My Old School

Night view of the University of Waterloo Arts Library

Nice to see the kids at my old Alma Mater are as classy and inventive as ever. Hat tip to Maple Leaf Politics

Surf music is not dead

Kevin Wood / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Move over Frank Sinatra, there's a new chairman of the board--the surfboard that is.

When thinking about surfing and pop music, the first thing that comes to mind is early '60s teenage beach movies and the twangy, energetic surf-guitar sounds of Dick Dale, the Surfaris and the Ventures, or the tight harmonies of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Then along came Jack Johnson and everything changed.

Johnson is currently riding a wave of popularity worldwide with his laid-back, feel-good, roots-based beach sound built around simple acoustic guitar melodies and gentle, reggaelike rhythms. This wave will bring him to the shores of Japan for a one-night stand at Chiba's Makuhari Messe on Saturday.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Johnson was a professional surfer from the age of 16 until he moved to the mainland to study film at the University of California's Santa Barbara campus. From there, he went on to make a pair of award-winning surfing films before his musical career took off in 2001 with the sleeper hit "Brushfire Fairytales." Subsequent albums On and On in 2003 and last year's Between Dreams both entered the U.S. Billboard charts at No. 3, and his latest Curious George: Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies for the Film debuted at No. 1.

Johnson's seemingly effortless rise to fame came about almost by accident. While he had been playing guitar since he was 14, Johnson had never planned a career in music. He played in a punk band in high school and at occasional parties and college coffeehouses in Santa Barbara and used some of his own music in the soundtracks for his films, but never expected it to become a full-time job.

In 1998, while editing his film Thicker than Water, he met G. Love, whose music he had used in a film. The two hit it off and Johnson was invited to hang out at the studio the next day.

His visit to the studio culminated in his teaming up with G. Love and Special Sauce to record one of his own songs, "Rodeo Clown," which appeared on the band's 1999 album Philadelphonic.

At the urging of friends, Johnson recorded a four-track demo, which caught the attention of surfing buddy J.P. Plunier--the right-hand man of singer-songwriter and guitarist Ben Harper.

Johnson signed with Harper's Enjoy Records in 2001 and Plunier produced his first album, which sold mainly on the strength of word of mouth starting in the surfing community, eventually moving 250,000 albums in its first year of release. U.S. tours with Harper followed, and by 2003 Johnson was headlining shows of his own.

No stranger to Japan, Johnson has been performing here since 2002, and his 2004 tour is the subject of a recently released DVD.

Johnson's success has helped launch careers among his surfing and singing comrades, notably Donavon Frankenreiter, whose debut came out on Johnson's own Brushfire Records label.

Saturday's show will be opened by Johnson's former U.C. Santa Barbara schoolmates the Animal Liberation Orchestra, an up-and-coming jam band whose 2005 independent debut Fly Between Walls--released last year in Japan--will be rereleased across the United States this month by Brushfire Records. The album contains a collaboration with Johnson, who provides the vocals on "Girl, I Want to Lay You Down."

Also on stage Saturday will be singer-songwriter Matt Costa, another artist debuting on Brushfire this spring in the United States and Japan.

Jack Johnson with guest Animal Liberation Orchestra will perform April 15, 6 p.m. at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, (0570) 08-9999; Animal Liberation Orchestra will also play April 14, 7 p.m. at Thumbs Up in Yokohama, (045) 314-8705.

(Apr. 13, 2006)

The sane people
Over at Liberal Catnip, there is some pondering of when the term liberal became a perjorative and what the heck a progressive is. Go read that.

I think some of the reluctance of many on the left/progressive/liberal side of the political spectrum (or "sane people" as I like to call them) to identify as "liberals" has to do with the marginalization of so-called liberals in the 60s by the more committed people in the progressive movement who had nothing but disdain for what some "progressives" and right wingers still refer to as "chequebook liberals" - people who give money to causes but don't really do anything to support them.

(see Phil Ochs' "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" )

There are still lots of these people around, in fact the vast majority of the population is liberal in orientation, but not really committed to full-scale activism. How many people do you know that recycle, but drive gas-guzzling SUVs or deplore the flight of the manufacturing industry from North America, hate slavery and sweatshops, but love to buy cheap crap imported from China at Wal-Mart. I don't want to point any fingers, since almost everyone on the planet is a hypocrite -- we all compromise, it's really just a matter of degree. (You're reading this, so you probably own a computer - do you have any idea how bad building computers is for the environment, you tree-killing bastard?)

