VAGUE SPACE

Bye, Bye, Bye

It's that time of the year again... the short hiatus/vacation from blogging for me and Vague Space.  I'll be back after Labor Day, hopefully refreshed and ready for some vintage New Music Tuesdays, some political meanderings, a story of the 2009 Brew Fest in Vermont, and most importantly, coverage of a hopeful Phillies playoff run.  But I leave you with my favorite song of 2008, a song that will be highly placed in my top 200 songs of all-time if I ever get around to updating it with tracks from the last couple years.  Enjoy. 

• Download Plants and Animals - "Bye Bye Bye".mp3

What's gonna happen to you?
You have woke up too soon and found the world rearranged.
And now your feelings have changed.
Say goodbye to before.
"Bye, bye, bye."
You are not welcome anymore.
The door's been shown to you.
"Bye, bye, bye."
But only if you go through.
You run into the night.
No sound, no vision, no sight.
And no words to explain, just smell; tints of change.
Whats gonna happen to you?
"Bye, bye, bye."
You have woke up to soon.
And the world is rearranged.
And now your feelings have changed.

Oh, today I saw a shadow.
And I had the feeling there would be another.
One in the wintertime and one in the summer.

When the river was still, we would not help ourselves.
It's very easy to do.
We never needed to.
And the birds are high.
"Bye, bye, bye."
Started a fire in the forest.
Can you remember the day-
"Bye, bye, bye."
We had to separate
And nobody knows what's tearing us apart.
Cause we're part of one another.
A son and a father, a mother and a brother.
When the river was still.
"Bye, bye, bye."
We would not help ourselves.
It's very easy to do.
"Bye, bye, bye."
We never needed to.

Oh, today I saw a flower.
And I had the feeling there would be another.
One in the wintertime and one in the summer.

Whats gonna happen to you?
What's going to happen?
What's going to happen?
What's going to happen?
What's going to happen to you?
You have woke up too soon.
What's going to happen to you?
You have woke up too soon.
What's going to happen to you?
You have woke up to soon.
What's going to happen to you?
"Bye, bye, bye."

The Omnivore's Dilemma

I recently read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, a fascinating look at the modern American diet and what is so horribly wrong with it that's making us fatter and less healthy than at any time in our history.  But it ultimately left me wanting -- for what exactly to do about it (where to shop, what to eat, other than simply "more fruits and vegetables").  So I've since read his prior book, the best-selling 2006 tome The Omnivore's Dilemma.  And where Pollan whets your appetite with his knowledge and proscriptions in In Defense of Food, his previous effort was absolutely brilliant.  I cannot emphasize this enough -- anyone who eats food from American supermarkets today should read this book, right now.  It's that powerful.  It's that shocking.  And it will change the way you view the food you are putting into your body.  It has for me, at least.

District 9

Starring:  Sharlto Copley

Rating:  3 stars (out of 4)

District 9 is a very good, but not great, sci-fi film in which the final 30 to 40 minutes are filled with non-stop action that pays off a rather slow but necessary buildup explaining both the events of the film and the characters (what few there are).  It was supposedly shot on a low-budget, although you really can't tell from the effects, which are excellent, and is also shot documentary-style, with talking head interviews from "historians" discussing the events in the film as part of the past, alongside documentary footage of the main character, Wikus van de Merwe, and how he shapes these events.  It's a slightly well-worn conceit but it works in this instance and the entirety of the film is riveting, even if the first hour kind of drags while the viewer waits for more action, and more interaction with the aliens.  Read on for the full review, but while I don't spoil anything, stop reading now if you want to go in completely fresh.

Racism in our Mist

I've been shocked at the level of anger and outrage among conservatives over the health care debate, mostly because I was under the assumption that the vast majority of Americans wanted health care reform since we'd all been suffering under an oppressive insurance industry system that has given us skyrocketing costs that are bankrupting businesses small and large alike (including, you know, GM and Chrysler) while making us appreciably less healthy than the rest of the world.  I can understand why the corporate-backed congressmen and media types want to keep the system the way it is, but not the less affluent, southern, older, white Americans who make up the shrinking base of the Republican parties and who have turned into angry mobs at town hall meetings on health care the past two weeks.  It just made no sense to me -- not that they were that susceptible to Fox News' manipulations, but that they were so angry.  It's just something shocking to me.  Especially since upwards of 80% of Americans wanted health care reform back when this debate started a few months ago (various polls still hold wide majority support for a public option -- the main sticking point for insurance companies/Republicans -- at 55 to 60%). 

