Sampo: The Journal of Abundant Media

The test is over

It's time to accept the obvious... this is a dead blog.

I started this site about five years ago, around the time of our invsaion in Iraq, actually, and around the time that I started to take an interest in political blogs. Since then I worked at a library and a used bookstore, went to grad school to study library science and information science, studied those same political blogs that compelled me to start one myself, and blogged the entire process. I started work at Media Matters, went through a divorce, learned to live on my own, and... well... here I am.

The issue is that I'm now at a point where if I am going to do something like maintain a blog, I want to do it right. At the moment, I'm not posting to it and when I do it's mostly for the benefit of folks who I actually keep in contact with via Facebook and Flickr. I may start blogging again but it would be a new project, with a different focus, and likely under a different name. Time to move on.

This has been Sampo: The Journal of Abundant Media.
Thanks for playing.

Change vs. More of the Same II

Earlier this evening, McCain told Brian Williams that if he's running for Bush's third term, Obama's running for Carter's second. Right wing blogs have already started to pick up the Carter line, though it does beg the question of who the sitting President is and why McCain's stuck on the late seventies.

Actually, why's the conservative movement stuck in the late seventies?

There's that dynamic again: who's looking forward and who's looking back?

Don't forget that during the Republican primary, which took place some time in the Harding administration, McCain admitted to being computer illiterate and relying on his wife to use one. This evening, when asked about his VP search, the Senator grasped for a contemporary reference by saying, "well, basically, it's a Google," whatever the hell that means. Joking aside, IT and the information industry are huge parts of our economy and as we've ceded industrial capacity to the developing world, we've done so under the assumption that technology and new industries would help replace those jobs. So now, as the economy is faltering, the Republican party has put forward a guy who's stuck in the past, doesn't know the first thing about IT even from a user standpoint and, by the by, has admitted that, "the issue of economics is not something I've understood ad well as I should. So, you know... help's on the way.

Change Vs. More of the Same

Last night's speeches by the presumptive nominees couldn't have done a better job of showing off the dynamics of this race. One the one hand we have, literally, more than a dozen supporters responding with muted enthusiasm to a whiny, frankly embarrassing speech by Sen. McCain.

watch it

On the other we have 17,000 people, fired up, responding to a gracious and forward-looking speech by a candidate who embodies, dare I say it, hope for the future.

watch it

That's the dynamic. In The War Room, along with "it's the economy, stupid" and "don't forget health care," the so-called haiku of the '92 Clinton campaign included the phrase, "change vs. more of the same" and it was that sensibility that helped us win that election. Now, in 2008, the Republicans have served up another candidate who wants to keep us right where we are, executing the same failed policies, making the same mistakes, serving up more of the same. For the Democrats, as Pres. Kennedy said, "the torch has been passed to a new generation." Now it's time for us to close ranks and run with it. No looking back.

Ooof.

I watched Woody Allen's Another Woman and the following, by Rilke, played a small role...

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life.

It was an interesting film, quite moving. I'm not sure why it doesn't get more attention... well, his other strongly Bergman-esque film, Interiors, doesn't get talked about much, either.

I've been feeling unwell all week and came home early yesterday, admittedly after a very early start, and took today off. I've basically been laid up, sleeping, clicking through Google Reader, and watching movies. What started as a generic cold / sinus headache thing seems to have added this weird pain in my stomach. I made myself sick by taking some ibuprofen on an empty stomach on Tuesday, but geez... I shouldn't be experiencing after effects at this point, should I?

Forget it, Pete. Watch Chinatown.

In the morning

I got word yesterday afternoon that I am booked at Cafe St Ex again this month. The next installment of j0! will take place on Thursday, May 29th. I have a private party that I'm playing tonight, and then Fatback at some point late in the month, so it seems like I'm pretty well booked in May. It was the same in April, really, so that's encouraging. One or two gigs a week is about what I want at this point in my life and it seems like that's becoming a reality. I'm pleased.

I picked up a portable hard drive yesterday; My plan is to pick up a copy of Serato soon. The drive has been named Patsy.

What I really need is a rolling record crate; hauling my records to and from gigs has started to have a noticable effect on my back. Yeah, that's me getting old.

OK, off to meet up with my younger brother for brunch; he's just returned from Berlin, where he's been since January. It'll be good to see him again.

She's lost control again

I'm watching 24 Hour Party People... it's okay. It's funny at points, but more than a little glib and not what I'd call incisive film making. It's like a long form music video by way of a sitcom.

