Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wut
Thanks to Justin for this. "Wut" is a beautiful, trance and hip hop influenced dub-ish piece of electronic music. Get it?
Jim Wendler's 5/3/1
I bought Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 eBook a while ago and, I have to say, it was the best $20 I have ever put towards my physical fitness. 5/3/1 is predicated on the philosophies I know are tried and true, but that I regularly ignore for any number of reasons. When I used to hit a lift, I'd never try to lift it the next time I was at the gym. In my mind, it was something that I did, could always do, and thus never needed to do again. By keeping my reps and sets constant and steadily increasing my weight every time I didn't fail on my last set, I rapidly added weight to my lifts, until I stalled.
Wendler's program revolves around an increasing workload in four main lifts: military press; deadlift; bench; and squat. A key feature of this program is Wendler's 1 rep max formula. The one rep max formula provides a fairly decent approximation of what your 1 rep max would be, using the data from your testing weight and reps. If you move A weight Y times, the formula will tell you that this converts to Z weight for a single rep. Why does this matter? Because the 1 rep max is the linchpin for all lifting programs. It is a universal measure of strength (thus we want to increase it) and it provides an easy baseline for calculations.
The program has a variety of features built into it to ensure that lifters don't go too heavy, too soon. Amongst them is a working max calculation, which takes a large percentage of your tested max and uses that to determine the weight for your sets. Each month sees a predetermined and standardized increase in the working max, thereby increasing the weight for each set.
The hardest things about designing a lifting program are determining workload and how/when to increase weight. Let's say person 1 wants to squat 200 lbs. She can only squat 100 lbs right now. She needs to convince her body to add more muscle to her legs by telling it that the muscle it currently has is insufficient to meet her physical demands. To do this she can either increase her workload (squat 100 5 times when she only used to squat it once) or increase the weight on the bar (squat 120 instead of 100). While it is easy to add a little weight and pump out a few reps, the real issues arise in later weeks when it is time to increase workload or weight. We do not add muscle linearly and a variety of external factors influence our ability to increase our strength. For instance, if person 1 needs to squat 150 x 1 in order to eventually squat 200 x 1, then how long should he or she be assigned to squat 150 x 1? If we say that she will only squat a weight one or two times before progressing, we run the risk that external factors (stress, diet, sleep deprivation, scheduling conflicts) may disrupt these important intermediate stages, thereby stalling her growth.
Obviously we want the lifter to add weight to her lifts slowly and to increase both workload and weight (no one ever squatted 200 by squatting 100 lbs 50 times). However, a lifting program's effectiveness is rightly judged by its ability to add muscle and strength as quickly as possible. In this example, the lifter is trying to add 100 lbs to her lift. There is an end goal. In the real world, people just want to be stronger and are rarely a point where they don't want to add strength, especially when it does not correspond with an increase in muscle size (different issue). Thus, the real goal of any program is to indefinitely increase the user's 1 rep max as quickly as possible.
5/3/1 does this quite well. The calculated 1 rep max for the final set of each day is roughly the same per four week cycle. Every four weeks, the calculated max is increased by a predetermined amount of weight. This, in turn, increases the lifter's working max, which is what his or her weights are based off of. This schedule is effective because it gives your body 3 weeks to adapt to the physiological demand of the increased weight.
I think the smartest part of the program is how the calculated 1 rep max is achieved in the last set. The last set for any lift will be five reps the first week, three reps the second week, and one rep the last week. Using the formula, these will all equal roughly the same calculated max. However, the last set only provides a baseline number of reps, not a ceiling. That is to say, you are encouraged to rep out at each final set. By doing so, each week you have the potential to increase your calculated max for that week. If you do one extra rep for each day, you will be lifting an increasingly heavier weight for each week of the cycle, as an extra rep of your 1 rep max will increase your calculated max by a larger percentage than an extra rep with your 5 rep max. Accordingly, while the program insists that your body adjust to the preset weight increases, it also provides you the opportunity to grow at an accelerated pace. Of course, since you need to be stronger to get an extra rep off your 3 rep max than you do to get an extra rep off of your 5 rep max, the program progresses naturally, where a good performance in week one helps you complete your lift in week three. Makes sense?
Of course the lifts are well-spaced and the assistance work is easy and, even better, somewhat optional. This is all well and good, but the genius of the program is the weight increase. The book is 100% worth the purchase.
