Northcoast

Damn sexy pic! Are you wearing a sweater vest? Or is it a full-on sweater? I really hope it was a vest made of sweater.

Is it just you and me, Nolan?

I downloaded "No Cars Go" after your post -- great song. Is the rest of the ablum (or their other album) any good?

I don't know if this blog is dead, but I thought I would post a message anyway. I don't have much interesting to say, but . . .


I'm almost totally inactive when it comes to music nowadays. The latest from the Arcade Fire (track 10, No Cars Go, is probably my most listened to song of the year so far), Ted Leo and Modest Mouse are pretty good. I'm looking to buy the Elliott Smith album and looking forward to Spoon's album coming out in July. I haven't really bought much else recently except a few older CDs. I was thinking the other day that if I actually bought the new Dinosaur Jr. album, I could consider myself an old fart trying to relive my youth through the music of my teenage years.

I've been much more active with MLB this year - if you can call sitting on the couch watching TV, surfing the web, or going to a few games "active." At this point, this season seems too good to be true so far. I'm enjoying the good race in the AL Central, the dominating season the Red Sox are having (big matchup tonight with the Indians - Dice-K pitching), and the fact that the Cubs are not in last place yet. And there's only one thing that could probably make me happier than the Yankees' stinkjob - seeing Clemens stink when he returns. That would, without a doubt, make this season totally rule.

Anyway, I've just about exhausted my lunch break typing this and eating my turkey sub.

Nolan

I like the new Shins album. The lead single (track 4) is exceptional. I listen to tracks 2 and 9 a lot, too. None of the other tracks stick out ... yet. The last album took a while to grow on me ... none of the songs were immediately loveable, but after three listens, I took to a few songs, and after five more listens, I loved the whole album. That could happen again ... I am not ruling it out, but I'm not counting on it, either.

I don't have any music to recommend, (actually, the new Beck, which is kind of old now, is good), but you should spend the money and download the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts ... they're hilarious. Karl Pilkington is funny as hell.

Oh, I guess I do have some music: you can't buy the tracks, but you should checkout the National Skyline mypsace page. The three songs posted there are great (but unreleased).

Finally, I have been following the Twins stadium progress quite closely. I can't believe the latest developments. The Twins are (supposedly) considering a new site for the stadium? Yeah right. They better close the deal and get moving on that thing. The current site completely rocks. Thinking about the new stadium and how it ties in with the LRT and Northstar line makes me want to move back. They were supposed to release the stadium designs on the 15th. I hope this crap doesn't push it back.

What does everyone think about the new Shins album? I've only listened to it a few times, but I'm starting to think it will never grow on me like their first two albums. There are a few good songs, but too much of the album sounds the same - airy, ethereal, and lacking any rock-out moments. Not that I was expecting or want the entire album to sound like AC/DC, but . . .

So, I'm really writing because I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for CD purchases. I've been looking at the releases coming up, and I'm looking forward to both Ted Leo's new album and the new Arcade Fire. But those aren't coming out for a little while, so has anyone bought anything good recently?

Wow! All of these photos actually look like us. That's hilarious.

Since this is the place to bash Cleveland sports teams and their fans, check out some seriously freaky crap:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/brownsdt.html

Yeowsers!

Here is a picture from a Chicago smoking ban news article. It's not me, but some people don't believe me when I tell them that.

Uh, no.

Try this, Nolan:



(photo courtesy of Ethan Buhr)

Adam









Joel









Nolan?

That typo is hilarious. Actually a little sad, if you knew him .... I mean, Mitchell would probably flip his lid if he were alive to see that. Hell, Kevin Chutes IS probably flipping his lid.

Nolan, don't you think that Adam looks A TON like the drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

Yeah, I read Mitchell's obit in the Star Tribune. That had to be about 3 months ago. My favorite thing about the obit was the misprint they had in it. It said something like - "Mitchell was known for hanging out late into the night at the Hard Rock Cafe." Obviously, it should have read Hard Times Cafe.

you guys saw that Mitchell died, I assume?

