Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Some Suggestions:

Good afternoon all, this will just be a quick post with a few suggestions for your listening/watching/reading pleasure. I might pop by to drop a few of these nuggets a month for anybody looking for something to read/watch/listen to. So here goes:

Listen: I just picked up the soundtrack to the movie "Shutter Island" that is comprised entirely of modern classical music, assembled by none other than the great Robbie Robertson. Saw the movie a couple weekends ago and really enjoyed it. Part of its greatness is the soundtrack, which is at times jarring and abrasive, but always perfect for the film. All in all, this is a pretty good entry into modern classical music, but its not exactly an easy entry.

Watch: Well, I recommend "Shutter island" which was pretty fantastic, but I don't really want to make this a two-for, so instead I will suggest the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. As I actually have no idea whether anyone reads this or not, and I definitely don't know if my potential readers are hockey fan's, this suggestion could be pointless. But if you are not a hockey fan, I highly recommend you start watching the playoffs. San Jose with a stranglehold on Detroit? Pittsburgh/Montreal in one of the more entertaining series I've seen? And with Vancouver/Chicago and Boston/Philly looking like they are going to get real ugly, real quick, there really isn't much more you could ask for. So if you aren't already, start that playoff beard and see if Detroit can come back from impossible odds, or if it's finally San Jose's year, or if the Canucks can get it done, or if Sidney is going to repeat. Either way, it will be entertaining.

Read: Already recommended "The Rest is Noise" but it still stands. But right now I am going to suggest you read the journalism and books of one Dan Gardner. He is a Vulcan-like logical thinker, and has gone a long way to influencing me and the thought process I would like to have. At the very least his writing and overall style have taught me to look at anything, regardless of how certain I am in it, from all sides to measure the actual evidence in its favour. Very good, and very challenging stuff. Also, I have used some of his arguments multiple times when arguing for marijuana legalization (and all drugs, for that matter) with friends who would trend more towards the "we can win the war on drugs" mind set. Definitely worth the read.

Alright, so that's it for now. Enjoy these suggestions, and feel free to leave me some feed back. The only comments I get appear to be from Chinese Spam Trolls, and I don't think they are commenting on the finer points of Mahler.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Quick Thoughts:

New worst artist making music right now: Kei$a.

Good God is she fu*king dreadful. Just absolutley terrible.