I was also a little shocked about the ridiculousness of the "anti-tax" tea parties this spring, which made absolutely zero logical sense, since the Obama stimulus bill actually provided tax relief for 98.6% of working Americans.  Again, it made no sense.  Why weren't there tea parties over Bush's tax rates, which haven't changed?  Or why wasn't there this kind of mob mentality organized anger over Clinton's tax increases or attempts to reform health care in the '90s?  And why are clearly unintelligent commentators like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin being deified in conservative circles these days?  Could it possibly be because a black man is president?  Is this all hidden racism? 

I had never thought of that myself, but I'm also a white man, so it's not something at the top of my mind.  But is the anger -- this level of anger, an organized level of anger that perhaps hasn't been seen in public life since the desegregation battles in the '60s -- is this anger a last attempt for the white, older southerners (who are almost exclusively the ones forming these angry mobs at the town halls) to thwart the rise of equality in our society?  It would make a hell of a lot more sense than simply anger over health care reform (which everyone agrees is needed, even the Republicans, if in a different form) or taxes (which haven't increased at all since Obama took over).  I'm not suggesting that everyone opposed to health care reform is racist -- that would make no sense either -- but I am suggesting that those attending these mob "riots" are so very similar to those who protested desegregation in the south that it's impossible to not at least consider.

Anyway, below the fold is an article that speaks to this issue in such an excellent, well-thought-out way that I'm reprinting it in its entirety.  You can find the original here.  I think the author is really onto something here.  And those of us who deplore racism in all its forms ought to start exploring whether this anger on the right comes from more than simply conservatives falling out of power, and is actually something deeper and much more insidious.  And angry.

Whose Interests Are Being Served?

As you contemplate your senator's positions and votes on things such as health care reform or the energy bill, which both have the potential to take some corporate profits out of the companies making money off keeping us unhealthy and poisoned, I think this handy chart is a good way to see whether your representatives are representing you, or their corporate donors.  The chart is shocking to me, both for the wide range of contributions from corporate PACs (from Enzi's 76% to Cantwell's <1%) but also how neatly it lines up with individual members opposition to the two major bills on health care and energy currently being debated.  In fact, Democrats high on the list (Lincoln, Conrad, Ben Nelson, Baucus) have been the most outspoken in their concerns over the health care bill.  But that's just got to be a coincidence.  It's got to be.  Has nothing to do with who's buttering their bread, so to speak.  It's also nice to see the most liberal, independent senators (Vermont's Bernie Sanders and Wisconsin's Russ Feingold) receiving almost all of their campaign contributions from individual voters and contributors, along with the newest fellow member, Mr. Al Franken.  Say what you will about their personal philosophies about "big government vs. small government," when someone getting more than half of his contributions from corporations ends up voting 100% on the corporate side of every single issue, whose interests are being served?  Because it seems to me it's not the voter who put him into office in the first place.  And certainly not the voter out there protesting against their own personal interests, which is kind of ironic, if it weren't so sad.
 

New Music Tuesday

Yo La Tengo's Popular Songs is being released on venerable label Matador Records on September 8th.  The Hoboken trio had a creative resurgence with 2006's wonderful I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass and they've continued on that path with this new album, one of the best I've heard this year.   It's a wide-ranging mix of multiple sonic structures, from languid midtempo rockers that made the band famous ("Here to Fall") to high energy pop gems ("Nothing to Hide") to a smattering of throwback songs that belong in '60s doo-wop, or something similar ("Avalon or Someone Very Similar", "If It's True").  And the album concludes with three long, superb tracks in the manner of their previous album's wonderful coda "The Story of Yo La Tango."  While not quite reaching those heights, the three final songs clock in at a total of 37 minutes and turn a wholly original, wonderful album into an absolute classic.  "More Stars than There are in Heaven" is the highlight, in my opinion, along the lines of YLT's "I Heard You Looking," one of my Top 200 favorite songs of all time, off an album that came out 16 years ago.  Yes, 16 years ago.  And they are somehow still making brilliant music today.  Very impressive indeed. 

