Dear Nicky

First things first...

Dear Nicky,

I have no idea which song you would like me to repost, but if you tell me, I'll see what I can do.

Yours truly,

Goose

Back to the blog...


Sorry for the delayed absence in posting but this weekend I was involved with our company's 2nd Annual Coral Conference and Frag Swap, which brought in roughly 450 people. Fairly interesting weekend despite my lack of knowledge on saltwater fish, especially with all the interesting characters I got to meet. Last night Felicia and I had a lasagna dinner with two guys from NY, one who is a defense contractor for the government and the other who retired from IBM at 45 and now breeds Hyacinth Macaws. Crazy how they ended up in Northern Wisconsin to buy some coral, but it was great to meet them and hear their stories.

My other excuse is that the Wifi spot I get internet from has been anything but reliable as of late (only 1.0 mbps, a big reason you've seen a lot of borrowed direct downloads on here lately), but as my old football coach used to say "nobody cares about excuses, only the results." And with that...on to the post...

Featured Story: The Future of the Newspaper


Top Writers/Editors Debate Newspapers' Future in NYC

NEW YORK "Does print have a future?" asked Slate founding editor Michael Kinsley Thursday evening to kick off a panel celebrating the 10th anniversary of the online magazine.

Entitled "Online Media and the Future of Journalism" and held at the main branch of the New York Public Library, the panel addressed a wide range of issues in the movement of content online and the future of print media. On stage with Kinsley were former Time Inc. editor in chief Norman Pearlstine; current Slate editor Jacob Weisberg; Arianna Huffington, who co-founded HuffingtonPost.com; and Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker and bestselling author.

The main question of the evening was whether newspapers (and magazines to a lesser extent) would continue to exist in the near and long-term. Gladwell likened the problems facing the newspaper industry to those facing the airline industry.

"The airline itself never makes any money, but everyone else connected with flying makes tons of money," he said, explaining that resorts, plane manufacturers, pilots, and others who depend on the airline industry see great financial gain while the core service provider sees nothing. "This is the newspaper business. Without the New York Times, there is no blog community. They'd have nothing to blog about...

Read the full story at Editor and Publisher

As a former college student newspaper reporter and one time sports writer for the Indiana Gazette, I feel very strongly about the subject of newspapers. To me, the phsyical newspaper is an American pastime, but yet, the majority of news I read is from the internet. Does this mean that I think we should forgo newspapers all together? No. It means its quicker for me to get my news online from many different sources than to go to Barnes and Noble and try and read every single one.

Of course, you're going to have those that prefer to write and read online, and those who prefer to have something they can hold in their hands while they drink their morning coffee. Sure, online news is booming and will continue to carve out a niche in the cornerstone that is American media, but don't abandon the newspaper. Are you going stop reading books because you can download them online? No. The same goes for newspapers.

Related articles:
Evolution or extinction?
The Death of the News
Remaking the Front Page
The New York Times as a national security threat
Sexual Revolution: The start of the first US college newspaper sex column.
Peter King: Charge the NY Times with espionage [Crooks and Liars]

Elsewhere...

Penn State professor Michael Berube discusses all things Roethlisberger on Arbitrary but Fun Friday:

But Roethlisberger’s crash got me thinking. In central Pennsylvania, we have approximately elevenzillion bikers who hit the roads every spring, enjoying the beautiful, winding mountain roads, and many of them wear nothing more than bandanas. Our mandatory-helmet law was repealed in 2003, and we’re not alone: a number of states have done likewise, construing motorcycle helmets as a matter of personal taste and personal freedom rather than as a basic safety matter.

You can just imagine how “liberals” fare in that debate.

And strange as it may sound, I think liberals have gotten an exceptionally hard time over things like this. I mean, only the full-blown crazies really believe that liberals and progressives are objectively pro-terrorist, and certainly no one in the general public cares one way or the other what liberals have to say about Slobodan Milosevic. But when it comes to these personal-freedom issues, well, they hit people where they live, so to speak...

Read the full post

Sports
Why America will never embrace the nihilism of soccer:

In its recent World Cup contest with Italy, the U.S. team played what was widely regarded by the sport's connoisseurs as one of the best games ever played by an American soccer squad on foreign soil.

The historic game with Italy ended in an epic 1-1 tie. But in what was ballyhooed as one of the greatest games ever played by an American team, the United States failed to score. The goal credited to the Americans was scored by an opposing player who--oops!--accidentally kicked the ball into his own goal.

Think about this about this for a moment. It just about sums up everything you need to know about soccer, or football, as it is known elsewhere.

Soccer is the perfect game for the post-modern world. It's the quintessential expression of the nihilism that prevails in many cultures, which doubtlessly accounts for its wild popularity in Europe. Soccer is truly Seinfeldesque, a game about nothing, sport as sensation...

Full article

World Cup: Scouting the Round of 16 [SI.com]

Featured Band: Mates of State


One of the few things I look forward to every day is hearing some Mates of States come across my iTunes at work, courtesy of Indie pop internet radio station Soma FM. It occured to me that I've never really given Mates of State the press they probably deserve on this blog, so what better time to reintroduce you all to one of my favorite bands than right now?

According to the band's website, Mates of State is the organ and drums, vocal-laden duo of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel. The band essentially began in 1997. After a few months in the midwest, they high-tailed it out to a new home in San Francisco. California greeted them with sunshine, pop sounds, and a great music community.

Their long-standing motto of "Play anywhere, anytime" allowed them to play everywhere from Oakland parties to venues up and down the west coast. Kori (organ, vox) and Jason (drums, vox) quit their day jobs as a teacher and cancer researcher in 2001, got married, and hit the road bringing their love to the rest of the world. They've toured the US, Europe and Japan and by the looks of it, won't stop any time soon.

The Mates have released five 7" records and two full lengths, "My Solo Project" and "Our Constant Concern." Polyvinyl Records will be releasing the third full length record entitled "Team Boo" in September of 2003. It was recorded at Pedernales Studio in Texas with John Croslin (GBV, Spoon, Waylon Jennings, Pavement) and Jim Eno (Spoon).

It's difficult to place MOS in a genre as the song structures are unique, often complex. At the same time there are always the pop elements of catchy melodies and loads of harmony. Even though there are only two of them, they fill up the space with the monster, bass-heavy organ, creative drumming, and constant dueling vocals. The music can be sweet. At other times it's spastic, but either way, you leave MOS shows with a warm feeling.

Mates of State has been described by critics as unabashed joy, honesty at its best, a two piece with balls, and a band that you must see live. Their first record was listed in the New York Times as one of the best records you probably didn't hear in 2000. Their shows consist of packed crowds singing, smiling, and dancing and, of course, the private jokes between Kori and Jason.

Mates of State - "I Have Space"
Mates of State - "Hoarding it for Home"
Mates of State - "Proofs"
Mates of State - "Goods"
Mates of State - "Ha Ha"

New Yorkers, you can catch Mates of State FREE at Castle Chilton on July 6th. Free tickets will be distributed, two per person, outside Castle Clinton on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 5pm on the day of the show. Midwesterners with money, make sure to catch MOS at Lollapalooza this year.

Mates of State website
Purchase Mates of State music

Bonus music:

Tool - "Lost Keys"
Devendra Banhart - "The Body Breaks (live @ France Inter's "White Session")