Traveling Music

In an effort to figure out just what CD's I would need if stranded on a desert island, I compiled this Top 40 list (ok, 42 - The smallest number I could stand). The order is generally correct, the closer to 1- the more accurate.


42. Radio KAOS- Roger Waters
41. Promised Land - Queensryche
40. The Unforgettable Fire - U2
39. Security - Peter Gabriel
38. The Dream of the Blue Turtles -Sting
37. Internal Exile - Fish
36.War - U2
35.Everything's Different Now - 'Til Tuesday
34.Synchronicity - The Police
33.Counterparts - Rush
32.Peter Gabriel III - Peter Gabriel
31.Nothing Like The Sun - Sting
30.Empire -Queensryche
29.Voices Carry - 'Til Tuesday
28.How We Live - How We Live
27. So - Peter Gabriel
26. Script for A Jester's Tear - Marillion
25. Momentary Lapse of Reason - Pink Floyd
24. Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors - Fish
23. Invisible Touch - Genesis
22. Ten - Pearl Jam
21. Hold Your Fire - Rush
20. Misplaced Childhood- Marillion
19. Roll With It - Steve Winwood
18. Reggata De Blanc - The Police
17. Awake - Dream Theater
16. Roll The Bones - Rush
15. Us - Peter Gabriel
14. Rattle & Hum - U2
13. Images & Words- Dream Theater
12. Ten Summoners Tales - Sting
11. Eye of the Hurricane - The Alarm
10. Fumbling Towards Ecstacy - Sarah Maclachlan
9. Holiday's in Eden - Marillion
8. The Wall - Pink Floyd
7. Passion - Peter Gabriel
6. Seasons' End - Marillion
5. Clutching at Straws - Marillion
4. Afraid of Sunlight - Marillion
3. Presto - Rush
2. The Soul Cages - Sting
1. Achtung Baby- U2

Ghost of a Chance

Rush @ Xcel Center - St Paul, MN - 2008.05.22

Its refreshing to go to a concert (particularly where the crowd is advanced in age) and be able to stand for the whole show without being told to sit down. Thursdays night's performance by RUSH was an excellent one. The guys returned to top form with more energy and a better set than their 2002 tour. Its good to see that they can still play a 3 Hour show.

The Good: Dreamline (lasers!) / Ghost of a Chance/ Subdivisions/ Witch Hunt/ No Working Man. [1]
The Bad: No Presto / Counterparts

Setlist:
Limelight /Digital Man /Ghost of A Chance/Mission/ Free Will/ The Main Monkey Business/ The Larger Bowl/ Red Barchetta/The Trees/Between The Wheels /Dreamline

Far Cry/Working Them Angels/ Armor and Sword/ Spindrift/ The Way The Wind Blows/ Subdivisions/Natural Science /Witch Hunt/ Malignant Narcissism -Drum Solo /Hope/ The Spirit of Radio/ 2112/ Tom Sawyer

One Little Victory /A Passage to Bangkok /YYZ






[1] Seriously, what kind of idiot calls up KQ after the show and complains that there was no Working Man. Its a crappy song that dates from before they were really "Rush" and its was played to death on the last tour.

Erotomania

Dream Theater @ The Myth - Maplewood, MN - 2008.05.12

Dream Theater's set for The Progressive Nation 2008 Tour is a tough one. Its short (90 minutes) and it consists of highly progressive selections, meaning it wasn't a simple accessible "song" show - it was a 90 minute workout. Given this level of difficulty, for them and the crowd, they performed flawlessly. They were right on, as tight as ever. This was perhaps the best drum work I've heard from Portnoy, a very intense solo - which I hope becomes documented on a future video release. This show proved the high level these guys have achieved in their craft.

