Buzznet just keeps getting better and better, and here is one more reason why:



They gots video now. Click the above pic to enjoy future award-winning films from me, and of course, the wisdom of A-Rog.

James Lipton kicks ass in about 10 different ways, and here is one more reason why.

UPDATED: And so does David Hasselhoff, but for entirely different reasons.

Please click the pic below and tell me if that thing actually is real, or if I'm just losing my mind.

Jason died this morning. It's strange, really; he had been having so many bad Mondays lately, and Dawn had asked everyone to come see him this weekend, to let him feel the positive energy and hear voices of friends and family. I spent Saturday night in his room, talking to his family and his childhood friends, hoping that the sounds of our voices would somehow give him something to fight for. His fever had dropped, his blood pressure was good, and his oxygen levels were getting better.

I didn't even know him all that well, really. He was hired to take my place at my school after I left. We gave him a hard time at first, like a good newbie, but everyone grew to love him rather quickly. At a party he and I chatted and got talking about history and old movies, and how The Searchers was one of the best damn movies ever made.

I didn't work with him every day like others did, but I saw him every now and then and we had that history-fan thing going and in time I considered him a friend.

A little over a year ago he realized that the leukemia he had fought some years previous had returned. He went through chemo and had a bone marrow transplant last year. Six weeks ago he was about to be cleared, almost ready to go back to work.

He was a really great guy and he didn't deserve this. He only got a chance to teach for a few months. He was a couple of years older than me, and had made a career switch, and was lucky enough to teach at a great school with a great set of teachers.

Good bye, Jason. Be at peace. You fought that fucking thing as hard as you could.

I don't see myself blogging much this week, I'm afraid. I've been named to the Strategic Planning Committee for my school district, which means I get locked up in some office suite with other suckers and we discuss Quo Vadimus? for 3 consecutive 12-hour days.

It's an honor to be on one of these committees, I suppose, but it's just one more thing that seems to take me away from trying to teach my kids well.

So much on my mind right now, but I just can't seem to get it out into post-form. I'm in a very interesting mood right now. It's not depression, or pill-induced numbness to the world, or hunger and rage. It's more of a scary-revelation thing.

Be patient, I'll be back blogging on a regular basis very soon, and perhaps we can all together figure out exactly what The State I'm In is these days.



See you soon...

Radiohead Denied Concert in Chicago Park

Read the story at the always-excellent Pitchfork Media.

We could have seen Radiohead play Millenium Park this summer, Chicago, but it apparently isn't going to happen.

It would have been like living in the not-too-distant future...

Some quick links for all you Neil Gaiman fans out there:

The Neil Gaiman Store is a work-in-progress that is looking for interesting ideas for merchandise. I think Neil suggested a Coraline lunchbox or something to that effect on his blog.

Speaking of Coraline, Stephen Merritt of The Magnetic Fields is working on songs for the movie (directed by Henry Selick). Merritt also did ambient music for the official Coraline website (the book, not the film.):

Two quick stories to tell...

There's a guy I know named Jason that's not doing so well right now. He's been suffering from leukemia and its after-effects, and we all went up to Loyola tonight to see him and hopefully help the recovery process in the only way we can: with our voices and well-wishes, and the hope that he can hear us and can fight and get well again.

It was my neice Cameron's birthday on Friday. She just turned six, and wanted "one of those things you put in your ears and music comes out." So her mom and dad got her a little mp3 player, and Uncle Brian sent her some music. The Nightmare Before Christmas sountrack, and the Beatles 1 disc. The girl needs to start with the best, after all.

If I have to pick one image of Cameron that is burned in my brain forever, it's this moment from about 3 or so years ago, when I was visiting them in Dallas. I was unpacking my bad, and Cameron wanted to look at my mp3 player. I turned it on and put the headphones on her, and pressed play.

"A Minor Incident" by Badly Drawn Boy was the first track, and as the acoustic guitar started, and the music filled her little ears, she started to smile, and for the first time, discovered what music was.

I was going through my photos, looking to update my Buzznet files, and I came across this photo:



And I couldn't remember what the hell it was. It's in Dublin, and it's one of several fancy buildings, and holy shit they all look alike and I have no idea what it is!!!!

