Saturday

Fancy dinner night out.

Three dessert wines; a sampler flight of the sweetest wines.

Wine #1: Very good, crisp for such a heavy, sugary wine. Filling on the palate; good spread on the tounge.

Wine #2: Things get interesting. I start to have nostalgia. Other people's nostalgia. Memories of the dock on the lake in New England. Hot summer nights and tire swings. Twilights.

Wine #3: The taste reminded me of dry ice fog. I felt lonely. Pensive and contemplative. Alone. Delicious.

Friday

I know GENIUS when I see it:

Week of March 12, 2003 President Bush tried to get Stevie Wonder's attention by smiling and waving at him.

See the chimpy files: http://harpers.org/GeorgeWBush.html

Can't we impeach that motherfucker yet?

Wednesday

Satyendra Patra: how's preparation of the 4oth? you must be busy
Ty Hardaway: eh, i farm it out
Satyendra Patra: nice
Ty Hardaway: most of it - i do oversight
Satyendra Patra: the boss
Ty Hardaway: hey, what is your gmail account? i remembered marcy.saty, but what is yours
Ty Hardaway: the boss in leiu of a REAL boss
Satyendra Patra: saty.patra***
Ty Hardaway: that's what I thought
Ty Hardaway: the NYer article makes me want to start a school or move to france
Ty Hardaway: we're screwed
Satyendra Patra: yes we are
Satyendra Patra: moving to france is worse
Satyendra Patra: they have their own problems
Ty Hardaway: they sure do
Satyendra Patra: prehaps we need a technocratic school
Satyendra Patra: religious folks need not apply
Ty Hardaway: sure - but ALL religious can apply and are encouraged
Ty Hardaway: we teach respect of all
Satyendra Patra: that is a problem
Ty Hardaway: yes, but we can't weed religion - what kind of liberal would be be :)
Satyendra Patra: to fight fascism, you have to be against them
Ty Hardaway: i know...
Satyendra Patra: to fight fanaticism, you have to be against them
Ty Hardaway: i know...
Ty Hardaway: to fight fiction, you have to be for reality
Satyendra Patra: yep
Ty Hardaway: when people sneeze, I say "voodoo"
Ty Hardaway: people say, "why did you say voodoo?"
Ty Hardaway: I say it's the same as "bless you" - same to me
Satyendra Patra: yeah
Ty Hardaway: it's crazy, man
Ty Hardaway: we have few choices - fighting is looking like our only option
Ty Hardaway: democrats as an organization are too weak
Ty Hardaway: liberals are lazy
Ty Hardaway: we need structure, man
Satyendra Patra: i don't know - i am by not means an atheist or even angnostic but the religious right is making an outright denunciation a tempting thing
Satyendra Patra: lazy yes
Satyendra Patra: i think there is a difference in the american dream
Satyendra Patra: the liberal dream is a personal dream - to do the best for oneself and one's family
Satyendra Patra: the religious right dream is a social
Ty Hardaway: i have firmly moved into OUTRIGHT DENUNCIATION - in set-reset theory, it's my only move
Satyendra Patra: they want to convert everything to their way of thinking
Satyendra Patra: that is "success" for them
Ty Hardaway: i think they are both social dreams, actually. the liberal dream is the "good for us all" dream - the conservative right dream is "what's good for me is what's good for us all" - subtle actually -- we agree
Ty Hardaway: i wouldn't call liberals selfish per se
Ty Hardaway: they/we are TOO caring at times
Satyendra Patra: not selfish
Satyendra Patra: they are willing to live in a place where differences exist as long as those difference don't hinder their own dreams
Satyendra Patra: not the christian right
Ty Hardaway: unfortunately, we now HAVE to get tough, nasty and mean -- ORGANIZED
Satyendra Patra: they are different from regular conservatives
Ty Hardaway: absolutely (pun)
Ty Hardaway: end times
Ty Hardaway: god's will
Ty Hardaway: predetermination
Satyendra Patra: lol
Ty Hardaway: vs
Ty Hardaway: ozone
Ty Hardaway: global equity
Ty Hardaway: peace
Satyendra Patra: maybe we should start and ozone cult
Satyendra Patra: :)
Satyendra Patra: and write a new creationg story
Ty Hardaway: a chapter in my advisor's book (gard advisor) is called "how to start your own cult"
Satyendra Patra: on the first day, ozone was created
Ty Hardaway: he's a persuasion expert
Ty Hardaway: the christian right uses the techniques play by play
Satyendra Patra: yeah, they are quite smart
Ty Hardaway: smart, committed, well-funded, long-term thinking, etc.
Ty Hardaway: all the tools for success
Satyendra Patra: the foundation of all this is actually apathy in the citizens
Ty Hardaway: true
Satyendra Patra: as long as people don't care, they can be persuaded by these means
Satyendra Patra: they are not going to go look for the truth
Ty Hardaway: i guess it has to get worse for the majority, personally, for people to take action, but then the road back to the middle will be really difficult
Ty Hardaway: "support the troops"
Ty Hardaway: "these colors don't run"
Ty Hardaway: Freedom Frieds
Ty Hardaway: Fries
Satyendra Patra: i don't think there is any other way
