Coffee Talk:

This week the United States took steps to solve their problems with the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il. The new sanction, placed by the US, is the first of its kind, and is more of a personal attack on the "Dear Leader". The US is banning the export of all "luxury" items to North Korea. According to the Seattle Times, these items include ipods, cognac, personal watercraft, Harley Davidson products, artwork, cigarettes, Rolex, music, and sports equipment.

Kim Jong-il's Lifestyle:
Rich Taste in a Poor Country
Mad, Bad and Very Cunning

He clearly loves luxury, celebrity, and the American lifestyle in general. However, he is a direct threat to our way of life, and something needs to be done. Today's questions are: Was this "luxury" sanction the right action to take? How will this effect the companies invovled? How can the government have the power to stop Apple or Philip Morris from selling it's product overseas? Will this stop Jong-Il from doing what has set out to do? Talk amongst yourselves.

Saturday Morning Cartoon:

Check out Huckleberry Hound in "Dragon-Slayer Huck" while you eat your Corn Flakes this morning.



Speaking of Dragons:
Dragonette - Shock Box (mp3)
Spoon - The Beast and Dragon, Adored (mp3)

Band of the Week: Matt & Kim

This Brooklyn duo is on the rise, with Kim's solid drumming and Matt's fuzzy keyboard magic and vocals, and they are "loving" every minute. Party jams, fun-loving, messy music... call it what you will, this couple can rock. Matt & Kim meet two years ago at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and decided to start a relationship and a band in the order. The result is there self-titled debut that was released by iheartcomix on October 24th, and it is 29 minutes of non-stop energy.

Check Out the new video for Yea Yeah:


Matt & Kim will be appearing at the Abbey Pub in Chicago on December 21st.

Articles:
Spin
Idolator (They were the biggest band in the world!)

Tracks:
Yea Yeah (mp3)
Ready Ok (mp3)
Ligthspeed (mp3)
No More Long Years (mp3)
Verbs Before Nouns (mp3)
Silver Tiles (mp3)
Blazing Dynamite (mp3)
5k (mp3)/(Video)

Visit them here.

The Office: Season 3, Episode 9
(The Convict)

Prison Mike, Awesome!

Pam: Oh, she’s absolutely adorable!
Hannah: He.
Pam: Oh, sorry. He’s — he’s dressed all in pink.
Hannah: That’s his favorite color.
Pam: Oh. That’s fun for him.
Stanley: Fantastic.

Michael: I didn’t hire an ex-convict. Unless they mean Toby. Convicted rapist.

Michael: You are such a racist.
Kevin: Wait, why am I a racist?
Michael: Because you think he’s black.
Kevin: He is black … right?

Michael: Why did the convict have to be a black guy? It is such a stereotype. I just wish Josh had made a more progressive choice. Like a white guy. Who went to prison for … polluting a black guy’s lake.

Jim: Jim Halpert.
Andy: I am so horny.
Jim: Okay, I can’t help you with that.
Andy: Oh, I think you can, Big Tuna. Tell me about that Indian chick, Kelly. She seems pretty slutty. Good for a romp in the sack.J
im: She is dating Ryan, I think.
Andy: Oh, and I care why?J
im: She’s high-maintenance.
Andy: Next. How about … (motions toward Angela). Blondes are more fun. C’mon, trust me on that.
Jim: Yeah, trust me that would be fun for no one.

Dwight: I am greatly concerned about having a convict in the office. And I do not care if that convict is white, black, Asian, German, or some kind of halfsy. I do not like criminals.

Prison Mike: “And YOU! (points to Ryan) You’d be DA BELLE OF DA BALL MY FRIEND, DA BELLE OF DA BALL! You’d be somebody’s B****!”
Ryan: Michael…please….

Prison Mike: "The worst thing about prison was the Dementors…always flying around”

Writer's Corner: William S. Burroughs

This is week two of the Beat Generation focus in the writer's corner, and this week features one of the most mysterious figures in modern history, William S. Burroughs. In an article in Salon Magazine in 1997, Richard Kadrey had this to say "For nearly half a century, he infected our literature, seeding it with his obsessions, suspicions and passions". The key word is infected, but more accurate word may be destroyed. His most famous work is "Naked Lunch", which was made into a movie in 1991, and follows the life of a bug exterminator who gets addicted to the chemicals that he uses on the job. It was that addiction that gave the novel a persistent sense of paranoia. Here is the opening line of "Naked Lunch", "I can feel the heat closing in, feel them out there making their moves, setting up their devil doll stool pigeons, crooning over my spoon and dropper I throw away at Washington Square Station". I believe it was his own personal addictions that allowed this fear and despair to creep into his work. Burrough's always focused on the underbelly of society, and glorified the "Junkie" at every turn. In a case of fact stranger than fiction, Burroughs shot and killed his common law wife in 1951, while attempting to emulate William Tell.

