May 31, 2004
one layer deeper
Prentiss calls Slacker "the essential Austin movie," and I've got to say that the film left quite an impression on me when I watched as a young teen. Just recently, I emailed a friend of mine at Chapel Hill some thoughts about the movie and my life. Here's the relevant passage:
As an addendum, I also remember going to a Need New Body show in Philadelphia and being blown away, thinking back to the scene in the film where some experimental performers are banging together large water bottles in front of a projection. I thought, "I always hoped I would go to shows like this."
May 27, 2004
not a fringe element
I should have blogged this earlier, but tonight's Frontline looks hella rad. "The Way the Music Died" looks at the increasing difficulties of the corporate rock industry. With Tower closing down and the major labels feigning poverty, this seems like a relevant topic for fans and non-fans alike. But wouldn't the world be a better place if everybody listened to records from Dischord, Warp, or Drag City?
I'm sure your local PBS affiliate will replay the show sometimes this weekend - "Check your local listings" - and they post old shows here.
Update: Wow, a KCRW DJ on the show namechecked The Starlight Mints! Hooray for Normanites getting hyped on PBS!
Update 2: Okay, that show was not good. Granted, I probably know more about the media industries than the average joe, but the show repeated cliches I'd been hearing for over a decade without describing the structure of the music industry. The show trotted out dinosaurs like David Crosby who crowed that the hits-driven business crowds out creativity or MTV has privileged image over songcraft, rather than describe how record deals are structured or how distribution is critical for a record to find an audience.
May 26, 2004
oh yeah bring me coffee
Tower Records' location on the Drag is closing next month. I'm a little happy to see one corporate outlet leave the campus area, but I'm even happier about the 20% off everything sale that started today. Unlike 33 Degrees' clearance sale, I was able to pick up one of those CDs that are too expensive to buy at full price, and never turned up used. It's a little embarrassing to admit that I don't have this already, but I picked up Can's Tago Mago at a steep discount this afternoon. I also grabbed Boards of Canada's Music has the Right to Children, plus Cath Carroll's True Crime Motel. I only know her from the Unrest song, but it was only $.99, so its not too much of a risk. I almost grabbed The Flaming Lips box set Finally the Punk Rockers are Taking Acid, but I decided against it, since I haven't listen to them in some time.
I still feel a little bad about spending my money at a corporate store, but, I think of it the same way I think about buying designer jeans at Ross; the big ugly corporation is losing money anyway, so I might as well take advantage. Is there any reason I wouldn't want to participate in corporate culture like this?
As an addendum, Tower is the fourth record store to close in the time I've lived in Austin. (I've lived here since August, 2002) It's really starting to get weird. Has Austin seen a record retailing slump like this before? Are record stores closing across the country? I hope my favorite record store in the whole wide world, Philadelphia's AKA Music stays open. This article from Philadelphia Weekly says AKA has moved out of its location in an old pantyhose warehouse into another space a few doors down.
May 25, 2004
applying the higher-power test
I mentioned the Texas state comptroller's office's decision to deny Unitarian-Universalist congregation church tax status at the recent Austin Blogger Meetup and Adina blogged it as well. Well, it seems that Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn has, um, seen the light and reversed the decision, giving the North Texas congregation the same rights and privileges as other churches in the state.
If I can be a little more obscure for a moment, does anyone know a better way to put a word "under inscription" than using the strike tag. In theory books, words are covered by an "X" to say "not-meetup" or "not-text," but something like a Meetup or a text. Since the Austin Bloggers posse has left the Meetup fold, we still hold gatherings on Meetup night but don't use their system. I suppose I could come up with some wacky style sheet for putting a word under inscription, or I could start calling it "not-Meetup." Perhaps this is the W3C's way of saying "deconstruction isn't funny."
May 22, 2004
this industrial-strength rocker
I've been meaning to blog about PunkVoter.com for some time, but I wasn't sure what to say about it. So just read this rad story in The Nation about the Web site.
I guess I do have a few remarks about PunkVoter.com. I'm sure Jourgensen, et al, are targeting an audience less Web-literate than I, but two design decisions keep me from visiting the site more often. The site lacks an RSS or Atom feed, so I can't check it in my newsreader, and, for some reason, I can't scroll the site using my "PgUp" and "PgDn" buttons. Bummer, dude.
May 21, 2004
interdisciplinary tour de force
My little sister, who just finished her undergrad in English at OU, has been trying to explain "post-modernism" to her theater major roommate. I think of the maxim, "Never argue with a stupid person: they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience," but, at my mother's request, I left a longish answering machine message trying to explain postmodernism in a nutshell. Anyway, my sister had some more questions, and I came up with a lenghty short answer, which I decided to post below.