Onion article titled "Frito-Lay Angrily Introduces Line of Healthy Snacks." My favorite line:

"Weren't Sun Chips healthy enough for you, you goddamn hippie bastards?"

I do love candy. Allow me to give overwhelming props to the stars of my mouth in '06:

-EVERYTHING made by Haribo. Lucky Hamiline/Midway trick-or-treaters had their chance at Haribo gummy bears in our offerings this year at 1240 Blair. Maybe the Milk Duds had them second-guessing, but my true gummy-heads were on-point.

-Dots. Fuck all candies tropical, including the new Dots Tropical.

-Lemonheads and Cherryheads. I remember the Cherry Chan years, and they was truth!

Knowing how much Adam likes candy, I had to post this link from espn.com. Make sure you click on the links for all 4 regions. Notice that it says to check in tomorrow for the final 2 rounds.

Usually, I pay attention to when the Red Sox are playing. If they have a day game during the week, I'll go to espn.com to see how they're doing. I don't think I can stomach it today though. I was sick all weekend (man, it's so nice to spend an entire weekend on the couch when it's 80 and sunny outside), and I watched 3 of the 4 Red Sox games. I, along with most fans I'm sure, have given up on this season.

At least I can still cheer for the Twins to take the wild card spot away from the White Sox.

I can also say I think I did fairly well in my first fantasy football draft this weekend. Last year I actually won a free league I play in with some relatives, but this year I joined a few money leagues for the first time. I know, I know, why don't I jump on the bandwagon a little later. I was a little surprised at how long people waited to pick their QBs (this is a 10-team league). Is this standard practice in fantasy drafts? I picked Tom Brady with my 4th pick, and I picked Drew Bledsoe as my backup when he was still available in the 8th. A couple guys didn't even pick a QB until after I picked Bledsoe. One guy was able to get an excellent starter for that late I thought - Marc Bulger. But the other guy ended up picking Jake Plummer as his starter. I understand why it's important to have good running backs, but I don't understand why the QB position isn't considered that important in fantasy.

Let's be clear: he is making a personal attack, one that I won't soon forget.

Rob Neyer said something like that a few years ago. He said that he receives more emails from Indians fans than any other group (especially in response to criticism of the team). He added the specific disclaimer that he did not mean that as a criticism -- it was really more of a compliment. Anyone who read between the lines knew that he was annoyed, however.

This article about the chances of each team in the AL winning the World Series is pretty good (although I would pick the White Sox as the favorite at this point instead of the Yankees). My favorite section is about the Indians. Joel, don't you like it when they kick you when you're down?

10. Cleveland

Not sure what happened with these guys. The Indians would have made a much better roto team.
(Note: Normally I'd have more to say, but I'm tired of Cleveland readers complaining every time I write something even mildly negative about one of their teams, no matter how accurate that assessment might be. Now I'm thinking that Cleveland fans are like women -- if they ask you how they look, just tell them, "You look fine, you look great" or else you're in for 20 minutes of pure hell. So to recap, the Indians look fine, they look great. Let's move on.)

Even though I'm sick of the debate going on about whether students should use Wikipedia or not, I think this commentary from Stephen Colbert is hilarious. My favorite caption on the right side of the screen - "The Revolution Will Not Be Verified!" I'm almost tempted to show this clip to instruction sessions I do for incoming students.

DOH!

I love this David Letterman joke:

"Anybody here from New Zealand? They have a big, new attraction. It's a live sex show in New Zealand. They have actual bulls mounting a simulated cow. Good to see Ann Coulter getting some work."

That's pretty funny -- I was aware that people were spending a lot of $ to get those releases -- glad I got in on the ground floor (although $10 for both is a helluva deal).

Here's something else I remember about Mangan: he wanted to be an airline pilot, which I thought was cool. Also, he was a chemistry major, or something, and he was always studying really hard.

Ethan (or anyone else near Chi-town), are you going to the Touch & Go 25th anniversary concert?

