines through—these tracks sound spectacular. Suddenly you realize the Beatles were one hell of a live band.

Of course, hardly any of this record is a simple remix of a single song. Rather, it’s a mashup combining bits and pieces of many songs into something new. Martin says practically the only direction he got from Paul and Ringo was to shake people up, to make them listen and hear the music with fresh ears. And of course it was an homage to the music as created, with a minimum of digital diddling to make some tempoes and keys work out.

If you are at all a fan of the Beatles, and maybe even if you’re not, this is fascinating stuff. I can’t recommend the album because I haven’t heard it yet, but I am certainly going to buy it. I can recommend the podcast. Giles Martin is a modest and charming guy, and it’s a fascinating story. To hear a streaming version of the show, go to the All Songs Considered archives page and look for “The Beatles Love” dated December 21, 2006. Right now it’s second from the top. However, the sound quality of the streaming audio leaves a lot to be desired. It is still worth listening to, but the sounds may not leap out at you the way they ought to.

The podcast I heard was a special high-bitrate version of the show, and it’s well worth the download. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find any link to this particular podcast, only to subscribe to future episodes. I’ll keep looking around; if anyone reading this wants to hear the podcast, leave a comment and we’ll work out a way for you to download it.

Posted by pat at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

In the tradition of shameless self-promotion I’ve tried so hard to maintain, here are a couple of sites I have recently designed and built:

Eisberg & Bordeau is an immigration law firm here in Kansas City. They do a lot of H1B visas and labor certification, and by the time the site content is all in place I will probably be able to tell you what that means. Most of the site is in a “coming soon” state at the moment, but that should change in the next week or so. From all I hear, they do great work; they’re certainly pleasant to work with.

The 4 Sknns site is up, as promised. I’ve still got lots to do, but since the Blayney’s posters reference the site I might as well mention it.

So, what are you still doing here?

Posted by pat at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

One of those discs that dusts off the laser lens in your CD drive…. No, I’m not bored. Really.

Posted by pat at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This video, a fake trailer for “Tom Hanks is James Bond,” had me clapping and laughing out loud. Of course, I’m just sitting here twiddling my thumbs, waiting to hear back from four different clients about which way they want to go on various projects, and therefore easily entertained. But I thought it was really funny.

Although the linked video is on YouTube, it’s actually from Chocolate Cake City. With a name like that, how could they go wrong? In fact, you may remember them for their excellent Brokeback to the Future trailer a few months ago.

Posted by pat at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It’s a little odd to be home on a Saturday night. But the weather in Kansas City is so shitty this weekend that pretty much everything got canceled. It’s actually not that bad to drive in as long as you are careful, but since the band is pretty much a tool for the club to sell alcohol, it’s just as well that we aren’t playing. Except for the money….

Anyway, I’ve been working all week on the upcoming 4 Sknns reunion gig. Here’s the poster. The CD materials are at the printer, the discs are being replicated, the DVD is in progress, and rumor has it there is a banner and t-shirts in the works. Yikes! Pretty scary for a band that never even had an official photo.

Oh, yeah, there’s a website as well. But I won’t post the URL until there is actually something there. I need to get some paying work done in the meantime.

In the midst of going through all these materials, I actually found some shots of Everyday People. Speaking of bands with no pictures. From the clothes everyone is wearing, it was actually a 4 Sknns gig in 1992, but I think Guido went away for a set and Sharon sat in to do some of our fabulously uncommercial songlist. Anyway, here’s a pic of all four of us, and another of Gary, Richard, and Sharon. While I’m at it, because my ego knows no bounds, I’ll post this pic of me, just because I hadn’t seen it until last week and I think it’s a nice shot. Especially considering what I look like these days :-)

So, there you go. As for me, I think it’s time to enjoy a sophisticated adult beverage. Since I’m not driving.

Posted by pat at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Chad sent this link in an email. It’s just too funny not to post here: Effects of Drugs and Alcohol on Spider Webs.

Posted by pat at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

One of my duties in a previous life—a fairly brief one, as it involved full-time employment—was to edit a monthly educational newsletter (Yeah, I know. It explains a lot, doesn’t it? I worked in a library, too). I was editing the writings of a bunch of extremely smart and educated people, and it turned out one sure way to start an argument was to stand up for, or against, the serial comma.