I think it's part of Trinity College. The part that sticks out onto the main road, just south of the High Street (Grafton St, I believe.)

So, to my Irish readers, of whom I have a decent constituency, help me out: am I right?

Apparently in 1968 Van Morrison was trying to get out of his contract with Bang records, so to fulfill the contract requirements he recorded a bunch of crazy-ass songs like, "You've Got Ringworm" and "You Say France and I'll Whistle."

Go here to enjoy Van's precursor to Astral Weeks. Dig around and you can find mp3's of religious music for retarded people as well.

I love the internet.

Scotland Week! continues with probably my favorite Scottish export of the past ten years:

Belle and Sebastian.

This is a band that, despite whatever cool or uncool qualities they may carry, I will embrace wholeheartedly as one of my favorites, if not my favorite (it's a horse race with Wilco and The Pogues right now.)

Stuart Murdoch writes those songs that tap right into your soul, drawing out all those awkward feelings of loneliness and isolation and sexual desire and (lately) joyous exhilaration in being completely content with who you are.

At least, that's what I get out of his songs.

Plus, they're catchy as hell.

There haven't been too many bands that grab me as soon as I hear the first notes of the first song, but "She's Losing It" was on a comp tape from a buddy of mine and it hooked me.

A long time ago I ordered all these posters of album covers of the band, and occasionally gave them away as presents to good friends who have gotten into Belle and Sebastian.

After Stuart David and Isobel Campbell left the band, I worried about their future, but Dear Catastrophe Waitress dispelled all of those fears. The new album comes out next month, and tickets for their March 10 show at the Riviera go on sale this Saturday.

I even read a crappily-written book about them just to get the whole picture of the band. And to find out what the hell was going on with Stuart and Isobel.

Oh yeah. And I named my blog after "The State I Am In", the first song on their very first album.

Links Galore!

B&S homepage

Matador Records' site, featuring an mp3 of "Another Sunny Day", one of the songs off of their new LP, The Life Pursuit.


Pitchfork Media's review of the live album, If You're Feeling Sinister: Live at the Barbican.

Wikipedia's B&S entry.


Apparently there is going to be a Belle and Sebastian comic book published next month. Expect lots of stories about shy, sexually-confused girls named Lisa.

At first I thought this news was a joke, but apparently it's the real deal:

It is now illegal to leave annoying or harrassing comments on blogs, chat rooms, emails, etc. without leaving your real name. It falls under H.R. 3402, the "Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005." Apparently some Republican slipped it in at the last minute.

Am I for this? Absolutely not. I think it's pretty ridiculous. Now, I'm a guy that has gotten a few "anonymous" comments on his blog, but I certainly don't think there oughta be a law about it. I don't think anonymous commenters should be arrested; I just think they should be honest and admit who they are. Because it's not too hard to figure things out. And every comment you make leaves your IP address anyway, so it's not hard to track this information down.

Hmm, this isn't really about Scotland at all.

What's the greatest movie about Scotland ever made?

My first choice: So I Married An Axe Murderer.

Yeah, I know it's not about Scotland, it doesn't take place in Scotland, and has no Scottish actors, but how many movies talk about Scotland as much as that film?

Harriet Michaels: Do you actually like haggis?

Charlie Mackenzie: No, I think it's repellent in every way. In fact, I think most Scottish cuisine is based on a dare.

Or have lines like this:

Stuart Mackenzie: [as Harriet is meeting Charlie's parents for the first time] Show her the picture of Charlie when he shit his pants at Niagara Falls!

Besides, there's no fucking way I'm going to let Braveheart win.

Oh! Keep an eye out on Chicago Public Radio's website. I may have some of my pics of Chicago show up on their homepage. Thanks to Gator Tim for the suggestion.

Bonus Points if you can name why in hell Christopher Walken's picture is featured in this post.

I have decided that this week will be Scotland Week.



I go on and on about how cool Ireland is, but I tend to give Scotland the shaft. Maybe it's because Scotland just doesn't have that Cool Factor that Ireland has.

Maybe Ireland just has a better PR person.

So this week is all about Scotland, the home of my ancestors.

