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Friday, October 31, 2008

Obama's Anti-Semitic Friends



I think we all know who he is talking about...

Thursday, October 30, 2008

I Vote



Finally, a get-out-the-vote video I can get on board with.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Mark Cuban vs. Larry Miller

Two rich entrepreneurs. Each own a basketball team. Both have recently decided to use their powers toward causes in which they believe. One is an inspirational endeavor for the very well-being of this country. The other is a bat-shit insane exercise in misguided futility.

See if you can tell which is which:
Mark Cuban [owner of the Dallas Mavericks] has a new pet project: BailoutSleuth.com seeks to keep readers updated on how their money is being spent as part of the $700 billion bailout of financial institutions.

So far the early returns aren't looking good. Yesterday the site's editor, Chris Carey, wrote that the "Treasury Department put out an announcement about a major bailout-related contract with Bank of New York Mellon Corp. that fell short in the transparency department."

The problem? Nearly all the information on compensation was redacted, leading to less than illuminating lines like this: "The Financial Agent shall receive a monthly fee ---------------------------------------."

-link

or
Megaplex Theaters [owned by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller] will not screen the comedy "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" when it opens nationwide Friday - once again opening the Utah theater chain to charges of hypocrisy for barring movies with strong sexuality but allowing films with graphic violence.
The movie, which stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as roommates who decide to make a sex film to pay off debts, received an R rating after director Kevin Smith successfully appealed an NC-17 ruling.

-link

Priorities...

Anemia Humor



:)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Is Palin Inciting Violence?

Anil Dash on the dangers of deliberately obscured semantics on the campaign trail:
Put simply, if Palin says "Barack Obama consorts with terrorists", she is making the assertion that he supports acts of violence against American citizens and the media will refute this obviously false assertion. If, instead, Palin says he "pals around with terrorists", she's used code-switching to mask the seriousness of the charge, obfuscating her meaning enough to get away with making an assertion that inevitably calls for the imprisonment or even assassination of a political opponent.

This clever use of language only hides Palin's meaning from members of the press. Because writers for traditional media are usually highly educated and pride themselves on their mastery of Standard American English, they can often look down on dialects like AAVE and North Central English. Instead these forms of language being seen as legitimate and interpreted in the social context where they've formed, they're dismissed as being the words of "people who don't even speak proper English!" In the cases where the ideas aren't outright dismissed, there is still rampant misinterpretation of meaning: Reporters wrongly see a term like "palling" as imprecise, when compared to a word like "consorting".

But these words are not imprecise to their intended audience. They are, in fact, clearer than using legalistic terms like "consorting". They amplify the urgency of the statements, and increase the sense for Palin's audience that they're on the same page with her, speaking a language too "plain", too full of "straight talk", for the press to understand. And they're right. Palin has consistently pitted herself against the media, depicting them as hostile and foreign to her campaign, and thus making it even less likely they'd take her less formal-sounding charges seriously.

I'm pretty concerned about the possibility of an assassination attempt on Obama's life, even if the recent neo-nazi "conspirators" seemed more like overly-ambitious idiots. I'm not the type to believe that people are malleable enough that they could be so easily incited to violence based solely on speeches, but the crackpot part of the right-wing could easily have its flames of hatred fanned. McCain and Palin should know better. If they are so despicable (as seems likely) that they require a selfish reason to stop, then they should understand that their legacies would be completely ruined should anything happen to Obama. The country would place the blame directly on their doorsteps.

Afternoon links

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"Spreading the Wealth"

Ok, just a couple things on the whole "Spreading the Wealth" idea that seems to be the failed McCain tactic of the week:

1. Unless you are in favor of eliminating taxes all together, you are in favor of "Spreading the Wealth".

2. The main opponents of "Spreading the Wealth" are the red states, which would be hulking piles of cowpies if it weren't for the blue states "Spreading the Wealth" and supporting their sorry asses.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Robocop on a Unicorn

My favorite new meme.

Itzhak Perlman on Prop 8



I've seen some Facebook friends I know from my early days playing classical music around L.A., joining groups like "Protect Marriage - Vote Yes on Prop 8!". It boggles my mind. You're a classical musician. You are surrounded by gay people. Do you really want to deny your colleagues and supposed friends a basic human right? And if you are a conservative - which I'm sure most of you are - think of it like this: Voting Yes on Prop 8 increases government intervention into citizens' lives. It is antithetical to the idea of limited government.

Voting No on Prop 8 doesn't change anything. It won't force schools to teach the merits of gay marriage to your kids. It won't make anyone do anything. Voting Yes, however, does. It will strip rights from thousands of Californians. It will create a second class status for thousands of people, people you know and work with.

The idea of gay marriage offends you? Fine. Then talk to a gay friend about your concerns, write about your thoughts and sent an article to your local newspaper editor or start a blog, work on making your own heterosexual relationship an ideal one. There are any number of positive, societal things you can do that don't rely on the power of the state to force your beliefs onto other people. Skipping those and going directly to the government for support is lazy and cowardly, as well as futile. Government cannot change how people feel, love, and hate, so don't ask it to, it will only do more harm than good.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Extremists at a McCain rally confronted by Muslim McCain supporters.


