1. “Lotus Flower (Jacques Greene Remix)” – Radiohead
2. “Lotus Flower” – Radiohead
3. “Art of Almost” – Wilco
4. “Howlin’ for You” – the Black Keys
5. “Stars and Sons” – Broken Social Scene
6. “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)” – Talking Heads
7. “Lisztomania” – Phoenix
8. “The Youth” – MGMT
9. “Empire Ants” – Gorillaz ft. Little Dragon
10. “Soldier Jane” – Beck
11. “Not Even Jail (Daniel Kessler Remix)” – Interpol
12. “Inertia Creeps” – Massive Attack
13. “Pilots” – Goldfrapp
14. “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)” – Arcade Fire

Get it? Venn – get it?

"I can't tell one from the other: Did I find you, or you find me?"

12.          “Sterns to Western” – People Under the Stairs ft. Cap’n Kidd Lexus (2000)

          “Sterns to Western” swings, allowing the three MCs to build up a stream of consciousness: there’s Kidd Lexus’ champ intro (“It’s like fabulous, we all-out kings, blessed and talented/ So who’s here to handle this? I’m the prime candidate”), digressing with Double K self promoting that they’re “kinda clever, like old Jewish dudes,” and ending with Thes One pulling out all the Paul’s Boutique stops: comparing fake MCs to “Alf pogs,” his style to a BART turnstile, and referencing the war between Springfield and Shelbyville. Between it all is a chorus of an old man la la la-ing like their jazz grandfather enjoying the show.

11.          “Flipmode Squad Meets Def Squad” – Busta Rhymes ft. Jamal, Redman, Keith Murray, Rampage, and Lord Have Mercy (1996)

          Erik Sermon (not on this track) formed Def Squad after the split of EPMD; Busta Rhymes formed Flipmode Squad after the breakup of Leaders of the New School. Both collaborations debuted on Busta’s first solo album, The Coming. “Flipmode Squad Meets Def Squad,” an 8-minute track split in half, has some of the hardest gems out there: Redman’s psychotic but poetically sharp “Manslaughter in alphabetical order for four quarters/ Raw water turns sons to granddaughters,” and Keith Murray (“You stupid niggas always got something smart to say/ And probably can’t even spell TWA”) and Lord Have Mercy (“My maneuvers drop like lugers/ Illegal, maybe Lethal, like Gibson’s/ Spitting blessings with three Weapons”) both in classic form.

10.          “Black Trump” – Cocoa Brovaz ft. Raekwon (1998)

          Wu-Tang Clan’s chef cooks up his East Coast Mafioso style with label mates Cocoa Brovaz (aka Smif-N-Wessun) over an obvious West Coast beat, trading rhymes about street craps, gun clapping, and the kind of cats they roll with: “You see my set of twin-hit men from Bushwick?/ Two chicks with the twenty-two TECs, bitch?” By the end of the track, you know who’s holding weight and carrying heat: all three of them.

9.          “Cowboys” – Fugees ft. Pacewon, Rah Digga, Young Zee and John Forté (1996)

          Drawing more from Westerns than the actual West, Fugees and fellow New Jerseyans the Outsidaz treat everyone from the Sundance Kid to John Wayne as mythical figures, and remind NYC that the Wild Wild West is only one state away. Each of the first three verses is shared by two MCs – the desperados Wyclef and Pacewon (the latter pulling out his gun to “Plug Two like Trugoy”), followed by Lauryn Hill and Rah Digga liberating saloon girls, then Young Zee and the Gambler Pras – while the fourth verse is a Man with No Name coda by John Forté. A dynamic collaboration, Young Zee sums it up best: “When the Outs hook up with the Refugees/ It’d be more niggas than the NAACP.”

