MobileChelonian

Like my new look? After having my blog confused for someone else's, I have no other recourse but to put up a new template that's completely unique to me: that is, me and whoever downloaded the HTML from a website.

Hey, Joe Lieberman lost to Ned Lamont. What happened to Joe-mentum? Ah well, it's only Conneticut. And Cynthia McKinney lost her re-election bid in Georgia, which goes to prove that you can't yammer wackjob 9-11 conspiracy theories in Congress, and punch cops on Capitol Hill without feeling the wrath of the Georgia voter. Or maybe she was defeated by racism - that's the story she's going with.

Soon, Hannah will be living in San Diego. Soon, Battlestar Galactica will be back on TV and I can watch it on my illegal free cable. Soon, the NFL will be back on Sundays and I can watch the Saints squander another offseason of trades and practices. Oh, and soon I'll be starting college again for fall semster - I've registered for Writing Creative Nonfiction and Intro to Linguistics.

Soon!

Posted by Aaron at 6:17 PM | Permalink | Comments

Hrm, new music. Somehow I've gotten into Regina Spektor, after missing her for a few years. She's a Russian Jewish immigrant who is a classically trained pianist - the vocal range of sounds she produces is very impressive. Her first actual album is called Soviet Kitsch, the new one is Begin to Hope. Here's her site: Regina Spektor I really got into her when I started checking out her videos on YouTube...especially this video here:




As well as this video, which features her mother's public school class and lots of hand clapping.




Interestingly, several reviews I've read of her describe her sound as "anti-folk" which was used as a descriptive term of a wider musical movement. So, like any trained scholar, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Apaprently, there are a handful of bands in New York City who all hang out in the same neighborhood and make music that sounds like some sort of twee-pop and punk fusion. How Regina Spektor fits in here I'm not quite sure, but like all good musical labels, it defines its own elite and defies you to call a pretentious reviewer on their bullshit. So, is there an anti-pop? What would that sound like? Would anti-pop have an anti-Pope? Or just a Cardinal Richelieu plotting the demise of Coldplay?


(ALERT: Coldplay song used in trailer for Oliver Stone 9-11 movie. Gaaaaah.)


While I have Catholics on the mind, let's talk about Bishop Allen. It's not a person, it's a band - a NYC group that makes some very excellent indie-pop. One of their songs is called The Monitor, which, when I heard it, made me immediately think of the Civil War ironclad battleship. Because, you know, I'm a history dork. Seriously, that was the first thing that came to mind. When I hit play, I was amazed to hear that EXACTLY what the song was about. A pop song about a battle on the James River? Wow. I started to check them out, and they've got some really good songs out - and a series of EP's, one for each mont of 2006. Each EP is titled after a month (eg, May, June, etc) and is available for download for $5 off their site. They make one song from each EP free to hear, so if you want to hear some ukelele, some guitar, and hear about a factory burning down, go here for Myspace or here for the actual website.


I have to go into work this weekend, which is not cool, but what the hell. And Andy wants me to mention him on my blog, and thus make it cooler. So here you are. If you ever want to see a stunning rendition of Welcome to the Jungle, and see a credible Axl Rose "snake" go to the Ould Sod on Adams Ave Saturday nights. Andy will be the guy surrounded by drunk Canadian girls and plastered soccer moms.

Posted by Aaron at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments