14 January 2007

Sunday Musings

  • The Habs' loss yesterday was awful, almost unbearable to watch. It is no consolation to me that Toronto lost by the same margin to Vancouver. With games against Detroit and Vancouver this coming week, the boys need to get it together.
  • I picked both of the winners in yesterday's NFL playoff games. Today I say Chicago and New England.
  • The blogroll has been updated with the current link to "A Speakout on Male Sexual Violence" (which is apparently on hiatus, which is unfortunate given that male sexual violence never takes a holiday) and I've added a pair of new ones: Robert Jackman is a British blogger who is in the feminist, anti-porn camp, and Prostitution Research & Education is an excellent resource for information.
  • Speaking of prostitution, Barbara Kay's column in Thursday's Post is her latest argument for regulating the "industry." Kay is a noted anti-feminist, and she is regularly wrong in her suggestions. Long-time readers of this blog will recall that it was a similar batch of nonsense that prompted my first publication in the Post. The idea of turning the federal government into the nation's biggest pimp is thoroughly repugnant, and giving men the green light to commit acts of sexual violence and gross violations of a woman's integrity does nothing but perpetuate an intolerable status quo while telling women that Ottawa does not care about their security concerns.
  • I wholeheartedly agree with Trent Reznor's characterization of the music industry as "dying," and this statement pretty much sums up my feelings about the rock scene as well: "If I happen to accidentally turn the radio on and hear, for example, an emo type screamo band, I literally can't tell the difference between one of 20 bands." What qualifies as popular music these days is just horrendous as well. I bought maybe 4 CD's in all of last year, and not a one of them gets any airplay on pop radio, which is fine by me. Funny that I mention TR, as Fox's preview show for the football game is playing a track from his 1999 opus, The Fragile, the amazing and perennial choice in my favourite songs ever list, "We're In This Together."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

ahh the music industry is great.

i listen to the radio alarm everyday when i work... and i noticed that the radio station just keeps playing more and more cra\p.
whatever happened to the good music, and the good artists that DONT sound like one another.

RGM said...

If by "great," you mean "on its way to a prolonged agonizing death because it's moved away from promoting music to promoting people," then yes, you're right.

It's a pretty rare occasion these days that you come across a "special" album, one that has the potential to withstand the test of time and be regarded as a truly great album. The last one that I would even consider putting in that category was U2's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb." In all seriousness, can you picture people ten years from now pumping "Wind It Up" and not having the same embarrassment that folks slightly older than us have if they pull out a Milli Vanilli or Vanilla Ice record?

Anonymous said...

I would NOT put U2's "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb" in that category. No, not just because I dislike Bono, and No, not because you took Phil to the U2 concert and not me. The album really just isn't all that great as a whole, especially when compared to some of their previous work. U2 is a safe pick when it comes to picking a band that would fit your "test of time" category (especially compared to the other artists out right now), but that album really does not belong there, IMHO.

I only think of that album on occasion now because they play 'Vertigo' everytime the Habs score! It's being forced on us!! :P

RGM said...

HTDAAB is a fantastic album, start to finish. It's got at least six really good songs on it, only one or two that aren't that good, and, IMHO, it was the best album of 2004. Those two factors certainly go a long way to contributing to its status as one that will stand the test of time. It's one that I will listen to for years to come.