10. "Is There a Ghost" by Band of Horses
It is a haunted, insomniac, exhausted world. We are isolated and alone. Or are we? What can bring light, peace, and rest to this ghostly vision? Really freakin' loud rawk guitars.
9. "Earth Intruders" by Bjork
A preview of what music will sound like in 2017. Rhythmic, percussive, yes, but also post-human and utterly alien. Bjork still thinks she can organize freedom, but what that freedom will look like is no longer anything our dead 20th century liberal souls would recognize. More like necessary voodoo.
8. "My Moon My Man" by Feist
While "1 2 3 4" played to all our worst desires for bright colors, Sesame Street cheerfulness, teenage wishy washy wish fulfillment, bad dancing, etc. etc., "My Moon My Man" found Feist playing the sexy, seductive jet-setter. Take it slow, take it easy on me, she sings in invitation. The music slinks, and the last sounds you hear are high-heeled steps racing away to her next rendezvous.
7. "Atlas" by Battles
Now we're talking. This song and those crazy vocals still freak me out. The brilliant Battles play a frenetic but disciplined brand of dance/post-rock that puts the listener square in the middle of an amazing sonic landscape/onslaught. You don't listen to the music so much as experience it in three dimensional space.
6. "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice
2007 was the year that white indie-rockers were called out for not listening to enough black music. So leave it to the French to deliver the best beats, and rehabilitate an affection for Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. Like Daft Punk before them, Justice are more than happy to celebrate a cool, European brand of worldly eclecticism and, as every P.Y.T. knows, this is what music was supposed to sound like when we imagined the carefree oughts.
5. "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley
What a terrible album. What a fantastic song. On this one track, Jenny Lewis and the band out-do all of the recent Dusty Springfield imitators with this gorgeous and expert performance. Like all great country songs, the lyric spins cliche into something familiar, heartbreaking, and in the end hopeful. That grass-hoppery guitar line gives one the sense that the singer is both nervous and excited to be moving on.
4. "Going to a Town" by Rufus Wainwright
The piano and vocal put me in mind of the melancholy of old jazz torch songs like Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." There is a sadness here that seems like the culmination of years and years of frustration and disappointment. When he says he's tired of America it's not glib. It's not something said easily or to shock. It is painful and honest. Perhaps it was his Judy Garland performances that allowed Rufus to take these essential ingredients of tragedy, solipsism and camp, and transform them into full-throated social and political protest.
3. "The Good, the Bad and the Queen" by The Good, the Bad, and the Queen
Damon Albarn's latest side-project is where the two strands of Brit-pop Englishness (Blur) and hip-hop and world beat (Gorillaz) come together to interrogate and exhaust their possibilities. On the one hand musical exploration and the ability to embrace the world as an artist is a net good. On the other, war, racism, illiberalism are bad. What overshadows our every effort is the Queen: empire, colonialism, patriotism, chauvanism, whiteness. Listen as Albarn's music hall piano and bouncy delivery give way to a punk's notion of a what a middle eastern dervish sounds like. And listen again as it all collapses and with it the possibility of a shared universal language based on song.
2. "Bamboo Banga" by M.I.A.
M.I.A. resists and rejects the notion that the west can reach out and embrace the world, shaping African and Asian beats into its own myopic vision of pop music. On Kala, it's Indian music that's the assumed cultural inheritance, and The Pixies, The Clash, and (perhaps) Duran Duran become the weird, exotic flourishes. On "Bamboo Banga," M.I.A. works with Switch to create a driving, forceful beat full of boasts, warnings, and announcements, and reclaims a little bit of R&B history along the way. If she's knocking on the doors of your Hummer: the future does not belong to you.
1. "Fake Empire" by The National
The song is oddly American in its nakedness and deep baritoned vocal. The loveliness of the images are straight out of a holiday beer commercial. Good times, good friends, a little something in our lemonade. But as the piano carries forward the implicit message is that we are privileged, complacent, lazy, comfortable. That's where we find ourselves at the end of 2007. Half awake in an empire that has burnt itself out; that never was a real empire anyway. In confessing it, the National remind us that we can't miss what we never had. We can't regret losing what we never aspired to in the first place.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The Myth of Class
This is interesting:
What can this mean for the future "reading class" as universal literacy gives way to video on demand and touch screens interfaces?