(video embed)

I find this infinitely more inspiring than any patriotic McCain ad or Obama song. Confront intolerance, disable it with logic, and sent the purveyors walking away in shame. Good stuff. If only there were more people like this at these Republican rallies confronting the lunatics.

Morning Links - Time-Wasting Meme Edition

The chimp on the segway is fascinating, but I'm more in awe at the sound effects. I had this video on as I was making breakfast and it made my life more exciting.

There is no sub-culture I support more wholeheartedly.

This video is mesmerizing. I believe there has to be some sort of subliminal message here. I feel changed after watching this, in some minute, but core, way.

Scrabble geeks will love this.

And this is creepy as shit.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Against Uplifting Hip Hop

Now, many of you may be familiar with my loathing of uplifting Obama videos. On one hand, I think it's nice that people are using their creativity for something that they believe in and feel strongly about. On the other, I find them to be condescending, smug, and preachy, while having a heart-warming vintage propaganda tone. Many of them tend to be from the hip hop/R&B world, like the most recent one I've seen, by MC Yogi:



If you don't feel like watching the whole thing, fast-forward to about 3:09 where the sepia-toned MC Yogi gently places his hands together in a pseudo-prayer, as if say, "I've said my piece, now impart with the knowledge I have passed onto you and let's change the world."

That hand-gesture is why I've come to hate uplifting hip hop.

Hip hop is a culture, and like any culture there develops norms of speech and basic communication that people who identify with the culture will adopt. This is why white kids from suburbia will end conversations with, "much love", or interject a few "true dat"s into a conversation. It's not that they are "acting black". It's that they are adapting to their chosen cultural surroundings. It is no more artificial than a person living in a new area of the country subconsciously adapting their speech and accent to the regional dialect. That said, just because it may be largely inadvertent, doesn't mean that some of those norms aren't annoying, or ignorant, or close-minded. It's a common practice to condemn gangsta rap and its offshoots for their use of bitch, ho', etc. and their cynical and negative attitude. Well, I think it's high time to recognize the issue of uplifting, positive hip hop and its naive and condescending attitude.

If Death Row can be seen as the label that broke gangsta rap into the mainstream, then Rawkus is the label that broke uplifting hip hop. It's early lineup was a congregation of some of the best voices of hip hop, which shunned the superficiality of the mainstream and brought hip hop back to its roots of breaks, samples and well-crafted rhymes. Some of the early Rawkus stuff was edgy, brilliant, and often offensive work from visionaries such as Company Flow and the late Big-L, but their defining tracks and albums were from artists such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Common, whose work contained a measure of social consciousness and spirituality. These sentiments were similar to those of the neo-soul movement of the time, with artists such as Erika Badu, Jill Scott, and India.Aire, free from the tough-guy aesthetic of their hip hop counterparts, espousing these values even further, heralding intellect and inner peace as core values of their lives and work, as opposed to the rank commercialism and greed of contemporary hip hop and R&B.

While these are great values, the issue comes out of the style of delivery. The tradition of allegory and storytelling having largely left hip hop and R&B a decade earlier, the prominent mode of delivery of lyrics had become direct. Artist to audience. By the very nature of standing on a stage physically over your audience you are literally condescending. Thus, the communication of personal ideals and beliefs takes on a preaching tone, you are telling a large group of people how to act. No matter your personal humility or good intentions, the act is condescending, which isn't in itself a bad thing. However, when the culture itself becomes infused with this practice, then the style gets filtered down into the modes of communication of the listener.

Just as gansta rap audiences began adopting the language of their larger-than-life idols, fans of this type of socially-conscious uplifting hip hop have adopted the practice of preaching to each other, and whomever they can get to listen. Erika Badu isn't any more qualified to teach you about what is right and good than you are, or I am, or MC Yogi is, but while I once had to endure the new-agey talking points of uplifting hip hop from fans at shows, they're now making YouTube videos about the guy I'm voting for.

Here's why it's dangerous. I was once at a show by an amazing hip hop group called Solilloquists of Sound. Now they would surely consider themselves to be socially conscious, uplifting hip hop. I was there because they are an awesome group: great rhymes, nice beats, a guy playing dual MPCs live. The problem was that in between the tunes they took it upon themselves to "educate" the audience, inform them of the "struggle". They even went so far as to say that there was 'one path', and you were either on it or you were lost. At one point an audience member called out something in respectful disagreement, but was shouted down and dismissed. Now, this makes sense. Performances are in a sense fascistic - the performer is and should be in control - but this can become a bit sticky when politics are involved. It is easy to be told something agreeable and innocuous as "All you need is love", but when you are being told a controversial viewpoint - and anything courageous should be controversial - then unanimity cannot be expected. If there is apparent unanimity, then either people are silencing their dissent, or you have a complete consensus, which should frighten anyone who values free thought.

