- We Memoir Econo (9/27/2009) - Michael Azerrad's excellent collection of 13 micro-biogrophies of beloved 80's indie bands is a love letter to the era when pop culture began to fragment into mini-mass media of fanzines, underground rock clubs and vanity record labels. Cribbed from a Minutemen lyrics, Azerrad's book, "Our Band Could Be Your Life" fleshes out the notion of gaining inspiration, principles and encouragement by the songs from some obscure band that your parents and most of your classmates… …
- Good Write-Up in the Nerd Press (9/4/2009) - I rarely write directly about work on this blarg, but some of this year's big adventures got a nice write-up from Beryl Benderly at Science Magazine. Relevant excerpts follows: On 20 July, the postdocs at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, received official recognition for their new union. It's the nation's third postdoc union, but the first to be part of the same union as their lab chiefs. After a swift and successful signature-collecting… …
- Not Enough To Count (9/3/2009) - I'm coming up on a year in Bay Ridge, which perhaps makes me a "regular." It's enough time, apparently, to make friends with the Chinese merchants on 4th Avenue, who seem to really want me to be Jewish. I suppose having Jews around is good business for dry cleaners and Chinese take-out. I made it to Win Hing last night, just before closing time, to order some sesame chicken. The woman behind the counter, who… …
- Alas Poor Busky. I Knew Him, Facebook. (7/26/2009) - It's been previously noted the unnatural oddness that is leaving behind a virtual representation of oneself on the myface. As this shit gets more mainstream, the awkwardness gets more familiar and yet more surreal. In the Times, Adam Cohen writes of a friend's Facebook profile becoming a sort of living shrine to a dead-too-soon friend. At least it served that function to those who friended him up while he was still alive, and until his… …
- Questionable Civic Boosterism (7/19/2009) - In the wake of a fire that disabled the Throgs Neck Bridge, Long Island and state officials are contemplating construction of a new L.I. Sound crossing. This would be a 16-mile tunnel connecting Oyster Bay in Long Island to Rye, NY, the home of summer camps and amusement parks in Westchester County. The Cross-Sound tunnel would cost at least $25 billion, and would charge one-way tolls of $25. For those who would question the value… …
- Life in Brooklyn / I Like Birds (6/20/2009) - I'm slowly getting accustomed to life in South Brooklyn. Bay Ridge might wind up being the perfect neighborhood for me, in all of its remote and eccentric charm. It's very quiet and beautiful down here, with the stately Verrazano bridge towering over everything. My own view of the bridge is minimal. You have to crane your neck out my bedroom window to see the very tippy-top of the eastern spire over an abandoned construction site.… …
- “Ever Get The Feeling…” (5/10/2009) - Finally watching Julian Temple's revisionist Sex Pistols documentary, "The Filth and the Fury," I get the feeling that perhaps I wasn't cheated after all. Like many 15-year-olds, the Sex Pistols for me were a gateway to new rebellion and new friends. I bought every officially released note of music and a goodly amount of bootlegs, eagerly read every book or article I could about them and sought out every interview I could with John Lydon,… …
- Sussex CCC: Respect Your Employees! (4/21/2009) - Nearly three years after organizing their union, the professional and support staff at Sussex County Community College have had to endure union-busting efforts and attacks on their free speech rights. Take action by telling the college administration to respect their employees' rights and bargain in good faith with the American Federation of Teachers, and join us on Tuesday, April 28 from 4:30 to 6:00 for a rally in support of the union at Sussex CCC.… …
- Pirates of the New Economy (4/11/2009) - Skylar Deleon should have waited five years. The former child actor (he was a bit player on "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," not, alas, an actual Power Ranger) was sentenced to die by lethal injection for the murder of Thomas and Jackie Hawks. In November of 2004, Deleon responded to an advertisement that the Hawks had posted to sell their yacht, the Well Deserved (and, no, I'm not making this up), and joined them for… …
- Things the Grandchildren Should Buy (3/31/2009) - Eels frontman, E., has long mined personal tragedy to make uplifting art. Starting with 1997's beautiful "Electro-Shock Blues," a visceral elegy to the twin tragedies of his sister's suicide and his mother's death from cancer (events that occurred within months of his scoring his first big hit with "Novocain for the Soul"), and culminating with 2006's sprawling "Blinking Lights (And Other Revelations)," E has incorporated his family biography into his music. But in the last… …