Secondly, as the middle class loses access to higher education, won't job status once again reinforce class differences based on wealth and family?
The "cultural elite" brought up on opera and the higher arts, which supposedly turns up its nose at anything as vulgar as a pop song or mainstream television, does not exist, according to research published by Oxford University academics.According to the article there is no longer a class system, but there is a status system based on your occupation and your education. The higher your status and level of education the more likely you are to be interested in things that were once considered high-brow like art and opera.
What can this mean for the future "reading class" as universal literacy gives way to video on demand and touch screens interfaces?
Secondly, as the middle class loses access to higher education, won't job status once again reinforce class differences based on wealth and family?
Buckeyes 62 Gators 49
Yes, I know this wasn't the National Championship (of basketball, or football for that matter). For the most part this is a pretty meaningless rematch of two teams in the midst of rebuilding. And yes, all of the good players for both teams have moved on to the NBA. But as a Buckeye fan, I'll take what I can get. Revenge is a dish best served cold, with a side dish of pettiness.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Oh, Nevermind
Just as I was speculating on the total democratization of all human knowledge, purple monkey dishwasher, the new New Yorker arrives with dire statistics on reading:
There's an irony here, but one I'm not yet ready to chew on.
There’s no reason to think that reading and writing are about to become extinct, but some sociologists speculate that reading books for pleasure will one day be the province of a special “reading class,” much as it was before the arrival of mass literacy, in the second half of the nineteenth century. They warn that it probably won’t regain the prestige of exclusivity; it may just become “an increasingly arcane hobby.” Such a shift would change the texture of society.So writers are becoming smarter at the very moment readers are getting dumber. Or something.
There's an irony here, but one I'm not yet ready to chew on.
Favorite Tracks of 2007, Part 4
20. "Icky Thump" by The White Stripes
All stomp and bombast. A one man ode to dinosaur rock. Jack White is a purposeless energy going nowhere for no reason. What makes him rock? Angst? Rebellion? I have no idea, and neither does he.
19. "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
When this track debuted I thought Amy Winehouse was a cool for cool's sake, double-oh seven, groove-happy ironist. So, I was wrong. The song is a heartfelt ode to the trashy, the dirty, and the carpet burned. Documentary, then.
18. "What's a Girl To Do?" by Bats for Lashes
It's been a while since we've had a good talk-singy song, and well, the other-worldy chorus takes it to a whole 'nother level. Which is just my way of saying I have no idea what this song's about, but I like it. Rabbits on bicycles everywhere clap along.
17. "I Always Say Yes" by Glass Candy
Breathless 70s era disco meets Giallo-style creepiness. This is where we hurt.
16. "The Ride" by Joan as Police Woman
A lovely, affecting performance by Joan Wasser, who having performed with Rufus Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons, Sparklehorse and others, deserves to be recognized in her own right.
15. "Nag Nag Nag Nag" by Art Brut
Eddie Argos is so good that you forget that you're listening to a song. He's the music fan's music fan. Morrissey meets John Cusack in High Fidelity. Just read this:
14. "The Underdog" by Spoon
Strums and horns and a vaguely familiar melody. Britt Daniel and the band blast through this number before it really has a chance to register. It's that sense of urgency and expert delivery that keeps the song tugging at you long after the final fade.
13. "Now, Now" by St. Vincent
The song builds gracefully, at once feminine and ethereal. Then it taunts you with it's childlike "you don't mean that say you're sorry." By the time the guitar kicks in to blast you out of the room, it's too late to admit that Annie Clark's got chops. You've been played.
12. "Heatherwood" by Deerhunter
Everything Deerhunter did this year was cool, but this was the song I kept coming back to. This is shoe-gazer music that does not collapse or deflate. It expands, it embraces, as it sucks you in. Yet the lyrical mystery remains. What "was not seen again"?
11. "Once Upon A Time" by Air
The sound of Air sounding like Air. Piano runs and breathy vocals with all of the Air touches and flourishes. The song itself plays as though it's meant to be heard as you transition from one thing to another. At the airport. On the subway. It's one last chance to catch your breath before hurtling on to the next thing.