Nolan, you don't remember that psycho wrestler throwing me to the ground outside of Anderson Hall? I thought I was with you. Maybe just Adam? Whoever I was with, we were in Anderson (for some reason), and as we left there were three or four wrestlers standing in the doorway. They started calling is skaters and yelling "alternative nation" (god knows why). I said something stupid (I really don't remember what) and one of the dudes charged me and threw me to the ground. I can't believe no one else remembers that.

Merge is putting out reissues of Spoon's Telephono and Soft Effects EP in one double CD package (for the price of 1 CD). This is pretty cool. I have to laugh at the people who spent hundreds of dollars on Telephono on Ebay. They even make fun of this in the press release on Merge's website.

Matt Mangan. The only things I really remember about him - besides the fact that he was a pretty nice guy - was that he played baseball for Augsburg and he liked The Wedding Present.

Eric Betterman. Man, that photo he has on his myspace site is a little scary.

What's the story about you getting tossed on the ground by the wrestling team? I don't remember that. I harbor resentment toward the wrestling team simply because having so many of them in my history classes made me dumber by the minute.

I tell you what I wonder: who was the kid whose room we abused to play Tecmo Bowl? Matt something, right? I'm totally blanking ... great guy ... wonder where he's at these days.

Want another blast from the Augsburg past? Go here: http://www.myspace.com/ebas95

What an idiot. He says: "I am opened minded for the most part but struggle with those who lack common sense."

Was he or was he not the moron who had sex with one of his students and got arrested for it (which, incidentally, is probably why he's "self-employed," whatever the hell that means)? Lots of common sense there.

I harbor a lot of ill-will toward our wrestling team. Who was there the night I got thrown to the ground?

Do you wonder how many players are still active that appeared in Tecmo Super Bowl? If so, go to this blog. Man, seeing those crappy graphics takes me back to the days of Urness the Furnace.

In case you missed it on SNL this weekend, this is hilarious:

Scott Plouff? He was also the drummer for the Spinanes. Their album on Sub Pop was really cool. I still kind of like it. Wow! That is cool.

The new BTS is okay. I like it much less that their two great albums. They do a lot of jamming. While the songs are long (7-9 minutes), the dynamics and transitions that made the other albums cool are mostly non-existent here. I like the first song the most, but in general I'm disappointed.

I just found out that my legal assistant's nephew is the drummer for Built to Spill. Anyone heard the new album?

The Star Tribune has an article and 2 sidebars about Mitch Hedberg today. The article is about a tribute for him this weekend at the Orpheum. One sidebar lists what other performers said about him. The last sidebar gives his best bits. My favorite bit is "I bought myself a parrot, and it could talk. But it did not say it was hungry, so it died."

That is so freaking awesome. I've never seen that before (or even heard about it), but with the name "Gilles" in the intro and the recognizable Ferrari, I knew it was Gilles Villeneuve (late father of current F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve).

Google helped me find the Wikipedia explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Villeneuve

You can see the French fans going ape-shit when their French driver is passing the French-Canadian Villeneuve. This is treated with such high regard because Gilles died so soon after, and because modern aerodynamics make it impossible for F1 cars to race so closely together. I can't believe that they stayed so close without a major accident. It's mind-boggling. I wish there was in-car footage available.

Adam, where is this video from? Who are the drivers? It's amazing.

My new favorite website.

TOP 10 2005

1. CHANNELS Who else? J. Robbins. It's really good alright? They'll probably be on next year's list, too. Their debut album will be released on Dischord this Spring.

2. SPOON I think Adam said it well, they're about as solid as an indie act gets these days. I Summon You is a fabulous song. I will say, however, that I like the first three Spoon albums all more than the last three.

3. TRAIL OF DEAD Excellent. For some reason I discovered these guys in 2005. So I had to go back and by source tags & codes (again, I gave away my first copy because I thought it sucked). Anyhowe, I've listened to "The Rest Will Follow" a gajillion times over the past year.

4. MINUS THE BEAR Thanks for the tip, Adam. The first six songs are awesome. A really excellent album. You could make an argument that this should be #2 on my list. It probably should be.

5. THE LIFE AND TIMES Allen Epley's new band -- not too heavy, really interesting, melodic minor-key guitar rock. Really, really cool, in fact.

