The Book of Normans

Overheard at Duane Reade Last Night

2009-12-15T12:02:00.003-05:00

"Did you see Abraham Lincoln?"
(At this point I suspected they were talking about me.)
"Yeah. You know we're the real Jews."
(At this point I knew they were talking about me.)
"Yeah that's right. That's why Hitler said black people are the real Jews."

DC vs. Marvel, Round 4

2009-03-12T10:45:00.001-05:00

Perry White versus J. Jonah Jameson.

DC vs. Marvel, Round 3

2009-03-05T01:58:00.001-05:00

Solomon Grundy versus the Incredible Hulk.

Qoo~游泳篇(韓文)

2009-02-16T13:22:00.001-05:00

Why is everything in Asia so cute?

Matisyahu (Live) -- Chico State (part 1) -- 11.19.08 (his friend doing standup comedy).AVI

2009-02-16T13:16:00.001-05:00

This is Simcha opening up for Matisyahu.

Music Video of the Day, part 4

2008-11-24T14:17:00.001-05:00

"Rutzi Shmulik" by Ariel Zilber.

I hear this guy's a Baal Teshuva now. We sang this song at camp when I was little. Brings back some fond memories. This is a sweet little song about a girl who sees this boy named Shmulik in her dreams. The chorus goes something like "Run, Shmulik is calling you and he's sending you a thousand kisses."

Music Brings Back Memories

2008-11-09T13:06:00.001-05:00

It's funny how music can jog your memory. I was just talking with a friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a while. She told me she was on a bus Saturday night, and her iPod played a song I had recommended her, after which she couldn't stop thinking of me. It was very flattering, but it got me thinking about how certain songs bring me back to specific periods of my life, especially if a certain girl figured prominently into what was going on with me at that time.

I first noticed it in sixth grade, when I had a big crush on a girl, and Magnificent Bastards' "Mockingbird Girl" made me think of her every time it came on the radio (I was listening to WAAF a lot at the time). I've since gone back and listened to that song, and it kind of sucks. In college, when I started to get involved in my first serious relationship, which coincided with my introduction to My Bloody Valentine, I listened to Isn't Anything and Loveless as much as possible so I would have a frame of reference for the memories.

This is just my interpretation, but it seems to me that Chassidus explains why music is so universally moving. Chassidus teaches that when one reads a book, for example, a bond develops between the reader and the author, perhaps as small as a favorable opinion. A favorable opinion may progress to curiosity, mild interest, fanship, and so on. Regarding music, however, the Alter Rebbe famously said, "If words are the pen of the heart, then song is the pen of the soul." While words may be understood according to one's own ability, music connects on a level higher than understanding, cutting through directly to the soul. Perhaps this is why my Grandma always calls nigunim Jewish Soul Music.

Music Video of the Day, part 3

2008-11-04T18:07:00.001-05:00

I guess I'm a little late on this one, but please enjoy "Do The Know It's Hallowe'en?" by the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative.

Music Video of the Day, part 2

2008-10-23T23:23:00.001-05:00

"Straight Up" by Paula Adbul

A Triumph of Good Taste

2008-10-23T10:30:00.000-05:00

On the 3 train last night, some girl was practicing her pole dancing moves for her friends across the aisle from me. I was in too much shock to move, so I took out my chumash and started learning last week's parsha just so I wouldn't have to see some obnoxious girl shaking her fat behind and kicking her feet up in the air. They got off at the same stop as me. When the train stopped, her friend said "I have to pee like a race horse." Very classy, ladies.

How I Spent Half My Day Today

2008-10-16T15:45:00.002-05:00

The King of Fighters Wing

Click here to play this game

Music Video of the Day, part 1

2008-10-13T12:26:00.001-05:00

Only Shallow, by My Bloody Valentine

Shanah Tovah

2008-10-12T14:00:00.001-05:00

Rosh Hashanah was great this year. I davened with Yossi, Gershon, and Menachem Eliyahu at 770. It was very crowded, but for the first time in my life, the davening was literally enlivening. I finished Sefer Tehillim over the course of both days, also for the first time, and the farbrengen at the end of the yomtov was surprisingly emotional. It felt almost as if the Rebbe was in the room.

Yom Kippur got off to a good start; I stayed up late, until 2am, saying Tehillim, and finished during shacharis. By musaf, though, I began to feel very weak and had to come leave shul. When I came back to my room, I found some Israeli buchor sleeping in my bed. I had left the door unlocked because I thought my roommate had asked to me leave it open for a friend who was staying with us. I woke up the Israeli guy and said I needed to lie down in my bed. He got up, mumbling something about someone telling him he could go upstairs and find a bed and that no one would mind. I told him he could sleep on the sofa chair in our room. I figured he must be feeling ill if he wasn't in davening, and he said he had a cold. I changed my pillow case after the yomtov but I still ended up catching a cold, which B"H only lasted a few days.

Sukkos is coming up tomorrow night. It's hard to believe I moved into the Yeshiva almost a year ago. This would be a good time to make a chesbon, what with it being the new year, and my birthday coming up, and all.

770 During Tishrei

2008-10-07T11:15:00.002-05:00

At shul this morning, there was a guy standing next to me ranting in Hebrew. He got there around the same time I did, and was yelling at bochurim the whole time he was in talis and tefillin. At one point, I had to put my siddur down on the table to gather up my tzitzis, and he slammed my siddur shut and started pushing my arm when I tried to open it back up. I yelled "excuse me" at him in Hebrew a couple times, but just walked away when I realized I was going to get nowhere with him. At one point, I think the gabbai came over to calm him down because he was getting too rough with the Israeli bochurim. People were shushing the guy the whole time he was there, but he kept ignoring them.