The above video could easily be dismissed as a somewhat sweet and naive message of inspiration and hope that Barack Obama will win and usher in a brighter future. I hope he'll win too. My fear is in the tone, though. These types of messages can serve to alienate those Americans (most) who don't identify with this doe-eyed youth culture, reinforce the belief that Obama is a vapid idealist, recall the insipid Vote or Die failed pop campaign, and especially repel those wary of the idolatry of many Obama supporters. A counter-argument could be made that they simply do not appeal to cynics, which I'll admit I am, but people are cynical of nebulous, feel-good sentiments in politics for a reason, and giving in to vague notions of hope and trust seems to be the antithesis of independent thought.

I have a general rule in life: the moment that I find myself in broad agreement with a large group of people is the moment where I force myself to reconsider to what I am agreeing.

Mafoo's Cringe-Inducing Obama Vid of the Day



Ee-yiiiick. Mafoo no likey inspirational culty bullshit like this.

On the plus-side, them some nice pumpkins.

Mafoo Enlightens the Masses

Despite my absence of posts this weekend I had my highest number of hits in this blog's short history. Why, pray tell? Is it because of my penetrating insight into Angelina Jolie's breastfeeding pic? Was it my prophetic posting on Joe the Plumber before it was cool. Perhaps people in general are finally realizing the essential uniqueness of my perspective and are flocking to their new source of knowledge and inspiration...

Nah, it's porn.

Yeah, I wrote about Sasha Grey about a year ago, around the time of her notorious appearance on Tyra, in a NON-EXPLICIT post about her unconventional career in porn. She made mainstream news this week from her casting in an upcoming Steven Soderbergh film called The Girlfriend Experience where she plays (surprise!) a call girl. Well, that was enough to drive the masses to furiously search (what, Google blogsearch?) for her through the deepest recesses of the internet, into the welcoming arms of MMM. Upon arrival these pioneers spent approximately fifty-three seconds on my blog, just long enough to realize that the post contained no porn and no links to porn, and fled.

Now, if you are such a lost soul that you are searching blogs for your porn fix - and apparently thousands of you are - then I'll do you a solid.

Go here. (NSFW)

Type in Sasha Grey.

And you should be good.

Otherwise, can I interest you in some musical theater geekery? No? Ok, then how about some info on the new Miyazaki film? The use of environmental propaganda in "Love is..." cartoons??

Ok, just go look at the porn.

Great Moments in Auto-Tune - Evanescence



Amy Lee is actually a decent singer, which is why the overuse of Auto-Tune is so pointless here. You can really hear it on the long notes, where they just seem to freeze in mid-air. It becomes very apparent in the chorus when the harmony comes in (0:52). Notice how the lower harmony sounds almost more like a synth than a voice - too clean, too perfect.

Now, I am anything but a purist. I have no qualms about using pitch-shifting when I need it. If a sung note in a long passage is a few cents low, I'll reach in there and pull it up. I'm a better producer than a singer anyway. Auto-tune however, is a constant effect applied to everything sung - if it's too high or too low, it pulls it into the center. It is also none too graceful with the portamento, which is why you will hear often hear passing notes jolt into the next, in perfect creepy harmony.

I'm not against Auto-Tune, I think it's a brilliant piece of software and has it's uses. I've toyed around with it and it's pretty fun. Actually I recommend anyone who has a slight interest to mess around with the demo. It's incredibly easy to use and will give you a better ear for hearing it in the wild, so to speak. I'm not against it as a tool, but misuse is incredibly apparent if you know what to listen for. Either use it delicately or go apeshit - like some of the R&B singers for whom it's really an effect - ham-fisted use will render your music unlistenable in about ten years when the general public learns how to hear it.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Dial Testing Hurts Me


Nate Silver at TNR on dial testing during the debates:
It's not that the squiggly lines aren't fun to watch. Rather, they're too much fun to watch. It's hard to avert your eyes from them. It's hard to separate your own, independent reaction from theirs. And it's certainly hard to integrate back into to the non-squiggly universe once you've gotten hooked on the squigglys.

Yeah, the squigs (as I'll dub them) do tend to sway my thoughts a bit, which is why I've been watching the debates on PBS. More importantly, I think they are utter bullshit. My brain is not limited to varying degrees of positive and negative thinking. It is near-insulting to suggest that viewers' minds work like this.

When McCain says:
The catalyst for this housing crisis was the Fannie and Freddie Mae that caused subprime lending situation that now caused the housing market in America to collapse.

I am convinced that, until we reverse this continued decline in home ownership and put a floor under it, and so that people have not only the hope and belief they can stay in their homes and realize the American dream, but that value will come up.

He's stating information. Should I dial up because it's true? Should I dial down because it's boring? Should I hold that dial, and wait for him to say something sexy?

I don't get it. Our thinking is not restricted to judging things as good or bad. When I am washing the dishes I am not thinking, "Things are going well for me because this bowl is easy to wash. Uh oh, now times are tough because I am scraping out this pan, this is a negative experience."