Also in the '80s it became widely known (thanks to the demise of the FCC's fairness doctrine and the rise of Rush Limbaugh, the original oxy(contin)moron) that all "Libruls" had three eyes, fangs, ate Christian babies, wanted to take everyone's guns away and set up a one-world government under the communist-dominated United Nations and worst of all wanted to keep good, red-blooded Amurikins from calling women "broads" or African-Americans "niggers" and spend all our tax-dollars to rename manholes "personholes" (-- all which is true by the way, didn't you get the memo?). The end of the fairness doctrine sped the rise of the loudmouthed yahoo nativist school of punditry. That, along with the return of the worship of wealth and conspicuous consumption that took off in the '80s, and the reactionary culture of victimhood ("Change is always for the worst, bring back the good old days! What do you mean we can't do anything we want?) is what made old conservatism new again. You can blame Ronald Reagan for that - I certainly do.

In Canada, since the Liberal Party has been the natural ruling party for so long, it is part of the establishment, something that became more evident than ever when the party swung to the right in the 80's and 90's. As a result, those more who are more activist, left-oriented and anti-establishment (NDP voters and so-called small L liberals) have often called themselves progressives to set themselves apart for those who backed the big-business-friendly Chretien and Martin governments.

Call them what you want - liberals, progressives, leftists, radicals, revolutionaries, anti-fascists, socialists, ratfink commie pinko bastards - I just think of them as my friends, the sane people.

First "Truthiness" now "Scienciness"
Cornell University drinks the "intelligent design" kool-aid and offers a two month long credit course.

I think Drew Curtis over at FARK said it best: "Two-month schedule starts with lecture on "Great Breakthroughs in Intelligent Design Research," followed by 59.5 days of lunch"

Maybe Cornell will eventually establish an ID faculty - it could go next to the School of UFOlogy, across from the L. Ron Hubbard Memorial Center for Theology and Xenobiology.

The ultimate treehouse
The Swiss Family Robinson's pad ain't got nothing on these arborial pod dwellings. Definitely a step up from the shipping skid, two-by-four and chipboard scrap lumber monstrosities of my youth.

Family Values
Okay, I give up. I'll admit the Republicans are the party of sound morals and family values and even love children more than Democrats.

Guarding America while it sleeps
Yes, Mr. and Mrs. America you can rest easy knowing that Homeland Security is protecting you and your children from nasty foreign terrorists and journalists. Well, at least its protecting you -- the kids, ehh....not so much. And lest you think that the Homeland Security spokesman facing charges for child porn and attempting to seduce a 14-year-old girl via a computer chat is an exception to the rule, think again.

the envelope please...

The winners list for the Koufax awards has been released. Maybe next year.

Delusional
This is really the only word for Stephen Harper. He is sitting as Prime Minister with the slimmest minority government in Canadian history and is below 40% in the polls and yet thinks he has a mandate to monkey with the Constitution. Eventually the man is going to get a serious bitch-slapping from reality.

Pay no attention to that Brownshirt behind the curtain
Nunc Scio has the goods on Tory MP for Okanagan-Shuswap Colin Mayes, who has suggested that journalists be jailed for writing "distorted" or "inaccurate" articles. He has since retracted the comments he made in a column he wrote and sent out to local newspapers in BC - I suspect he got an angry phone call from the boss. As a professional journalist of over 15 years experience, I would like to say I support this idea wholeheartedly. I think any journalist who knowingly lies in print should be clapped in irons, right next to any politician who lies or fails to live up to a promise.

Joke
CathiefromCanada: On the lighter side of American history and immigration.

Powerlessness of Prayer
They needed a scientific study to prove this? Power of prayer overrated. What's next, using electron microscopes to see once and for all how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

They've got nothing!

It has been a busy week here in Woodshedland, too busy getting kids ready to start school and enjoying the cherry blossoms of Tokyo - to say nothing of the daily working grind - to blog. As a result I missed the whole Ben Domenech/Washington Post feeding frenzy. Here is the opening shot, followed by a number of 16 ton weights dropped on "Box Turtle Ben's" scrotum. (just scroll around for numerous links)

At one point last week, Atrios wondered aloud who the Post could possibly hire from the Wingnut end of Blogsylvania that would not be a major embarrassment to conservative with IQs above room temperature - and contrary to what you think my politics are, I do admit such people exist. I thought about it long and hard and the truth is this: they got nuthin'. Zero, zilch, zip, nada y pues nada. While some of the wingnut bloggers may not be as obviously horrible choices as the openly racist and clearly stupid plagiarist they picked, but none of the top ten (based on the TTLB ecosystem which measures links) are exactly stellar options.

Top ten conservative bloggers

Instapundit - heh, indeedy! I'm afraid to just google "Glen Reynolds says something stupid" as the bazillion of results might crash my machine.

Michelle Malkin - I won't link to her, I just won't. But Dave Neiwert over at Orcinus has a whole Koufax nominates series about how crapulous her work is that starts here and goes on for six more parts. Ben Domenench helped edit her "book."

