Thursday, May 26, 2011

My Next Performance

I am performing this text for a performing spotlight show at school next week. Here is what I must know by heart and perform 110% so that the audience will be blown away.

Chuck Klosterman

"McDiculous"

From Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas (2006)


Staying alive is complicated. It’s the single most difficult thing every single person does every single day. There is just so much in this wicked world that can kill us: cancer, avalanches, liver failure, electric chairs, death squads, hammerhead sharks, werewolves, and a boundless cornucopia of other coldblooded entities who solely exist so that we may not. Everything is bad for you. Food is bad for you. Food—something you need in order to stay alive—is killing you right now. Food hates you. But food cannot be held accountable for its diabolical actions, even if Morgan Spurlock thinks otherwise.
Spurlock is the director of the documentary Super Size Me. The film chronicles Spurlock’s performance-testing on his own thirty-two year old body: for 30 days, he ate nothing but food from McDonald’s. If it wasn’t on the menu, he did not consume it.
The results are staggering: he gains 25 pounds, watches his cholesterol spike 62 points, shows signs of liver failure, becomes profoundly depressed, and sporadically vomits.
It may be irrational to question the reality of Super Size Me, since the evidence appears on the screen. We see Spurlock go to the doctor, we see him eat a shitload of Big Macs, and then we see him go back to track his devolution. Around Day 21, the doctor suggests that Spurlock may die if he doesn’t change his diet.
I question that diagnosis, and here’s why: I once did something very similar to this. In 1996, I ate only Chicken McNuggets for an entire week. And you know what happened to me? Nothing. I gained exactly one pound. In fact, my cholesterol and blood pressure went down.
Now did I feel stellar at the end of the week? Not quite. I felt like I was coated in petroleum jelly. I consciously exaggerated that discomfort for the benefit of the article. It wasn’t a big deal. But in this movie, Spurlock starts struggling immediately. By the third day, he starts to act like a junkie. It all seems pretty sketchy.
Super Size Me is somewhat exaggerated; if it wasn’t, it couldn’t exist. You could not sell a movie about eating fast food and feeling fine. Spurlock didn’t just eat. He gorged himself at every possible turn. He was ramming down 5,000 calories a day. He was eating unreasonably on purpose.
Super Size Me is a movie about alleged victimization. The biggest problem with America is not faceless corporate forces. The biggest problem with America is people who blame faceless corporate forces instead of accepting accountability for their own lives. The movie is about blaming a chain restaurant for offering a product that people choose to consume.
Early in the movie, Spurlock poses an important question: where does personal responsibility end and corporate responsibility begin. He never answers that question so I will. Corporate responsibility begins when corporations start breaking the law and personal responsibility never stops. Spurlock questions the ethics of offering consumers 64-ounce beverages and massive portions of fries because people can’t help themselves. “It’s just human nature to eat what you get, even if you don’t need it or want it,” Spurlock tells me. Well whose fucking fault is that? Why is a restaurant supposed to worry about people who get fat by eating food they supposedly don’t want?
Now I don’t feel altogether comfortable defending McDonald’s. It almost feels like I’m saying “Hey man, Darth Vader had every right to build that Death Star. He had all the proper zoning permits.” However the paradigm advocated by Spurlock is wrong. McDonald’s is a publicly traded capitalist venture. Its function is to earn as much as it can by giving people a product they want. Perhaps you hate that notion. Well, go ahead and hate it. But your personal distaste for an ideal has nothing to do with your real-world problems.
Commercials for McDonald’s claim their food is marvelous and you should eat it constantly. And maybe you believe that. Maybe you need documentary filmmakers to protect you from yourself, because life is dangerous. And life is dangerous. Like I said, staying alive is complicated. But I’ll take my chances.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

New musician spotlight

Here's an artist I heard about from Jim, a friend and fellow on-air personality at Radio DePaul. He's the host of Campus Curmudgeon, which airs Tuesdays 12:30pm-3:00pm from now til the end of the summer.

Friday, May 20, 2011

It's (not) the end of the world as we know and I feel fine about that

THE ATTAGAG

May 20, 2011 | It’s not the end of the world and I feel fine

According to an evangelical leader of a small and strange Christian group, the world is going to end Saturday. That man is crazy, and so is anyone who keeps predicting the Earth’s inevitable end. Let’s not fret over doomsday. Go out to the park, go meet with friends, go call your mom and meet for lunch. Go out on a date night with your partner or spouse, go to the theatre, to a baseball game, bar crawls, the beach, or have a BBQ. Go do something that is exciting and frightening. Stop freaking out about the end and focus on today. It’s all we really have. #

PLAYLIST
R.E.M. “It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)”
The Wombats “Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)”
Cage the Elephant “Around My Head”
Rage against the Machine “Sleep Now in the Fire”
Empires “Damn Things Over”
Dirty Vegas “Changes”
OK Go “Here It Goes Again”
MGMT “Kids”
TV on the Radio “Will Do”
New Pornographers “Moves”
Metric “Gold Guns Girls”
Shakira “Loca”
Jimi Hendrix “Fire”
Sugarcult “Memory”
The Raconteurs “Level”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Snow”

