Coming Around on Animal Collective

Photo by feinsteinphotos

The hipster adoration of the band Animal Collective used to completely mystify me. What was so extraordinary about ten minute songs full of moaning and the occasional tribal drums? At least, that was the impression I got during my background listening of Feels, the one song I heard off Sung Tongs, and the completely uninformative and bizarre Pitchfork review for Here Comes the Indian, which undoubtedly goes into the annals of worst reviews ever.

But I've been coming around on them recently. It all started with the new Panda Bear album Person Pitch (PB is a member of AC, for those who weren't aware). The album seems to be the frontrunner for Hipinion's album of the year, and a few of my trusted friends and colleagues gave the album high praise too, so a few weeks ago I decided to revisit it. My first listen, in the wake of Pitchfork's laudatory Best New Music labeling, was not a good listen, as I never got past the first track 'Comfy in Nautica'.


Panda Bear lookin sharp, and by sharp, I actually mean wtf where do you get that kind of outfit from

And I can still see why I didn't like it. 'Comfy in Nautica' is predominantly a cappella, and that doesn't work well because Mr. Bear is not a good singer, and musically can't phrase his lines at all. The awesomeness of Person Pitch, as I was about to discover, starts with the second track 'Take Pills', and doesn't let go from there, and in fact, only gets better with the brilliant 'Bros' and the sublime 'I'm Not'. I think the strength of Panda Bear's music is his innovative use of interweaving loops, showcased in 'Bros' particularly. Opening the album with 'Comfy in Nautica' is a bit of mistake then, as it doesn't show nearly any of that. Then again, thematically speaking, the song has to either be the opener or closer. But it can't really be the closer, as 'Ponytail' is really perfect in that role. So maybe it does have to be the opener. My advice, then, goes out to potential listeners, who must try to grit their teeth and get through the first track, in order to experience the warm chewy and delicious center of the album.


Person Pitch album cover. I didn't even notice the Panda in there until really recently. Also, the colorful pigeon on the right hand side is fantastic.

Fresh off Person Pitch then, I went back and revisited Feels, to discover that, in fact, it is actually fantastic. I always liked 'Did You See the Words' but I have a much better appreciation for it now, and ditto with 'Turn Into Something', so it's nice that the bookends of the album are among my favorites, I always like it when that happens. I do still have some issues with the middle of the album, too much of the moaning and murky psychedelia. The exception though, is 'Banshee Beat', which I used to find too long and boring, but has quietly shown itself to be a really stunningly beautiful piece. Omg, now I'm even talking like an Animal Collective fan, referring to their songs as 'pieces' and labeling then as brilliant auteurs rising head and shoulders above the morass of boring indie rock guitar bands. Animal Collective fanatics really are pretentious and annoying like that. I hope I don't turn into a Fiery Furnaces fan next, though this could be a stepping-stone...

I'm still working on the rest of Animal Collective's back catalog. I listened to the first two-thirds of Sung Tongs but I only liked the first two songs, 'Leaf House' and 'Who Could Win a Rabbit'. Those two songs, however, are fucking great, in a completely deranged but amazing way. I also watched the video for the song 'Fireworks' off their upcoming album Strawberry Jam. The video itself is pretty bad, it looks like the work of a high schooler who just decided to become a film studies major after watching Garden State. The song, though, is completely great, and has me really pumped for Strawberry Jam. Of course the Animal Collective disciples have already proclaimed it to be Album of the Century, but I think it'd be wise to reserve judgment, as that seems like an overstatement especially when the correct answer is actually still Ys.


Sorry, as good as these guys are now, they're still getting pwned by the elven harpist

After giving Sung Tongs a few more tries, I plan on alternating between the just-leaked Strawberry Jam and their early album Spirit They've Gone, Spirit They've Vanished. Based on what I've read, STGSTV sounds like a much better starting point for me than Here Comes the Indian which everyone seems to describe as a lot of moaning, and I just don't like that side of Animal Collective yet. People in the know: is this accurate? Anyways, I'm glad that I'm finally 'getting' this band because they'd been frustrating me for awhile. I love it when things suddenly click like that.

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Completely random story: In 11th grade, Mrs. Kim (Swarthmore alum, woop woop!) gave us a challenge. I don't think there was any kind of context. But apparently, there are three words in the English language that have two meanings that contradict each other. The example she gave us in class was 'cleave' which can mean to split, or to stick together. Our challenge was to find the other two words.

For some reason, that challenge stuck with me. Late in my senior year in high school, I stumbled across the second word: 'execute'. It can be used to start something (execute a command) or to end something (execute a prisoner). Am I right?

And suddenly, just now, I think I got the third! I'm studying for the GRE, and I found a word that I know well already, but just hadn't thought too much about: 'sanction'. To sanction something can be to accept and approve something, or it can be a penalty to restrict something. Am I right about that one? If so, woohoo!

After finding three though, I have to wonder if there's more. Those can't be the only three, can they? And that's my challenge to you.

Don't Stop Believin

I have never seen a whole episode of The Sopranos. I've really only watched two scenes.

One of those scenes, however, was the highly-anticipated and highly-controversial series finale, aired Sunday night. The conversation about the scene was inescapable on Monday, so as a curious human being, I searched for it on Youtube and sat down to watch. It's since been taken down by HBO for obvious reasons, but since nearly everyone in the known universe is already giving their opinion on it, I thought I'd give mine, as inconsequential as it probably is.

I was floored. Completely stunned, in the best way possible. I think that the final scene of The Sopranos might actually be the best scene in anything ever. Why are people so keen on closure? That's almost never how life works, right?

The abrupt end definitely raises obvious paths of interpretation, but more technically than that, it's cinematically brilliant. The quick cuts, the difficulty with the parallel parking, the stream of suspicious characters, Tony's paranoia, the Journey power ballad on the jukebox, it all adds incredible tension, and the release left me gasping for breath. A shorter, 20-second version was uploaded to Youtube today and will probably get taken down soon, but even watching that, my breath gets stolen every time the end comes.

Seriously, I think it's the best scene of anything that I've ever seen. I'm completely inspired to watch every episode of The Sopranos now (it'll never happen, but the interest is at least there, where it never was before). All you who hated the ending: why? What were you looking for? What was it about The Sopranos in general that made the ending unpalatable? Admittedly, I'm a complete Sopranos newbie; that's only the second scene I've ever seen! But to me, that was the best way you could possibly end a dramatic series. I wonder how many people will ever try to copy this, and inevitably fail. That was the best ending. Ever.

Getting Through the Former World

Australia

Largely because of its long geographic isolation, Australia has a lot of unique, endemic species, and some of the particularly charismatic ones have become symbols of Australia. Kangaroos, Koalas, Cassowaries, the world knows about all of them, and you'll find them in all the major zoos (except the Cassowary, which is very difficult to keep in captivity). Some of those charismatic species I've already seen, but many I haven't.

Kangaroos – The Red Kangaroo is the really large one that everyone's seen in zoos. I haven't seen that one, it largely lives in the desert interior, so maybe I'll see them at Alice Springs after the program. But I have seen its smaller cousin, the Grey Kangaroo. I've also seen a lot of the other large marsupials, including Agile Wallabies and Mareeba Rock Wallabies, which live in the drier regions. The only one I regularly see in the rainforest is the Red-legged Pademelon, which is cinnamon colored, with brighter rufous-red legs. The cool thing is, they look exactly like kangaroos shrunk down in the dryer, they're the size of our cottontail rabbits back home, proportioned like kangaroos! During the day it's really hard to get a good look at them though, they're extremely skittish, and will hop away long before you know they're there. But during the night they're very active and they're everywhere, you just need to bring a spotlight out into the dark. The other cool ‘kangaroo’ I’ve seen is the Lumholtz’s Tree-Kangaroo, probably the most well-known denizen of the Atherton Tablelands where I’m studying.

Cassowary – pwned

Koala – I have no chance of seeing this in the wild, I'm not going to the right parts of the country. So the only experience I'll have with these is that scarring experience in Kuranda.

Wombats, Echidnas, other assorted marsupials – probably not likely, but honestly I haven't done the research to find out.

Emu – on our two trips into the appropriate sorts of habitat, no luck. This may be difficult until I get to Alice Springs, and even then it's not a lock. I'm crossing my fingers.

Platypus – On the evening of the first of March, we went to a local farmer's property to learn about rainforest restoration. As a bonus afterwards, we stopped by an overlook on the Barron River to look for platypus. They're really tough to spot. Two individuals popped their heads above the water for a breath, and were gone a second later. So all I saw was the bill. The things are a lot smaller than you probably think too. But at least I can say that I've seen platypus in the wild now.


Hungary

Instead of heading to the pub to celebrate my 21st birthday last night, I watched the film Werckmeister Harmoniak (Werckmeister Harmonies). On paper, it's about a small Hungarian town, torn apart by a mysterious circus that features a giant dead whale. That makes it sound almost like a comedy, but that's the furthest you could get from the truth. Werckmeister Harmoniak is slow, tragic, moving. It's also one of those pretentious art films that looks really beautiful, but whose main point sails over your head. I don't have a clue what Bela Tarr, or the original novel's writer, was trying to say. My guesses on the theme range from the Soviet occupation, the false optimism of capitalism, revolution in general, or the dark side of human nature. I really don't know. I doubt I ever will, even if I watch the film ten more times.

Despite that intellectual confusion, Werckmeister Harmoniak is possibly the most beautiful film I have ever watched, in terms of cinematography. In the Mood for Love doesn't even hold a candle to Werckmeister Harmoniak, something I didn't believe was even possible. Shot in black-and-white, every image slowly soaks into the consciousness, and stays there. I could turn off the subtitles, mute the sound, and Werckmeister Harmoniak would still be a powerful film. If you want to see a really beautiful movie, watch this.


Deep Underground

I'm finally on the verge of finishing John McPhee's Annals of the Former World, a tome which has taken me nearly a month to get through. It's a collection of five books about American geology, and American geologists. But this is not a geology textbook; I doubt I've learned all that much about rocks that I didn't already know. This is a collection of thoughts, stories, anecdotes, ideas about geology, and the people who study geology. Over the past few months, John McPhee has grown to possibly become my favorite author, fiction or non, and as his supposed masterwork, I had to get to Annals at some point.

Book One, entitled Basin and Range, deals with the series of mountains and valleys found in Utah and Nevada known as the eponymous Basin and Range, and follows Princeton geologist Kenneth Deffeyes through the rock. It started off fairly slow; I honestly wasn't all that interested in the Basin and Range geology itself. What really got to me was the history of geology, as presented by McPhee, as the book began to wind down. Those portions of the book were among the best writings I've ever seen out of him. Unlike the typical McPhee book, which I always feel start off brilliantly but then run out of steam, Basin and Range built to a magnificent conclusion, and is one of the most striking works in McPhee's catalog. Highly recommended.

Book Two, entitled In Suspect Terrain, follows geologist Anita Harris, and concerns itself with the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and how they came to be. I'll be honest: this book was boring, slow, and way too long. And that's all I really have to say. It was by far the worst McPhee book that I've ever read, and the only one I really haven't enjoyed in any sort of capacity. Terribly disappointing.

Book Three, entitled Rising from the Plains, works itself around Wyoming with David S. Love, preeminent Rocky Mountain geologist. I was surprised at how linear the narrative was at times. I generally know McPhee as someone who jumps all over the map, delicately threading a narrative through that you don't even begin to notice until the end, and that's the brilliance of his work. In here, a lot of the book follows Love's biography chronologically, and I'm surprised at how competent of a storyteller McPhee can be. I love his writing for the small details he notes, the absurd humor he discovers in them, and the subtle ways they are tied to the big picture, so it was interesting for me to watch him try his hand at working only with the big picture. I think he largely succeeded. His painting of the landscape around Jackson Hole was especially evocative. This is not representative of McPhee's usual style, but it's still a very good read that I'd certainly recommend.

Book Four, entitled Assembling California, follows Eldridge Moores around California, Macedonia, and Cyprus, in a quest to understand how California's rocks could become so radically different from the rest of the country's. Like Basin and Range, this one started off quite slow, as a whole lot of rocks and rocky structures were described. That's the whole point of Annals I guess, to describe rocks, but those were probably my least favorite parts. The conclusion to Assembling California, however, was spectacular, as McPhee described tales from the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. I have never seen McPhee write so dramatically, and he pulled it off really well.

So now I'm starting on the final book, entitled Crossing the Craton. It's very short, and from what I hear its only purpose is to settle things down after the fireworks of Assembling California. So effectively, I am finally finished with Annals of the Former World. Hurrah. McPhee won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his work on this book. In my mind, he undoubtedly deserves a Pulitzer, but maybe not for this book. In general, he spends too much time talking about rocks, when his strength is with people.

Surprisingly, I've found one other McPhee reader here, who's read many of the same books of his that I have. She strongly recommended Encounters with the Archdruid as her favorite, so that will likely be next on my list of McPhee. In the meantime, once I finish Crossing the Craton, I'm moving on to The Big Twitch, the autobiography of a fanatical Australian birder. That shouldn't take long, so warming up in the bullpen I've got Don DeLillo's Underworld, which should be a good one.


From Tallahassee to the Dark Hillsides

For the first few months of its existence, this site served only as a log of my bird sightings in and around Swarthmore, remnants of which still survive in the address and the archives. This past summer, I made a decision to experiment with opening up the blog, to incorporate more of my thoughts, ideas, and occurrences. My only fear was that this would turn into an emo diary, a scenario which I wanted to avoid at all costs.

I'm not bringing this up because I'm about to go into emo mode; I might indirectly, but that's not why I brought the history in. I wanted to mention that history because the very first non-bird-related post I ever made on this thing was a first-impression review of the Mountain Goats album Get Lonely.

At the time, I simply wrote that it sounded very different from a typical Goats album, but that I might get used to that new sound, and grow on the album. That never happened. Darnielle mentioned to a Pitchfork staffer that the only people who could fully understand the album were people who had gone through ugly divorces, or rough breakups from other very serious relationships, as those are the lyrical and musical themes which the album addresses. Thankfully I've never found myself in any of those kinds of situations, and subsequently the album never did anything for me. I think Pat summed it up well in his WSRN review: Get Lonely is an album that can be appreciated, but it's difficult to enjoy, and actually, you're probably not even supposed to enjoy it. I thought that was spot-on.

But now that I'm trying to get through my own breakup (though thankfully it was an amazingly clean one) this album is getting to me hard. I know people who listen only to happy and melodic music because they always want to feel joyful, and people who listen only to chill music because they always want to feel relaxed. I've never been the type to do that, I try and find music which matches the mood I'm in, to complement it and make it that much more powerful. So it means a lot to me when I say that Get Lonely is hitting me harder than any other album has at one point in time. Every song on the album, up to and including 'Woke Up New', is wrenching my heart apart on every listen, that's all I can say. To me, right now, at this moment in life, Get Lonely is a perfect statement of how I'm feeling and how my days are going.

I did mention, however, that it's only true up to 'Woke Up New'. None of the remaining three songs do anything for me. I have a few theories on why that's the case. First, 'Woke Up New' is unquestionably the emotional climax of the album, and the rest is the come-down that inherently comes off less dramatically. Second, 'If You See Light' is unquestionably the worst song on the album, and kills off any potential emotional impact that the remaining songs could have. Or last, Darnielle has sequenced the album chronologically/autobiographically, and the last few songs don't make sense only because I haven't reached that part of the recovery process.

In reality, it's probably a combination of all three factors. I will note that the final song, 'In Corolla', sounds like it has to be the conclusion to the recovery, when Darnielle has finally gotten over his breakup, and life is back to normal. Connected to that point, it's also the song most similar to the traditional Mountain Goats oeuvre and style. But right now, I can't relate to it at all. Maybe in a few months, I'll listen to it a few times, move on, and close the book on Get Lonely. But for an album intended for those poor souls coming from dark places, 'In Corolla' seems like an awfully out-of-place closer that's sickening when placed next to 'Moon Over Goldsboro' or 'Maybe Sprout Wings'; it's not even optimistic enough to serve as some sort of goal or light at the end of the tunnel, it just feels wrong. 'Cobra Tattoo' may have been a better closer for the record. Small quibbles aside, Get Lonely is hitting me hard right now, and it's changed my perception of what Darnielle is capable of as a songwriter.


Back to Australia

A lot of my photos are now uploaded, so I'm going to post them here in a series of short sets. Eventually I'll get caught up with the present day, and try and post photos continuously from there. The Atherton Internet Cafe was significantly faster this past Friday than it was before for some reason, hence the successful photo uploading. Let's hope that new speed sticks around.

Paterson Creek, which runs through the property.

Waterfall on Paterson Creek. There aren't any land trails to this spot, so the only way to get here is by wading upstream a fairly good distance. Even further upstream there's a few more waterfalls, but none of them are quite as photogenic.

Dan standing among the roots of the Cathedral Fig, whose canopy was posted earlier.

The Kangaroo Cafe in Malanda. Obviously that's not a real Lumholtz's Tree-Kangaroo up top, it's just a sculpture.


Leeches attached: ~85
Leeches that have feasted upon my blood: 4

Mallory Above the Second Step

On New Year's Eve, growing a little tired of the superficial celebrations, and actually a little tired of meaningless college football bowl games as well, I stumbled upon a Discovery Channel documentary following an expedition on their ascent of Mt. Everest. I sat and watched the documentary until there was only 15 minutes left in the year of 2006, before I finally caved in to tradition and the expected festivities.



What is it about Everest? I did the same thing once last fall; I spent an entire night ignoring my chemistry homework, and just did research on Mt. Everest, intrigued by the details of the two primary climbing routes, the obstacles and treacheries along both paths, the mystery of Mallory and Irvine's disappearance and the extent of their progress beforehand, the successful methods of Tenzing and Hillary on the first ascent, the disaster of 1996 and the debate that raged in its wake, the final discovery of Mallory's body and the clues it yielded, and the indomitable mountain itself, its power and beauty. What a joy it must be, to stand upon the roof of the world, to be on the highest point of the planet, after battling with the elements and some of the harshest conditions on Earth, for days on end, and then to finally succeed at the top of the world. And what agony it must be, to be turned away just a hundred meters from the summit by life-threatening weather, to be so close to a Singular Life-Defining Achievement, only to watch it fade away just when it was within reach. To lose fingers, toes, or even limbs from frostbite on Everest: is it worth it? Is an ascent of the mountain a vain act of personal glory, or a true triumph of the human body and spirit? Or somehow both?



These days, even relative novices can hire experienced guides to take them up Everest. And who can say that they aren't at least somewhat tempted by the thought?

I don't really know where I'm going with this. I just feel like the mountain reveals something very profound and powerful about human nature, and the whole thing is really fascinating to me. The Wikipedia article on Mallory has a few nice quotes.

Mallory's daughter has always said that Mallory carried a photograph of his wife on his person with the intention of leaving it on the summit. This photo was not found on Mallory's body. Given the excellent preservation of the body and its garments, this points to the possibility that he may have reached the summit and deposited the photo there [therefore meaning that Mallory was the first to ever ascend Mount Everest].

Chris Bonington, the widely respected British Himalayan mountaineer, summed up the view of many mountaineers all over the world:

If we accept the fact that [Mallory and Irvine] were above the Second Step, they would have seemed to be incredibly close to the summit of Everest and I think at that stage something takes hold of most climbers... And I think therefore taking all those circumstances in view... I think it is quite conceivable that they did go for the summit... I certainly would love to think that they actually reached the summit of Everest. I think it is a lovely thought and I think it is something, you know, gut emotion, yes I would love them to have got there. Whether they did or not, I think that is something one just cannot know.

I'm normally a terribly bitter and pragmatic pessimist, but something inside me wants to see Mallory at the summit of Everest as well. As Bonington said, it's a nice thought.



On an entirely separate tangent (as if tangents can actually be completely separate, haha, oh my goodness did I really just point that out), the Teenage Fanclub song 'Mount Everest' is so good, among my favorite songs. The long coda with the distorted electric guitar and hammered dulcimer (maybe?) just gets me every time. Maybe that's trivializing this whole thing, haha.


Some links:

• Video of a space shuttle launch from the shuttle's point of view, with the booster rockets and the camera then falling back into the ocean. A really beautiful video.
• The 2007 edition of Software for Starving Students has been released. It's free, and useful!
• Also free are a pair of flip-flops! I have no idea if this will actually work, but it's worth a shot. Edit: Doesn't work anymore, sadly. If your order did go through, check your Order Status, and you'll find that you need to call Customer Service, where you'll get an apology and a canceled order. If you try and order now, shipping isn't free anymore.
  
• Learn the correct (or at least most efficient) way to wrap headphone cords.
• Some guys with way too much free time find awesome ways to throw ping pong balls into glasses, and also quarters into shot glasses. I'm not sure if I want to give these guys a high five, or if I want to punch them in the face.
• US Airways now has an Arizona Cardinals plane! I don't even know what to say to this, it's just lolololol.
• Kissing Suzy Kolber has an amazing post on Mike Shanahan's Masterplan in the aftermath of their unfathomable loss to the 49ers.
  
• Finally, take a survey to find what your brain's gender is. I'm pretty much an average male, as it turns out. I aced the opening line test, which was pretty cool. On the other hand, some of these are a little more questionable, like the thumb test. Also, I scored a 1 out of 20 on that empathy questionnaire (hahaha), but then I was way above average on the face recognition test, which is supposed to mean that I empathize well. So how much empathy do I really have, Mr./Ms. Test? Anyways, it's a fun way to waste time, and time is what I'm sure everyone has plenty of this winter break. Hope it's going well so far!
  

