What a Weekend

Bike Glare, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Wow... so, this weekend I decided to get a little more active than I've been in... let's say months. I joined in a Critical Mass bike ride through downtown New Haven Friday evening, and I played softball for over 3 hours Sunday afternoon. Between one activity and the other I did some hiking in the woods, and now... I am sore.

But happy!

It was nice to get lots of fresh air, and after all of that I sat down Sunday evening to continue editing photos from my recent trip to Washington DC. Above is a photo I took in Columbia Heights. I like the combination of the sun glare on the lens and the happy flowers on the bottom.

I think this week is gonna be a pretty great one, and I hope yours is off to a great start!

And Now for Something Completely Different: Monks in Your Printer

What is the essence of social entrepreneurship? How about a group of monks who sell toner via a very successful web-based business, with a CEO who makes an annual salary of $0.00?

Want to learn more? Check out their wonderful story on the San Francisco Chronicle website.

Yet Another Ode to the Random

Adams Morgan Chair, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Here is a random chair I discovered sitting beside a trash can outside an apartment building. It's not even like it was outside a restaurant where it might belong to a lazy bouncer or have been dragged from the outdoor seating space... how odd.

Powerful

So it's yet another interesting and, I'm sure, to many disheartening week in what Steven Colbert has dubbed Democralypse Now! How is it all striking you?

Have you seen the strange Barillary/Hillarack character The New Republic put on their cover (strange)?

Did you tune out long ago?

Here's a quote that struck me as coming from a balanced place that lies for the most part wonderfully outside the fray:


"The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times. He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has been a vocal critic of the racism, sexism and homophobia which still tarnish the American dream. To evaluate his dynamic ministry on the basis of two or three sound bites does a grave injustice to Dr. Wright, the members of his congregation, and the African-American church which has been the spiritual refuge of a people that has suffered from discrimination, disadvantage, and violence. Dr. Wright, a member of an integrated denomination, has been an agent of racial reconciliation while proclaiming perceptions and truths uncomfortable for some white people to hear. Those of us who are white Americans would do well to listen carefully to Dr. Wright rather than to use a few of his quotes to polarize. This is a critical time in America's history as we seek to repent of our racism. No matter which candidates prevail, let us use this time to listen again to one another and not to distort one another's truth," - Dean J. Snyder, Foundry United Methodist Church, March 19, 2008. Snyder is Hillary Clinton's pastor, although I'm not sure how often she attends his church.

Many thanks to Andrew Sullivan's blog which collects many such wonderful tidbits.

A Remarkable and Troubling Point

From the Jed Report:

"What if Osama bin Laden publicly endorsed one of the central tenets of Barack Obama's candidacy?

What if this statement was made while Barack Obama was overseas?

What Barack Obama embraced that endorsement, and offered it as proof that his foreign policy views were right for the country?

What would the media say? Would they ignore it? Quote it approvingly? Or would they spend the next week endlessly looping video footage of bin Laden and Obama, joined at the hip?

What if John McCain did the same thing?

Well, as rawstory reports, it happened..."

Read the rest of the post, a fascinating piece of this past week's political terrain.

Peacable Zone

Entering a D.C.P.S. Peacable School Zone, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Visiting DC this weekend has been a wonderful and refreshing experience, a reintroduction to all the reasons I love it down there. It was a chance to see old friends, wander in familiar and yet changed environments.

The changes are drastic in some spots, hardly noticable in others. For tonight, however, it is late and I am sleepy, so I'll leave it at that, as I head off to a peacable zone for some dreams.

Sweet dreams world.

Happy Easter.

Water Ice Follow-up

Again, for folks who don't know water ice, there's a definition as a sub-section of the larger "italian ice" entry in Wikipedia.

Also, to find a Rita's near you, check out their store locater.

ice.custard.HAPPINESS

ice custard HAPPINESS, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Joy!

Pure, unadulterated, that's what Joseph and I felt as we pulled off the road at the Rita's Water Ice we had just discovered exists not too far from where I live in New Haven. Just up the road in Branford they serve the Philly classic, a staple of our lives all through growing up, and I found it just as the water ice season (spring through fall) is starting!!!

My buddy Joseph was in CT for a weekend visit, and Rita's was perhaps the gleaming pinnacle of our weekend wanderings. That said, it was an all around great couple of days.

For anyone who hasn't sampled water ice or wonders what that is, you should find a Rita's near you.

Senate Majority Leader Clinton?

I came across a post on MyDD.com today that struck me as very very interesting, and a new entry into the larger debate about where the Democratic party goes from here. I would love to hear what other folks think about this and I am hopeful that this represents a new phase in developing the larger conversation where people start rolling out various creative possibilities that stand some chance of offering the two contenders for the nomination a win-win resolution.

Where have all the photos gone?

Cones, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This has been an interesting week for me. I've been working from home all week and developing clearer and clearer ideas of how that can work well every passing day. I've got a love-hate relationship with the working from home thing, and I think it's actually one of the most profound experiences I've had in my life with that term (love-hate).