Hüsker Dü - Makes No Sense At All

2008-10-02T11:05:00.001-05:00

Watch the whole thing. There's a surprise at the end you won't want to miss!

Simcha Levenberg @ the HaHa Cafe 8/19/08

2008-08-21T12:41:00.001-05:00

This is my rabbi, y'all. He's hilarious.

Blind In Paris (Mark Gonzales/Jason Lee/Danny Way)

2008-08-21T00:40:00.001-05:00

I wonder why some of this footage never made it onto Video Days. NB Jason Lee's frontside airs and that kickflip 50-50. And, of course, his 360 flips. Mark Gonzales and Danny Way are also rad, but I'm too tired to go into it.

The Crown Heights Branch

2008-08-20T14:56:00.000-05:00

Haven't been able to update as much as I'd like, but fortunately it's because my friend Roma hired me to do some part time data entry on his jewelry website.

Went to the Crown Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library today with Leah and Menachem. I needed to print out a bus ticket, but there was a two-hour wait for a computer. Some girl was playing a tetris-type game at one of the computer stations. Those flash games are real important. There was a magician there who was pretty funny, except he was kind of manhandling his rabbit. I went outside to make a phone call and ended up getting into a conversation with a kid named Jay, who was practicing his kickflips on his skateboard. I impressed him with my (in)ability to do a casper, and he showed me how to ollie better. Evidently, using your toes rather than the balls of your feet makes a big difference.

I Feel Like Less of a Criminal Now

2008-08-15T00:28:00.001-05:00

Turns out that lady who gave me a hard time outside of Kol Tuv has a reputation for being difficult. I know a few people who've had trouble with her. She once told my friend's wife that she wasn't helping to bring the geulah because she didn't give her enough money. I forget if that was the first or the second time she yelled at my friend's wife, but the second time she gave this lady money, she yelled at her again. So she told the lady to get a job! When my friend was telling me this story he ended it with, "That's my girl!" I wasn't sure what to make of that until I actually had to deal with that woman making me feel like a criminal.

Shacharis at 1pm

2008-08-07T14:01:00.000-05:00

Shacharis felt like it took forever today. It was only an hour or so, which is not bad considering we heard krias hatorah today, but lately I've become impatient with my davening. Davening has become like a race for me. I can't get it out fast enough. I have friends who really take their time and daven with kavana, but mine is more of a "knock it off" kind, like Rabbi Wircberg once described it. I just wanna get it out of the way. It's just a phase I'm going through, I think, because I'm still getting a geshmak out of learning chassidus. I'm not worried, more like frustrated, but not enough to force myself to slow down. We'll see what happens.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

2008-08-05T22:25:00.001-05:00

This is the whole song. Not sure what's up with the video, but the song is hilarious. Listen and giggle.

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah!

2008-08-04T19:51:00.001-05:00

I love 30 Rock.

This No-Music Bidness Is Killing Me

2008-08-03T18:44:00.001-05:00

On my way back from Kol Tuv this evening, I stopped to give some change to a lady sitting outside on a milk crate. Shnorrers are commonplace in Crown Heights, and they let us fulfill the important mitzvah of tzedaka. Sometimes they bother me, though. I had a couple pennies in my hand. This woman did not want pennies; she said if I couldn't give her like a mentsh, not to give her at all. So I gave her a quarter in addition to the two pennies. So she yelled at me as I walked away. I told her that was all I had. So she threw a penny at me. I felt badly.

Some Recent Handywork

2008-08-03T16:22:00.001-05:00

I've been trading text messages with a friend whom I've gotten hooked on TMBG's "James K Polk" song. Made this to send him a pix message.

Comics Crusader: Remembering Jackie Ormes

2008-08-03T15:00:00.000-05:00

Comics related segment on NPR about the late Jackie Ormes. Check it out here.

Oh, the pain!

2008-08-03T01:06:00.003-05:00

We're in the last nine days of a 30-day period right now during which it's prohibited to listen to music. Do you know how hard that is? These last nine days are especially stringent. I was pretty lax about it up until now, but I'm doing my best to refrain from prohibited activities during the Nine Days. It ends with Tisha B'Av, or the Ninth (Day) of (the Month of) Av, a fast day for the Yidden. I don't fast well.

The fast is not the main point of a fast day. Rather, one should focus on doing teshuva, a concept similar to repentance, though the actually word means return. I'm a fool, though, so I concentrate more on not eating and how miserable I am.

The Goonies

2008-08-02T23:34:00.000-05:00

Shneur lent me his copy of the Goonies recently. Can I just say i haven't watched a movie that fun in a while? And the commentary was just as awesome; I couldn't believe they were able to get the whole cast back for that session.

J Mascis and Judah Friedlander: Separated at Birth?

2008-07-31T00:41:00.001-05:00

I have nothing much to say about this, except that J Mascis bears a remarkable likeness to one Judah Friedlander.

In Yeshiva now

2008-04-24T13:29:00.000-05:00

Expect another six-month absence.