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Song I Found on a Xfinity Channel

I heard this song while I was baking (yes I bake) and I had the Alternative channel on Xfinity. It's a pretty cool channel/station for a Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

An Interview with Tom Conrad from EMPIRES

Eduardo Sayago

Arts & Life | 11 May 2011

You may not know the band Empires but that will change very soon. The Chicago natives, which consist of Tom Conrad (rhythm guitar), Ryan J. Luciani (drums), Max Steger (lead guitar), and San Van Vleet (vocals) are vying for the cover of Rolling Stone thanks to a competition, “Do You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star?”, held by the magazine. If successful, they will be the first unsigned band to grace the cover as well as receive a recording contract from Atlantic Records.
“Morale is very high (amongst the band),” said Tom Conrad during a phone interview with the DePaulia. “We have gained a lot of exposure since we entered the contest.” Last month, the number of contestants went from 16 acts to four, with Empires being one of them. Empires performed in front of a panel, which included musician Patrick Stump and members from Atlantic Records and Rolling Stone. “(There was) lots of energy, lots of intensity, I thought it was awesome,” announced RS senior editor Toure. “We try to be ourselves during the performance,” Conrad said. Hopefully that will allow them to enter into the top two. The winner of the contest will be announced on August 1st.
Before the contest that placed them into the spotlight, Empires was rocking out in the Chicagoland area. After forming together, they released their debut album, Howl, in 2008. The album racked up 70,000 downloads from the band’s site, weareempires.com. The style on the album is high energy pop-punk. When the band began recording Bang last year, they decided to change the sound. “Howl was more of a crafted studio piece,” said Conrad. “When we began working on Bang, we wanted it to be more fleshed out, more of a live performance feel.” After three months of recording and writing, Bang was ready to be unleashed into the world. The album has a raw, intense sound that sounds familiar yet sounds original. Van Vleet’s vocals are full of depth and passion, almost as if he is living through the actions of the song every time he performs. It’s exciting listening to each track, especially “Damn Things Over”, “Bang”, and “Hello Lover”.
Conrad has taken the Rolling Stone competition with a grain of salt. “It’s a crazy contest,” he said. “We haven’t thought much about it.” Empires prefer to continue to practice and perform just as they have been doing for many years now. But they still would like their music to reach new audiences. “Any artist who say they don’t want their work to be seen (or heard), they’re lying,” said Conrad.
On May 21st, Empires is set to perform at Beat Kitchen in Chicago. While Beat Kitchen is a great place for a concert, this location is a significant part of the band’s history. This is first time they performed in front of a large audience. Many people went to check them out after hearing buzz from friends who had seen them perform in either basements, houses, or during practice. While we may not know yet if Empires will be on the cover of Rolling Stone, we do know that they are well-deserving of their newfound exposure and subsequent success. #



Voting for the band continues until Friday May 13th at http://www.weareempires.com/.

Tickets for their show are available for $10 at http://www.beatkitchen.com

Vote here. Give them 5 stars guys!

Monday, May 9, 2011

A Conversation About John Lennon

Yesterday I wore a black shirt with a picture of John Lennon. Underneath his face (this is when he had a beard and long hair) is the phrase “Give Peace a Chance.”

Fatima asked me about Lennon during a car ride home.
Fatima: “Who’s that man?”
Eddie: “His name is John Lennon.”
Fatima: “Is he dead?”
(I don’t know why she assumed he was dead, unless she believes that all people who appear on clothes are dead.)
Eddie: “Yes he is.”
Fatima: “When did he die?”
Eddie: “A very long time ago.”
Fatima: “Oh.”
There is a moment of pause.
Eddie: “He was a singer.”
Fatima: “Really?”
Eddie: “Yes. He wrote music and sang songs.”
There is another pause. Finally she asks this question.
Fatima: “Who killed him?”
I was surprised that she asked this question. How does she know that Lennon was killed? I had no choice by to answer.
Eddie: “A very bad man.”
Fatima: “Why did he kill him?”
Eddie: “I don’t know Fatima. I really don’t know.”
After another moment…
Eddie: “I can play a couple of his songs when we get home.”
Fatima: “Okay. I would like that.”

Normally she would keep asking me questions that I would not be able to answer. This time she didn’t. She knew from my sincere reply that I didn’t not why “a very bad man” killed one of the most talented musicians of all time. I played her a song from him (“Just Like Starting Over”). She seemed to like it. I will play some Beatles music from time to time. She seems to enjoy dancing along to some of their early pop hits like “She Loves You” and “Twist and Shout.”

