VAGUE SPACE

A Better Life

We are such a shitty people.  Or the people we choose to elect are shitty and filled with such hatred and fear that we govern in the shittiest way possible, blaming the weak and the poor for all the problems that our shitty elected officials fail to resolve.  It's sad.  And we are getting worse every year it seems.  A Better Life is a movie directed by Chris Weitz that came out last year and got Demian Bichir -- Nancy's Mexican drug lord husband on Weeds -- an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.  And it's a really good film.  But in the end it just highlights how shitty of a people our "they hate us for our freedom" country we have become.  And probably have always been.  Immigrants have been blamed for everything rotten in our past and they're still being blamed today, even though the Mexicans coming across the border didn't cause 9/11 (some of the terrorists came via Canada and no one is proposing a fence on that side), didn't cause any economic crisis of ours (no, that was the rich bankers and Wall Street executives and highly paid politicians), and didn't create the drug problems that have made their own country a war zone (that was our rich country's failed "war on drugs").  Yet throughout the past decade and to this very day, a certain segment of the American population (read: racists) are so busy blaming "them" for all our society's ills that they can't see that building a stupid fucking fence isn't go to make this country a better place.  It's just going to continue to erode our freedom. 

What We Had

In the 6 years following the release of Wolf Parade's debut album Apologies to the Queen Mary in 2005, the two lead singers of the band, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, released a total of 8 albums for both Wolf Parade and their main side projects Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs, respectively.  Apologies to the Queen Mary came out during the debut year of this web site and ended up as my #2 favorite album of the year, an impressive spot for a debut band.  But even more impressive was that the 8 albums that followed would dominate the top spots on the Vague Space countdowns -- Sunset Rubdown would land the #2 album of 2006, the #1 of 2007, and the #1 of 2009.  Wolf Parade would follow up its 2005 success with the #1 album of 2008 and #1 album of 2010.  And Handsome Furs three albums would include the #2 album of 2007 and the #7 album of 2011, this past year.  Spencer and Dan were everything I absolutely adored about music while writing this blog, everything I absolutely loved about seeing music live (I've seen Spencer 10 times and Dan 5 times), and everything I lived for in the way that music has touched and changed my life.  For that, I (and this blog) are forever grateful.  Spencer suspended the operations of Sunset Rubdown sometime in 2010 and officially announced its end about a year later.  Wolf Parade went on pretty permanent hiatus at the end of 2010 and officially ended with a concert during Memorial Day weekend one year ago.  And now, one year later, Dan has confirmed that Handsome Furs is no more. 

The band that he started with his then-girlfriend and current wife Alexei Perry back in 2006 -- which produced three amazing albums that couldn't quite capture the majesty of their 2-person stage performances -- is done.  The announcement was brief, a little over a week ago, and devastating to me.  Speculation ran rampant about the reason -- was it related to the "health scare" that had them cancelling their overseas tour back in February?  what of the marriage between the two?  what will we do without Dan in our lives??????  To his credit, Mr. Boeckner came on the Wolf Parade forums -- an incredible website of devoted fans to all things Spencer and Dan -- and... well, he didn't clear anything up but said he completely appreciated all the support of the fans through the years but that he wasn't going to say anything further about the breakup of the band and about the personal nature of he and Alexei's life, and he was sorry if we thought he owed us an explanation, but it wasn't going to come.  I'm probably paraphrasing incorrectly here but I don't want to reprint exactly what he said because I feel like he made this message just for us, the diehard Wolf Parade forum fans, and not the general Internet world.  And more than anything, Dan has earned my respect for all of the years of joy he has given me.  He apparently is in fine health so if the health scare was related to him it's passed.  And Alexei released a statement of her own, thanking the fans for their support and their love of the band for all these years.

Shocking

Or actually not at all surprising...

People who watch MSNBC and CNN exclusively can answer more questions about domestic events than people who watch no news at all. People who only watch Fox News did much worse. NPR listeners answered more questions correctly than people in any other category.

The survey of 1185 random people conducted by landline and cell phone in early February follows a similar poll FDU conducted last November, which surveyed only New Jersey residents and returned similar results.

The report explains:

The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly — a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51 questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only The Daily Show with Jon Stewart could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.

 

Questions: (all but the first two were open-ended)
• To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in removing Hosni Mubarak?
• How about the opposition groups in Syria? Have they been successful in removing Bashar al-Assad?
• Some countries in Europe are deeply in debt, and have had to be bailed out by other countries. To the best of your knowledge, which country has had to spend the most money to bail out European countries?
• There have been increasing talks about economic sanctions against Iran. What are these sanctions supposed to do?
• Which party has the most seats in the House of Representatives right now?
• In December, House Republicans agreed to a short-term extension of a payroll tax cut, but only if President Obama agreed to do what?
• It took a long time to get the final results of the Iowa caucuses for Republican candidates. In the end, who was declared the winner?
• How about the New Hampshire Primary? Which Republican won that race?
• According to official figures, about what percentage of Americans are currently unemployed?