Fun With MS Paint

2007-09-22T23:45:00.000-05:00

"Dream Lover"

2007-09-09T23:42:00.000-05:00

Bobby Darin sounds positively square next to Ben E. King. The first thing I noticed is that in the chorus, Darin resolves to the root of the tonic chord. King drops down to the third, which sounds a little hipper. King phrases behind the beat and takes some liberties with the melody, adding drama and strengthening the narrative voice. Darin sounds relaxed, but rather unimaginative, although it's probably just as well he doesn't plead like King.

Coach Frank Rides Independent Trucks

2007-09-05T12:17:00.001-05:00

Jason Lee is a character.

Good Morning

2007-09-04T08:51:00.000-05:00

My landlady woke me up at 8:30 this morning when she let herself into my apartment.

Insight from Daniel Schorr

2007-08-30T01:25:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday's All Things Considered, Daniel Schorr observed of President Bush, "Lying as a matter of convience has become almost a conventional technique." About two and a half minutes long, it's a short piece but, as is typical of Schorr, there's plenty of information crammed into it. Listen to the whole thing here.

My Favorite Shoes

2007-08-29T20:30:00.000-05:00

Mike Wieringo

2007-08-17T02:38:00.000-05:00

Just found out one of my favorite comicbook artists suffered a fatal heart attack last Sunday (Aug 12). I was just rediscovering Wieringo's art via his internet presence, and perhaps even took for granted the diligence with which he kept his fans in the loop. My friend Dan-David hipped me to Wieringo's artwork when he gave me a stack of Sensational Spider-Man comics, all in Hebrew. I went out and bought the corresponding English copies, so I could try and learn some Hebrew. Mostly, I just read books in English and really started to dig on Mike Wieringo's style.

The first thing I remember noticing is how he draws a chin. The guy just really knows how to draw a chin (fig. 1). His lyrical visual style (fig. 2) has developed a bit of an edge in the past ten years (fig. 3). Wieringo's return to Spider-Man felt like he had come full circle as a comicbook artist, seeing Marvel's flagship hero through an era of major changes, i.e. Marvel's Civil War.

Judging from the online response to Mike Wieringo's passing, it seems like he was a popular guy in the comics community. He was also a health nut, supposedly, which makes his heart attack that much more tragic.

We Are Jolly Laddies, We're Riders of the Night

2007-08-16T02:39:00.000-05:00

Came across my fraternity's entry in Urban Dictionary.

"The greatest fraternity that ever existed. Composed of individuals who are [. . .] known for being non-discriminatory towards everybody and propagate freedom for all men of all creeds." (source)

For a something slightly more objective, you may want to try the actual Pi Lambda Phi website. There's an in-depth history of the fraternity, a list of famous Pi Lams (e.g., Sandy Koufax and Rodgers & Hammerstein), information on their activities philanthropic and educational and humanitarian, etc.

You can skip all that shit because it's boring. All you need to know is the Creed of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity.

The Creed of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity
That all Men are created Free and Equal.

That no Society of Men can flourish unless Members of that Society are endowed the Opportunities and Privileges of Freedom.

That Freedom implies the Elimination of Prejudice -- That the Elimination of Prejudice means a Better Understanding 'twixt Men.

That it is incumbent upon me to fight for such Freedom even with my Life.

That it is incumbent upon me in my Personal Life to be devoted to the Highest Standards of Honesty and Justice.

That because my Country is dedicated to the Highest Standards of Freedom and Justice for all Men of all Creeds, I hereby pledge Allegiance to my Country, and to its National Symbol.

My parents raised me by these and other, similar values. It's worth mentioning that my parents are Pi Lams. My Dad is an active alumnus; my Mom's status is less official, and that's a story for another time.

Time Isn't Just a Magazine

2007-08-12T22:39:00.000-05:00

Anyone else ever notice Lynyrd Skynyrd is kinda shaky about keeping time? I can only cite "Free Bird" and "Tuesday's Gone" as examples, since those are the only two Skynyrd songs I really listen to, but in both tunes the band seems to exhibit the same tendency to rush a little bit.

John Scofield's A-Team

2007-08-02T02:08:00.000-05:00

John Scofield has a new record coming out on Emarcy, and it looks fantastic.

The album finds Scofield once again in the company of what he calls his "A-Team" - bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart. [. . .]
Joining the trio is a four-part horn section featuring Roger Rosenberg on baritone sax and bass clarinet, Jim Pugh on trombone, Lawrence Feldman on tenor sax and flutes and John Swana on trumpet and flugelhorn.
(source)

Scofield's reputation as a hip alternative to the piano has been well documented since the 1970s, in ensembles ranging from saxophone/guitar/bass/drums to trumpet/guitar/bass/drums to trumpet/saxophone/guitar/bass/drums. As far as I know, this is his first outing in a medium sized, guitar-only group.

If this sounds at all interesting to you, bassist/composer Alexis Cuadrado cut a record, Visual, with a sextet of similar instrumentation (alto sax/ten sax/tromb/gtr/bass/drums) that I highly recommend. If you're feeling adventurous, Nels Cline has a sextet record of Andrew Hill compositions, called New Monastery; the sextet includes cornet, clarinet, and accordion.

The Story of BOB

2007-08-01T13:03:00.000-05:00

David Lynch recalls Killer BOB's origins.

Commemorative Elvis Plates

2007-07-30T23:28:00.000-05:00

Remember those commercials for the commemorative Elvis plates? "This commemorative Elvis plate is a very special rare, limited edition, collectors item." As a child, I didn't understand why anyone would want to buy dishware for display, as opposed to conventional, use. Twenty years later, I can dig a Fiesta collection, but the appeal of a commemorative plate remains to me a mystery.

