So… Podcasts…

(Since I’m still working on my promised post about the US police force [I’m doing tons of research for this, to back up everything I say, so it’s a lot of work and I don’t have that much free time, which of course means it’s taking longer than I expected], I thought this would be a good, fun, light interim post.)

So… I listen to a lot of podcasts. I thought it’d be cool to list and talk about podcasts. As I said… I have a lot here, and I am going to list them all, and include links. However, I’m only going to give details on a select few, so this isn’t overly-long.

So here we are… my podcasts:

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Great Guitar Solos – Dazed and Confused Live @ Earl’s Court

This right here is literally why I play guitar.

Jimmy Page playing his guitar with a violin bow. I don’t know what exactly it was that made me sit up and take notice, but this blew my mind, and made me think of the guitar in ways I had never imagined the guitar before seeing this.

This is live at Earl’s Court on May 24, 1975. Yes, it’s over 30 minutes long. No, that’s not the longest Dazed and Confused has ever gone.

The bow solo starts at 11:33 and ends at 19:00.

Again… this is why I play guitar. This is how I see the guitar.

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What the Hell, Wikileaks?!?

I should start off by saying that I am a fan of whistleblowers. Hidden corruption, be it in major corporations or governments, deserves to be seen by the public, so that changes can be forced through. So it should go without saying that I consider many whistleblowers, including Chelsea Manning, Andrew Maguire, Blake Percival, Vijay Pandhare, Antoine Deltour, Edward Snowden, Ben Strickland, and many others to be heroes.

I have also always believed, and maintained, that whistleblowing should be a protected act worldwide. When exposing corruption, whistleblowers should be given immunity from prosecution and protection from retaliation. So, in the past, I’ve admired sites like Wikileaks for trying to do just that. Protection provided by such sites is, of course, extremely limited, which is why whistleblowers like Manning and Snowden often end up in prison or in exile.

Wikileaks has often proved to be a fascinating site. Filled with a treasure trove of interesting, and sometimes important, information, it’s a site that has remained controversial throughout its existence. Not only can you find the corruption that Chelsea Manning exposed, but you can also find quite a bit that the Church of Scientology would rather the average person didn’t know about their beliefs and their operations.

But Wikileaks apparently no longer cares what it leaks, so long as it does leak…

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White Supremacy and Violence (Repost) #BlackLivesMatter

In light of the recent protests in Milwaukee over the murder of Sylville K Smith, I’m reposting this. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but it’s an important reminder for all of us white people. It was originally posted at my old blog and at Daily Kos, before initially being moved here. And now, here it is again… please note that this was written in the context of the Baltimore protests in 2015. I’m also including some relevant commentary, which you’ll see in this color, and italicized.

So back in early May [2015], while the Baltimore protests were going on, Rabbi Benjamin Blech wrote an article about violence in the riots. I’m linking you to Aish.com, but I first saw it in the May 8th – 14th edition of the Long Island Jewish World. I wrote a response and looked for a few friends to edit it. I actually got around to finishing it a few weeks ago (back in 2015). First I sent it to Aish, who decided not to publish it but did forward it to the Rabbi. I also sent it to Alternet, but never heard back.

I’m sick and tired of white people crying about black people “violently” rioting against violent White Supremacy while those same white people condone the very violent White Supremacy that is instigating and causing this backlash in the first place. And I wanted to say something about it. Please note: I use the narrative of the Exodus because the Rabbi does; I don’t actually think that happened. I also did not use the Holocaust as an analogy. In hindsight, this probably would have been better, but I also feel as if my decision to present the alternate universe was a more direct (if ham-fisted) way of conveying what I was trying to say.

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Great Guitar Solos – This Entire Show by Kaki King on TED Talks

I was looking for a solo by Kaki King to showcase, and decided it was impossible to find just one. Her playing is absolutely incredible and she absolutely deserves to be noted as one of the greatest guitarists of the modern age. Her playing is beyond brilliant, and it was very hard for me to narrow down just one.

So, instead, I decided to link to this amazing performance she gives at TED.

