BRUCE SKAUG IS A DICKHEAD

So, we've already determined that Bruce Skaug is a brave, anonymous gay basher, but did you know that he finds cancer les threatening than homosexuality?

Here is the Family Crusader himself in an article from 2006:

"'I'd rather my 9-year-old take up smoking than see the pictures in this book,' Skaug said."

He also lists his Jaguar automobile as a member of his family on his official gov't bio.

What an ambulance-chasing, ignorant shithead.

Nate Tyson (because I sign my name to things I write on the internet...unlike a certain Mr. Skaug.)

It was always worth it...that's the part I tried to hide.

Later today, I am heading down to Florida for the Summer. (Long story, don't ask.)

I'll be alone down there for a bit, so there might be a noticeable uptick in my updates.

Re: LOST as of late.

Keamy is a really good villain in that I want him to die so fucking badly it hurts me physically. If he doesn't bite it in parts 2 & 3 of the season finale, I may scream. Does anybody know when the show is coming back after this?

Also, I see one of these three dying in the next episode (pray I'm wrong). I'm thinking we're gonna lose either Sawyer, Jin, or Bernard. Bernard is something of a long shot, but he got some unusually plentiful face time this season, and he's always showing up out of obscurity when the shit hits the fan.

I figure somebody has to die next episode. It just seems like with the whole "Oceanic 6" story going forward, I think we're gonna find out why they had to claim that two people made it to the island and then died. Who will they be? Not Jin; last episode made that clear. So, Sawyer and Desmond? Not Claire; her mum would've said something. Maybe Bernard or Rose?

Who knows.

Nate

robins in spring

WARNING: THIS POST MAY BE VERY, VERY UPSETTING. ANIMAL LOVERS, TAKE CAUTION; HEREIN LIES A SAD, SAD TALE.


(all pictures are my original photography, please do not use without asking, thank you.)

This Spring, outside of my family's kitchen window, two robins made a nest in the holly.

One day, these two robins had four eggs, and eventually, four little chicks.

I took a few pictures of the robins and their babies. The babies were the ugliest things I had ever seen, but I fell in love. I was hoping to take pictures throughout the next two weeks as they grew.


Today, a snake scaled the holly outside our kitchen window, killed Mama robin, and ate all four chicks.

My dad saw the entire thing, and even tried to chase the snake away with a broken golf club. My mom and sister almost cried when I gave them the news.


My mom said it was all "just really sad."

I would have to agree with her.

Nate

For those curious about Action Awareness Week

Here's some background, and here's some disappointing media coverage of Action Awareness week here at Hampshire College:

Bad

The "Chronicle of Higher Education" displays thinly veiled contempt, but decent control of their sentiments.

Boston.com explains how students "cut class" for demands including "anti-oppression training."

Our local NBC affiliate has a tiny little story.

Worse

This under-informed article over at Villainous Company blames failing educational standards on all those rude Hampshire students among other unrelated news stories.

Other

Some LJ drama regarding the whole thing.

Nathaniel Tyson

I may not know art, but I know what I link

This website will make you sad. It is about Puppy Mills. You can't say that I didn't warn you.

I thought of all of my friends from MD's trip to California when I read this.

Here's a time-lapse video of a dude stuck in an elevator for 41 hours. It's fucked up. You're basically watching someone go insane.

Race & Such...

My Politics on Pop Culture teacher referred us to this really, really, really well-done blog post about the eternal question: What constitutes racism? The ensuing comments are some of the better ones dealing with the subject that I've ever seen. Not all 100% positive, but not the usual ignorance pageant.

She also pointed out this (hopefully) eye-opening essay about the wide acceptance of "Racism 2.0" in America. Unfortunately, the article doesn't tackle less obvious examples like message boards and review sites.

The Racism Review also tackles a terribly ironic story in which white nativists get all huffy about some images in Mexican ads for Absolut vodka. Gosh. It's just a joke guys. Get over it.

Oh, and for good measure, here's an article about the controversy from the Absolut site. Take a look at all those level-headed Americans in the comments section. Thank God the internet is so colorblind.

[I am very happy, however, to see that Absolut is refusing to apologize. That heartens me.]