• Download Yo La Tengo - "Here to Fall".mp3
• Pre-order Popular Songs

In Memory of John Hughes

There have been a spate of celebrity deaths this summer, for which I haven't cared one way or another about.  I was too young for Farrah and I lost my interest in Michael Jackson at least 25 years ago.  A bunch of lesser-known famous people have also passed in recent weeks, which is a shame, but the one who I'm blogging about is the creator of one of my top 2 or 3 favorite movies ever made, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  In fact, as I sit here writing this in my office, a framed poster of "A John Hughes Film:  Ferris Bueller's Day Off" sits staring back at me.  Hughes wrote, directed, and produced the film, the classic Matthew Broderick comedy from 1985.  Of course, he's probably better known for his Molly Ringwald '80s teen movies (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink), or for being the writer of one of the most successful comedies ever made -- Home Alone.  What I didn't realize were his additional string of hits as a comedy writer, namely the classic Vacation movies (I will admit to loving all three -- the original and obvious best, but also European and Christmas).  He also wrote and directed Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, another classic '80s comedy, Weird Science (ditto), and wrote other decent '80s hits Mr. Mom, The Great Outdoors, and Some Kind of Wonderful.  His magic touch faded in the '90s as his imdb profile includes the likes of the Beethoven kids movies, Baby's Day Out, and the Miracle on 34th Street and Dennis the Menace remakes.  Why he turned to children's movies in his later career, I don't know, but I can't really think of any moviemaker who turned out such a string of classic hits in the '80s as him, even if you discount his cultural influence for the Ringwald/Brat Pack pictures.  I'd rank my Hughes films as follows:

1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (obviously)
2. Vacation (the original)
3. The Breakfast Club
4. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
5. Weird Science (ok, I know it probably hasn't worn well but I used to love that movie)
6. Sixteen Candles (ditto)
7. European Vacation
8. Christmas Vacation
9. Home Alone
10. Mr. Mom

Hughes also soundtracked much of the '80s with some of the great alternative music of the time.  Again, not all of it has worn very well, but anyone who puts the Psychedelic Furs, New Order, and The Jesus & Mary Chain prominently in his mainstream American pictures has a permanent place in my heart.  The scene in Ferris when Cameron is looking at the painting inside the art gallery and the camera focuses on the mess inside the beautiful exterior uses the Dream Academy cover of the classic Smith tune, "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" and a finer representation of John Hughes movies and life as a teen could never be made.

• Download The National - "Pretty In Pink (Psychedelic Furs cover)".mp3
• Download The Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty in Pink".mp3
• Download New Order - "Shell Shock".mp3
  
• Download OMD - "If You Leave".mp3
  
  • from Pretty in Pink
  • 
    
• Download The Smiths - "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want".mp3
• Download The Dream Academy - "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want".mp3
• Download Yello - "Oh Yeah".mp3
  • from Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  • 
    
• Download Simple Minds - "Dont You (Forget About Me)".mp3
  • from The Breakfast Club
  • 
    
• Download The Jesus & Mary Chain - "The Hardest Walk".mp3
• Download Flesh for Lulu - "I Go Crazy".mp3
  