Anomaly?

2007-07-18T01:04:00.000-05:00

I think I'm developing a taste for Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was watching My Name Is Earl the other day, and there's a scene where Jason Lee sings "Free Bird" to Norm Macdonald (brilliantly cast as the son of Burt Reynolds). I had barely noticed that for all the flak it gets, "Free Bird" is pretty nice tune, when it dawned on me that I was hearing the tune for the first time. I've been aware of the song's "Stairway to Heaven"-like reputation since I was 13, when my friend Jeff and I found "FREE BIRD" carved into a desk in our English classroom.

It's implausible enough that I'm 24 and I had never heard "Free Bird" until a week ago, but it's compounded by the irony of all those scholarly musical pretensions I've been passing off as expertise. This is even sillier than that time I found out Buster Poindexter is really David Johansen.

Terry Gross

2007-07-02T04:03:00.000-05:00

"She has an extraordinarily sexy radio persona," adds Timothy Ferris, author of "The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report," who has been a "Fresh Air" guest several times. "I've never met her, though I feel like she's a friend. But when you are in that booth and her voice is being digitally beamed into the studio -- well, it is an incredibly sensuous experience." (source)

If you know me, you probably know I like NPR. You also probably know I'm a big fan of Terry Gross, host of the radio program "Fresh Air." I like "Fresh Air," but mostly I listen to it because of Terry; in fact, I probably pay more attention to her than I do to the guests.

I think part of the reason I'm frum today is because I bonded with Rabbi Simcha Levenberg, then a shliach at the Chabad of Amherst, over our shared passion for NPR and Terry Gross. Simcha's wife, Cyril, recalled that I would show up for Shabbos dinner once or twice a month, and Simcha and I would have the same exact conversation we had last time. We'd be laughing hysterically while everyone else was like, "Didn't you guys already have this conversation?"

Close to home.

2007-06-28T04:07:00.000-05:00

I guess this is how metalheads felt when Spinal Tap came out. Jessica Abel hits the nail on the head with this illustration. That guy was me for about a three year period, peaking during my sophomore year of college.

Religious Jews have lots of sects.

2007-06-27T01:19:00.000-05:00

From A frummies guide to labeling and judging other frummies:

Issurdox- Everything is strict in your house. You check your lettuce under a lamp with a magnifying glass. Your gasoline has to be kosher for pesach. You dont eat matzo on Pesach except for the first night because it may become gebrokts in your mouth.

I haven't checked out the rest of the blog, but Frum Satire looks promising based on that one extensive, and largely dead-on, glossary.

Rilo Kiley! Julie! Other related marital news?

2007-06-26T02:34:00.000-05:00

I just happened upon a gallery of photos from a Rilo Kiley/Nada Surf concert I went to with Barak, Julie, and Marissa. Nada Surf didn't impress me, but Rilo Kiley really knocked me out. The band was tight; Blake, in particular, exhibited some solid, versatile technical facility as a guitarist. Perhaps even more impressive was seeing him play his ass off without showboating. He and Jenny also charmed the hell out of the audience. They're very charismatic and have a ton of presence.

In related news, I spoke to Julie the other day, and she's recently engaged to her boyfriend. Congratulations, Julie.

I think Mendy's wedding is this week. When I ran into him at 770 a few weekends ago, I think he told me it's on the 28th. I'd have written it down, but it was Shabbos day. As I recall, that was the Shabbos when someone threw a whole bunch of trash in the cholent.

I rarely laugh at these things.

2007-06-19T15:21:00.000-05:00

Most, if not all, of the comedy videos I've seen online are boring unless you were there when it happened. This one is actually pretty hilarious.

Caution: not intended for the exceptionally chaste.

Tzadik Leaves eMusic!

2007-05-09T02:24:00.000-05:00

I just went to eMusic to download an album or two from my Jewish Music list, and guess what? Three out of the four albums are missing. Guess what else? The missing ones are all on Tzadik. Guess what else? Tzadik left eMusic. The Washington Post ran an article about it a few days ago.

Indie labels plan to pull out of digital service
DENVER/LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - A handful of independentrecord labels are poised to launch what they are calling a'revolt' against digital subscription service eMusic, citingunhappiness with the company's pricing model as their coreconcern.

Perhaps because the link is way at the bottom of the site, just above the fine print, the eMusic message boards seem to be populated mostly by core members. There are plenty of stupid posts, but good discussion happen pretty frequently. One topic that caught my eye was Tzadik alert! There's also a long thread if you're interested in the community's response. Lastly, there's a commendable post by the eMusic CEO, David Pakman, at 17 dots.

A healthy digital music business needs a variety of business models and a variety of price points, just like the movie biz (think theater, DVD, pay-per-view). What we offer to record labels is the opportunity to sell their product to a customer who’s passionate about music and will buy it in large quantities — if the price is right. eMusic is the “long tail” — we don’t sell many hits, but over two-thirds of our catalogue of 2.5 million tracks sells at least once every quarter. That’s far above and beyond iTunes. eMusic sells music that doesn’t sell anywhere else.

So I guess I won't be able to download that Jewish music I wanted to check out. I'm disappointed that Tzadik has left eMusic, but I'm not discouraged. There's a ton of music still available, and new releases are always coming in.

DC vs. Marvel, Round 2

2007-03-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

Green Lantern versus the Invisible Woman.

