text:
humor, short stories
The Universal Face of Annoyance
December 11, 2014 July 11, 2016 by neederish
The mailman for our building – a man whom I often run down to say hello so I can hear his complaints (he has a very particular style of complaining that makes me really happy) – well, he was on the other side of our block dutifully* delivering mail, when he saw that someone from another shift had delivered our package to the building across the street.
He was so annoyed, sooooo** annoyed, that he took the package, walked around the block, into our building, up four flights of stairs, to hand me the package and correct this heinous blunder by some unnerving fool, even though he still has to come back later to deliver the rest of our mail. "It SAYS the address on there, IT SAYS IT ON THERE! 123, not 132!" he exclaimed in exasperated frustration.
Like this, but backwards. Actual space stuff via Dailymail
While staring at his face, I had about a million flashbacks to every time I've experienced this emotion or observed it in others. It was the best: like staring into the universe of a very particular emotion as it recedes into the past, connected to every emotion that came before it and will come after it, every eye roll, every grunt or sigh, every desire to flip over a table, every "I just can't" that has existed in all of the languages of human expression. Exhilarating.
*Why hasn't this word been shortened to 'dutily'?
**Oh the frustration of writing an assignment for school or work and not being able to convey how much you mean something by adding extra letters because it's not 'proper English'. This is why the majority of the populace cares not for grammar, and neither shall I.
FLTHW: Burlington Coat Factory
A Moment With: Her Past And My Present


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text:
Exchange of views with Eamon Gilmore
DROI Committee, European Parliament
Brussels, 9 September 2019
Madame President and Members of the European Parliament,
Thank you for the invitation to be with you today for this exchange of views, and especially for the honour to appear before you, so early in your mandate.
I wish to congratulate all of you on your election to the European Parliament, those of you who are here for the first time, and those who have been re-elected.
I have never had the privilege of being a Member of this House, but for thirty years continuously, I served the people of my country and my constituency in elected public office, most of it in my National Parliament, Dáil Éireann. It is, I believe, the greatest honour in a democracy, to be freely chosen by our fellow citizens, and to have delegated to us the responsibility to make laws, to hold institutions to account and to act for the public good.
As I do my work now, as EUSR for Human Rights, I often recall that special moment of democracy, when as individual citizens, in the privacy of a polling booth, we make free choice as to who will represent us and who will govern, and I reflect on the rights and freedoms that sometimes, perhaps in Europe, we take for granted, and I think of the billions of people throughout the world who are denied them.
In the World today, Human Rights are challenged on four different fronts:
First, is the daily reality, of Human Rights violations and abuses: Children robbed of their childhood and forced into armed gangs and children who are the innocent victims of war; women who are raped and subjected to violence; families forced to flee their homes because of conflict, poverty or fear; courageous women and men who languish in prison because they dared express an opinion or because they sought to defend the Human Rights we all espouse; accused people who are denied a fair trial; or the people who walk long distances every day to find water which is safe to drink.
Respecting and vindicating the human rights of these people is not some political option or choice for countries and governments.
It is a legal obligation, agreed by countries, enshrined in international conventions and legally binding treaties, and intended to apply to every person, everywhere on the globe.
But this Universal and Indivisible nature of Human Rights is now also being challenged by those who seek to redefine it in more relativist terms. And this is our second challenge – the attempt to redefine Human Rights. The approach that argues that Development comes before Human Rights; that Social and Economic Rights should be separated from the Civil and Political; that traditional values trump others, especially in the personal domain, in an imagined hierarchy.
The third and related challenge is the weakening of multilateralism, about which much has been spoken.
In Human Rights, we see it in the rejection by some countries of UN Special Procedures; in the withdrawal by the U.S. from the UN Human Rights Council and in the undermining of the International Criminal Court and the apparent impunity for gross violations, including even genocide.
The Fourth Challenge we face arises from this global age itself: the advances in technology and communication, digitalisation, artificial intelligence which pose new risks to human rights especially relating to privacy and personal integrity, but which also open up new opportunities to widen freedoms and defend rights.
In this challenging environment, the European Union is expected to do more: to assert our values, which are not just European but Universal; to defend the multilateral system, and in alliance with others to champion Human Rights.
The EU is, of course, already doing a lot on Human Rights. Human Rights is in the DNA of the EU: in the Treaties; in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and as the Global Strategy makes clear, it is at the core of all our Foreign Policy and External Action.
Together with the Member States, the EU is the largest global financial contributor to Human Rights, and the evidence that can be found, in the reliefs we provide for human rights defenders, in our supports to civil society, and in the financing of the programmes and work of other international bodies such as the UN, Council of Europe and the ICC. The EIDHR alone has made available 1.3bn Euros in the current MFF period to 2020.
The EU is committed to combatting impunity and to promote a rules-based international order. We have been a consistent, strong supporter of promoting and respecting International Humanitarian Law and the International Criminal Court. In addition, the EU was the first regional actor to adopt a Policy Framework on Support to Transitional Justice.
Accountability for human rights violations in conflicts situations is essential to rebuilding a peaceful, democratic society and preventing new cycles of violence.
In the multi-lateral fora, it is the EU which consistently upholds the UN system, supporting the High Commissioner on HR, and it is the EU which often takes the lead, on country-specific resolutions (Myanmar, Burundi, Belarus, DPRK), and on thematic issues such the rights of the child and on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
At Bilateral level, the EU Delegations in third countries raise specific issues with governments, maintain dialogues with civil society, and take action such as attendance at trials.
In 125 countries, the EU has "live" updated Human Rights Strategies; there are formal Human rights Dialogues with more than 40 countries and Regional organisations; Human Rights clauses are in the Trade and other framework agreements; Human Rights are a precondition for accession; the Trade preferences regimes are conditional on adherence to human rights standards; and the in recent years the EU has taken new initiatives such as the Alliance for Torture Free Trade and the Good Human Rights Stories Initiative (which I will moderate later this month in New York during UNGA).
And, of course, the European Parliament, and especially through this Committee, is one of the World's greatest advocates for Human Rights.
No World Power, no regional organisation, no individual country does more to promote and protect Human Rights than does the EU and its member States collectively.
But we need to more; we must try to do it even better; and we should do it together. In Human Rights there is much to be done, and we cannot afford the luxury of dwelling on our own temporary differences of approach, instruments, tools and styles. We must concentrate together on being effective, drawing on all the resources and resolve of this Parliament, of our institutions and our member states, and working closely with civil society and advance the human rights agenda.
The role of the EUSR is essentially to support that work, to contribute to the effectiveness of the EU's work on Human Rights, to work with all of the institutions, and with the member states, and of course with the parliament. The purpose of the EUSR is essentially to add value to the Human Rights efforts of the Union. My office and operation is small but willing.
Let me give you a flavour of what I have been doing since asking up office in March.
Since I took up duty on 1st March, I have participated in the Human Rights Dialogues with China, Belarus, Myanmar and Colombia. I am scheduled to co-chair HRDs with African Union, Cuba, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa during October and November.
A human rights discussion with Iran is also being considered before the end of the year.
On the multi-lateral side, I have:
Represented HRVP at Council of Europe Ministerial Meeting in June; at UK/Canada hosted conference on Media Freedom in July; and at US organised Ministerial on Religious Freedom in July;
participated in the June Session of the Human Rights Council;
Visited Council of Europe in Strasbourg, and I have established working relationship with Council of Europe Commissioner on Human Rights;
visited headquarters of African Union in Addis Ababa for discussion with African Union Commissioners who have a Human Rights role;
Participated in the launch of a UN initiative on Children in Conflict;
I had a long meeting with High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and we are planning a further working meetings in the near future;
met with several UN Special Rapporteurs;
met the ICRC President to engage in discussion on IHL
I will visit the ICC in The Hague this week.
Our bilateral engagement is a fundamentally important strategic area. Since the beginning of my mandate, I have visited:
Ethiopia (where there has been a remarkable improvement in Human Rights);
Eritrea (where I was the first international Human Rights official to visit); and I have laid the groundwork for further engagement
Myanmar (for the Human Rights Dialogue, and for bilateral discussions with the country's civilian and military leaders);
Bangladesh (for discussions on their own human rights record and to visit the Rohingya Refugees in Cox's Bazaar and discuss with community leaders);
Washington (for the religious freedom Ministerial, and for discussions with the administration about their planned new approach to human rights);
I am planning bilateral visits to Egypt, Gambia, Mexico, Belarus in the near future and I have an invitation to visit Ukraine.
Over the course of the past week during the EU Ambassadors conference, I had the chance to meet and discuss with the Ambassadors of the countries I have been to and I am planning to visit.
I want to work closely with the Parliament, and I have already had some preliminary discussion with you Madame President, on how we might share information and experiences of your Parliamentary visits and my bilateral work with various countries.
We might also consider some issues on which we could have some thematic consistency in our engagements abroad.
I am thinking of issues such as the abolition of the Death Penalty. The World is 75% of the way to total abolition or moratorium. Can we try to drive for total world-wide abolition?
Can we work together in support of the UN Campaign to take children out of conflict?
To oppose violence against women, wherever it occurs or whatever form it takes? To help to secure the release of those imprisoned today for thought, conscience or for expressing their opinion? To help bring to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other atrocities, and to help end the culture of impunity which encourages repetition.
I mention these as examples of the way we can work together. We can also work together on the new Human Rights challenges such as those arising from Digitalisation and others.
We are meeting today at the beginning of this new Parliament, and at the start of your work as a Committee. It is also at an early stage in my mandate as EUSR.
Two months from now, subject of course to the decisions of the Parliament, the new Commission will have taken office. Work is already underway in the preparation of a new EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy. It is a good moment to align our work on the Human Rights Agenda.