I will just note that this was in the Clinton years, and while one of the tenets of the organization where we worked was that all children can learn, we also knew that excessive reliance on standardized tests simply forces teachers to spend all their time teaching to the test rather than making sure real learning happens, and the idea of shoving yet another unfunded govenment mandate down schools’ throats to do so was as ludicrous as, say, starting a needless and self-destructive war while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest citizens. But I digress.

Anyway, the serial comma. I admit I have backslid over the years and become inconsistent in its use, but after reading this witty piece at The Laughorist, I here and now publicly renew my commitment to the use of the serial comma: now, tomorrow, and forevermore!

Besides, the post quotes Eats, Shoots & Leaves, my favorite book that I’ve never read.

Posted by pat at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I was never a big fan of The Bangles. I liked a few songs, such as “Going Down To Liverpool,” a lot, but mostly they were a little better than okay.

But a couple days ago, a friend turned me on to Doll Revolution, which came out in 2003 though I hadn’t heard anything about it. And probably most people missed it, which is why I am writing this. It’s by far the best Bangles album I have heard, and one of the best albums I’ve heard in several months—and I’ve heard a lot of new music recently.

I’ll just quote from the Amazon editorial review, which I think got it mostly right:

…Eloquent, assured, and sensual, Doll Revolution is measured yet mesmerizing, considered yet colossal. This is one 80s comeback that really is a good idea…. The Bangles never were ones for manifestos. Melodies are more their game, and these mostly self-penned songs display a beautifully developed sense of songcraft…. [T]he sublime West Coast harmonies of "Stealing Rosemary" is a reminder that the quartet originally began life, 20 years prior, as Paisley Underground psychedelics named the Supersonic Bangs…. And the yearning "Single by Choice," glancing back over a life half-done, is both a shoo-in for the soundtrack of the next Bridget Jones movie and also a knowing, experience-heavy poem that they simply couldn't have crafted the first time around. The Bangles have returned older but wiser and there is, as Doll Revolution amply demonstrates, simply no substitute for experience. --Ian Gittins

I did slightly prefer the Continental Drifters’ version of Vicki Peterson’s “Mixed Messages” to the new one, but that’s probably just because I’m used to the older version. That’s the closest thing to a quibble I can come up with so far.

I’m going to have a busy weekend, so I’ll just wish the six of you who actually read this drivel a very pleasant time, and we’ll talk again soon, okay?

Posted by pat at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I know I promised a more cheerful post this time, but I once again ran into Baghdad Burning, a blog by a young Iraqi woman living in the city. I hadn’t read her blog for some time, and unfortunately the news isn’t good:

…That is Iraq right now. The Americans have done a fine job of working to break it apart. This last year has nearly everyone convinced that that was the plan right from the start. There were too many blunders for them to actually have been, simply, blunders. The 'mistakes' were too catastrophic. The people the Bush administration chose to support and promote were openly and publicly terrible- from the conman and embezzler Chalabi, to the terrorist Jaffari, to the militia man Maliki. The decisions, like disbanding the Iraqi army, abolishing the original constitution, and allowing militias to take over Iraqi security were too damaging to be anything but intentional….

Had I not chronicled those feelings of agitation [for American casualties] in this very blog, I wouldn't believe them now. Today, they simply represent numbers. 3000 Americans dead over nearly four years? Really? That's the number of dead Iraqis in less than a month. The Americans had families? Too bad. So do we. So do the corpses in the streets and the ones waiting for identification in the morgue.

Is the American soldier that died today in Anbar more important than a cousin I have who was shot last month on the night of his engagement to a woman he's wanted to marry for the last six years? I don't think so.

She doesn’t claim to speak for all Iraqis, but I can’t help but think this is a much more accurate picture of what life is like in Baghdad these days than you will find in most news accounts. Her take on Saddam’s execution is the next post after the one linked, and it has some interesting insights as well.

I swear I’ll post something more cheerful soon! But every day some new reminder comes up of this monstrous thing our country has done to theirs. And all of us, even we who opposed the war and hate George Bush and all he stands for, are a party to it. And I just feel helpless in that knowledge.

Posted by pat at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)