http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sun, 10 Nov 2002 18:19:59 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/11/10/181959.php Jason RubensteinIt's called "The most honored anthology of fantastic fiction ever published.", and that my friends is no mean boast. If you're a fan of speculative fiction, you already know about this collection. If you're not, then run to your bookstore and grab a copy - and you have three different covers to choose from - and get comfortable and enjoy the book that raised the standard for the genre.The new edition is complete, and includes a new foreward by Michael Moorcock and a new introduction by the editor himself, Harlan Ellison.Ellison had a dream: to find the most eloquent, the best writers and get them to contribute to a new anthology that would set a new standard of quality and imagination. Ellison collected stories and threaded them together with his own commentary, itself worth the price of the book. To hold in your hands a good collection of stories is a joy, an entertainment, a very good thing indeed. But to hold in your hands a dream made tangible, a product of someone's true passion and joy... well, that puts a whole new spin on things. Thirty-three stories, each of 'em entertaining, each of 'em have guts, and each of 'em did indeed raise the bar for future writers. Without Dangerous Visions, it is a good guess that the Cyberpunk collections of the 80s and 90s wouldn't have happened. Certainly Bruce Sterling's anthology Mirrorshades would perhaps not have happened, as this younger generation looked to the authors of Ellison's collection as top-shelf, as idols, as the heroes and the inspiration of the genre. So without further ado, happy 35, Dangerous Visions. Books1764@blogcritics.org Sun, 10 Nov 2002 18:19:59 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/26/014240.php Jason RubensteinAn excerpt from a letter to a colleague of mine...North of L.A., 2001. Hi [name withheld to protect the supposedly innocent]. All is well here.. and rainy. Very very nice. I hope it rains for a few days.. it'd be a nice switch from all this boring sunshine. And the garden loves it.. all of a sudden the Salvia remembered that they're flowers, and the yard is considerably bluer than it was a week ago. Alas, my tomatoes didn't make it. Shaddup. The tomatoes in the garden.. I planted beefsteak variety, which are HUGE and require scaffolding, teamsters, and a crane to grow propely. Next year, hothouse. The basil went off like weeds, which is great. I had to give each of my neighbors a whole plant (like 3 feet tall and enough for 3 cups of pesto each). It didn't occur to me until too late that if I plant enough veggies, we could save about $30 each trip to the supermarket. When I put the garden in, some old sun-weathered retired-type told me "If you use this bag (Nitrohumus) and this bag (redwood mulch) and this stuff (rough topsoil), you can plant rocks and they'll grow!" He weren't kidding. I dropped a nickel and got $10 bills a few weeks later. I also dropped a habanero pepper and in a week had three shootlings. I then stood in the garden for a week, hoping to go to 5'7", but it didn't work. I'm still 5'5". Next time I'll take off my shoes.[an update the following year..] Yo. Well, with three dogs and a small yard, the grass gave up, went on strike, and is now taking the dirt nap. Waitaminnit, let me re-phrase. The grass died. From green to dog-pee yellow, which was not coincidental. So we did what every good suburbanite would do, we put in a deck. Not just a deck, but a deck made of recycled plastics.. some kind of faux wood stuff that won't deteriorate until the year 6218. That's neither in dog years nor jewish calendar, that's as close to forever as I want to get. Anyway, so now we have a pot garden. No. Not like that. What am I, from Vancouver?? A garden in pots. Potted plants. All over, with the potted plants, and it is quite nice. We got all kinds of flowers, with scientific names like "blue ones", "white ones" and the ubiquitous "yellow stinky ones". We did get a rose, but the pup played tug-of-war with the rose plant and the plant lost. The rose wound up under the couch. Ah, but the veggie garden has an early start. Three normal tomato plants this year, a few bell peppers and of course hot peppers. This year: radishes!! Boy, did we get radishes. You don't know from radishes, lemme tell ya. I planted seeds in a nice little row, watered, and kaBAM I got a rows of green leaves and a billion radish plants popped up. What the hell? Happy little bastards. You can't handle the radi... nevermind. Anyway, I also planted