Pointless Kvetching

2007-03-19T01:54:00.000-05:00

I try to make it a point not to publicly slam other people or, in this case, other websites. Especially when they have little significant bearing on my life. I just find myself really annoyed by the Shmais website. Call it a loss of composure. Call it constructive criticism. Call it talking shit about a generally benign online presence.
Anyway, have you ever noticed how annoying all those ads are on Shmais? The page content is literally lined with graphic advertisements, mostly for local businesses. It's not so much the volume of ads that bothers me, but that they're all animated. Also, legibility is a problem with a lot these ads. Bitmap typefaces would probably help when the text gets too small. Better judgment would probably help when the text/background color combination renders the type unreadable.
It's worth noting that Shmais.com is a good tool for keeping up with the Lubavitch community; I find the simcha announcements especially useful. As a community bulletin board, the site is effective, if not aesthetically appealing.

Babydoll

2007-03-17T23:14:00.000-05:00

My friend Olivia was recently published in the Summerset Review. Her story "Babydoll" is one of my favorites that she's written.

Call it.

2007-02-16T07:27:00.000-05:00

Hawkeye versus Green Arrow.

Nerd Alert

2007-02-13T04:12:00.000-05:00

The novel I'm reading seems to contain no f-ligatures. It bothers me that the typesetters didn't use f-ligatures when they set the type for this book.

Helpful Kitchen Hints

2007-02-11T00:55:00.000-05:00

Gut woch. Today we learn how to open a can of chicken soup with a jar opener. For this lesson, you'll need a can of chicken soup and a jar opener.
Step 1: mutilate the can.
Be careful not to cut yourself.

Tu B'Shevat

2007-01-31T10:28:00.000-05:00

The following is from Celebrating Pleasure, a good article by David Aaron on Tu B'Shevat, the new year for trees.

An apple is not just an apple; an apple is a blessing. Maybe I could believe that apples come from trees, but a blessing could only come from G-d. If I really contemplate the mystery and miracle of the taste, fragrance, beauty and nutrition wrapped up in this apple, I see that it's more than just a fruit--it is a wondrous loving gift from G-d. When I taste an apple with that kind of consciousness, I cannot but experience the presence of G-d within the physical. When I recite a blessing before I eat and acknowledge it as a gift from G-d, I reveal the divinity within it, and the transient sensual pleasure of the food is transformed, because it is filled with eternal spiritual pleasure. The food then feeds not only my body but also my soul. However, when I eat without a blessing, it's as if I stole the food. Perhaps it will nourish and bring pleasure to my body, but it will do nothing for my soul. The soul is only nourished when it experiences its eternal connection to G-d.

There's also some unintentionally hilarious word choice in the article, but I'll leave you to find that on your own.

I'm back.

2007-01-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

I really like Geoffrey Nunberg. I just listened to him read an essay he wrote on the non-apology.

Basically, we know everything there is to know about non-apologies by the time we're seven: you make appropriately contrite noises, and then you go on to point to extenuating circumstances, disclaim any malign intention, and minimize the offense. As in, "Okay, I apologize. But he started it. And I was only kidding. And anyway, it was washable ink."

You can listen the whole thing here.

Madi Boombadi

2006-11-17T13:18:00.000-05:00

I first met Madi because she was my brother's friend. Then we became friends. Weird how that happens.

and that's whassup

2006-11-16T19:52:00.000-05:00

First weekly video podcast from and that's whassup! news.

That's my homeboy Chaim behind the desk. We're from the same town, but we didn't meet until about a year ago in Crown Heights. He's friends with (L-R) Esther, Becky, and Rivkah; in fact, he goes way back with Riv and Becky, and I think it was Rivkah who introduced us at the Shabbaton last year. Chaim's dad, Rabbi Lazaros, is the shliach in our hometown, but I've never met him because I didn't get involved with Chabad until I was in college. There was a period of a few months between when I left school and when I moved to Brooklyn, during which I could have gone there for Shabbos, but I was too green at the time to get my ass up out of bed and walk for an hour in the middle of winter to daven with a minyan at 10AM.

Chaim lives on the other side of the neighborhood from me, so I don't bump into him too often, but I see his brother Moshe pretty regularly at 770. I met Moshe at 1414 on the first day of Rosh Hashana, because I had to make a kiddush and he was sitting in front of the first bottle of wine I saw that had anything left in it.

I cut my hair.

2006-10-31T01:40:00.000-05:00

Most Painful Moment in Twin Peaks

2006-10-29T19:41:00.000-05:00

Harriet Hayward's poetry reading in the second season premiere episode.

Gut Woch

2006-10-28T18:33:00.000-05:00

Remember when electronic devices had that little reset button? You had to use a paper clip or something to get to it, and sometimes you had to hold the button down for a few seconds. Sometimes it made a scary beeping noise. If the device had an LED screen, all the images in the screen would turn on, which was kind of cool to look at.

Another NPR Lovefest

2006-10-17T07:51:00.000-05:00

My Birthday Is in Ten Days.
Long Live the Mixed Cassette Tape
Kazakhstan Embassy Responds to Borat
Lemony Snicket Reaches 'The End'
Playwright Neil LaBute, 'Wrecks'

New Typeface from Maniackers Design

2006-10-10T18:23:00.000-05:00

Maniackers Design has released what looks to be a legible, perhaps even useful, typeface. I think it's part of a series of loosely related typefaces.