What's a Hannah Montana and why do I care if it's naked? Seriously.

Albert Hoffman is dead.

Here's a nice collection of logos from the '70s.

I WANT.

As a side bit of news, plans are in motion for a Fatback mix. Keep your ear to the ground, watch this space, etc.

And viewers like you...

Fatback was absolutely insane on Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came out and threw down with us. The bar was packed, the dance floor was packed, and the sidewalk outside was packed... we had people dancing on the sidewalk. I think my favorite moment of the night was the mosh pit that broke out when Danny dropped The Breeders' "Cannonball" as his second to last tune... the lights were on and people were still dancing. Crazy. Keep an eye out for the next one; if you didn't make it you missed it.

Fatback Tomorrow Night! (04.25.08)

The headline says it all... this one's sizing up to be something special, so don't sleep!

On Tuesday, the Washington Post's Going Out Gurus gave Fatback a nice shout out...

We love nothing more than shaking our rumps to classic funk and soul, and the Fatback night at U Street's oft-overlooked Dahlak restaurant offers classic R&B, Philly soul and greasy boogaloo once a month. Get your free helping tonight from 10 to 3, and just see if you can stay off the dance floor.

It's true!

We also made Brightest Young Things best weekend bets for Friday night...

Just across the street kids go nuts at FATBACK @ Dahlack.
Not a body unsweaty all night.
Gross.
But wonderful.

Bump bump bump bump...

Thunder & Lightning

As the DC heads know, it's been raining hard pretty much all day. As I sat here typing on the couch, a distant lightning strike was followed a few seconds later by the crash of thunder... which, in turn, set off a chorus of car alarms.

I love rainy nights like this in the city. Feels all Blade Runner and shit.

Busy days. Work continues apace. My man Creighton is in the area to scout for work / housing in advance of his return to civilization from the Moose Infested North. We ran around on Thursday evening, checking out just about every bar between 14th & 18th Sts NW in the process. Fun times. It's going to be good to have him around; expect the return of our hyper eclectic tag team antics, late of The Ottobar. Tickler & Swann are dead; long live Kim Jong Thrill & Lenin's Boom.

I've been pulling records for Fatback over the last couple of days. The next one is this Friday night, April 25th. Should be a good one, come dance the night away with us.

Picked up records from Radiohead, PiL, Revolting Cocks, Chemical Brothers, Kool & The Gang, Fatback Band, Timmy Thomas, The Jackson Five, and Silver Connection yesterday. My sound... it becomes less defined. I need to put a new mix out. Actually, a couple of new mixes wouldn't be the worst idea. A funk/soul set, a postpunk set, an electro/industrial set, some set that crosses all of these...

Watched This Is England the other night. It was good.

Meh. No energy for a link round up. Have a good night, y'all.

(Early) Monday Morning Quarterbacking

The frame from the traditional media has been that Obama's "bitter, cling" comments will draw a, "yeah, and..?" response from his supporters. Put me firmly in that column and bear in mind that I'm someone who has found faith extremely useful in getting through hard times. My thing is this... he backed off a bit by saying that he wished he had phrased his comments differently, but what he really should do is go all in, like...

"I was wrong when I said that people are bitter because they have fallen through two administrations and been ignored for 25 years. Honestly, that doesn't capture it. People aren't bitter. They're pissed, and they should be. When you lose your job, your way of life and nobody comes to help, what else can we expect? People are pissed, and that makes it easy for 'straight-talkers' who own eight homes and have lobbyists running their campaigns to step in and say, 'the Democrats are elitists who hate your church' or 'they're gonna take your guns' and scare up enough support to bring on four more years of the policies that gave us the economy we have right now. I said that sometimes people cling to religion, but my faith tells me that joy cometh in the morning, that tomorrow will be better than today. That's something worth hanging on to, clinging to, so long as it doesn't become a substitute for working towards that new day."

I dunno. I'm not a speech writer (as should be obvious), but... you said it, you meant it even if it wasn't phrased as well as it could have been... so own it. Now put the ball in their court. People are hurting. They're scared. Turn this in to a case where you're the straight-talker who feels people's pain and show McCain for the cheesy, out of touch showboater that he is.

The O'Jays, I Love Music

Doesn't get much better, y'all. Here's a true disco classic by way of Philly soul care of YouTube.

This is what you want, this is what you get...