You Should've Been a Clerk

Man, this past week.

It wasn't really anything to do with finals. Granted, finals this semester were about 89 times tougher than any finals I've had before, but at least I saw that train wreck coming months ago, and there wasn't much I could do about it. Well, maybe there was, but I wasn't willing to do anything that early, haha.

It's more about the end of a semester, with the next semester being abroad, and the necessary good byes and good lucks. Friends I won't see for nine months, seniors I may never see ever again, professors to thank. Add in the unexpected arrival of a wonderful romance, and I've been walking around campus for a week with a bleeding heart, completely unlike my usual self. There were so many acquaintances who weren't aware that I was going abroad, and who told me to have a nice break, and I just didn't have any heart left to tell them I'd be away. So yeah, if anyone tried to talk with me in the past week about the Iverson trade to Denver, or that Silent Shout album on Pitchfork's list, and you got some noncommittal grunt or whimper, I apologize, and now you know why I've been in that state. We'll talk later.

Now I've settled in at home, and Swarthmore is beginning to recede into the back of my memory; I'm not really the type to really dwell on such things. For some reason, I immediately set up my workspace in the sunroom, an area of the house I've never used in my entire life. Maybe it's because the large windows and views of the woods remind me of Hallowell (I just noticed a Red-shouldered Hawk soaring above the pines, I thought I'd heard it screaming earlier...), but that never entered my conscious thought.

What I have noticed, however, is that for some reason, I feel like a completely different person on this return home. My old computer room seems totally unappealing; I don't think I've spent more than 10 seconds in that room, where I used to spend the vast majority of the day; a move to the sunroom made sense then, as a sort of really lame New Beginning. It would probably be a foolish mistake to try and pinpoint exactly why I feel differently, but it must be a culmination of everything that's happened in the past week, the past month, and/or the past semester. Best semester ever? You could certainly make the case. I had a blast.

But yeah, it's nice to be home. I look out these windows, and I know this yard like the back of my hand. It strikes me that I've always referred to the small creek that runs through the back as, simply, The Creek. I looked up the actual official name of the creek many years ago, but I never remembered it. It's always been The Creek to me, and it always will be. Meanwhile, my dad is either reading the newspaper, watching football, or watching incomprehensible kung fu movies, and my mom is either getting some work done, doing Sudoku puzzles, or getting emotional over Korean soap operas. Ah, home.

But now that I'm home, let's catch up on a few things.

First, the Iverson trade.



I don't think anyone can make a good argument in Philadelphia's favor here. You traded away a transcendent superstar, an icon of the city, a beloved rallying point for the fans. In exchange, let's see what you got.

Andre Miller, a perennially underachieving point guard who's jumped from team to team over the years, probably indicative of the fact that he's a clubhouse tumor that nobody wants to work with, talented or not.

I didn't even realize Joe Smith was still in the league. Was he really the top overall pick in the draft? He was fairly good in his prime, but these days, I'm sure he'll grab a few rebounds before heading to the bench with a bad back.

Two draft picks? Remember that a draft pick doesn't necessarily turn into a young stud superstar. The Sixers could use their pick on some like, say, Tyler Hansborough, as much as it pains me to say. The kid's good at the college level, but I can only envision him being completely bewildered at the professional level. He hasn't looked all that good this year anyways, while Brandan Wright has literally looked unstoppable. If I wanted to rely on someone in the post in crunch time, I'd goto Wright, not Hansborough at this point. Anyways, I just don't see how the Sixers can win with this trade. They'll botch the draft picks, and sign some decrepit veteran with their expiring contract money. For all that, they lost their transcendent superstar.

Meanwhile, a lot of ink has already been spilled on Iverson's role in Denver. Bijan Bayne wrote a nice article on the topic at nbadraft.net (best website of all time?), basically showing that it's extremely difficult to accommodate two superstars on one team. They either must have complementary roles (think Stockton and Malone) or they must both be unselfish team players (think Duncan and Robinson). I love how I can just prattle off last names, and every basketball fan knows exactly who I'm talking about, as if they're kings or gods of some sort, of basketball I suppose. In any case, it's difficult to create those situations, and more often than not, the experiment fails. That'll probably be the case here in Denver, as Iverson and Anthony play very similar scoring roles, and since they're competing for the same limited resources (the ball, shots, attention), both economic and ecological analysis will show that the two cannot successfully coexist.



Also, I'm watching the Falcons-Panthers game, and I can't stop laughing at the Panthers' strategy on third down. They're taking quarterback Chris Weinke completely off the field, and snapping the ball directly to runningback DeAngelo Williams. Why didn't we think of this earlier? Wienke has been the most incompetent quarterback that I have ever witnessed, and the Falcons have a horrendous run defense. How do the Falcons not see this coming? At this point, the Panthers have run the play 8 times, and picked up the first down 7 of those times. You know the Panthers are going to run, how do you not stop it. It's not like DeShaun Foster is actually any good, because he's not. Meanwhile, this has got to be so demoralizing for Weinke. Yeah, we don't even need you on the field for these critical plays, even though you're supposed to be the centerpiece of our offense. Why is he even on the field. If he's just going to hand the ball off, bring in Basanez to at least give some threat of the pass. I'm so sad that the Panthers have slowly crumbled into this lowly state.
Okay, the game just ended, and basically we won by taking time off the clock and relying on our defense. Wienke completed four passes, for 32 yards. Sorry, but we've gotta bench this kid. If we don't have any confidence in him, why even bother?



As for Silent Shout, why don't we leave that for another day.

Links for today:

• True Hoop takes a good look at the psyche of Allen Iverson, and what makes him tick as a basketball player. Great read.
• Another transcendent basketball superstar, Renaldo Balkman, has his own Myspace page. Endless lols.
• All the slingshots I made as a kid were way too flimsy, I'd love to have my hands on this pro Jack Spade Sling Shot.
• Someone accidentally put their baby through the airport's x-ray machine. Oops. Man, I can't even joke about this, what a terrible thing to have happen.
• Google has published their year-end Zeitgeist, featuring the most popular searches of the year and lot's of other cool stats.
• Not a link, but Steven Jackson just scored a game-winning touchdown in overtime, on a 21-yd run, giving him 250 total yards and two touchdowns on the game. Absolute monster. I still can't believe that I managed to trade away Cadillac Williams to get him in my fantasy league. Sorry, I'm just really pleased, and had to throw that out there.
• Here's a nice article on the most dangerous roads in the world. Unreal.
• I hope everyone has a great holiday season, keep in touch for realz, we gotta be trill. Missing everyone tons...
  

Fine Feathered Friends

I seem to have stopped talking about birds here. Why, Roger. Birds are so awesome. So freaking awesome. They're really an inherent part of my life now; whenever I'm walking outside, between classes or running any number of errands, I'm unconsciously picking up distant songs and calls, and silhouettes of birds in flight. Though the birding has been slow, there's been enough moments to keep the flame alight this semester.

Northern Harriers soaring over campus, and a stunning adult male that I watched from a Kohlberg window during a break from class, the bird silently catching the wind towards parts unknown.