Setlist
In the Presence of Enemies PT1 / Beyond This Life / Misunderstood / Forsaken / Never Enough / Erotomania / Voices / /The Ministry of Lost Souls / Metropolis-Learning to Live-The Crimson Sunset

Available Light

Play of light
A photograph
The way I used to be
Some half-forgotten stranger
Doesn't mean that much to me

Trick of light
Moving picture
Moments caught in flight
Make the shadows darker
Or the colors shine too bright

Oh the light can carry
All the visions of the sea
Oh the light can carry
All the images to me

Run to light from shadow
Sun gives me no rest
Promise offered in the east
Broken in the west
Chase the sun around the world
I want to look at life
In the available light

-RUSH - Available Light - Presto (1989)


Nevertheless, I'm certain that man will never give up true suffering, that is, chaos and destruction. Why, suffering is the only cause of consciousness
. . . The meaning of man's life consists in proving to himself every minute that he's a man and not a piano key.

- Dostoevsky


Last Book Read: What's It All About - Philosophy & The Meaning of Life - Julian Baggini



There are some who say reading a book like this is a waste of time. Beyond asking what someone knows about the particular book (nothing), I would argue that there is no more important question in all of human experience. There is no point to philosophy or anything else without addressing this question. As Socrates said, "the unexamined life is not worth living." The first consideration is to determine if there is a meaning to life. If there isn't, we are left in a Schoepenhauer-esque world of nihilism, contemplating Camus' question - why don't we just commit suicide? Of course, nihilism doesn't hold up very well, and I doubt it has many adherents. Therefore, we are left with the question of what it is, or where it derives from. Bagginni presents the meaning of life from a humanist point of view, and he argues that this is really the only possibility. Even if we are the creations of a God, we still have to find this meaning for ourselves. His whole point is that this endeavor can be done without the need to rely on the spiritual. Secondly, he reduces the vagueness of this large question, into specific areas.

Baggini anticipates that some regard this as a waste of time, as they think the answer is simple. He replies by showing that the concept of Carpe Diem is not as simple as these "pub philosophers" think it is. He basically equates these people with those found in Kierkegaard's aesthetic stage. Living in the moment becomes unsatisfying because it is made up of unconnected moments. Life is a tragedy because it contains "the inevitability that even the most wonderful experiences cannot be held in our grasp but rather run through our fingers like water. Life is ultimately sad because we are doomed to lose the most valuable of times." He continues on to suggest "that the most intense aesthetic experiences actually have their power precisely because they remind us of our mortality [and they] make the transitory nature of existence evident and thus bring home to us the fact the very possibility of experience itself will come to an end." This profound version of Carpe Diem "draws a necessary link between the joy of the moment and the pain of its passing." So these moments show us the value of life, because moments of experience do have value, but in themselves they contain an emptiness and require a more substantial viewpoint to provide overall meaning.

There are others who think the search for meaning is a waste of time because it cannot be known, it is "opaque." Baggini concludes that even an unexamined life can be meaningful - it may contain elements of meaning - authenticity, love, aesthetic experience, happiness, altruism and success - without the person having actually thought about it. I believe that he is too generous to those who are non-philosophical about life. He even states that this shows "how unreflective much of humanity is." It may be true that they are living meaningful lives, at least on appearance. On the surface they may be, but if they haven't thought about it - have they done the work? It could just as easily be an accident. Without thinking about it, they haven't made the choices to reach their goals. Like doing anything else they may have a finished product, but without doing the construction of it, it seems somewhat empty. Of course the only missing piece is the simple attempt to think about it- to contemplate the possible alternatives. And to do this, Baggini has provided anyone with a good start by reviewing this book.