On one hand, I love setting the tone for my work space, being able to relax, and if I'm feeling crappy just do what I need to do in bathrobe mode for half the day. That said, it's quiet in ways that aren't always good, and I certainly miss the bustle of an office. Funny thing is, the little company I work for keeps growing (we just hired our 6th staff member this week!) and hence the bustle of our virtual office keeps growing and growing, which is kinda great.

All in all, it's been a good week, aside from the fact that my body has decided to keep me lingering on the edge of illness yet again for days on end. That said, I'm aiming for a fun weekend with one of my best buddies who's driving up from Philly this afternoon. The sun is out, my curtains are open, and all is right with the world.

A Remarkable Bit of Primary-Related Writing

Andrew Sullivan's blog pointed me in this direction today and I'm so pleased I saw the link to this remarkable blog post from Seth Grahame-Smith, where a loyal member of the Clinton camp, "turns in his badge" and describes his motivations for doing so.

Fascinating stuff.

Ever wondered...

what you should do if you're surprised and surrounded by an energetic and massive group of acappella singing college-age hooligans? Hillary shows you great technique below.



It's true, there aint no party like a Clinton Party.

So amazing.

Thanks for the 10zillionth time, Wonkette.

Campaign Tactics

Brilliant little clip here from Election 08, highlighting what I see as the shadiest of behavior from the Clinton campaign, namely their habit of "accidentally" mentioning tidbits about Barack Obama through surrogates in very public settings then apologizing once the issue has taken root in the news cycle.



The folks who put this together have created some other interesting and fun clips lately. They created the fake John McCain version of the "Yes We Can" video, the "Don't let them scare you" video I posted last week playing off the 3am Clinton ad. Nicely done. Enjoy!

Daylight, how 'bout that?

Anybody else feeling good about these longer days? Friggin brilliant! I love it!

I'm sorry, is it lame to be so excited about the fact that it's light outside for longer than it has been in months? Perhaps I'm big into the seasonal depressed disorder (or whatever the real name is). Regardless of what it's all about I started today off right: coffee, a nice shower, a walk outside in the sunshine, and some good tunes.

Song of right this instant:
"Re-Hash" by the Gorillaz off their pioneering brainjarringly good self-titled debut album released back around the birth of this new crazy century.




Hat tip to Mr Men Show Blog for the picture.

Come For the Chuck... Even With No More Huck?

Wow... saw this on Yahoo news, couldn't resist posting:

Chuck Norris the only WMD in Iraq, say U.S. troops

Do I sense momentum building for a Walker Texas Ranger movie???

A Nice Note to Start the Week

My buddy Matt turned me on to Andrew Sullivan's blog and I've been checking in with it for a few weeks now... and enjoying the fascinating mixture of insights he brings to bear (check his bio ). In one of the best pieces of primary writing I've seen lately he makes the case below for Obama supporters taking a deep breath, taking stock, and waking up to the fact that our candidate is in the lead, no matter what the Clintons might say. In essence, he suggests that now is a time when Obama is in exactly the position we all have hoped he would be in, one from which he has the opportunity to rise and really make his case for closing this thing out. I am positive that doing so will not be easy or simple, but read Mr. Sullivan's remarks and let me know if you find them, as I did, a nice way to kick off a new week.

As the Smoke Clears

Cheers!
- John

This way!

Neon Trees, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

It's another rainy weekend here in New Haven and after yet another week of crazy work I'm laying low a bit, trying to avoid getting more sick than I already feel.

Still, today I wandered around a bit today after dropping my car off to try yet again to get my car-related issues resolved (not resolved quite yet... but at least now I know what the deal is). This photo is from a sign outside a now closed food market near my house. I like the way the branches reach out and cross over the edges of the sign. There isn't much to see in the grey sky behind it all, but I was pretty happy with this and a couple other pictures I snapped of this sign.

Don't Hassle Him

Ok, so Wonkette brought smiles back today with the following headline:

Obama Is Germany's Next Hasselhoff

Ah... Hasselhoff... what more can I say?

Who should drop out?

This is starting to make some political blog rounds, and I can't help but echo it as well:

"I think one thing is clear this far into the Democratic primary race: Both Obama's and Clinton's supporters must now drop out of the race.

Hillary Clinton's supporters have gotten incredibly annoying, with their chants of "Yes She Can," and charges of cultism and their desperate yelps of schadenfreude every time Clinton looks like she might actually be "recapturing the lead" that she never had.

And Obama's supporters, yes, you too are incredibly annoying, with your accusations of Clintonian Republicanism and your whiny little cries about how you're going to take your ball and run home if your candidate doesn't win the primary.

Supporters of both candidates, please listen closely. For the good of the Party -- no, for the good of the Nation! -- the time has come for you to leave this race.

No more late nights in front of MSNBC. No more blogging. No more reading TPM. No more arguing at the watercooler, or at the happy hour after work at TGIF's.

Find a hobby -- knitting is really getting popular these days!"

Hat tip to Salon's War Room for echoing this out and to TPMCafe where it was originally posted.