If nothing else, I hope that my musical tastes can be passed down to a member of a new generation. That way the Beatles and John Lennon can live on, year after year. #

Here is an awesome animated music video for "Come Together"

Friday, May 6, 2011

May 6 playlist

with the exception of three tracks, I played all new music this week.

PLAYLIST
Beastie Boys “Make Some Noise”
Dirty Vegas “Changes”
Mother Mother “Simply Simple”
Justice “Civilization”
Simple Plan featuring Natasha Bedingfield “Jet Lag”
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong “Summertime”
Louis Armstrong “What a Wonderful World”
Superchunk “Rosemary”
Foo Fighters “White Limo”
The Sounds “Something to Die For”
Danger Mouse featuring Jack White “Two Against One”
The Chain Gang of 1974 “Undercover”
Frankmusik featuring Far East Movement “Do It in the AM”
David Guetta, Flo Rida, and Nicki Minaj “Where Them Girls At”
Of Montreal “Slave Translator”
Taking Back Sunday “Faith (When I Let You Down”
Death Cab for Cutie “Home is a Fire”
Ida Maria “Bad Karma”
We the Kings “Friday is Forever”
Arctic Monkeys “Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I Moved Your Chair”
Jimmy Eat World “The Middle”

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Summertime by Lady Ella

The First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, performs live in Berlin. This is "Summertime", originally written and performed for the play "Porgy and Bess", a drama about a homeless Southern black family trying to survive during the Great Depression.

Lady Ella is without a doubt one of the greatest American treasures. Each song she performed was delivered with such emotion and complexity. She lived, breathe, suffered, and triumphed with every song.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig co-wrote and stars in this new spin on the big day. I can't wait for this potentially hilarious movie.



Here's a TIME profile on Wiig, who should have been on the magazine's cover.

Kristen Wiig: The Anti-Comedian

Monday, May 2, 2011

No More Boogeyman

No More Boogeyman

Eduardo Sayago | 1 May 2011

For the past decade, our nation (and the world) lived in fear. We were subjected to harsh and often controversial security measures in airports, public places, and government buildings. We looked at our skylines and monuments, fearing that they might not be there the next day or second. An entire ethnic group (Arabs) and a scared religion (Islam) was discriminated and attacked by many people who did not know better or feared them because they were perceived as terrorists who wanted to kill us in cold-blood. Entire legions of talking pundits created careers and gathered followings by attacking Arabs and Islam.

Tragedy often unites people together. On this occasion, a victory unites people together. Osama bin Laden, the most hated man since Adolf Hitler (who committed suicide exactly 66 years after the latter killed himself in a secluded compound in Berlin) was killed in a firefight between US troops in a large compound 60 miles (100 km) from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

“Justice has been done,” said President Obama in a live televised broadcast from the West Wing.

I hear fireworks a few houses down the street and several people celebrating outside. Thousands are outside the White House gates, chanting “USA! USA! USA!” waving flags, taking pictures; happy and victorious that their country has defeated the face of evil.

Tomorrow is uncertain. We are not sure what the fate of al-Qaida will be. Will they retaliate? Will they splinter into irrelevance? Will another person replace bin Laden and try to continue the organization’s efforts at demonizing our planet?

Just as soon as this news breaks across the globe, people have taken to the World Wide Web and begun politicizing this event. “Obama got Osama,” chants one commenter on CNN. A few say that this will help Obama’s reelection. I dunno how those two actions are connected. George H.W. Bush got the Iraqis out of Kuwait yet he lost his reelection bid. Winston Churchill got the United Kingdom through WWII and the evil forces of Hitler yet lost his reelection bid mere months after the war ended.

September 11th was not bin Laden and al-Qaida’s only act of terrorism upon civilians and soldiers who did nothing wrong, nothing to deserve their premature deaths. 9/11 sparked many more attacks around the world, from the bombings of trains in Spain to double-deckers and metro stations in London blown beyond recognition. Americans were not the only people who were attacked. Everyone was a target, no matter what their nationality, creed, race, religion or socioeconomic status.

September 11th changed our nation, our world, and our lives. One day we have to explain to children who were born after this tragic day that once upon a time we lived in a world where you didn’t have entire blocks of downtown closed because someone left a duffle bag on a train or in a lobby. Or airport security was much easier to handle. Or the government didn’t have a Department of Homeland Security. Or that Afghanistan is an actual country with a rich history and culture and not the epicenter for a group of terrorists. Three kids in my family, my sister Fatima (age 5) and my cousins Emilio (age 5) and Mia (age 3) will one day see the images of the World Trade Center in a completely different lenses than you and I see it. To them, this world we have been thrown into without warning on that Tuesday morning in 2001 is their world now.

We may have won the battle but we still need a hell of a lot more to accomplish in order to win this war, which becomes more difficult and complex every year. At least now we have been granted justice and some closure. bin Laden may have changed our world for worse by instilling fear amongst its people but he can no longer determine the world’s fate. He does not get to be the boogeyman any more. #