Crum Meadow exploding with thousands of sparrows, constantly calling from alarm or hunger or a simple need to socialize, flying everywhere and turning the meadow itself into a living, moving creature. I managed to pick out single Swamp, Chipping, and Field Sparrows from the fray of White-throated and Song Sparrows, but the spectacle alone was enough to floor me.

Surprised by a Brown Creeper climbing up a tree in front of Wharton, and watching it as the sun slowly set, until I realized that I was somehow 20 minutes late for tennis with Kira and Luis. Somehow, I still beat Luis to the courts.

Finding a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker working on a tree beside Mertz, and watching it drill its neat rows of holes around the tree, until I realized that I was somehow 30 minutes late for breadbaking. I hope they didn't mind.

The day my heart was broken from a friendship turned ugly, and the Winter Wren and the flock of juncos offering their solace at the end of the trail. Fortunately, things have been patched up since then.

Working on papers when a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew in for a visit, right outside my dorm room window. She sat and watched me, watching her, watching me. For ten minutes, no words were spoken as the boy and the bird watched each other, until she decided that she was hungry and had better things to do, and rushed off in a flurry of wings.


Too often when I'm birding, I find myself caught in a race to find as many species as possible in an hour, in a day, through a week, in a season. It's particularly true during migration when dozens of stunning neotropical species pass before my eyes, or when I'm visiting a new place filled with new birds (Australia, anyone?).

Finding that first Painted Bunting or Island Thrush is certainly an incredible adrenaline rush, but it's an unsustainable and unhealthy addiction. Finding small pleasures in the common everyday birds is the only way for me to keep my interest aloft, or to keep me alive, really.

Take that as an analogy for life, if you wish. Or, not. I wasn't thinking of it that way, to be honest. I just said it as more of a joke, but take from it what you will.



Links:

• The New York Times presents the Best Ideas of 2006. A long, but rewarding read.
• The man who created the Green Lantern and also helped with the design of the Pillsbury Dough Boy has passed away. Rest in peace, Mr. Nodell.
• A family in Pakistan carries a genetic trait which makes them immune to pain. As cool as that may sound at first, it turns out to be a useful lesson in evolutionary biology.
• Wikipedia article on the beauty of mathematics.
• An old telegram in which Buckminster Fuller explains Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
• Practicality at its best, a tiny cellphone which just makes calls. Hott. Needs to be produced.
• Those crazy Japanese have invented a machine to make toast, eggs, and coffee at the same time.
• Tech Geeks Only alert: Upgrade your wireless router's signal with just a simple downloadable firmware upgrade. If you've got Airport Express as well, even better.
• Regret The Error is known for posting typos and other goofs made by media outlets, here's a roundup of the year's highlights.
• Radar profiles the world's most extravagant dictators.
• The amazing lives of parasitic fungi. The video on the site is just mind-blowing.
• And finally, in the spirit of the season, you can use Google Earth to find Santa's workshop now! The Google team has also placed gifts around the world for you to find, clues to be found at the workshop. Good luck!
  

Finger-lickin' Fun

So I've been wondering lately. Why do some people lick their fingers before turning the pages of a book, or counting money? I've never done this, and I've never understood why people do this. I've heard some say the saliva makes it easier to turn the paper, but seriously, is it that hard to turn the page? Think about it. What's hard about turning the page. Tell me. You are turning a page of paper. Does this require any extra ritual or mechanical effort. In my book, the answer is no. So stop it. It's not that hard to turn a page of paper. I really can't emphasize how easy it is to do this. Why.

I wonder, however, if licking your finger decreases the possibility of a papercut, or maybe increases it. That could potentially make it worthwhile. Or not.



Another thing I've been wondering about is the phrase, "In my book..."
For example, "In my book, Fear of Music is the best Talking Heads album," or likewise, "Remain in Light is better than Fear of Music, in my book."

Right now, the phrase is obviously metaphorical; very few people have written books where they delineate their opinions on the Talking Heads canon. The cited book is completely metaphorical. I wonder, however, if that was always the case. I wonder if there were pretentious scholars somewhere stuffy like in Victorian England who were all like, "Well, in my book, Haydn's 101st symphony is far more substantive than his 79th," and they literally had that in their book on Haydn and other composers, and cited this book as such. That would be so bad-ass, being able to cite your own book on matters that come up in conversation.

"Well, in my book, Marth is definitely a far superior character to Pikachu in Super Smash Brothers Melee."
"Baja Fresh offers better tasting burritos than Chipotle, in my book."
"In my book, your face is ugly" (Shaw 379).
"Well, UNC will actually beat Duke next week, according to my book. See the footnote on page 198."

The possiblities are completely endless. Or has the term always been metaphorical like it is today? If that's the case, my day has been ruined.


Hopefully these links won't ruin your day though:

• For his historic run on Jeopardy!, the wizard Ken Jennings managed to get free ice cream from Baskin Robbins for an entire year, or at least something close.
• What policies can economists across the spectrum generally agree on?
• A sobering report on the state of Afghanistan's police force.
  
• The New York Times lists the 10 Best Books of 2006.
• So wait, how exactly does one drill a square hole? Using a Reuleaux Triangle, of course. More info can be found here as well.
• The Simple Dollar lists 30 essential pieces of Windows software that are free, and also open-source. Great list in my opinion. I'm getting a new laptop very soon, so this will be very crucial to its setup.
• And finally, I really like this photo of Michael Strahan chewing out some reporters, in an aesthetic sense. It's very well composed, and incredibly provocative. Despite the good effort last night, it was still abundantly clear that there is no discipline in the Giants locker room, and the team is on the verge of collapse.

By the way, let me address one more thing about the Zune. I feel like I'm playing devil's advocate with this thing, but I promise I'm not, this is my honest belief.

Some people have complained about how the Zune's navigation control looks like the iPod's touch-sensitive scroll wheel, but it's not. It's more like a directional pad like on a video game controller, so it's not touch-sensitive at all. And apparently that's confusing for some people.

I don't understand. If you press up, it scrolls up. Down is down. And so on with right and left. What's difficult about this. If anything, the iPod's scrolling is less intuitive than the Zune's. If you picked up an iPod for the very first time, how the hell are you supposed to know that rotating your thumb clockwise around a wheel will move things down? It really doesn't make any sense at all. If I want to scroll down, I'd rather just push down than keep rotating my thumb around this pad. I'll admit, the first day I had my Zune, I accidentally rotated my thumb maybe twice, but caught myself immediately. If you're having consistent issues with this, maybe you should consider taking logic courses at your local university. Also, destroy your iPod. But put Rockbox on it first.

With Against the Day

Thomas Pynchon's new novel, entitled Against the Day, was released this week, nine years after his last novel Mason & Dixon. I preordered Against the Day when it first became available on Amazon, but to be completely honest, I almost forgot that it was supposed to come in around this time. Books are difficult to hype up; the critics who receive them in advance will require a lot of time to finish, especially a dense tome such as this; I'm not even convinced that every critic was able to finish the thing before the deadline forced them to toss up a 'Pynchon is brilliant' review or a 'Pynchon is pretentious garbage' review. Advance copies of books can't be easily pirated and downloaded like music and movies are these days, and even if they were, even the fastest readers would require some time to hype it up. The final Harry Potter book is probably the only book I can think of which could potentially reach that stage, just because the interest in it is that high. Then again, I read an article somewhere which basically stated that Against the Day is the only other book which could rival Harry Potter in terms of release-date-anticipation and hype. Understandably so. Yet despite this, any hype that existed was largely beneath my notice, and so I nearly forgot that it was supposed to arrive.

