I’ve finally resumed the process of putting old articles from the site’s prior format into the blog database. Tonight, Life in Practice essays from 2000-2004 can now be found from that helpful link in the sidebar. My to do list says I’m supposed to tackle the Special Order Speeches section tomorrow, but that’s seeming ambitious. […]
Don’t know if I’m gonna write a full review or not, but here’s what I’m thinking after three passes through the new album: If Wikipedia is correct about which four songs the full lineup worked on with Steve Lillywhite as producer, I think it makes sense to view Time on Earth as a Neil Finn […]
Had an 8:40 AM education class today. I didn’t handle 8:40 AM classes well when I had no kids, was single, and lived five minutes from the classroom building. Throw in the wife, kids, and 75-minute commute, and hoo-boy, have I been a zombie today. Did some textbook orders for my fall classes – thank […]
Nothing profound today, but I must say I got a kick out of this story: not only did the Phillies avoid losing the 10,000th game in their history – they’ll be the first pro sports franchise ever to lose that many, once it happens – they helped save the Colorado grounds crew from a runaway […]
I had this whole post going about Live Earth, and then I deleted it before I could save it. So go check out this AP article to see Neil Finn paraphrased about the need for musicians to factor carbon offsets into their touring plans, and check out this interview with Al Gore where he discusses […]
Barack Obama was in town to speak to the National Education Association convention and said something to the effect that he supported a concept of merit pay for teachers, but not anything that’s actually been proposed under that heading. (In fact, looking at the text of the speech, the word “merit” doesn’t appear at all, […]
For some reason I got this Kids in the Hall sketch in my head today, and it occurred to me that it might be useful the next time I have to teach about skepticism. We may not really believe that David Foley has a speech impediment, but all the available sensory evidence agrees with that […]
On the way home from watching fireworks at my mother’s house, I was discussing my plans for obtaining the new Crowded House album which will be released in the US on Tuesday. Should I order from iTunes or Amazon? The plus side for iTunes: Practically instant availability. Environmentally friendly – less packaging and shipping. Two […]
One of these days I’m going to talk about Garlic and Sapphires, a memoir by a former restaurant critic for the New York Times. Until then, check out this AP article about Inquirer critic Craig LaBan, whose photo on the philly.com web site obscures his face behind a number of large rolls. (Anonymity is key […]
Reports are coming in from the first two of R.E.M.’s live rehearsals in Dublin. The band is playing through ten completely new songs, plus a song that debuted on the Around the Sun tour called “I’m Gonna DJ.” They’re also throwing in songs from their catalog that are said to be similar in tone to […]