Burroughs most fascinating contribution to the literary world was the cut-up style of prose. There is always a fine line in art between genius and absurd, and Burroughs stumbled along that line in haze. The cut-up style is basically taking an existing piece of writing, cutting it into pieces with a word or a few words per piece, and then rearranging the text to create a new text. The result is a nonlinear work that is quite difficult to read. JG Ballard said this about the style "I think his whole cut-up approach was an attempt to cut through the apparent manifest content of language to what he hoped might be some sort of more truthful world".

Here is a except from the cut-up work Nova Express:
Nothing here now but the recordings may not refuse vision in setting forth -- Silence -- Don't answer -- That hospital melted into air -- The great wind revolving turrets towers palaces - Insubstantial sound and image flakes fall -Through all the streets time for him to forbear - Blest be he on walls and windows people and sky -- every part of your dust failing softly - falling in the dark mutinous "No more" -- My writing arm is paralyzed on this green land - Dead Hand, no more flesh scripts -- Last door-Shut off Mr. Bradly Mr. -- He heard your summons - Melted into air - You are yourself "Mr. Bradly Mr. Martin - "all the living and the dead - You are yourself -- There be -- Well that's about the closest way I know to tell you and papers rustling across city desks . . . fresh southerly winds a long time ago. (NE, pp. 186-87)

Here is Burroughs' personal take on the process.

Was he a genius or just a junkie? I don't know, but he was an interesting figure and a key part of the Beat Generation.

See Also:
Firehorse page
Interzone.org

Klaxons - Atlantis to Interzone (Klix Klax Remix) (mp3)
Matmos - Rag for William S. Burroughs (mp3)
William S. Burroughs - You Got Any Eggs For Fats? (from Naked Lunch) (mp3)

Painting by Jenny Long (she does incredible work!)

Wednesday's Link:

When we were kids the future was ahead of us, and we wanted desperately to know what it had in store for us. I still remember the game we used to play to find out what our lives would be like. If you would like to play go here.

New Release Tuesday:

Very slow week for music, but two great hip-hop releases.

#1
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury

Mega hype (P-Fork 9.1!) and (IMO) less then expected results. Judge for yourself:

Ride Around Shining (mp3)
Trill (mp3)
Mr. Me Too (mp3)
Keys Open Doors (mp3)
We Got It For Cheap (mp3)

#2
K-The-I??? - Broken Love Letter
According to his label: "The album's sonic discord, which is reminiscent of the heavy production hand of NMS, the dark industrial blend of Dalek, and the Blade Runner inspired work of El-P, seeks out uninhabited inches in your brain until there's no vacancy left".

Go-Go-Girls (mp3)
You're Not That Beautiful (mp3)

Other:
Too $hort - Mack of the Century (Greatest Hits)
The Knife - Like a Pen (Single) (mp3)
Midlake - Milkmaid Grand Army EP

DVD's
The Ant Bully
Clerks II
Superman Returns

Mix of the Week: I Heart Tofu

This week's mix was inspired by this photo and feature new music from El-p, Of Montreal, Plastic Little, Electroluvs, and more!

Coffee Talk:

This week's topic is typically "discussed" on two separate levels, a religious level vs. a freedom level. However, this week I want to discuss the "controversial" topic on a scientific level. I really do not want to bring a religious aspect into the discussion because you cannot argue against faith. A personal belief is not the proper platform for legal decisions.

Abortion:

Should it be legal?

No one that I have ever spoken with has been pro-abortion. You are either pro-choice (giving the freedom to choose to have or not have an abortion) or you are pro-life (taking away the right to choose). The pro-choice argument revolves mainly around the woman's right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to full term. The pro-life argument can come from many directions, but mainly revolves around the question "When does human life begin?".

Links:
Pro-Choice - 1I 2
Pro-Life - 1 2

The question I am asking may be the typical question from a pro-life point of view, but it seems to be the most relevant: When does life begin? I am not concerned with how safe abortion is or how many women have abortions or how many illegal abortions take place in countries that do not make it legal.

The question is when does life begin and should abortion be legal? Talk Amongst yourself.

Saturday Morning Cartoon:

Watch my favorite cartoon character of all-time, Underdog, as he battles the evil Tap Tap, while you eat you big bowl of Donkey Kong Cereal.



This explains so much about the sound of this band:
Tap Tap - Way To Go Boy (mp3)

Artist of the Week: Tim Fite

There is an emerging term in the world of music, and it doesn't seem to make a lot sense. Folk-Hop has been thrown at a few groups lately, and I first heard it used to describe Joseph Arthur. However, it had never seemed legit until I heard the work of Tim Fite. A unique blend of old fashion country music and nu-school hip hop, Fite is a true talent and a great musician. As you listen to his music you never know what its come next, but you know that you will enjoy it. He truly bridges the gap between the hicks and the thugs! He is getting set to release his third album, Over the Counter Culture, in the next few months. The interesting thing is, according to NOKB, he plans to give it away. The details have not been released, but it is defiantly something to look forward to this holiday season. On his website, he has already made available his first album "Two Minute Blues".