Wendler's program revolves around an increasing workload in four main lifts: military press; deadlift; bench; and squat. A key feature of this program is Wendler's 1 rep max formula. The one rep max formula provides a fairly decent approximation of what your 1 rep max would be, using the data from your testing weight and reps. If you move A weight Y times, the formula will tell you that this converts to Z weight for a single rep. Why does this matter? Because the 1 rep max is the linchpin for all lifting programs. It is a universal measure of strength (thus we want to increase it) and it provides an easy baseline for calculations.
The program has a variety of features built into it to ensure that lifters don't go too heavy, too soon. Amongst them is a working max calculation, which takes a large percentage of your tested max and uses that to determine the weight for your sets. Each month sees a predetermined and standardized increase in the working max, thereby increasing the weight for each set.
The hardest things about designing a lifting program are determining workload and how/when to increase weight. Let's say person 1 wants to squat 200 lbs. She can only squat 100 lbs right now. She needs to convince her body to add more muscle to her legs by telling it that the muscle it currently has is insufficient to meet her physical demands. To do this she can either increase her workload (squat 100 5 times when she only used to squat it once) or increase the weight on the bar (squat 120 instead of 100). While it is easy to add a little weight and pump out a few reps, the real issues arise in later weeks when it is time to increase workload or weight. We do not add muscle linearly and a variety of external factors influence our ability to increase our strength. For instance, if person 1 needs to squat 150 x 1 in order to eventually squat 200 x 1, then how long should he or she be assigned to squat 150 x 1? If we say that she will only squat a weight one or two times before progressing, we run the risk that external factors (stress, diet, sleep deprivation, scheduling conflicts) may disrupt these important intermediate stages, thereby stalling her growth.
Obviously we want the lifter to add weight to her lifts slowly and to increase both workload and weight (no one ever squatted 200 by squatting 100 lbs 50 times). However, a lifting program's effectiveness is rightly judged by its ability to add muscle and strength as quickly as possible. In this example, the lifter is trying to add 100 lbs to her lift. There is an end goal. In the real world, people just want to be stronger and are rarely a point where they don't want to add strength, especially when it does not correspond with an increase in muscle size (different issue). Thus, the real goal of any program is to indefinitely increase the user's 1 rep max as quickly as possible.
5/3/1 does this quite well. The calculated 1 rep max for the final set of each day is roughly the same per four week cycle. Every four weeks, the calculated max is increased by a predetermined amount of weight. This, in turn, increases the lifter's working max, which is what his or her weights are based off of. This schedule is effective because it gives your body 3 weeks to adapt to the physiological demand of the increased weight.
I think the smartest part of the program is how the calculated 1 rep max is achieved in the last set. The last set for any lift will be five reps the first week, three reps the second week, and one rep the last week. Using the formula, these will all equal roughly the same calculated max. However, the last set only provides a baseline number of reps, not a ceiling. That is to say, you are encouraged to rep out at each final set. By doing so, each week you have the potential to increase your calculated max for that week. If you do one extra rep for each day, you will be lifting an increasingly heavier weight for each week of the cycle, as an extra rep of your 1 rep max will increase your calculated max by a larger percentage than an extra rep with your 5 rep max. Accordingly, while the program insists that your body adjust to the preset weight increases, it also provides you the opportunity to grow at an accelerated pace. Of course, since you need to be stronger to get an extra rep off your 3 rep max than you do to get an extra rep off of your 5 rep max, the program progresses naturally, where a good performance in week one helps you complete your lift in week three. Makes sense?
Of course the lifts are well-spaced and the assistance work is easy and, even better, somewhat optional. This is all well and good, but the genius of the program is the weight increase. The book is 100% worth the purchase.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Too Depressed To Be Outraged
Costa Mesa has decided that it doesn't really need firemen, or many other city employees for that matter. These are workers that will be out of a job and city services that will be outsourced. While the city plans on saving on labor costs, I wonder whether the sum costs of these services will decrease with privatization and whether the service will be as good. That is to say, if the county fire department can cover the city with 15 fewer fire fighters, does that mean that they are more efficient or just ill-prepared for a major disaster? Will the city pay less per fireman once they outsource the service? Can the county respond to multiple emergencies in different cities?
Corporations are profit-driven. Earning money is why they exist and, as rational economic actors, they will always try to maximize profits. To do anything else in a non-monopolistic environment is to plan for failure. Governments are service-driven. Tax payers fund these services so that the community can benefit from them. Governments are incentivized to provide good services and if they do not, then the elected officials running those services will not be reelected.
I believe an entity cannot be both profit-driven and service-driven. You earn a profit when there is money left over after all operating costs have been paid. You have provided the best service you can provide when you use every resource you have (including any excess funds) to improve the service you provide. I understand that competition drives innovation and can lead to decreased costs. The argument for privatization is logical enough, but I don't trust it.
