ishmael n. daro

May 2nd, 2010

The appalling state of pop music

I don’t follow popular music anymore. Not having cable makes it pretty easy to ignore pop stars and all the surrounding gossip that comes with them. And since I haven’t bought groceries in months, I also don’t have to see these celebrities’ faces on magazines at the checkout.

The new Christina Aguilera music video for “Not Myself Tonight” snuck up on me on YouTube and it required some soul-searching.

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Tags: Music resources, pop culture

April 23rd, 2010

TED Talk: James Randi

James Randi is such a quirky old man. After performing as a magician for decades, he turned his attention to debunking quacks, frauds and charlatans. That includes things like alternative medicine, psychics, and all other forms of bullshit.

In this 2007 TED Talk, Randi talks about his foundation and about trying to fight back against pseudoscience — and he does it all while wearing his pants impossibly high.

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Tags: Skepticism, web finds

April 20th, 2010

Flickr finds

I’m not entirely sure what is happening here, but it looks awesome!

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/bombeador/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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Tags: Flickr finds, web, web finds

April 17th, 2010

What a shitty planet

Even the editors seem to have been put of by the premise of this story, deeming it “a most unusual novel.” After all, who wants to read about The Planet of Shame?

This is the May issue of Amazing Stories from 1961. A great gallery of hundreds of covers can be found here.

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April 17th, 2010

Deer Tick – Twenty Miles

Deer Tick is a five-piece band form Providence, Rhode Island led by singer-songwriter John McCauley. They are set to release their third studio album, The Black Dirt Sessions on June 8, which will apparently have a melancholy mood to it, as evidenced by such song titles as “Sad Sun,” “Blood Moon” and “Goodbye, Dear Friend.”

The first single off The Black Dirt Sessions has been making the rounds on the internets, and I have been listening to it on repeat for the last week. McCauley’s scratchy singing works perfectly with the folk-country music and wistful lyrics of lost love. Stereogum has the song available for download here.

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Deer Tick – Twenty Miles

[MySpace] [iTunes] [Amazon]

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Tags: songs

April 10th, 2010

Flickr finds

Where does one get a globe this size?

Hugo Chavez helpfully points out Venezuela's location on the globe to visiting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who seems not to be awake

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In a related matter, I just came across the Flickr stream for Globovisión, a Venezuelan news service that has managed to maintain some independence despite the bullying of the Chavez government. Globovisión’s Flickr photos are all under Creative Commons licensing, which is wonderful.

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Tags: Flickr finds, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin

April 8th, 2010

The Beard Sagas

I’ve been growing a beard since about November. It recently met the blade during a sleepless night at home. Some people stay up late and eat compulsively, create art, or write death threats to their congressmen. Me, I start chopping at hair. Here are the results.

Before:

After:

What I have learned from all this is that a) I can always fall back on a decent beard when I start balding and b) I have a pretty weak chin. Thanks, genetics.

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Tags: facial hair

March 15th, 2010

Flickr finds

It’s known as a “lionhead rabbit.”

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photo: Flickr

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Tags: Flickr finds

February 15th, 2010

Afghan Women’s Magazine

My mother had this “Afghan Women’s Magazine” lying around and the cover was simply too great not to share.

Not only is the person on the cover of the Afghan Women’s Magazine not a woman, but he doesn’t seem all that excited about being on the cover anyway, what with his crossed arms and disinterested stare at the camera. Perhaps to make up for his lack of enthusiasm, the publishers added the radiating lines behind him, giving him that “glorious Japanese Empire” look.

Although I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for a man to be on the cover of this women’s magazine, it reminds me of an Onion story I read last year. The headline, “Man Finally Put In Charge Of Struggling Feminist Movement,” pretty much says it all.

Posted in musings, random | 1 Comment »

Tags: Afghan women, Afghanistan, feminism, magazines

January 24th, 2010

Power to the web

There is something strangely inspiring about these Google videos — although ads would be a better description. The reason they don’t seem like ads is that most people already use Google search, YouTube, Gmail, Blogger, or any other combination of Google services so frequently that an advertisement for those services makes no sense. No one advertises for oxygen, after all. That’s how all-encompassing some web services have become, and I would include Facebook in that list.

In any case, these Google “ads” are strangely inspirational, empowering even. Weird, I know.

The National

Potholes

Paris Love Affair

There are more videos like these on YouTube but these three were my personal favourites.

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Tags: Google, video, web finds, YouTube

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ishmael n. daro

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Archive for ‘random’

The appalling state of pop music

TED Talk: James Randi

Flickr finds

What a shitty planet

Deer Tick – Twenty Miles

Flickr finds

The Beard Sagas

Before:

After:

Flickr finds

Afghan Women’s Magazine

Power to the web

The National

Potholes

Paris Love Affair

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