Comic for Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

Posted: 12:20 am, Wednesday, September 27th

Oh, man, horrors! The Rich Girls Are Weeping think that the Hold Steady's new one is massively disappointing. Shite! Rolling Stone gave it three and a half, but I don't trust their reviews for shit. I’ll probably convince myself that it’s good even if it’s not, for a while. I’m like that. I forced myself to buy into the Pumpkins’ Adore when it first came out. I know Adore has its fans/defenders, but I’m not one of them. I’ll listen to it maybe once a year, and, hell, I even fast-forward through the Adore songs if I’m listening to a concert boot half of the time. That said, at least the Hold Steady record on a yearly basis, so if this album actually is a misstep, it’ll be corrected quickly. 2.0 and I are seeing them Sunday night - maybe the songs will be better live. (Related, a little interview with Craig Finn from some mag called Fader, and also, the dudes on All Songs Considered liked the new one, but thought it was weaker than last year's Separation Sunday, which really it almost had to be.)

I don't post links from Deadspin too often these days because I assume everyone knows enough to read it, but I'm not sure if everyone always bothers to hit the Blogdome roundups. Here's one on how to watch the playoffs (why they wait a month and a half after the season ends to have the playoffs, I have no idea) with your girlfriend. It begins by grouping ladies into three categories of knowledge. The third category's definition, according to this site, is "The ones that go to baseball games whether they have a boyfriend or not, own memorabilia, and throw out information like 'David Ortiz never hit more than 20 home runs for the Twins, I see why they let him leave'." I'd say 2.0 is a 3 when it comes to baseball - she may not know the conquests of the players on their former teams and finds some of the trivia I know to be troubling, but she is passionate about the sport to the point where we went to Shea to boo Bonds at her request.

But the reader who frequents the comments by the handle of 15? I've been meaning to talk about her insanity for a while now. If the above definition fits a 'three' ranking, 15 is about a 'thirty-eight' on this scale. Her knowledge of the St. Louis's current roster and farm system may exceed that of Jocketty's. She has traveled to, last I knew, six cities this year alone to see the Cardinals, including fucking Houston of all places. (I suppose Shea should not count for traveling, but in the time it takes to get from Flushing to Kensington, I used to get to my grandmother's house from home Upstate, so that's a different city in my book.) I have seen her almost fight a bartender after he disparaged Cardinals fans. She would accept - nay, request - a plasma TV over in lieu of an engagement ring. 

Yeah, so, category 38 Girl That Watches Sports, that one.

I’m reading this wonderful book called Cloud Atlas by this dude David Mitchell right now. I’m having a hard time describing it to 2.0 and others, but here goes: It is a series of narratives through changing times (19th century, 1930s, 1980s or so, maybe 2010?, some far-off dystopian future, and even further off post-societal fall of said dystopian future) that have references to each other (the narrator in one is the subject of a movie in another, a birthmark appears in the same place on people of different genders and races in different centuries, etc., etc.). In addition to layering nicely, they’re written in varying dialects – it’s kind of like Mitchell’s just showing off at times (Twain once said that the hardest thing to do is write in dialect, because if you don’t nail it, you look silly)(actually, I was told he said something to that effect, but a rudimentary Google search shows nothing, and I decided to move on before investing too much time in the matter). Anyway! I bring this up because the dystopian future is run by a totalitarian government, as are most dystopian futures (and, hell, some dystopian presents). What sets this one apart is that it’s got my favorite name for a dystopian future government, ever: Corpocracy. Man, that’s gold, Jerry, gold.

Speaking of Twain, the first orange box on this page of his baseball adventures is awesome. I love Twain – he was the most popular author in the country in his time, and absolutely despised people.

Finally, I wasn't intending on linking to this one because it's Wednesday and I haven't shut up about the Michigan State game from last weekend, but this video from Her Loyal Sons (awesome name) is unreal. The shot of Rhema when the band fires up the Fight Song the second time is great. (Slightly higher res available from und.com.)

bullfrog

Just got goose bumps again from the video.

