A little essay I wrote over on Everything2 for the edification of the reading public. It's about shaving, philosophy, and Whit Stillman: http://everything2.com/node/1964635

This tape is as named. It is designed to be listened to in conjunction with a US presidential debate. The first five songs are portraits of typical politicians and the things typical politicians say -- every day, as part of their jobs and their election campaigns. Then there's Radiohead's "Electioneering" and R.E.M.'s "Ignoreland", which are two ( Read more... )

Since I haven't posted one of these in a while, I have two of them.

The first one, titled "My Counter-Culture Crush", is inspired by a recent crush of mine. The crush's identity doesn't matter, but what I'm struck by is her distinctive taste and aesthetics. I mean, she doesn't play "Wipeout" on the drums or hand out the Bhagavad Gita, like Ben ( Read more... )

I just came back from watching a matinee at the local non-profit -- "American Teen". It's a great documentary about high-school seniors from a town in Indiana. I forgot how big high-school basketball is in Indiana. I think they could have put it together better, but the material they had for this film was golden. My instant response to this Game ( Read more... )

This tape is intended for the noble purpose of venting. These are all songs about jerks -- all different kind of jerks ("The people who were cruel to those that don't deserve, the people who talk too much, the people who don't care, the people whose lives are going nowhere, the people who just give in, the people who don't fight, the people I don't ( Read more... )

This is a weird one. I started out trying for a more cohesive theme (whose identity doesn't matter any more), but it sort of expanded into an amorphous glob of a theme, with recurring ideas being the insular nature of the ego and the importance therefore of being at ease in your own head, sunsets and thoughts at sunset, insomnia (or hypnagogic ( Read more... )

Subtitled: "A fantasy of deindustrialization"

I've been away in Germany, busy as hell, but now I'm in Israel with nothing but time. So here's a belated mix-tape.

The title is stolen from this Cat and Girl, and this mix tape is dedicated as a tape to take along with you for just that kind of journey. Track listing below, link to playable version ( Read more... )

One of the great things about British bands, and in particular those of the britpop wave of the '90s, is the excellent quality of the B-side tracks on their singles. This mix tape has my 5 favorite B-sides from the 5 biggest acts in britpop ( Read more... )

Three New York City cuts on side A, then three California cuts on side B. http://emonk.muxtape.com

Side A
1. George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue
2. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Autumn in New York
3. Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer

Side B1. David Ackles - Oh, California ( Read more... )

I've been reading these sparring pieces in Radar magazine, one being a Gen-Xer hating on Millenials, and the other being a rebuttal by a Millenial that doesn't take no bullshit from no Gen-Xer. They're both pretty entertaining and get some good fair blows. So, for this mix tape I picked one song from every decade from the fifties through the aughts ( Read more... )