Powerline- It's run by a man known as Assrocket, 'nuff said. TIME's blog of the year a few years ago.

Little Green Footballs- You'd need to be on hillbilly heroin to think Charles Johnson and his gang of ignorant yahoos was anything more than a bunch of stormtroopers with a leather fetish .

Captain's Quarters - while generally better behaved, an ignorant wingnut is still and ignorant wingnut

Hugh Hewitt - Everything you really need to know about Hugh Hewitt can be found in this parody of his reaction to the nomination of Harriet Miers. One commentor mentions that Hugh's opinion of The President has earned him the nickname "Monica."

The Mudville Gazette-One of the many popular military fetishist blogs run by a real live soldier who is heroically protecting the homeland in Germany.

Real Clear Politics - not so much a blog as a careful selection of links that slant the news to the right.

Stop the ACLU - I just couldn't read any further than the masthead quote "beating them with their own sickle and hammer." Even conservatives know its "hammer and sickle" dammit! Should not be taken seriously until they stop eating paint chips.

So that's the top ten conservative bloggers - clearly not the cream of the intellectual crop. The Post's Jim Brady has said that they will be looking for someone with a more traditional journalism background. I suppose that means someone like Adam's Apple Anne, Doughy Pantsload or the other NRO dimwits

Now if the Wapo were to decide that instead of hiring a conservative blogger to balance its journalism, it wanted to hire a conservative blogger and a liberal blogger to balance each other, It could choose any of the following without fear.

Top ten Liberal Blogs

Daily Kos - Markos has the street cred and runs the finest group blog going.

Talking Points Memo - Josh Marshall is bright, erudite and ready to fight. A man who does his research and uses it. TPM Cafe is a great group site with very informed writers.

Eschaton - While the comments may get a little wild and wooly and there are a lot of open threads, Atrios is a trained economist who knows what he's talking about and can write like a house on fire when he chooses to.

Huffington Post - A round up rather than a single source blog. I've never really bought Arriana's road to Damascus conversion to liberalism, but she can write a fair stick and has none of Box Turtle Ben's faults.

The Washington Monthly - I don't always agree with Kevin Drum and he takes a fair bit of shit from female bloggers for occasional sexism, but he would still be a decent choice.

Crooks and Liars - More of a video resource for the blogosphere than anything else, but if you want to know what is going on in the television end of the media, this is where you go.

Wonkette - Already a media darling.

Crooked Timber group - A sizeable group, any one of which could eat the entire Pyjamas media crew alive

Informed Comment - Professor Juan Cole is an expert on Middle East History and has had plenty of practice slapping conservatives around on a factual basis.

Hullabaloo - Digby is eloquent, informed and original.

And that is just the top ten, nevermind people like PZ Myers, David Neiwert, Michael Berube, Jane Hamsher, David Noon, Billmon, Attaturk, Roy Edroso, Tbogg -- Hell, even the Rude Pundit would liven things up. Its a deep, deep bench on our side of the rink. Over there, not so much.

On second thought...
Suddenly, I'm considerably less sure about the wisdom of our war in Afghanistan. Is Canada really there supporting a government that endorses executing people for converting to a different religion? I'm not sure if even the Taliban did that. NATO or no NATO, I'm not sure if this is such a great idea after all if we are ousting one group of intolerant religious fascists to replace them with another group of intolerant religious fascists.

I know there is still considerable anti-Western feeling outside Kabul and that to a considerable extent the Taliban still rule the countryside. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with an Afghan journalist who was visiting Tokyo. It was by turns inspiring, depressing and frustrating. He was very offhand about the risks he runs daily as a stringer for the foreign press. He said he could travel the country freely with a beard and more traditional garb than the suit he was wearing, but that if anyone found out who he worked for, he'd be dead. "But you don't get far in this business if you are afraid to take chances" he said, throwing gasoline on the fire of my frustration at the editorial timidity and herd mentality of the Japanese media. He was very definite about the state of affairs in his country being much better generally than the news would indicate. After years of civil war, the fighting is mostly over in most of the country and things are getting back to what he called normal, pointing out that normal in Kabul and normal in Tokyo are as different as chalk and cheese. "I come from another planet" he said.

Thought Crimes
A recent NYPD memo brags about the use of "proactive arrests" and intimidation tactics to break up and silence political demonstrations in 2002. So now all you have to do to get busted at demonstration in NYC is look like you might be thinking of doing something bad and you will be "pre-emptively arrested." Remember, police officers can read your mind - they know if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Only you can prevent thoughtcrimes!