My run of crazy weeks has continued. j0! took place on Tuesday and was a lot of fun. Good crowd, got a dance floor going. Thanks to everyone who came out and broke it down with us and especially to Ben, who helped carry my records there and back and then introduced me to Black Books. Here's S1E01 (1/3) on YouTube: clickety click click click.

I also enjoyed Heat @ St Ex on Thursday, which I will be returning to in the future. The week was busy at work, too. I left the office well after 10:00 the one evening and around 8:00 last night, so... a low key weekend is in order, I think.

To that end, last evening I cooked up a peas and potato curry, cracked a Carlsberg, and watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I need to get copies both it and The Candidate real soon / now.

Danger Room: 'How the Surge Fails By Succeeding.'

Lawrence O'Donnel, writer for The West Wing, envisions the this year's Democratic National Convention: Four Days in Denver.

Go make one: John McCain Is Your New Logo.

Blog P.I. covers David Simon of The Wire and his disdain for blogs. Feministing points us to an interview with Felicia Pearson, who played Snoop on the show.

Flarf.

OMG OMG OMG...

Choooooon... what? Oh, Lord...

Armand Van Helden's remix of The Sneaker Pimps' "Spin Spin Sugar" on YouTube elicits this comment...

"It's on DDR Extreme 2. i was wondering what the name of this song was. I've been searching for it for a while, but i could never get the title. I only remember hearing it on the radio when i was a kid."

Sigh.

Absolutely no strife

Funny weekend. Low key Friday evening watching The Wire with Jynelle, spun at a house party last evening with Sean and Michael that went until around 3:30am, Burmese brunch with Mark this afternoon. I've been reading Rip It Up & Start Again, a history of postpunk by Simon Reynolds (he of Generation Ecstasy, not Last Nigh A DJ Saved My Life as I was originally thinking). It's good. Educational.

These mixes are a lot of fun in very different ways: Outskirts mix by N0mad (leftfield dance electronics), Herve mix from last year (fidget house), which I am starting to really dig. I played some around 2am last night, mixed in with some Baltimore club, and it went over really well.

"Black Cat," by Ladytron. It's good!

Check out this Seji remix of "Honey" by Erykah Badu.

A-Trak remix of "Beeper."

Neu!/Kraftwerk Drummer Klaus Dinger died last week. I'll drop some Neu! for him at j0!, I think.

Autechre is at the Black Cat on April 17th.

Uh oh.

Pentagon employee purges dead soldier's Wikipedia entry of references to his being gay.

Nobody in NATO likes the President.

McCain has a terrible record on race.

Rachel Maddow pwns Scarborough, tewtally.

j0! @ Cafe St Ex

j0! on Facebook

I'm DJing at Cafe St Ex on Tuesday evening, that's April 8th, from 10pm until close. This is my first time there but hopefully it will turn in to a regular thing. Since it's early in the week I suspect that the emphasis will be more on hanging out and listening rather than dancing, but if the mood's there I think we'll be able to get a floor going. Come on by and give us a hand with that, huh?

Sampo Method

Cobrastyle (Diplo Remix)	           Teddybears
The 900 Number (Escobar Remix)		   45King vs. Pase Rock
Druganaut      			     	   Black Mountain
Tyrants	       			     	   Black Mountain
Beeper (Detboi Remix)		     	   The Count & Sinden
Rio    	       			     	   Bumblebeez
Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)		   The Whitest Boy Alive
Turf Drop (Clean)	  		   E-40 ft. Lil Jon
P-Y-R-A-M-I-D (Sammy Bananas Remix)	   45 King vs. 4th Pyramid
Cappuccino (Remix)   	     		   The Knux

The Sampo Method: Match all of the following conditions! Last played in the last week, date added in the last two weeks, limit to ten songs selected by most often played. 2008 Addendum: genre does not include "mix" or "podcast."

Neon Lights

First off: next DJ date is Tuesday, April 8th @ St Ex. I'm calling the night...

j0!

Expect an e-flyer soon. I'm thinking that I'm going to use the opportunity to play a lot of stuff that I can't get away with at the dancier nights I've been doing. Still eclectic, still fun, but maybe a bit more on the left foot.

The Media Matters Action Network has a new site and a new book out, Free Ride: John McCain and the Media. Check 'em out.

Saw Digitalism (warning: very slow MySpace page) at DC9 last evening. Here are my photos and some better ons via Fitsum. Good show, nice opening DJ sets. Seems there's a scene for this sound in DC, which makes sense, but I haven't been paying attention to it. That needs to change.

