Disqus - Latest Comments for offnotesnotes

Re: Hardcore for Nerds - Pauline Kael always hates the movies I love, but...

offnotesnotes — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:46:44 -0000

"all emic realities are equally valid" = by definition, at least in this book, because they're a way of looking at the world rather than the world itself (etic reality, which is inherently unknowable except through our own emic viewpoints)

as RAW writes: "If you wish to deny this, please send me a complete description of etic reality, without using words, music or other forms of human symbolism. (Send it express. I have wanted to see it for decades.)"

Re: Synaptic Burble Baubles & Infinite Ammo

offnotesnotes — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:51:29 -0000

ha, well, i do think the death of newspapers threatens our democracy, because of the vast cost of decent investigative journalism! see some numbers that were going around recently on all the money the boston globe spent breaking the story of priests' child abuse. in a world where such reporting is worth less $$ than spouting opinions, our democracy IS threatened.

Re: Fluxtumblr - This is seriously some of the best advice...

offnotesnotes — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:41:39 -0000

and... now i'm depressed. and on brain crack.

Re: offnotesnotes - Hit & Run > Reason.com: Barely Hitting Above the Mendoza Sotomayor Line[*] - Reason Magazine

offnotesnotes — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:16:22 -0000

ha! thanks for checking, though. that's classic.

and i mean, to be fair, the fact that most libertarians are probably white
males doesn't mean they're wrong, necessarily-- i'm a white guy, and i'm
always right!-- just means it's understandable that they would lack
"empathy" for this SCOTUS pick...

Re: offnotesnotes - And you may find yourself...: Bad Music Writing

offnotesnotes — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:37:20 -0000

calls for the head of jack white are always welcome around here

Re: offnotesnotes - Just A Block Away (YOURS0094) Not sure what this...

offnotesnotes — Sun, 24 May 2009 11:37:06 -0000

thanks! ha, i should've guessed... the only group that meets the description
from my post. do you know the title of the song? thanks again.

Re: offnotesnotes - “Yes, you discovered Daft Punk ten years after...

offnotesnotes — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:03:14 -0000

Yes, after a fashion...

Re: Hello Blog? Its me Alex. Are you listening? - offnotesnotes: The Lucksmiths: “Great Lengths” ...

offnotesnotes — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:59:56 -0000

if you like that, it's worth picking up their second-to-last LP, Warmer Corners. their newer album is a bit subtler, and their previous stuff has its ups and downs, but there's plenty more to explore if you're still feeling these guys (i name off some other songs in a comment on the original post, if you're interested). definite personal faves of mine.

all best,
marc

Re: offnotesnotes - The Lucksmiths: “Great Lengths” remember that we...

offnotesnotes — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:23:43 -0000

i guess Warmer Corners seems to be the one everybody likes best, and it's
probably my favorite album as a whole, too. they also had a fine compilation
a year or two ago, Spring a Leak. what hooked me on them, though, were the
faster songs on Naturaliste: Camera Shy, Midweek Midmorning, Take This Lying
Down, and then slower, sadder stuff like Sandringham Line ("i sat backwards
on the train and suddenly the city was further and further in front of me")
and the rest. their pre-Naturaliste albums are hit or miss, but "Under the
Rotunda" and "T-Shirt Weather" are a couple of my faves. basically, sunny
jangly guitar-pop with well-phrased lyrics and elegantly crooned vocals by a
guy who also plays drums standing up, with their themes, production, and
craft evolving into something more and more distinctive over the years
(their earliest stuff you could write off as belle & sebastian without the
sexual ambiguity if you wanted to, but it would be your loss!). the main
songwriter is guitarist marty donald, and all of his compositions are
superb. i also really like their new album, First Frost, though it's
probably their most subtlety-driven record, so you might not want to start
there.

Re: Can music be "objectively good"?

offnotesnotes — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:14:45 -0000

nonono, just this one time ;-)

Re: Can music be "objectively good"?

offnotesnotes — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:32:35 -0000

totally agreed, probably even with the typos :-)

i was actually think of a different dave who is audiophilic, but i'm glad to
hear we're on the same page on this! great points, especially about people
looking for reasons to dismiss things other than taste

Re: Can music be "objectively good"?

offnotesnotes — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:08:52 -0000

interesting, thanks! but doesn't seem like a counterpoint so much, unless
i'm missing something: "What I'm saying is that in the real world, these
differences of opinion are respected. In the cartoon world here, there's
only one correct opinion and the other side is turned into a caricature." he
seems to be defending his view that in his own experience, music sounds
better on certain equipment-- which would seem to be different than making
an argument about the quality, objective or otherwise, of the music itself.
(contrary to one of his points, however, my most audiophilic friend does
mostly listen to the same few albums over and over again, a point we joke
about-- it's almost an inverted example of my own constant devouring of new
music. i guess these steel dan guys sound pretty good ;-) ... dave, you out
there? thoughts on this article?)

Re: Blue Lines Revisited - Release the worms!

offnotesnotes — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:45:10 -0000

thanks tom! believe it or not, i lost followers over this one. ah, tumblarity. :-P

Re: offnotesnotes - Okay, so I didn’t name this thing, but I did come...

offnotesnotes — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:16:12 -0000

ha, i think Deer Tick is pretty obscure even if you're way into this stuff,
tho now it's on nbc of course and totally passe ;-)

but yeah, great social observations, definitely v. interesting stuff!