We have different roles of course, and we will not always agree on everything, on priorities, or on the best ways to be effective. But we should never forget that in a world where Human Rights has rarely been more challenged, we are on the same side, and we should never lose sight of our ultimate objectives in this field; which was put very eloquently by the President elect of the new Commission when she spoke to EU Ambassadors last week:
The Power of Freedom
The Reliability of the Rule of Law;
The Dignity of every human being.
Thank you and I look forward to your questions and comments.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/committees/video?event=20190909-1300-COMMITTEE-DROI
← Ministerial to advance Religious FreedomStatement by the EU Special Representative for Human Rights Mr. Eamon Gilmore at the High-Level side event of the LGBTI Core Group at the 74th UN General Assembly →

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Staff, please note we now have a new liability release form. The old form is no longer being used. You can find this new form on your website under Staff Resources/Forms. The form is much shorter and user-friendly. Do not forget to fill out the bottom section entitled "For records keeping". It will help guide the web/Electronic signing of the new release form. We receive between 30-40 forms each season, all for different events at different areas. Thank you for all you do for Ohio Region.


text:
MPI-BGC
HEINZ-GLAS (selected menu item)
EAA and the Anhalt-Bitterfeld-Wittenberg region
UFZ
ISOE
HEINZ-GLAS GmbH & Co. KGaA
Glashüttenplatz 1-7
96355 Kleintettau
Are you interesting in working at...?
HEINZ-GLAS
Please follow the link to see current job opportunities (in German only)
HEINZ-GLAS – environmentally conscious manufacturer with a 400 year heritage
HEINZ-GLAS GmbH & Co. KGaA is one of the world's leading manufacturers and finishers of glass flacons and caps for the perfume and cosmetics industry. HEINZ-GLAS located in Kleintettau is Germany's 12th oldest family business, with almost 400 years of family glassmaking heritage.
400 year heritage – The family-owned HEINZ-GLAS company was founded in 1622 in Kleintettau by Hans Heintz. Over the next 400 years, HEINZ-GLAS became one of the world's leading manufacturers in glass industry. To date, HEINZ-GLAS has been run under the leadership of 13 generations of the Heinz family. Today, the company's portfolio has expanded beyond glass flacons and caps for the perfume and cosmetics industry, to also include an extensive range of plastic caps, closures and accessorizes produced by HEINZ-PLASTICS. The abbreviation HEINZ stands not only for the family name, but also emphasises the company's values: History, Excellence, Innovation, Sustainability (german "Nachhaltigkeit"), Future (german "Zukunft").
Throughout its existence, the development of HEINZ-GLAS has gone hand in hand with the history of Kleintettau, forming deep emotional ties between the company and the region. Together with Kleintettau, HEINZ-GLAS faced the Thirty Years' War, a disastrous fire in 1904, in which the then almost 250-year-old village glassworks burnt down to its foundations, the Great Depression years, the Second World War and finally the most recent shock - the division of Germany – with the East-West border drawn right through the town. All these factors stand behind the cohesion, persistence in achieving goals, fighting spirit and stamina of the HEINZ-GLAS corporate culture.
Putting people first – One of HEINZ-GLAS Group's key factors for success is the commitment to share company profits with its approximately 3,000 employees. Furthermore, HEINZ-GLAS invests extensively in the training and professional development of its employees Heinz-Glas is not only family-owned but is also managed by the owner family: Mr Carl-August Heinz in the function of CEO and Carletta Heinz as a member of the Supervisory Boards.
Environmentally conscious approach – One of the key aims of HEINZ-GLAS is to raise awareness of the importance of environmental issues. Following this goal, the company is continually reducing consumption of power and water resources and is also limiting CO2 and VOC emissions. The company has several other measures that are aimed at boosting sustainability and ecological prosperity, including the deployment of energy-efficient electric melters, the development of water-based and low-VOC lacquers for spraying process and the use of waste server heat for heating energy. HEINZ-GLAS also uses its remaining waste heat from glass production to cultivate exotic fruit and help raise tropical fish in the tropical greenhouse on the Rennsteig.


... constraints forced it to make decisions affecting Duke Street Business Center. Sunday ... Business reference librarians Renee Ortenzio, left, and He.
Court to hear arguments in online-travel tax case ... for their vacation package businesses, have lobbied on behalf of the online-travel companies.
WEDC officials already have developed an "In Wisconsin" logo and placed ads in business magazines and online hoping to draw companies in.
It's Your Business: Budgeting for Growth & Profitability, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., NTC Center for Business & Industry, 1000 W. ... Online registration open.
HolisTech Inc., an online training company founded by husband-and-wife team Jason and Jamie Karcz, has opened for business in Fort Collins.
The article sheds a statistical light on the local internet marketing strategy of leveraging Yelp reviews to attract new customers for small businesses.
Senator seeks protection for online travel customers ... that such web sites have become a "major player" in the Philippine online shopping business.
The report also found small business internet penetration has grown to 96% from 23% in 1997, with 60% using a website to promote themselves.
Broadband internet access plays a key role in economic and social ... and their constituents with the tools they need to work, live and do business.
An alliance of 10 major business trade groups is supporting traditional Republicans in ... An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.
A final look at holiday shopping by IBM shows that retailers did more sales through online, mobile applications and social media than any year prior.
"It is a legitimate and logical launching pad for advanced technology in the automobile business," said John Hanson of Toyota Motor Sales USA.
Business competition entries being accepted. Anonymous The ... Entries are being taken online at www. gvecafe.com under the Participation tab.
Banknote issuers have denounced online advertisements offering pre-sales of Macau's commemorative Chinese New Year paper money as "fraud".
To be successful in online business do you collaborate with someone, or have you got business partner or employer(s), or do you hire someone?
Online business owners: Let's share tips and Ideas Alley CEOs.
Creative Online Business Opportunity. 80 likes · 11 talking about this. Welcome to our page. You can get support for Online Money Making from here.


Yesterday was the first Sunday of Will Cotton's November residency at the New York City gallery-boutique Partners & Spade. Continuing for the next two Sundays (November 15th and 22nd), the artist will be baking and frosting cakes that serve as models in many of his paintings. Cotton literally puts the cocoa in his Rococo works, creating his caramel macaron and cupcake subjects by hand. Here he executes Ladurée recipes while shuffling between the back wall bakery counter and a working oven on the gallery floor, aided by assistants adorned with tiaras sculpted after his edible ephemera.
Cotton produced similar headpieces for the Armitage Gone! Dance company who performed in his work last week at BAM. And this isn's his only foray into fashion for the month. Next Wednesday, Creative Time will host a slumber party at the Ace Hotel debuting a pair of pastry-printed pajamas designed by the artist.
Whether they are baking to sell or baking to paint, those women should have their hair tied back. Doesn't anyone consider hygiene while cooking anymore? Unless the hair sticking out of a cupcake is part of the picture . . .


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Future Is Fiction Blog
Worth Repeating
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Tag Archives: Gotta Hear This Music
Gotta Hear This Music
Rules for Shows #3: The Front of the Pit is Over-rated
September 1, 2011 Karma
The first strings have been strummed and the singer has claimed the mic. The shovers are staking their claim in the pit. There is a rush to the stage, a general movement: the show is starting. The young and foolish punk will rush forward so they can be closer to the sweat and angst flying off the stage. It seems rational. But if you've taken the time to push to the front-and-center position, standing in front of the fresh mosh pit is the worst way to claim that sweet spot. Not so much because the pit is unmanageable but because the task of managing it is in the opposite direction of the band. So you can turn your back on the show and push the pit kids. Or you can watch the show and get elbowed in the face. Thus what seems initially like the center of the action turns out to be a major distraction. Just when you think you can maybe take some time to actually watch the show you paid to see, you remember the crowd surfers. They like to remind you by kicking you in the head.
If this all still seems like a great plan, then you probably have a fierce abundance of ass-kicking energy. In that case, dive into the actual pit instead of turning your back to it. Now that's a nice view.
Yacht – Dystopia (the Earth is on Fire)
Michael Jackson vs Passion Pit – the Jackson Pit (Xaphoon Jones mashup)
[image thanks to Laughing Squid and Hi-Fructose]
best spots to stand at concertsconcertconcert ettiquetteConcertsdownloadsGotta Hear This Musicindiemosh pitsrockrules for showswhere to stand
Culture, Gotta Hear This Music
30 Years of MTV: The MTV is dead, long live the MTV
August 1, 2011 Karma	1 Comment
August 1st marks 30 years since MTV went on the air. Many young people today may look at what the station has become and wonder, so what?
Every American I know who grew up in in the eighties has a little hole in their heart for what happened to MTV. It's similar to the way one might remember a clever acquaintance who fell to addiction. They shake their heads, bite their knuckles and look wistful. Whether the thing MTV was hooked on was reality programming itself or the ratings boost it provided, I can't say, but lost it is. I remember in my teens I would stay up late to record Matt Pinfield on 120 Minutes, because by the mid-nineties the only time they played music videos was in the middle of the night.
But in the heyday of MTV, you could watch videos any time, day or night. What was so great about it was probably all the things the executives behind the scenes hated. The VJs were unscripted; there was little product placement. I have an MTV t-shirt that my mom won from the station in the eighties, when they would do giveaways as if they were just another station on the radio. You could pick it up on your radio, too. Even as a tween I had an inkling that their slot in the TV Guide which said nothing but "Music Videos" for six hours couldn't be a dream for the person who sells their advertising. But that authentic, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants experience was a fine fit for rock and roll: that ever changing, never planning, tumultuous beast. Rock and roll never sounded better followed by "We'll be right back after these messages."
The funny thing is, the way people watched MTV didn't really change. The people who watch reality shows are the types to use the telly as background noise. MTV was perfect for that: no plot, no characters that would distract you for more than four minutes. Everything they were showing would show again in several hours. It was all that made cable wonderful and terrible. With MTV on, mom could balance her checkbook and I could do my homework. Hell, MTV probably invented the idea of using the idiot box for background noise.
