VAGUE SPACE

Survive and Advance

Holy shit.  This is what the NCAAs will be like I fear.  Highly favored, coming out cold and then scratching and clawing to somehow scrape out a victory.  Winning games like this is how you win an NCAA title.  And Syracuse just won what was easily the most exciting (if not best played) game of the year, beating DePaul 59-57 this afternoon.  Syracuse came into the game riding a 7-game winning streak, a #4 ranking in the country, and a Monday defeat of rival Georgetown (who beat Duke today) by double digits.  DePaul on the other hand, had lost 20+ straight Big East games before a last second miracle win over Marquette (who beat UConn today, who beat Texas last Saturday -- yes, in college basketball, especially the Big East, any team can win on any given day -- except Rutgers), and the Demon Deacons came into the game with a lowly 1-7 mark in the conference.  But they jumped out to a 16-6 lead and then extended it to an 18 point lead with some poor play from the Cuse and some great shooting by DePaul.  But then Boeheim put on the press, DePaul got all kinds of frazzled and a 16-0 run late in the 1st half ended up cutting the lead to 2.  DePaul went into the half with a 35-31 lead but at that point, I wasn't very fearful that the game would even end up close, let alone that we might actually lose.

The iPad

Apple has just revealed details on the iPad, which looks just like a big iTouch.  It has all the same capabilities of the Touch, including videos, games, Internet, apps, iTunes (it's a big iPod), YouTube, mapping, calendar, etc. PLUS it will have a Wi-fi and a 3G version (using AT&T) with pre-paid (no contract to AT&T!) data plans ($15 for Wi-fi only and $30 for 3G) that will allow you to surf and use the iPad from anywhere at any time, getting email and everything, just like an iPhone, only bigger (and minus the phone).  It will also challenge Amazon's Kindle as an ebook reader, as the announcement today included a description of it's e-reader capabilities and an iTunes-like bookstore, which for a writer like me, is a pretty big deal.  If we can get more young people to start reading in between videos and video games on their new iPads, then it's a good thing for everyone.

Overall, it's pretty much what everyone was expecting the iPad to be, but seeing it all big up there in Steve Jobs' hands made it look all the more wonderful.  The price points are reasonable -- starting at $499 for Wi-Fi only 16 GB and up to $829 for 64 GB 3-G version.  The Wi-fi versions will ship in 60 days, the 3Gs in 90 days.  It's sort of between an iTouch/iPhone and a laptop and with a portable plug in keyboard it can double as a laptop for email/iWork applications/Internet surfing, plus the portable large-screen video/Internet/gaming device that the iTouch is.  Check out CNET's live blog (that's where I got all these screen shots from) for more information.

 

#4 Syracuse 73, #11 Georgetown 56

Here's a recap of my day yesterday:

 

1) Power goes out in my neighborhood at some point overnight Sunday, somehow I woke up at 6 am and noticed this so I didn't miss work

2) Batteries in my flashlights didn't work (because I can't tell you the last time I used a flashlight), so I had to get dressed, shave, and eat breakfast using the only two candles I could find in the house

3) Fearing my order from Whole Foods from the day before would go bad if the power didn't come back on, I put my chicken, eggs, and milk in the freezer on ice, assuming worst case I'd be home by 3 or 4 (as scheduled) and deal with the power problem

(NOTE:  In the 10 years I've owned this house, not once has the power gone out for any extended period.)

4) Due to the rain, it took me an hour and a half to get to work, so I was late arriving to set up for the first class (I've been teaching a software system for a client for the past month, pulling ridiculous hours, including working from 6 am to 4 pm on Saturday, even though I'm getting fired from my position when this teaching job is over, regardless of how well I do or how much time I put in... seriously, let's just move on)

• Download Arcade Fire - "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)".mp3

Burning

Fuck yeah.

Mogwai Live Film "Burning" Teaser from Nathanaël Le Scouarnec on Vimeo.

Songs of the Week 2009 Recap

I had a leftover post from the end of last year and unfortunately I'm way too busy this week to write anything else new, so you're getting this, which is a list of the #1 songs on the Vague Space weekly charts in 2009.  I've actually kept a spreadsheet of all my top songs of the week every week since March 27, 2004, when Modest Mouse's "Float On" was the first #1 of my iPod era.  And in the near six years since, somewhat unsurprisingly, a single band has dominated the top of my weekly charts.  Sunset Rubdown has had 9 #1 songs that have totaled 36 weeks at the top.  Next closest is Okkervil River, with 4 songs combining for 19 weeks and then Bright Eyes with 6 songs totaling 13 weeks, Arcade Fire with 3 songs for 13 weeks and Modest Mouse with 4 songs for 12 weeks.  But in 2009, here were the weekly champs (after the jump....)