6. BLOC PARTY The first four songs are good, although I will admit that I did not spent much time with the album after the first week.

7. WOLF PARADE Very nice album. Surprisingly, it doesn't remind me of Modest Mouse. I don't know why. Frankly, I think there's really only three or four songs that are any good, but that's usually enough for me.

8. BECK Four excellent songs. #12 (Rental Car) is awesome, #3 Girl is great, #1 E-Pro is good, and #6 (?) Hell-Yes is hilarious.

9. WALKING CONCERTGood punk post-rock songs. Try and listen to "What's Your New Thing?" sometime.

10. LOW There are really only two songs that I like: California and Monkey (the songs everyone likes), but those two songs are INCREDIBLE. California, especially. Relatedly, I never ONCE saw Low in Minnesota. How weird is that?

BASKETBALL
Is it too early to Humphries a bust? If not, the Minnesota three (Pryzbilla, Rickert, Humphries -- no idea how to spell any of those names) sure have been busts at the pro level. How weird is that -- three stud white guys from Minnesota -- three total high school phenoms -- all three go to MN for one or two years, all three leave very early, and all three proceed to suck. ALL THREE!!!

Anyhow, I don't watch the NBA at all (except for King LeBron, who ROCKS!), and I don't watch much college basketball anymore, either (regular season is meaningless for everyone but the crappy small conference teams, and the tournament is single elimination, so it's next to meaningless). With respect to the college b-ball that I have seen, however, I can't say that the level of play is any less intriguing. It would make sense (I suppose) that if the top-of-the-top-notch players are in the NBA, that the top-notch programs are just that much more like the middle-of-the-road programs.

RACE
I was thinking about that GA senator -- the woman who (allegedly) hit the Congressional cop -- race is pretty much the most polarizing issue in America, huh? I saw her attorney on Hannity and Colmes, and he was repeatedly calling Tom Delaya "rich white boy" (I think Delay had called the Senator a "long-time racist," or something). As you might imagine, Hannity had a field day with that -- i.e., "if Tom Delay had called you a "black boy," you would have been all over him calling him a racist, wouldn't you?"

Here's the thing, I see where the atty is coming from, but that smack-talk just gives white idiots like Hannity more ammunition and one more reason to dismiss legitimate concerns of racism. It's a real dillema, because I think there is something to the argument that it's okay (or at least not as bad) for minorities to say things like that (because of the power difference and all that), but it gives joe-blow-racists a lot to hang their hats on.

Sorry ... just ranting.

There is a pretty good website out there that lists the underclassmen and high school players who declared for the NBA draft. The 2005 list is here. 2004 is here. And 2003 is here. Look at the bottom of the 2003 page, and you can see the numbers of players who left early all the way back to 1997. This article has a sidebar listing the 36 American high school players who entered the NBA draft since 1995 (the year K.G. broke the mold). And here is the Wikipedia entry on high school players going straight to the NBA.

Personally, I think that the current rule (the player must be 19 and at least one year removed from high school) is stupid. However, I don't think there is any doubt that underclassmen leaving early and high school players skipping college has lowered the quality of play in college. Just look at all of the players on those lists. Imagine what teams would look like if players were forced to play 4 full years (or even just 2 or 3). Think of all of the Gophers who have left early in the past few years. Joel Przybilla as a sophomore in 2000. Rick Rickert as a sophomore in 2003. Kris Humpries as a freshman in 2004. But, like I said, I'm not in favor of banning players from entering early. If I was in their position, you can sure as hell bet that I would be taking the millions.

I also think parity has increased because early entry of players has hurt the bigger schools more. Big-time programs are struggling to keep their talent for more than a year or two, and mid-level and smaller schools are more likely to keep their good players there for all 4 years. I don't think there are as many totally dominant teams (or conferences) as in the past, and the success of mid-major teams in the tournament this year only further proves this. The best example of this was North Carolina vs. George Mason in the 2nd round. George Mason put out a team full of mediocre talent, but they were a veteran team. North Carolina, on the other hand, was full of young talent, but they had lost their 4 best players from their 2005 championship team (all drafted in the first round).