But I don't have time to write anything more about it, so I guess consider the previous post about Jo Rowling (who is from Edinburgh) my first entry.

Scotland Forever!

Here's an example of how smart Jo Rowling is, and why she's one of my personal heroes: instead of talking about the inevitable Book 7 of the Harry Potter series, Rowling announced that she has already written a children's book described as "a political fairy story." Apparently she also has some short stories written. I find this a very canny thing to do: start talking about your other work, your other stories and books, and get people used to the idea of life beyond HP.

If I were Rowling, I'd get those stories out now, and defuse some of the Big Expectations before the final Potter book is finished. Because after the series is done, she is going to be facing the most hideous pressure imaginable. Everyone is going to wonder: is it going to be as good as Harry?

Entertainment Weekly or some other big pop media mag will have a huge cover story asking that very question, I'm sure. And in terms of Worldwide Mania, nothing will be as big as Harry Potter.

But if Rowling is to survive, post-Harry, she is going to face a difficult challenge: getting fans and critics alike to look beyond the bespectacled boy with the lighting-bolt scar, and see J.K. Rowling as a writer.

I think her post-Potter work will be great stuff, and may reach artistic heights that the Potter books sometimes cannot reach*. Getting the general public to agree to that, though, will be tough, and that's why I hope she puts out a few non-Potter stories to deflate that huge question that everyone will ask:

is it going to be as good as Harry?


*The Harry Potter books are wonderfully written, and I devoured the last one in only three days, but Ms. Rowling painted herself into a slight literary corner when she decided to have each book cover one year of Harry's attendance at Hogwarts. Since the climax of the book always happens in the last few weeks of school, you'd think everyone would start looking over their shoulders a bit more during finals week. "Hey Ron, I guess we should start studying for our Potions final---oh no, look out! It's Voldemort!!!!! Arrrgghhhh! Why does the nasty stuff always happen now????!!"

I suddenly no longer know how to post in prose! Everything must be done in lists!

Top Five things I've done in the past 24 hours:

5. Worked out at the gym.
4. Slept in.
3. Transferred the last bit of data from Old Computer to New Computer.
2. Watched The Sure Thing at 3 AM this morning due to inability to fall asleep at a decent hour (see #4.)
1. Watched football, played pool, and drank good beer with Duder, A-Rog, and a guy named Vinnie at the Fox and Hound.

Sorry, dear readers: there just hasn't been much to post about lately. It's that post Christmas/Birthday/New Years humdrummity that we all are all going through.

I will promise good things to come, however. I'd like to monkey around with the blog's template a bit, and I may try my hand at podcasting one of these days. Plus I got a video camera for Christmas, so now I can post pointless films of me eating eggs or picking my nose.

UPDATE: As you can see, I've been tinkering around with the template a bit. I wanted a cleaner look for it, so I've emphasized the WHITE a bit more and have added a few more interesting links along the left. Be sure to check 'em out, especially those of you that said "Who?" when I was talking about The Pogues last month.

Another in a series of year-end lists that no one will comment on:

Books read since July 11:

• London, Edward Rutherfurd (unfinished as of this date, and interrupted by:)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling (read in three days)
• V for Vendetta, Alan Moore (re-read)
• The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason (airport buy, from Chicago to Dublin)
• Angels and Demons Dan Brown (another easy travel buy, bought somewhere in Ireland.)
• A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson

• Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa-Puffs, Chuck Closterman
• I'm A Stranger Here Myself, Bill Bryson (that's what, at least six books by Bryson I read this year? And yet he still didn't write my favorite book of the year.)

• Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Back, Frank Miller (in which he pisses all over the new archetypes he created with the Dark Knight Returns. Miller is fucking dead to me after this and All-Star Batman and Robin. Just accept the good you did, Frank, and stop trying to destroy all of the classic work you did in the past.
• 1602, Neil Gaiman (Marvel super-heroes in Elizabethean England. (Good, but not great.)
• Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman (A very fun read, but not quite as epic as American Gods.)
• Killing Yourself to Live, Chuck Klosterman
• Belle and Sebastian: Just a Modern Rock Story, Paul Whitelaw (horrible writing, only for die-hard B&S fans)
• Inkspell, Cornelia Funke (Germany's answer to J.k. Rowling delivers another blitzkreig; goddamn she is a good writer!)