Saw Tortured Soul and Fertile Ground at the 930 this past weekend, but split before Amp Fiddler took the stage because I was totally exhausted. I wasn't familiar with either and enjoyed what they had to share. Good times..

3D video for Bjork's "Wanderlust." I love the shots of the bison-things.

Umm... OK.

Papercraft Enigma machines.

Nice album art. Wonder what the album sounds like? I predict Klaus Schultz-esque prog/ambient soundscapes. Or not.

Augmented reality systems from DARPA. This is seriously where the net's going over the next ten years. Mobile, ubiquitous, locative, plus tagging and other user-generated social whatnots. To whit...

Everyone kills Hitler on their first trip.

Message: take responsibility for yourself

I was lucky enough to watch Obama's "race speech" at Constitution Center today via a web stream as I pecked away at the morning's tasks. Before the speech started I mentioned my belief that what he really needed to do was to really tack in to the wind, address the issue directly and with force, but I didn't expect the result to reach the level of today's effort.

He wrote the speech himself, over two days, showing it only to top advisors.

He addressed the issue of race in our country, his campaign, and in his own life with a level of candor that is not only refreshing, but absolutely essential to addressing these issues. As anyone who has lived in a long term, committed relationship knows, burying our frustrations and resentments does nothing to make them go away, but instead allows them to fester and become malignant. What Obama referred to as our original sin and its slow boring out over these last many years have to be discussed, and seriously, if we're to move forward on these issues.

Political expediency might have argued that simply turning the page would be the better course, but what Barack Obama showed today can only be described as leadership.

Leadership means telling us that we are called to be a better nation, a better people, a more perfect union. It means pointing out that we are to be called account for our past mistakes, to resolve to make better decisions in the future, and to hold ourselves to that resolution. Leadership means pointing these realities out, even when it isn't the easy or expedient thing to do.

Greenwald on Obama's faith in the reasoning abilities of the American public...

Obama's faith in the average American voter lies one of the greatest weaknesses of his campaign. His faith in the ability and willingness of Americans to rise above manipulative political tactics seems drastically to understate both the efficacy of such tactics and the deafening amplification they receive from our establishment press. Even Americans who authentically believe that they want a "new, better politics" may be swayed by the same old Drudgian sewerage because it is powerful and ubiquitous.

I hear what Greenwald's saying here and it's possible, even likely, that the Mighty Wurlitzer will keep grinding this issue and others like it even in the face of a true and honest accounting by Obama. But it's worth meditating on the fact that the core issue here, taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions, is the truest failure of modern conservatism. Just today we saw one of the Abu Ghraib torturers complaining that it's not that they took a bad situation and made it worse by virtue of their own actions, it's that the media did its job and reported on it. This, of course, is how the conservative movement responds to its failures and transgressions. I truly believe that we, collectively, are better than the worst instincts of movement conservatism and that our leaders should call on us to maintain that higher standard.

Atrios neatly encapsulates the conservative and progressive weltanschauungen vis American history. Personally, I'm inclined towards an approach that sees the country taking responsibility for itself. That's what Obama called on us to do today and its his inclination to do this, brilliantly, in his own words, that makes me want him as our President.

Ride Johnny Ride

Fatback was last night; I've got photos here. Here's a fun one of me that Danny took. I was all over the map in terms of drops, per usual. I think I discovered the outer limits of the crowd's taste with a drop of "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction, but what are you going to do. Live and learn. Anyway, fun times, y'all. Thanks for coming out, looks like the next one is April 18th.

This morning, as has become my habit, I popped over to Tryst to read and have coffee. Enjoyed a bagel and a Bloody Mary after my coffee. Pleasant. After that I took the air and stopped to pick up a few records.

Foxy, Get Off LP (Dash)
Hercules & Love Affair, Classique #2 / Roar 12" (DFA)
The Juan Maclean, Happy House 12" (DFA)
MFSB, Universal Love LP (CBS)
The Misfits, Collection I LP (Caroline)

I have a gig on Tuesday, April 8th at St Ex. I'm thinking I'm going to use the opportunity to launch the Kim Jong Thrill identity / project I've been mulling over for a long while.

Looks like the Wrangle is ahead of the curve once again.

Here's the DCist review of the Justice show at the 930 Club. They don't mention the totally sweet Ministry's "Just One Fix" (Psalm 69) and Metallica's "Master of Puppets" (Master of Puppets), which were highlights of the show for me. Also, they used one of my photos for the review, which was cool.