  • from Some Kind of Wonderful
  • 
    
• Download Oingo Boingo - "Weird Science".mp3
  • from Weird Science

Special Comment on Health Care

Keith Olbermann returns from a lengthy hiatus on special comments (and Vague Space return from a lengthy hiatus on political posts) with the withering attack below on the Republicans and Democrats in Congress holding up health care reform.  He names names.  And names numbers of millions of dollars flowing from the insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, hospitals, nursing homes (really, nursing homes!) and other medical corporate interests to individual senators and representatives who are trying to stop a public option as part of a health care reform (which could reduce the enormous profits in the health care industry, profits that are being made off our -- the American citizen's -- illnesses).  It's a great commentary, and I urge everyone to watch, but what's really shocking to me is one single number that Keith mentions but almost glosses over -- $1.4 million.  That's the number that the health care industry is spending PER DAY to kill Obama's health reform bill.  $1.4 million A DAY.  Next time you're spending $230 for an unpaid portion of your 4-hour stay at a surgical center -- last October -- as I had to do this morning (because Blue Cross Blue Shield didn't pay the full amount), or are spending hours and hours on the phone and in mailings to billing offices because a nurse that worked on your surgery was denied coverage by your insurance company and is demanding $2500 for her services that are as yet unpaid, or you're spending $380 for custom orthotics that finally helped a sprained ankle from two years ago -- as I had to do last month -- because BCBS didn't pay anything for it, even though I went through three doctors, multiple MRIs, and multiple physical therapy sessions before finally finding the one thing that stopped constant, daily pain in my ankle, only it wasn't covered by insurance, so I'll be paying that $380 a couple times a year for new orthotics just so I can walk without pain... well next time you do all that, as I have had to do in the past year, even though I have medical insurance that I pay over $100 a month for and my company pays way more than that for, well think about where that $1.4 million A DAY is going and think about why the health care industry wants to keep things exactly as they are. 

We are the 45th ranked nation in the world in life expectancy as of 2008.  We are the 37th ranked in overall health in a comprehensive study of many measures of health from 2000.  We are #1 in spending on health care.  And we spend 16% of our GDP on health care, while all other western nations, which all have universal health care and all have a public option, all spend under 11% of their GDP on health care, and all of them are healthier than us.  Why is this so?  And why are we standing for it?  Why are we not rioting on the streets for Obama to get this passed?  And why are we letting the health care industry spend $1.4 million A DAY to influence the American public to the point that health care reform has fallen from the upper 70s in approval to the 50s in just the last couple months.  It's disgusting.  It's appalling.  It affects every single one of us, every single day.  And we all -- just like me -- are sitting here and letting it happen. 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

True Blood

I haven't written about my 2nd favorite show from last season yet this summer, since the sophomore season of the vampire saga on HBO has been in a creative slump, in my opinion, despite record ratings.  There's been a ton of orgiastic sex in the strange, but mostly unfulfilling storyline of Maryanne.  There's been a lot of Bill/Sookie lovemaking as well, but I was never captivated by the romance between the two.  And then there's been Jason Stackhouse joining the Christian army and fucking the head priest dude's wife, but again, it's left me wanting.  Pretty much this season has been filled with a lot of naked sex and a lot of carnal desire, but not a whole lot of suspense (other than the great early episode where Sookie is attacked in the woods by some strange creature with a bull for its head) and not nearly enough into the minds of the characters.  But it turns out the whole season was just a buildup for this week's episode, which brought almost all the disparate storylines into creative climaxes and finally made sense of everything that's been going on in an explosive, riveting way.  This is the show I fell in love with last year.  And I'm so glad it's finally getting great again.

Mega New Music Tuesday

It's been a while, since we're in the slow, "no one releases anything in the summer" part of the year, but there are finally some really good tracks from forthcoming fall albums trickling into the indie rock blogosphere.  God, I hate that word.  But I do love this music.  Enjoy.

New Mountain Goats -- from The Life of the World To Come, which has to be John Darnielle's what -- 800th -- album?  I'm not real sure, but I know they're all real good.  The latest will be released on October 6th on 4AD, and believe it or not, they are scoring the Bible.  Yeah.  Mr. "No Children" and "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton" has an album about the Bible.  Somehow I don't think it will be on any Christian radio station in the future.  Tracklist:

SONG LIST
01 1 Samuel 15:23
02 Psalms 40:2
03 Genesis 3:23
04 Philippians 3:20-21
05 Hebrews 11:40
06 Genesis 30:3
07 Romans 10:9
08 1 John 4:16
09 Matthew 25:21
10 Deuteronomy 2:10
11 Isaiah 45:23
12 Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

• Download The Mountain Goats - "Genesis 3:23".mp3