I am what you may call "stoked," "pumped," or "effing thrilled." It was just announced that Sonic Youth will be performing the entirety of Daydream Nation in its entirety at this summer's Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.
Did I mention that I am just plain excited about this news? Now if only Medicine came back to deafen me with some white noise...
Check it out for yourself.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Spring Break
Many thanks to Allison's brother Bradford for the lift home to Cincinnati. The Saab 9000 is still in an inoperable state – not for long, however.
I am planning on spending spring break doing absolutely nothing. After the past couple of weeks spent in a whirlwind of typing, reading, and crying, I am going to relish this week and half of idleness. Of course, being a Thomas, I am incapable of pure laziness, but I'm going to try. But I've already set myself up for failure as a laze. I plan on completing the following tasks before school starts back up on 3/26/07.
1. Read Cormac McCarthy's The Road in its entirety.
2. Get 300-400 miles in on the bike – or at least ride as much as I can.
3. Visit a city that is not in Ohio for a two to three-day duration.
4. Maybe starting sketching out a thesis?
5. Get my resume all patched up and maybe submit it to a job or two.
I am planning on spending spring break doing absolutely nothing. After the past couple of weeks spent in a whirlwind of typing, reading, and crying, I am going to relish this week and half of idleness. Of course, being a Thomas, I am incapable of pure laziness, but I'm going to try. But I've already set myself up for failure as a laze. I plan on completing the following tasks before school starts back up on 3/26/07.
1. Read Cormac McCarthy's The Road in its entirety.
2. Get 300-400 miles in on the bike – or at least ride as much as I can.
3. Visit a city that is not in Ohio for a two to three-day duration.
4. Maybe starting sketching out a thesis?
5. Get my resume all patched up and maybe submit it to a job or two.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Tangents in research
Thinking of communication theories, such as semiotics and agenda-setting processes, where the media constructs the public ideology through the inclusion or exclusion of information, I started then to think of how the reality that the public perceives is in itself, the reality that the media has created. The media, intentionally or unintentionally (it doesn't really matter) takes information in from a number of sources – the standard procedure of reportage. Then through the newsroom process the information is filtered, bestowed a weight or degree of importance, and then dispersed to the audience.
The problem then, does the information that the media filters out as being unimportant to the needs of the audience, or more prominent (articles on the front page, bold-faced headlines, etc.), and thus more "important," contribute to the an artificial reality for the audience, who is fed this information?
Think then of how society places value on news stories. Many of us perceive the actions of a handful of bad-acting celebrities as being more "important" to the sum value of culture than we do other news stories, such as information on Iraq, politics, business, the local community, et cetera. But here is the chicken-and-the-egg question: Does the media set the agenda and thus the audience demands for information, i.e. is the media the root cause of this phenomena? Or is the media responding to the desires of the audience, i.e. the media is giving the audience what it wants?
It seems that it's all just a big construction - this little world of ours.
Or maybe I'm just reading to much about the Westley-MacLean model of communication, or reading too much Umberto Eco and other hyperrealists.
Whatever.
The problem then, does the information that the media filters out as being unimportant to the needs of the audience, or more prominent (articles on the front page, bold-faced headlines, etc.), and thus more "important," contribute to the an artificial reality for the audience, who is fed this information?
Think then of how society places value on news stories. Many of us perceive the actions of a handful of bad-acting celebrities as being more "important" to the sum value of culture than we do other news stories, such as information on Iraq, politics, business, the local community, et cetera. But here is the chicken-and-the-egg question: Does the media set the agenda and thus the audience demands for information, i.e. is the media the root cause of this phenomena? Or is the media responding to the desires of the audience, i.e. the media is giving the audience what it wants?
It seems that it's all just a big construction - this little world of ours.
Or maybe I'm just reading to much about the Westley-MacLean model of communication, or reading too much Umberto Eco and other hyperrealists.
Whatever.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Everyone should check out this site (all two of you...)
http://allisonmgrant.blogspot.com/
It's my girlfriend's blog. She takes pictures of awesome things and is going to school in Chicago to learn how to operate her camera in an efficient manner.
I really like this one, but then again, I really like them all,
Friday, March 9, 2007
That early morning thaw
rings sharp on the faces
of the diggers
as their bootheels sink
softly into the cold
soil of the partially
frozen field.
Bright red hands and noses exposed
for hours signal the
duration of their day.
Their toil untamped by
frost or hail – these
laborers are creaky in
the joint and mouth.
Where once talk of
sport and leisure once
leapt, now only comes
talk of the weather.
Their limbs are barometers.
Maybe someday, could be tomorrow
their arduous work, that lonely work
will fall to another crew.
As life has a definite
conclusion, but no sturdy digger
ever leaves a job unfinished.
For if one departs, another will
surely take his place – such is
the nature of that business.
When the cold snaps
and the ground thaws out of
its muddy slumber, a new host
of men come out to labor.
Swinging tools like pendulums
and scarring the ground, they
lay down the framework for
our and their own departure.
rings sharp on the faces
of the diggers
as their bootheels sink
softly into the cold
soil of the partially
frozen field.
Bright red hands and noses exposed
for hours signal the
duration of their day.
Their toil untamped by
frost or hail – these
laborers are creaky in
the joint and mouth.
Where once talk of
sport and leisure once
leapt, now only comes
talk of the weather.
Their limbs are barometers.
Maybe someday, could be tomorrow
their arduous work, that lonely work
will fall to another crew.
As life has a definite
conclusion, but no sturdy digger
ever leaves a job unfinished.
For if one departs, another will
surely take his place – such is
the nature of that business.
When the cold snaps
and the ground thaws out of
its muddy slumber, a new host
of men come out to labor.
Swinging tools like pendulums
and scarring the ground, they
lay down the framework for
our and their own departure.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
So, I'm doing this again.
I've decided that I am in need of a bit of self promotion, especially considering that I'm 2/3 of the way through Scripps graduate school, and sooner rather than later, I'll hopefully be in the running for some kind of job. I did have the rzthomas.blogspot.com blog, but I decided I wanted to create something less introspective and ranty.
Thus I've reserved rzachthomas.blogspot.com for future use. Let the ambivalence and rare posting and attention commence. I hope to get some of my page design stuff up, along with excerpts from some of my research, along with any and all articles and news pieces that I've written or reported on.
Also, I should note that I also plan to be far more verbose in the future. After cranking out reams of research in the past couple of weeks, I'm more than sick of sitting in front of my computer for extended periods.
Thus I've reserved rzachthomas.blogspot.com for future use. Let the ambivalence and rare posting and attention commence. I hope to get some of my page design stuff up, along with excerpts from some of my research, along with any and all articles and news pieces that I've written or reported on.
Also, I should note that I also plan to be far more verbose in the future. After cranking out reams of research in the past couple of weeks, I'm more than sick of sitting in front of my computer for extended periods.
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