Social media news: social networking service stats and a new volume of Public Choice ("Blogs, politics, and power") guest edited by Drezner and Farrell. Atrios takes note of the blog reading habits of our liberal media.

The President is apparently "envious" of troops on the "romantic" front lines. Yeah, fighting terrorists, insurgents, and irregular troops under the influence of drugs must be a fucking hoot. This reminds me of the pre-WWI crap that people in several of major combatant nations had in their heads about the romance of war and violent conflict as a refining fire where man could find his ultimate expression. Said thinking led directly in to the German Freikorps movement after the war and, you know, the foundation of militant totalitarian states that will go unnamed. Gotta love a good fascist impulse.

Blah. I'm in a bit of a mood.

JUSTICE

See also my overly-enthused Tweets. (On Twitter: lawnczar)

Fatback on Friday!

Certain difficult aspects of the story won't be discussed

"Have you ever been a whore?" That's what a producer for Dan Abrams on MSNBC had to ask of activist / blogger and former sex worker Audacia Ray while sorting out a guest spot for her on the show in the follow up to this Eliot Spitzer thing. Basically, she wanted to talk about sex worker's rights and trafficking issues, but all they wanted was a judgmental-yet-titillating piece on how to hire a hooker.

MSNBC was only interested in having a woman who had been a prostitute talk about the mechanics of hiring a sex worker - a little salacious how-to on national television, gotta love it. They told me flat out that they weren't interested in discussing the political interests of sex workers or the issues around sex trafficking as it is today. And while I am not ashamed that I was a sex worker, and I know sound bites are short and cannot be anywhere near as complicated as my shit it, I don't t want to be MSNBC's s whore on television. It does nothing for me personally and nothing for the movement I'm part of for me to be boiled down to the essence of "will fuck for cash, here's how."

They could use a sensational story to educate the public about the realities faced by women (and more than a few men) in every city in this country, but no, MSNBC apparently decided to take the Fox News route. Disappointing, but not surprising. Real journalists might, but Edward Murrow smoked a ton and died forty-some years ago.

Anyway. Send in the clowns.

HOWTO: kill (destroy?) a terminator.

Amsterdam Falafel: it accepts Euros. I'm totally going to use a couple of my leftover coins this way...

Check out this awesome first person account of writing the Donkey Kong conversion for the Atari. Then go read Steven Levy's Hackers if you enjoyed yourself.

It's funny, this made me think of Baraka, too. Also, for the record, McCain isn't fit to clean off TR's boots. I've always suspected that 26 would punch 43 in the nose for what he's done to both the republic and the Republican party, but that's beside the point.

Wowza. Good thing they timed him!

Hey 1L: the key is vanilla extract. Put them in separate rooms and dab a bit on each of their noses. Then introduce them. If they're anything like Murphy and Tenchi, they'll go from hissing and fighting to at least tolerating each other's presence.

It's been a bit of a week and it's only Monday. Don't forget that Fatback takes place this Friday. I'm already getting my fingers dusty digging out some new tracks. Should be a good time. Assuming that I don't collapse in the interim, of course... ;)

It's this thing called jazz

I'm in my apartment with all of the windows thrown open, a stick of nag champa burning, and Amon Tobin's Bricolage on the turntable. My only complaint is that I could stand to have a bit more coffee on hand.

JHU: this is your brain on jazz.

Introducing the Really Terrible Orchestra, "an inclusive orchestra for those who really want to play, but who cannot do so very well. Or cannot do so at all, in some cases." Here's their site.

The creators of The Wire write in favor of jury nullification in non-violent drugs cases in Time.

Defense contractor looks to buy Diebold. Glenn Greenwald on the banality of the surveillance state.

Blog flophouse in DC. This seems like the future of the media to me. It's like a cyberpunk novel, but not really.

DCist interview with Adrian Tomine.

Brickarms! I've played with these... they're genuinely awesome.

RIP Gary Gygax. I got my red box for passing my swimming test when I was 9 years old. Played several campaigns in high school, college, and a game or two after, usually as a DM. Of course, playing (A)D&D led to playing other games, like Call of Cthulhu and Cyberpunk 2020. Aspersions against games, gamers, and gaming aside, there are a lot worse ways to spend an evening with friends when you're a kid with a lot of creativity, an interest in things that most of your peers just don't get, and a lot of space processing cycles to throw at something random, like mapping out complex swords and sorcery meet gothic horror scenarios. A senior editor for Wired writes in the New York Times that we live in Gary Gygax's world. Here's the XKCD take.

Have some Donna Summer from Pound to Pound.

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