In the suckitude that has been my week... this was a most welcome respite.

Funny that you discuss my obsession with the Cards just as my feelings towards them are at their most negative... Seriously, they are BAAA-AAAA-AD right now.

They've even made the front page of espn.com: "Are we witnessing one of the biggest collapses in baseball history?"

I don't want to say anything for fear of being implicated in jinxing them in any way, shape, or form.

Gilmore anyone?

From ESPN.com's Page 2's Tim Keown: The World Basketball Championship, the Davis Cup, Ryder Cup, Iraq: Every day there's further proof that we, as a nation, are not very good at international competition. (Emphasis mine. Add in the FIBA Women's World Championship for good measure.)

And 15, I hear ya. As I mentioned before, my biggest fear is that somehow the Cards and Astros meet in a one-game winner-take-all tie-breaker game at the end of the season. Chris Carpenter vs. Roger Clemens. Either way, the Cardinals just do not look good at all. And I'm leaning to think that I blame this squarely on Skipper Tony LaRussa. Maybe more than leaning.

The only Cloud Atlas I've read are meteorological books identifying different types of clouds (with a lot of pictures). Not that it would be less thrilling, I grant you. There is just something beautiful and awe-inspiring about a grand cumulonimbus cloud at sunset.

Just before it wrecks havoc (and tornadoes) near your house at night.

I thought "Gilmore" was OK. Not as rat-a-tat as usual, and a lot fewer pop culture references -- and the acting seemed a little plastic -- but not a total collapse without the Palladinos.

I actually liked the Gilmores last night. I didn't perceive a drop-off in the speed/volume of dialogue, except there was the most randomly unecessary shot of Rory during the unveiling of the stoplight camera. Like, so unecessary it was jarring. The whole Luke/Lorelai thing continues to upset me, and, you're right, the acting was a bit plastic. I don't know if it's because there was a lot of parts where the person had to act against a phone or if it's how they told Luke and Lorelai to act because of the fight to end last season, or what, but, yeah, you're right, the acting was plastic. Which is fine - they're all professionals, I've got more faith in that coming around than if the writing had been all effed-up.

Speaking of corpocracy gives me a chance to mention one of my favorite authors, Neal Stephenson. Do people really think we are headed for a future defined by anarcho-capitalism like in "Snow Crash"? Because that would be pretty interesting.

Not being familiar with the works of Neal Stephenson (by the way, the spelling "Neal" bugs me - possibly because my best friend growing up went the "Neil" route, possibly for some other reason), I've never read Snow Crash. But it does seem that all the dystopian visions of the future involve rampant capitalism over rampant government (like back in Orwell's day). I'm guessing it's got to do with the simultaneous fall of Communism and rise of the multinational corporation/deregulation of the Reagan era. Over the last 30 years, corporations have greatly increased their power relative to that of governments, and, who knows, maybe they'll overtake it some day? To some very, very small extent, you can already see it in stuff like companies pressuring municipalities for tax breaks (or multibillionaires threatening to move their baseball team to another town if tax subsidies don't pay for new ballparks, in a more common and more publicized example).

All that said (at great length, because I am long-winded), if I had to guess on a dystopian future, I think it would be something like China, since they have found a way to mold Communism and capitalism with a roaring economy in metropolitan areas and a massive labor force kept relatively under the boot of the government.

Snow Crash sounded kind of interesting by the way, I may have to poke around for it next time I'm at the Strand.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of Stephenson. Cryptonomicon is also excellent, as is the Baroque Cycle, the latter particularly if you're interested in the emergence of empirical science and market capitalism, the history of alchemy, pirates...it's got a pretty wide scope. You may really like him, as he has been accused (by Philistines, imo) of being long-winded.

Good site!

My favorite author is Thomas Woolfe (of You Can't Go Home Again and Look Homeward, Angel, not I Am Charlotte Simmons and Bonfire of the Vanities), who is nothing if not excruciatingly wordy. So no worries there.