Corporations are profit-driven. Earning money is why they exist and, as rational economic actors, they will always try to maximize profits. To do anything else in a non-monopolistic environment is to plan for failure. Governments are service-driven. Tax payers fund these services so that the community can benefit from them. Governments are incentivized to provide good services and if they do not, then the elected officials running those services will not be reelected.
I believe an entity cannot be both profit-driven and service-driven. You earn a profit when there is money left over after all operating costs have been paid. You have provided the best service you can provide when you use every resource you have (including any excess funds) to improve the service you provide. I understand that competition drives innovation and can lead to decreased costs. The argument for privatization is logical enough, but I don't trust it.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Hustle Hard (Remix)
Rap songs like Ace Hood's "Hustle Hard" just sneak in under my defenses. The rapping is good, but not really amazing or original, and the beat has that high-pitched-horror-movie music that is pretty standard in harder rap songs. That doesn't matter for raps like this. These are about conviction, about sounding as hungry as you possibly can and Ace Hood pulls it off.
The Lil Wayne remix is worth listening to because Wayne drops a better-than-average verse that oozes with professional confidence. Wayne records at a prolific rate and guests on nearly every hit song on the radio. While I have no doubt that reports of his mercurial temperament are true, his professionalism (or talent) is evident in verses that fit every song he appears on, regardless of whether they are poppy dance songs or hard gansta rap.
Anyway, check this out.
The Lil Wayne remix is worth listening to because Wayne drops a better-than-average verse that oozes with professional confidence. Wayne records at a prolific rate and guests on nearly every hit song on the radio. While I have no doubt that reports of his mercurial temperament are true, his professionalism (or talent) is evident in verses that fit every song he appears on, regardless of whether they are poppy dance songs or hard gansta rap.
Anyway, check this out.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Educated, Unemployed and Frustrated
If you haven't read this Op-Ed, you should. The concept is nothing new (the younger generations in this country are under-employed and the traditional vehicles for class mobility have broken down in the face of a recession and few job opportunities). The cited statistics are striking and I think this point cannot be repeated enough. When young people are sidelined, marginalized, or just under-employed, the whole nation suffers and will continue to suffer as these people are called upon to fill vacancies in the job market or as they turn to other sources of income generation, including illegal activity. GDP per capita goes up every year in this country. Where is the money?
The article also reminds me of how much I dislike educational institutions (including but not limited to law school) for raising tuition rates every year, even in the face of stagnant or declining earnings amongst graduates. Draconian student loan laws (such as the prohibition against discharging student loans in bankruptcy) only exacerbate the problem. Then, when everyone gets paid, our young minds are forced into jobs that do not utilize their skills or talents, depriving everyone of their ingenuity and hard work. This generation, with little job training and with large holes in their professional education, may one day be asked to lead the private sector. Will they be ready? What will we do if they aren't?
The article also reminds me of how much I dislike educational institutions (including but not limited to law school) for raising tuition rates every year, even in the face of stagnant or declining earnings amongst graduates. Draconian student loan laws (such as the prohibition against discharging student loans in bankruptcy) only exacerbate the problem. Then, when everyone gets paid, our young minds are forced into jobs that do not utilize their skills or talents, depriving everyone of their ingenuity and hard work. This generation, with little job training and with large holes in their professional education, may one day be asked to lead the private sector. Will they be ready? What will we do if they aren't?
The Big SEO Picture
It took me a while to really get this, but after I tackled most of the on-site SEO for my firm's website, it became much more clear. Content really is king. As we see a greater emphasis on trackbacks and tweets and likes and inbound links, the fastest way to produce a jump in the rankings is to make content that people want and want to share. Mind-blowing, right?
For someone learning SEO on the side, I don't have the time or money (or manpower) to engage in Black Hat tactics. The firm couldn't handle the Google rebuke either. Additionally, the algorithm is constantly changing and I don't think it is wise to chase it. Good content will always rise to the top (albeit slowly). A good website should perform well in the rankings and, get this, be good for business by providing customers with value. WHOA.
Stated differently: The internet was made for sharing information. It is much easier (and smarter) to make something worth sharing than it is to generate the appearance of something being shared.
For someone learning SEO on the side, I don't have the time or money (or manpower) to engage in Black Hat tactics. The firm couldn't handle the Google rebuke either. Additionally, the algorithm is constantly changing and I don't think it is wise to chase it. Good content will always rise to the top (albeit slowly). A good website should perform well in the rankings and, get this, be good for business by providing customers with value. WHOA.