Nathaniel "Nate Tyson" Tyson

an article, you say? i'll slap together some ten year anniversary thing...wait...twenty years? fuck.

Well folks, I might have an article in the upcoming edition of The Climax (the Hampshire student newspaper).

In case I don't get approved, or any Tyson purists want to see the un-copy-edited article, I will gladly provide the original text...now.

How long ago IS ten years, exactly?

The other day, as I was watching Dazed and Confused I was thinking about growing up in the 00s, as opposed to the 70s. It is strange to be approaching the end of this decade so soon. It feels as if we haven’t had time to shape our culture, or to define who we are and what time we are growing up in. As it has been discussed on campus recently, it has been twenty years since the Dakin take-over. But twenty years seems so much longer ago in the abstract.

You know what occurred just ten years ago? How about the release of Saving Private Ryan, and the popularity of “Whatever” by Godsmack? “Rosa Parks” by Outkast and Cruel Intentions. There’s Something About Mary and “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. Makes you think, no?

So, in the spirit of nostaligia, I decided to look back at the past ten years, and revisit an album from each year that we can look to in order to see our progress as a generation…or something to that affect. Except they’re all chosen by me…so I’ll just ignore any cultural implications, sound good? Great.

1998: Cat Power – Moon Pix
Long before The Greatest in 2006, Chan Marshall was really, really, really crazy and drunk all the time. Or at least that’s what the press would have you believe. But even if that’s somewhat true, she was still capable of producing some of the best music around. The younger, rougher Chan will be familiar to fans of her newer material, but might appeal more to those who think her sound is a little polished and same-y these days.

1999: Boredoms – Vision Creation Newsun
Perhaps you’ve heard of these crazy Japanese noise/prog/whatever rockers. They are highly influential in nearly every experimental music scene one can imagine. This album is one of their few proper releases, but it is a doozy. They’ve recently started touring around again, and where just around here, playing a relatively quiet show in Northampton.

2000: O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Soundtrack
When this came out, it was one of the weirder cultural phenomenons at the time. It won Best Album of the Year at the Grammys in 2001. In beat Radiohead, Outkast, Eminem, and Paul Simon. Weird, right? Anyways, the Coen Brothers are acknowledged geniuses, as is T-Bone Burnett, and bluegrass was bound for a comeback. So really, the success of this was fortold in the stars. But we all love it, right?

2001: Radiohead – Amnesiac
The point is that Radiohead is so canonized that they released the stuff that they didn’t think was good enough for their last album, and critics still slurped it up like it was free Slurpee day at 711. My similes are usually better, I swear.

2002: The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas
Because I had always had a burned copy of this CD, I hadn’t realized until the other day that the subtitle for this album is “fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys.” John Darnielle’s albums are often very literary in their construction and this one is no expcetion. But where The Sunset Tree is autobiography, and Tallahassee and We Shall All Be Healed are full novels, All Hail West Texas is a series of short stories that all tie together in Darnielle’s fictional, literary universe. In some ways, this album is Darnielle’s best; on it, he’s hitting hard and often, never reaching a lull, and the lo-fi recording strips everything down to the basic necessities: his voice and his guitar.

2003: M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts
I’ve heard it said multiple times that this is one of the seminal albums of the 00’s, and I am pretty sure I agree. As far as epic, heart-pounding electronica goes, you won’t find anything as good as this album, even in M83’s later work. The band was a duo during the making of this album, and they split soon after, and it seems the albums have followed the law of diminishing returns as a result.

2004: Jens Lekman – When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog
Mr. Jens Lekman is one of my recent heroes. This guy balances sincerity with irony like only the Swedes can do, and he does it with some catchy tunes. If Lou Reed was more about disco samples, violins, and short reflectons on bananas from 711, he might sound like this. His album last year (Night Falls Over Kortedala) got him more attention and press, but that was only because people took a while to pick up on just how great this album was.

