jakobnicholas

From the L.A. Times: Poll: 49% disapprove of Obama's handling of healthcare policy A new Gallup poll shows 43% in support of the president. Findings are essentially unchanged over the last three weeks. By Mark Silva August 12, 2009 Reporting from Washington - The vocal few standing up at summer town-hall meetings with complaints about the president's proposed healthcare reforms aren't the only ones with concerns, polling shows. Slightly more Americans disapprove of the president's handling of healthcare than those who approve, the Gallup Poll reports this morning -- with findings essen

With editing and music (the Arcade Fire is absolutely perfect), trailers can be more thrilling than the movie itself. I hope (and doubt) that's the case with this movie. It LOOKS to have a lot characters to get invested in.

This is a very sweet and fun and beautiful film. Most of Miyazaki's films are darker and more mature than "Ponyo". But for me that didn't lessen the enjoyment of the film. The animation is so great....especially knowing it's all hand-drawn. Much of the focus of the film is on the ocean, and Miyazaki supposedly spent a lot of his time on making the ocean look as wonderful as it does. It's got Miyazaki's typical quirkiness throughout, but it's scaled-back more. The American voices (directed mainly by John Lassiter) sounded really good and the words and phrases sounded natural. I didn't notice

Fear was NEVER used as a tactic against Bush and Cheney. Are some Republicans using scare tactics? Maybe. They don't like the bill, so they're gonna do all they can to stop it.....the Democrats have done the same thing in the past. If Obama can't get his health bill passed through the Democratic Congress, Republican scare tactics won't be the reason.

I really don't follow politics very closely, so am not gonna try to make it sound like I know my shit, from a historical perspective. I agree with you that Republicans AND Democrats are both to blame. That kind of speaks to my frustration that for the past 8 years, there seems to a sentiment that W. is responsible for EVERY problem. You basically say as much above ("when the person who bears much if not most of the responsibility for our current predicament was still in office"). It was just a stupid little quote, but it bothered me that someone as intelligent as Jeff Tweedy could throw out

Jeff's quote, pertaining to this song in a Rolling Stone article, said how he felt so "beaten down after 8 crappy years" (that's pretty close, from what I remember), that he penned this song as kind of a hopeful song for the future. In the same article he talked about being excited to have Obama be the next President. If anyone is being narrow, maybe it's Mr. Tweedy. But yes, it IS a beautiful song, and it IS much more than just a song-writer feeling blue over a President. One thing I CAN understand from Conservtives is that there doesn't seem to be too much compromise with Obama. Obama se

Wake up, we’re here It’s so much worse than we feared There’s nothing left here Our country has disappeared With the winter trees bleeding leaf red blood And the summer sweet dreaming April blush But none of that is ever going to mean as much to me again Hold out your hand There’s so much we don’t understand So stick as close as you can To all of your best laid plans You’ve got the white clouds hanging so high above you You’ve got the helicopters dangling, angling to shoot The shots to feed the hungry weekend news crew anchormen So every evening we can watch from above Crush the cities

Wow. That's a very beautiful, touching piece by Ringwald.

I agree that Via Chicago is great, but I prefer Pieholden Suite. I'm surprised it's not on your list, as lyrically it packs the same emotional wallop as Reservations and it may be Jay Bennett's single best musical contribution to Wilco. That's saying a LOT. Via Chicago probably WOULD make my top 20 list some days, but not Reservations. Jeff has written a ton of great, quiet songs....Panthers, Lonely One, Fatal Wound, Radio King, Less Than You Think, On and On and On, Solitaire...... Reservations is great, no doubt, but why that single song as Jeff's pinnacle?

Joe Posnanski, a very great sportswriter from the Kansas City Star (who just announced he took his dream job as head senior writer at Sports Illustrated), wrote this on his blog: John Hughes directed eight movies. I saw all eight movies. I don’t know if there’s another director I can say that about. I can say that Martin Scorsese is my favorite director, but I haven’t seen every one of his movies. Boxcar Bertha? No. New York, New York? Always thought I would see it, but no. There are others. I love Woody Allen but haven’t come CLOSE to seeing every one of his movies in large part becau

I have a hard time distinguishing "best" from "favorite" when it comes to music. If I really like a song, it becomes my favorite AND the best. Stairway to Heaven and Freebird almost always top the all-time best classic songs list. But if I made the same list, Kashmir and Gimme Back My Bullets would get my vote before those 2 'cause I like those songs better. I wouldn't get in a big argument with someone who said Lennon's solo work is better than McCartney's solo work. But McCartney's solo and Wings work is by far my favorite over Lennon's work. I agree that movies are easier to disti

I saw Wilco in St. Louis very shortly after Bennett's departure, and it's one of my favorite Wilco shows ever. It was just the four of them, but the more spare version of Wilco was pretty stunning. Tweedy really shined in that lineup, and I loved Bach's keyboards and occassional guitar. There wasn't a lot of guitar jamming, but that seemed to be OK.

Finally got around to looking through your site. Very interesting and fun to read. I particularly like your Summerteeth blurbs and interpretations. But no Pieholden Suite? It's very possible I over-looked it, but even clicking on the Summerteeth link only brings up 14 songs, one short when counting Candy Floss.