NEXT: The Best of the Rest and the Rest of the Best.
PLUS: 2007, what did it all mean anyway? A unified theory.
All stomp and bombast. A one man ode to dinosaur rock. Jack White is a purposeless energy going nowhere for no reason. What makes him rock? Angst? Rebellion? I have no idea, and neither does he.
19. "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse
When this track debuted I thought Amy Winehouse was a cool for cool's sake, double-oh seven, groove-happy ironist. So, I was wrong. The song is a heartfelt ode to the trashy, the dirty, and the carpet burned. Documentary, then.
18. "What's a Girl To Do?" by Bats for Lashes
It's been a while since we've had a good talk-singy song, and well, the other-worldy chorus takes it to a whole 'nother level. Which is just my way of saying I have no idea what this song's about, but I like it. Rabbits on bicycles everywhere clap along.
17. "I Always Say Yes" by Glass Candy
Breathless 70s era disco meets Giallo-style creepiness. This is where we hurt.
16. "The Ride" by Joan as Police Woman
A lovely, affecting performance by Joan Wasser, who having performed with Rufus Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons, Sparklehorse and others, deserves to be recognized in her own right.
15. "Nag Nag Nag Nag" by Art Brut
Eddie Argos is so good that you forget that you're listening to a song. He's the music fan's music fan. Morrissey meets John Cusack in High Fidelity. Just read this:
I used to have a bedroom to hide in,And that's just the bridge!
but now I’m outside deciding.
Older but wiser,
this song’s the decider.
Is it the sound of a man wrestling with emotion,
or the sound of him losing
and causing commotion?
I’m nothing to my peers,
but envy and hatred.
How many girls have they seen naked?
14. "The Underdog" by Spoon
Strums and horns and a vaguely familiar melody. Britt Daniel and the band blast through this number before it really has a chance to register. It's that sense of urgency and expert delivery that keeps the song tugging at you long after the final fade.
13. "Now, Now" by St. Vincent
The song builds gracefully, at once feminine and ethereal. Then it taunts you with it's childlike "you don't mean that say you're sorry." By the time the guitar kicks in to blast you out of the room, it's too late to admit that Annie Clark's got chops. You've been played.
12. "Heatherwood" by Deerhunter
Everything Deerhunter did this year was cool, but this was the song I kept coming back to. This is shoe-gazer music that does not collapse or deflate. It expands, it embraces, as it sucks you in. Yet the lyrical mystery remains. What "was not seen again"?
11. "Once Upon A Time" by Air
The sound of Air sounding like Air. Piano runs and breathy vocals with all of the Air touches and flourishes. The song itself plays as though it's meant to be heard as you transition from one thing to another. At the airport. On the subway. It's one last chance to catch your breath before hurtling on to the next thing.
NEXT: The Best of the Rest and the Rest of the Best.
PLUS: 2007, what did it all mean anyway? A unified theory.
The Possibility of Writing In The Mind Of Web 2.0
The Literacity blog raises some good questions about the future of print in the wake of Google's efforts to colonize all known knowledge:
Yes, But, because information is only a highly-prized currency when it is possessed by a small knowledge class. As information becomes more available, its value actually goes down.
The impact on storytelling won't be as big as you might think because, well, that particular Modernist and Postmodernist bird has already flown. The 20th century was devoted to just such an effort and advances in technology are having a much smaller social impact today then they did in 1900.
Definitely not, because again, hypertext has been tried. The whole of the web has been a hypertext from day one. If someone was going to write the great American novel in hypertext form shouldn't they have done it by now?
More importantly even the youngest most ambitious creative writers are still devoted to seeing their words in print (old fashioned 15th century technology). Is it possible to read The Willows online in 2007? No, it is not. 'Nuff said.
Wither Hypertext?
This year marked the 20th (twentieth!) anniversary of the writing of Michael Joyce's "Afternoon, a story", a story I studied in a po-mo lit class way back in 1994. The promise of hypertext as story form basically predates Web 1.0 and hasn't really advanced since.