doggie grass. Yes, Virginia, that is where dogs come from. Or at least where hippie dogs come from. Actually, that's not true. It is grass that appeals to dogs, and by gosh it really does. In about two weeks the pot had a full head of green unkempt hair that the mutts munched on as if they were a trio of barking cows. It is supposed to make them feel good and help their digestion, and add nutrients to their doggie systems. They ate the doggie grass. They then all proceeded to throw-up. Did I mentioned we tiled the concrete patio? Thank goodness. So much for that experiment. From now on, kibble and the occasional cooked zuccini. Thats the garden report for now. By the time you visit, we should be up to our poopiks in tomatoes and peppers. If not, we'll have radishes.(re-posted from tonecluster.com, May 8 2002) Culture918@blogcritics.org Thu, 26 Sep 2002 01:42:40 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/26/013430.php Jason RubensteinThe following is a repeat from tonecluster.com, July 11 2002.This drives me crazy. I mean, really, really, bugfuck, wacko, banana-nut, out of my mes-o-po-tamian* mind crazy. Mac vs. PC.** You know the argument, it's been going on since 1984. Mac is better than PC. PC is better than Mac. You use a PC? Must be a Republican. You use a Mac? Must have voted for Nader. And so on. And so forth. Mac! PC! PC! Mac!Jeezus H. Goddamned Murphy and his All-Girl Orchestra, all of you please shut the fuck up and listen, because I am only going to talk about this once!A computer is a tool. OK? This means a PC is a tool, and a Mac is a tool. Right? Tools. Now go look inside your toolbox, the one in your garage, for a moment. Do you see a hammer? A screwdriver? A saw maybe? How about a pliers, a socket-set, a channel locks? Great! Because just as certain jobs around the house require certain tools to make that job easier to accomplish and with possibly better results, certain computer-related tasks also require different tools. You could pound a nail into the wall with the butt-end of a screwdriver, or more to the point of the analogy drive a metric bolt with an imperial socket. But it will take extra time, additional annoyance, and greater expense. I have been working in the computer field for a long freakin' time, and every time this kind of argument comes up my teeth immediately go on edge, I turn a vibrant shade of red and my blood increases in temperature in the tens of degrees. Not only PC vs. Mac, but NT Server vs. AS/400, or Oracle vs. SQL Server, and so on and so forth until the stupidity of the situation demands large weapons and shouting. Not necessarily in that order, by the way. Yet again, this comes down to asking the correct question. The correct question is not "Which computer is better?", the correct question is "Which computer is better for use in the system we're building to support the business model"? And yes, friends, even you at home have a business model, though you may not have a business in the strictest sense. Think of whatever you need to do on a computer as your business. More on personal use in a moment.Now that we have the correct question, the answer can be had via some analysis. Here is a good, real-life case-study:A printed-documents manufacturer runs an MS NT Server (PC) based operation. Every customer service representative, who is also a graphic artist, has an MS NT client on their desk and must prepare the customer's graphics for printing before sending the work to the production floor. This is their pre-production business process. Some customers are also PC-based and their work requires little 'massaging' to prepare it for production. But most customers are Mac-based, as the Mac is the de-facto industry standard for graphics and publishing. The customer service reps must perform several additional tasks to massage the incoming Mac files before they're ready for pre-production, and these additional tasks are expensive in time and therefore in money. The directors denied requests for Macs for certain workers on the basis of the old PC-is-better-than-Mac bias. After a cost-benefit analysis was performed, it was discovered that a Mac on some desks would increase productivity by a certain percentage and the Macs would pay for themselves after a certain acceptable amount of time, while incurring few demands on maintenance resources. In short, in this case the Mac was the correct tool for a specific job.See how easy that was? Still not convinced? I am, and here's why: in my office/studio I have both a PC and a Mac. The PC is what I use for business, programming, e-mail, games, and so on. Everything but the music. I use