2005: Love is All – Nine Times the Same Song
I know that our Arts & Entertainment editor, Joshua “Moshua” Schneider, would support he in calling this one of the better “garage rock” (though I hate that term, for the most part) albums of the past few years. Lead singer Josephine Olausson really charges through this album about love, television, movie marathons, and angry night spent waiting by the phone. Kevin Barnes has covered “Make Out Fall Out Make Up” on recent tours, and the album got a proper US release in 06. But they still remain relatively unknown stateside.

2006: T.I. – King
This may not be the masterpiece of southern rap, but it seems like a definite pinnacle. Fans will argue that his older stuff was far more distinct, and they might be right. But this album is so consistently catchy, memorable, and listenable, that I can forgive some artistic concessions for a wider audience. Plus, I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t like “What You Know?” In an era in which everyone complains about lyrics taking a backseat to production, nobody takes the time to appreciate a good radio hit that manages to combine great beats and good rhymes.

2007: Radical Face – Ghost
The album is the work of one guy (who is also involved with Electric President [I don't care what his name is, frankly]), and it is evidently something of a concept album about haunted houses, or at least songs that sound like they could be about a haunted house. It's a fantastic winter and fall record, but it has moments of momentous pop bombast that keep the album from a strictly downer status. But honestly, bullcrap aside, the music is just really beautiful and sad and haunting. And it's kind of funny that I choose the word 'haunting', but it's not a joke. It's one of those albums that becomes especially personal the more you listen to it.

So, yeah, it's a bit of a throwaway piece, but we needed to fill some space, evidently. Plus, we already have someone to talk about movies, and various people to discuss TV. So, I write about music. I plan to never attend a newspaper meeting, and provide articles to as many issues as possible. But next article, I'm not writing about albums or doing capsule reviews. Unless that's what the people call for. Because I'm a whore.

Nathaniel Tyson

PS: yeah, that's right, two pictures of Jeff in a row. guess I'm in love.

dang

They beat me to the fucking punch and just announced over at StuffWhitePeopleLike that they're making a textbook about white people.

Well, I'd better go find a new Div 3. God damnit.

(That's a senior thesis, basically, for those not familiar with Hampshire jargon.)

Nathaniel Tyson

PS: In all seriousness, a huge congratulations to the SWPL site and everyone behind it. It's lovely to see success come in such an organic way. Maybe there's a future for this "internet" thing afterall.

PPS: I updated my recommended section for the year so far. Take a look. Some good stuff there.

Cyberspace is not colorblind

Man, if I have to hear the "what about 'white-only' dorms and 'straight-only dorms'" argument one more time, I'm gonna fucking kill someone.

Action Awareness Week here at Hampshire was an amazing, provacative, hopefully productive time. It's shameful that the media will focus on the aspects of the issues that they least understand and most fear. There were 17 demands on that list, and this response mentions 3 at most.

You are blind if you don't think the internet is as racist, bigoted and backwards as the rest of the Earth.

Nate

A sudden conclusion I have come to...

While discussing my recent rewatch of Mean Girls, I found myself accidentally stumbling on a major pop culture debate that I think is worth having, and may be a future theme in American comedy:

Who's recent projects are funnier, Tiny Fey or Judd Apatow?

Both of these talented indivduals slaved away behind the scenes of funny/doomed or under-appreciated projects. Both had major influence on American comedy before they had even reached their personal breakthrough successes.


Fey was the head writer on Saturday Night Live for years, and if 30 Rock is any indication, I think we can attribute almost all of the show's best moments from 2000 to 2004 to her. She didn't really get the attention she deserved until she worked on weekend update with Jimmy Fallon, but Fallon still seemed to get the credit for the chemistry between the two. Mean Girls was Fey's first noteable non-SNL success, and I am willing to call it the best teen comedy since Clueless, without much hesitation. And that is an enormous compliment from a Clueless fan such as myself. Her next major sucess was 30 Rock, which started shakey, but is now an Emmy winning success, and has cemented her position as a major voice in American comedy. The best part about Fey's success and public embrace is that her humor is unapologetically "female." Her self-guided projects feature female leads and diverse female characters, which is a rare site in the modern, male-centric world of comedy. Fey often seems to make an effort to provide opportunities and roles to gifted comediennes who suffer from the unfortnate lack of funny females in American comedies. Not only are Fey's characters mostly female, but many are also funnier and smarter then the men who surround them. Fey's character Lemon on 30 Rock is a wonderfully full person, with insecurities, humor, and subtle depth; she is perhaps the most well-rounded protagonist in modern comedic television, gender aside.