Satyendra Patra: so teaches history
Ty Hardaway: All classic attitude and persuasion techniques -- pure social psychology
Satyendra Patra: yep
Satyendra Patra: hitler used it
Ty Hardaway: so we will suffer in the interim - probably not us personally
Ty Hardaway: yes the parallels to nazi germany are astounding
Satyendra Patra: i would not count on us not suffering
Ty Hardaway: every google: bush hitler
Ty Hardaway: agreed
Ty Hardaway: but others will suffer much more
Satyendra Patra: the foundation for the "world economy" is quite fragile
Ty Hardaway: we'll suffer cerebrially more than anything
Ty Hardaway: our spirits will suffer
Satyendra Patra: that's for sure
Ty Hardaway: we will feel insult
Ty Hardaway: outrage
Ty Hardaway: breathe nasty air
Ty Hardaway: be bombarded with propaganda
Ty Hardaway: watch our children become republican accountant lawyers
Satyendra Patra: but i don't see any clear alternative leader in the liberal side
Satyendra Patra: clinton?
Satyendra Patra: who?
Ty Hardaway: liberal is such a bad "brand" now
Satyendra Patra: they might
Ty Hardaway: "progressive" is dead
Ty Hardaway: We need to form the New Right
Ty Hardaway: Right as in 'correct' not direction
Satyendra Patra: what if they start telling us that we will go to hell because we are not christians
Ty Hardaway: there is no hell
Ty Hardaway: it's a fairy tale
Satyendra Patra: yeah
Ty Hardaway: prove it
Satyendra Patra: they will be like
Satyendra Patra: remember the early 90s
Satyendra Patra: clinton having blowjobs
Satyendra Patra: that was hell
Ty Hardaway: good for him
Ty Hardaway: if that was hell i hope all our US soldiers in Iraq go to that hell
Satyendra Patra: lol
Ty Hardaway: clinton having blowjobs
Ty Hardaway: my answer: grow up
Ty Hardaway: grow up you sniveling cowards
Ty Hardaway: dean is fighting
Satyendra Patra: i can see one trend that will derail the christian right
Ty Hardaway: i've asked him to keep fighting
Satyendra Patra: in a decade or so
Ty Hardaway: there is not one trend - except for scandel
Ty Hardaway: but they control all information - or soon will
Satyendra Patra: yeah but that will not matter much if the population dynamic changes dramatically
Satyendra Patra: like if the there is a significant hispanic and muslim population increase in the next decade
Satyendra Patra: christian right is a largly white phenomenon
Ty Hardaway: i know. they are taking NPR, PBS, the universities, etc.
Ty Hardaway: yes, but there are huge developing pockets in hispanic and black evangelical
Ty Hardaway: it
Ty Hardaway: is
Ty Hardaway: scary
Satyendra Patra: yes. but what about muslims
Ty Hardaway: bush and co are courting them
Ty Hardaway: what about the dirty terrorists? we should deport or kill them.
Ty Hardaway: see?
Satyendra Patra: yeah. but only while their population is relatively small
Satyendra Patra: that can change
Satyendra Patra: look at britain
Ty Hardaway: it is not difficult to express outrage w/o looking like a kook
Satyendra Patra: france
Ty Hardaway: yes, WORLDWIDE this is happening
Ty Hardaway: and it will impact the US
Ty Hardaway: meanwhile China is waiting...
Ty Hardaway: waiting...
Ty Hardaway: and buying our debt...
Ty Hardaway: and waiting...
Ty Hardaway: the experiment is at its end
Ty Hardaway: we predicted that communism would eat itself
Satyendra Patra: at the right time, they will want us to bail them out so that they can bail us out
Ty Hardaway: democracy too
Ty Hardaway: rampant, uncontrolled democracy (w/o proper checks and balances) is doomed
Ty Hardaway: "democracy" note quotation marks
Satyendra Patra: exactly
Satyendra Patra: that sort of democracy is called apathy
Ty Hardaway: so instead of welcoming change, diversity, etc.
Ty Hardaway: we become total xenophobes, isolationists, arogant pigs
Ty Hardaway: but we have military might second to none...
Ty Hardaway: ...but China builds and waits...
Satyendra Patra: yeah but so did britain, germany and russia at point or another
Ty Hardaway: The Romans
Ty Hardaway: The Greeks
Ty Hardaway: The Spanish
Satyendra Patra: yep
Ty Hardaway: So when we need China to bail us out, we will have control of all oil passage...
Satyendra Patra: i am not opposed to china being the dominant economy
Ty Hardaway: you have no choice!
Satyendra Patra: yeah, but i am not sorry about that either
Ty Hardaway: agreed
Ty Hardaway: fortunately (or unfortunately), my life is 'bout half over.
Ty Hardaway: b and your kids will really have to duke it out
Satyendra Patra: true
Satyendra Patra: see that battle is at a qutie different plane
Satyendra Patra: it is not about being a liberal or religous conservative
Satyendra Patra: it is about having skills
Satyendra Patra: that are relevant at that time
Satyendra Patra: and the way things are going, it does not look that promising for the us
Satyendra Patra: or our kids that is
Ty Hardaway: yeah, that scares the shit out of me
Ty Hardaway: i'm giving this to my dear daughter