"Whether singing with a lag-beat twang, spitting like a super-mc, or screaming bloody hell from a burning voice box, Tim Fite seems to always know exactly the right thing to say and exactly the right time to say it, blending his multiplicity of vocal styles together seamlessly." Jay Mokes of gang-plank

The First Day I Seen Time Fite


Check it Out:
New from Over the Counter Culture
It's All Right (mp3)
Camoflage (mp3) (Highly Recommended!)

From Gone Ain't Gone
No Good Here (mp3)
Fourty-Five Remedies (mp3)
Away From The Snakes (mp3)
A Little Bit (mp3)
Shook (mp3)

Writer's Corner: Jack Kerouac

"Write what you want bottomless from bottom of mind"

One of my guilty literary pleasures has always been the beat era of the 50's. This weeks starts a several week Writer's Corner feature on the men, women and musicians of the beat generation.

Jack Kerouac, born in Lowell, MA 1922, is the most well-known of the beats, but in my opinion, not the most accomplished. He wrote in a free flowing style he called "Breath", and he let his ideas connect directly with page. This form of writing fit well with the music of the time, bebop, and was most often connected to Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. Kerouac did not like to edit his thoughts or use conventional punctuation. Also called "Spontaneous Prose", Kerouac outlined his method in "Belief and Technique for Modern Prose".

While attending Columbia University on a football scholarship, he met many of the other writers that would become know as the beat generation. He dropped out his sophomore year and joined the merchant marines. This began his journey "on the road". During his life he explored many religions, most notably Buddhism, but remained Catholic to the end. He died in 1969 at the the age of 47.

"I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down." : Jack Kerouac



Mp3's:
Jack Kerouac - October in the Railroad Earth
Charlie Parker & Miles Davis - Charlie's Wig

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Listen to these while you enjoy your feast.

Eef Barzelay - Thanksgving Waves (mp3)
The Shins - Young Pilgrims (mp3)
Adam Sandler - The Thanksgiving Song (mp3)
William S. Burroughs - A Thanksgiving Prayer (video)

Have a great Tofurky Day, give thanks, and enjoy life!

Wednesday's Link:

I'm sure everyone has seen this by now, but if not, check out mad scientists at Eepybird. They are most famous for their Coke and Mentos expirements, but they have more then that to offer.

Watch their latest experiment #214 now!

New Release Tuesday:

Today marks the release of one of the most creative concept albums I've ever heard of: Plague Songs. The album has one song for each of the ten deadly plagues contained in Exodus.
Blood, reptiles, lice (mp3), flies (mp3), disease, boils, hail, locusts (mp3), darkness, and death (mp3). It contains music from Scott Walker, Imogen Heap, Brian Eno, and more!

Other music this week:
Jay-Z - Kingdom Come (mp3) (He's Back!)
Mirah - Joyride: Remixes
Puppini Sisters - Betcha Bottom Dollar (mp3) (Whole new meaning of retro!)
The Shins - Phantom Limbs (mp3) (First single from the new album due in 1/07)
Sufjan Stevens - Song for Christmas (mp3) (Five discs of Christmas music, whoa!)
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - #3 (mp3) (Minty Fresh release of the 2005 album, but still greatness!)
Swan Lake - Beast Moans (mp3) (Super group supreme, Bejar, Krug, and Mercer, oh my!)
The Magic Number - Those The Brakes (mp3) (Last, but not least.)

Great week for music!

DVD's:
You, Me, and Dupree - Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson
Ice Age: The Meltdown
An Inconvenient Truth - Al Gore and his magic "lockbox" of truth.

Here is episode 3 of 6, "Electric Brain" from Demitri Martin.

Monday's Mix:

Today's mix is entitled "The Day I Lost my Dignity!"

Coffee Talk:

This week's discussion is health care reform. Specifically, managed health care vs. universal health care, and how each effects our way of life.

Univerisal health is the system that guarantees health care for every citizen making health care a right and not a benefit. The United State is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee health care to its citizens (link). Propionates of universal health care advocate a single payer system of universal health care. This system would be a payment system and not a delivery system. The health care providers would be in a fee for service practice and not employed by the government. This would differentiate the single payer system from socialized medicine.

More info:
Uhcan
What is it?

Our current system is costly and flawed, but you are free to choose from a nicely printed list of doctors covered by your HMO and really, what more can you ask for? You can quote infant morality rates, life expectancy rates, and look to the almighty Canadian government, but will that answer the real question. Is health care a right or a benefit? Talk amongst yourselves.

"Accountants hover over the earth like hilocopters,

Dropping bits of paper engraved with Hegel's nome."

-Robert Bly from A Dream of Suffocation

Download:

Captain Ahab - "God Told me to Become an Accountant" (mp3)

Saturday Morning Cartoons:

Please enjoy the "Young Folks" animated video from Peter, Bjorn and John while you eat your Cookie Crisp.