Thus if you ask anyone over 25 they will say that the golden age for music video was the eighties. Not because the videos were better. No, they were low-budget and jakey as hell. CG wasn't even a word then. It was a golden age because people actually watched them. Today's youth may share Internet memes, but back in the day if you met a kid from the other coast you could bond of your shared memories of videos. There is a whole generation of people who can't hear "Take On Me" without thinking of a cute girl caught in a comic strip. If you're one of those people, you might think Rick Ocasek has the body of a fly. For better or for worse, Dire Straits is more than a band. They're also a bunch of singing, animated blue collar workers bitching about rock stars and Sting's voice harping I want my MTV was the voice of the nation. We all saw it, we all loved it. You could not disconnect the song from the video.
I say for better or for worse, because there was a downside. I've often wondered if I would have liked Van Halen's "Right Here Right Now" if it didn't have such a kick-ass video. We got this idea that the tiny movie was somehow the musician's vision, when really the director's vision usually had very little to do with the conception the artist had when they created the song. The nostalgia we have for music videos is the same we feel for any song, but it's based on something false, that little three minute story. Wyclef's "Gone Til November" came out after MTV had fallen to disgrace, so that song will always remind me of Spring Break at Siesta Key. It's an association I share with only a handful of people but it's an actual memory of my life. But when we were in love with Blind Melon's "No Rain," who can say for sure if it was the song we loved–or the fact that it had one of the most adorable videos of all time? Who can say what that song would mean to us, if it didn't mean dancing bees? It seems to me to be a song about individuality, but that is the message of the video not the song.
I think we may be embarking upon, if not a Golden Age, than a yet-unnamed new era for music videos. For me it began when the site I use for radio streaming started adding Youtube videos to its search. But I think for most people the preponderance of music video has come about slowly as we have faster Internet connections. Now that two gigs of RAM is a standard, our computers are finally fast enough to manage them. A second factor is the dropping price of hard drive space. While most of us aren't downloading the videos to keep, cheap disc space means that more video and blogging sites are willing to let us park the videos on their servers. It is easier than ever before for bloggers to post them. If the dastardly censors haven't gotten there yet, it is often as simple as pasting a YouTube url. Finally, because Youtube is the third most popular site in the world, often when people want to find a song they go to the video site to find it. Either way, more and more people are watching them these days. Big hits like Gaga's "Telephone" are gaining the collective association the MTV videos of yesteryear commanded.
What's different this time is that we control the remote on what videos we see. Not only have I seen more videos this year than in the last five combined, they're videos I would never have dreamed even existed. I would never have thought that anti-establishment punks like The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Operation Ivy made videos. I have delved into the studio recording and music videos that came before MTV. Acts like Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull and Nina Simone, that I have treasured for years now, have videos online just waiting for my discovery. And of course new bands are still using them to promote their new albums. It's come full circle, as the indie bands of today are using the same low-budget filming techniques, some for budgetary reasons and others to hearken back to the same shared nostalgia of the MTV that is dead and gone. If there had never been an MTV, there wouldn't be a generation of musicians who think setting their songs to tiny movies is a worthwhile marketing effort. After all, video wasn't a new idea when MTV came around. It is only because these same musicians were watching MTV while they played with Transformers and ripped the heads off their Barbie dolls that the Britneys and Kanyes create videos costing a million dollars a pop. And the bloggers posting the low-budget masterpieces to their little blogs are like the video jockeys of yesteryear: unpolished, unprofessional. We love them because they're fans first, in it for the love of the music. So it is that while the zombie of MTV continues to ravish the flesh of washed out celebrities in a never-ceasing voyeurism, its spirit lives on. MTV is the Phoenix, rising from the ashes as Youtube and Vimeo. MTV is the Ouroboros. She has shed her mythical skin and we have emerged, with our own cameras and our own blogs and our own video channels. We no longer need the VJs, we have become the VJs. MTV is dead, long live MTV.
Some of the essential videos mentioned above after the jump. Next week I'll be posting some of my favorite videos that I've discovered since the fall of MTV.
Continue reading 30 Years of MTV: The MTV is dead, long live the MTV →
120 Minutes3030th birthdayA-Haat 30Dire StraitsGotta Hear This MusicI want my MTVMatt PinfieldMoney for NothingMTVMTV turns 30Take On MeThe CarsVan HalenvideosYou Might Think
RIP Gil Scott-Heron
May 29, 2011 Karma	1 Comment
There was a time in my life when I only wanted to listen to political music. It was then that someone passed along to me a cassette of Gil Scott-Heron. This was around 1999; tape players were already hard to come by. But I managed to wear out that tape in several months.
He was more than a musician, he was a poet that happened to be a multi-instrumentalist. He was a radical agitator with piano and bongo to sweeten his message. He was a visionary, but then again, in some ways he wasn't: It wasn't his intention to foster the forthcoming genre of rap. He created poetry set to music, in the tradition of Bob Dylan. He created poetry infused with Jazz in the tradition of Amiri Baraka. His style was never pretensious but always bold. I couldn't believe that this amazing and diverse poet was undiscovered by most of the people in my social circle. I tried to impose it on everyone with the fervor of a newfound love.
Well, time passes and new loves come to you. I just found out that Gil died this week. I don't know what to tell you except that I hope you can take some time out of your day to listen to some of his work.
I know he recently released an album but I want to share with you some of the songs that inspired me when I was a teenager. I've also included one of the recent songs that Kanye West sampled him on.
Gil_Scott_Heron_-_Whitey_on_the_Moon.mp3 Listen on Posterous
Kanye_West_-_lost_in_the_woods.mp3 Listen on Posterous
Posted via email from Like Dancing About Architecture
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Gotta Hear This Music, Playlists
Unexpected Songs for Your Rapture, End of the World Party Playlist
May 18, 2011 Karma
I'm DJing an end-of-the-world party on Friday, so I've been looking for songs about the Rapture. I won't use most of them, but I thought I'd share a bunch with you for your own playlists, mostly because I don't want your set to consist of nothing but tired old Metallica, Black Sabbath and Dio (proudly, this site remains 100% Metallica free!).
Continue reading Unexpected Songs for Your Rapture, End of the World Party Playlist →
armageddondownloadsend of the worldGotta Hear This MusiclistpartyPlaylists deletingrapturerevelationsongs
Childish Gambino = Donald Glover = hot
May 5, 2011 Karma
The music bloggers are all excited about hippity-hopper Childish Gambino and the general consensus seems to be that he just "came out of nowhere." Strange to me, because he is a well known actor on the hit NBC comedy Community. Sure, he goes by the name Donald Glover, but it's not like this is all a secret. In his lyrics he talks about having a TV show and writing for 30 Rock when he was under 25. And Donald Glover is not a bit player on the show, he's consistently the most charming and funny reason to watch Community.So what, he's a rapper now. But here's the thing: his rhymes are tight! Those same mad skills he uses writing and acting for NBC come out in the lyrics. It's unapologetically middle class,with subjects like sex, race and hipster girls making frequent appearances. I'm not wild about his vocal style–it's very fast, with a nervous energy. But the pop culture references keep me coming back. I was hooked first on the Jamie XX remix of Adele, where his "Freaks and Geeks is sampled, and he says, "Fuck Macaulay Culkin, I'm never going home alone." All his songs have lines like that, ones that will jump out at you and make you smile for their clever turn of phrase.
Adele – Rolling in the Deep feat. Childish Gambino.mp3
Here's the original track that Jamie of The XX samples above
Childish Gambino – Freaks and Geeks
The production on his mixtape isn't top notch but you can certainly hear the promise. My favorite track from the mixtape has little to do with the lyrics and all to do with his choice to rap over Sleigh Bells. The gent has taste I tell you. Just the same it still has choice lyrics like "Only time I'm worried is when I'm the no-fly zone, 'Cause I'm so fly…"
Childish Gambino – New Prince (Sleigh Bells – Crown On the Ground).mp3
Here's a pretty one that shows he can sing
Childish Gambino – These Girls (ft. Garfunkel and Oates).mp3
Because of the low production values on his mixtape and the fact that he raps over low BPM indie rock half the time, I prefer remixes. Like I said, it's about the rhymes not the beats anyway. Here's two preferred remixes of "Let Me Dope You." I especially like the first because that Body Language song ("You Can") is another of my recent obsessions. The stand-out lyric for me is "I don't fit in like–my penis in these tiny girls." Tight indeed.
Childish Gambino – Let Me Dope You (Cheap Thrills Remix Feat. Body Language).mp3
Childish_Gambino_-_Let_Me_Dope_You_Travis_Wide_Remix1.mp3
Finally I can't leave you without a little sample of some of his work on Community. So adorable!
Childish GambinoCommunityDonald GloverdownloadGotta Hear This Musichip-hopindieremixTelevisiontv
Best of 2010: Best Dance songs of 2010
March 7, 2011 Karma
I moved these songs around quite a bit but the songs that ended up in the top ten stayed pretty consistent (for the rest, see Best of 2010 Dance Songs Top 25). Last year I focused strictly on remixes but this year I mixed it up, presenting my favorite dance tracks, regardless of whether they were remixes, mashups or original songs. I did this because there were some exceptional dance songs which didn't fit the traditional "remix" that just had to make the list, starting with number one.
1. Fake Blood vs Richard Vission – I Think I Like That (Coda Collins Smash Up) (5:38)Reasons This is the best remix of 2010:
The opening line "My body rocks a rhythm. You beat my drum hard."
