Can you read between the lines

1. Heiko Hoffman has a great piece on Pitchfork detailing the origins of the Detroit techno and Chicago house scenes, and how they came to play off each other to further the music as well as their respective fan bases. Great quotes from the likes of Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson to name a few. Amazing to think Fuse-In Detroit is only six months away.
2. NYT had a good piece Monday outlining the increasing trend of classical jazz musicians incorporating interpretations of indie rock songs and artists as part of their repetoire. Here's hoping this is the 2006 version of the mashup, society could use more listening depth than anything 'My Humps' could ever provide. Unless it involves a Diplo edit of course. Jazz music does not lend itself well to those who seek constant repetition in music, even within a 4-5 song.
3. FCC boss prods pay TV to do more on decency (Reuters via Yahoo.)

   "We're not involved in this to bring about censorship," said Senate Commerce
   Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens an Alaska Republican. Still, "parents have a right to try to protect their children from some of the things that they can run into in the media."

Of course this is also the man pushing for drilling oil wells in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, increased tanker traffic in environmentally sensitive areas, and also the guy threatening to leave Senate if his US $223 million bridge to nowhere is scrapped in favor more Katrina funding. Clearly at 82 years of age, Stevens still has his finger on the pulse of issues that remain relevent to today's society. BTW, let it be noted I realize Stevens isn't the chair of the FCC, for those playing along at home.

The Apparent Cost of a College Scholarship

The New York Times features an article in Sunday's edition discussing the role correspondence schools play in getting student athletes into universities by basically writing them a blank cheque in the form of an acceptable report card. This of course leads to scholarship offers, and of course once you're in that system, what little scrutiny is there? Heisman candidate Matt Leinart is only taking one course this semester, and even that is an introduction to ballroom dancing or some other derivative offering along those lines. USC must be proud of that fact, but it probably doesn't matter as long as he continually sells out stadiums for them. Makes you wonder what kind of standards are in place at schools like Auburn or Mississipi State.

This is a must read, and makes you really wonder what kind of stringent standards are in place to prevent abuses to a system that basically rewards those who use the back door to represent these supposed institutions of higher education. This is why it's great to see how long Canada has managed to avoid the lure of doling out athletic scholarships to those in positions of great athletic talent but poor/non-existent academic accomplishments. Even under the current system, my roommate football player in first year was able to get in to school with a 53 average because he was 6'8", 280 lbs. Needless to say, his first year was also his last.

Poor Grades Aside, Athletes Get Into College on a $399 Diploma (NYT)

Lather Rinse Repeat

1. Pitchfork gets it spot on with their review of the new Green Day live album, Bullet in a Bible. It seems like only yesterday when I bought 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, now apparently you can buy American Idiot sweatpants. Indeed. And people use Good Charlotte as the example of punk rock being co-opted. Please.
2. Some may find the humour in this comment, most will see it as a reason to keep staying away from reading Slashdot. Mega Blocks wins trademark lawsuit v. Lego. 3 killer jokes within one post! You're lucky to get that kind of bang for your buck around these parts maybe once a decade.
3. If you haven't seen Information Leafblower's Top 40 bands in America today, do yourself a favor and learn up on them. An interesting mix dominated by indie artists, though there are possibly a few surprises as well. Check out the comments section as well for further discussion. If I had a vote, my top 10 would probably comprise of LCD Soundsystem, The National, John Vanderslice, Kanye West, Kelly Clarkson, Andrew Bird, Spoon, The Decemberists, Supersystem, and Ambulance Ltd. Not particularly a fan of Sufjan Stevens, who finished in first place. Look forward to hearing the full We Are Scientists album before making a fuller evaluation of their place in American music. Possible top 10 Canadian bands list tomorrow.
4. "As a country we pay $1 billion a year to power our TV's and VCR's while they're turned off,"
5. Last and certainly not least, RIP Somewhat Indifferent. Always well written, insightful, and a thoughtful perspective of all things indie/emo/punk. Hopefully it one day makes a triumphant return. Keep up the good work Brad.

