Walden on an iPad
I was reading some thoughts on Walden the other day, and I realized I hadn’t engaged with one of my favorite philosophical works in some time. I first encountered Thoreau and the transcendentalists as a teenager. Their emphasis on nonconformity seemed really punk at the time. Wasn’t Jello
A Frog And Toad Kind of Life
Sometimes a slower pace is what we need.
Format Wars
It's difficult to decide whether buying physical media is worthwhile.
Cleaning Out My Closet
I was inspired by this post from Adam Wood to go through my Roon library and remove albums that didn’t necessarily belong as part of my collection. These were albums that were taken in as a result of curiosity and didn’t sustain my interest past an initial listen
Bursting At The Seams
You don’t have to be a religious demographer like Ryan Burge to notice the decline in church attendance over the past few years. The trend was going south before the Covid-19 pandemic, but that event proved to be a major accelerant. Even my wife, who had faithfully attended our
One Way Or Another
Every year, at Halloween, the mostly covers Spanish band Broken Peach puts out a new video with a spooky take on a rock standard. In 2023, they infused Blondie's "One Way Or Another" with a scary basketball motif. Their trademark elaborate costuming and synchronized jerky dance
Shareholder Value
People are expecting too much from corporations.
Running Up That Hill
A few years ago, Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" experienced a resurgence of interest following an appearance on the Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things. It's probably safe to say that a new generation who had never heard Bush'
100%
The lead track and first single off Sonic Youth’s album Dirty felt like a big deal when it dropped. By 1992, the decade already had the makings of a dramatic cultural break from the previous one, and videos like the one for “100%” played a big part in setting
Merchandising
Commercial music packages may be getting out of hand.