My worry is that we'll start finding these Happy Dials used for TV and film focus groups (I'm sure they are already). Shows like Six Feet Under and The Wire were not always the most pleasant to watch, but they were incredible because they brought out a complex range of thoughts and emotions. And you should feel a similar complexity of thoughts and feelings when listening to two men, one of whom will become president. I have an degree of respect for McCain, but I'm also kinda creeped out by him. I find myself susceptible to Obama's charisma, but am somewhat annoyed by some of his condescension and politicking. There are too many already thinking in terms of good and evil, we don't need this to be encouraged.

Alfred E. Smith Speeches

If you've been following this election as geekily as I have, you should get some laughs from these:

McCain Part 1:


Part 2:


Obama:


I actually laughed quite a bit at these. It's cathartic really.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fear, Evil, and Hate

This video by Penn Jillette has got my brain working a bit. In it he tackles the demonization of the Bush and the right wing by many on the left.
Many ... seem to have this feeling, if you boil it all down, that Bush and McCain and Palin agree with the Democrats 100% on everything, and are then doing the opposite. They do not agree that there is a disagreement. They do not believe that Bush is a person who is trying to do the best he can do, who is wrong. He's wrong about God, he's wrong about war, he's wrong about the economy, he's wrong about who to trust, he's wrong about just about everything, but he is wrong, he is not evil, he is not malicious.

(emphasis mine based on tone of voice)
Penn dubs this trend "hate". I think it is simply intellectual laziness. Partisans on both sides refuse to admit that the other side has a right to hold opposing views and refuse to consider what would lead the other to form those positions. Liberals tend to assume it is pure ignorance, conservatives tend to think it is naiveté. It's easy to believe this, and it displays a lack of empathy, a dehumanization of the other side. The faceless spectre of the red godless communist is not much different than the stereotype of the ignorant red-state yokel, or the money-grubbing CEO, or the corrupt politician. All of these characters actually do exist but they are the vast minority. All leftists aren't trying to overthrow the government, all politicians are not evil.

I think that Bush actually believes what he says. That doesn't make me want him as my president, but it doesn't make him a devious evil mastermind. I also think he should be held accountable for going to war without proper cause. But he didn't start a war because he likes killing people, he started a war because he thought it was the right thing to do.

This:



doesn't advance the debate, it hinders it.

W



I wrote an epic blog post trashing the films of Oliver Stone, categorizing the harm he's done to the art of the biopic, and lamenting what I feel is his tendencies toward romanticizing historical events. I've decided not to post it - I'm trying to tone down the negativity a bit - but I'll just say this:

Like most of Stone's films, everybody will be talking about W for the next few weeks, but nobody will be talking about it in ten years.

Fun with Fox News Comments

A few post-debate thoughts from the readers at Foxnews.com:

(Try reading them aloud for extra fun!)

Obama looked like a smug brat when they did those split screens!!! Its Like the US wants a preacher and not a president…sure Obama is smooth but if anybody out there besides FOX NEWS wachters did there homework his 1 and 1\2 years voting record in Congress and his years In IL Politics speaks for itself!!!! Tax and spend, immoral, disgusting, LIAR and very probably ANTI-WHITE agenda is everywhere….anybody out there whose for OBqama do your homework and then you’ll know that a good speaker will make a President we should FEAR!!!!!! unless your on wellfair and wanna take the Government for all its worth….get a clue!!! I’m also dissappointed in the FOX NEWS coverage for tonight your panel has seen too many debates if Obama looked confident to them…HE LOOKED SMUG!!!!!!



What percentage of Fox followers are white racist christian terrorists?



McCain, he’s honest

Its hard to trust Obama

I am a dem. but have to vote for McCain

Thank You




To All of you who seem to think that mccain won…………….. let the freedom ring……………..this is the dream let be known all over the world…….

don’t forget the whole world is watching………………………..
no tricks,no bin laden tapes……..




Ever notice how nasty democrats are!?!




This is in response to “Dodie” who said “I used to think that I would get an unbiased report from Fox, but not anymore!I am so very dissappointed!!!” ARE YOU KIDDING, FOX NEWS IS THE MOST RIGHT WING NEWS STATION OUT THERE SO FOR THEM TO ADMIT OBAMA’S STRENGTHS JUST PROVES THAT HE ACTUALLY DID WIN!!!And it also proves that you have been so used to hearing what you want to hear- pro McCain speak- that when you actually hear the truth you an;t handle it.




mccain be the deciever




the dem on here cant talk fact they have to take hugh part of the page saying nothing because you cant defend Obama socialist view with tax the rich and give it to the poor




Fox news is like the boy who cried wolf. Now nobody believes anything the say. Fox news lies lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies,lies. Fox News has no integrity.no integrity.no integrity.no integrity.no integrity.no integrity. Fox News has no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor!no honor! Newscasters at Fox News are MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!MENTAL DEFECTS!Fox News people are intellectually challenged!intellectually challenged!intellectually challenged!intellectually challenged!



