I have nothing bad to say about February

With St. Valentine's Day as the only exception (I realize that it is a contentious subject for some people), isn't February a great month? You've got all the perks of winter - snow, pleasantly chilly weather, sliding around on solid ground, and wearing long sleeve shirts under short sleeve shirts - without the brutal cold of January, the hectic Christmas season, the rain of spring, or the foul humidity of summer. And my thesis isn't due for another month and a half. I love you, February.

February brought me something else: The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. When this appeared on the reading list for one of my courses, I cringed in horror - 600 page books about ancient Greece? Does anyone like this besides Trevor the Plutocrat? But after reading the first two books, I realized my mistake. This is a must-read for anyone that enjoys epic, glory-obsessed military/political history. One of Pericles' speeches (intended to rally the Athenians) gave me the elusive non-sexual tingly-feeling - more than 2000 years later. The democratic prewar deliberations on both sides and the events leading up to the ultimate conflict are incredibly interesting.

I'm writing this from a weightroom in a sophomore dormitory - my other job. If I make the horrible mistake of not blasting music when people come in, they immediately turn on the radio. Today was CLASSIC ROCK RADIO, one of my least favorite things. When I was in middle school, I thought that classic rock was great...before I realized that classic rock stations played THE SAME SONGS OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. NO MORE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN l;aksdjf alw;erja;lksdfjal;skjliawejflkasdjflawerhfiasdjglaksjsgl;waieejtlasngljjsdnfa.

My roommate is watching a Chinese movie with more child abuse/rape than anything I have ever seen. No really.

Another thing: can we have a little picture come up in the bookmarks section? Right now, it's a boring blank page. Google has the big blue G, Overheard in NY has the ear, and Facebook has a little man; I want something too. I want the world. I want the WHOLE WORLD (Veruca Salt = Adolf Hitler?).

Holla at da physicists

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/physicists-find-way-to-see-extra-dimensions-12520.html
Also, how do I make fancy little blue links? I was only visited by the Ghost of Internet Past.

Sima's Folly?

Would anyone like to meet me in Alaska this summer?
http://www.alaska.com/places/parks/kefj/story/4481433p-4460422c.html

I'm pretty bent on going on some kind of a trip. Yes, I realize that no one has any money. But we will be camping - our only expense is getting there. Think of the sea otters, whales, and extremely hungry black bears.

In other news, the Superbowl, America's largest spectacle short of the presidential election, went down today in Miami. While I lived on Regent Street, my only access to football was staying up until 6 am on Sunday nights (for some reason, they aired Sunday night football but not Monday night football; in the US, Monday is the big night), watching disinterested British commentators talk about cricket. My other option was bribing pubs to put the games on (too expensive). Therefore, this year was a glorious return to obsession. The best part about the National Football League is that if you saw ANY player (ok, not kickers) walking down the street, you would immediately think, "This is not a human being - it is a terrifying war machine." With the exception of Sumo Wrestlers (obesity is scary in a different way) and basketball players (when's the last time you saw five 7-foot tall people together at the same time), football players are the most nightmarish men on Earth. And the terrorists.

A fraction of the sum

I'm still in a Red State (not metaphorically), but since my well of fresh ideas runneth dry, I will compose a brief [editor's note: this ends up becoming a filthy lie in a few paragraphs] England playlist. I'm glad that something came of my suggestion - I enjoyed reading all of your posts (despite the fact that YOU RUINSED MY IDEA).

Each Coming Night by Iron and Wine - this was my goodbye to America song. I became obsessed with the song while living in Raleigh, then grew more obsessed after seeing Iron and Wine. By Boston, it was virtually all I listened to; it was the last song I played on my computer before boarding the plane and the last song I played on guitar in the U.S.

Saddest Vacant Lot in all the World by Grandaddy - not sure. I don't listen to Grandaddy much, but that song plays in my head whenever I think of the pre-internet period at Regent Street.

Crazy Love by Van Morrison (Bob Dylan version) - simple: the song kicks ass. The duet was so good that I listened to it fanatically. Easily the best song I burgled from Sarah.