Stated differently: The internet was made for sharing information. It is much easier (and smarter) to make something worth sharing than it is to generate the appearance of something being shared.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Birthday Mix 2011
Every year since I turned 21 (or was it 22?) I have made a "Birthday Mix." The rules are simple: I can only include songs that I discovered between birthdays. It's a tool for introspection and review, as well as a chance to express what art was especially impactful in the prior 365 days. Regrettably, I never got around to compiling a mix last year. I was busy and kept putting it off until it was too late.
I think people find music interesting or enjoyable when it is relevant to some experience they've had or when it expresses emotions to which they can relate. When I choose songs for my Birthday Mix, I don't choose them in an attempt to put together the most expressive songs, but I am at least somewhat conscious of the fact that my selections are reflective of my experiences, emotions, or thoughts in the past year. There is no "listen to the lyrics, man, because this is totally what I'm about." However, I am aware that the tone, melody, and lyrics have all shaped how I hear and react to the song and also realize that I may like a song because, well, that is totally what I'm about.
This was a tough transition year. I graduated law school and endured a lengthy and fruitless job hunt. I had gone to law school to do financial regulation or, in the alternative, commercial litigation. Hundreds of applications later (literally), I hadn't landed a single interview. I began networking as a second prong of my job hunt. The process was very trying and I spent a lot of time trying to convince strangers to meet with me for 30-60 minutes so I could pick their brains about the legal market and feel around for job openings. By and large, I met some very nice and generous people who seemed genuinely concerned about the career of a total stranger.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was how privileged and lucky I am. I happened to be born to the right people, in the right family, and be born a straight white male in America. Those factors, combined with my class privilege, has more or less saved me. I landed a job with a family member; I had good connections to help with my networking; I was able to borrow money to live on while I hunted. Don't get me wrong, things were tight and I did everything I could to pinch pennies, but I had a lot of safety nets. I am very thankful for each of them.
The Mix:
1. G-Side "Y U Mad" - I can't say enough good things about this album. Y U Mad doesn't sound like any rap I've ever heard. The song doesn't introduce its beat for its first three minutes. The main instrument is a piano. A fucking piano. The track is enveloped is sparkling synths. There are deep layers of ringing guitars and choirs. The low end is neither thumping nor warm and is a littler quieter than you might expect. Oh yeah, and the rapping is amazing.
2. John Cale "Dying on the Vine" - I have John Cale's 1994 "Seducing Down The Door" double disc collection. Frankly, I liked Dying on the Vine more before I tackled the collection. Dying on the Vine is a great song that Joy Division never wrote. My complaint about Seducing Down The Door is that Cale wears his influences on his sleeve and the odes are so heavy-handed that I often feel like he's borrowing entire riffs or structures. Yeah, I know he's an important and accomplished musical talent and yeah, the Velvet Underground were a good band. I get it. If Seducing Down The Door all sounded like Dying on the Vine, I would be obsessed. Dying on the Vine sounds so vulnerable and personal. It sounds like it was written by a man awakening from a substance-induced haze and reflecting on his underlying unhappiness. There is so much pathos in his voice, so much weariness that I can't help but feel like I'm having a beer with the man in a dim pub while he recounts his slow descent into madness. Again, Seducing Down The Door makes me question the sincerity of the song a bit and wonder if he was just jamming out to Joy Division in the studio or something. Either way, this is a really engaging track and is executed perfectly.
3. Off With Their Heads "Janie" - File under disturbing, obsessive relationship song that made my brain explode. I am a sucker for a rough voice and a good melody and here I am, listening to a recording that would make my producer friends throw up in their mouths. The lyrics are disturbing and the line about him killing himself if his girlfriend leaves him makes me cringe every time.
4. A-Trak "Donnis" - A-Trak's Dirty South remixes are on my must own list, certainly the first one, although the second installment has some gems on it, like this Donnis track. A-Trak's beat is fantastic: dancey and solid with interesting synth work and the right amount of turntable flair for me (the man invented a notation system for turntabling). Donnis' rap is the sort of celebratory, macho bullshit that has now become interchangeable with mainstream hip hop. It's a notch less self-congratulatory than erecting a statute in his own honor. The original Donnis track, "Gone"," has a forgettable beat that doesn't match the enthusiasm of the chorus. A-trak sampled (or mimicked) much of the noticeable instrumentation on the track and produced the song Donnis and his produced never could. This I put the original below for comparison.