Goooooooo forward and VOTE for McCain.
Goooooooo forward and VOTE for Palin.
Goooooooo forward and vote for the Sweetness.

Do you feel it? Do you?

Science has be taken by Godless an written in the words of the devil who lived, and lives. Read the Book that matters. Read it and the answers are all there. Palin understands this. She does. She will win and it wil be by her sex to win over those who crave. They will vote for her for the wrong reasons but, it will all be to plan.


Mmmmmmmmmmmk.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mafoo's Shamelessly Pro-Obama Video of the Day



This is why I'd like him as my president.

UPDATE:
Strange, this guy Joe from the above video was mentioned about 15 times by McCain in tonight's debate. Odd, because now people will likely be googling "Joe the Plumber", they'll see this video, and will likely be impressed by Obama. Not too smooth there McCain.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

America's Largest RN Organization Says: If We Can Nationalize Banks, Why Not Healthcare?

Great point.
"Clearly, the proposal to partially nationalize some banks comes as our financial system continues to plunge off the cliff. But there's no less a critical emergency in our healthcare system," said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the 85,000-member National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association.

"In homes and hospitals across America, our healthcare system is dying a quiet death. The millions of Americans who endure their pain away from the spotlight of Wall Street or the glare of TV lights deserve sweeping systemic solutions as well."
Yeah, I've never understood why so many Americans stand by as their health services crumble. It affects almost everyone. As someone who has dealt with a ton of medical bullshit, I can say that health care is a much more pressing issue than the banks collapsing, as well as the "War on Terror". Fighting terrorism is sold to us as trying to stop the possibility of thousands of people dying in another attack, while thousands of people die every year due to lack of health care. I do not fucking get it. A death is a death. Whether it's from a bomb or cancer, doesn't really matter in the end. I'm relatively conservative when it comes to the expansion of government - I'm a fan of very limited government - and universal health care is a no-brainer to me. As long as you are going to have a government you'd might as well ensure that your citizens do not die needlessly.

For the record, Obama's plan does not impress me very much. It seems like another patch on a broken system. Clinton's was better.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Mafoo's Embarrassing Pick of the Week

Virginia Astley & David Sylvian - Some Small Hope



I am currently obsessed with this song and I don't know why.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

"He's an Arab"



Nice to finally see McCain show some class in this election.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Eric Wareheim music video

Jesus, check out this stunning video for MGMT's The Youth. The song is ok, but the video, directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, is quite simply a work of art. Tim and Eric's style is a blend of banal, silly, retro, creepy, and even depressing humor. There is an odd humanity present in all of it. I know that sounds cliché, but I honestly feel sad sometimes when I watch that show. This video is the purest example of that aesthetic, and it's oddly touching. There is something intangibly both unsettling and uplifting about it. So strange. I love it.

It's also beautiful, so this is a hi-res video. May take some time to load.

Afternoon Links

I'm in a flurry of micro-blogging this morning, so I might as well turn some of these ideas into a linkpost:

Gotta love Fox News: Viewers Perspectives Widespread on Palin Leg Photo

I don't know Obama, this might be overkill...

I caught Life On Mars last night on ABC. It shows promise. Harvey Keitel in a TV show?? I'm all over that shit.

Drill here drill now... Really? (sorry bout the ad)

I love it. And, I didn't know you could send specifically timed clips from Hulu!

Prince.


(video embed)

Try and suffer through this pedestrian cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, through Tom Petty's placid singing, through Jeff Lynne's autotune-massacred vocals, until Prince takes a solo that murders everyone on stage.

Prince.

-via the amazing AUDIOTUTS

"Rap fan pays fine rather than listen to classical music"

Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

Vactor, 24, lasted only about 15 minutes, a probation officer said.

-CNN
Ok, coming from someone who both loves classical music, and was known in the past to blast loud rap music from his '68 VW Bus, this is ridiculous. You couldn't get me to listen to classical music for 20 hours. You couldn't get me to listen to anything for 20 hours, not even my own tunes (and I'm known to indulge in quite a bit of the vanity listens). This is one of those articles targeted toward smug oldsters who can't get enough of the 'Kids Today...' type of fluff stories.

Of course, when you read on:
It wasn't the music, Vactor said, he just needed to be at practice with the rest of the Urbana University basketball team.

"I didn't have the time to deal with that," he said. "I just decided to pay the fine."
If I had the choice of listening to the classical station playing "the hits" and talking about the latest Mostly Mozart festival (how come I only hear about these on the radio btw??) or going to a rehearsal, I'd go do my responsibility.

This isn't about culture or the youth or the decline of western civilization. This is about compulsion. You couldn't compel me to go record hunting (quite possibly my favorite activity) for 20 hours! Fuck, you couldn't compel me to do it for 1 hour. I'll do it on my own. Defiance is individuality. I respect this kid more for leaving after 15 minutes than I would had he stayed for the entire 20 hours. As the sentencing judge, Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott, said herself, "I think a lot of people don't like to be forced to listen to music".