• Download The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Four Night Rider".mp3

• Download The New Pornographers - "Hey Snow White".mp3

• Download Swan Lake - "Warlock Psychologist".mp3

• Download Modest Mouse - "The Whale Song".mp3
  

• Download Modest Mouse - "Float on (Alternate Version)".mp3

• Download Sunset Rubdown - "The Empty Threats of Little Lord (live)".mp3
  

• Download Nana Grizol - "Arthur Hall".mp3

Syracuse #1 in RPI Rankings

As of Tuesday night, here's the "official" RPI rankings according to RealTimeRPI.  Look who's on top!  It's a magical year for the Orange.  Very, very magical indeed.  I'm just going to keep enjoying it while it lasts.

Rank		School	W-L	RPI	SOS Rank	SOS	Conf.	Conf. W-L
	1	Syracuse	18-1	0.6799	7	0.6013	Bige	5-1
	2	Duke	15-2	0.6752	8	0.6008	Acc	3-1
	3	Kansas St.	15-2	0.6727	6	0.6023	Big12	3-1
	4	Kansas	16-1	0.6649	30	0.5686	Big12	2-0
	5	Villanova	16-1	0.6613	40	0.5621	Bige	5-0
	6	Texas	17-1	0.6585	47	0.5586	Big12	3-1
	7	Georgetown	13-3	0.6515	9	0.5991	Bige	4-2
	8	Pittsburgh	15-2	0.6504	18	0.5808	Bige	5-0
	9	Wisconsin	14-4	0.6478	10	0.5990	Big10	4-2
	10	Kentucky	18-0	0.6463	111	0.5284	Sec	3-0
	11	Temple	15-3	0.6453	17	0.5827	Atl10	3-0
	12	Gonzaga	13-3	0.6450	14	0.5907	Wcc	3-0
	13	West Virginia	13-3	0.6439	16	0.5854	Bige	4-2
	14	Xavier	12-5	0.6356	3	0.6115	Atl10	4-0
	15	Purdue	14-3	0.6335	22	0.5724	Big10	2-3
	16	Northern Iowa	16-1	0.6334	108	0.5318	Mvc	7-0
	17	New Mexico	16-3	0.6333	33	0.5659	Mwest	2-2
	18	Michigan St.	15-3	0.6311	44	0.5606	Big10	5-0
	19	Rhode Island	14-2	0.6309	60	0.5506	Atl10	2-1
	20	Tennessee	14-2	0.6301	57	0.5513	Sec	2-0
	21	Vanderbilt	13-3	0.6264	31	0.5675	Sec	3-0
	22	Brigham Young	17-1	0.6256	138	0.5137	Mwest	3-0
	23	Butler	14-4	0.6229	26	0.5704	Horiz	7-0
	24	Connecticut	11-6	0.6218	1	0.6379	Bige	2-3
	25	California	11-6	0.6183	2	0.6204	Pac10	3-2

The Droid

I recently purchased a Motorola Droid from Verizon as my primary phone, a smart phone purchase that was long overdue but that I've put off forever because I wanted an iPhone but didn't want to pay to cancel my Verizon account.  But as the months wound down on my Verizon contract (it is over in March), I started researching the iPhone and became frightened of switching to AT&T, even if I didn't have to pay extra to do so.  When Verizon came out with its Google Android-system-based phones this fall (Motorola's Droid and HTC's Droid Eris), I suddenly had a viable alternative to the iPhone that I could buy without leaving Verizon.  But I still wanted an iPhone.  After much, much -- way too much -- research and much, much wavering between an iPhone and a Droid (and a Blackberry or a "do nothing until March" option that both were eliminated early), I woke up on the Saturday after Christmas completely ready to buy an iPhone.  But after one last glance at the Internet horror stories of people in NJ getting constantly disconnected while using the phone portion of the iPhone due to AT&T inferior service, I changed my mind at the last instant and went with the Droid.  So Verizon, a company I already pay about $200 a month to for a variety of somewhat crappy services, got to keep my business.  And I became one of the first buyers of a new phone that combined Google's first operating system with Motorola's shaky hardware and Verizon's strong cellular service in NJ to create a product that has been both surprisingly fast and user-friendly and pretty awesome, but also awfully buggy and annoying and has at times made me wish I'd switched to an iPhone.  But there are very strong indications that iPhone is coming to Verizon by the end of this year and if that is the case, well then I guess this wasn't such a bad move.  But would I switch to the iPhone then?  No doubt.  The Droid is a great phone for Verizon.  But it's not an iPhone.

On My Way to Work

I was driving to work on Saturday, yes, Saturday (I'll get to that) when I passed the Novo Nordisk corporate complex on Route 1 at around 7 am.  There were cars in the parking lot.  Not a lot, and maybe some of them were the cleaning staff and that was their regular hours, but there were definitely a bunch of cars there owned by people who were working, on a Saturday morning, outside of their regular work hours.  And it got me angry.  The client I was traveling to on Saturday is a major American corporation (or at least a subsidiary of one) and due to this project I'm working on, the non-hourly staff has been working, unpaid, 10 to 12 hour days fairly regularly over the past couple months and will be pulling at least that many hours over the next couple.  And in this case, several of them were forced to work on Saturday, from 8 to 5, after working all week.  As was I.  And it got me angry. 