5. The Knife "Pass This On" - I didn't "get" the Knife until 2009. One day, I put on Silent Shout and my jaw dropped. Pass This On is from their second album Deep Cuts. Deep Cuts may have more energy than Silent Shout, but it lacks Silent Shout's structural sophistication and beautifully sculpted sounds. Pass This On is a fun and creepy song about coming on to someone's brother.
6. Hour of the Wolf "Faith in Fiction" - I first heard Hour of the Wolf shortly after I graduated from college. I had a decent job, but no semblance of a career and I felt unchallenged, bored, and constricted. I would take long lunch breaks and exercise in the basement gym. I have these bizarrely distinct memories of jumping rope in this shitty yoga studio while listening to Black Blood Transfusion and feeling like it was written specifically for me. I can go on and on about how Hour of the Wolf has chosen excellent guitar tones or how they have an intuitive grasp on their songs' momentum or how their drummer plays drums the way all rock drummers should. I won't say any of that. Instead, I will just use a line that Chuck Klosterman once used to defend his affection for Axl Rose:
7. Bruce Springsteen "Downbound Train" - There is a recession on, right? I love the weary bridge in this one and the linear narration of someone's fall from safety and comfort. I remember riding the MARTA in Atlanta and listening to this as I went over my job search in my head. Yeah, it was unnecessarily dramatic, but the song is brilliant regardless of your employment situation.
(sorry, can only find live versions online)
8. Motorhead "I'll Be You Sister" - I know this song is about sex, I just don't know how.
9. Steve Aoki (MSTRKRFT Remix w/ Justice) "D.A.N.C.E." - I am admittedly late in finding this. I like MSTRKFT and have been listening to their remixes for a while. This was under my radar. I love the finger-tapped metal guitar, distorted and twisted into sounding like a oscillating synth. It's like sonic candy to me. I used to hate the vocal sample bridge at the 1:25 point because it's syncopated and seemed to kill the song's momentum, but now I am in awe of how well they come out of that. The music fades in, the guitar line evolves, and a hi-hat roll re-introduces an entirely dead beat. It is ambitious but I think it pays off.
10. Dear Landlord "I Live In Hell" - It was not uncommon for me to listen to this song 3 times a day for a week or so on end. I don't know when I will stop liking pop punk, but it wasn't this year.
11. Lucero "Watch it Burn" - Obligatory Lucero song on the Birthday Mix.
12. The Gaslight Anthem "American Slang" - I have vivid memories of listening to the Gaslight Anthem with my friend Andy my 1L year. I blogged about them that year, but I didn't love the band until the '59 Sound, which is now one of my desert island records. The new album, American Slang, is a solid record that suffers from its proximity to greatness. I know this is an obnoxious sentence, so please excuse me, but the title track reminds me of the first time I went to Paris when I was 21. I only knew two people in the country and barely had enough money to buy food, much less a train ticket back to England in the event something happened. My friend Ann took me around and we hung out with this big and random group of Marines and Embassy workers who were all the same age and all stationed in Paris. The language and cultural barriers pressed these unrelated and very different people into a clique, with dynamic relationships and the sort of romantic yearning you'd expect amongst single 20 somethings living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It was refreshing to be such an outsider, to have no relationship with the people I was with or knowledge of the city I was in. There is no single line or lyric in American Slang that sums up that experience for me, but I guess it sort of sounds like how it felt.
I think people find music interesting or enjoyable when it is relevant to some experience they've had or when it expresses emotions to which they can relate. When I choose songs for my Birthday Mix, I don't choose them in an attempt to put together the most expressive songs, but I am at least somewhat conscious of the fact that my selections are reflective of my experiences, emotions, or thoughts in the past year. There is no "listen to the lyrics, man, because this is totally what I'm about." However, I am aware that the tone, melody, and lyrics have all shaped how I hear and react to the song and also realize that I may like a song because, well, that is totally what I'm about.
This was a tough transition year. I graduated law school and endured a lengthy and fruitless job hunt. I had gone to law school to do financial regulation or, in the alternative, commercial litigation. Hundreds of applications later (literally), I hadn't landed a single interview. I began networking as a second prong of my job hunt. The process was very trying and I spent a lot of time trying to convince strangers to meet with me for 30-60 minutes so I could pick their brains about the legal market and feel around for job openings. By and large, I met some very nice and generous people who seemed genuinely concerned about the career of a total stranger.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was how privileged and lucky I am. I happened to be born to the right people, in the right family, and be born a straight white male in America. Those factors, combined with my class privilege, has more or less saved me. I landed a job with a family member; I had good connections to help with my networking; I was able to borrow money to live on while I hunted. Don't get me wrong, things were tight and I did everything I could to pinch pennies, but I had a lot of safety nets. I am very thankful for each of them.