Instead, I've been expecting something like five or six packages to arrive around the same time, so yesterday morning I checked my mailbox about nine or ten times, each time coming up empty. For some reason though, just before I left for class, I decided to check my mailbox yet again, almost as a conditioned reflex I get from being in Parrish at all. Yet, lo and behold, a package slip sat quietly in my box.

Could it be printer toner? Could it be a replacement keyboard for my busted Thinkpad? Could it be a band's t-shirt? Or could it be...isn't Against the Day supposed to arrive around this time? Well...GUESS WHICH ONE IT WAS?!

Wait, I guess that wasn't much of a surprise. You're right, it was the printer toner.

No really, here's my unboxing of Against the Day, performed surgically on the round table in the Underhill Music Library.



Heck yes.


The goods exposed. If you're curious, I added James Joyce's Dubliners as a cheap filler to get free shipping. Thanks SlickFillers! Not a bad filler at all, I'll probably read it on the flight back home or something.


Amazon's new packaging method, shrinkwrapping your items against a slab of cardboard. I ordered one CD from them, and they did the same thing, and gave the contraption its own large box. Hey, whatever works, the shipping was free I suppose. I'd love to goto an Amazon warehouse and see the machine that performs this shrinkwrapping, it's probably the best machine ever, I think it would give me beautiful dreams.


The Book. The Book!!! THE BOOK!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, those are actually drop shadows behind the title, not an artifact of an unstable hand on the camera. I'm not sure I like the shadows too much, plain and simple would've done it better for me.


Close-up of that stamp/seal on the cover's lower-right. It also makes an appearance on the cover page inside. Something tells me that it may be integral to the book's plot. Or, more likely, not. The plot probably has nothing to do with this seal. Or, more likely, there is no plot. Knowing Pynchon, the dude probably found this at some remote monastery in the Cambodian jungle which used to be the home of the guy who invented gunpowder.


The spine, replete with additional drop shadows and a section of the stamp.


The back. Lookin' pretty good there, Thomas.


You can't be serious. How much did this hack get paid?


Book appears to be relatively lengthy. Also, beautiful.



That's my copy of Against the Day. So what are my thoughts on the book? Haha, you thought I might've finished it already? Yeah, lol. I'm not convinced that anyone will actually ever finish this book, sort of like Finnegans Wake or something, except three times longer.

No, but seriously, I'll probably try and make a dent into it on the flight to Australia next semester, since that's crossing half the globe latitudinally as well as longitudinally. I'm sure it'll make me look like an obnoxious and pretentious jerk, which I guess is the only problem. Then again, who else would even try to tackle this thing? I can't blame anyone for the typecasting, maybe it's even somewhat accurate. Nonetheless, I'll have to work through it at some point, and a long flight is as good a time as any.

For now, I got through the first page, and it was basically incredible. Quite a contrast from the stunningly poetic opening page of Gravity's Rainbow, this one opened with this fun, lightweight scene of dirigible enthusiasts heading off in their airship, en route to Chicago and the World's Fair. I'm looking forward to seeing how the second page matches up. If I had one complaint about The Crying of Lot 49, it's that the opening two pages are really boring, so I'm glad that Against the Day has avoided that pitfall. Hopefully its quality will continue to arc upwards. I like how I'm micro-analyzing individual pages of Pynchon novels, but that's sort of given to you by the writing style.


Before I get to the links, just thought I'd point out that I've made some changes to the sidebar links, as I doubt that many of you were interested in reading more about Ornithology in Pennsylvania (sad as that is to me, haha). Not that these are any more interesting, but at least they're more relevant to what I'm doing with the blog now. Also, on the campus birdlist, I'm now noting updates at the top of that page, so that you can actually tell when stuff happens.


On with the links:

• New Scientist has asked 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists to offer their predictions on what the next fifty years have to offer.
• Various surveys have been conducted over the years, but this Wikipedia article compiles the results to rank the Presidents of the United States. Unsurprisingly, Abraham Lincoln and FDR top the list, but where do Bush and Clinton fall? Or William Henry Harrison? Reading this article reminded me of how much I loved history in high school, what in the world happened?
• If you're at the store for holiday shipping, and you want to know if you can find a certain item cheaper online, try Frucall, where you can check online prices from your cellphone. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds like a great idea, and others have gotten it to work.
• Forbes has just published its annual list of the 15 wealthiest fictional characters, and this year, they shook things up by taking Santa off the list! After all, he's not really fictional, amirite. Witness the aftermath by checking out the list.
• I've never watched CSI: Miami before, but this compilation of hysterical one-liners really makes me want to start, one of the better YouTube videos I've seen. The Roger Daltrey scream is what totally makes the video. "You don't spend $1000 on clothes...that you're never gonna wear...YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• Equally hilarious is the Nietzsche Family Circus.
• And finally, the Madagascar Pochard has been rediscovered!
• Have a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy the turkey turkey.
  

Zoom Zoom Zune

A few weeks ago, after viewing videos of interface walkthroughs, and researching lists of features, I decided to take the plunge. I bought a Microsoft Zune. Or, rather, I preordered one from EB Games, since they weren't to be released until the 14th, this past Tuesday.

Knowing EB Games, I wasn't expecting to get my hands on my Zune until Friday at the earliest (if ever, haha), but stunningly they came through in the clutch and got it to me overnight! Clearly, EB Games is ready for the NBA. I opened my mailbox on Wednesday morning, there was a package slip, I giddily strode over to the post office window, and exchanged a piece of paper for a small box containing a Zune.

The box, ready to be opened. Oh man.


We get our first, tantalizing glimpse of the treasures within.


Packaged air has to remain the greatest invention of all time. Seriously, are people actually making money by selling air? It's even more amazing than bottled water. On the right however, please note the second greatest invention of all time.


The minimalist box in all its glory.


Inside the box, you find...another box. Brilliant.


There she is. I'll admit, I got a bit emotional here, but I couldn't let my tears drop onto the Zune.


Let's get started! It's kind of funny that I managed to focus on the reflection of my hand, rather than on the beautiful piece of technology right in front of my face.


Hello from Seattle! Also note the doubleshot.


Slightly better shot of the doubleshot. Otherwise, this is a completely useless photo.


Fast forward 24 hours, after all the setup. Here she is sitting on the desk, biding her sweet time.


It's alive!!!!!!!!!! Note that I'd already changed the wallpaper to a photo I took at the Pine Barrens on an Ecology field trip.


Playing some music, since that's what a music player is supposed to do, apparently.


Listenin' to the radio, in this case the immortal WSRN. At this point, I believe Michelle Crouch was spinning some sweet Xiu Xiu tunez.



So that's my baby. I can't wait for her first day at school, her first kiss, her first boyfriend, prom, leaving home to goto college, and becoming an independent Zune. Fortunately, I get to keep her for awhile before all that happens, except, obviously, the school bit. She's been at school since the beginning. She's just that smart, man.