I Want Wind to Blow by The Microphones - I listened to this song a lot in the early days. I always wondered why it didn't seem to catch on with anyone; this is such a Nathan Hill song.

Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Paul Simon - anyone at Regent Street would have to put this song. It blasted through the house 1239489187290341023 times and is the Sarah Baker song.

For Wicked Gil (demo) by Band of Horses - little did I know that the album would have one of the best songs of the last 30 years on it, but the demos were still excellent.

Sophisticated Fuck Princess by Carissa's Wierd (sic) - over Winter Holiday, I became a cashier once more (poverty...). The break was fantastic, but this depressing song became the Publix 2005 anthem.

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service - the Morocco song. Crazy bus rides.

Heard 'em Say by Kanye West - when Loni and I were in Italy, the only English came in the way of music videos. This was the only video (well, besides that horrid Pink song. Yeah, she's making fun of crappy female artists; how ironic since SHE IS ONE).

One With the Freaks by The Notwist - Nathan reawakened my The Notwist obsession from three years ago.

Let's Trade Skins by Great Lake Swimmers - this reminds me of Civ 4 during Spring Vacation. When I finished traveling during that break, I needed relaxing music; I was spent.

This Beard is for Siobhan by Devendra Banhart - regrowing the beard/street musician license.

These Days by Nico - one of the main England songs. Specifically, it was the Scotland NO DEAL theme song, and I mainly identify it with the two weeks Matt was in town.

Angeles by Elliott Smith - I've listened to this song religiously for 7 years, but the frequency I listened to it/played it in late May-June was mentally ill.

Wake Up by The Arcade Fire - this is bonfire song. Not Bonfire Night (which was Band of Horses, The Microphones, Van Morrison, and Grandaddy), mind you. This song is the essence of backyard bonfires.

Carry the Zero by Built to Spill - Greece. I can't hear this song without DYING to go back. But I will agree with you, Alyssa: it was a blast singing Wish You Were Here on the bus, and the song does remind me of you and Greece. Still, Pink Floyd was "just sooo high school."

Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks - The end of England, specifically the day mentioned in the previous post. The expression, "I need to go to the woods" is synonymous with Waterloo Sunset. Is that not the vibe for the song?

I realize that this is an incredibly boring/long post. HA! I enjoyed it. I'll post my current list in a week or so. For the next post, I will describe how my train to a phd program was derailed by cruel fate (incompetence).

As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise

I met my step-family from 8 years ago today. They're nice people; also, being French, they make excellent crepes.

But more importantly, a music update. On one of my last days in England, Nathan and I went to a pub after a tremendous trip to a forest ripe with bunny rabbits. As we sat outside drinking beer, a band began practicing Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks - quite well, I might add. When I returned to America, I realized that the song was my defining end of the journey song (much like Carry the Zero by Built to Spill was the Greece song, and The Greatest Adventure was Bilbo Baggins' song during his trip to the Lonely Mountain). This prompted two things: 1) I set about making mix cds for the last several years of my life and 2) I began furiously listening to The Kinks. Way to go, England. After acquiring Something Else by the Kinks and The Village Green Preservation Society, I decided that Ray Davies is a badass. This also led to a recent fling with The Zombies and The Clash. In case you were wondering (which you weren't), This Will be Our Year by The Zombies is my defining song of the new year and absolutely incredible.

But on to the point. While I do not have the mix here (as I am in Houston, TX with my father and co.), I intend to post my most memorable songs from last year. I think that it would be interesting for you to do the same. If you don't feel like it, I understand (but will hate you). It was enjoyable for me, and I therefore recommend it. Also, that pub trip day basically summed up everything I enjoyed about England.

The lesser known American culture war (beyond the Blue and Red)

Since there are so many regions, it's difficult to pinpoint American cultural traits. What makes it even more challenging is the fact that Generation Y idealizes traditionally non-American values.

