We cancelled Netflix because we found that most of our TV time was spent watching shows we’ve recorded on the DVR. Lisa was so excited for the new TV shows that are now starting that she put together a spreadsheet of all of the new shows and when they air so we could record all of the new series we thought might be interesting.
The first two on our list are the Fox shows Vanished and Justice.
I’m terrible at writing reviews of TV shows and movies but I’ll give a quick synopsis of each new show Lisa and I watch and will rate each on a scale of 5. 1 = This show bites. (”CSI:Miami”) 3 = I’ll spend my precious TV time on this show but won’t hesitate to dump it if it gets even slightly lame. (”Lost”) 5 = I won’t miss an episode. (Sci Fi Network’s Battle Star Galactica)
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Here’s a fun song you can download that was included in the most recent Fingertips along with Jeremy’s (The Fingertips Music blogger) notes:
“Los Angeles” - The Rosewood Theives
After the old-timey piano intro, the first thing you’re likely to notice here is singer Erick Jordan’s spunky vocal resemblance to John Lennon–whom he readily acknowledges as one of his musical heroes. (There’s even a lyrical reference to “that bird that flew,” for good measure.) If this already seems like a good thing, you’re home free with this song; if however you’re trained to be disapproving of transparent influences, I urge you to relax that learned reflex and simply listen to whether the song is pleasing. Me, I find “Los Angeles” a rousing good time, for a variety of reasons. The engaging melody and crisp production are a good part of it, but to me songs often prove their mettle in the details–the little things that go on that didn’t “need” to be there but, with their presence, make everything else seem deeper and stronger and truer. I like, a lot, the meandering course the melody takes from the fourth into the fifth measure of the verse–the part, in the first verse, where it sounds like Jordan is simply singing a drawn-out “ahhh” but it actually turns out to be an “I.” Formally this is called a “melisma”–where a group of notes are used to sing one syllable–and is more characteristic of classical than pop music. I also like the stutter (literally an extra beat) in the melody line–you hear it in the seventh measure in the introduction, and each time that point returns in the verse. Sometimes the more subtle the touch–like the way the piano intro is revisited in the middle of the song but with a major chord momentarily underneath (at 2:38)–the cooler the effect. All in all this seems the work of a band that knows what it’s doing. The Rosewood Thieves are a quintet from New York City. “Los Angeles” is one of seven songs on the band’s debut EP, From the Decker House, released last month on V2 Records. The MP3 is via Pitchfork.
Click the link and listen to all of this weeks songs. I nearly always like the songs that get posted but this week’s were better than usual.
Note: All music obtained through Fingertips is free and legal to download.
Lisa heard This story about the Nuns at Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Holladay and how Utah has cracked down on their illegal gambling operation (they wanted to host a bingo game). She was outraged…I think justifiably. It all just illustrates the silliness of Utah and our vice laws.
Is this gambling too? How are they different?
Souldn’t Utahns be just a little embarrassed that this law, designed to protect us from ourselves, is being carried so far as to threaten the nuns over their bingo game?
Here’s the Deseret News on Sen. Chris Buttar’s efforts to back away from comments he made about Brown v. Board of Education.
He expressed frustration at the attention to his statements on Brown v. Board, saying “everybody who touches this gets totally beat up.
“The obvious answer is Brown v. Board of Education was brilliant, whether there was a downside, or not, I’m through talking about that,” Buttars said. “It isn’t even something on my mind, it hasn’t been on my mind ever, as far as legislation. It is over and done with, and I don’t think it’s a problem in Utah.”
Its hard not to enjoy watching this guy squirm.
Check out this Deseret News article about Jim Matheson’s voting record as a member of the House of Representatives. Matheson is one of the most centrist Representatives in the House voting 50 percent of the time with the majority Republican Party and 50 percent of the time with his Democratic Party.
Rep. Rob Bishop (R), the guy my district keeps sending to Washington, says people in the second congressional district should vote against Jim Matheson even though he often votes with conservatives when it is in the interests of his district.
“He’s still a Democrat … and wouldn’t it be better to have someone (in the Utah) delegation who votes with the Republicans 90 percent of the time?”
It seems Bishop thinks it is more important to tow the party line than to represent the best interests of constituents.
Matheson has a different take:
“I don’t keep score” on whether votes are for or against Republicans or Democrats,” said Matheson. “I try to take each issue and vote how to represent my constituents in Utah.”
I’ve had friends ask what the real difference is between Democrats and Republicans. I think these two philosophies do a great job showing the answer to that question.
Everyone should read this interview of Michael Scheuer by Harper’s Magazine. I nominate this guy as the next National Security Advisor if we are lucky enough to get a Democratic President in 2008.
Hat Tip: Ed Partridge
This Washington Post story is about the flushing of nearly $200 million dollars by the FBI on a failed computer systems upgrade.
I’ve been involved in the creation of a major government department computer system replacement before. Even with competent government administrators and completely reliable, knowledgable and pro-active contractors there is a lot of waste in these projects. Extra people get hired where they aren’t needed just so a contract can be enlarged and competition between different contractors working on the same project contributes to delayed timetables.
Even with the obstacles inherent in government contracts, for the FBI to spend $170 Million on a new major system then to declare it dead is sickening. SAIC (I have a few friends who work for them) is a major technology contractor used often by the federal government and clearly some of the blame lies with them in this case but it is hard for any contractor to produce a working product when the client doesn’t present them with a realistic set of requirements. I’ve seen this happen multiple times on smaller projects and if the contractor doesn’t work very hard to try to guess correctly what the government really needs and find a way to implement the impossible the project is nearly always a failure.