『096MKSD - Synapse - Alphabet』はMKSDスタンダードフォントシリーズの第3弾として制作。某建築設計事務所のロゴタイプデザインを進めていく中で派生したアイデアにヒントを得てフォント化しました。本文用、見出し用、ロゴタイプにも対応したオールマイティー＆スタイリッシュな使いやすいフォントです。字間は比較的狭く設定しました。MKSDスタンダードフォントシリーズ第1弾は『071MKSD』、第2弾は『078MKSD』。（2006.10.10 Up Date）

On a sidenote, Japanese graphic design is where it's at. After you've explored the MKDS website, I highly recommend a thorough perusal of their links page. It probably won't take very long for you to notice that I've cribbed some graphics from a few of these websites. Most of the homepages are in Japanese with English trim, but navigation is more often intuitive than hunt-and-peck.

A gut moed, un a gut yor.

I live here.

2006-10-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Over the past several weeks, I've noticed an increased police presence in the neighborhood. Evidently, there's been a rash of violence in these here parts. I'll save the race relations discussion for another time. Right now, I'd like to direct your attention toward a recent article on Shmais, where you can see some photos of my block. I know you're all dying to see what a slum I live in, so here's a shot I took over the summer.

This is so wrong.

2006-09-26T11:26:00.000-05:00

Hit the Deck, It's the Decal Man

2006-09-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

I just realized, after three years or so, how well Modest Mouse is able to circumvent formal pop conventions on The Moon & Antarctica. Not only are the songs coherent, but the absence of familiar song structure enhances the rambling feel of the album as a whole. The scattered and clustered versification, the deranged cowboy poet narrative voice that seems to manifest itself in most of their lyrics, the actual sound of the band's music! The Moon & Antarctica is cohesive, sure, but it's also good for listening to.

Photo of the Day

2006-09-21T20:19:00.000-05:00

They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-haaa!

2006-09-20T04:11:00.000-05:00

Somebody's car alarm has been going off for the past four or five hours. It sounds like a metronome set to about 400 bpm. The volume, tempo, and pitch constantly vary independently of one another, as if the thing needs new batteries. It's too inconsistent to be trance-inducing or hypnotic.

I think it's actually making me retarded.

Where's Waldo? Lubavitcher Edition

2006-09-19T02:13:00.000-05:00

Slichos at 770. I didn't last long. I was maybe ten feet from the door, my glasses were fogging up, and it was getting harder to breathe. I've never been in a more crowded room after 1am, including all the parties I went to in college.

Kyle Gann

2006-09-19T00:24:00.000-05:00

Just read an excellent post by Kyle "Oops, I did it a" Gann. Here's the paragraph that roped me in.

The new course I'm teaching that I wrote about recently is titled "Progress Versus Populism in 20th-Century Music." It describes classical and postclassical music since 1913 as racked between two contradictory convictions. One is the idea that music should continually increase in subtlety and sophistication, each new generation learning everything that came before and moving continually forward in a linear evolution. The other is the idea that music not understandable by untrained listeners is elitist and therefore politically suspect; that by appealing only to the super-educated it marginalizes itself and becomes safe, soaking up cultural resources without doing anything to break down the advantages that the elites - financial, corporate, cultural, and otherwise - have over the common man.

You can read the rest of it here.

I'm not familiar at all with Gann's music, but I plan on checking it out before the end of the week. His music shouldn't be too hard get ahold of; he's generously made it available for free download via his home page.

Errol Morris & the Interrotron

2006-09-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Is Errol Morris one of those guys who just never runs out of ideas? Perhaps.

I found out about him my senior year in high school, when I was reading John Pierson's Spike, Mike, Slackers, and Dykes. Turns out one of my co-workers was a production assistant on First Person. Yeah, that's right-- I worked with a guy who's in the IMDb. He told me all about the Interrotron, which continues to amaze me. I seem to recall this co-worker telling me that Morris had augmented the Interrotron with several cameras, redubbing it the Megatron.

Annie Potts used to be a real looker, I'll say!

2006-09-06T15:41:00.000-05:00

I saw her on TV a while ago, in that movie where Mark Hamill works in a garage and he's in debt and something about drag racing, I'm kinda fuzzy on the details but it looked like it was made in the 1970s, possibly before Star Wars. [It's Corvette Summer, and Star Wars (1977) predates it by a year.]
Back to Annie Potts. Don't get me wrong-- Ghost Busters is an all-time personal favorite, and Janine Melnitz is unconditionally cool because she's Jewish (It's implied, Melnitz is a Jewish name). But how on earth she went from playing Luke Skywalker's love interest to putting the moves on Louis Tully is beyond me.
I wonder what she really looks like, and if she's Jewish in real life, and is that her real voice? Because if it is, she has got to hook up with Fran Drescher. I can just see them doing a film adaptation of a Neil Simon one-act about two married couples, with Louis Anderson and Gilbert Gottfried as their respective husbands.

Stupid Joke of the Day

2006-09-06T05:54:00.000-05:00

Q: What did Descartes say when he invented the Cartesian graph?
A: "Well, I'll be!"

I would like to make an announcement.

2006-09-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

It's been so long since I last forgot to wrap tefillin, I don't even remember when it was. That is all.