Sure, I'll admit, I don't plan to take up knitting, but then again I don't think I've ever been the most rabid or rediculous Obama supporter around. That said, I kinda love this and hope you do too!

Beatup!

Ramshackle Boat 01, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Heck of a week... car broke down today, working like crazy for meetings this week in NYC... whew it will be nice to sleep come next weekend.

Meanwhile, Sunday I was walking around near the water in Bridgeport and snapped some fun pictures of a ramshackle old boat and some other wind/sea worn crap along the shoreline. This is one of those.

Be Brave America

Ok, so AmericaBlog won today by bringing me this before Wonkette, and I'm basically playing political blog recycling bin here but it's so worthwhile. This is funny, right on, and just all around amazing. Check it:

Outta Mind (Outta Sight) John's Best of Wilco

So a friend asked me today to compile suggestions of Wilco songs she should check out, as she's pretty sure she would like the band but has never really paid much attention to them. As I sat at home flipping through my Wilco collection I thought it might be fun to post the results of this project (look out for a Radiohead follow-up shortly). Here's what I came up with, tracks accompanied by liner notes.

As I start, here are a few notes of introduction:

I discovered Wilco when I was in high school and when I was in the habit of trolling through the bargain bins at used CD stores. In high school I got big into music but wasn't always sure how to explore new stuff, so I figured if I could find bands I had heard of for $5 a disk I was making a pretty good bet. This worked out sometimes and not so much others. This habit of mine would later morph into my college radio show, where I basically used having a show as an excuse to spend hours in the station listening to new CDs, searching for sounds I liked. Wilco was one band I found in the Used CD bin at a local corporate mall music mart, the (now defunct) Wall, I believe. Hence, I may have paid $7.99 for AM and Being There, both of which I think I purchased in my junior or senior year of high school.

At the time I wasn't listening to almost anything that sounded quite like Wilco. Sure, they're pretty poppy, but I mostly listened to straight up rock/pop with a slight punk/alternative bent to what I liked (Weezer, Ben Folds, Beck, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.). I almost immediately loved Wilco's sound. Being there was at times harder to get into, but AM was straight ahead, clever, easy to listen to and fun. Over time, as my tastes have trended more towards slightly experimental pop/indie rock mixed with all sorts of other randomness I've often felt pleased that Wilco's sound seemed to be growing and developing as my ears were. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, for example, is an album I continue to enjoy more and more over time.

This is all to say that one potentially remarkable absence you'll note in my list below is Wilco's latest CD, Sky Blue Sky. I've had that album for a few months now and am just not as excited about it... so I left it off.

UPDATE: I was on hold today, and they were playing "Impossible Germany" from Sky Blue Sky... which illustrates the problem I have with the album... it's too hold-musicy for me.

Ok... that's way too much intro. So here's the list:

Outta Mind (Outta Sight) John's Best of Wilco:

From AM (1995):
1. I Must Be High
2. Casino Queen
3. Box Full of Letters
4. Passenger Side

Quick note on AM: when I've read about AM there are often comparisons to Uncle Tupelo that describe this album as very similar to their sound. For folks who don't know, Uncle Tupelo was Wilco + Jay Farrar, a pretty successful alt-country lineup in their own right at a time when the idea of alt-country wasn't really much of an idea. Anyway, in the mid-nineties Uncle Tupelo broke up, and Jeff Tweedy formed Wilco with basically himself singing and the rest of the band sticking aroudn, Jay Farrar went off and formed Son Volt, another pretty successful alt-country act. I mention all of this, because I would suggest that if you go back and listen AM does offer quite a departure from Uncle Tuplo in the following way: I think Jay Farrar had a much more pastoral and meandering quality to his song writing, which you can see in his work since the Tupelo split. Wilco, on the other hand, from the get go has been a looser, perhaps drunker, but certainly more freewheeling enterprise, and I think AM and Being There each present interesting early signs of this. Whether through the stomp of Casino Queen or the Bluesy jam band freakout that ends Dreamer In My Dreams (on Being There Disc 2)... there's something a bit more unhinged here, some degree of controlled chaos that makes Wilco interesting and fun.

From Being There (1996)
5. Monday
6. Forget the Flowers
7. Outta Mind (Outta Sight)
8. Dreamer In My Dreams

From Mermaid Avenue (1998) with Billy Bragg & Wilco
9. Christ For President

The work that Billy Bragg and Wilco did on the two discs of Mermaid Avenue material is incredible. On these albums they breathe life into a series of unrecorded Woody Guthrie tunes that Bragg had been given from Guthrie's estate/vault. Christ For President is one fun track, but there are many other great songs to be found here, some haunting, others hilarious, and many many just plain excellent.

From Summerteeth (1999)
10. Can't Stand It
11. A Shot In The Arm
12. Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)
13. Summer Teeth

From Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
14. I'm The Man Who Loves You
15. Kamera
16. Jesus, Etc.
17. Heavy Metal Drummer

From A Ghost Is Born (2004)
18. Hell Is Chrome
19. Theologians

From Kicking Television: Live In Chicago (2005)
20. The Late Greats
21. Hummingbird
22. Airline to Heaven