At exactly one minute there's this insanely awesome beat drop that chomps down on my body, chews my brain and spits me out as a dancing maniac
At exactly one minute and thirty seconds Fake Blood brings out synthesized violins that will make whatever is left of my sanity joyfully explode
Fake Blood's song sounds like a the shattered glass of a disco ball. So disco, so modern.
The lyrics sound like a Japanese anime trying to do James Bond "You want a kiss now baby? Oh fucky-fucky you! You're dressed to kill me-kill-me. And if I die tonight, at least you thrill me-thrill-me.Oooooh!"
Ok, so it's a little unfair to put a mashup at number one, but it really was my favorite of the year. I suppose if you must, you could put the emphasis on the Fake Blood song. But it's a fine mash! This mashup combines these two songs seamlessly, producing something much better than either work alone. The beats for the original Richard Vission song are not bad, but they're no match for Fake Blood. And Fake Blood's beats, tight as they are, have a cold, clinical quality without any lyrics. Luciana's vocal styling are as motivational as a Jane Fonda workout video. Finally, it's a perfect mashup in that there's such an overlap of themes other DJs must say, "I wish I'd thought of that!" Here's the two songs separately, to decide for yourself:
Fake Blood – I think I Like It
Richard Vission & Static Revenger Starring Luciana – I Like That
2. Uffie feat. Pharrel Williams – Add Suv (Armand Van Helden Club Remix) (4:44)
I've been waiting for a great Uffie remix since I first heard Uffie. When Ke$ha first came on the scene, the blogosphere spat that she was just a copy of Uffie. The problem with this assessment is that though Uffie's rhymes are solid, her beats are lacking. And along comes Armand Van Helden with what sounds to me like the second best remix of 2010.
If there's one thing Armand Van Helden knows how to do, it's a build up. The problem with a long build up is you need something at the end to justify all that fuss. You can always tell the kids on drugs at the club when the relish the build up more than the base drop. For everyone else, the build-up is just a sweet misery that makes the bass hit you that much harder. When those sirens rise, they better have a hell of a beat to land on. There's bravado in such a buildup. A long tease is only satisfying if the DJ puts out. It's a ballsy move that Helden makes even ballsier by having the word "banger" announced in that rest before he gives it to you. And he hits it hard.
3. Lemâitre – The Friendly Sound (3:54)
You're going to think this is the new Royksopp single, but it's better than any of what Royksopp has put out recently…at least from what I've heard. I'm not a huge Royksopp fan. Anyway, it's a very new group from Oslo, Norway. They don't even have a Myspace or recording contract yet. "The Friendly Sound" begins with beach noise in the background, then that "Eple"-like melody, then the beat. It's glitchy with sounds of breaking glass and bleeps and bloops, like 16-bit Mario dropping a deuce. Lovely harmonies round out this oh-so friendly sound. It gets even better around 2:36.
4. Lost Valentinos – "Nightmoves" (Aston Shuffle Remix) (5:54)I like the vocal stylings on the original track. He has a deep booming voice that pitches high in the refrain. But the original track sounds too much like something you might have heard on Sprockets. It's not bad, but the Aston Shuffle remix keeps what's great about it and takes it to the level of ultra sickdom. When "Nightmoves" starts with the deep voice and low build up you think it's going to be a deeply sexy slow jam. Just when you're pondering how that deep-voiced singer can hit such a high note there's that same long build up and righteous harmonies, now thick with the Aston Shuffle ambiance. It's beautiful but not so beautiful that you fail to realize how wrong you were: Aw fuuuck it's a stomper. There's always a late addition to the list and this one crept up and up, stomping it's way past many a fine remix to land at number four. Still not sure if it shouldn't have been higher on the list.
5. black eyed peas – The Time (David Guetta remix) (3:17)
I heard this in a shop in Japantown and new tracking it down would be a top priority when I got home. I was pleased that Black Eyed Peas had taken the time to rerecord the vocals from the original Dirty Dancing hit, rather then just sampling them. But to my surprise the version I'd heard in Japantown wasn't the original but a remix. Such a shame because now is as good a time as any to get a retro treatment of everyone's favorite Swayze flick. Unfortunately, the original Black Eyed Peas version is, well, awful. Guetta's mix is scratchy and glitchy in all the right places: the echo on her voice before that sweet beat drop, the occasional sick vocal distortion of her voice—you can just see this blowing up the greatest summer beach party of your life.
6. Katy B – Louder (4:36)
Rumor has it Katy B is going to be the one to bring dubstep to the mainstream. Let's hope so, as dubstep is a genre that is delivering way too many trite remixes lately. Here layered vocals and 8-bit inspired trills open up the song til a subtle loop of her British accent saying "louder" teases the beat drop. What's unusual to me about this one is the way the the deepest, bassiest part of the song is the melody. It's as if the bass taking over what the melody usually does, driving the song forward. It's a fresh take on an overplayed style that has me turning the nob to the max.
7. Kid Cudi – Pursuit Of Happiness – Steve Aoki Dance Remix Intro – Dirty (6:14)
This Cudi mix doesn't start out too exciting but at around the one minute mark you get a taste of the beast Aoki has birthed: Fuzzy rising sirens that introduce fuzzy heavy beats. The vocal sections are lovely and melodic, a nice respite from the assault of Aoki's monster beats. It's an onslaught of sick banging bass tempered by Cudi's soft and friendly stoner rap. Within this there are small tweaks, like the trill that reintroduces the melody at 1:17, the delicious quarter rest at 1:39, and the laser at 2:51 that give this remix a polish that sets it apart from the other bangers 0f 2010.
8. Ke$ha – (Fuck Him) He's a DJ (3:35)
Technically, this track is both too old and too new for this list. I first discovered it on AWMusic where it was posted on the last day of 2009 (worse release date ever). Which should, unfairly, make it a song of 2009. As this was before Lady Gaga was huge and Brittany was still the name on everyone's lips, I could see this chick was going to blow up. And she did, to gargantuan sizes that have us all cowering in fear that a giant-sized Ke$ha is going to rampage Los Angeles Godzilla-style, shedding hail-sized pieces of glitter in her wake.
I kept waiting to hear this one on the radio, appropriately bleeped. Or at least in the clubs. Because it's so mega hot and what DJ wouldn't want to play this song? I like "Tik-Tok" but this one is waaaaay better. And I think we can all agree that the rest of Ke$ha's hits have been no match for "Tik-Tok." So I did my homework to make sure the song was indeed released in 2010 and I couldn't find it on Amazon, iTunes or the album itself. What gives?
Yeah, so it's an unreleased track by Ke$ha. An unreleased track that's twice as hot as anything from her you've ever heard. Even if you don't like Ke$ha, give this one a listen. It has the mighty power to turn your party into a filming of Girls Gone Wild (hopefully without the nasty anti-feminist camera guys!).
9. Chromeo – Night By Night (Midnight Conspiracy Remix) (5:38)
Often a great remix will surpass the original to the extent that the song it is based on can sound hollow in comparison. That happened to me when listening to "Night By Night" recently. Where was the epic synth? Where was the back-and-forth vocals after the climax ("she says I'm—I say she's—She says I'm")? They perfectly capture the drama of an argument in a way the original never did. Chromeo is best known as one among many 80s revisionist bands, and this remix keeps that spirit while creating a darker, fuller sound that is unmistakably 21st century.
10. Metric-Twilight-Galaxy-Death-to-the-Throne-Remix (5:37)
I'm a sucker for Metric and this is hands down Death to the Throne's finest mix to date. Frankly his mixes can be too sick for my taste but here he adds lasers and synth to take Twilight Galaxy to a positively astral dimension. He shows off his skills without demolishintg too much of Emily Haine's lyrics. The original song is not even remotely a dance number, DttT essentially produced entirely new music to back up the song. As a Metric fan, I hate to say it but the remix is a much better song than the original. True to Death-to-the-Throne form, there is a very sick section to the song, as well there should be leading into the climax of a great remix.
Armand Van HeldenAston Shufflebest dance songs of 2010best ofbest remixes of 2010Black Eyed PeasChromeodanceDavid GuettaDeath to the ThronedownloadFake BloodGotta Hear This MusicKaty BKe$haLemaitrelistLost ValentinosmashupsMetricMidnight ConspiracyremixremixesUffie
Kid Koala at the Noise Pop Culture Fest
Noise Pop has added a DIY festival this year. It's a little undeveloped now but I imagine in a few years it will be the place to be. (And a few years after that it will be bloated with movers and shakers with something to sell and a few years after that it will be yesterdays news. [I've noticed lately that I seem to be getting out of hand with the parenthesis. You think? {Question is rhetorical, dammit!}])
Kid Koala's space was a DJ set that explicitly stated no dancing. It was chill music, and by that I don't mean dubstep and trance, I mean like Radiohead and ambient chirping. The space was designed as a contemplative drawing session. There were barely any seats to be had, as we sprawled about with crayons and pencils and such. As much as I love to dance, I wish there were more spaces like this, ones where spontaneous communities are borne out of a creative drive. Or at least, spaces that center around something other than drinking and smoking. And did I mention the free hot chocolate?
Here's a Kid Koala video so you can feel the Noise Pop chill too.
2011chilloutCultureGotta Hear This MusicKid KoalaNoise PopNoise Pop Culture FestSan Francisco
Best of 2010 Dance Songs Top 25
Image Thanks to Barnaby Ward
Baby even the losers get lucky sometimes. Here's 25 great dance tracks from 2010 not quite epic enough to make my Best Dance Music of 2010 list.