Ty Hardaway: fuck!
Satyendra Patra: but that is almost unavoidable
Satyendra Patra: it is a natural phenomenon
Satyendra Patra: change
Satyendra Patra: what goes up must come down
Ty Hardaway: truly i believe that when Bush I uttered New World Order - he was talking some serious shit. much more serious and long-term and permanent than we ever gave him credit for.
Satyendra Patra: yeah the world has always been ruled by techonology
Satyendra Patra: but now that scope is much larger
Satyendra Patra: guns, germs and steel multiplied millions times over
Ty Hardaway: technology? ideology!
Ty Hardaway: see: http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq&key_events=DSM
Satyendra Patra: ideology will always lose
Satyendra Patra: ask hitler
Ty Hardaway: he was close to jumping the hurdle - madness struck
Ty Hardaway: i don't disagree with you though
Ty Hardaway: ideology drives/creates technology - governments/specific adminstrations develop specific plans (patriot act) and weapons (satellite warfare) - it's related
Ty Hardaway: closely related
Satyendra Patra: but in the larger scheme of things, that is really temporary
Satyendra Patra: it will last a few hundred years perhpas at best
Ty Hardaway: true
Satyendra Patra: eventually technology is all about technology for its own sake
Ty Hardaway: well, the way we're ruining our livable environment, we all might have to ban together to survive
Ty Hardaway: this is funny: thechnology and ideology
Satyendra Patra: yeah, even when the earth as we know it desappears
Ty Hardaway: we type IMs to each other, right?
Ty Hardaway: and they are all logged in at NSA
Ty Hardaway: :)
Satyendra Patra: lol
Satyendra Patra: yeah
Satyendra Patra: but tech exists
Satyendra Patra: but who has the time
Satyendra Patra: to snoop of some low leverl banter
Ty Hardaway: exactly
Ty Hardaway: but, put the right combinations of words together and you raise your chances of "getting attention" - the spiders are always trolling
Satyendra Patra: true
Satyendra Patra: it will be an interesting world in the next 10 years
Ty Hardaway: i cannot imagine
Ty Hardaway: exponential change
Satyendra Patra: yeah
Ty Hardaway: and the religious conservatives want it to all look like the idealic Norman Rockwell 1950s.
Satyendra Patra: lol
Satyendra Patra: far from it
Satyendra Patra: it will be more like a sci fi movie
Ty Hardaway: it's so crazy
Satyendra Patra: with lots of poverty at one end
Satyendra Patra: and lots of technology at the other
Ty Hardaway: a really bad sci fi movie
Satyendra Patra: yep
Ty Hardaway: and small pockets of grand wealth
Satyendra Patra: and the two will be fighting it out
Satyendra Patra: poverty will be terrorism
Ty Hardaway: no, the grandly wealthy will hire other poor (military, nat'l guard) to keep the peace
Ty Hardaway: "fighting" it out - but hidden from the overlords!
Ty Hardaway: we have a screenplay in here somewhere
Satyendra Patra: lol
Satyendra Patra: star wars
Satyendra Patra: empire
Satyendra Patra: jedis
Satyendra Patra: resistance
Ty Hardaway: i can always count on our conversations to cheer me up!
Satyendra Patra: lol
Ty Hardaway: Darth Vader = dick cheney
Satyendra Patra: lol
Ty Hardaway: oh well, it is on our shoulders to get some positive traction on change, i suppose
Satyendra Patra: yep
Satyendra Patra: but it is a lot of small steps
Satyendra Patra: insignificant by themselves
Ty Hardaway: well, when you sneeze and i say, "voodoo" you'll know why
Satyendra Patra: yup
Ty Hardaway: open a few eyes, challenge assumptions, etc.
Satyendra Patra: yep
Ty Hardaway: saddens me that i won't be able to open history texts from, say, the year 3030 and see what happened (or, at least, what the spin will be)
Satyendra Patra: yeah
Ty Hardaway: O well...something to ponder, my brilliant friend
Ty Hardaway: you certainly keep me alive...it will be great to have you here again
Satyendra Patra: if we ponder too much, we go nuts though
Satyendra Patra: yes it will great to be back
Ty Hardaway: that's why we need each other - for sanity
Satyendra Patra: it might be as early as aug 1
Ty Hardaway: i'll be here
Satyendra Patra: agreed
Ty Hardaway: subtle balancing act: pondering/action/sanity/apathy
Satyendra Patra: yes, quite a bit of selection
Satyendra Patra: right now i am ignoring most news
Satyendra Patra: for instance
Ty Hardaway: me too!
Satyendra Patra: focusing on health issue like diet, exercise etc
Ty Hardaway: good for you (and all your loved ones)
Satyendra Patra: exactly
Satyendra Patra: can't croak at 40
Ty Hardaway: keep all of your eyes open though, count on us
Satyendra Patra: there will be no time to ponder
Ty Hardaway: i'll be 40 in four months!
Ty Hardaway: that may be for the best, Saty...
Ty Hardaway: can i publish this thread in my blog?
Satyendra Patra: sure
Ty Hardaway: later, gator
Ty Hardaway: say hey to Marcy
Satyendra Patra: lator
Ty Hardaway: :)
Satyendra Patra: yep and same to b and a
A Music/Culture Review:

It hasn't been a good year for Big music (with the exception of M.I.A and the Eels new records). As a lifelong music fan and musician, I've never liked Coldplay. I gave them a listen and I don't hate 'em, but I'd never intentionally listen to 'em either. Good musicians, formulaic, predictable and grossly overproduced, it's fairly typical of what Dave Matthews brought to the world.

But they have good marketing techniques and that I don't curse them for that. It's good to be big, I suppose.

I was curious what the deal was (since people are talking and maybe I wasn't getting it - that happens) so I took a look at what the pros are saying and it pretty much sums up my attitude:

NY Times:

"But Coldplay follow-throughs are redundant; from the beginning, Coldplay has verged on self-parody. When he moans his verses, Mr. Martin can sound so sorry for himself that there's hardly room to sympathize for him, and when he's not mixing metaphors, he fearlessly slings clichés."

Pitchfork:

"Like Coldplay's two previous albums, only more so, X&Y is bland but never offensive, listenable but not memorable. It may be pointless to hate them, but with this album, they've almost certainly become the easiest band on the planet to be completely indifferent to."

Rolling Stone:

"It's the sound of a blown-up band trying not to deflate.... Compared to all the hubbub about Chris Martin the celebrity, his band's return to the American pop charts was a bit of a letdown."

Spin:

By ratcheting up their guitars and still singing about everyday themes, Coldplay are recasting their nerdy-student Britpop as Important Rock Music without sacrificing the homespun vibe that allowed Martin's fans to believe that he wrote a song for each one of them and called it "Yellow."