Free Advertisement Follows!!!!!!
My former employer was better than most at figuring out what our clients needed in these situations and was nearly always able to implement the impossible. If you are a government procurement officer for the FBI looking to fork out another $200 million for your next system be sure to check out PaL-Tech.
Rocky Anderson is an embarrassment to my party. He represents everything about my party that I disagree with. I’m glad he’s leaving office and hope to never have to read about him in the papers again after he has finished his final term. That is all I have to say about that.
My friend Cody dared me to post a link to this piece by Thomas Sowell in today’s Baltimore Sun.
I rarely back down on a dare!
It is a good piece…but not as good as this one by Orson Scott Card which helped me reshape my erroneous ideas on public policy relating to marriage.
Holy cow…I’m a little slow posting on this but Rob Miller left the coolest comment on Tyler Farrer’s Davis County Watch blog. Here’s a snippet of the comment that made me smile really big:
…Davis County citizens need to prepare for continued property tax increases.
The reason for these continued tax increases are simple; our current elected officials need more money to pay higher administration costs (salaries) to themselves and their friends, while they continue to ignore, and /or reduce real services that are so badly needed for seniors citizens, mental health, law enforcement, and infrastructure of Davis County.
…the Davis County tax payer…can look forward to higher taxes with less services and increased administration costs (salaries) as long as we continue to punch a straight party ticket. Diversity is a necessary component in government, and if applied will take Davis County in a much needed new direction of fiscal responsibility and conservatism.
We cannot continue to build convention centers that need to be expanded after only a few years standing, or waste money for studies to increase speed limits when a qualified commissioner could do the same study with no additional cost to the tax payer. That’s why we elect qualified people, to spend our money wisely, not irresponsibly.
Davis County citizens should also ask their commissioners why the flood control facilities have not been maintained by the money bonded to do so back when these controls were first put into place.
Amen Brother!
The County Commissioners in Davis County sign my small bi-weekly paychecks so I like to be careful when talking about this subject…but lets just say they are very well rewarded for their public service with a six figure salary and enormous benefits package. When Rob says administration costs are out of countrol he’s not just blowing smoke. When there isn’t any partisan competition for seats on the County Commission there isn’t anyone there to put pressure on administrators to keep them from giving themselves huge salary and benefit increases. Thats bad news…and its the way things currently are in Davis County.
This is yet another example of Republican lip service to the principles of fiscal conservatism. Republicans always talk a really big game about making government smaller. In real life a vote for Republican government is a vote for larger yet less useful government than ever before. You guys on the “right” may not like it…but history shows this is the way things have been for a long time. Do you really think things will change if you keep electing Republicans to government at every level again and again? I know you guys are smarter than that! I’ve read your blogs!
Scott Hinrichs at Reach Upward has written an interesting post based largely on a recent Michael Barone column. He contends that one reason, the main reason, the Democratic Party has so much trouble in Utah is because nationally it seems to have rejected the idea that the United States of America is different from the rest of the nations of the world…different in a good way.
The idea of American exceptionalism is one I have always subscribed too. I really do believe that our history and founding reflect a nation and government substantially better than any other in the world’s history. Read the whole post…it is hard to disagree with his assertion about national Democrats and their rejection of American exceptionalism. Joining the world court and accepting Kyoto are two easy examples of policies many Democrats (including the senatorial candidate I support) have argued for. I believe each be disastrous for our nation’s economy and sovereignty.
I loathe President Bush and think he has performed very poorly in every aspect of his stewardship. I believe the Iraq war is a failure and has harmed our ability to respond to terrorism around the world. I think the Patriot Act does nothing to protect us from terrorism but that it harms Americans by granting nearly every violation of our civil rights that over-reaching government police agencies have been begging for over the past 50 years. I think the Republicans have proven to be a complete failure in making our government smaller/better as they promised they would. I guess you could say that If I went by the mantra my mom taught me, “If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all.” the Republicans wouldn’t be mentioned on this blog.
All of this said, I think we on the left sometimes wear our tin foil hats a little too tightly.
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Here’s Phil Windley on Hatch’s proposed patent legislation.
Bottom line: Don’t bother trying to invent anything new unless you have loads of cash to get it patented quickly on your own. If a business steals your idea and has the resources to quickly get a patent on it you’re hosed.
Thanks Orrin. Thanks.
Thad Van Ry at Woods Cross Citizen has finally received responses from all candidates for Davis County Commission on his list of questions. Give it a read…especially if you live in Davis County!
Here are the candidates’ responses in the race for seat A
Here are the candidates’ responses in the race for seat B
Nice Work Woods Cross Citizen!
I’ve already endorsed Rob Miller on this site. I highly recommend him to all of the voters in Davis County who think stifling one party rule by Republicans in Davis County should be pushed aside in favor of an enlightened bi-partisan exchange of ideas that will benefit our county. In reading the responses to the questions it is clear that if anything Miller is even more fiscally conservative than his opponent. Those who study up on the candidates and vote for the guy who is best for the county will have no excuse for not seriously considering the Democrat in this race. I don’t yet know enough about the candidates for the Seat B race but I really think it would be refreshing to have two Democrats on the commission (has that ever happened?) so I’m leaning toward Martinez.
I haven’t talked a lot about the Iraq War in a while mostly because I hate admitting when I’m wrong.
I was wrong to support the idea of America’s invasion of Iraq before it happened. I wasn’t wrong to publicly hope it was successful and give the president and troops the benefit of the doubt at every step of the way once it started. Now however…it’s clear that it is time for American troops to come home or be re-deployed.
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