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 Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:21:52 EDT 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/2006/06/26/182152.php YashinWhen the England football team walked off the pitch at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion Sunday evening, 1-0 victors over Ecuador, they knew they had secured their place in the quarter finals of the World Cup. But was their lacklustre performance enough to silence their traditionally vocal critics?Apparently. The mood amongst England fans in Stuttgart was nothing short of jubilant, the television commentary was awash with superlatives, and even England’s harshest critic, the BBC’s Alan Hansen, was gushing in his praise for team members. But something is clearly rotten in the state of Denmark.If England possess perhaps six or seven of the world’s top 50 players, Ecuador should be lucky to count one of their number amongst the top 250 and could easily be considered plucky overachievers. By contrast, England -- yet to be seriously tested -- failed to impress against any of their opponents. Paraguay, ranked 33rd to England’s 10th in FIFA’s world rankings, made England sweat, both literally and metaphorically, as they emerged 1-0 victors with a late goal. Late goals were again the order of the day as England struggled to find their feet against a Trinidad and Tobago side who surprised all by fighting hard in a 2-0 defeat. After snatching a late draw against England, it can’t go unnoticed that Sweden were easily dispatched by Germany in their second round tie. Ecuador were generally agreed to be among the weakest of the teams to make the knockout stage, and yet England managed just four shots on target during the 90 minutes.BBC Five Live commentator and former Motherwell manager Terry Butcher has been one of the few pundits to speak out against the England setup. He controversially suggested that England ought to bench David Beckham for the game against Ecuador, opening up the midfield for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard and allowing the team to play more free-flowing football. However, in spite of a stilted performance and even a bout of illness, David Beckham’s free kick against Ecuador confirmed the captain as untouchable.The blame for England’s lack of inspiration seems to lie squarely at the feet of their manager. Sven-Goran Eriksson has always set his stall out to play the best players available, and he has often adjusted England’s formation to fit this. His plans for the World Cup were based around Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney attacking. With Owen gone, Eriksson opted to play Rooney as a lone striker. While Rooney clearly relished the task, it was ultimately a thankless one, for in spite of his tireless effort, he did not have enough support and repeatedly dropped deep to collect the ball.In truth, none of England’s limited striking options have really clicked during this campaign and Eriksson is running out of time to get it right. Even the normally prolific midfield of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, and Joe Cole has been misfiring. Yet the strangely favourable media response to the Ecuador result has done little to persuade Eriksson that any fundamental change is required.England can still win the World Cup. They certainly have the players, but unless there is a dramatic improvement in the quality of their performance, they will be easy prey for serious opposition. England’s fans need to reconcile the notion of constructive criticism with the seemingly blind faith which has crept into the national mindset after some very workmanlike victories against weak opposition. England must remember to expect more. Sports49697@blogcritics.org Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:21:52 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/25/080409.php YashinSufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond at Oran Mor, Glasgow, Scotland 12/10/2005Sufjan Stevens is an unusual sight our on our shores. To promote his latest album, Illinoise, a collection of songs celebrating the great mid-western state of Illinois, this quirky American singer-songwriter is touring with a backing band who double as a cheer squad. Scotland doesn't have cheer teams, we're not a nation which takes easily to self congratulation. This October evening in Glasgow Scotland were supposed to seal their qualification for the World Cup Finals in Germany next year, but just as we had begun to believe it might happen, it had all gone sour three days earlier.So one could forgive the assembled crowd for an air of general bemusement when Stevens and his ensemble takes to the stage amid the fanfares and pompoms of a college basketball game. The set kicks off with a whirlwind tour of the US as Stevens and co offer up rapid-fire couplets describing the states of the Union. This earnest, playschool skit centres on the mantra: "It's part of the act/The 50 states/Pack up your bags/It's never too late." Stevens wraps up the song by announcing "We're going to pack up our bags and go to Illinois!" and informs the crowd that the tallest man ever was from the state of Illinois, the first of a great many facts dispensed over the course of the evening.The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders, is a song bristling with keyboard, tambourine