Another mansion
December 2011
44 posts
“‘political correctness’ revisited
We live in the age of ‘transparency’ or what I once heard Michael Power describe as ‘the age of permanent audit’. This is thanks to the presence, sometimes ubiquity, of technologies which make audit the default option, and inaudit (or privacy) a form of specified opt-out. For celebrities, these include legal and quasi-legal forms of media surveillance; for the powerful, it means the constant threat of leaks, the publication of money-grabbing memoirs and Freedom of Information Requests; for the rest of us, it means facebook and digital cameras.” —http://potlatch.typepad.com/weblog/2011/12/political-correctness-revisited.html
We live in the age of ‘transparency’ or what I once heard Michael Power describe as ‘the age of permanent audit’. This is thanks to the presence, sometimes ubiquity, of technologies which make audit the default option, and inaudit (or privacy) a form of specified opt-out. For celebrities, these include legal and quasi-legal forms of media surveillance; for the powerful, it means the constant threat of leaks, the publication of money-grabbing memoirs and Freedom of Information Requests; for the rest of us, it means facebook and digital cameras.” —http://potlatch.typepad.com/weblog/2011/12/political-correctness-revisited.html
Laurie Anderson asked me for a light
I was visiting the Tate Modern gallery in London when Laurie Anderson approached me and asked me if I had a light for her cigarette.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t smoke,’ I said.
She thanked me anyway and got a light from somebody else
by lonepilgrim
recognition - an early Christmas present
“Here is a ghost story for Christmas - it is a brief history of the appearance of ghosts and poltergeists and other spirits on television. Not fictional ghosts - but real ones, or the reports of their appearances, that you find in various news and documentary programmes.”
—http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2011/12/the_ghosts_in_the_living_room.html
“Thomas Friedman famously offered the ‘Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention’, on the basis that no two nations with a McDonalds within their borders had ever gone to war. Allow me to offer its successor: the ‘White Goalposts Theory of Crisis Resolution’. This theory states that we will know that our present economic crisis is being resolved (rather than deepened), once a front-bench politician comes out and publicly attacks football, in terms of its business models, culture and economic norms, and not only for its sporadic eruptions of racism or corruption.”
—http://potlatch.typepad.com/weblog/2011/12/the-demise-of-football.html
Play
3:54
Just a Lonely Christmas Mix →
megaupload.com
christmas classics, past and present
My mix for 2011. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find as much time as I wanted to create this, so it’s a bit haphazard (and, although I’m not trying to be comprehensive, I missed whole swaths of popular music. I’m only human, born to make mistakes, etc.). I tried to avoid the familiar, over-exposed pop records and traditional songs you all know, and love or hate or ignore (if you can). Sure, I love A Christmas Gift For You, too, but have you heard June Christy’s This Time of Year or Ella Fitzgerald’s A Swinging Christmas? They’re just as worthy of your time, and they weren’t produced by an egotistical murderer! Also, I’m a humanist, so there are plenty of songs about being alone/missing someone/feeling despondent/freezing in (or embracing) the cold weather/not doing drugs on Christmas, and not many religious tunes (but I couldn’t resist including Dinah Washington). I’m sorry, that’s how I am. Bah, humbug, etc., enjoy!
(Note: it wasn’t until I finished the mix that I realized I forgot to include Father Christmas by The Kinks. Dang. Well, here you go. Apologies, down with rich kids, etc.)
Santa Claus Spectrum
Twistin’ Bells Santo and Johnny
Good Morning Blues Ella Fitzgerald
The Jolly Christmas Polka Buck Owens
Just Like Christmas Low
Christmas Time is Here Again The Flirtations
Spotlight on Christmas Rufus Wainwright
Feliz Navi-Nada El Vez (with an assist from a certain classic post-punk record)
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Art Carney (Norton does be-bop!)
Santa Doesn’t Cop Out on Dope Martin Mull
Winter Weather Fats Waller
The Blizzard Camera Obscura
Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter Bing Crosby
Siberian Sleighride Don Byron
Jingle Bells Johnny Mercer
Winter Weather Benny Goodman/Peggy Lee
Snowfall John Zorn (yes, really, he made a Christmas record, and it’s great)
This Time of Year June Christie
Christmas Spirit Julia Lee and Her Boyfriends
Merry Christmas, Baby Elvis Presley
Lonely Christmas Call George Jones
I’ll Be Home For Christmas Tift Merritt
Remember (Christmas) Harry Nilsson
Just a Lonely Christmas The Moonglows
Christmas Ain’t Like Christmas Anymore Kitty Wells
Christ Was Born on Christmas Morn The Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers
Silent Night Dinah Washington
Merry X-mas, You Suckers (and a Happy New Year) Paddy Roberts
“Nut theft has long been a reality here in the nation’s pecan belt. It has become such a way of life that a south Georgia rapper, Hawkdogg, even has a song about it: “Crank Dat Pecan.” But this season, which began in October and ends in January, the thefts appear to be at record levels, growers and the police say.”
—http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/us/in-georgia-pecan-thieves-find-windfall-at-1-50-a-pound.html