 

Answers (without looking them up)

Yes
No
Germany (I think)
Stop them from getting a nuclear weapon
Republicans
Not sure but perhaps pay for them with cuts elsewhere?
Santorum
Romney
8.2% (around 8%)

I'm certain about all but 2 of the above, so I got between 7 and 9 out of 9 correct.  I would not qualify for any of the categories above, though, because I watch both the Daily Show and MSNBC (largely just Rachel Maddow).  I don't watch Fox.  Because I do have functioning brain cells :)

2011-2012 TV Season in Review Winners

And the winners are:

Best Comedy

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  (FX)
Life's Too Short (HBO)
Louie (FX)
Modern Family (ABC)
Nurse Jackie  (Showtime)
Parks and Recreation  (NBC)

This was the toughest competition of the season, as Nurse Jackie (2010's winner) edges out Parks and Recreation (last year's winner).  Parks was pretty great again (although ratings have cratered, as they have for all of NBC's Thursday lineup) but Nurse Jackie was as good this season as it was in its first two seasons, even though there are still a few episodes left.  This is a sober Jackie for the very first time, a necessary step in the arc of the show -- her drug abuse was getting worse and worse and affecting her family and work -- and it was going to have to end.  Badly.  Which it did when guest Billie Joe Armstrong died in her arms after an overdose.  They handled the rehab rather well (although quickly) and have handled the "clean and sober" part equally well, as her husband has sued for divorce and custody of the kids, putting the rest of her life in danger in the absence of the drug use.  O'Hara's pregnancy has been a welcome addition (I assume Eve Best is pregnant in real life, but either way it works).  Getting Anna Deveare-Smith out on the floor as a nurse again was a stroke of genius.  And the inclusion of Bobby Canavale was a wise decision to give Jackie a foil (with the twist that she befriended his addict son in rehab -- a juicy detail that I can't wait to see how it resolves).  All in all, the show has focused more on the hospital than Jackie's family life (now that her husband has left her) and that has probably been for the good (he was always the weakest character).  So in the end, Nurse Jackie beats out the great "Leslie running for town council" season on Parks and Recreation.  Coming in third again was another solid season for Modern Family, edging out the 2nd season of the awkward but wonderful comedy of Louis CK.

 

New Music Tuesday

M. Ward has a new song and a new album out called A Wasteland Companion, which you can grab right over at the awesome Merge Records.  Here's a little blurb about the awesomeness:

The album, consisting of 12 stunning tracks, was made with 18 musicians and recorded in eight different studios in Portland, Omaha, New York City, Los Angeles, Austin and Bristol (UK). Ward’s honey-soaked vocals, deft finger-picking, innate sense of melody and beguiling lyrics have already cemented his reputation as one of America’s true musical treasures and A Wasteland Companion features some of the finest songwriting and most striking delivery of his career. With each and every recording Ward finds new ways to make the colors of his songwriting palate sparkle and his dexterous skills as producer, arranger, guitarist and singer seem to burst into even brighter bloom on each release.

You can stream the whole thing over there too.  Or check out this great track:

• Download M. Ward - "Primitive Girl".mp3

Why Conservatives Don't Do Art

Dumb asses.  Please stop trying to exist in the legitimate world and go back to your megachurches and pray.  I may not no shit about art but this sure as fuck isn't it.  Yes, I'm looking down on anyone who likes this "art" or likes "conservatism".  Because I have functioning brain cells.  And this is funny.

 

The Colbert Report
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Romney Economics

"How could you care about the average person if you feel that way?"

The more I learn about the way Mitt Romney has spent his life, the more frightened I get about him somehow upsetting Obama and winning the presidency. 

 

2011-2012 TV Season in Review Nominees

I'm calling half-hour shows comedies and hour-longs dramas even though a show like Nurse Jackie is usually more drama than comedy (although not as much this year).  But here are the nominations for 2011-12 TV Season in Review.

Nominees are in alphabetical order:

Best Comedy

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  (FX)
Life's Too Short (HBO)
Louie (FX)
Modern Family  (ABC)
Nurse Jackie  (Showtime)
Parks and Recreation  (NBC)

With all due respect to Girls and Veep, the new much-buzzed about HBO comedy block on Sunday nights following Game of Thrones, they are still too early in their careers (3 episodes in when I wrote this) to merit inclusion here but they are definitely starting out strong -- disjointed, too graphic (in the case of Girls), maybe a little too awkward (Veep) but both are very memorable and oftentimes awfully funny so I'm looking forward to what they will be doing in the coming weeks (and years... both have been granted 2nd seasons already).  As for the actually nominated shows, I'll say some words here about the ones that aren't going to win -- Curb and Sunny are showing significant signs of age (Curb particularly) but can still put out quality episodes (the Pakistani chicken was this year).  Life's Too Short was a frighteningly hilarious but short-lived BBC import (first season was only 7 episodes I believe, but it will be back for a second season) that featured some of the greatest laughs of any show this season -- Liam Neeson doing a comedy table read was frighteningly brilliant but also pretty much every perfectly embarrassing thing that Warwick Davis does was good.  And of course I love everything Ricky Gervais does. Which leaves the battle for Best Comedy between 2011 Vague Space Show of the Year -- Parks and Recreation -- and 2010 Vague Space Show of the Year -- Nurse Jackie.  Plus Modern Family and Louie.  This battle will go down to the wire -- Parks and Louie are done with their seasons and Modern Family is about to be done but Nurse Jackie is only halfway through hers.  We will find out the winner next week.

Postcard from 1952

New video from Explosions in the Sky off Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, one of my favorite albums of 2011.

 

Red Right Ankle

Song:  "Red Right Ankle"
Artist:  The Decemberists
Album:  Her Majesty, the Decemberists
Year:  2003

• Download The Decemberists - "Red Right Ankle".mp3

  This is the story of your red right ankle

And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed

And how it whispered “Oh, adhere to me
For we are bound by symmetry
And whatever differences our lives have been
We together make a limb.”
This is the story of your red right ankle.

This is the story of your gypsy uncle
You never knew ‘cause he was dead
And how his face was carved and rift with wrinkles
In the picture in your head.

And remember how you found the key
To his hide-out in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his secret safe
So you threw the key away.
This is the story of your gypsy uncle.

This is the story of the boys who loved you
Who love you now and loved you then
And some were sweet, some were cold and snuffed you
And some just laid around in bed.

Some had crumbled you straight to your knees
Did it cruel, did it tenderly
Some had crawled their way into your heart
To rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys who loved you
This is the story of your red right ankle.