I think there are a lot of reasons for that, and none of them are technical or likely to be alleviated by Web 2.0 or advances in Kindle-style text readers. Text is still the easiest thing for the web to handle. Basic HTML and anchor tags are all you need. It also requires a fraction of the bandwidth that we all have now (as we eagerly anticipate streaming HD movie content).
The next problem is quasi-technical, and that's the screen. There are still a lot of people who hate reading things on a computer screen. Even those people (myself included) who have adapted to the demands of scrolling down through long blocks of text still have their limits. Short paragraphs, and cut-to-the chase writing work better than the more involved prose of a book. I also find that when I read an actual book, my eyes cheat forward to see where were going, and flit back to catch things. I also get a sense of forward progress by the weight of the pages on the left and right. None of these things are easy to duplicate in a browser or a hand held.
But these are just luddite complaints that say more about how we've habitualized ourselves to reading books (an unnatural technology to begin with) than anything else. So if we're not limited (entirely) by technology, what is it that has prevented all these wonderful advances from revolutionizing the way people read and write stories? I think the problem must be in the writing itself, and I think the answer is that writing a fully formed story, with rounded characters is hard enough without ceding control of the plot, the story, and the sequence of events over to the reader. It may be impossible.
Is A Hypertext Still A Story?
At the very least, it seems to violate every rule you've learned or gleaned in every creative writing course, writing for dummies book, and how to get published without really trying seminar. My sense is that event order matters. Even if the story is non-linear. Even if it's abstract. The juxtaposition of ideas and images still matters and requires the author to determine how the text should be read. Otherwise, what do you have? Characters without a point of view, a motivation, or a goal. Plots where actions take place in a vacuum and decisions have no outcome or consequence.
Experiment all you like, but at the end of the day, a story is still the mind's attempt at solving a problem, at answering or asking an interesting question. In traditional storytelling the author guides the reader down all the various paths, presenting alternatives, answering objections, until at the end of the story we reach what ought to feel like an inevitable conclusion.
It's not clear to me that we know how to tell stories (much less read them) when we completely abandon notions of sequential cause and effect. The template for holistic, non-rational, non-linear, emotional, intuitive story telling will need to be found first.
I think the unintended consequence of Google and Web 2.0 will be the end of the epic encyclopedic novel. Books where authors show-off the depth and breadth of their knowledge on obscure topics are no longer necessary in a world where every piece of trivia is a Wiki search away.
The End of Information Scarcity
What Google ultimately represents is the end of information scarcity; a world where no-one is more knowledgeable on any given topic than anyone else; a world where being an expert, being a connoisseur, being an obsessed fan is open to everyone, and therefore offers no competitive advantage in the marketplace of ideas.
Stories will have to be better written, contain better and richer language, and place even more emphasis on character and emotion. They will have to try to tell us something we don't already know. Imagine that: a literature devoid of literary allusiveness and intertextuality, because everyone will have instant access to the same memes you do. No more retro-futurisistic, hyper-textual, neo-Victorian, pastiches. No more post-modern footnoted, endnoted, meta-commentaried, multi-lingual, split-paged narratives. Everyone will always already be in on the joke.
No, to tell a story you'll actually have to have something to say. In a Wiki world, it only gets harder.
I'll just throw a few questions out there: do you think these sorts of services are emergent properties of any society where information is a highly-prized currency? How might these developments impact storytelling, and the way people approach linear narrative? Is the long-awaited (but late-blooming) "hypertext novel" on the horizon at last?My answers are Yes, But; Not as much as you might think; and Definitely Not.
Yes, But, because information is only a highly-prized currency when it is possessed by a small knowledge class. As information becomes more available, its value actually goes down.
The impact on storytelling won't be as big as you might think because, well, that particular Modernist and Postmodernist bird has already flown. The 20th century was devoted to just such an effort and advances in technology are having a much smaller social impact today then they did in 1900.
Definitely not, because again, hypertext has been tried. The whole of the web has been a hypertext from day one. If someone was going to write the great American novel in hypertext form shouldn't they have done it by now?
More importantly even the youngest most ambitious creative writers are still devoted to seeing their words in print (old fashioned 15th century technology). Is it possible to read The Willows online in 2007? No, it is not. 'Nuff said.
Wither Hypertext?