But seriously, what are my impressions of the Zune? I've now spent a little more than a day playing around with the Zune player and the Zune software, and I jotted down my thoughts on a piece of paper, basically transcribed here. Here are the Pros and Cons of the Zune, as I've experienced so far:


Pros:

• Just picking the thing up, you can definitely tell that it's hefty and thick. But I don't think that's a bad thing, because I always feel like I'm about to break my nano in half, just by putting it in my pocket. This is not a fragile machine. Obviously that doesn't mean that I'll throw it out my window because I'm too lazy to carry it down the stairs, but I'm certainly less worried about breaking this than I would be about an iPod.
• The thing doesn't pick up fingerprints. The back of the player is a nice matte material, the same as on Thinkpads, which is basically fingerprint proof. Let's compare that to the iPod, which seems to get cloudy from fingerprints without even being touched.
• The little slipcase included with the iPod was this incredibly cheap rubbery thing, that I've never seen anyone actually use, other than myself. The material feels cheap, and it looks cheap. The Zune , meanwhile, comes with a stunning suede slipcase. My slipcase was brown, matching the player I bought, and I'd imagine that owners of black or white Zunes have respective black and white slipcases. Let me emphasize that they are suede, and are very sexy-looking-and-feeling. Not quite on the level of a premium leather case like a Vaja, but it's a significant improvement from the cheap iPod case. I'll be keeping this case fo sho.
  
• The 'doubleshot' feature, which adds a complementary-colored trim, is really beautiful. My brown Zune is complemented by a forest green trim, the black Zune has a blue trim, while the white Zune has a translucent doubleshot. Every time I see the light catch that doubleshot, I feel like I'm watching a Scarlett Johansson film and falling in love all over again.
• You won't look like a stupid yuppie/hipster/stupid-person for carrying this around. Every time I see someone walking around campus with those white earbuds and cords emerging from their pockets and wandering up to their ears, I've developed an instinctual urge to destroy their face, even if it turns out to be a good friend. Just for that one split second, I want to kill. I hate those stupid white earbuds. The Zune comes with these sleek black-and-silver buds that look a good deal slicker than the iPod buds. Of course, I won't be using them, as the sound quality in them is about on par with the atrocious iPod buds, but it's just the principle of the thing. The white iPod earbuds have evolved from being a hip fashion statement into a sign of blissful ignorance, bandwagoning, and sheep-like bridge-jumping. And it's not just the buds, but the iPod itself that's evolving. I'll admit: one of the main reasons I was attracted to the Zune was because it was different. And that's all. Having the iPod as your only reasonable option for an mp3 player felt absolutely restrictive to me. Now you have options. Take advantage of them.
• The big screen. It's really super nice looking you guys.
• The ability to set your own wallpaper is a really nice feature, and certainly a refreshing break from the monotonous Mac interface of the iPod.
  
• The ability to view photos and videos in landscape-mode is just beautiful, and really takes full advantage of that massive screen. In general, this is a very visually-focused player, with a lot of emphasis on the album art, wallpapers, photos, etc. In this age of digital music, that visual aspect is often lost, and that's really sad to me, as the visual component is an important aspect of the artist's presentation of their work. Plus, I mean, it's pretty.
• Personally, I really like the 'twist' interface of the Zune. I don't have to repeatedly go back to the previous menu if I want to switch artists or albums, instead I can just move to the left or right to goto the next artist or album.
  
• FM Radio. Why does the standalone iPod not have this? I've never understood.
• Also, why won't iTunes let you transport files from your iPod onto your computer? New iPod users ask how to do this on a constant basis, to the point of annoyance. Why would you let the iPod act as a removable storage device, if you need backdoor means of accessing those stored files? Blows my mind. Doing this is easy on the Zune software.
  
• On the Zune, you can easily 'flag' a song, for whatever reason at all. This may sound like a silly and minor feature, but I've already used it quite a bit. Say you're listening to an album for the first time, or a playlist that a friend sent over. If there's a particular song you enjoyed, and you want to remember what it is, just flag it. When you plug the Zune back into your computer, your inbox will tell you what your flagged tunes are, and then you can listen to them further, purchase them from the store, do whatever you want. I know it sounds silly, but I mean, why not include it? It doesn't hurt the Zune experience at all, but for those who do use it, it's quite helpful.
  
• Microsoft is really pushing the wireless capability of the Zune, and how you can send and receive songs from other Zune users over a wireless connection. A lot of commentators have pointed out that this will only be a useful feature if lots of people buy Zunes, but then if the wireless is useless at first, who would buy a Zune? It's a bit of a catch-22. I think it's important to remember that the Zune was built with upgrades in mind. There are many features of the Zune that have not yet been unlocked, though the hardware to pull them off are already present within these first-generation Zunes. What if you could use the wireless capabilities to connect to the internet to buy tunes, or to be a Virtual DJ streaming songs to your friends with Zunes, or to get updates on the weather or the stock market? You won't need to wait for the second-generation Zunes, these are features easily incorporated in the first generation, and in fact Microsoft has already hinted at plans for these. Well, except for the weather and stock quotes, I made that up, but really, how hard would that be to incorporate? That's just software, easily upgradeable while you're syncing up your Zune with your computer. It won't require a substantial hardware upgrade. A lot of key Zune features will just be added through firmware and software updates, meaning that really, there's a lot potential for very cool features.
  

Cons:

• Though the screen is larger, the resolution is the same as the iPod's. The result is an image that isn't quite as sharp as the iPod's, but is still more than acceptable. If you hold the screen six inches away from your face, you'll certainly notice some blocky curves and pixelation, more so than on an iPod. But hold the Zune a foot away, and it's like watching HD.
• For some reason or another, the resolution on album art is quite low. Pixelation is far more evident on album art than on photos or videos, which fortunately can be quite pristine. There's visible problems with the album art though. For example, I tagged Deerhoof - The Runners Four with a massive high-resolution album art tag, in fact it could be my laptop's wallpaper without any empty side space, that's how high the resolution is. On the player however, the resolution is substantially lower. I'm not sure if that's an issue with the Zune , or an issue with mp3 album art tags, but in either case, the album art will not be as pristine as the press photos have likely led you to believe. I have a hunch that it's the tags themselves, which sort of bites, but what can you do.
  
• The Zune can't be used as a mass storage device like many other mp3 players. Personally, I think I've only used that feature once in my entire life, so it wasn't a huge deal for me. For others, it may well be. I dunno, I just use pen drives, or my external hard drive. To each their own.
• There aren't any calendars, games, or alarm clocks on the Zune. It's just music, pictures, video, and radio. What I want to know is: who used those calendars and such? Anyone who did was entirely too dependent on their iPod, and should be slapped. I hate to stereotype, but these are probably the same people who probably went jogging with their iPods, dropped it on the pavement, and then wondered why the hard drive failed. They probably also own RAZRs, PEBLs, or whatever the hell the newest fashion cellphone is. They also like either Dave Matthews Band or U2, or even BOTH!
  Sorry for that rant. Society should not be as infatuated with the iPod as they currently are. But yeah. I didn't use the calendar or contacts on the iPod, and I don't know anyone who did, so who cares if it isn't on the Zune.
• There are far more accessories for the iPod than the Zune. Accessories?! You mean like a little purse and cute earrings for your adorable little iPod? Shut up. Let's think of what accessories are somewhat important, if not necessary: AC Adapter, Car Adapter/FM Transmitter, Dock and maybe a nicer case. Those are not necessary by any means, but they may be nice to have for certain individuals with certain needs. These are all accessories easily obtained for the Zune . What else do you need? A case made from a kid's sock with Elmo stitched on it? A set of speakers which also happens to have a disco ball and flashing strobe lights on top? A remote control since you're too lazy to carry this pocket-sized gadget in your, well, pocket, which also happens to control your HD TV, Tivo, DVD player, car alarm, and sprinklers? Get real. I think that the Zune has as many accessories as you really need, while the number of iPod accessories is just getting ridiculous. Where's your head at?
  