John Wayne and Robert Redford generally exemplify the traditional male American model. Assertive, confident, hard-working, and willing to laugh (despite often dire circumstances), their characters showed Americans what to aspire for (saying hello to your neighbors). Of course, the translation of values is rarely perfect; assertive can become belligerent (GIVE ME MY GODDAMN FOOD), confident shifts to arrogant (foreigners are worse than me in every possible way), hard-working means work-obsessed, and willing to laugh can turn into either 1) too stupid to do anything but laugh or 2) despair.

Our generation prefers men to be less traditionally Amerimasculine (the values in the above paragraph) and "unique." We do not idealize the hard-working; we prefer those who got rich quick. Our heroes are Chris Moneymaker (the amateur poker champ) and reality TV instacelebs. Apparently - I have not seen this poll with my eyes, and God only knows if I can trust the radio - a majority of Americans in my generation said that the most important thing to them was fame. We reject 9 to 5's and middle class jobs as boring, below us, and So Yesterday. Sites like MySpace allow us to cast ourselves in whatever unique sense we want, trendy people desperately argue that "they were doing this before..." and YouTube and blogs let us present ourselves to the world as non-TV instacelebs using any persona we choose. We want to be famous and have exciting, unique jobs, but we want them now. We don't like the idea of putting in 1 second of "9-5 drudgery." We rail against the idea of middle class suburbia (even though we grew up in it). In this way, we're also a hyperimage based culture. It's all about being famous, having people notice you, standing out, appearing to be cool. Eye contact is going out of style like small pox, assertive is suddenly scary, and people hate - HATE - the idea that someone can insult/laugh about their opinions (just read all of the hate mail for somethingawful.com's Your Band Sucks segment). Our new values are being "different," getting noticed, accepting relativism, and above all else, "not selling out" (to the Man, the record label, or really anything). I'm not exactly sure why, but we also love acting sad/whiny; my guess is that it's another way to get noticed.

It makes me wonder how Americans will be perceived around the world 15-20 years from now. Following the Great War, Americans - I think - were stereotyped with the traditional values; currently, we have the bad version of the traditional values. Who knows what we'll be known for in the future?

Basically, we need another Mark Foley

Two interesting tidbits about Mr. Obama. The first is that Fox News - YOU DECIDE - keeps *accidentally* running "Obama" next to photos of Osama bin Laden and vice versa. Also, they're obsessed with using his middle name, Hussein. I like that the previous sentence has the same rhyme scheme as 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. The second thing is why I don't want him to run. He's BECOMING a dream candidate, but he isn't there yet. 4 years of Senate experience doesn't make people immediately think president. He's a young guy; wait 4-8 years (depending), get a better resume, destroy the competition. As for Hill, I think that she'd be an incredible leader: emotionless, cutthroat, brilliant, and with the best side-kick available. All of these attributes lead me to believe that we'd have a great foreign policy president. Sadly, people hate Hillary Clinton. Americans hate strong women. We even hate teletubbies that are slightly sexually confused - just look at poor Tinky-Winky. Basically, we have serious gender issues. A female president will only emerge from the Republican side (an Elizabeth Dole, for instance) because plenty of Dems will vote to put a woman in power, but the only way most Republicans would vote female is if they had no other option. I've been praying for Mr. Gore, but that seems out of the question at this point. Then Vilsack dropped out of the field. I don't know. I like Bill Richardson, but who really knows at this point. The problem is always electability, and the best candidate - Clinton - seems likely to pull about 44-48%. Hopefully something will change that. Like a sex scandal.

The first good thing to happen in 2007

This excites me. Now when I post on your blogs, I get to include my r0Cks74Rz h4X0rz Ph070. Previously, 2007 in Boston was marked by the terrible increase in subway prices. I used to love that Boston had the cheapest/least efficient public transport in the country. After effectively tripling prices, we now have the most expensive/least efficient system. Kinda like democracy?

In other news, I just finished my bowl of Honey Toasted Oats (the generic version of Honey Nut Cheerios), only to make a horrifying discovery: lurking at the bottom of the Milk Sea, a hard, sugary orb was hiding - waiting. I'm not sure where it came from or what it was, but I couldn't chew it; curious, I swallowed it. This may be my last post. And that would be a shame - this blog is the first good thing to happen in 2007.