8.          “The Show”/“La Di Da Di” – Doug E. Fresh ft. Slick Rick (1985)

          A grandiose showcase of Doug E. Fresh’s beatboxing, “The Show” recounts the typical (and atypical) problems with organizing a rap concert – cats not showing up, hitting stage last minute, not being able to locate one’s shoe horn – and oh yeah, features the debut of hip hop’s first true storyteller, Slick Rick. The single for “The Show” is a metaphor for hip hop’s history: the MC (Slick Rick) originally introduced and celebrated the DJ (in this case, Fresh), until the MC stepped in front of the set and became the central figure (example: the B-side “La Di Da Di,” Slick Rick’s non-stop classic).

7.          “Get It Together” – Beastie Boys ft Q-Tip (1994)

          “Get It Together” is four MCs playing a game of 21 and shooting the shit: John Stark’s importance to their beloved Knicks; Q-Tip’s Queens-specific Timberland boots (that MCA points out in such a way that I swear it means Tip is wearing them on the court); Joanie Loves Chachi (with a rhymed-in comparison to Ad Rock and his then wife, Ione); and annoying game interruptions (“The phone is ringing/ Oh my god…”). The Beastie Boys mix Q-Tip into their three man weave so well, it’s a wonder that this collaboration didn’t happen years before (I mean, Tip’s references to zany shit like pineapple Now and Laters, John Holmes, and Ma Bell are noticeably missing from Paul’s Boutique).

6.          “Symphony” – Marley Marl ft. Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane (1988)

          Marley Marl, hip hop’s Art Blakey, introduces heavyweights Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, and Big Daddy Kane in pass-the-mic fashion. On “The Symphony,” the verbal beat down to beat, each MC is introduced by the last – i.e. names are given, and then taken. Masta Ace shifts rhythmically and lyrically so often, it’s hard to catch him (“Once you hear the capital A rap, it’ll stay/ With you for awhile, it won’t go away”). Craig G Rap takes the POV of the target MC, if only to emasculate him: “I apologize. Oh yeah, and uh/ Can I have your autograph for me and my grandma?” Then there’s Kool G Rap, toned down compared to his later work but he still raps “your metaphor sucks more than a whore.” And Big Daddy Kane grabs the mic last and makes a lasting impression: “And battling me is hazardous to health/ So put a quarter in your ass, cos you played yourself.” After 20 odd years, “The Symphony” remains the definitive example of MC bravado.

5.          Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998)

          Mos Def and Talib Kweli collaborated when both MCs were fresh and at the top of their game – and hip hop was losing its identity in mainstream radio. “Brown Skin Lady” is lyrical admiration akin to Miles Davis covers. “Respiration” bridges the gap between old school hip hop and the then situation, using Style Wars as a backdrop for a culture struggling in a city, much like the people living and dying there. “Children’s Story” is a line-for-line rhyme-for-rhyme retelling of Slick Rick’s signature rap, turning Rick’s cautionary tale about crime into a tale about MCs and producers selling hip hop out. Also on “Children’s Story,” Mos was one of the first to clarify that the East Coast/West Coast beef was grossly manufactured by the media. But not to ignore the talents lost to that beef, Mos and Talib pay tribute to Tupac and Biggie: with the single “Definition,” Mos and Talib rightfully declared Black Star as the “best alliance in hip hop” in a new era that hoped to be defined by artistry and not militant competition. (And “Good Jesus!” the song is a damn rhyme-fest.) A wake-up call to hip hop’s caretakers, Black Star appeared only once (so far…) – but with warnings that still apply to today.

 4.          Gorillaz (2001 – present)

          Blur’s Damon Albarn took trip hop’s collaborative mentality and created Gorillaz, an open forum for some of hip hop’s best verses in the last 10 years. Whether digging up the underground’s finest (Del the Funky Homosapien, MF Doom, Roots Manuva) or the shy (reminding everyone how great De La Soul is with “Feel Good Inc.” and “Superfast Jellyfish”); or finding the right MC for the right track (Mos Def’s Convoy-spit on “Stylo;” the paranoid antics of Bashy and Kano on “White Flag;” Snoop Dogg’s high-from-Mr. Bubble verse that opens Plastic Beach); all of Gorillaz’s hip hop collaborations have been solid. And: Bootie Brown’s tale of a soldier returning from war (highlighting the general bullshit of war) on “Dirty Harry” might be hip hop’s greatest verse.