a Mac for music, and only music. The Mac is mission-critical in my studio. The PC is mission-critical in my office. AH, but I can hear the arguments bubble up already. Here they come. "Aha!! But you can run a studio on a PC and you can run an office on a Mac!! Your argument makes no sense!" I heard someone yell. True, you can do these things. But let me tell you something, and pay attention because as I said I am only gonna say this once. You are out of your stinking mind if you think I can justify adding extra fees to a client's bill because I had to spend additional time converting their perfectly fine Mac-based recording session to a PC format, and then back to a Mac format for delivery. What was that you said? Why don't they use a PC also? Because, you see, in this case the Mac is the freakin' industry standard!!!!! It is easier to plant a Mac in my studio, pop in a CD or Jaz, and off I go!!! It is cheaper!! It saves me headaches!! It saves me time!!! My business model requires, requires I tell you, a Mac!! Can I use a PC? Of course!!! Should I? Fuck no!!! Have you gone mad? The best tool for the job in this case is a Mac!! Got it??? Thank you!!Now, for my computer work, I use a PC. Why? Same reasons but applied to my computer biz. My computer clients do not use Macs, and in most cases cannot because the supported software doesn't exist, or isn't cost-efficient to use. If someone calls and asks me to troubleshoot a CA/400 client that utilized the AFP and IFS options, I will lose business if I say "Sorry, I'm using a Mac". Huh? What was that geekspeak I was talking about? CA-Who? AFP-What? You don't know? Yet you're telling me a Mac is just as good as a PC? Do you mean to tell me you're giving your uninformed opinion? That you didn't perform an analysis of my business before suggesting I toss my PC or Mac and go with a Mac or PC? Thought so. Just checking. OK, but what about personal use? This one is easy. If, after some analysis, it is discovered that it isn't measurably more or less beneficial to use one platform or the other, it comes down to one, last, nice consideration: With which are you more comfortable?. Which one makes you happy? Which one allows you to do what you like to do with the most ease and pleasure? Go with that one. OK, I'm done. You can have your box back.*I heard Ellison say that once, and just had to borrow it. **Steven Den Beste posted about the Mac culture, and it reminded me of my feelings on this issue. Culture917@blogcritics.org Thu, 26 Sep 2002 01:34:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/25/015155.php Jason RubensteinIt isn't often that I review a band for whom I have played keyboards. In fact, I've never done it before!! This is a first, but then I feel strongly about the music of the duo called Gypsy Soul. I should explain. I am not a fan of songwriters. I'm not interested or comfortable listening to someone play guitar while singing from their personal journal entries. As a result, I don't accept calls to play in bands, or to perform on CDs for songwriters, or to go out on stage with someone and their guitar and lots of earnest lyrics. I do my own thing, mostly, and am happy for it.So when I first heard the voice of Cillette Swann and the guitar and fretless bass of Roman Morykit, I almost fell over. The lyrics are superb, evocative, poetic, and they resonate to the common experience; the music and arrangements strikingly lovely. What wasn't to like? I asked, and quickly ingratiated myself into the band. Their music is so pleasing to the mind and spirit that I volunteered to perform on several of their CDs and to actually go onstage with them when they required keyboards.Volunteered.That's how I feel about music that isn't even my own. It's a delight to the ears. Start with "Who", drive to "Wont Be Wronged", and finish up with "Epona's Wild Daughter". See what you think. 801@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Sep 2002 01:51:55 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/09/25/013330.php Jason RubensteinAmerican foreign (and security) policy in the 21st century will not be the same as policy of the 20th century, any more than that of the 20th was of the 19th. But what will this policy look like? From where will leaders draw their inspiration, ideas, and examples? Less likely from new and innovative, so-called progressive ideology (the likes of which helped the last century become one of the bloodiest in recorded history) than from ancient ideas and sources. Robert Kaplan neatly draws from history and ties together experiences and ideas from Livy, Thucydides, Sun-Tzu, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes