If you associate Guns N’ Roses with something beyond Paradise City and Sweet Child ‘O Mine, go out and buy Chinese Democracy. It’s like opening up a time capsule from 20 years ago, filled with things you’ve never seen yet feel so familiar.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG2mcOI4oME[/youtube]
I’m not exactly sure why I feel so compelled to recommend it, but the more I listen, the more I’m wanting to make sure that those who have long since written the album off don’t miss it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTjKWq9Gges[/youtube]
Well, that was a bit of an unplanned break. Thanks for the notes of concern – everything’s fine. Just a confluence of things (some great, some not so much) that made it very hard to keep my full juggling act going. Back in action, now. Time to bring on the dancing horses:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaWs79v0ugE[/youtube]
The author is currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQa2-OUsnn4[/youtube]
Utterly unrelated to anything while being related to everything:
Just thought it was terribly interesting.
Facebook is a strange place. Maybe it’s because it’s been 15 years since I’ve discovered what it is to connect with people online that I’ve very little patience for the learning cycles of folks who are (still) new to the concept. Or maybe it’s because I myself am learning something new – that sometimes there’s a good reason you’ve not kept up with people. Have seen a lot of names from high school lately (and yes, on balance, it’s been good, even tho’ it’s never the ones you really wonder about). Throws me back in the playlists. This is the result:
Hoodoo Gurus – Come Anytime
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MAzxtJ-IUQ[/youtube]
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians – What I Am
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JNkBby9i6g[/youtube]
REM – Pop Song ’89
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXfAjrqzrQ[/youtube]
Hello, I saw you, I know you, I knew you
I think I can remember your name…name
Hello I’m sorry, I lost myself
I think I thought you were someone else
Should we talk about the weather? (hi…hi, hi)
Should we talk about the government? (hi…hi, hi, hi)
Saw Slumdog Millionaire last week. It was a fine enough movie – I mostly agree with the review here (particularly the well-shot high-speed travelogue bit). But the soundtrack . . . brilliant. Like, picked it up right after the movie brilliant. It’s been in heavy rotation since, and I thought at least a few of you might appreciate it, too. Here’s one of my favorite tracks:
Like many of you, I spent much of the past few days glued to coverage of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Like a number of you, the places I saw burning on the screen were spaces I’ve moved through. Taken in. And as with millions and millions of others, Mumbai was made a part of my time on this planet.  It is, at once, a completely foreign and utterly familiar place. It is against that backdrop – and the experience of terrorists attacking my own city – that I found myself very much agreeing with this piece by Suketu Mehta:
The terrorists’ message was clear: Stay away from Mumbai or you will get killed. Cricket matches with visiting English and Australian teams have been shelved. Japanese and Western companies have closed their Mumbai offices and prohibited their employees from visiting the city. Tour groups are canceling long-planned trips.
But the best answer to the terrorists is to dream bigger, make even more money, and visit Mumbai more than ever. Dream of making a good home for all Mumbaikars, not just the denizens of $500-a-night hotel rooms. Dream not just of Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai or Shah Rukh Khan, but of clean running water, humane mass transit, better toilets, a responsive government. Make a killing not in God’s name but in the stock market, and then turn up the forbidden music and dance; work hard and party harder.
If the rest of the world wants to help, it should run toward the explosion.
Run toward it.
Update: Leopold Cafe is open for business. This is how you do it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ-e6auWXU8[/youtube]
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