Geert Wilders is speaking at a "Free Speech Forum" here at school tonight. I'm going, but I feel kinda funny about it.
It's definitely going to be interesting. As far as I know, Wilders: is in the Dutch Parliament representing the Freedom party, opposes immigration and made a short film called "Fitna" that shows footage from various terrorist attacks alongside passages from the Koran, in his mind connecting all of Islam with senseless violence. I don't necessarily disagree with this notion of Islamofascism that Geert describes... Iran is an Islamic Republic with fascist tendencies, for example. I don't think the term applies to all of Islam, widely recognized as a religion that actively promotes peace, like just about every other religion. A lot of people here are saying his rhetoric is hateful and hate speech isn't free speech... I don't really agree with that. He's espousing a political belief that's opposed to extreme Islam. Uhhh I dunno, I'm not very good at writing about these things.
I support Temple in not canceling the event tonight. And I'm glad people have the right to and will be protesting outside Anderson Hall. I support them too. Which is why I feel funny. I think people are missing the point: no matter what you choose to do tonight, you're exercising your right to free speech. Just don't do nothing!!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Funny things that can only happen at a single sex Catholic school... GO.
I've been up all night. I've done a great job of avoiding all nighters up til tonight. I've done all that I can to avoid writing much more of this paper that's due in 2.5 hours. It's ok though, I'm going to get it done. Kate Chopin, don't worry: I will make sure my Prof knows why I think you were writing about gender more than anything else.
My mind is so jagged right now that I watched this video and my stomach started churning out of nervousness for Ellen Paige's well being in this video:
I've been up all night. I've done a great job of avoiding all nighters up til tonight. I've done all that I can to avoid writing much more of this paper that's due in 2.5 hours. It's ok though, I'm going to get it done. Kate Chopin, don't worry: I will make sure my Prof knows why I think you were writing about gender more than anything else.
My mind is so jagged right now that I watched this video and my stomach started churning out of nervousness for Ellen Paige's well being in this video:
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Green Light, 7-11
I saw U2 last Thursday night at the Meadowlands. Even though it was a spontaneous occurrence, it still felt kinda routine -- U2 are a family favorite and there will be an attempt to see them on every tour. Like, I wasn't surprised I was seeing them, even though I didn't know I was seeing them until two days before the show.
The show, though, was far from routine. The last two U2 tours have been about making arenas feel like clubs by using a really cool theater-in-the-round thing to bring the audience in. On the Elevation Tour, it was the heart-shaped stage. On the Vertigo Tour, it was an enormous, white O. The 360 Tour brought the music outside, under an enormous claw/spaceship/crab.
I just thought I'd share some observations from the night.
There was some Popmart-like detachment from the audience. I don't know if it was the claw, the selections from the new album or the scale of the whole thing... the show was more about the music's interaction with the elaborate stage than with the crowd. I was kind of taken aback at first, but by the end of the show, I was pretty into it. It was a spectacle and I really liked that they changed the game up a little bit. The setlist could've used some tweeking, though. Like on the last tour, I loved the inclusion of weirder, early cuts like "An Cat Dubh" and "Out of Control." And everyone's been noting the lack of cuts from Zooropa and Achtung Baby. And not that I wanted it, but they didn't even play "Pride." I think they lost everyone at least once during the set. For example, they played this remix of "I Know I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" that had them wandering around the stage with bongos and stuff... everyone was trying to figure out what was going on, if they were even performing the song live. And of all songs to follow this little dance party with, they picked "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
I'm wondering when the tour will come where we start hearing the unheralded songs from All That You Can't Leave Behind live again, like "Wild Honey." And "Yahweh" was such an amazing closer on the last tour, I wish they could have held onto it for this tour. Instead they left us with "Moment of Surrender," a perfectly AWESOME song from the new record but it's a really momentum and mood killer and didn't have me begging for another encore. Speaking of last tour, they also had opened the first encore with a pretty unbeatable selection of songs from Achtung like "The Fly," complete with Zoo Tv graphics and all that shit. It was tons of fun to see, I wouldn'tve minded experiencing that sort of thing again.