Judd Apatow is also a talented writer/director, but his projects seem to stand as the phalocentric counterpoint to Fey's. I have deep love for Apatow, stemming from the incredible Freaks and Geeks (still some of the best shit I've ever seen, anywhere) and the sweet and well-meaning 40-Year-Old Virgin, but I have begun to wonder about the effects of his particular brand of humor on the advancement of female comediennes and actresses. Like Fey, Apatow did not have his fame and influence handed to him. His early labors of love were critical successes, but were treated poorly by studios and networks. But while Apatow may have suffered more early industry humiliation than Fey, his penis helped him out a bit more in the end. Apatow's most successful attribute may be his bevy of famous and hilarious friends, who are both peers and disciples. Apatow was credited as writer, producer, or director on the following titles: Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, Underclared (TV), Heavyweights (yeah, he wrote THAT Heavyweights), Kicking and Screaming, The Cable Guy, Fun With Dick and Jane, Celtic Pride, The TV Set, Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor, Pineapple Express, Don't Mess With the Zohan, The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and The Critic (yeah, the cartoon TV show). So this guy has some influence, and some connections. His cast from both Freaks and Geeks are a virtual who's who of young Hollywood...dramatic and comedic, TV and movies.

So, Fey or Apatow?

Female-centric or phallocentric?

Phoeler or Ferrell?

I'm a fan of both of these individuals, and Freaks and Geeks is my favorite thing that either of them has produced, but while I was watching Mean Girls today, I couldn't help but notice that Fey's film (made in 2004) was somehow fresher, funnier, and more insightful than ever. It has aged beautifully, and I'm fairly certain that is is considerably funnier as a whole than Superbad.

There. I said it. I think Tina Fey's recent stuff kicks Judd Apatow's recent films' (other than 40YOV) asses.

Agree? Disagree?

Nathaniel

collected observation

Today, I present to you, a brief glimpse into the truly disjointed mind of one, Nate Tyson.

whole lotta nonsense. 1st ed.

I just read that Laura Linney is playing Abigail Adams in the John Adams TV movie that I was completely unaware of until five minutes ago. Paul Giammati is evidently playing John Adams. Good casting, but I wish Ian Holm had been given the role at some point before he was ancient. He woulda tore that up. Or Terrance Stamp. (By the way, my favorite portrayal of John Adams is Mr. Feeney's [William Daniels] in the film version of 1776, which was a musical.) Point being, that Laura Linney is a funny duck, because I think that she is one of the last of the old school female movie stars. She only takes somewhat pedigree roles, she is usually offered almost every serious female role that fits her age (I'm sure), she is classy and private, and she almost always plays the famous wife. She is the master of being the famous dude's wife. She is the go-to gal for that.

++++

There is a British website that will give you music festival tickets for sperm donations. I shit you not. It is called Sperm for Tickets, which shows a frankness I respect. I wish I lived in Europe. But only for this purpose. Otherwise? Screw you guys.

++++

White people like me like The Wire a lot. And now it's over. But Lost has started kicking extra butt to make up for it.

Sometime soon, I will have a retrospective on The Wire (I would just do a review of the final episode, but I want to put some larger effort into this). I'm considering of doing a brief piece on the closing montage, but other than that, no Wire until I do a larger piece. I ahve to keep myself to this.

I just can't accept that it's over. Oh...Bubbles...Michael...

++++

...speaking of Michael, Lost's big boat-oriented reveal last night was somewhat anti-climactic just because everyone and their mother had predicted it. But the show still manages to reel you in, doesn't it?

This season has had a noticeable effect on people who watch Lost in my room. Some have never seen the show, some stopped watching half-way through Season 1, some gave up as recently as the end of last season. But all of them are completely (re)hooked after watching the recent stuff in my room. That kinda says something.