I don’t follow NBA at all, so I have no clue about this question. People are talking about the big difference in the NCAA tournament due to kids skipping college and going straight to the NBA. NBA rosters aren’t very big, and there are no minor leagues, so can it really make such a big difference? How many high school players join the NBA each year? Four or five (I'm clueless)? Even if you count the sophomores and juniors who leave early, how many are players are we talking about here?

Also, people seem to be blaming the NBA for the high number of tournament upsets AND for the lopsided scores of the last weekend. How can the NBA be responsible for increased AND decreased parity at the same time? I’m confused.

Problems with the Pop-Ups

Thanks for posting that article, Nolan. Gergen's comments are inexplicable, and I think they go to the weight his essay should be afforded.

Regarding Reagan, this may be what you're thinking of:

"Ronald Reagan himself was a committed Christian Zionist and his support for Israel had both strategic political and loosely articulated premillennial dispensationalist underpinnings. Reagan seemed to have a fascination with Israel's role at the end of history and often referred to it, both in private and on at least eight public occasions. One of the private instances was embarrassingly reported in the press and claimed that the President was engaged in a telephone conversation with Tom Dine, Executive Director of the Likud-oriented Israeli lobby AIPAC. Reagan said: "You know, I turn back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon, and I find myself wondering if - if we're the generation that is going to see that come about. I don't know if you've noted any of these prophecies lately, but believe me, they certainly describe the times we're going through." The remark was published in the Jerusalem Post and picked up across the country by papers subscribing to the Associated Press.(27) This stunning expression of Presidential intimacy with the chief lobbyist for a foreign government was "benignly" garbed in dispensational Christian images, but the political overtones could not be missed."

From this article.

Also, Dershowitz is going after the authors of that study with everything he's got:

In the New York Sun:

"What we're discovering first of all is that the quotes that they use are not only wrenched out of context, but they are the common quotes that appear on hate sites," Mr. Dershowitz, who is identified in the paper as part of the "lobby," told The New York Sun yesterday."

... and again in the Harvard Crimson:

"Dershowitz, who is one of Israel’s most prominent defenders, vehemently disputed the article’s assertions, repeatedly calling it “one-sided” and its authors “liars” and “bigots.”

Yih-hikes.

In a period of a couple of minutes last night, I heard Pavement's "Spit on a Stranger" on the CBS show "How I Met Your Mother" (don't ask why I was watching it in the first place) and Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On" on a Jaguar commercial. I'm guessing that this is part of the reason why Britt Daniel doesn't need a regular job.

It's funny that you posted that article because I just read a rebuttle of it in U.S. News by David Gergen. You can read the rebuttle online here.

The section of Gergen's article that I don't believe is when he says, "Over the course of four tours in the White House, I never once saw a decision in the Oval Office to tilt U.S. foreign policy in favor of Israel at the expense of America's interest. Other than Richard Nixon--who occasionally said terrible things about Jews, despite the number on his team--I can't remember any president even talking about an Israeli lobby." There are only two possibilities here. One, Gergen was left out of the loop. Or, two, he's not remembering correctly (or lying). Gergen was supposedly a close advisor to Reagan, and he's saying that Reagan never mentioned Israeli lobbies. This is ridiculous. I remember reading somewhere that Reagan believed in Armageddon, and he even mentioned this in his policy-making discussions with his advisors. How could he not mention Israeli lobbies?

Wondering how the US found its way into Iraq? Do yourself a favor and read this article by two political science professors, one from Harvard and the other from the University of Chicago:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html (digest version)

Long version, here:

http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP06-011/$File/rwp_06_011_walt.pdf

I don't think this is the only reason we're in Iraq, but it's a biggie (if not THE biggie).

Kevin Phillips, on the other hand, thinks oil was the primary motivating factor. Anyone read his book ("American Theocracy")? I saw him interviewed on Russert -- sounds fascinating.

Mr. Karl Marx is responsible for popularizing the concept. I’m not sure if John Lennon coined that particular phrase in English, but that song probably accounts for any current usage.