11. Atypicals – Love Electric Soul (5:04)
12. Diamond Rings – All Yr Songs (GOBBLE GOBBLE's Wings for Eyeliner) (2:30)
13. Party and Bullshit In the U.S.A. (Miley Cyrus vs Notorious B.I.G.) (3:15)
14. Drink-Up-Buttercup-Even-Think-Andrew-W.K.-Remix (5:18)
15. Loo & Placido – Californication (Tupac vs. Roger Troutman vs. Plump DJs vs. Zero Cash) (4:35)
(I wrote a post about this one: The Drop )
16. Men – Off Our Backs
17. doll and the kicks – you-turn-up-blueskies-remix (3:46)
18. TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB Something good can work (THE TWELVES remix) (4:09)
19. Fatboy Slim vs 2Pac (DJ BootOX pres Blaze Music) – California Skank (4:37)
20. Yeasayer-Ambling-Alp-Memory-Tapes-remix (3:51)
21. Deerhunter – Helicopter-Diplo-Lunice-mix (4:06)
22. Jack-Penate-Pull-My-Heart-Away-Jamie-xx-Remix-ft.-Theophilus-London (3:34)
23. Groove Armada – Paper Romance (6:18)
24. Tim & Jean – Come Around (4:00)
25. PARLOVR – Pen to the Paper (GOBBLE GOBBLE's Buzzbin Rubdown (2:31)
2010best dance of 2010best dance remixes of 2010best ofbest remixes of 2010downloadsGotta Hear This Musicremixestop 20top 25
All, Gotta Hear This Music, Playlists
February 11, 2011 Karma	1 Comment
Fleet Foxes have a new song, Helplessness Blues. I'm not excited about it yet, but it's as good an excuse as any to share some Fleet Foxes themed material.
(OK, really I'm testing my Posterous connection to Tumblr, but isn't that excuse enough?)
The New Fleet Foxes track, Helplessness Blues
My favorite thing about Fleet Foxes is the harmonies, which this Oh Land cover of White Winter Hymnal lacks, but it has a lovely girl singing. And everyone likes that.
Here's Fleet Foxes covering Bob Dylan.
There are several new Fleet Foxes remixes, but I think this one from the Twelves is still the best around. Maybe the new album will deliver the DJs some better material.
OK, more best of 2010 stuff on the way!
coversdownloadsfleet foxesGotta Hear This Music
The Best Albums of 2010!
January 26, 2011 Karma
Or: Why Best-Albums Lists Are Bullshit
I am never doing this again. No fucking really: if I start talking about Best-albums lists next year, someone give me a solid slapping and point me back to this page. Best-of lists are bull shit of course, but Best Albums lists are shit of the rankest kind. There's just no conceivable way that any one person can listen to that many albums and also have some kind of a life. I basically disappeared from blogging from November-January, and here I still didn't get it done by the ever-critical Dec. 31st deadline. My loved ones have actually told me I'm no longer allowed to utter the words "Best of" and "2010" in the same sentence anymore. They try to convince me that no one takes these lists seriously, that everyone assumes these are just your favorites, not the actual best albums.
But if you look at the comments for any of these lists, you'll see that it's just the opposite. Everyone responds with fury and indignation: you mean "The Muppets Sing Fight Club didn't make your list? I'm never visiting this site again!" News flash: the person writing the list was on a deadline, and probably never even heard your cherished album. The albums they did include were based on whims and hype.
Think about it: when you want to compare two songs, it's easy: just play one right after the other and decide which is better. But if you want to compare albums, you can't exactly play all hour-and-a-half of each one, because you will be in a totally different mood by the time they're both done. Moreover, it's very rare for an album to not have one stinker song. Even the Beatles classic albums had such bombs as "Wild Honey Pie" and "The Tax Man." So which do you rank higher? An album with 7 classics, and two losers? Or an album with ten pretty great songs and one classic? And do you give more credit to albums like The Suburbs because they have more tracks in total? It takes a long time to get to know an entire album and then there's the whole issue of whether the songs move from one to the next in a pleasing, well-thought out way.
Anyway, after spending much more time contemplating this list than I should have, here are my picks for Best of 2010. For what it's worth.
1.Crystal Castles – II
There are so many songs on this album that force me to utter, "I loooooooooove this," the words are as compulsive as a cat's purr. No matter how many times I've heard II I like it more than I remembered. There's a huge diversity of genres touched on here: lush dreamwave, volatile dance punk, electro —it doesn't hurt that these are some of my favorite genres. While the songs are vastly different from one another they're all distinctly Crystal Castles, a hard feat that only Janelle Monae's album achieves to an equal extent. Perhaps most importantly, when I ask myself which band of 2010 is doing something interesting and original, I can't deny Crystal Castles tops my list.
Check out: Crystal Castles – Suffocation
No sense repeating myself: here's a full review from back in August.
Also see: Like A Pixie in A Blender
2.Sleigh Bells –Treats
Sleigh Bells' "Treats" is the biggest surprise of my list. First, they deliberately overdrive their sound, which I expected would get tired by the third song. I can't imagine they'll be able to pull that off for four more albums, but on Treats, it works. Moreover, the sound is somewhat formulaic: Heavy, dance-y bass, solid urgent guitar riffs and enthusiastic female vocals. Yes! It's loud! Very loud! But that gets repetitive really quickly, right?
The faceless cheerleaders marketing Treats perfectly match their furiously upbeat rockage.
But the more I got into Treats, the more complexity I discovered. There's the explosive sound effects on the title track and the drum-guitar combo that sounds like a machine gun on "Tell 'Em." There's the long wind-up and scream before the refrain on "Kids." There's the constant underlying siren under "Run the Heart." They have taken that formula and pushed it's boundaries. The lyrics to their slow number, "Ring Ring (Rill Rill)," are charming and intriguing. Even the only song I usually skip, "Straight As," is full of win because it takes the noisy aspect of their sound to the max as the album reaches its climax. The album has its peaks and slow downs and each song flows comfortably into the next so that no matter how much I love the song before, I am excited about the next one. There's never been a time Sleigh Bells came up on my radio stream that I felt the urge to skip them.
I can't imagine where they'll go after Treats because I don't think they can push this particular sound in too many more directions. Then again, they said that about AC/DC too.
Check out: Sleigh Bells – Treats
3.Wolf Parade – Expo 86
I wanted there to be a new Sunset Rubdown album this year but Spencer Krug was busy releasing another album with Wolf Parade. I've always liked Wolf Parade's previous stuff and I like Dan Boeckner's other project Handsome Furs too but even still this album was surprisingly great. What everyone else has said about Expo 86 is true: it combines the two gents' skills in a true collaboration.I'm usually drawn to Krug's delicious build-ups and captivating lyrics (see: "Cloud Shadow on The Mountain" or "Oh, You Old Thing") but Boeckner's songs are also among my favorites. His "Little Golden Age" and "Pobody's Nerfect" bring a bit more rock and roll, a bit more bang and grrrr, adding the perfect spice to Expo 86's sound. Lyrics like I am a wall of sand and stone / and you, you're some kind of ivy I'm trying to hold/ as best as I can will draw you into the song's winding journeys with serious guitars, rising synths and toe-tapping rhythms . Though there is certainly enough rockage to generate a visceral response upon the first listen, Expo 86's the kind of album that will only get richer and more rewarding the more you play it.
Check out: Wolf Parade – Pobody's Perfect
4.Menomena – Mines
Menomena reminds me of Modest Mouse and TV on the Radio, though they sound not a thing like these bands. The similarity is in that Menomena is a rock band that manages to do something new with the idea of the rock band. For one thing, they use horns in a way that sounds nothing like ska or reggae, and rock and roll doesn't have much of a context for that. Honestly, I don't know what all instruments they use. Somehow they make their guitars sound like a whole new animal (a rhino, perhaps?). There's piano in the mix, but it usually pounds out percussion along with melody. You get beautiful harmonies and distinctive vocal solos. And the lyrics are intriguing and every song is a tiny symphony. . Just when you think a song has reached a climax the harmonies come in and that's when you know it's just getting started.
Check out: Menomena – Taos
5.Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
I know, there's a great pop rock record every year. I know, I know, there's probably ten great pop rock records every year. Two Door Cinema Club isn't doing anything that's never been done before. But damn if they aren't doing it right.
What struck me about the addictive nature of Two Door Cinema Club's songs is what they lack: a keyboard. I'm a sucker for pianos and their bratty cousin, they synth (and pipe organs? Delish!). Guitars are necessary to bring the rockage, but they can't get out in front and dick around if they want to make my list. I'm a child of the eighties and it was part of my upbringing to rebel against the Led Zeppelin guitar wankery my parents so relish. But it is the guitar hooks that make me think these songs should come with a warning label. So. Damn. Catchy.
I didn't expect the whole album to make my list, rather I figured the finer tunes were likely to end up on a list of singles. But when you find there are eight songs out of ten that must go on such a list of singles, truly the whole album deserves celebration. If you like The Black Kids, Tokyo Police Club, or any rock band with catchy hooks, pick this one up.
Check out: Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know
6.Yeasayer – Odd Blood
First, there's "Ambling Alp" which is easily one of the best songs of 2010. I've yet to meet someone who didn't like it immediately. I've probably played it more than any other song this year, except maybe some of the tracks from Sleigh Bell's debut. I keep thinking I'll get tired of it but return to it with delight over and over.
Part of the fun is the variety of their sound. It's hard to classify "Odd Blood." It's electronic and easy to dance to, but it's not dance music. The lack of guitars bars the classification of electro. O.N.E. Is vaguely calypso. "I Remember" sounds like the love song from a lost eighties movie. "Mondegreen" with it's handclaps and saxophone could be the latest pop song if it weren't for the odd childlike vocal sections. The only thing the songs have in common is a love of synth and harmony. Yet Yeasayer isn't the last in the long line of eighties retro revisionists either. The keyboards on "Rome" meander like a vocal improvisationist played in fast forward. "Love My Girl" sounds like Of Montreal covering Duran Duran. The music isn't deep, soul-searching poetry, but it is a unique sound that's going to influence their peers for years to come.
