Just finished “Human All Too Human” A documentary on the life of the French existentialist philosopher, screen writer, dramatist, novelist and all around cool dude Jean Paul Sartre.
(via Google Video)
June 2008
Quotes: Ask Calvin's dad →
elise.com
The father from Calvin And Hobbes explains the world.
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Air - “Universal Traveler”
The week is coming to an end and it’s time to unwind. We all just need to sit back and chill out for a few minutes and listening to Air is the best way I know. From their first EP Premiers Symptômes in 1997 to last year’s Pocket Symphony , Air always seems to create a beautiful backdrop of sound.
From their 2004 release Talkie Walkie, “Universal Traveler” is another beautiful song with a vagabond message.
However, if you’re in a more upbeat mood go check out the previous Tuneage post for Air’s “Kelly Watch the Stars”.
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I Get Along Without You Very Well: Chet Baker (1955)
Romance is dangerous, and romantics are dangerous people. They will turn lives upside down, destroy anyone and anything in their path – including themselves – all for the benefit of realizing a romantic vision. Like Melville’s white whale, romance is at once terrifying and beautiful, never able to be fully understood.
Chet Baker began his career as a beautiful young trumpet player, who happened to sing once in awhile. He ended his career gaunt and toothless, looking at least a decade older than fifty-nine years on earth might suggest, his heroin and cocaine numbed body sailing out of an Amsterdam hotel room window and onto an unforgiving sidewalk two stories below.
Jazz aficionados argued whether or not Baker was a good singer or not. He probably wasn’t, technically speaking, but that’s why I love him. This recording of “I Get Along Without You Very Well” is a pop song. Hell, it’s an indie-pop song. My case is this: Baker sings for effect, not technique. He sings so soft and close to the microphone that it sends chills up the spine. The celeste in the beginning is an indication of arrangement coming dangerously close to being called record production, an element usually ignored in traditional jazz recordings. Finally, Baker never touches his trumpet, nor does anyone take a solo. Yes, we clock in just shy of three minutes.
Chet Baker’s story is a tragic one; and let’s face it, tragedy is romance’s troubled kin. But even putting aside Baker’s biography, his voice is so mysterious, intimate, lackadaisical, and – here’s his trump card – androgynous. All these variables add up to a strange sensuality. Introduce his dangerous biography into the mix and Baker has all the makings of an indie-pop idol.
I have quite a few Chet Baker records, and there are so many great tracks, but this song always stands out as being the most dangerous. One can only imagine how many lives this recording has destroyed. His voice, gentle and hypnotic, casts a spell upon the listener. How many bad loves had been reunited on Baker’s watch? How many misguided make-up/break-up cycles were perpetuated because of his heartbreaking croon? How many perfectly good nights alone ended in gin-soaked tears and letters written but never sent after listening to this track on repeat for three hours? Romantics beware; Baker’s got your number.
Download song
Chet Baker Wikipedia
Buy The Best of Chet Baker Sings (highly, highly recommended)
“Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all. Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do. But in a pluralistic democracy, we have no choice. Politics depends on our ability to persuade each other of common aims based on a common reality. It involves the compromise, the art of what’s possible. At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It’s the art of the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God’s edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one’s life on such uncompromising commitments may be sublime, but to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.”
—Barack Obama (via marco) (via maniacalrage)
Awesome Highlighter →
awesomehighlighter.com
The name speaks for itsel
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Migraines suck major balls
I am, at this moment, in the middle of a migraine. And hopefully I can share how awfully shit migraines cat actually be. They are so debilitating you are forced to take a pill which reders you even more useless… The only thing that seems to cure it indefenitely is getting some sleep… Anyways, I can berely read what I’m righting due to the aura… Hope some of you understand the pain these things give me. Awful mind fuzz plus crazy visuals (not enjoyable ones).
Tripping on the Trans-Can: Hippies Canada Youth Hostels →
walrusmagazine.com
The Walrus/ Crystal Luxmore, Photos by Joan Latchford
Snippets dating from the summer of 1970, when some 50,000 kids bummed across the country—a “youthful invasion” that prompted the federal government to create a makeshift hostel system operating every summer until 1976.“Tripping Out?? — Do It! Across Canada”
— The Georgia Straight, Vancouver
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