I agree with you Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott. They also wouldn't like being force-fed filet-mignon for 20 hours straight. You're a force for evil and tyranny in the world.

Smiles!

Obama: "Say it to my face"

It's a great strategy. Very smart. It dismantles McCain/Palin's criticism, and leaves McCain with the only option of bringing it up in the debates, and polls show that swing-voters dislike dirt in the debates. They need an ad with this up today, which would make every utterance of the Ayers bullshit in a public setting seem cowardly.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

CNN Headlines of the Day - T-Shirt Edition!

It looks like CNN is finally recognizing its descent into abject sensationalism, a symptom of which is its ridiculous headlines, which have become an internet meme of their own.

So CNN decided to take a hard look at their decaying sense of journalism and has begun a set of reforms aimed at delivering the news in a non-exploitative manner.

Ha, just kidding. They're releasing T-shirts, whoo!!

Now you can own a wacky CNN headline of your own!

Wacky headlines such as, um:


(image embed)

Uh... haha... get it? Cowboys riding an economy? An economy is not a horse, silly!

Or this gem:


(image embed)

Ha! Get it? Get it?? She, um... almost died!

(Cough!)

What makes it an even better deal is that not only do you get to own the zaniness that you once ridiculed as a symptom of CNN's crumbling integrity, but you also get the equally large "*I just saw it on CNN.com (followed by date and time)" that depletes any sardonic pleasure you may have derived from buying something from the source of your mockery!

Yay corporate humor!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Updates On This Blog

I've been making some changes on this blog in the last couple days:

1. I changed the design template from that crappy dark blue bullshit to a simple white page. It's not ideal, but it's clear and will do until I take the time to fancy it up, which could be never.

2. I've cleaned up the page a bit, getting rid of one of my pictures and a couple redundant categories.

3. I've ditched the links to many of my songs, which were hosted by fileden.com (yuck). I joined the brand-spanking new SoundCloud, which is a nice music sharing site. I'll have a rotating embedded song (that doesn't play automatically), that has a link to where you can download said song and many others. The current song is Sing, give it a listen.

4. I've added ShareThis links at the bottom of all of my posts. This is an easy way to share things you read here on Facebook, Digg, Reddit, Myspace, etc. Just click the box and a menu will pop up. I'm still figuring out how to make the link show up in RSS readers, but hopefully I will soon. Btw, if you use an RSS reader and you received about 10 test posts from me today I apologize!


I'll be gradually making more changes in the future, so stay tuned.

Something there that wasn't there before



So I've been getting back to work on my musical, after a break of about a month or so, and I happened upon a little milestone. I gathered all of my songs - finished and works in progress - from The Lil Death together into an iTunes playlist, and I have about 30 tracks. Over 2 hours of music. Almost all of it written in the last year. What the hell?

Let's compare this to 2005 Mafoo, who was basically dicking around on his sampler creating silly noise loops. I would say that one of the main things that has gotten me going has been my adoption of Ableton Live as my primary DAW. I think that productivity in composing is all about finding the right interface, whether it be pen and paper, Sibelius, Pro Tools, or hardware. Contrary to how most people use Live, I use it almost predominantly as a sequencer. I also perform with Live, but I'd say that aspect is about 3% of what I do on it. Live is great because of all of the DAWs, it feels the most like an instrument. I feel comfortable in front of a piano, just dicking around and seeing what comes out. Live essentially feels like that, but I'm controlling synths, samplers, and drum machines on my laptop.

It has also changed the type of music I make. My first fully-sequenced tracks were instrumental, collage-type tunes built around odd and humorous samples from my record collection. Now I'm writing very tonal weird pop songs that are increasingly free of samples and are built using mainly the instruments in Live. I often consider upgrading my synth from Live's basic Operator FM synth to, say, the synths in Logic, but I dig the simplicity of Operator. Sometimes I consider moving into Pro Tools, with its superior audio editing capabilities, but I don't think my edits in Live ever really sound that bad. Live is what it is, a specific tool, and I use that tool to create music.

I'm sort of a 'take it as it comes' kinda guy (I'm from California...). As a horn player, I'm not the type who is constantly seeking to tweak and make little changes and modifications to my instrument. I bought my Paxman because it felt great, and I'll live with it until it fucks up or I want something different. I'm the same way with DAWs. I'm an instrumentalist at heart, so I find the program I like and I fit inside of it. Sure, the minor changes and improvements that come with various upgrades are often very welcome, but overall I take it as it comes. Contrast this approach to the approach of many Max users. There is such freedom in Max. You can build your own synths, samplers, sequencers, etc. The only limit is your imagination and all that. It sounds great in theory, but that openness isn't always conducive to the production of art, which works well under restrictions and limitations. At least for me, I don't know if I could ever make music in such an interface. Max seems to be predominantly the domain of the builders - Ableton was actually crafted in Max - and this makes sense. How many instrument makers are accomplished musicians? There are a few of course, my buddy Mark Houghton is a horn player and a builder; and my dawg Presh is a producer, performer, and Max wizard. But they are freaks of nature.