and even mute trumpet accompaniment, a sign of Stevens' grand ambitions. The most striking aspect of this particular performance is the coordination between the players, not simply in terms of the music itself, but also in the accompanying actions. Sufjan Stevens and his band have clearly taken their cheering duties as seriously as their musical ones and their dedication has paid off with a unique stage act that compromises nothing.Thankfully the theatrics don't dominate the proceedings. While Jacksonville begins with an uncomfortable "gimme a J, gimme an A..." cheer, it is at this point that Stevens changes tack, rolling comfortably back into the more familiar territory of the indie kids. In Jacksonville and the songs that follow, The Predatory Wasp of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us and Casimir Pulaski Day, we glimpse Stevens' real talent as a songwriter, as he captures a feel for small town America without coming across as another Springsteen clone. This nostalgic approach to song writing as well as a taste for the surreal are evident in The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts. Sufjan takes an obscure town in the midwest and elevating it to the mythic proportions of Superman's great city. This rousing playout gets the thumbs up from the faithful and the band take their curtain call with predictable panache.When the inevitable encore arrives, Stevens returns on his own, free of pomp and circumstance for a stripped-down song from his Seven Swans LP. In the end, this seems to be the Sufjan Stevens that everyone came to see, and while the cheer team spectacle might fit with the concept of this tour, it comes as a relief to see him playing it straight. With Illinoise he has shown that he's a folk balladeer/twee indie rocker with grand ambitions. Maybe the outfits and the cheers are a little awkward at first, but you can't help but admire him for the effort behind this ambition.Support act My Brightest Diamond are a refreshingly polished indie act coming across as a more conventional incarnation of the Sugarcubes, throwing in some PJ Harvey for good measure. A combination of recognisable tunes, accomplished playing and unique vocals sets them apart from the plethora of identikit support bands on the circuit today. Charismatic front woman Shara Worden sang backing vocals on Illinoise and pops up later in the evening in Sufjan Stevens support band - the girl has stamina. Perhaps their one shortcoming is their penchant for the lengthy playouts which borders on the self-indulgent. With quirky multi-instrumentalists en vogue (see Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene), My Brightest Diamond could be about to break out. published:CMP Music38469@blogcritics.org Tue, 25 Oct 2005 08:04:09 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/03/072626.php YashinWith the announcement that CDR piracy, not illegal downloads, is responsible for the majority of its lost revenue, it looks like the music industry is gearing-up for a full roll-out of copy-protected CDs.The halcyon days of 'owning' your music may soon be over.The new generation of copy-protected CDs will play in a regular CD player, but when inserted in a PC CD-ROM drive under Windows, the user will only be able to rip the tracks to DRM-protected Windows Media Audio (WMA) format. This restricts the number and type of machines the tracks will play back on, as well as limiting any burning of the tracks onto CD.The biggest problem facing (legal) users of these new CDs is their incompatibility with iTunes and the iPod. Since Apple is unlikely to license its own FairPlay DRM software, and even less likely to support WMA on future iPods, users are left between a rock and a hard place.By introducing DRM-protected CDs, the industry removes the key advantage which the CD holds over the download: freedom. If buying and ripping a CD is subject to the same restrictions as the digital download, then why buy the CD? Your music will still be subject to the same restrictions, but with the download, you can have the same product instantly. The new DRM CDs will be the first move in the battle to move the casual buyer onto the download market where overheads are lower and profit margins are thicker.The industry may be able to control new releases, but what of the back catalogue of existing releases? Sure, they can phase these out, but with billions of unrestricted CDs already out there, the industry could effectively create a huge grey market around the trading of these superior original format discs. Why would you buy Blood On The Tracks in a re-issued, restricted format when you could acquire the original CD and rip it any way you liked?Purists, record collectors and other enthusiasts will ensure the survival of music in a physical format, after all the music industry has always thrived on the sale of image as well as sound. But when CDs were introduced in the 1980s, few could have predicted the threat an unrestricted, crystal-clear digital recording could pose in the hands of the consumer. It looks like the advent of MP3 will ultimately force the music industry to take a giant step backwards and curb consumer freedom with new releases. The CD can survive in much the same way that vinyl has, but its days as the industry's preferred format are numbered. Sci/Tech37263@blogcritics.org Mon, 3 Oct 2005 07:26:26 EDT