• The War of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien (the early drafts of the later sections of The Lord of the Rings, only for those that are interested that Eowyn died in the early drafts, and what early conceptions of Minas Tirith looked like.)
• Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
• The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis (and yes, I read through all of the dearly beloved Chronicles of Narnia, and I have to say, they are absolute rubbish. I just can't appreciate them. If you disagree with me, then let's meet for a pint and we'll argue them properly. It doesn't mean that I dislike you; it only means we have a different opinion.)

And for the list-makers, here's my other lists of the entire year's reads:

January 1 - March 28:

• McCarthy's Bar, by Pete McCarthy;
• Long Way Round, by Ewan MacGregor and Charley Boorman;
• Letters, by J.R.R. Tolkien;
• Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson;
• The Polysyllabic Spree, by Nick Hornby;
• The Art of the Lord of the Rings by Gary Russell

April 1 - July 1:

• The Princes of Ireland, by Edward Rutherfurd;
• The Mother Tongue, by Bill Bryson;
• Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe, Bill Bryson;
• The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, Bill Bryson;
• State of Fear, by Michael Crichton;
• Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell;
• Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller (reread);
• Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller;
• A Year Down Yonder, by Richard Peck;

The Princes of Ireland was the most enjoyable book I read all year. A long, intricate, gorgeous epic on pagan and early-Christian Ireland. Click the picture above to get info on the second part, The Rebels of Ireland, to be published next month.

It's easy to see from the list of books that I've read this year that I love good stories by an author of English/Scottish/Irish origin.

Look back at that quote by Tolkien from yesterday:

"I felt a curious thrill, as if something had stirred in me, half wakened from sleep. There was something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could grasp it, far beyond ancient English." ~On reading the Cynewulf lines about the star Earendel.

That's what I feel when I read books mentioning places with names like Rathmines, or hear a song mentioning a long-forgotten world like the 19th century railways, or hear names like Cynewulf or the Ui Fergusa. It awakenes something within me I can't explain, but it's like the siren song, or like the Pied Pieper. It calls to me, and it won't let me sleep.

I may sound dramatic, but I'm serious; within those titles lurks the thing that I've been searching for my entire life. Maybe it doesn't exist. Maybe it's just a romantic idea of a world that doesn't exist.

But sometimes I feel that when I look at the things that I love, the things that I pursue and examine, I sometimes can find secrets inside, secrets that might explain what the hell I want out of this life.




Ahhh, I'm full of shit, arent' I?

Dammit! I worked on that stupid Top Ten list forever, and didn't even include Sufjan Stevens' Illinois! This is like a #2 or 3 easily, and probably would be #1 if I really thought about it. I only forgot about it because I never actually "bought" it. (Thanks for the burn, Di.)

For those that don't know about it, Stevens is working on a project where he creates an album for each of the 50 states. So far he's done Michigan and Illinois. Song titles include "The Black Hawk War, Or, How To Demolish An Entire Civilization And Still Feel Good About Yourself In The Morning, Or, We Apologize For The Inconvenience But You're Gonna Have To Leave Now, Or, 'I Have Fought The Big Knives And Will Continue To Fight..." and "Decatur, Or, Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother!"

Click the pic below to hear some samples:



Drone, you should buy this album.

A few favorite quotes from the late Professor Tolkien, whose birthday is celebrated today by many, many geeks just like me.

Tolkien remembered "the bitter disappointment and disgust from schooldays with the shabby use made in Shakespeare of the coming of 'Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill': I longed to devise a setting by which the trees might really march to war."

"The War is not over (and the one that is, or the part of it, has been largely lost). But it is of course wrong to fall into such a mood, for Wars are always lost, and War always goes on; and it is no good growing faint." ~On the end of WWII


Finally, this one explains so much about why I find his work interesting, and what continually draws me to the old myths, legends, and cultures of the North-West of Europe:

"I felt a curious thrill, as if something had stirred in me, half wakened from sleep. There was something very remote and strange and beautiful behind those words, if I could grasp it, far beyond ancient English." ~On reading the Cynewulf lines about the star Earendel.