Part of me wants to analyze what has helped my creativity and productivity; part of me wants to tell my brain to shut the fuck up and keep working. I'll probably go with the second scenario because, ya know, I'm from California. But I want to acknowledge the other thing that has crazy motivated me, and that's my zany partner in crime Melly. She has had to listen to every single track good or bad that I have vomited into my sequencer, and she's been ridiculously supportive. It helps that she's a badass musician herself, so we have a nice healthy competitiveness. I would feel like a serious douche if I wasn't keeping up with her crazy list of achievements.

Anyway, this Lil project is ballooning larger and larger. It was originally going to be an album. Then I had enough material for two. Now I've got almost enough for three. It may be hard to sustain interest for enough time to actually produce the whole thing, but I kind of like the idea of releasing albums as a serial drama. I believe that's a unique idea (correct me if I'm wrong), releasing albums episodically as part of a larger drama. We'll see. Maybe my inspiration will dry up. Maybe I'll lose interest in the story. Maybe I'll get sidetracked by other projects (after I finish Part 1, I'm going to do a covers album, seriously). Who knows. I guess all that is really important is that I keep working.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Mafoo's Wacky Factoid of the Day

The odds of Obama being truthful in his claim that he converted to Christianity are less than 100 to 1 against it, as fewer than 1% of Muslims convert to Christianity.
- Conservapedia

Gotta love that logic.

Obama camp posts video on the Keating scandal



Yeah, it's political. It's also relevant. While the 'but the Republicans would do it' argument often gets old, it is totally apt here. It would be one thing to go after McCain's failed first marriage - which the right would totally have milked if the situation were reversed - but the Charles Keating scandal and the S&L crisis, in which McCain was deeply involved, is directly related to what is currently happening on Wall St.

McCain is preparing an onslaught on Obama's character, due to a free-fall in the polls. The Obama campaign is showing their teeth here and they're using the truth. Good stuff. This is how smart politicians play the game.

Monday Links

The war against sex ramps up.

Interesting, but Family Guy did it first.

New Mac recorder called, um, Audio Recorder looks to replace Wiretap. Here's a big benefit upfront: It's free!

Will videogames become better than life?

Finally, a celebrity endorsement I care about.

Craig Ferguson on Voting



Here is a much more compelling call to vote than the video I previously commented on. I don't really watch his show, but I like his earnestness. One thing I dislike about late-night talk shows is the reluctance of their hosts to have a real opinion on anything, seemingly out of fear that their audience will disagree with them. Ferguson doesn't exactly say anything shocking, but his directness impresses me. Everything said by Letterman and Conan is hid behind a filter of irony and sarcasm - you're never quite sure when they are being serious, so in a way it is a type of protection against criticism. I used to do that too when I was younger and more (yes, even more) sarcastic.

In the video Craig Ferguson argues that it is ones duty to vote, if you don't vote you can't complain, etc. Ok, I'll let my readers in on a little secret: I didn't vote in 2000. Yikes... Yeah, I know. But I complained. A lot. Especially after 9/11 when everything turned shitty. I had a right to complain. I started caring and then I started complaining. When I would reveal that I hadn't voted (I was smart enough to make this a seldom occurrence), some people would hiss that I had no right to complain. I had the right by virtue of the fact that I didn't really care in 2000 and I did in 2002. So I should be penalized for my past transgressions instead of welcomed into the world of the "socially conscious"? The whole 'if you don't vote you can't complain' thing is merely a fear tactic. The idea that said nonvoter would subsequently be sentenced to a 4 year detention period on airing their ideas is ridiculous. We are not in this shitty state because so many people didn't vote, we are in this state because so many people voted for Bush.

If people want to change politics they need to find a way to convince people to vote, and that responsibility will fall on the Democrats and the third parties. The Republicans don't want more people to vote, that's how they will lose. Case in point, have you noticed that most of the states that have that absurd registration deadline today are traditionally red? Not a coincidence.

The other thing we need to change is that ridiculous electoral college bullshit. One of the main things that discourages people from voting is the fact that, as is clear from 2000, your vote don't mean shit. Give people a sense that what they are doing actually matters and I think they will feel more empowered. We need to abolish the electoral college, enact same-day voter registration in all fifty states, have a commission to fight voter disenfranchisement, and have technologically advanced methods of voting and recording votes with intense oversight. Until this happens, you cannot blame people for not voting. You can guilt them and tell them they are going to um, Die or something, but it won't matter. We have to find a way to make people care.

PS. did you know that Puff Daddy didn't end up voting in 2004, after being the face of Vote or Die? What an asshole.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Palin for President



Ha, beautiful.

-via Andrew Sullivan

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Ow! My hands are burning!