++++

That Dodos album is pretty great the more I listen to it. This, Earth, and Times New Viking are a pretty strong trio. There are tons of other good albums so far this year, but those three are special.

I'm also really digging the recent albums from Ocrilim, Natural Snow Buildings, the Teenagers, Boxcutter, and the Fleet Foxes.

++++

Animal Collective had a new EP released this week. It's called Water Curses, and it's pretty great. The tempo is definitely toned down, and the sound is thicker and spacier than most of the material on Strawberry Jam. Both those things are good indicators for the future, if you ask me. This may be my favorite thing I've heard so far this year.

Am I becoming predictable? I love Animal Collective, but I'm not a fanboy. I mean, Sung Tongs is one of my top five records of the decade probably, and Panda Bear was my #1 last year...and I just talked about the Dodos, who sound a little like 'em.

Whatever. Great band.

++++

I had a piece in The Climax this week. It featured excerpts from this post.

The only editing that upset me was the disappearance of the quotation marks around the phrase "get relaxed" (which had replaced "get high" in my draft for the paper) in the Earth review. They didn't remove the quotes from "the law" earlier in the article, so it was obviously a moral decision to not include a gentle, non-explicit weed joke in the student newspaper.

Sigh. It wouldn't matter, except that a somewhat tongue-in-cheek joke now reads like a banal observation.

++++

I love you all. Thelma Ritter is amazing in Pickup on South Street, and Paul Reuben's performance in Pee Wee's Big Adventure is an overlooked comedic masterpiece.

Nathaniel

It's time for Ask Ashley...why her parents coined this term

The term "pillow angels" creeps me the fuck out. Just for the record.

As does this whole story. I'm certain that we're gonna start hearing more about this around campus. I'm going to not think about it anymore until all fucking hell breaks loose round here.

Nathaniel

The awful feeling of electric heat...

My Politics in Pop Culture course is pretty amazing, and one particularly great thing about taking it is my professor's selections of topical links for the week's readings.

This week, our class will focus on the representations of Latinos in modern pop culture, especially in the context of the political scapegoat issue of immigration. Susana (my prof) has some choice links for the topic, two of the best appearing on the MediaMatters website:

Boortz: Non-English-speaking Latinos are "the ones with sombreros" and "bandoliers full of bullets across their chest"

Savage called Latino advocacy group "the Ku Klux Klan of the Hispanic people"

I don't read MediaMatters enough, but I think I'm gonna start checking in there more often. Seems like they've got some articles to really get a gentleman's gorge risen high on up there.

(Speaking of the whole "makes my gorge rise" turn of phrase: the first few times I ever heard the term, it was being used to refer to sexual criminals or pedophiles, so I also thought that the speakers were saying that pedophilia rocked their world. Funny, huh?)

++++

So, tonight, hopefully, I will have my review of the series finale of The Wire. I might just save it for tomorrow, though. I don't want to accidentally spoil something for both of you guys reading this. I also plan to do some major Lost writing.

As for my non-TV blog plans, I want to do a brief review of Persepolis soon, as well as a look at The Best Years of Our Lives (which I'm watching for da SOMB). I am also considering some retrospective looks at the 2000-2007 movie era. Some greatest performances stuff, maybe. Who knows?

I also want to start posting more new, more up to date, music stuff...maybe even a podcast?

++++

There are also some upcoming projects of mine that are based in, get this...the real, physical world. Not the internet!

What could these ventures outside of the USS Blog possibly include?

I am glad you ventured to question my truth voice. My responsibilities are as such...

I should have a music column in the upcoming issue of the school paper, The Climax. That means that this week, both The Climax and Nick's Blunder Bust shall be stained a putrid shade of awesome by my pen. I am considering submitting some photography to The Omen as well. Might as well get some of my stuff out there.

In one of my first LJ posts ever (I have looked back through em a few times...they date back to 2002 or 2003), I declared my intentions to spread across this great globe like a charming, red(-headed) death. I just want my longterm fans to know that the whole project is still in the works. No worries.

++++

In another case of an awesome heads up from a friend: a few weeks ago, my mom pointed my towards the National Portrait Gallery's new Hip-Hop portrait exhibition/showcase, the interestingly (not sure how I feel) named Recognize!