Check out: Yeasayer – Rome
7.Parlovr – Parlovr
Really, it's Parlovr's fault that The Arcade Fire didn't make this list. I was listening to that long album over and over, taking the time to get to know the lyrics and contemplate the value of the many reprises when I finally gave Parlovr a spin. Without a clue what the hell he was singing about or any familiarity I instantly responded to the songs on a visceral level that The Arcade Fire just wasn't hitting me on. Think of the first time you heard Modest Mouse or Nirvana or The Pixies (fans of The Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah should particularly check this one out). I'm not saying that Parlovr is a match of these legendary bands, I'm only saying that they know how to rock out.
I love how they take a rest to harmonize sweetly on the refrain of "On the Phone." I love the shouted opening of "Hiccup," or the fast build-up at the front of "Sever My Ties." After delightful "Oh-ooh-oooh-oohs he shouts, "What would you say to a dead man with no face!" and I admit that I have no clue what the fuck he is talking about but I am solidly on board. After five hearty servings of rocking out, "Speech Bubble/Thought Cloud" starts of as slow and alluring as the aforementioned Arcade Fire and takes it's time reaching that leaping off point where shouting and guitars reign. Parlovr is a rollicking reminder that rock n' roll is something to get excited about.
Check out: Parlovr – Sandwalking
8.Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid
I'm going to be frank with you: I intensely dislike R&B. That Janelle Monáe made the Best-Of list of a chick who listens to electro and new wave should tell you something of Monáe's mastery of the genre. I say R&B but The ArchAndroid touches on so many genres it's like a sampler of female vocal styles for the last sixty years. Many of these songs will blow you away right from the first listen.
The only reason this album didn't rank higher on my list is that the lyrics were disappointing. The Arch Android is a concept album built around the 1908 dystopic epic Metropolis (Which—Whoah! Is reason enough to check it out). Thus I was expecting sci-fi visions on par with David Bowie or Kevin Barnes (in fact, Of Montreal backs her on a track). But the rhymes and the lyrics were all cliché and prosaic. Which is fine—you'll be singing along with her regardless.
Not only can she sing, her technique has style. And that voice! "Cold War" is a good example of her vocal skills. By the time she finishes off that high note, you'll have forgotten Cat Power ever existed. Then she has the brilliant audacity to finish the note with a growl. It's exquisite. My advice to you (and to me): see this woman in concert soon. She is going to be very famous and even the nosebleed seats are going to be expensive.
Check out: Janelle Monáe – BeBopByeYa
9.She & Him – Volume Two
I had a lot of trouble deciding between this and Freelance Whales album Weathervanes. The latter even averaged one point higher in the ratings I gave the album's songs. But it was the She & Him album that I played over and over until I learned the words to the songs, even though Zooey Deschanel doesn't sing in my range. It was *her songs that got stuck in my head over and over; it was her songs I sang in the shower. Ultimately ratings are no match for the sheer desire to listen to the same album on repeat. Volume Two is full of heavenly harmonies, adorable lyrics ("Why do I always want to sock it to you hard? She sulks at the opening of "Over and Over Again."), and catchy refrains.
My personal favorite on the album is "Home," a song that gets me all teary and happy at the same time. Can't ask for much more out of a song than that. Other excellent stand-outs are "Thieves," "Lingering Still," and the mythological metaphor "Don't Look Back."
Check out: She & Him – Home
10.The Limousines – Get Sharp
It was the year after MGMT released their instant classic, "Time to Pretend." Having overplayed that song to death, I was on the hunt for a new song that captured the American experience with the same wit, charm and melody . I had Los Campesinos! And NPSH but my life needed a new dance anthem. Then I was at a music festival with my pal @WorkerBee when he lured me to the tent where The Limousines were tearing it up. Their as yet un-signed song "Very Busy People" filled that lack and became an instant obsession.
Like all their songs, the first thing you notice about "Very Busy People" is probably the fantastic melody and head-bopping pace. You may notice that they aren't lazy on the trills and DJ effects. But it won't be long before you catch a taste of the lyrics. And that's it, you're done for: these lyrics are so clever that no matter which line you come in on you're going to be hooked. Do I exaggerate? From the very first line, We'll end up numb from playing video games and we'll get sick of having sex, The Limousines follow the rules of good writing drilled into undergrads by their poetry teachers: Be specific. Be succinct. Be personal.
Their lyrics aren't the lofty philosophical themes of Nick Cave or the strange but brilliant metaphors of Tori Amos or the sharp political observations of Ani Difranco. No, The Limousines sing about the same things your average pop band sings about: getting drunk, getting lucky, seizing the day. In fact, the biggest turn off about them is probably the lead singer's voice. It's not that Eric Victorino can't sing, it's that his voice sharply resembles the kind of teeny-bopper heartthrob sound indie rockers shrink away from, for its associations with didactic cliches. But if you just let yourself be seduced by the catchy pop rhythms, you'll discover that they bring a fresh perspective to these tired themes. These are the kinds of songs you are not only going to want to learn the lyrics to, you are going to want to sing them with your friends at the top of your lungs while drunk at three a.m.
Check out: The Limousines – Flaskaboozendancingshoes
*I know that M. Ward was a successful musician before collaborating with actress Zooey Deschanel but since she wrote the songs and their lyrics, She & Him is properly her band first and foremost. There are two songs not written by Deschanel, and they are the two weakest songs on the album. Partially due to the brainless babes that dominate pop music and partially due to sexism, woman's contributions to their own bands tend to be marginalized. Thus, it is always worth mentioning when a front woman really leads the band, despite the fact that with a male singer this is assumed.
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Publishing:


Metso has completed the acquisition of the Spanish grinding media supplier Santa Ana de Bolueta SA (Sabo). The acquisition will complement Metso's current comminution wear parts offering for mining customers. The value of the acquisition will not be disclosed. Grinding media is used inside grinding mills to improve the efficiency of the grinding process. Sabo's offering covers grinding media for SAG, ball mill and VertimillTM grinding applications as well as bars for rod mills. These are available in different diameters and materials to guarantee the best performance for the mineral to be processed.


text:
Dębowiec è un comune rurale polacco del distretto di Cieszyn, nel voivodato della Slesia.Ricopre una superficie di 42,48 km² e nel 2004 contava 5.498 abitanti.

Collegamenti esterni

Comuni del distretto di Cieszyn

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Year after year enterprises engage in an exercise that is like a well-orchestrated dance of corporate executives, each playing their best role and they have to collectively also look good to the audience. Interestingly the audience is the executives themselves, the Orchestra Master (CEO) and Board of Directors who ask for changes to the storyline or approve the end result. At a broader level successful execution played to the stock market and analysts acknowledges work well done.
Every year, give or take a few weeks, this is the time when the next year's budgets are approved for most companies. The process begins many months earlier and after multiple rounds of discussions and negotiations, the final budget is presented by either the entire management team or select few (read CEO, CFO and maybe the CMO) to the Board. As boards have to "add value" they challenge the collective wisdom and either inflate the top-line or bottom-line or both or cut costs leaving the team perplexed or so it seems.
Budget planning is typically a function of planned capital investments and operating expenses. Most companies are CAPEX unfriendly and there is always pressure to reduce operating expense. For the CIO the two edged sword draws blood by moving hardware and licensing to operating expense and then the CFO wants to cut OPEX. Finance and/or business friendly CIOs know how to manage this, others struggle to keep their heads above water until one of the powerful CXOs throws them a lifeline.
Post "rationalization" by the Board, the situation gets even more interesting. Now that everyone has been given a say 15% operating budget cut, the un-buffered and bewildered CIO struggles to stay afloat. A frustrated CIO once commented, where do I cut without impacting service levels? I cannot go short on licenses, nor on bandwidth, and service providers want inflationary increase, AMC needs to be paid, travel and training are already down; do I go to the CEO, or CFO, or better the Board with a begging bowl?
In jest or otherwise the remark portrays the helplessness felt by many and not just the CIO. Is there a way out? There is if everyone went back to basics and stopped predicting the future based on the past and making unrealistic projections on what the business will be next year. It would help if all functions worked the budget together acknowledging dependencies for success rather than in silos. It is then up to the CEO to play the galleries or stand firm ground with the Board when s/he represents the team's collective effort.
Where would you draw a line as the CIO/CEO? Will you accept the cuts? How will you ensure that realistically the company has enough cushion to react to market and competitive moves or the black swans that seem to be common now? Will you put your neck out for the team? I have always gone into a meeting with the maxim that budget is an intent to spend; we collectively determine the spend and own it up irrespective of which head or bucket it sits in. There are limits to cutting cost, let's focus on the customer and how we can increase revenue. That is a better discussion!


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A Reflection on our 38 Years as Booksellers — A Heartfelt Thanks from Us to You. (And some books about books, 20% OFF)
Posted on November 29, 2020 by Byron Borger
I posted a version of this on Facebook and thought I ought to send it out to our BookNotes subscribers, you who are among our best supporters and most regular customers. We're so grateful you read our words and send orders for us to ship to you. Here's a little essay ruminating just a bit on our past 38 years. As we say at the end, we couldn't have done it without you. Thanks for being a part of this story.
Yesterday was the 38th anniversary of the opening of our bookstore, Hearts & Minds, here in Dallastown, PA.
As I've often said, the very first book we sold that very first day we opened was a paperback of Les Miserable by Victor Hugo. (This was in 1982, by the way, before the powerful musical made "Les Mis" and Victor Hugo a household name.) A deeply Christian classic novel, so different then most of the so-called "Christian fiction" of the 1980s, we were delighted for that to be our first sale and took it somehow as a sign from above: God smiled upon our youthful hopes to create a bookstore that was a bit different than the typical religious shops of the day.