Check out my boy Caleb in this New York Times feature. It's a pretty kickass article and there's a video too!
At 28, Mr. Burhans has pursued a career path so logical that it seems almost foolproof. Just sing, compose and master several instruments (besides the violin he plays viola, guitar, bass, keyboards and percussion) and the New York freelance world is your oyster. But this is a new development. Until recently, the conventional wisdom went, musicians with diverse talents should specialize: decide whether they are better suited to composing or performing, singing or playing an instrument, working in classical music or a variety of pop.
I've been playing with Caleb in some facet or another for about 10 years now (hell we're on a gig right now!) and he's definitely one of my favorite people to play with, and one of my favorite people in general. If anyone deserves a full-blown feature it's him. Rock out C-Lab!

John Legend in Africa

Now, y'all know I spend a lot of rant energy on the social efforts of artists. This is kind of ironic I know, since I'm an artist who rails against social issues. But what bothers me are the fuzzy, feel-good efforts that seem inherently divorced from any reality-based expectation of actual results. So many of these I have written about seem to be predominantly self-indulgent, efforts to sanctify oneself through highly-visible acts of charity. So when I saw the headline How John Legend's hero changes lives with fruit, I was all ready to get my bitch on.

Thing is, it actually seems like it could be a productive approach:
"I don't want people to only see Africa as a bunch of victims," Legend says. "The people that I've come across in these extremely impoverished villages, they want to work. They want to participate in their own development."

To help people lift themselves out of poverty, Legend founded the Show Me Campaign, named after one of his songs. Partnering with economist Jeffrey Sachs' Millennium Promise organization, Legend's group adopted Mbola, a remote village in Tanzania that has little access to drinking water and improved farming techniques, according to Millennium Promise.

"The folks in Mbola are starting at a supreme disadvantage. Most of them are living on less than a dollar a day," Legend says. "It's difficult for them to even survive."

On his 2007 visit to Mbola, Legend met "Mama" Mwadawa Ruziga, a single mother of two who was freeing herself from poverty. Her entrepreneurial spirit impressed Legend and solidified his belief that sustainable development at the community level can work in the fight against poverty.

Ruziga leads a local business collective that sells products -- like wine, jam and juice -- that it makes out of indigenous fruits.

"I was really inspired by her willingness to not just wait for a handout, but really take an active role in helping to uplift her community," he says.
I don't really get the specifics of the plan from this article, but the approach appeals to me more than most I see. I'm not against aid to Africa, but I'm very skeptical of the type of blanket aid that gets filtered through corrupt governments and rarely leads to any sort of sustainability. I'm a fan of Andrew Mwenda's approach to solutions in Africa, that any real progress in Africa will come from Africans themselves (notice in the linked video that Bono does not share Mwenda's view, and in fact heckles his speech).

John Legend seems to get this, and makes the foundation of his charity work the entrepreneurial spirit and energy of the African people. I believe that this is the best way to ensure sustainability. Blanket aid, while essential during crises, is like the old finger in the dike allegory. But give the people the tools to convert that dike into a mill and you're working toward the future.

Friday, October 3, 2008

More in Bad Obama Music

The Crystal Method (remember them?) has an atrocious new Obama-inspired track called Now is the Time. It's a pretty shoddily-put-together breakbeat track that will transport you back to the glory days of late-90s mainstream electronica. Remember those days? The days of The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Orbital, etc., when these groups repackaged dance music from the early 90s for MTV audiences? This is about of that quality, except with worse production.

Meow.

Listen to the pile of propaganda slop here.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

New Viral Vid! Celebrities Condescending!

Wow! Fun!

(video embed)

Among all of the recent celebrity political videos, I think this one wins the grand smug award. Do they really think that sarcasm is the best way to reach voters? I don't really know if this was meant to be funny or what. It seems like the different celebrities had varying ideas on what they were supposed to be doing: Forrest Whitaker and Halle Berry were all serious, Jonah Hill and Sarah Silverman were silly, others I couldn't even tell. It's just weird.

One more thing. There is nothing wrong with not voting. There are plenty of valid reasons not to vote: protest, ignorance, apathy. It's our right. I am very sympathetic to nihilists and there is a lot of reason to believe that our world is going to hell in a handbasket. I'll be voting in this next election, but I can understand why many choose not to vote. I disagree with them, because I still have a shred of hope. But this 'all the cool kids are doing it' approach is crap. I think it's highly unlikely apathetics are going to suddenly start caring about their country because a bunch of celebrities are trying to guilt them into it. Any credibility is also undermined by the fact that everyone in the video is almost certainly voting for the same person. The real message in that video is not that it is essential to vote in this next election, it's that it is essentially that Obama win this next election. Have the balls to come out and say what you really mean. This is really no better than that pathetic Vote or Die bullshit from 2004.

/rant

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Sarah Palin has made my life complete.

Rarely in the course of human events does something come my way that so completely combines my passions for bad music and ridicule of political figures.

This may possibly be one of the best things I have EVER seen:



This is a gift bestowed upon us from God. Let us never again question his divine plan.