The Mix:
1. G-Side "Y U Mad" - I can't say enough good things about this album. Y U Mad doesn't sound like any rap I've ever heard. The song doesn't introduce its beat for its first three minutes. The main instrument is a piano. A fucking piano. The track is enveloped is sparkling synths. There are deep layers of ringing guitars and choirs. The low end is neither thumping nor warm and is a littler quieter than you might expect. Oh yeah, and the rapping is amazing.
2. John Cale "Dying on the Vine" - I have John Cale's 1994 "Seducing Down The Door" double disc collection. Frankly, I liked Dying on the Vine more before I tackled the collection. Dying on the Vine is a great song that Joy Division never wrote. My complaint about Seducing Down The Door is that Cale wears his influences on his sleeve and the odes are so heavy-handed that I often feel like he's borrowing entire riffs or structures. Yeah, I know he's an important and accomplished musical talent and yeah, the Velvet Underground were a good band. I get it. If Seducing Down The Door all sounded like Dying on the Vine, I would be obsessed. Dying on the Vine sounds so vulnerable and personal. It sounds like it was written by a man awakening from a substance-induced haze and reflecting on his underlying unhappiness. There is so much pathos in his voice, so much weariness that I can't help but feel like I'm having a beer with the man in a dim pub while he recounts his slow descent into madness. Again, Seducing Down The Door makes me question the sincerity of the song a bit and wonder if he was just jamming out to Joy Division in the studio or something. Either way, this is a really engaging track and is executed perfectly.
3. Off With Their Heads "Janie" - File under disturbing, obsessive relationship song that made my brain explode. I am a sucker for a rough voice and a good melody and here I am, listening to a recording that would make my producer friends throw up in their mouths. The lyrics are disturbing and the line about him killing himself if his girlfriend leaves him makes me cringe every time.
4. A-Trak "Donnis" - A-Trak's Dirty South remixes are on my must own list, certainly the first one, although the second installment has some gems on it, like this Donnis track. A-Trak's beat is fantastic: dancey and solid with interesting synth work and the right amount of turntable flair for me (the man invented a notation system for turntabling). Donnis' rap is the sort of celebratory, macho bullshit that has now become interchangeable with mainstream hip hop. It's a notch less self-congratulatory than erecting a statute in his own honor. The original Donnis track, "Gone"," has a forgettable beat that doesn't match the enthusiasm of the chorus. A-trak sampled (or mimicked) much of the noticeable instrumentation on the track and produced the song Donnis and his produced never could. This I put the original below for comparison.
5. The Knife "Pass This On" - I didn't "get" the Knife until 2009. One day, I put on Silent Shout and my jaw dropped. Pass This On is from their second album Deep Cuts. Deep Cuts may have more energy than Silent Shout, but it lacks Silent Shout's structural sophistication and beautifully sculpted sounds. Pass This On is a fun and creepy song about coming on to someone's brother.
6. Hour of the Wolf "Faith in Fiction" - I first heard Hour of the Wolf shortly after I graduated from college. I had a decent job, but no semblance of a career and I felt unchallenged, bored, and constricted. I would take long lunch breaks and exercise in the basement gym. I have these bizarrely distinct memories of jumping rope in this shitty yoga studio while listening to Black Blood Transfusion and feeling like it was written specifically for me. I can go on and on about how Hour of the Wolf has chosen excellent guitar tones or how they have an intuitive grasp on their songs' momentum or how their drummer plays drums the way all rock drummers should. I won't say any of that. Instead, I will just use a line that Chuck Klosterman once used to defend his affection for Axl Rose:
I've maintained a decent living by making easy jokes about Axl Rose for the past 10 years, but what's the final truth? The final truth is this: He makes the best songs. They sound the way I want songs to sound.
7. Bruce Springsteen "Downbound Train" - There is a recession on, right? I love the weary bridge in this one and the linear narration of someone's fall from safety and comfort. I remember riding the MARTA in Atlanta and listening to this as I went over my job search in my head. Yeah, it was unnecessarily dramatic, but the song is brilliant regardless of your employment situation.