3.          “Act Too (Love of My Life)” – the Roots ft. Common (1999)

          An ode to hip hop that’s as sweet (and heartbreaking) as any pop ballad, “Act Too (Love of My Life)” touches on hip hop’s finer points and comments on its state in 1999. Black Thought raps his “I Only Have Eyes For You” verse, using his personal history (his childhood romance) with hip hop: “It was all for you, from the door for you/… From the start, Thought was down by law for you/ Used to hit up every corner store war for you.” And Common masterfully returns to his “I Used to Love H.E.R.” metaphor, blaming crossover gents Hype Williams (“Caught in the Hype Williams, and lost Her direction”) and Puff Daddy (“Her Daddy, he beat Her, eyes all Puff”) for using hip hop as a commodity (and abandoning her as such). In the end, hip hop was treated the same way jazz was: neglected by the originating culture/exploited by another, a central theme of Things Fall Apart. “Act Too (Love of My Life)” is the album’s thesis statement.

2.          “Big Brother Beat” – De La Soul ft. Mos Def (1996)

          Of all the tracks that have introduced new MCs to the world, none have matched “Big Brother Beat” and its introduction of Mos Def. Vets De La Soul took on the MC from the unsigned Medina Green, and passed the torch by making Mos an honorary member of Native Tongues. At 22, Mos had already developed his particular style: his grimy slur that gives his lyrics such fluidity; and his diachronic sense of rap, interpolating Rakim’s definition of “MC:”

“I don’t bug out or chill or be acting ill/ No tricks in 86, it’s time to build/ Eric B(e) easy on the cut, no mistakes allowed/ Cos to me, MC means “move the crowd”
to
“I don’t bug out, I chill – don’t be acting ill/ No tricks in 96, Native Tongue gon’ build/ But we be easy on the cut, no mistakes allowed/ Cos to me, MC means “making cream,”

a line about financial security (not to be confused with financial obsession). Mos Def’s career accelerated shortly after this collaboration and he remains hip hop’s resident lyricist and most vocal advocate.

1.          “Scenario” – A Tribe Called Quest ft. Charlie Brown, Dinco D, and Busta Rhymes (1992)

          A Tribe Called Quest brought on Leaders of the New School (fellows of Native Tongues) for a 4-minute anthem to settle the score for those who still viewed hip hop as a fad. “Scenario” couldn’t have come at a better time: it was a stake for creditability as it became a mild hit, proving hip hop as a legitimate art from, with a great back beat and catchy yet impossible to match lyrics.

          And Phife raps the importance of hip hop at the beginning (and starts what is one of his best constructed verses): “A-yo, Bo knows this and Bo knows that/ But Bo don’t know jack, cos Bo can’t rap.” Jester Charlie Brown keeps the posse going and sets up fellow Leader Dinco D, who chops up words with sushi chef esteem: “So yo, the D, what? The O/ Incorporated I-N-C into a flow.” Tribe’s head, Q-Tip, waxes on not being a criminal, having better hearing in his right ear, and the pride he has in colleagues (“I love my young nation”) – just cold lamping while his crew backs up every line.

          The only break comes with Tip introducing Busta Rhymes, who builds the tension back up before… “BOOM! from the cannon/ Not bragging/ Try to read my mind, just imagine/ Vo-cab-u-lary’s necessary/ When digging into my library.” In a rhythm – and volume… and voice – that’s distinctly his, Busta closes “Scenario” as the posse comes back with the chant. One of the most re-playable songs, the greatest hip hop collaboration doubles as hip hop’s greatest track.

          And that, my friends, is the scenario.

This Wall

Facing the same direction
this wall

this wall
immune to use
this wall
waiting for the right words
to crumble to
the same words you used
to crumble to
in those sweet sweet days
when I could sing you
to sleep against the wall
when I could keep you
to your promises
when I could expect you
and when I could expect you
to think I wasn’t crazy
and when I could expect you
to think at all
to think beyond
the wall
even as I pushed you
against it
and you pulled me
into you
and beyond the wall that took
nothing we gave and gave
and gave
no one else a reason
other than love–

when you loved
someone as crazy as me
and I loved you

Up first: ”Atomic, Biological and Chemical Warfare Pocket Reference” wallet card.