Round up
Yes, we at the Woodshed are surfing the Internet so you don't have to, bringing you videos of evangelists calling for a holy enema and proof that God may exist and be answering prayers after all.

Toys for young Republicans can be found at the Baby Bush Toys catalogue site, but if you really want to brainwash your youngster, Jesus wants you to buy one of these talking biblical action figures . Tom Waits sang about his chocolate Jesus, but you choose the confectionary deity of your choice.

Take a minute to enjoy some 60-second Shakespeare courtesy of the BBC.

(and a top of the ol' snap brim to all those at the hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy that supplied some of the links)

Papers please...
This kind of Gestapo shit really has to be stopped. Anyone who thinks The United States is not becoming a police state really is dreaming. It could be argued I think that it already has become a police state, but the cops just haven't quite cottoned on to the fact that they can now do whatever they want if they dress it up as part of the war on terror or the war on drugs. What is really going on is a war on freedom. I don't doubt that the powers that be may have had the best intentions but when you start handing over the kind of power the Patriot Act gives and combining it with the current administrations willingness to just ignore the law (see FISA and Bush's NSA domestic surveillence program) as it suit them and you get Italy circa 1936, but with leader with a weaker chin.

Steven Harper and coffee in Kandahar
Canada's new Prime Minister has been beset by allegations of unethical behavior over floor crossings and Senate appointments and refuses to meet with the federal ethics commissioner. His shaky popularitity is taking a pounding and so, following the example of his ideological inspiration, U.S. President Dubya McCodpiece, Stephen Harper decided to top-gun his way (see photos 8 and 9) into Afghanistan last week to visit the Canadian troops there. At least he didn't pretend to land a Sea King on a destroyer, and had the class not to play dress up and put on a Canadian Forces uniform or quasi-military flightsuit.

Whether you agree that Canada should be sending troops to Afghanistan or not -- and the Galloping Beaver makes a compelling case for deployment -- I think anyone with any respect for democracy and the troops being sent into harm's way would agree that the issue deserves to be discussed in Parliament. If the reasons for deployment are so clear and compelling - and I think they are - then what the hell is Peter MacKay afraid of? An open discussion of why they are being deployed does not mean that people don't support the troops, it means they don't take decisions to put them at risk lightly.

If, as Gen. Hillier suggests, we are liable to be in this for the next decade surely it merits some kind of public debate. Canadians will always support Canadian troops when their actions deserve support, but to our national credit, we will not tolerate abuses, unlike some of our allies.

"Two large double-doubles and a cruller, hold the shrapnel"

When I heard Harper had gone to Kandahar, I figured he'd have to go in with a very small contingent of press in order to make room in the C-130 for 3,000 take-out coffee's from Tim Hortons, but then I saw that Tim's is opening a local branch. I'm not sure how Hortons plans to staff the Afghanistan outlet. Likely some poor soul in the Canadian Forces quartermasters corps will be trading his combat greens for Hortons' polyester browns, but I'd like to volunteer for the 1st Canadian Expeditionary Doughnuteers, maybe Rick Mercer could put in a good word for me with his skydiving buddy Gen. Hillier. I can only think that the reason they held off on doing this so long is that they were worried the armored personnel carriers would be pretty tough on the drive thru lane.

Real Amuricans don't need no fancy book learnin'
Some people are born ignorant and some have ignorance thrust upon them. Across the U.S. it seems there is a movement to get rid of the International Baccalaurate - check this article in the Guardian about a school board of ignorant conservatards that are out to give Kansas a run for its money.

At the high school level the program is usually a two year, highly academic program for juniors and seniors which is recognized as a first year course credit at many universities and colleges. As it is internationally recognized, the program is especially popular in international schools here in Japan. It's aim is to provide students with a comprehensive background in English, a foreign language, social studies, mathematics, and science. Also required are three other components: study of a Theory of Knowledge course—an interdisciplinary course which encourages critical thinking; Participation in 3 - 4 hours of extra-curricular activities per week with emphasis on volunteer community service; completion of a 4,000 word essay written independently, with guidance from a faculty adviser

Read the Guardian article to get the exact statements, the gist of the objections to the IB are that it is anti-Christian, anti-military and anti-American, promotes disarmament, multiculturalism, evironmentalism, a more even distribution of wealth (read "Marxism") and the importance of international institutions such as the United Nations (read "One World Government" and is just plain "too foreign" -- it was, after all, developed in France and the organization that administers and coordinates the program is still headquartered there.

Even the President has embraced the IB program and called for its expansion in the U.S., but I guess that's not enough for those who think that Sunday School is all you need.

Oscar winning rabbits
A short animated feature that is just like Brokeback Mountain, but with bunnies. (warning: contains scenes of bunny love that dare not speak its name that may amuse )