This year marked the 20th (twentieth!) anniversary of the writing of Michael Joyce's "Afternoon, a story", a story I studied in a po-mo lit class way back in 1994. The promise of hypertext as story form basically predates Web 1.0 and hasn't really advanced since.
I think there are a lot of reasons for that, and none of them are technical or likely to be alleviated by Web 2.0 or advances in Kindle-style text readers. Text is still the easiest thing for the web to handle. Basic HTML and anchor tags are all you need. It also requires a fraction of the bandwidth that we all have now (as we eagerly anticipate streaming HD movie content).
The next problem is quasi-technical, and that's the screen. There are still a lot of people who hate reading things on a computer screen. Even those people (myself included) who have adapted to the demands of scrolling down through long blocks of text still have their limits. Short paragraphs, and cut-to-the chase writing work better than the more involved prose of a book. I also find that when I read an actual book, my eyes cheat forward to see where were going, and flit back to catch things. I also get a sense of forward progress by the weight of the pages on the left and right. None of these things are easy to duplicate in a browser or a hand held.
But these are just luddite complaints that say more about how we've habitualized ourselves to reading books (an unnatural technology to begin with) than anything else. So if we're not limited (entirely) by technology, what is it that has prevented all these wonderful advances from revolutionizing the way people read and write stories? I think the problem must be in the writing itself, and I think the answer is that writing a fully formed story, with rounded characters is hard enough without ceding control of the plot, the story, and the sequence of events over to the reader. It may be impossible.
Is A Hypertext Still A Story?
At the very least, it seems to violate every rule you've learned or gleaned in every creative writing course, writing for dummies book, and how to get published without really trying seminar. My sense is that event order matters. Even if the story is non-linear. Even if it's abstract. The juxtaposition of ideas and images still matters and requires the author to determine how the text should be read. Otherwise, what do you have? Characters without a point of view, a motivation, or a goal. Plots where actions take place in a vacuum and decisions have no outcome or consequence.
Experiment all you like, but at the end of the day, a story is still the mind's attempt at solving a problem, at answering or asking an interesting question. In traditional storytelling the author guides the reader down all the various paths, presenting alternatives, answering objections, until at the end of the story we reach what ought to feel like an inevitable conclusion.
It's not clear to me that we know how to tell stories (much less read them) when we completely abandon notions of sequential cause and effect. The template for holistic, non-rational, non-linear, emotional, intuitive story telling will need to be found first.
I think the unintended consequence of Google and Web 2.0 will be the end of the epic encyclopedic novel. Books where authors show-off the depth and breadth of their knowledge on obscure topics are no longer necessary in a world where every piece of trivia is a Wiki search away.
The End of Information Scarcity
What Google ultimately represents is the end of information scarcity; a world where no-one is more knowledgeable on any given topic than anyone else; a world where being an expert, being a connoisseur, being an obsessed fan is open to everyone, and therefore offers no competitive advantage in the marketplace of ideas.
Stories will have to be better written, contain better and richer language, and place even more emphasis on character and emotion. They will have to try to tell us something we don't already know. Imagine that: a literature devoid of literary allusiveness and intertextuality, because everyone will have instant access to the same memes you do. No more retro-futurisistic, hyper-textual, neo-Victorian, pastiches. No more post-modern footnoted, endnoted, meta-commentaried, multi-lingual, split-paged narratives. Everyone will always already be in on the joke.
No, to tell a story you'll actually have to have something to say. In a Wiki world, it only gets harder.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
30 Best Blogs (Not this one, obviously)
More fun with lists, only this time it's blogs. I only recognized 3 of the 30 so I have some reading to do.
