All posts by Jonathan

The Shins: Wincing the night away

I had been anticipating this CD by The Shins ever since I first heard the marvelous, Chutes Too Narrow (their previous release) over two years ago. In fact, about a month ago, I reserved a copy at my local record store, just be be assured I could get it on the day it was released. I’m sure it’s difficult for a band to follow such a well received disc as Chutes, but after listening to Wincing The Night Away for over a week now, I think they have made a very worthy follow up.

The Shins have a talent for creating beautiful melodies with hooks that stick with you long after you’ve heard the song. While Chutes was a much brighter record emotionally, Wincing The Night Away has a bit of a darker edge to it. Indeed, the title alludes to a bout of insomnia the band’s frontman (James Mercer) had.

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Sleazy sales tactics

So this morning my phone rings. I answer it and I hear that momentary, silent pause that tells you a telemarketer is on the line. First a little backstory. About a year ago I had an eye exam and bought new glasses at a certain national-chain eyeglasses store. I don’t want to disclose the name, but it rhymes with HensCrafters.

Telemarketer: “Hello I’m calling from HensCrafters to remind you of your eye exam appointment.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I do not believe I have an eye appointment scheduled at HensCrafters.”

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There is nothing like college basketball

I was fortunate enough to be in the Kohl Center yesterday when the Wisconsin Badgers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 71-68. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… There is nothing like college basketball. The atmosphere, the excitement, the intensity of the players — it really can be an awesome experience.

It was a late start last night when the nationally ranked Badgers (3rd) met the nationally ranked Ohio State team (5th). A good ten or twelve minutes before the game was scheduled to begin, the Kohl Center looked to me to be full to capacity (usually all of the empty seats don’t fill in until after the game starts). Because of the strength of these two teams, this game had been highly anticipated (and overly hyped in the local media) from the beginning of the season. The atmosphere in the building was truly electric as the anxious crowd waited for the game to begin.

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Waiting for winter

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Over the past several weeks, the weather here in Madison has been very spring like. High temperatures have been up to 20 degrees warmer than average. Snow fall has been virtually non-existent, and lakes in the area are not frozen — a very unusual situation for January. The other day I was outside retrieving the paper, and I happened to notice a whole collection of box elder bugs (who hibernate during the winter) sunning themselves on the side of my condo. With the higher than normal temperatures there are mold spores and other allergens in the air. For about the past couple of weeks it’s gotten bad enough for me to take my daily allergy medications — something I’ve never done in January before.

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Best music of 2006

Here are my picks for best music of the year, including samples of key tracks.

Richard Ashcroft – Keys to the World
The former lead singer of The Verve, Richard Ashcroft pulled from a variety of styles to make an outstanding CD. The Motown flavored “Music is Power,” the brit-pop “Break the Night with Colour” and the Paul Westerburg-like ballad “Sweet Brother Malcolm” are all excellent songs. The title track is another superb brit-pop song.

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Time’s person of the year is you! (and me too)

Look at 2006 through a different lens and you’ll see… a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

Sure, it’s a mistake to romanticize all this any more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom… But that’s what makes all this interesting.

Bravo. Excellent choice. It really is amazing how the power of the collaborative web has changed things. Here’s the article and links to related coverage.

Christmas spirit

I spent a great deal of yesterday evening writing up Christmas cards to send out. As I got to a lot of the names on the list I start to wonder… Why do I have contact with some of these people only once a year? Some I intended to visit, or correspond with a lot more than I have. Where does the time go? It seems like it was just a few months ago when I was writing out my Christmas cards last year.

Holiday Tree at the State Capitol

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Of wallpaper and free time

I spent most of last weekend removing the last traces of wallpaper from my condo, when I stripped it from the downstairs bathroom. Yes, my home is now wallpaper free!

If I were ruler of the kingdom, I would require anyone installing wallpaper to be responsible for its removal. The installers would be required to do that when any future owner of said wallpaper wishes it to be removed. As much as I dislike removing wallpaper, after removing it from my kitchen, and now the bathroom, I’ve become quite good at it. Although I probably shouldn’t admit to that (no, I am not available for outside jobs).

Yesterday I spent a few hours spackling the bathroom walls, and today I painted the primer on. Hopefully I’ll get the final coat of paint on in the next few days.

As I was cleaning the paint brush today, it hit me that I’ve have spent more of my free time fixing up or improving this condo than any other home I’ve lived in. One thing I have come to realize: I would most certainly rather be doing something else. If money were no object…

A powerful truth

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I just finished watching Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth. I don’t care what your political mindset is, there is no way anyone can see this film and not agree that global warming is an urgent crisis we need to do something about. As the former Vice President says, this is not a political issue, it is a moral one. If the rise in carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase at an exponential rate, the planet’s temperature will rise along with it. Billions of people will suffer fates similar to the hundreds of thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims.

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