Day: February 1, 2012

Wednesday, right?

Somehow I managed to avoid having any meetings today. This clearly will not stand.

Meanwhile, it’s almost eleven o’clock at night, I just took the dog outside in short sleeves (me, not him), and I wasn’t even particularly uncomfortable or cold. Tomorrow, though, I’ll likely take a jacket other than my winter coat — a recent purchase, surprisingly comfortable, though much too warm in 60-degree weather — only to be faced with an unexpected blizzard. It’s just been that kind of winter.

January tunes

What songs, you might very well not be asking yourself, did I listen to most in the first month of this brave new year, 2012? Well, if you really want to know:

  1. “Love Makes All the Other Worlds Go Around” by Dan Bern & Common Rotation
  2. “Ok” by Beastie Boys
  3. “Little Black Submarines” by the Black Keys
  4. “Say Yes” by Lucy Wainwright Roche (feat. Ira Glass)
  5. “Outside of the Inside” by Richard Thompson Band
  6. “Dirty Blue” by Wovenhand
  7. “Was a Sunny Day” by Paul Simon
  8. “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire
  9. “Starlight” by Rachael Yamagata

And yes, that Ira Glass.

Wednesday various

  • tudent receives free cocaine with Amazon textbook order. Is this where we’ve going wrong with our textbook sales? [via]
  • How College Football Bowls Earn Millions In Profits But Pay Almost Nothing In Taxes. Are you ready for some economic disparity?! [via]
  • The Texans who live on the ‘Mexican side’ of the border fence: ‘Technically, we’re in the United States’ [via]
  • Roger Ebert on why movie revenue is dropping:

    The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It’s the theaters that are losing their charm. Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can’t depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.

  • And finally, Scott Tobias on why 2011 was secretly a really good year for movies:

    I don’t mean to be bullying or schoolmarmish about it, only to point out that when great films get pushed to the margins in our technology-rich times, far more than just a handful of self-selecting New Yorkers have a chance to see them. The key is to not let awards-season hype color your perception. We consider 2007 a monumental year because its strongest achievements—movies like There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, and Zodiac—happened to have healthy budgets and the backing of major studios. Compare that to a 2011 where a pleasant-but-disposable trifle like The Artist is leading the charge, and it’s little wonder that perception marks it as a weak year. (The Tree Of Life may be the only 2011 film high in both ambition and visibility, and will almost certainly top every critics’ poll as a result.) But for the adventurous—and again, you don’t have to venture off the couch to be among them—2011 was an embarrassment of riches, full of lively, diverse, form-busting visions across all genres and around the world. And the best of them ask something of the viewer, offering rewards in exchange for an active engagement. Just don’t expect all the question marks to turn into exclamation points: To quote some advice to Michael Stuhlbarg’s spiritual seeker in A Serious Man, “Accept the mystery.”