Favorite Tracks of 2007, Part 3
The middling middle:
30. "Dashboard" by Modest Mouse
29. "Rotten Hell" by Menomena
28. "The Crystal Cat" by Dan Deacon
27. "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" by of Montreal
26. "Fucked Up Kid" by Kevin Drew
25. "Apreludes (in C sharp major)" by Stars of the Lid
24. "Konichiwa Bitches" by Robyn
23. "What Light" by Wilco
22. "Elephant Gun" by Beirut
21. "They're Leaving Me Behind" by Nick Drake
Up Next: Icky Good Girl Say Ride Nag Underdog Now, Heather Time
30. "Dashboard" by Modest Mouse
29. "Rotten Hell" by Menomena
28. "The Crystal Cat" by Dan Deacon
27. "Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" by of Montreal
26. "Fucked Up Kid" by Kevin Drew
25. "Apreludes (in C sharp major)" by Stars of the Lid
24. "Konichiwa Bitches" by Robyn
23. "What Light" by Wilco
22. "Elephant Gun" by Beirut
21. "They're Leaving Me Behind" by Nick Drake
Up Next: Icky Good Girl Say Ride Nag Underdog Now, Heather Time
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Favorite Tracks of 2007, Part 2
More list-making. We complete that bottom 40% of the list that no-one pays attention to anyway.
Please note: the rankings of these songs are for entertainment purposes only and do not actually reflect the relative quality between the tracks themselves. Make a mix-tape and see for yourself.
40. "Melody Day" by Caribou
39. "Again & Again" by The Bird and the Bee
38. "Thinking of You" by Norah Jones
37. "Sleeping Giant" by Mastodon
36. "Black Mirror" by The Arcade Fire
35. "Four Winds" by Bright Eyes
34. "Bookshop Casanova" by The Clientele
33. "Flathead" by The Fratellis
32. "LDN" by Lily Allen
31. "Ave Cruz" by CeU
Back tomorrow with more indie-rock die-hards, a former Scandinavian pop princess, a few weirdos, some ambient, and a dead guy.
Please note: the rankings of these songs are for entertainment purposes only and do not actually reflect the relative quality between the tracks themselves. Make a mix-tape and see for yourself.
40. "Melody Day" by Caribou
39. "Again & Again" by The Bird and the Bee
38. "Thinking of You" by Norah Jones
37. "Sleeping Giant" by Mastodon
36. "Black Mirror" by The Arcade Fire
35. "Four Winds" by Bright Eyes
34. "Bookshop Casanova" by The Clientele
33. "Flathead" by The Fratellis
32. "LDN" by Lily Allen
31. "Ave Cruz" by CeU
Back tomorrow with more indie-rock die-hards, a former Scandinavian pop princess, a few weirdos, some ambient, and a dead guy.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Meta-Blogging So You Don't Have To
Blogging about blogging before lunch:
- Pharyngula reads a stupid religionist screed in the New Republic so you don't have to.
- NY Mag Vulture reads AICN's review of Cloverfield so you don't have to.
Favorite Tracks of 2007, Part 1
It's list-making season, everywhere you look. So I thought I'd get my 2 cents in before 2008 is upon us.
Favorite Tracks 50-41
50. "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem
49. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead
48. "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" by Okkervil River
47. "Yadnus" by !!!
46. "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" by Jarvis Cocker
45. "Tonight I Have to Leave It" by the Shout Out Louds
44. "The Perfect Me" by Deerhoof
43. "Spaceman In Your Garden" by Prinzhorn Dance School
42. "Heretics" by Andrew Bird
41. "Phantom Limb" by The Shins
Favorite Tracks 50-41
50. "All My Friends" by LCD Soundsystem
49. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" by Radiohead
48. "Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe" by Okkervil River
47. "Yadnus" by !!!
46. "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" by Jarvis Cocker
45. "Tonight I Have to Leave It" by the Shout Out Louds
44. "The Perfect Me" by Deerhoof
43. "Spaceman In Your Garden" by Prinzhorn Dance School
42. "Heretics" by Andrew Bird
41. "Phantom Limb" by The Shins
NFL Week 15 Rankings
I haven't updated my rankings since Week 10, so what I thought I would do this time around is just look at the last 5 weeks and see who is hot and who is not. One, it's good to know who is playing well as we gear up for the playoffs and, two, it's interesting to see how teams are playing now that the weather is turning cold and nasty.
The results are pretty surprising, and point toward the possibility of some exciting upsets in the early rounds. The Steelers and Giants both look like they may make early exits, while the Vikings and Chargers could make runs. The Jags and Bucs have both quietly moved into position to play spoiler. The Patriots are still the team to beat, but teams are beginning to figure them out and make them look mortal again (what happens to their 16-0 record if they're finally upset in the second round by, oh, say, Jacksonville?). And lest we forget, the Cowboys and Packers are still the elite in the NFC and the Colts are still the defending Superbowl champs (and winners of their last 5).