I recently finished a book by Douglas Rushkoff called Life Inc. which wasn't really all that well-written but was a fascinating study on how America has become ruled by corporations, particularly in the last 30 years.  Nearly everything we do is not only affected by a corporations but is practically programmed by multi-national mega-corporations whose ad dollars and lobbying efforts have fully taken over the day-to-day life of all Americans.  Even those of us who consider ourselves "independent" or progressive or removed from the stranglehold of the horrible practices of Wal-mart or McDonald's or Microsoft do so because we associate with the mega-corporations Whole Foods or Apple or Google.  Corporations are killing us with their food, killing us with their drugs, killing the environment, raising our prices for everything from gas to drugs to baggage handling, and then when they fuck up badly, are getting bailed out by us in the form of our tax dollars and yet are laying us off in record numbers to protect their shareholders' profits.  We are all working longer hours, to hold onto jobs that seem more tenuous than ever, and for what?  Not for a raise -- everyone's under a pay freeze.  Not for bonuses (unless you're in the upper management of one of the banks that got bailed out and then made record profits).  Nope, just to keep those tenuous jobs, and to keep the profits up at our corporate overlords.  And that gets me angry.

• Download Bright Eyes - "On My Way to Work".mp3
  

Orange Out at the RAC

So I just got home from the easy win for the #5 Syracuse Orange (16-1) over my alma mater Rutgers -- I mean, Syracuse, yes Syracuse is my alma mater, but it was a pretty easy win throughout, ending 81-65 on the strength of 23 points from Andy Rautins.  The RAC was packed -- as it is every year Syracuse invades the central New Jersey home of Rutgers, despite a new ticket scam put in place by Rutgers that required fans to buy tickets to two other Rutgers home games just to get a seat at the Syracuse game.   The fans came out anyway for the only reason to watch the hapless Scarlet Knights, and that is to cheer on the opposing team.  The Orange fans were loud and proud from pre-game through much of the first half, where deafening chants of "Let's Go Orange!" resounded through the arena.  And the Orange took a comfortable 41-23 lead into halftime, mostly on the strength of Rautins' outside shooting and Rutgers inability to score.  But things got a little loose in the 2nd half as some sloppy Syracuse guard play and some great shooting by Rutgers star Mike Rosario drove a furious comeback that cut a 21 point lead to 8 with just over 12 minutes remaining.  By that time, the Rutgers fans in attendance (I'd say it was about a 50/50 split between Syracuse Orange and Rutgers Red) got very, very loud themselves and the Syracuse fans were trying to fight back but the players on the court seemed to get a little rattled and let the game get away a little bit.  But Scoop Jardine took over with about three straight drives to the basket that either scored or got him to the free throw line and then Andy hit another three to bring the lead back to 15.  Rutgers never got closer than 12 for the rest of the contest.  It really wasn't an exciting game, and to be honest, the most exciting part was when Rutgers made its comeback and the crowd (on both sides) really got into it.  But a win is a win and I'm more than happy to witness another win for my favorite team in any sport.

Jim Boeheim's rotation was unusual tonight and I don't know if it was because of injuries or ineffectiveness, but Rick Jackson, Brandon Triche, and Kris Joseph all played much less than they usually do.  The beneficiaries of playing time were Rautins (who played all 40), Jardine, and redshirt freshman Mookie Jones, whose 22 minutes must have been a season high.  And Mookie played well while he was in there, scoring 11 points on 3 of 6 shooting from 3-point range as well as bringing down 3 offensive rebounds (4 total) and gathering 2 steals and 1 assist.  It was the best all-around game Mookie has played for the Cuse (by far) and whether or not this is a trend, that was a positive.  Kris Joseph seemed to play well whenhe was  in there, but perhaps he was still nursing a leg injury from Sunday's win over South Florida, because he had a black sleeve on his right calf and only played 14 minutes.  In the end, Syracuse didn't really need a full effort from all its team members, as it was led mostly by Rautins (who had 9 asssists and 5 steals to go along with his 23 points) as well as Jardine (12 points, 6 assists) and another double-double for the double-double machine Wes Johnson, although without much scoring (11 points, 1o rebounds).  A solid win, but an expected win, in preparation for the big Saturday battle at highly ranked West Virginia.  That's enough playing around with the crappy schools that I got my degree from.  Time to take on the real Big East.

New Music Tuesday

Welcome to the first New Music Tuesday of the decade (yay!) and I can't believe I'm talking about another decade, it seems like the '90s just ended in my mind, and this quick ten years has miraculously gone by, but let's hope that the o-tens (is that what we're calling it?) can measure up to the music that exploded on the scene in the last decade.  It will be a tough act to follow.  But you know what?  It's starting out pretty solid.

The Besnard Lakes return with their first album since the groundbreaking 2007 release The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse.  The Montreal band revolving around husband and wife team Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas took their name from a lake in north-central Saskatchewan, which (according to the Typepad spell-check) I spelled right on the first try.  Nice.  Anyway, Canadian bands dominated the indie rock music scene over the last decade, or at least the latter half of the decade, and The Besnard Lakes are off to a roaring start to try to keep things going with this first single off of their forthcoming album, The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night. 

• Download The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross".mp3