• One major problem I have with both the iPod and the Zune is the On-the-Go/Quicklist playlist feature. On my old Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen, the On-the-Go playlist was incredibly fluid. If I wanted to change the order of tracks, delete a certain track, or anything else, that was easily accomplished. The quick playlists now present on the iPod and Zune are really stiff to me. You just add albums or songs, then clear when you're done. The art of the mix is completely gone on these players, which makes me a bit sad.
• Now, the big issue. The Zune software. Before you start flipping out, let me first qualify my forthcoming statements. The Zune software is great. It's basically just like iTunes, except black instead of chrome, and you can move stuff from your Zune onto your computer (what a brilliant concept!), so it's not a bad piece of software. I've just encountered a lot of small quirks, which I'm sure would be easily fixed in a new update, but they're worth pointing out regardless.
• Unlike iTunes, you can't edit the tags of songs that are currently on your player. What you have to do is delete the song off the player, edit the tags in your library, and move them back onto the Zune. That's pretty annoying for me. It's not a huge hassle, but it'd still be nice to just edit tags directly.
• The software doesn't seem to handle bands with the '/' character very well. Both Akron/Family and Pas/Cal show up two or even three times on the artist list, I guess it interprets the slash to represent a new folder. That's kind of silly. I've found quite a few other small bugs with the tagging and other software functions, but those are relatively easily ironed out.
• I guess there's the whole DRM thing too. Meh. It makes sense, legally. If you want to change the law, that's a whole different issue. The fact that songs can be shared at all is a great feature, so enjoy it legally.
  

The album art here has pretty clearly been sharpened up.

So which is better: the iPod, or the Zune? Neither is perfect at all. Like I said earlier, I'd love to have more flexible playlists, and neither can record sound without an accessory. Neither iTunes nor the Zune software are perfect either, and I'm anxious to see what kinds of third-party software comes out for the Zune; perhaps a company like Red Chair will jump into the mix.

Given that neither is perfect, I have to say that at this juncture, I prefer the Zune. Ultimately, it has more features that I actually care about, and all of its early bugs and problems can easily be fixed with software and firmware upgrades. Perhaps I'm putting too much faith in Microsoft to come out with timely and effective upgrades, just look at IE7. But at least the potential is there, and that's important to me.

So has Microsoft successfully created an iPod-killer? As all the bugs and quirks point out, it's exceedingly difficult a piece of technology as solid as the iPod. For a first-generation player however, Microsoft has made up a lot of ground. At least, in terms of quality, in my eyes. How will it sell? I don't have a clue. Outside of the blogosphere, I haven't really heard of anyone in the general public who was terribly excited about the Zune. Everyone is perfectly content with their iPod, and why not, it's a fairly good player. It's just that nobody knows what their options are. Microsoft will really have to ramp up its advertising in order to outperform those flashy iPod ads, and get the Zune name out into the market.



I apologize for not posting for the past few weeks, but things have been pretty busy. I'll toss out some of the really old links I'd stored away, here's some relatively new ones:

• Uncle Mark has just released his 2007 Gift Guide. Instead of listing 'The Top 10 Digital Cameras' or anything like that, Mark lists the One Digital Camera which came out on top after massive amounts of research, and he'll give his suggestions for other gifts, such as toys, computers, and...mp3 players. Yes, Uncle Mark still recommends the iPod over the Zune, but well, to each his own. I'm not sure if he's used one yet, so whatever. In any case, the guide is very well put together, and has some fun tips at the close as well.
• An absentee voter in Florida used an incredibly rare stamp to submit their vote, the 1918 Inverted Jenny. Unfortunately, the sender did not leave their name, meaning that the vote will not be counted, and because of election rules, will also be sealed away for 22 months, so the story can't be verified. The Wikipedia article on the Inverted Jenny and other rare stamps are really cool, seems like a fascinating hobby to get involved with. Frickin' stamps?!
• If you'd like a nice meal to sit down with, why not try out the most expensive pizza in the world, sprinkled with edible flakes of gold? This is most definitely what the world needs right now.
• Great tip on how to capture the airplane armrest from your pesky comatose neighbor.
• Do a Google search for 'worst band in the world'.
• Holy cow, I really wish I could visit these sorts of corn mazes. This reminds me of a discussion we were having in my Sociology of Law class. For some reason or another, we were talking about drugs, specifically the differences between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, and the socioeconomic classes which use each type. One member of the class stated that, "When this homeless black person smokes some crack, he gets this instant, intense high, and it makes him want to go kill somebody or rob a convenience store. But when this affluent white guy snorts cocaine, he just goes outside and alters his hedge maze." I could not stop laughing.
• Kettle Brand potato chips are trying to determine what their newest flavor should be. So, they're letting you decide! But wait, this isn't just some lame survey you take on their website, where you decide just based on the names. They're letting you sample the chips themselves, with the Passport To Flavor Party Pack. I already picked one of these up, and I'm planning to get everyone's opinion at a study break later in the semester. The presentation is amazing, each flavor has their own fancy placard, along with a recipe for a complementary drink. You even have to taste them in a specific order. So to sum up: this is pretty much best.
• What are the Top 10 most common computer passwords in England? Obviously things will be slightly different here in America, but it's still pretty sobering. I completely approve of the football team-related passwords.
• Gang of hippies re-enact protein synthesis. We watched this video in Bio 1, and it was the highlight of the semester. This video makes me so happy. Look at all the hippies!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!11!!1111
• Dennis Rodman pulled a hysterical publicity stunt at his latest book signing in NYC. Deadspin's got the story covered. Meanwhile, here's a photo of Dennis Rodman dressed up like one of the dudes in KISS, surrounded by miners. The sad part is that apparently, this was not for Halloween. Edit: Rodman's agent has asked Deadspin to retract the story, and it's one of the most amazing emails ever. The comments are classic as well.
• You know Rock Paper Scissors? Did you see RPS-25, with a full 25 hand gestures to choose from. Well, that dude went even more overboard with the brand new RPS-101. The ramifications of this have still not been comprehended.
• Rapping Paper is wrapping paper with rap lyrics printed on them. This is why I love the world sometimes. Give me a hug.
• Two amateur Scrabble players in Kentucky miraculously played the highest-scoring Scrabble of all-time, got the highest-scoring word ever recorded, with a carpenter named Michael Cresta emerging with the highest individual score ever. This board is blowing my mind in every single way.
• I mentioned Vaja cases earlier when talking about accessories, but it should be worth noting that they just started making messenger bags. I just noticed that they've already started making a Zune case as well.
• Best. Burglary. Ever.
• Here's some cool videos of guitar fingertapping, more extended techniques, and finally some fun with tuning pegs.
• VERY cool clock/calendar for your computer. I've set it as my screensaver as well.
• These dudes have major coin-balancing skillz. Most definitely ready for the NBA.
• That's all I've got for now. Peace out.