(sorry, can only find live versions online)
8. Motorhead "I'll Be You Sister" - I know this song is about sex, I just don't know how.
9. Steve Aoki (MSTRKRFT Remix w/ Justice) "D.A.N.C.E." - I am admittedly late in finding this. I like MSTRKFT and have been listening to their remixes for a while. This was under my radar. I love the finger-tapped metal guitar, distorted and twisted into sounding like a oscillating synth. It's like sonic candy to me. I used to hate the vocal sample bridge at the 1:25 point because it's syncopated and seemed to kill the song's momentum, but now I am in awe of how well they come out of that. The music fades in, the guitar line evolves, and a hi-hat roll re-introduces an entirely dead beat. It is ambitious but I think it pays off.
10. Dear Landlord "I Live In Hell" - It was not uncommon for me to listen to this song 3 times a day for a week or so on end. I don't know when I will stop liking pop punk, but it wasn't this year.
11. Lucero "Watch it Burn" - Obligatory Lucero song on the Birthday Mix.
12. The Gaslight Anthem "American Slang" - I have vivid memories of listening to the Gaslight Anthem with my friend Andy my 1L year. I blogged about them that year, but I didn't love the band until the '59 Sound, which is now one of my desert island records. The new album, American Slang, is a solid record that suffers from its proximity to greatness. I know this is an obnoxious sentence, so please excuse me, but the title track reminds me of the first time I went to Paris when I was 21. I only knew two people in the country and barely had enough money to buy food, much less a train ticket back to England in the event something happened. My friend Ann took me around and we hung out with this big and random group of Marines and Embassy workers who were all the same age and all stationed in Paris. The language and cultural barriers pressed these unrelated and very different people into a clique, with dynamic relationships and the sort of romantic yearning you'd expect amongst single 20 somethings living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It was refreshing to be such an outsider, to have no relationship with the people I was with or knowledge of the city I was in. There is no single line or lyric in American Slang that sums up that experience for me, but I guess it sort of sounds like how it felt.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Blog Spam
I write for the firm's blog and monitor the comments. We get a LOT of spam comments. Below are some of my favorites and their corresponding blog posts.
"Indiscriminate attacks on civilians ought, under all circumstances, to be illegal in war as in peacetime." from A Collaborative Divorce Can Save Your Business
"I learned a lot from that first record and I learned a lot from my experiences touring, but really the biggest education I got over the past two years was learning the importance of arrangements." from A Collaborative Divorce Can Save Your Business
"Zealous brother, what you sleep, I specify a subject and a sense of comfort not competent to get it, you give me the right who is the main response. Thank you very much different." from Thoughts on the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.
"Indiscriminate attacks on civilians ought, under all circumstances, to be illegal in war as in peacetime." from A Collaborative Divorce Can Save Your Business
"I learned a lot from that first record and I learned a lot from my experiences touring, but really the biggest education I got over the past two years was learning the importance of arrangements." from A Collaborative Divorce Can Save Your Business
"Zealous brother, what you sleep, I specify a subject and a sense of comfort not competent to get it, you give me the right who is the main response. Thank you very much different." from Thoughts on the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.
The Sheen Tour
He is apparently taking his abusive, psychotic, addicted life on the road. I just don't get this. He has a lengthy history of spousal abuse (this documents only those incidents until 2009) and yet he has the option to position himself as bizarre celebrity-gone-wild in the face of a total mental breakdown. While his erratic behavior is undoubtedly drug-fueled, that doesn't excuse his actions, now or in the past.
There are so many gender issues and class issues with his "goddesses" that I can't even begin to talk about it. The whole thing just underscores all the race/class/gender privileges that we know exist in our society, but that we don't want to directly address. I just hope that this disaster goes away quickly and everyone involved gets the professional attention and treatment they need.
There are so many gender issues and class issues with his "goddesses" that I can't even begin to talk about it. The whole thing just underscores all the race/class/gender privileges that we know exist in our society, but that we don't want to directly address. I just hope that this disaster goes away quickly and everyone involved gets the professional attention and treatment they need.
Friday, March 11, 2011
My Poor Congressmen
Has anyone been elected to Congress while living at or below the median household income?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
No More Credit Card Debt
For the first time since I got the thing, I have entirely paid off my credit card. No more credit card debt! It feels good to slowly get out from under debt, even if my largest credit card balance paled in comparison to my student loans.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Corn Rolls
I made these Golden Corn Rolls yesterday. Scoring them was a massive pain in the ass. The crosshatches sort of break down as the scores get closer together. On a side note, I have been using plain razor blades to score now. My lame from King Arthur was sort of dull and, well, I think I am too much of a novice to understand why I need a curved blade on a stick to cut bread.