We have written before about our desire to be a bit more thoughtful and ecumenical as a bookstore than some evangelical stores, offering more meaty books than are often found, without being an academic bookstore. We carry gifts and crafts, cards and music, and a fair share of inspirational bric-a-back, but wanted to stand out as a bookstore. When we opened, most religious shops still called themselves bookstores and in our lifetimes many switched to calling themselves "Christian stores" which meant teeshirts and Jesus junk; they've even got "Christian toothbrushes." You know our story of trying to carry books from a Christian perspective across the whole range of life and career areas, titles about engineering and politics and psychology and art and business. You've heard me tell stories of folks who have entered our store and, seeing books on ecological studies, have asked, confused, where the Christian bookstore in Dallastown is. Because we carry books on science and film, they can't imagine that we are that Christian bookstore. And so, it's been a wild ride these years…
We wouldn't have been able to open 234 East Main if it weren't for tons of friends who pitched in (many from Pittsburgh) and our very generous and helpful families, who volunteered, cooked, did accounting paperwork, worked in the shop, cared for our children, and delivered packages (and, let's admit it, threw good money after bad) for years and years. Of course, we are thankful for many who volunteered and covered for us, for early employees and staff, and for our current team of the last decade, all who love books and care for our customers in ways that humble and honor us.
If you've ever worked here — even for a while — I trust you'll forgive us for not living up to our ideals of doing things a bit differently, with good cheer and a sense of community that promotes theological care for an open-minded, ecumenical book selection, always putting people above profits. We've dropped the ball more times than we can say, but we cling to the goodness of God who seems to have guided and sustained us as we've tried to be a space for many different kinds of folks to learn about many different kinds of books. What a blast that has been; we hope our corner of the world is a bit better because of the ideas launched through these books we've researched, studied, curated, ordered, stocked, shown, and sometimes sold. We thank those who showed up and worked hard for us, seeing this more as ministry than lucrative wage earning.
We've been encouraged and blessed by many in our industry — authors whose names you may know, publishing leaders whose names you most likely don't, and bunches of faithful sales reps, order takers, supply chain workers, (USPS carriers, UPS and FedEx drivers), publishers and editors, book cover designers, publicity and PR teams, and others who make this whole industry work as well as it does. We are thankful to play a small part in a bigger industry that has changed much over the decades and is facing very hard times now. On this weekend of commemoration, I won't rant about the industry, the dangers of Amazon, and the vexation of moving forward during Covid. But it worries us a lot. We trust God and forge ahead, I guess, recalling what Francis Schaeffer wrote in True Spirituality so many decades ago: the world is abnormal. Or, as Cornelius Plantinga put it in a beautiful book on sin, swiping a line from the movie "Grand Canyon", things are "not the way it's supposed to be." Got it.
But, of course, it is to our customers (many who have become friends) to whom we owe the biggest debt of gratitude. Truly. This weekend of thanksgiving we are deeply grateful for those who have trusted us with their hard questions, who have asked for book advice, who have put us to work finding titles they need, who have browsed our shelves and found surprising treasures (and who had the candor to tell us when they found stinkers and titles that caused trouble.) We thank those who have shelled out their hard- earned money. We thank you for that.
Beth and I are tired from the long hours of these long years, willing to admit that it's been harder than we expected, but we are cheered when we think of many fine conversations with many fine folks about books and ideas, authors and writing, words and wisdom. Nearly every day we are reminded about the impact we make by getting books to readers. "Read for the Kingdom!" I used to shout, sometimes, at evangelical gatherings; "Books can help transform your vision and move us to work for change," I might say to others. Or, perhaps a blessing of sorts, to some: "May these titles touch your heart and shape your soul in healthy, good ways." In any case, our customers know that books matter, that reading is a spiritual discipline that can change us from the inside out, and that the very willingness to learn from others — through fiction, nonfiction, poetry or prose — is an essential virtue that makes us better people and this world a better place. Today, especially, we thank our customers who have kept us going, in more ways than one.
We thank, also, those institutions that have partnered with us; schools and libraries and social change organizations and, of course, many local churches; we thank you. We've loved selling books with and for ministries such as our beloved CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach.) I'm sure some tire of us talking about their Jubilee conference, but it has been more than an annual big gig for us, but the center of our liturgical calendar and a touchstone for why we do what we do. We'll be somehow selling books on line there this year at Jubilee 2021.
On this Hearts & Minds anniversary we think back to the old days setting up book displays for the York Council of Churches (does anybody remember the local Faith Is Alive Christian Ed conferences?), the epic Pennsylvania State Council of Churches events in Harrisburg — where for the first time I heard Walt Brueggemann and Jürgen Moltmann, the same day) and conferences by groups like the C.S.Lewis Institute, Ivy Jungle, Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work in NYC, Q, CIVA, OneLife, Northeast APCE, Wee Kirk, CLS, Fresh Expressions, CLAC, ESA, CPJ, BFW, The Jonathan Edwards Institute, and the Mercersburg Society, not to mention several regular denominational gatherings, from UCC to Episcopalian, from Presbyterian to Lutheran.
We've set up at Catholic retreat centers and Christian rock festivals (Purple Door!), at camps and revivals and protest marches and once at the National Press Club. I've lectured on books in countless venues; we've set up in rec rooms of college student dorms at the beach and in fancy halls at Ivy League colleges and fine (and not so fine) hotels. We've sold books and spoken at events in New York and New Orleans, in Dallas and Denver. We've set up books in urban justice centers and at rural nonprofits. And of course we delivered book displays to more church basements than we can remember. We love the church basements.
We've worked with authors as distinguished as Os Guinness and Barbara Brown Taylor and William Willimon and Tim Keller (loading out, once, from a very fancy, marbled museum in Pittsburgh) and with edgy activists like Shane Claiborne,Lisa Sharon Harper, Nadia Bolz-Weber. I've spoken (like a bookish warm-up act) before Brennan Manning and Fleming Rutledge and John Piper and Rich Mullins and Eugene Peterson; Phyllis Tickle once quipped that Hearts & Minds is the very center of the universe. I've had the remarkable fortune to interview authors I love such as Michael Card, Lauren Winner, Andy Crouch, Ruth Haley Barton, Jamie Smith. I think the first event we ever did in the store was with Jim Wallis; or maybe Brian Walsh; both were before we expanded the store in the mid 1990s. The most recent, on Zoom, was with Gina Delfonzo and Karen Swallow Prior as we talked about Charles Dickens. Our two largest Dallastown events were with N.T. Wright and another with Amish novelist Beverly Lewis.
These days, with Covid on the rise and the store still closed, we have quick conversations through people's car windows or standing in the breeze out back. If it weren't a sign of our grim times, it would be sort of fun, this backyard customer service and curbside delivery.
Most of our customers these days, and I suspect most reading this, are mail-order friends — on-line shoppers and those who read BookNotes and send us orders and, often, encouraging notes. (Or cancel their subscription and send us hate mail, but I digress.) We opened before there was a thing called "Small Business Saturday" or "Cyber-Monday" and we continue on, eyes on the prize, glad for those who support independent and family-owned businesses and who appreciate our odd effort to be a bookstore unlike most, with an unusual blend of passions and the books to prove it. We're so thankful for those who subscribe to BookNotes, who read (and share) our book reviews, who send us orders, who spread the word. We appreciate you all more than words can say.
I've shared this lively video before, but if you want to hear me ramble on about the power of books, the need to read widely, the pleasure and importance of the printed page, this talk I gave at an evening gathering last year at Grove City College is an example of the sorts of notions that often run through our heads as we talk about our work and the Christian perspective that we think shapes us. I was so glad to be with friends out in Western Pennsylvania again and appreciated their trust in allowing me to talk about reading and books to their students and friends. Even though it was presented for collegiates, I think many will enjoy hearing me enthusiastically preaching about books and what they can do for us. Enjoy!
https://livestream.com/accounts/13431056/events/8792551/videos/197856283
Of course, it wouldn't be a real BookNotes if I didn't highlight some books, so here are three. Happy reading. ALL BOOKS ARE 20% OFF. Think of it as an anniversary sale.
The Word: Black Writers Talk about the Transformative Power of Reading and Writing edited by Marita Golden (Broadway Books) $14.99 || OUR SALE PRICE = $11.99
If you have heard me speak at any length about what books can do for us and the value of reading, you may have heard me read out loud from the first few pages of this marvelous anthology of black writers. In the opening, Marita Golden offers vignettes of her own reading life — as a youth (reading Oliver Twist and Vanity Fair), as a teen coming into her own as a young, black woman, as a person coping with the hard stuff of life (she's tells about reading Tony Morrison's Beloved) and as a wife contemplating her bad marriage, reading Madam Bovary. I read it early in my talk at Grove City College that I linked to above, if you saw that. Often, after offering presentations when I use this resource, folks want to know what book it was that I read from. Highly recommended.
Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish C. Christopher Smith (IVP) $16.00 || OUR SALE PRICE = $12.80
You can read my longer review here, but know that this is one book I esteem almost more than any other, because it names so much of what and why we do what we do. I adore this book.
I wish more would know this content, talk about this stuff, share this book, explore it in groups. It is important and good and we so admire the work Chris has done with his team at Englewood Review of Books.
As missional scholar Alan Roxburgh notes in one review, "Reading isn't a technique. It's about cultivating the practice of discernment through dialogue with others." It is, especially in our polarized culture, as Tim Soerens notes, in his rave review, "subversive." Slowing down and listening? That's a habit we get from reading, and especially from reading together. This is much of what Chris is exploring here (and which was developed further in his recent book about conversation, How the Body of Christ Talks.)