A few lists to issue out as we say goodbye to one year and welcome another. This is mostly for my benefit, so that years from now I can go back and check out what I was listening to during a particular year.

Because, as you know, I'm old, and I don't have my freaky-accurate file cabinet of a mind anymore.

Favorite Music of 2005

10. Sam Cooke - One Night Stand/Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club

Not a new album, but it was reissued in 2005 to my eternal happiness. Quite possibly the best live performance I've ever heard. Remember how I gushed about it here and here? I've been looking for this album for a long time.

9. Daniel Lanois - Belladonna

Lovely instrumental album from the best producer/artist in the business.



8. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

Here's the tricky part: I wouldn't say Stars is one of my favorite bands or anything, and there were other artists I prefer that put out new albums this year, but as a whole, Set Yourself on Fire was a better album than Plans, and I just liked them better than The Arcade Fire.

7. Wilco - Kicking Television: Live in Chicago

The best band in America finally puts out a live CD. A bit anticlimactic for me, only because I've seen them live so many times already, and the set list leans too much on the last two albums. But the current line-up of Wilco is the best-sounding since the BeingThere/Summerteeth era.

6. Moby - Hotel

"Nobody listens to techno so let go." I still listen to techno, and Moby put out a great album this year. Nobody does gorgeous sad-bastard mopey music like Moby.


5. New Order - Waiting for the Sirens' Call

Why did it take me so long to really get into this band? One of several "older" acts who really hit their stride this year (See # 2 and 3.) I should also mention Power, Corruption, and Lies, which came out in 1983. I was too busy watching Return of the Jedi over and over again to listen to it back then, but I likes it now.

4. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth

I couldn't tell you a single track name on this album, but I listen to it constantly. It's bizarre and rockin' and it just kicks ass. Is it his best solo album? Maybe. But I loved his first, where he abandons the prog-noodling and completely surrenders to the power of the three-minute pop song. Nothing beats that song about Yul Brenner.

3. Bruce Sprinsteen - Devils and Dust

This could very easily be #1, but this is a favorites list, not a Best Of list. A bunch of songs about Mexican immigrants and lonely, desperate people trying not to "fuck it up this time." This is the Boss's best work since Tunnel of Love. Great lyrics, great sound. Except when Patti's background vocals butt in; they seem a bit overproduced and unnecessary.

2. Van Morrison - Magic Time
Van is the Woody Allen of music; he puts out an album almost every year, and sometimes they're great, and sometimes they're a bit shaky. Magic Time is Van's best in at least ten years, if you ask me. "Celtic New Year" and "The Lion this Time" are some of the most beautiful songs he's every put out. If you're tired of playing Moondance to death, try out some of his recent stuff. You won't be disappointed.

1. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
I don't know how this band does it. Every song on this album is perfect, with "Use It" and "Sing Me Spanish Techno" just a bit more perfect than the others. Twin Cinema also feels a bit more "grown-up" than their first two albums; the songs seem to stand apart a little more, instead of all blending together to sound like some monstrous power-pop marathon.

The P's were the only band I saw in concert this year, too, so if that isn't a barometer for Favorite of the Year, I don't know what is.

Honorable Mentions (albums): American Whip, Joy Zipper; Prairie Wind, Neil Young (just got it for Christmas); and The Chieftains: Live from Dublin: A Tribute to Derek Bell.

Honorable Mentions (singles): everything I've heard from the new Kanye West album. I don't listen to much hip-hop, but damn, "Gold Digger" and "Heard 'Em Say" are pretty fucking cool.

Biggest Disappointment: Plans, Death Cab for Cutie. After The Postal Service debuted, Ben Gibbard became my personal Jesus, but this album just doesn't do much for me. "Soul Meets Body" was great, but I just can't get excited about the rest of the album. Also, X&Y, Coldplay. Last album was great; this one tries to sound like U2 more than U2 did on Atomic Bomb last year.

Most Played Track on iTunes: "Shane Bradley," The Pogues. A little-known instrumental that was added to the remastered If I Should Fall From Grace With God album.

Best Music-Related Christmas Present: The 30th Anniversary Box Set of Born to Run.

2004's Favorites can be found by clicking here, if you're into stuff like this.