Re: offnotesnotes - Mr. Justice Gore: Hendrik Hertzberg: Online Only: The New Yorker

offnotesnotes — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:45:14 -0000

yeah, this isn't very realistic-- but whatta headfake it'd be!

Re: Blue Lines Revisited - And you may find yourself...: Bad Music Writing

offnotesnotes — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:57:22 -0000

you know, you're probably right!

it does seem like, more generally, every so often you do hear somebody complaining about that pernicious lester bangs influence (usually bc they haven't read marcus/meltzer). and i don't know how closely you followed p4k pre-scottpl, but there was some mighty fine overreaching in those early years (and some awful overreaching, too, of course, and some reprehensible myopia, but the point is that they were willing to risk being awful in an effort to be great! not just settling for "unobjectionable", the way people do every day in school/jobs/life)

Re: Sebadoh "Infatuation Or True Desire"

offnotesnotes — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:22:26 -0000

oh man, nailed a lot of my favorites again here! awesome

Re: offnotesnotes - Democrats will understandably celebrate today’s...

offnotesnotes — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:57:44 -0000

Ah, OK, thanks for the link! That makes sense. It's still just an Atrios
post summarizing David Shuster, apparently (the nice guy who said Chelsea
was being "pimped out"), but oh well, I guess this IS the internet.

Overall, agree to disagree on this one, I suppose... My view: How much time
does Specter have left in office, realistically? From the progressive
perspective, I say let him retire a Democrat, show that Obama's is the big
tent that independent voters should join, and let Republicans be the ones
who whine about RINOs, use divisive language, and shrink their constituency.
Plenty of Dems voted for the Patriot Act and the Bush tax cuts. George
McGovern opposes the EFCA. There's room within the liberal coalition for
differing views. Specter favors abortion rights, right? And it allows Dems
to spend money elsewhere this cycle.

Time will tell!

Re: offnotesnotes - karenh: “In a digital age, vinyl albums are...

offnotesnotes — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:45:13 -0000

check plus :)

Re: offnotesnotes - First of all, I’m not quite sure you should be...

offnotesnotes — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:22:42 -0000

(referring to the 12-year-olds.)

Re: offnotesnotes - First of all, I’m not quite sure you should be...

offnotesnotes — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:08:23 -0000

Blogbarians at the-- what are you, college sophomores?

Re: Blue Lines Revisited - Punk-meets-disco is an awkward proposition

offnotesnotes — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:56:03 -0000

i love this record, too! it's probably my favorite of theirs, at least at this moment (although "maps" is still probably my favorite individual YYYs song)

Re: offnotesnotes - fleetfootedfox: shorterexcerpts: ...

offnotesnotes — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:02:22 -0000

ewwwwww

Re: Blue Lines Revisited - In this [suburban English male] world, American...

offnotesnotes — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:24:20 -0000

On phone in airport now, remember you having some fun with my
suggestion that opinions could be "pulled from the air" (probably
inexact quote), fun which is much more understandable if you had felt
personally attacked (pretty sure that wasn't my intent, glad to have
this cleared up! Otherwise I'd have to assume every ad pitchman was
sincere, a blow so dizzying to my psyche I probably wouldn't be able
to decide what to order from this airport tgi friday's (sigh))...

Re: Blue Lines Revisited - In this [suburban English male] world, American...

offnotesnotes — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:52:18 -0000

HERE*: Safe, suburban, white/Asian, American, college-educated (or music
perceived as being intended for this audience)

ELSEWHERE*: Everything else and music perceived as being intended for those
other audiences = REAL

* refers to MY extrapolation of Frith's phrase which, as you correctly
surmise, is different than Frith's original meaning and your version too

"I’ve never heard ‘suburban’ or ‘safe’ used to praise a pop song." - Frank
Kogan

Well, maybe we should start using "suburban" or "safe" to praise pop songs
when deserved, right? Paradoxically, I've known plenty of fans of safe and
suburban music (such as Maroon 5) whose enjoyment of said music-- perhaps
like your childhood enjoyment of the Kingston Trio? not sure, just throwing
it out there-- was richer and more "real," at least in my admittedly
subjective experience, than "indie/bohemian" types' enjoyment of most of
their short-lived, downloaded and deleted pleasures. So in the safe,
suburban world, too, as "elsewhere," there's a possibility of liking
something WITHOUT putting yourself at a distance from it. And yet why are
the safe suburbanites the ones whom the (often) formerly safe, suburban
indie/bohemian types typically mock for their worn-out copies of Bob
Marley's* Legend* (or, say, for being lit geeks who like Dickens and the
Decemberists?), while anything elsewhere can potentially be real? Or at
least evidence of an eclectic taste? I recognize that there's a lot that's
super annoying about suburban, safe, college-educated white people, but I
don't hold them with the same disdain that many of my peers seem to; a lot
of the safe/suburban/etc.s are really, really nice! I identify with the
squares more than I identify with indie/bohemians, really.

(I remember you and Dave Moore once expressing bewilderment that anyone
could pretend to have an opinion that they didn't actually have; as such, I
fear our conversations may forever feel to me like a couple of lines that
never intersect, but I hope not-- apologies for my terseness earlier)

a modest project along these lines:
http://johnmayerwillchangey...

all best,
m