The other thing about Postmodernism (and Modernism, to a certain extent) is that it means different things to two different people. In the humanities like English studies and Art History, its especially tricky. You have postmodern thought and you have postmodern texts. Media studies people have it a little lucky, since media practitioners don't have an institutionalized meta-discourse the way that artists, architectects, and literary writers do. But an architect will use "postmodern" to talk about a break with modernist forms and practices, while a [hip] art historian will also encounter the notion of postmodernism in late 20th century literary and social theory, which is, as you asserted, built around an understanding of subjectivity and contingency.
If you're after a school of thought you can call "postmodernism," the best fit would be post-structuralist and deconstructionist literary critics. You know, Barthes, Derrida, and the like. They were appropriating methodologies and interpretive frameworks from the structuralists, who based their theories on 'scientific' anthropology. The later critics integrated structuralism with dialectical materialism (something I understand so poorly, I won't even try to explain) and a lot of skepticism, so - voila! - a radical school of thought emerged out of modernity. For what its worth, in my department, we would call Michel Foucault a "social constructionist" if that clarifies anything. I gave mom a book called An Invitation to Social Construction, she never read it, but if you want a good overview of contemporary "theory." you should get it from her.
May 20, 2004
relentless dimensions of quadraphonic sleep
After the Austin Bloggers Meetup I stopped by Waterloo Records and checked out their used bin. I found T. Rex' Futuristic Dragon on CD for $4.99. I lthink I like T.Rex - I love Electric Warrior, and I enjoy The Slider - but I haven't listened to their full output. Thinking it might be one of those gems hiding behind tacky cover art, I decided to pick it up. Good gravy this a strangely ungood record. The title cut made me laugh so much I played it three times in a row after I fiirst heard it.
actually utilize
I usually think its lame when people post their personality quiz results on their bloggen, but now that this blog has been declared officially lame, I might as well. I also thought this quiz was a little funny.
You're an Etch-a-Sketch!! You're the creative,
artsy type who doesn't need to actually utilize
a single muscle group in order to have fun.
Doesn't matter though, you're still cool.
What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
I'm not sure how I feel about being an Etch-A-Sketch. Although the description doesn't mention it, the Etch-A-Sketch seems to lack agency. Perhaps this is a structuring absence...
May 18, 2004
education you have completed
I regularly read the blog Talking Points Memo. It gives me a better understanding of the operations of politics within the major parties and within the halls of government, so I was happy to fill out a reader survey, so Josh & Co. could get a better sense of its readership. However, I was diappointed by one of the questions, "How do you describe yourself politically?" None of the options applied to me, so I sent an email to the contact address.
I was frankly surprised by the options available on the question, "How do you describe yourself politically?" I felt that none of the options described me. I would describe my politics as "progressive" or, as an acquaintance describes himself, a "moderate anarchist", but you offered no categories to the left of "liberal." When I go to my classes here at the University of Texas, hardly a hotbed of radical politics, and we talk about "neo-liberalism" and "liberal femininism" with dismissive or even hostile tones, it feels strange to be shoehorned into the "liberal" category. I do think that if you want demographic data like my ZIP code or my age, I should be given the opportunity to accurately represent my political leanings both to you and to your advertisers; you have given right-wingers a variety a ways to describe themselves - "conservative," "neo-conservative," and "libertarian" - why are you ignoring many people left of center? Perhaps you do not want people from my end of the political spectrum reading your blog. If that's the case, I'll gladly delete your feed from my RSS reader.
-C
Maybe I should summon the vast power of the infobong.com readership and together we can attempt to break the survey, saying we're all 18-24 year old Neo-Conservatives from the 19104 (West Philly) zip code or 65-74 year old New Democrats from Orange County's 92618 .
May 17, 2004
this blog is lame
I'm not sure what do with this blog anymore. I'm not as interested in the things that I blogged about when I started this blog. it seems the blog lost steam as soon as I switched the blog from the UT ACTlab server to private hosting and the Infobong.com domain. I don't really have any vision of what I want to do with this project now, but I certainly don't feel like I have the same energy for blogging as I once did.
With that out of the way, I read the news a lot and the news scares the crap out of me. I just want to want to think about it, let alone blog about it. Ugggh.