This is why I rule so hard. In case you've been wondering. I got raised by that lady.

The exhibit is definitely worth looking at.

So do it.

++++

I just remembered about a fun time waster I read about maybe a week ago. It's called The Black Cab Recordings. It's a British internet venture in which a strange (but awesome) assortment of lesser known artists ride around in the back of a British taxi cab. Playing their strange assortment of lesser known hits. The passenger/singers include Daniel Johnston, Spoon, Okkervil River, St. Vincent, Bill Callahan (Mr. Joanna Newsom, formerly Smog), Langhorne Slim, The New Pornographers, and a myriad of really not famous British artists who seem like they could be neat.

I have yet to watch any of the videos on the site, but if I discover in the future that one of these is particularly awesome, I will let y'all know.

I don't know about ch'all, but I know that I'm excited to see the St. Vincent one the most.

Nathaniel Tyson

It's a small DC-Baltimore metropolitan area afterall

I'm almost 100% certain that Brad King is in tonight's episode of The Wire. He even has the tattoos.

Brad was briefly my manager at IKEA. He was head of Customer Service. Anyways, he's the guy on the left in that screencap up there.

CRAZY.

Nathaniel

edit:

Having finished episode 9, I can say that this show is really terribly heartbreaking. The final scene of the episode between Mike and Duquan almost made me cry.

I see why you left, the city's been dead since you've been gone

I miss Philly

...letting the water hold us down. Letting the days go by...water flowing underground

I spoke on the phone with my grandfather today. He's about 85 now, and has survived the Great Depression, World War II, Vietnam, Reagan, and two Bushes. He is a Doctor of Philosophy and an ordained Methodist minister. I'm his only grandson, and I'm more than a little worried that I haven't lived up to that.

With the way the past year or so has gone, it's become possible to accept that I won't have him for much longer. When I spoke to him today, he sounded very tired, but very pleased to hear from me. I don't call him enough.

Being an adult was a project I started accidentally about three years ago. After much procrastination, I'm trying to catch up.

It's going slowly.

Nathaniel Tyson

just for purposes of personal clarification really

taken directly from dictionary.com:

an·a·logue
– noun
1. something having analogy to something else.
2. Biology. an organ or part analogous to another.
3. Chemistry. one of a group of chemical compounds similar in structure but different in respect to elemental composition.
4. a food made from vegetable matter, esp. soybeans, that has been processed to taste and look like another food, as meat or dairy, and is used as a substitute for it.


a·nal·o·gous
– adjective
1. having analogy; corresponding in some particular: A brain and a computer are analogous.
2. Biology. corresponding in function, but not evolved from corresponding organs, as the wings of a bee and those of a hummingbird.

It's not that I didn't know the words, but I wondered what the exact definition of an analog was, so I looked it up. Once I found it, I was determined to find a way to retroactively make it worth my while by posting it here.

A good contextual example from my life:

The effects of sleep-deprivation and heavy drug use have recently revealed themselves to "have analogy". I'm doing the whole sleep thing, not heavy drugs. No worries.

Nathaniel

A Real-Life Exchange Related to Me by mollyo

Random "Yeahdude" on Bus: (laughing) Oh, yeahdude, so I found this fuckin AWESOME video online the other day. These fuckin American soldiers, were, like, in Iraq, totally WASTING down this street, fuckin, in one of those crazy-huge Humvee. They were like fuckin' all these other Iraqi cars up; just totally bustin them out of the way. And dude it was so fuckin' HILARIOUS cause that song, you know, that "MOOOOVE BITCH, get out tha WAY" song, was totally playing in the background! (more laughter)

mollyo: (after a moment of deliberation)...That's, um, kind of offensive, dude.

(ten minutes of silence)

Yeahdude: ....so, do you like State Radio?

Nathaniel

For purposes of clarification: A yeahdude is a subclassification of Massachusetts-area Bros. Yeahdudes are irrisistably attracted to MollyO and her dreadlocks. They frequently approach her with appeals towards her musical taste; namedropping bands like State Radio, Phish, Moe, or even The Disco Biscuits.