Here is how the publisher has described Reading for the Common Good:
We have been created to live and work in community. But all too often we see ourselves primarily as individuals and run the risk of working at cross-purposes with the organizations we serve. Living faithfully in a neighborhood involves two interwoven threads: learning and action. In this book C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of Slow Church, looks at the local church as an organization in which both learning and action lie at the heart of its identity. He explores the practice of reading and, in his words, "how we can read together in ways that drive us deeper into action." Smith continues, "Church can no longer simply be an experience to be passively consumed; rather, we are called into the participatory life of a community. Reading is a vital practice for helping our churches navigate this shift." Discover how books can help your churches and neighborhoods bring flourishing to the world.
Listen to memoirist and essayist Scott Russell Saunders:
In this hectic age, with its flood of electronic scraps aimed at five-second attention spans, how refreshing it is to meet a champion of slow, sustained and meditative reading of books. And not just any books, but ones that nurture compassion and community. Chris Smith illustrates in his own work and in his account of the work of his church what it means to love one's neighbor. It means more than kindly feelings. It means kindly actions. It means caring for others, beginning with those who share the place where we live, and above all those who are most in need. The wealth Smith celebrates is not to be found in stock markets or bank accounts, but between the covers of books, between person and person, and in the loving heart.
A Book for Hearts & Minds: What You Should Read & Why (A Festschrift Honoring the Work of Hearts & Minds Bookstore) edited by Ned Bustard (Square Halo Books) $18.99 || OUR SALE PRICE = $15.19
When our store turned 30 our friends at Square Halo showed up with cases of this book on hand, a book they had put together in our honor, a great gift we are to this day stunned. They got authors as rare as Calvin Seerveld and as famous as N.T. Wright and as eloquent Steve Garber as teacherly as Karen Swallow Prior, guiding us to the best books they recommend in their respective fields. In sort of an homage to BookNotes, 20 or so experts weigh in with great chapters about books — from Andi Ashworth on books about cooking to Gregory Wolfe on books of creative nonfiction, from Mike Schutt on books about law to Denis Haack on film, it's a great, great collection. There is an opening chapter which is a transcribed talk form a cassette tape recording of some off the cuff remarks I made at a gathering once, which is pretty good (despite one glaring error regarding Abraham Kuyper and C.S. Lewis. You know how I get when I get fired up preaching about every square inch of Narnia.)
Read more about it here.
The Reading Life: The Joy of Seeing New Worlds Through Other's Eyes C.S. Lewis (HarperOne) $19.99 || OUR SALE PRICE = $15.99
Maybe you will recall us describing this when it came out a year ago. What a great idea, pulling together various writings of the Oxford don from his letters, essays, and books, about the value of reading, the joys of reading, his own love of books and his advice for readers and writers. You can read in one volume his review of J.R.R. Tolkien, some of his reflections on science fiction, and several pieces on children's books. And, of course, the often cited chapters on the importance of reading old books.
Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind Alan Jacobs (Penguin Press) $25.00 || OUR SALE PRICE = $20.00
I could just as easily commend the wonderful Oxford University Press book by Professor Jacobs called The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction — yes, he reminds us, highbrow thinker that he may be, that in all our concerns about the lack of reading, "amusing ourselves to death" in "the shallows" and other rants against the demise of reading in our tech-driven, digital age, that we are to enjoy reading. Life's too short to waste much time or books we don't like, I say, so, yep, The Pleasures of Reading is a gem.
Still, Breaking Bread with the Dead is named here, though, because, well, it's a reminder many of us need. We are not too snooty here at the bookstore and we don't sell many of the great classics to elite readers, no matter what Mr. Lewis recommended. (I've been known to push back on this thesis about chronologically snobbery, by the way, noting that his privileging older books is its own sort of chronological snobbery!) Having said that, we do need to attend to what Jacobs so richly and eloquently reflect on here. What a book it is, one of the best, deepest, reading experiences this year.
I may or may not have understood all he was writing about and I may or may not have ever heard of some of the authors he mentioned. Okay, I didn't. No matter. Breaking Bread with the Dead is a moving, detailed, and compelling argument for taking seriously old books, especially in our season of restlessness and melancholy.
We reviewed this at BookNotes briefly here and we still have it at that 20% off discounted price. Highly recommended.
Reading Buechner: Exploring the Work of a Master Memoirist, Novelist, Theologian, and Preacher Jeffrey Munro (IVP) $18.00 || OUR SALE PRICE = $14.40
Few authors capture the range and quality of what we want to be about here as much as this Presbyterian pastor who helped create the modern interest in religious memoir, was nominated for a Putlizer Prize for exceptional novels, and whose witty theology is both meaty and winsome. That some evangelicals and even Catholics liked this mainline Protestant pastor, that secular literary types and heady theologians took him seriously, is just wonderful.
This fabulous book by Jeffrey Munro, executive vice president at Western Theological Seminary (where he also teaches writing) is for those who love Buechner (obviously) and a great prelude and orientation for those who don't know much about him. This really is, as the publisher promised on the back, "an authoritative new introduction to one of best spiritual writers."
As I wrote in a brief review at BookNotes a year ago, "There is a lovely, powerful forward by visual artist and writer Makoto Fujimura and blurbs on the back of this book are from the well-known Marilyn McEntyre, Michael Card, John Wilson, and Calvin University English prof and co-director of the Calvin Festival of Faith & Writing Jennifer Holberg who commends it to both newcomers and longtime readers of Mr. Buechner."
Learning for the Love of God: A Student's Guide to Academic Faithfulness Donald Optiz & Derek Melleby (Brazos Press) $17.00 || OUR SALE PRICE = $13.60
This is one of those books that I mention often at BookNotes. It is about how college students can see their ordinary academic work as a way to worship God, an easy-to-read introduction to one of the most significant tropes that shaped my life and the founding of our bookstore — that we can somehow relate faith and scholarship, that a Christian lens affords us with a unique perspective to understand learning and its relationship to living well. With blurbs from world class scholars like George Marsden (and the advice from James K.A. Smith on the back saying to "buy a box of these and give them to every high school senior you know") Learning for the Love of God is not only highly regarded, but is important.
I remind you of it here, now, for three reasons.
First, this really is the most whimsical and upbeat guide to this whole movement of worldview and culture-making and vocation and the call to distinctively Christian scholarship that early on shaped the vision and texture of our store. Granted, aspiring serious scholars should read, at least, Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling by James Sire and Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior by Steve Garber and George Marsden's little Oxford University Press book, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship which is vital, and inspired Opitz & Melleby, working your way to the magisterial The Myth of Religious Neutrality: An Essay on the Hidden Role of Religious Belief in Theories by philosopher Roy Clouser. Richard Mouw's wonderful, recent, All That God Cares about: Common Grace and Divine Delight has a couple of pages about us, quoting from a long BookNotes column where I explained why this stuff matters to us so much, suggesting it is my evangelical sort of take on the "all of life redeemed" vision of Abraham Kuyper and the implications for thinking, learning, and scholarship in service of societal reformation. What an honor to have an author like Dr. Mouw cite us as illustrative of something interesting. Whew.
Optiz and Melleby — perhaps goaded by me, I don't know about that — knew deep in their bones that this vital tradition of reformational scholarship was life changing and yet often missing the mark of young students who were church kids but had no tools to "think Christianly" about their college classes and task as young scholars. They worked well to create a solid but accesible introduction to this transformative stuff and it says so much about how Beth and I see our role as booksellers that it seems right to highlight it here, now.
Secondly, beside it being a window into much of what we think is important about young adults in college and taking faith into the classroom, I think — I hope you believe me — that this could be helpful to anyone who wants a breezy and quick read that invites them into life-long learning, a discerning wisdom about being "in but not of" the worlds of culture and knowledge. I know of Christians with a wild and wide imagination and they feel guilty, as if studying God's world is somehow not spiritual enough; this book will help. I know others that don't feel guilty, but maybe they should, because they study any old thing under the sun without any intentional or coherent way of relating their faith to their daily learning.n Again, this book will help. With so much fake news out there and so much confusing about thinking well, this call to joyful, intentional Christian learning is worth every page.
Thirdly (okay, sorry if this is what rhetoricians call "special pleading") the book is dedicated to me. I get choked up sometimes thinking about it, or seeing it there when I'm showing somebody the book. Gulp. Come on, folks. It's our store's anniversary! Buy this book that somehow has some connections to the decades of work of Beth and me here at Hearts & Minds.
ANY BOOK MENTIONED
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Hearts & Minds 234 East Main Street Dallastown PA 17313
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Creating a culture of growth begins with understanding the terrain of what makes that growth possible.
The "Top One Percenters" is a collection of companies that over the past decades through their continuous growth in every conceivable market and industry, even those considered moribund, have shown that "all growth is not created equal"1in the words of Dr. Gary Kunkle, economist and research fellow at the Institute for Exceptional Growth Companies.
The stickiest form of growth will likely lead to more growth of an organization in the future, one that is regular, frequent, and incremental, almost independent of the market conditions.
Because frequency of growth is a reflection of an organization's knowledge and skills on how to grow again and again, as well as the synchronized rhythm to execute such skills consistently. Hence, growth, the outcome, is dependent on growth, the skill, and the practice.
Since culture exists at the intersection of a way of thinking, a way of being, and a way of doing, then a culture of growth represents the activities, environment, and attitude that occur at the intersecting space.
The culture by default is made of individuals and their interactions, where the intersecting space we know as culture really reflects the habits, "internalized principles and patterns of behaviors"2 that individually and collectively we exhibit and practice regularly, frequently, and automatically.
Can the simplest form to create a culture of growth, boil down to the work of purposefully creating individual and organizational habits to grow frequently? Could that frequency, in turn, create a sustainable environment for more growth?
How do we build a culture similar to the organizations in the 1% list that continue to grow in the best and toughest market conditions?
Taking a page from other domains, we can adopt one motto: If it is hard, do it often.
The next few posts will examine ideas to nurture a culture of growth and habits to realize its potential.
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