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Tis the season to produce painfully stupid lists

Amazon.com's customers are fairly representational of the cross-section of tastes enjoyed by most Americans. On their top 100 Customers' Favorite Albums of 2005 list, you would be hard pressed to disagree that Coldplay and Green Day would make questionable choices for #1 and #2 on the list. They have certainly established themselves as artists able to transcend formats by playing ambiguous, neopolitan songs that offend nobody either lyrically or musically (even the title track on American Idiot is vague despite the allusions to politics.)

But where is the giant outcry for Il Divo being chosen at #3? Il Divo? The only thing most people know about them if anything was that their founder gains more notoriety through his criticisms on American Idol than they do through every collective appearance they've made in person and through the media. Maybe it's the nice suit and tie combinations they're sporting on the cover, or the pleasing, non-threatening font used to elicit some sort of classical timelessness asperations to their music that just makes the Oprah crowd swoon. But honestly, to say this is the third best album of 2005 leads you to believe that there's still hope for a Dave Koz/ Yanni/ John Tesh/ Kenny G collabo taking the top spot in 2006.

Aside from that obvious stupidity, the most farcical part of a top Customers Album list of 2005 is that the bewildered herd who gain all their musical knowledge via the wonderful world of FM radio can't even discern between albums released this year and say, Maroon 5's Songs About Jane, which has been on store shelves for over three and a half years now. And yet #20 it is. Like it wasn't rediculous enough they won best new artist at the Grammys this year (maybe last) imagine what this says about how long it takes the media's gatekeepers to push items through the realm of popular culture and thereby delivering epiphanies to countless soccer moms still trying to show little Jake how hip she is with it.

Just for the record's sake, let it be shown that of their top 100 of 2005 (the customers only keep in mind, the critics list may be tackled later on) only 49 of the albums in the list were even released during the 2005 calendar year. Either the people voting on this are all from Alabama or Amazon just has some really stupid customers. You'd think with a prerequisite being able to surf the Internet in order to facilitate a purchase at Amazon you would automatically be weeding out those can think independently from those who breathe through their mouths still. Here's hoping AOL users have a great 2006 as well.

Follow along please

1. Curb Your Enthusiasm has been quite hit or miss this season. It was a great relief then to see the always wonderful Rob Corddry make a guest appearance as a sex offender in what was probably the best episode to date from Season 5.
2. Threadless is having a sale just in time for the holidays. For the hipster who has nothing, pretends to want nothing, but secretly searches out new ways of being ironic nonetheless, shirts are only 10 bucks each for a limited time. Check their stock chart to see what's still left.
3. All you need to know about the Raptors this season, courtesy of Friday's Associated Press Notes section on their loss vs. Utah: One fan helped a sign that read "For Rent, Raptor fan."
4. The Lemon-Red Mix Series finally put out DJ Benzi's mix for November, which follows on the footsteps of the Certified Bananas shit hot October release. Do yourself a favor and download them both.
5. Normally I wouldn't mention the Black Eyed Peas, but apparently the chick is going to be playing a hooker in the next season of the Soparanos, hopefully she's killed off within one episode. Even better would be for her simply to have no lines. In the meantime check out Diplo's remix of My Humps. (via BowBow2)
6. Maybe I'm late to the dance on this one, but the Toronto Star's new layout is absolutely atrocious and unreadable. Completely scatterbrained, fonts that are annoyingly small, and the content seems nowhere near as interesting as it does in the print version. Nice to know Windsor hasn't changed much since I left.
7. Final Fantasy covers Bloc Party's This Modern Love (via The Smudge of Ashen Fluff)
8. My fantasy hockey team is rocking. You shouldn't care about this, but it's a point of pride when you draft Kovalchuk, Tanguay, Gagne, and Frolov, all at the same position. Add Jagr, McCabe, and Staal and you would think that team would be good enough for first place, you know having 5 of the top 8 goalscorers in a 15 team fantasy league. Unfortunately the goaltending has been less than stellar. Carolina needs to play Cam Ward, Jose Theodore needs to concentrate more, and Jocelyn Thibault should stop watching Crosby and Lemieux and get his head out of his ass before he gets bounced outta town.