josh blog

Ordinary language is all right.

One could divide humanity into two classes:
those who master a metaphor, and those who hold by a formula.
Those with a bent for both are too few, they do not comprise a class.

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9 May '03 08:01:07 AM

Why is every TV review I read at Popmatters so damned expository? This seems even stranger for the reviews written after first air dates. Who are they written for?

Actually, a good deal of the other (music, etc.) reviews on the site confuse me, since they seem directed at an audience more likely to self-select themselves as savvy and intelligent (hello, reviews of high-profile indie records, and hip-hop and pop reviews with "analysis" in them to serious up the proceedings so no one's duped by the pop machine) - surely those audience members don't need the endless stage-setting and rote contextualization?

But then it's more complex than that, because not every review reads that way. This in turn makes me wonder what kind of editorial steering they have, though.

9 May '03 07:20:16 AM

List of further records I have played music from tonight:

Yes, "Roundabout"
Public Image Limited, Second Edition
Steve Reich, Music for 18 Musicians
some Astor Piazzolla comp
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...
Kompakt Total 3
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Howlin' Wolf, "Moanin' at Midnight"
Green Day, "Paper Lanterns"
Tricky, "Christiansands"

9 May '03 06:56:52 AM

Oh holy fucking shit I love Bodily Functions but it's so way way better this way! Matthew Herbert I love you.

There are little... sounds... sounds... and they, uh. Yeah.

Which reminds me: the Matthew Herbert Big Band album is scheduled for release this month. And an Outkast double album soon! And a new Luomo album. And soon Geoff's moving in, so I'll be able to listen to all his hipster nu-indie-not-indie records and vulture off the all important knowledge of which ones to buy (like, he says yo check this Rapture, and Jess says yo check this Rapture, but I know full well Jess might drastically apathize come July or whenever).

9 May '03 06:43:54 AM

Suggested future josh blog slogan: easily amused by both ignorance and erudition and swearing.

9 May '03 06:42:12 AM

"scooby doos shoes" has got to be my number one all-time search referral, I take it solely because of the one time I mentioned it when writing about Jay-Z's "Excuse Me Miss". It pleases me that so many people are apparently curious about this. And to think that I'm curious too (oh really, Jay, shoes, huh, why is that), yet I have never ever myself googled the phrase.

9 May '03 06:40:03 AM

On a related note, I wonder where my fucking PIL album is.

Fucking, fucking, fucking. Some days you have to swear a little extra. Oh and fuck Wiliam Gass (hello Mr. Gass).

9 May '03 06:37:53 AM

I am aware of the potential folly in testing out my new wicked spiff headphones with a Magnetic Fields record.

9 May '03 06:36:36 AM

Also, will I ever start liking sides three and four of Songs in the Key of Life as much as sides one and two?

9 May '03 06:35:48 AM

Pursuant (!) to my comment yesterday about the Oreos and my "experimental" (hah) writing method: these new headphones come with a certain little touch of oh yes hello PARANOIA for a person like me, so easily worried about whether or not I in fact have known someething or noticed something or heard something before or if this is the first time and thus an important revelation to take note of because when it's good it feels like a revelation, so much, at least it did before I started having to listen on shitty $20 headphones all the time. So now every "new" detail, it's "did I ever notice that before huh?" Not just the noticing but the doubt sends shivers down my spine. (!)