HOWEVER: It's great to still have "Walk On" as a centerpiece of the show. And they opened the second encore with "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)." Jesus Christ. Honestly it brought me to tears, that song harbors so much pain and to have Bono swinging from a microphone in front of 80,000 people, singing that bridge...wow. It was really good to have that song back in rotation for the first time since 1993.
I can't believe we didn't get "Your Blue Room"
Ahhhh the melancholy all over that record!! It drove me crazy in sixth grade lol.
This Stella video is so good for the changing season:
The show, though, was far from routine. The last two U2 tours have been about making arenas feel like clubs by using a really cool theater-in-the-round thing to bring the audience in. On the Elevation Tour, it was the heart-shaped stage. On the Vertigo Tour, it was an enormous, white O. The 360 Tour brought the music outside, under an enormous claw/spaceship/crab.
I just thought I'd share some observations from the night.
There was some Popmart-like detachment from the audience. I don't know if it was the claw, the selections from the new album or the scale of the whole thing... the show was more about the music's interaction with the elaborate stage than with the crowd. I was kind of taken aback at first, but by the end of the show, I was pretty into it. It was a spectacle and I really liked that they changed the game up a little bit. The setlist could've used some tweeking, though. Like on the last tour, I loved the inclusion of weirder, early cuts like "An Cat Dubh" and "Out of Control." And everyone's been noting the lack of cuts from Zooropa and Achtung Baby. And not that I wanted it, but they didn't even play "Pride." I think they lost everyone at least once during the set. For example, they played this remix of "I Know I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" that had them wandering around the stage with bongos and stuff... everyone was trying to figure out what was going on, if they were even performing the song live. And of all songs to follow this little dance party with, they picked "Sunday Bloody Sunday."
I'm wondering when the tour will come where we start hearing the unheralded songs from All That You Can't Leave Behind live again, like "Wild Honey." And "Yahweh" was such an amazing closer on the last tour, I wish they could have held onto it for this tour. Instead they left us with "Moment of Surrender," a perfectly AWESOME song from the new record but it's a really momentum and mood killer and didn't have me begging for another encore. Speaking of last tour, they also had opened the first encore with a pretty unbeatable selection of songs from Achtung like "The Fly," complete with Zoo Tv graphics and all that shit. It was tons of fun to see, I wouldn'tve minded experiencing that sort of thing again.
HOWEVER: It's great to still have "Walk On" as a centerpiece of the show. And they opened the second encore with "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)." Jesus Christ. Honestly it brought me to tears, that song harbors so much pain and to have Bono swinging from a microphone in front of 80,000 people, singing that bridge...wow. It was really good to have that song back in rotation for the first time since 1993.
I can't believe we didn't get "Your Blue Room"
Ahhhh the melancholy all over that record!! It drove me crazy in sixth grade lol.
This Stella video is so good for the changing season:
Monday, September 21, 2009
Is There a Reason for this Sentimental Streak?
My "apartment" feels a lot more lived in after this weekend. Thanks friends for leaving pillows, sleeping bags, backpacks and most of all, for being such good friends. Seriously. This place gets so alienating.
My Sunday afternoon looked something like this:
Although Be Happy Fest boasted a bill of 10 bands, only two were worth caring too much about and out of those two, I'd already seen one. That left Teenage Cool Kids, easily my favorite band of the last year. Apparently only allotted 20 minutes for whatever reason, they played at least 50, to a packed basement. The epicness of their new record, the must-hear Foreign Lands, translated remarkably well live and their older material was predictably scream-and-pogo worthy (totally a good thing.) More on them later, at this location
My Sunday afternoon looked something like this:
Although Be Happy Fest boasted a bill of 10 bands, only two were worth caring too much about and out of those two, I'd already seen one. That left Teenage Cool Kids, easily my favorite band of the last year. Apparently only allotted 20 minutes for whatever reason, they played at least 50, to a packed basement. The epicness of their new record, the must-hear Foreign Lands, translated remarkably well live and their older material was predictably scream-and-pogo worthy (totally a good thing.) More on them later, at this location
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