Watch the whole thing, because it’s mind-blowingly awesome:

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Quick Update and a Couple Links

As of right now, I have a few days off now (assuming I don’t get called in), so I’ll be working on a couple posts: one with lots and lots of links talking mostly about the police (in the context of the report that came out about just how bigoted and violent the Baltimore PD really is, and why it’s true of way more PDs than just Baltimore), and another light-hearted one about tea.

To get you started on the police thing, though, here’s a couple links to posts written by Caine I really need you to read:

1. Lethal Incompetence
2. Cop Who Killed 73 year old: record of excessive force

Also, tomorrow (Monday, August 15th), at noon, another Great Guitar Solos post featuring Kaki King will go up.

So that’s three posts you have to look forward to over the next couple days. One to really piss you off, and two to make you happy… if guitar and tea are things that make you happy, anyways…

Suicide Squad

(Warning… some spoilers ahead… also, I discuss the abusive relationship between Joker and Harley in the Batman animated series and the comics. Not in much detail, but still…)

The Suicide Squad cast, minus Amanda Waller and the Joker, posing in front of Belle Reve.

So let me be honest up front… I don’t read a lot of comics, but I do prefer DC to Marvel. That said, that’s only for two reasons: Batman and Wonder Woman. I’ve always been a fan of both, and through them I prefer Justice League to the Avengers.

When Marvel and Disney started on their Avengers cinematic universe, I was hoping for DC to do a Justice League cinematic universe. And I wasn’t the only one. Many had hoped that Nolan’s Batman movies would be the start, but he refused to go that route, and honestly, his movies would not have fit in a Justice League universe with fantasy and sci-fi all around, especially as Nolan’s trilogy was more of an exercise in “what would Batman be like in the real world” (even if TDKRises sort of ultimately failed that question).

Then, Man of Steel came out. I was… not impressed. Although I’ve never been the world’s biggest Superman fan, following Justice League through Batman and Wonder Woman makes the other heroes, including Superman, very hard to avoid (though no, I wasn’t trying to, as I like the Justice League in general, as well). Superman is not an easy hero to pull off. Being the first, his over-powered, nearly god-like status made sense back when he was created. But DC has never been able to successfully update him, and when he has been amazing (All Star Superman, for example), they never really understood why he was so amazing, and so would kill it. And, of course, DC and WB gave Zack Snyder (of Sucker Punch infamy… gods that movie was terrible) the reigns over Man of Steel… which means that what we got was a Superman based quite a bit on Dr. Manhattan (which really shouldn’t be that surprising in hindsight). That just didn’t work. It’s not too surprising that critics weren’t fans.

Then we got Batman V Superman. I’ve been promising a spoiler-heavy review of the ultimate cut, but have so far failed to deliver, and I apologize for that. Hopefully I’ll get one up eventually, but suffice it to say, I really did not like the movie… I think largely because what I wanted was something more akin to World’s Finest. But I’ll get to that in my spoiler-heavy review… if I ever get to it.

But now, we have Suicide Squad.

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Great Guitar Solos – Comfortably Numb P*U*L*S*E*

Welcome to post 1 of Great Guitar Solos. It’s a series in which I highlight guitar solos I consider to be incredible. This first one, and the next two, are being moved from my old blog space. Then I’ll be writing new ones to go up every Monday.

I love guitar solos. A lot. I love picking them apart and figuring out what’s being played and what techniques are being used and if it’s sloppy and if that sloppiness is on purpose and so on and so forth. I’m a bit of a snob about guitar solos, in fact.

It doesn’t help that I can’t play them myself. I want to; I want to be a lead guitarist, able to play mind-blowing solos, from slow, emotional, melodic, deliberate melodies to face-melting, mind-bending psychedelic, shredding goodness.

But I’m just not there, sadly. My playing is not that good.

I do, however, have solos that I hold up as pillars of what good soloing is, and what it should be.

And the first one I’m highlighting is the solo I consider to be the greatest guitar solo ever recorded.

The band is Pink Floyd. The album is the live DVD P*U*L*S*E*.

The song?

Listen to that guitar solo. It starts at 4 minutes and 54 seconds in, and ends at 9 minutes and 24 seconds.

Already listened to it?

Listen to it again…

I can wait…

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