Support Your Local Shluchim

2006-09-03T01:12:00.000-05:00

From Illusion and Disillusionment, by R' Simcha Levenberg:

This world is brought into existence every single moment by the word of G-d. Practically speaking, a G-dly energy is invested within all facets of creation. Every moment, place, and being is constantly enlivened and created by this G-dly spark of life. As strange and psychedelic as this may seem to you (save those who have eaten a heroic dosage of Psilocybin,) this is the true reality of our world. However, this energy is completely hidden. The nature of habituation conceals the miracle of life and time marches on, with us following closely behind. We view and experience ourselves as separate beings with individual agendas, goals, lives, cars, sling-boxes, xb360’s etc. We feel that we control our lives and destinies. Very rarely do we even consider the G-dly energy uniting all of creation with its vilifying force.

Stephen Colbert Talks to Eleanor H. Norton

2006-08-15T17:51:00.000-05:00

Is she playing along with him? I don't know, but I sure laughed my ass off.
Aired July 27, 2006, on The Colbert Report.

Badvertising

2006-08-15T03:16:00.000-05:00

The first online banner ads I saw were on Prodigy, and I'd like to think those ads were lousy because online advertising was so new, and technology was limited. Prodigy looks pretty raw after 15+ years, but how I wish someone had warned us of the horrors of Macromedia Flash! Manipulating graphics is child's play. Photoshop has gone the way of the Thermos and other genericized brand names. Do they still use airbrushing anymore?
I recently came across an ad, probably on Myspace.com, that buries those sexed-up boob-fest ads. You can view it here. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

I got sucked in.

2006-08-13T21:11:00.000-05:00

Currently infatuated with Twin Peaks.

Drummer Motian Still in Motion at 75

2006-08-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

Paul Motian, on the Electric Bebop Band:

I wanted to play bebop-- only bebop-- with electric instruments. I sort of was looking for young musicians that really didn't know the music, and I wanted to see what would come out.

Tom Vitale's segment also includes some words from Steve Cárdenas, a personal favorite of mine.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

2006-08-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

Today is my Grandma's birthday. Happy birthday, Grandma!

Fresh Sound New Talent on eMusic!

2006-08-01T19:54:00.000-05:00

I suspended my eMusic subscription last month, and suddenly my favorite record label shows up in their catalogue. I'm not going to get myself too worked up about it because, after all, I plan on reinstating my subscription when I can afford it again. Also, they've only got two records available right now, and I already have one of them.

Well, shit on me!

2006-07-28T18:27:00.000-05:00

I just found out that Buster Poindexter is really David Johansen. You know, for someone who always thought he knew so much about punk rock, I sure do miss a lot of details.

Skateboarding on NPR

2006-07-25T08:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a quote from Skateboarding Old Days, by John Dicker:

[. . .] I was on the verge of landing an ollie fingerflip. You kick the tail, catch the board mid-air, and flip it beneath your feet. Back in 1988, it was an impressive trick. Now it's as archaic as an underhanded free throw in the NBA.

In other skateboarding/NPR news, Tony Hawk is this week's essayist on This I Believe. His essay Do What You Love reminds me of all the high school writing assignments I would scramble to complete on the busride to school, the morning of the due date. I wonder if Tony finished writing his essay during the drive to the radio station? Probably not, but if the headshot they're using suggests anything, I'd say he sure looks like he was up late, no doubt working on that essay.

Tony's skating manifests such absolute control that I'm often caught off guard to see him out of his element. For anyone who hears him on NPR, I suggest investigating the reason for his celebrity. Here's a good starting place.

Syd Barrett : Pink Floyd : : Brian Jones : The Rolling Stones

2006-07-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Here's a video clip of Pink Floyd playing "Astronomy Domine." According to the file name, it's from a 1967 performance at the Beat Club. I must have downloaded this during my Soulseek days. Now you can download it, too, because I gave in and uploaded the file to RapidShare.

Download

Postscript. There's an extended version on YouTube that includes some insightful commentary and analysis by Hans Keller.

Link

Say Kaddish for Roger Keith Barrett

2006-07-11T13:13:00.000-05:00

From npr.org:

Day to Day, July 11, 2006 · Syd Barrett, co-founder of the influential British rock 'n' roll group Pink Floyd, has died. Musician and Day to Day contributor David Was of the group Was (Not Was) offers a remembrance of the talented but troubled Barrett, who struggled with mental illness and drug addiction and left Pink Floyd before the group hit it big.

I'll follow this up with a tribute, or something to remember him by. It seems appropriate, I guess.

Figures...

2006-06-30T00:57:00.000-05:00

...Just when I start listening to them, they go and break up.

In junior high, it was worse; I was like a hex on my favorite bands at the time. Within a year of becoming a Nirvana superfreak (embarassingly so, to the point where I can no longer listen to them), Kurt Cobain killed himself. It took me about another year to get over my Nirvana/Cobain obsession, and by 7th grade I was all about the Ramones. They broke up before the end of the schoolyear. I even remember where I was when I found out. I was in Walden Books, at the Natick Mall, looking through the music magazines. The headline was Say It Ain't So, Joey!

Footnote: the theme at my bar-mitzvah party was music. My table? The Ramones!

MY NEIGHBORS ARE BLASTING KENNY G

2006-06-23T17:23:00.000-05:00

WHY ARE MY NEIGHBORS BLASTING KENNY G?

Skateboarding in Crown Heights

2006-06-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

I rode my skateboard over to the sofer yesterday, to pick up my tefillin. It was the first time I've skated since I moved here in April. I'm not too good, even when it comes to just pushing around, and it took me some time to get comfortable enought to skate with the flow of traffic up Kingston Ave. I only had one near-miss, when some lady almost took me out with her car door by accident. Some of the frum types looked at me with a mixture of derision and curiosity, which I expected. I haven't seen any of the kids from this neighborhood riding skateboards, except for the one black kid I saw last motzei shabbos.