I'm not sure what viewpoint Baggini comes from, other than humanist. He references much from Sartre, although this is probably because it represents the best humanist viewpoints. However, he only sees authenticity as one of many components to a meaningful life. He also warns against"existential snobbery" of brooding too much over angst, and he downplays the significance of philosophy in examining life as "intellectual arrogance." He concludes, as others have, that meaning and morality are inseparable, and then claims that this is a problem for existentialists, because they "do not provide any guidance on what kinds of moral choices are morally acceptable." First, I think this is a flaw in the development of Existentialism, and it is unfortunate that Sartre did not deliver his promised Ethics before abandoning Existentialism, although, we are left with Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity. But, I would argue that the concept of authenticity entails morally justified behavior through responsibility, where integrity of the self is defined and developed through the awareness of freedom, both of the self and of the other. Therefore authenticity/morality/meaning are all intertwined. This is an area where Existentialism makes a break from other radical viewpoints and continues as a sustainable, coherent and justifiable philosophy. Individual relativists and rebels like Norman Mailer are the ones who are in this indefensible position, where anything can become one's project - even if it is evil and destructive. The arguments against transcendence rely on the historic wealth of thought from Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus. So, it would seem to me that Existentialism has the most thorough of all humanistic viewpoints, and has yet to be superceded.

Exposing "Exposing 'Northern Exposure'"

Beyond Postmodernism? - Exposing "Northern Exposure"

A critical and philosophical appraisal of the function of
Intertextuality and Metanarratives in Universal's 'Northern Exposure'

Postmodern analysis of popular culture is all very interesting, but I wonder why after 40 years of such analysis, it can still only be communicated in hyper-technical language. We are living in a post-modern culture, constantly surrounded by it, but expressing it seems impossible without learning a foreign language. Anyway, I guess I'll stop reading this and pick up Heidegger - which would be just as easy, and then pull out the Northern Exposure Dvds. If anyone wants to translate this article into something that is more accessible, let me know.

Not Now John

"The problem with capitalism is that "man exploits man." The beauty of communism is that it is the other way around."

Here is one article detailing the latest spike in oil prices. As it notes, the oil companies have been getting tax breaks from the Bush administration, and yet we are getting gouged at the pump more than ever. It is not a case of drivers continuing to use more gas, thereby driving the prices up. The demand for gas dropped slightly over the last year. People in the oil industry are saying there is simply no explanation for the prices, all of the technical indicators are gone and there is just no control on the market Our inventory is the highest its been in many years. So, it seems to be a case of a really bad economy and a desire to continue record profits. This article also notes that most of the usual corrections don't seem to be there. A very weak dollar is part of the problem, but the speculators seem to be playing a big part. "Maybe its just greed." That seems to be a good explanation, with no good investment opportunities left, traders are trying to get rich off of oil, and that is going to have major ramifications.

Energy costs show were capitalism is a failure. Energy is one area that shouldn't be left to a free market, where some get rich and many get left out in the cold, literally. Besides destabilizing personal economics, this enormous jump in costs threatens the national and global economies, and since it doesn't seem to be easily replaceable, it threatens are national security and global security. I don't want to sound too MadMax here, but we have had a strong military presence in the Middle East for many decades, and I don't think that is a coincidence. We've known for 30 years that oil will become a problem and quickly destabilizes our domestic and foreign interests. But instead of following a plan of conservation and developed alternatives, we have successfully ignored the problem.

The word Nationalization is a very scary concept for the free market conservatives. Yet, every time the corporate sector crashes because of immense greed and fraud, the government has to foot the bill - which means we, the taxpayers, end up funding this robbery. The S&L bailout alone cost us $400 Billion It seems that Europe has realized the need for Nationalization, and this is a concept we should further investigate. Not only would we quit being robbed of public (taxpayer) money , but the nation as a whole could benefit from the profit. We should start by Nationalizing the energy industry - yes that means taking oil off the free market. Besides stabilizing the economy, we would increase national security and global security, and profit could be funneled into R & D for alternative energy sources, thereby increasing future stability and security. At the very least, there should be a legal end to speculation.

Just how bad does the economy have to get for Ben Stein (who recently said we should be thanking the oil companies) to publicly admit that the only solution is going to be taxing the rich? That realization must have been a painful experience for him. At least he realizes that a significant part of the problem is the weakening dollar. This is an idea that has escaped intellectually-challenged people like Sean Hannity, who seems to still think the economy is great and that the value of U.S. currency is irrelevant to a recession. Of course he only says that because Bush bears the responsibility, and if a democrat was in office, his viewpoint would be quite reversed.