I'm not sure Disney is to blame. In fact, John Lassiter is a HUGE fan of Miyazaki's films and seems to be doing all he can at Disney to get as many people seeing the films....whether at theatres or DVD. I just think it's a cultural thing. Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, as great as they are, are like art-house films when compared to Madagascar or Kung Fu Panda. I think visually his films are a little too mature or creepy for the typical parent who's used to taking their kids to see cute and funny characters. I think Ponyo could be different, as it sounds to be very much geared for ki

I didn't know Via Chicago was so non-diverse looking. We could all pass for an audience of the Mike Huckeby show.

mtt_wojo says in the Top 20 Tweedy Songs thread that "From what I read in the Wilco book, Jay basically said that Billy came up with three chords to the songs. Jay added more embellishments to the chords and sequence and Jeff came up with this beautiful melody. Basically a group collaboration, yet when the album came out, it was only listed to Billy. Apparently he thought the three chords he came up with were the 'germ' of the song." If this and what Common believes is all true, what sort of character is Billy Bragg?! I'm guessing the beautifull keyboards are all Jay. And Tweedy's voice and

I'm really looking forward to this. Below is an interesting Variety article. I'm stunned that a Miyazaki movie has never made more that $10 millon in the U.S. Disney, who is putting out his movie, looks to be making a more concerted effort at making this movie more appealing to a wide audience... Miyazaki hopes to break U.S. spell 'Ponyo' aims at wider audience By ELLEN WOLFF Animation fans know Hayao Miyazaki as the living legend behind four decades of hand-drawn classics, including "My Neighbor Totoro" (a film originally released in the U.S. by low-budget label Troma) and Oscar win

That may be correct. And if it is.....well, crap!....now I may need to re-do my list. It's my opinion that Another Man Done Gone is the best track on either Mermaid Ave. disc.

You can copy and paste your list into the thread called "Let's Do This Right", where ViaChicagoans are gonna tally their own Top 20 list. Good lyric choices. Another Man's Done Gone IS fantastic, but I believe Billy Bragg wrote that song.

How hard would it be to name R.E.M.'s Top 20 songs?! Paste magazine gives it a shot. Here's their Top 20, plus a link (the writer gives a small blurb for each song): 1. Talk About the Passion 2. Driver 8 3. Swan Swan H 4. Nightswimming 5. Finest Worksong 6. Losing My Religion 7. Don't Go Back to Rockville 8. So. Central Rain 9. Radio Free Europe 10. It's The End of the World... 11. Everydoby Hurts 12. Fall On Me 13. 7 Chinese Bros. 14. Man on the Moon 15. Gardening At Night 16. What's the Frequency Kenneth 17. Cuyahoga 18. World Leader Pretend 19. These Days 20. King of Birds http://www.pa

It's embarrassing all the great songs I DON'T have on my list. Here's mine: 1. Pieholden Suite 2. She's A Jar 3. At Least That's What You Said 4. Hell is Chrome 5. Fatal Wound 6. Venus Stop the Train 7. Sky Blue Sky (Lullaby for Rafters & Beams version) 8. Dash 7 9. Wreckroom 10. Always in Love 11. Lonely One 12. Ashes of American Flags 13. Solitaire 14. All The Same To Me 15. Hotel Arizona 16. Panthers (acoustic) 17. Black Eye 18. Hummingbird (Wilcobook) 19. Airline to Heaven 20. Magazine Called Sunset

So This Is A Panic Attack, Eh? By T. Eric Mayhew July 30, 2009 | Issue 45•31 Hmmm. Something seems to be happening. I'm definitely noticing a quickening of the breath, a pounding of the heart, racing thoughts, and I believe…yes, the feeling of an elephant sitting on my chest. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this is one of those elusive "panic attacks" I've heard so much about. Huh. I really didn't expect it to be quite so utterly terrifying. Weird. It's almost as if the more I think about how panicked I am, the more panicked I get. Like some kind of, what do you call those? Vicious

Junior's Farm (Paul) Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Paul) #9 Dream (John) Photograph (Ringo) Watching the Wheels (John) What is Life (George) Take it Away (Paul) Give Me Love (George) Band on the Run (Paul) Hi Hi Hi (Paul) * I almost included a song from Paul's "Back to the Egg". I might argue it's the ballsiest of all their post-Beatles output. It's a very strange record, but I give props to Paul for taking a stab at a hard rock album.....at least for one side anyway. 'Getting Closer' and 'Old Siam Sir' are both very good rockers.

Summerteeth has 2 represented, and sadly, I don't think it will get another....though I think it's almost criminal to not have at least one of the following on a Top 20 Tweedy list: Pieholden Suite, How to Fight Lonliness or Via Chicago. I'll try the impossible....and predict the final 3 songs. 3. At Least That's What You Said or Hell is Chrome or Spiders (I'll predict Spiders, though Hell is Chrome is my personal fave. One of these MUST be on a top 20 Tweedy list.) 2. IITTBYH or Ashes of American Flags or Poor Places (I'll predict Ashes. All 3 of these are arguably better than the 2 Y

It really is a great tease and makes me excited to hear the whole thing. Pitchfork did an interview with Wayne Coyne during the Pitchfork Music Fest. Wayne talks a little of making the record: Pitchfork: So you've got some new ones off your new album, it's called Embryonic? WC: Yeah, we feel it's still new to us…I don't know, it's a bit difficult, even by our standards. Pitchfork: Were you trying to do anything in particular with it? WC: Well you try not to just do the same thing over and over again, which is difficult. I think once you've made one record, you can easily say,