Nick Drake: The Wes Montgomery of Rock?

2006-05-15T10:04:00.000-05:00

The orchestrations in those Nick Drake recordings ruin his songs. When they're not ridiculous horn arrangements with saxophone obligatos and overeager electric guitarists in the background (e.g., "Hazy Jane II"), they're jarring string overdubs that sound like overdubs. Short of a duet with P. Diddy, nothing could be more of a distraction from his songwriting and his guitar work.

I was listening to "River Man" and I could just see Nick Drake on a tall stool, playing his guitar and hunching over to sing into the microphone. Just him, alone in the studio. And then I could feel that stupid string arrangement and it felt like it was coming from somewhere else. It was not natural. It was like throwing a blanket over this beautiful, haunting, mysterious song that requires more investigation than that ridiculously inappropriate fucking overdub would allow.

OVERdub. Laid OVER the track.

The string entrance around the 3:45 mark sounds like some kind of bad joke. Or like the arranger ran out of ideas and threw that in there. It sounds like a semi-random choice of notes/ideas hastily thrown together, perhaps to meet a deadline. This ranks up there with those shitty string arrangements on those Wes Montgomery recordings. Actually, these are probably worse because at least you could hear what Wes was playing in those Don Sebesky charts.

Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner

2006-05-02T02:15:00.000-05:00

The other night, I was up until 2am, listening to music with my roommate. In order, we listened to Bill Evans's Portrait in Jazz and McCoy Tyner's Supertrios, both in their entirety. Kas dug Bill Evans, but I think he was especially drawn to McCoy Tyner's muscular approach. About halfway through the Tyner record, he blurted out, "If this is the kind of music you listen to, no wonder you want to be a musician."

Who would win in a battle royal?

2006-04-04T00:54:00.000-05:00

Mary-Kate Olsen vs. Ashley Olsen vs. Hilary Duff vs. Lindsay Lohan vs. Ashlee Simpson.

My Dylan Phase

2006-03-21T02:16:00.000-05:00

In eighth grade, I went through a serious Dylan phase. I had borrowed Another Side of Bob Dylan from the library and copied it onto a cassette tape, which I probably listened to every day for several months. My favorite track was "Ballad in Plain D;" something about that song made me think about the girl I was crushing on at the time, and I'd feel this strange longing I couldn't identify.

I remember buying The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', and Another Side, packaged as a three-cd set, at the Natick Mall with my mom. Listening to those three albums became my after-school regimen, which occupied the three or so hours until dinnertime. I wanted to cry whenever I listened "Girl From the North Country," "Boots of Spanish Leather," and "Ballad in Plain D." I didn't understand it until years later, that this was the first time I ever had an emotional response to music.

2006-03-21T00:34:00.000-05:00

I think I'm starting to develop a taste for poetry. I haven't liked poetry since the sixth grade, when Miss Piligian made us memorize Whitman. Of course, it was while reading Whitman in the bathroom at 12:30am just now that I had this realization.

Joe Henderson in Japan

2006-03-19T01:17:00.000-05:00

Adam Kolker talked to us once about how he used to go see Joe Henderson at the Blue Note (or Vanguard, I forget which). He said Hen' would take these long solos that went on for choruses and choruses, just gradually building up in intensity; Al Foster would just be there with him, matching that same level of intensity. Kolker asked us, what if you had that many levels of intensity? Same scale, just smaller increments. What if you could play that many fortes? How many fortes can you play right now?

So I'm listening to Joe Henderson in Japan, and I'm trying to understand it in the context of what Kolker was talking to us about.

Scrunt Comics Presents THE PERSONALS

2006-03-11T21:06:00.000-05:00

"Wild" Bill has a new website.
From the info page:

THE PERSONALS is inspired by free online dating postings (such as Craigslist). The cartoons are not meant to ridicule the pathetic people who post them, but rather celebrate the isolated existence we all have experienced, some way or another. THE PERSONALS is intended for adult audience. Updated bi-weekly!

Healing Hands, Part 1

2006-02-21T20:54:00.000-05:00

Derek Kirk Kim is good. And he's getting better.

Half-Assed Record Review

2006-02-21T16:56:00.000-05:00

I downloaded a record label sampler from eMusic a few days ago; I think it's supposed to be a bunch of hip, new indie bands. I listened to the first half of it last night, and it was really underwhelming. All the bands sound like Magnetic Fields meet Joy Division.

Ever see a photo of someone and suddenly hear that person's voice in your head?

2006-02-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

The following is an excerpt from my personal journal.

3/11/05

I was looking through one of the Jewish photo communities on LiveJournal.com and this one cute, 20-something girl with brownish/reddish hair, she had all these photos of herself taken at arm's length. I dunno, I looked at this one photo of her, I don't think it was the first, maybe second or third, and I heard this kind of nasally girl's voice in my head. It fit the way she looked, her face, if that makes any sense. Not like Fran-Drescher-you-can-light-a-match-on-her-voice kind of nasal. It was cute, I guess, but moreso just distinctive. For some reason, cousin Mindy's high school friend Shira comes to mind, but the last time I saw her was at Jana's wedding. I think that was ninth grade for me?

This actually happened to me.

2006-02-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

『Warp-Alphabet』

2006-02-19T00:02:00.000-05:00

New font by Maniackers Design. MKDS is one of my all-time favorite websites.