Author Archives: olneyce

Intervention – Arcade Fire (live on KCRW) People really love (for other people) to fight wars. Even people who are otherwise strongly committed to liberal or left-wing values. This post from Jonathan Chait is a prime example. He says “I’m … Continue reading →

Well, the state of the blog is: steady.  This post promises no significant changes or major events.  It’s really just to say that the new version of the blog–the one where I post irregularly but more than just once or … Continue reading →

No Delay – The 1900s So, what’s the deal with filibuster-critics and the current Wisconsin stand-off? Presumably people who were angry about obstructionism in the national Congress should be equally critical of these acts, at least if they were espousing … Continue reading →

A Telegram From the Future – The Russian Futurists The question is posed: who will still be famous in 10,000 years? This intrigues me. The major caveat is that 10,000 years is just an insane amount of time. That’s basically … Continue reading →

I’ve made the point before that when people complain about deficits they don’t really mean deficits. Obviously that’s not universally true, but in these moments when ‘deficits’ or ‘debt’ become significant political issues they are often simply a stand-in for … Continue reading →

How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us – R.E.M. (from the strangely underrated New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which is probably my second-favorite R.E.M. album) Okay, so I’ll admit I got bored and stopped partway through, but this … Continue reading →

Sister Wife – Alex Winston Strangely appealing, yet impossible to fully comprehend. The sort of song you want to listen to with some regularity, but definitely would not want to be stuck in a monogamous relationship with. Fittingly, the subject … Continue reading →

Graph from: The Plum Line Relative Surplus Value – The Weakerthans It’s a pretty common lefty-blog feature to point out that the American public is totally incoherent when it comes to governmental spending. And with good cause! People generally state … Continue reading →

All Die Young – Smith Westerns It’s pretty easy to get into my good graces. While I have my occasional pretensions to being a musical sophisticate, when it all comes down you really just need to remember a couple simple … Continue reading →

World Tour (Weezy, Wale, Dre) – Brenton Duvall I am woefully behind the times on some subjects.  In spite of the fact that I write a music blog (new media!) I have never fully understood what was going on with … Continue reading →