May 13, 2004
oh weird
Dude, I was just making some nachos with refried beans, San Marcos jalapeņos, new york white cheddar, and those Guiltless Gourmet blue corn chips. After looking at the plate piled up, I grabbed a slice of lime sitting nearby and squeezed it on the nachos for good measure. I popped the joint into the microwave for 99 seconds, and when I pulled it out there were red spots on the chips. I presumed the red spots were where the drops of lime juice landed. Anyone have any insight into lime-blue corn chemistry?
attitude all
Atrios has a little hierarchy over on his blog today.
People who live in 2nd class cities feel the need to proclaim their greatness, and to convince you that they really are 1st class cities.
OK, when I read this I immediately thought of Philly, where people were constantly braying about how Philly was better than New York, Tulsa, or anything in California. But lets read on:
Further down he writes, "Oddly, Philadelphia is a 2nd class city with a 3rd class attitude." Wow. He must have a vastly different experience in Philly than I did. I've already written about the bigots at Boucher Communications, but when I used to live in Philly, I used to joke about how Philly is the Arkansas of the Northeast - most of the people I met were profoundly uncurious about not just other parts of the country, but other lifestyles and cultures. They reminded me of some hillbilly living on some mountainside in Arkansas, boasting about how they haven't left the county in 20 some-odd-years. The Philly Hillbillies seemed to universally eat meat, listen to corporate rock, and openly express racist attitudes; they were urban rednecks with an inflated sense of their city's importance.
May 12, 2004
death or immigration to the suburbs
After seeing a profile of the Urban Pioneer Project in ReadyMade magazine, I decided to join their project. From readng the magazine, I thought it was an urban sustainability project, but when I got on the site, it looked like a YASN service like Friendster or Orkut. Now that I'm Urban Pioneer #00875, I'm not sure what it is. But in the spirit of sharing, I decided to paste my answers to their membership questionaire below.
I'm interested in being deemed an "Urban Pioneer". Here is the data that you are asking for:
1.Your Name: Chris McConnell
2.Your Age: 28
3.City and Neighborhood: Cherrywood in East Austin
4.Profession: Ph.D. Student, Radio-TV-Film, UT-Austin
5. A few sentences about your interests: In school I study online and broadcast media, particularly relating to progressive social movements. I am also interested in social networking and community-building projects like Friendster, Meetup, and, perhaps, Urban Pioneers. I'm developing a an avocational interest in Urban Sustainability, especially in bike advocacy. I miss that folky punk-art I used to see when I lived in West Philly; the art scene here seems more academic. In West Philly, I developed a taste for country music; in Austin I've gotten into experimental electronic music and IDM.
6. How you heard about us: I learned of your project through _ReadyMade_ magazine.
Best of luck,
-C
May 05, 2004
book isn't finished
Austin's 33 Degrees, a record store specializing in experimental, industrial, and otherwise underground music, is closing at the end of the month. I'm not as disapointed about this development as the closure of the Drag's Sound Exchange, but this leaves Waterloo the only independent record store in Austin that caters to my taste. Well, and Waterloo doesn't really cater to my taste - its just comprehensive. There, I have to climb over yuppies digging for Diana Krall's latest to grab CDs that cost two dollars more than they did in Philadelphia. Ive pasted the full text of the 33 Degrees announcement below.
Date: May 4, 2004 4:32:08 PM CDT
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
Subject: Special Announcement / Sale
We would like to thank all of our customers, record labels, musicians and friends who have helped make 33 Degrees a success and an exciting place to work over these past nine years.
We have decided it is now time to move on and effective May 31st we will be closing our doors.
We've had a great time: making friends, turning you on to the music we love, and learning from y'all, too. But, now we're looking forward to achieving many other things in our lives. A chapter ends, but the book isn't finished.
Effective immediately all new items are on SALE at 20% off. This excludes items already sale priced and markdowns, but, heck, that means everything you've been lusting after is ON SALE!!! Please come by and score some great sounds at great prices during our last month.
Thanks! Bob and Dan
Thirty Three Degrees
4017 Guadalupe - Austin - TX 78751
May 04, 2004
squelch it is to charge
The New York Times is running a story today on Austin Wireless City, a project that provides the infrastructure for free wireless Internet at local businesses.
Free wireless is all well and good, but I find their insistence on requiring a login account a little frustrating. A while back the Austin Bloggers crew had their monthly get-together at Opal Divines, an Austin Wireless City venue, and I tried to log on, but I had forgotten my account name and password. I had used the service months before, but the places around campus where I usually use wireless are not part of the system, so I had long forgotten my account. The logon page allowed me to have a new password emailed to me, but, since I couldn't get on the 'net, I couldn't check my email and reset my password. At that point, I was like, "This is stupid," and gave up.
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