and others to provide a clear thesis for leaders, whether in the private or public sectors. In Kaplan's "Warrior Politics", the quality of policy is measured by the outcome, rather than by its intention or by its intellectual excellence. Ancient wars and decisions provide a template for modern decisions, and anyone watching the current American administration closely can see some of the lessons drawn from the past that place realism and pragmatism above idealism and theory. Bush's recent speech to the UN that placed the UN in a position to act or render itself meaningless is a mark of ancient pragmatism that runs counter to more recent policies of idealism - under which leaders would appeal to the UN for permission. Leaders must be without illusion, and must recognize that personal, or private, virtue and public virtue (the virtue of the state) are not the same. The warrior politic is not one of ideological diplomacy, which is usually unsuccessful. Kaplan writes "...the acceptance of a world governed by a pagan notion of self-interest exemplified by Thucydides makes statesmanship likelier to succeed; it curtails illusions, reducing the scope for miscalculation. Historically grounded liberalism recognizes that liberty did not arise from abstract reflection, moral or otherwise, but from difficult political choices made by rulers acting in their own self-interest.... liberty grew in the West because it served the interest of power." After a decade where intellectuals declared America to be at the end of history, Kaplan makes the point that it is only through history's lessons that good government and effective leadership can prosper. This book must be making the rounds of the White House, because the lessons compiled by the author read like a playbook swiped from Condi Rice's top desk drawer.See another review here. Books: History800@blogcritics.org Wed, 25 Sep 2002 01:33:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2002/08/12/204906.php Jason RubensteinIf you ask Frank Lenz what his music sounds like he'll tell you "It sounds like 'S.W.A.T.' on dope." It sounds better than that. The arrangements of the songs on this CD are right out of the best 1970s smooth sounds recordings, true, but on a closer listen the modern, post-club sounds, samples, and loops you'd expect from a Mole or Quango Records compilation provide the necessary amount of cool, of indescribable "ahhhhh". The technical aspects of the CD are a mature, perfect mix of 70s and now sensibilities. I mean now as in tonight-at-3am-after-the-club now. While so many attempts at the retro style sound like they were recorded on retro equipment (hint: not nice on the ears), Lenz's recording & production qualities are in the best tradition of Steely Dan's AJA but with newer recording gear. If you're looking for the cheesy colored cellophane of seventies music, look somewhere else. One last comment about the retro, or vintage, elements of the CD: the record company packaged the CD in a vintage style with absolutely no irony or tongue-in-cheek hipsterwinking joking. The liner notes belong on the back of an album cover from the days when liner notes were a form of literature. Well, ok, maybe not a form of literature, but pretty close dammits!! It's well-done, OK? Trust me.Perhaps it is because as a listener I gravitate toward late-night smooth sounds, in-the-car-at-4am stuff that transports me somewhere else than the freeways of SoCal that I like the songs on The Hot Stuff. On Take The Wheel, this feeling isn't more evident as the bass keeps rolling under the vocals insisting that 'Jesus take the Wheel and Drive'...the song is a trance, someone else's hypnosis on which we're invited to eavesdrop. The opening and title track The Hot Stuff sets the mood for the whole CD, a monster badass funk groove that sets the speed limit to 'ticket' right away. Later on, you can slow down a bit, but keep moving because Lenz doesn't encourage the brakes.Soul Sound Revival, the midpoint track of the CD, is an apt name for the music Lenz creates. Perhaps more than any other track, the blend of seventies archetypes (flute choruses) and modern production skills are perfectly executed. You music geeks out there will appreciate this. For the rest of normal society, the end effect is a seamless blend of sounds that, well, sounds good. No better way to put it, it sounds good. The Hot Stuff sounds good. And really, in the end, what else do you need to know from a music review?Frank Lenz - The Hot Stuff, Northern Records LLC www.northernrecords.com Music: Alternative Rock12@blogcritics.org Mon, 12 Aug 2002 20:49:06 EDT