I was beginning to get bored by the season and the prospect of the Patriots blowing everyone out, but this list gives me hope that something interesting could still happen. The only thing that scares me now is the prospect of the Chargers putting up 51 points against the Browns in the first round. Cleveland needs to steal that #4 spot from Pittsburgh and hope it snows in what would then be a potential match-up with the Jaguars.
1. Minnesota Vikings 5-0 (NFC #6 Seed)
2. New England Patriots 5-0 (AFC #1)
3. San Diego Chargers 4-1 (AFC #3)
4. Jacksonville Jaguars 4-1 (AFC #5)
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-1 (NFC #4)
6. Indianapolis Colts 5-0 (AFC #2)
7. Green Bay Packers 4-1 (NFC #2)
8. Dallas Cowboys 4-1 (NFC #1)
9. New Orleans Saints 3-2
10. Seattle Seahawks 4-1 (NFC #3)
11. Houston Texans 3-2
12. Cleveland Browns 4-1 (AFC #6)
13. Denver Broncos 2-3
14. Cincinnati Bengals 2-3
15. Washington Persons 2-3
16. Philadelphia Eagles 2-3
17. Chicago Bears 1-4
18. Arizona Cardinals 2-3
19. Pittsburgh Steelers 2-3 (AFC #4)
20. New York Jets 2-3
21. St. Louis Rams 2-3
22. New York Giants 3-2 (NFC #5)
23. Oakland Raiders 2-3
24. San Francisco 49ers 2-3
25. Tennessee Titans 2-3
26. Baltimore Ravens 0-5
27. Buffalo Bills 2-3
28. Carolina Panthers 2-3
29. Miami Dolphins 1-4
30. Detroit Lions 0-5
31. Kansas City Chefs 0-5
32. Atlanta Falcons 0-5
The results are pretty surprising, and point toward the possibility of some exciting upsets in the early rounds. The Steelers and Giants both look like they may make early exits, while the Vikings and Chargers could make runs. The Jags and Bucs have both quietly moved into position to play spoiler. The Patriots are still the team to beat, but teams are beginning to figure them out and make them look mortal again (what happens to their 16-0 record if they're finally upset in the second round by, oh, say, Jacksonville?). And lest we forget, the Cowboys and Packers are still the elite in the NFC and the Colts are still the defending Superbowl champs (and winners of their last 5).
I was beginning to get bored by the season and the prospect of the Patriots blowing everyone out, but this list gives me hope that something interesting could still happen. The only thing that scares me now is the prospect of the Chargers putting up 51 points against the Browns in the first round. Cleveland needs to steal that #4 spot from Pittsburgh and hope it snows in what would then be a potential match-up with the Jaguars.
1. Minnesota Vikings 5-0 (NFC #6 Seed)
2. New England Patriots 5-0 (AFC #1)
3. San Diego Chargers 4-1 (AFC #3)
4. Jacksonville Jaguars 4-1 (AFC #5)
5. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 4-1 (NFC #4)
6. Indianapolis Colts 5-0 (AFC #2)
7. Green Bay Packers 4-1 (NFC #2)
8. Dallas Cowboys 4-1 (NFC #1)
9. New Orleans Saints 3-2
10. Seattle Seahawks 4-1 (NFC #3)
11. Houston Texans 3-2
12. Cleveland Browns 4-1 (AFC #6)
13. Denver Broncos 2-3
14. Cincinnati Bengals 2-3
15. Washington Persons 2-3
16. Philadelphia Eagles 2-3
17. Chicago Bears 1-4
18. Arizona Cardinals 2-3
19. Pittsburgh Steelers 2-3 (AFC #4)
20. New York Jets 2-3
21. St. Louis Rams 2-3
22. New York Giants 3-2 (NFC #5)
23. Oakland Raiders 2-3
24. San Francisco 49ers 2-3
25. Tennessee Titans 2-3
26. Baltimore Ravens 0-5
27. Buffalo Bills 2-3
28. Carolina Panthers 2-3
29. Miami Dolphins 1-4
30. Detroit Lions 0-5
31. Kansas City Chefs 0-5
32. Atlanta Falcons 0-5
Monday, December 17, 2007
Catching Up 1: Perseverence
I've been taking some time off while I try to sort out my next career move and keep pace with the devil's cauldron that is modern western capitalism. Some observations of the last many weeks:
Things fail more often than they succeed.