The rolls are easy enough if your starter is healthy. They had a hint of sourness, but were otherwise just rolls with cornmeal in them. I thought they were sort of bland, frankly. Then again, they are decided NOT cornbread, and I'm not sure if I know what to do with corn rolls that are not a cornbread derivative.
No pictures for this one. Next time.
The rolls are easy enough if your starter is healthy. They had a hint of sourness, but were otherwise just rolls with cornmeal in them. I thought they were sort of bland, frankly. Then again, they are decided NOT cornbread, and I'm not sure if I know what to do with corn rolls that are not a cornbread derivative.
No pictures for this one. Next time.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Closer to a super-sour sourdough
I had some success with my last sourdough installment. I just "got" why Reinhart makes a near-50% hydration starter from the barm. Quick explanation: yeast want something wet and warm; acetic bacteria want something cold and dense. By taking a ripe 100% starter (barm, really) and making a 50% hydration starter, and then allowing that starter to double before throwing it in the fridge, Reinhart gets to have his cake and eat it too. The 100% starter and doubling time allow for the yeast to reproduce enough to give the starter some leavening power, but the cool environment and its low hydration level allow the acetic bacteria to catchup during the cool fermentation. So, stage one, make sure your starter can raise bread. Stage two, make sure your starter contributes to the bread's sour flavor. Makes sense and is easier than the two starter method (which is, admittedly, something I am still learning).
Recipe (yet another adaption from Reinhart)
Starter (two stages)
Starter Stage One
4oz 100% hydration starter
4 oz bread flour
.5 oz rye flour
1 oz water (luke warm)
Starter Stage Two
4 oz bread flour
.5 oz rye flour
2 oz water (luke warm)
Dough (desired dough temperature is 72-76)
starter
18 oz bread flour
2.25 oz rye flour
.5 oz salt
12 oz water (90 degrees)
Mix together stage one starter ingredients. Knead to fully incorporate and reach a medium to medium-low level of gluten development. Allow the starter to double, then put in fridge for at least 12 hours.
Take starter out of fridge approximately one hour before use. Mix together stage one starter with stage two ingredients. Knead to fully incorporate and reach a medium to medium-low level of gluten development. Allow dough to rise for 3-4 hours (may not necessary double, but will come close). Put starter back in fridge.
Remove starter one hour before use. Mix 16 oz of starter with dough ingredients. Knead until you achieve a medium to medium low level of gluten development. Allow the dough to rise for 4 hours at room temperature, with stretch and folds after 50 and 100 minutes. My dough rose considerably, but did not double.
Divide dough into two, shape into boules. Allow for a 60-90 minute proof, then retard the loaves over night.
I baked the loaves some 6-7 hours later, but you probably have more time if you want to stretch it out. Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees, prepare for steam baking. Put the loaves in the oven straight out of the fridge, steam for 5-9 minutes (I turn down the oven temp after the first 5 minutes because I steam less regularly after that, up to your method though). Rotate loaves, bake until brown crust is achieved.
Flavor is tangy, but not overly sour. I had one blowout, unfortunately, but the flavor was nice and complex for both loaves.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Learning for Learning's Sake
Now that I am out of school, I am realizing more and more that I don't really like learning for learning's sake. I suppose that is a bad thing to say and an undesirable attribute to have, but I can hardly deny that it is true. The reading and learning that I do outside of my profession is almost always geared at learning a new skill that I intend to use. For instance, I have very little desire to read classic literature but am currently trying to plow through a James Beard cookbook so I can move on to Michel Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry" textbook. I spent much of my 2L year in law school learning and reading about music, not because I am a fan, but because I was trying to compose. Right now, the only new book I plan on ordering is one teaching me a programming language (probably Flex). Why Flex? Because it is easier to produce a final product. Oh well.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Competitive Eating
I assume that training to be a competitive eater can be unbelievably expensive. Yeah, I know they drink a ton of water and eat lettuce to stretch out their stomachs, but can that really replicate the feeling of eating a dozen pies in five minutes? The problem is, who can afford that many pies?
I propose someone, not me, make a website that matches competitive eaters (CE) with extreme coupon-ers (EC). The ECs have more boxes of Fruit Loops than any man, let alone any small island nation, could eat in a lifetime. The CEs need to train so they can bring in that next paycheck. I am imagining a Match.com type of thing. Let's make it happen.
I propose someone, not me, make a website that matches competitive eaters (CE) with extreme coupon-ers (EC). The ECs have more boxes of Fruit Loops than any man, let alone any small island nation, could eat in a lifetime. The CEs need to train so they can bring in that next paycheck. I am imagining a Match.com type of thing. Let's make it happen.
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