Businesses fail, restaurants fail, relationships fail. Opportunities don't pan out the way you expected them to. That guy who said he'd call you back about that thing, doesn't. That novel you've been working on isn't actually very good. More often than not, you're screwed, and you're life becomes a disjointed serious of fits and starts with no clear purpose or direction. All you can do is make a virtue of perseverance and try to make narrative sense of all your failures and successes. String them together in a long chain of cause and effect (even when there is none) until you make yourself feel better.
Right now I'm between jobs, facing an uncertain future, and being forced to sum up and evaluate what I've done so far. Sure it's just a resume, but it's also a little snapshot of all your choices and opportunities. Should I have gone into a different field? Should I have done more with my education? Should I have been able to see this coming way back in the 11th grade? How can I gorilla glue and staple gun all these job titles together? How can I putty in the holes in my education and technical know-how? How can I go out there and sell myself without feeling like a sell-out?
But this is not a "can" or a "should" problem. We persevere because we must. Because at the end of the day, it's all about what needs to be done. Live, survive, keep going. Fight another day. Most of the time we fail, we retreat, we reevaluate. But sometimes, maybe next time, we succeed.
Things fail more often than they succeed.
Businesses fail, restaurants fail, relationships fail. Opportunities don't pan out the way you expected them to. That guy who said he'd call you back about that thing, doesn't. That novel you've been working on isn't actually very good. More often than not, you're screwed, and you're life becomes a disjointed serious of fits and starts with no clear purpose or direction. All you can do is make a virtue of perseverance and try to make narrative sense of all your failures and successes. String them together in a long chain of cause and effect (even when there is none) until you make yourself feel better.
Right now I'm between jobs, facing an uncertain future, and being forced to sum up and evaluate what I've done so far. Sure it's just a resume, but it's also a little snapshot of all your choices and opportunities. Should I have gone into a different field? Should I have done more with my education? Should I have been able to see this coming way back in the 11th grade? How can I gorilla glue and staple gun all these job titles together? How can I putty in the holes in my education and technical know-how? How can I go out there and sell myself without feeling like a sell-out?
But this is not a "can" or a "should" problem. We persevere because we must. Because at the end of the day, it's all about what needs to be done. Live, survive, keep going. Fight another day. Most of the time we fail, we retreat, we reevaluate. But sometimes, maybe next time, we succeed.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
College Football: BCS Selections
Bad news for the Buckeyes.
After winning the Big Ten, defeating Michigan, and getting a spot in the Rose Bowl, the rest of the college football world imploded. Now they'll be forced to play LSU on their home turf in the so-called National Championship game. Bah!
Nevermind the fact that a traditional matchup against USC would make for a much more entertaining game, now we'll have to spend the next month hearing about the supernatural speed and strength of the SEC. Gag.
The Bucks best hope is that LSU focus on Florida's 41-14 win a year ago and that they come into the game as an over-confident over-dog.
Tressel will need to game plan the heck out of this thing, give the offense some new wrinkles to play with, and hope that the defense can hold 'em under 21 points.
Otherwise, Ohio State and its reputation will again become the unfortunate victims of the BCS and its farcical championship.
After winning the Big Ten, defeating Michigan, and getting a spot in the Rose Bowl, the rest of the college football world imploded. Now they'll be forced to play LSU on their home turf in the so-called National Championship game. Bah!
Nevermind the fact that a traditional matchup against USC would make for a much more entertaining game, now we'll have to spend the next month hearing about the supernatural speed and strength of the SEC. Gag.
The Bucks best hope is that LSU focus on Florida's 41-14 win a year ago and that they come into the game as an over-confident over-dog.
Tressel will need to game plan the heck out of this thing, give the offense some new wrinkles to play with, and hope that the defense can hold 'em under 21 points.
Otherwise, Ohio State and its reputation will again become the unfortunate victims of the BCS and its farcical championship.
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