From what I can tell, this was issued to Navy personnel in the 1950s. It’s strange now (I hope), but given the atmosphere then, this card could have come in handy… at least once.

Note the “NavPers 10699″ and “GPO” – the latter meaning “Government Printing Office.”

Look at all those instructions! (I feel sorry for the guy who hadn’t read through this thing – up, down, left and right – until he heard an alarm. Scramble!)

The double-sided insert. Note: “1950″ on the left card.  ”During and After Burst” is particularly interesting – how to determine when (and how important it is) to get back to work, with the added “Remember – the large casualties in Japan [after we bombed them] resulted from failure to provide air raid warning and from lack of organization”.

(Found a ghost in my room…)

Post-downtime office chart

“FML”  – deamau5 (cut at 2’46)* > “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” – Oasis >
“Halfway Home” > “Crying” > “Dancing Choose”† – TV on the Radio >
“Lotus Flower” > “Give Up the Ghost” > “Separator” > “Codex” – Radiohead >
“The Gentle Hum of Anxiety”‡ > “Intriguing Possibilities” – Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch

*and that’s about all I can take from deadmau5 (and I admit that’s partly because of titles like “FML” and “Moar Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff”)
†isn’t that the GREATEST TITLE??
‡Anyone else hear the similarities between “Codex” and “The Gentle Hum of Anxiety”?

(box head)

I’ve been working one-on-one with a student this semester and we’ve made a lot of progress. Only two weeks ago I was worried that I wasn’t helping him; that as much as I wanted to see him focus and prioritize, I wasn’t sure I was even reaching him. Now I see him putting energy in the right direction – what needs to be done first, working a little bit on this assignment here and this assignment there, and even addressing fears: as his class presentation approached, he asked if we could set up mock runs so he could do his PowerPoint presentation a few times before it was due. I told him I’d love to help him and I needed to ask the tutorial coordinator. Part of me expected a “Yes… but we’ll assign someone else…” Instead, my boss has been fully supportive and helped me set it up. She’s new this semester, and we did click immediately, but I’m not sure I could have predicted working for such a positive and supportive person. In the end, my tutee gave two mock presentations – well. Yeah, it was a good feeling – and just the satisfaction I needed from a job.

(Mary Magdalene is doing well.)

(I was breaking into someone’s house last night when I saw this particularly friendly cat. I looked at his name tag and saw… Kevin? Did they chose such a human/mundane name because he’s actually magical? In honor: )

Kevin’s office chart

1. “Under Your Spell” – Desire> “A Real Hero” – College (ft. Electric Youth)> “Tick of the Clock” – Chromatics

2. “Kick Your Teeth” – Cliff Martinez/”Feral” – Radiohead (mixed at will) > “Lotus Flower” – Radiohead

(trust me on this…> )

3. The Whole Love – Wilco

(Thanks to Barry Cutler, my dear friend, for the best birthday greeting I’ve ever received. I mean, look at it.)

Dr. Beauchef, Penguin Dentist

by Sean R. Corbin

Based on the Kneebody song, “Dr. Beauchef, Penguin Dentist”

Dr. Beauchef took off his right mitt and reached into his pocket. He pulled from it a tube of procaine and inspected it as a stranger. The Ross Sea wind chilled his hand and he returned the tube and quickly redressed his hand. He was lanky, although one could not tell because of his parka. His hair was fashionably short, but his dress had changed drastically for the rough Antarctic weather he prepared for.

            On the rusty deck of The Bowman, headed for Antarctica, Dr. Beauchef, for the first time since he had begun this venture four years before, questioned whether he was doing a smart thing. He thought of the millions of other people’s teeth he could clean and correct; the various love affairs with dental students that, until the week before his departure, he had sworn off; he thought of the tube of procaine in his pocket, the same he used to aid mothers in the street with teething children. But he remembered the three penguins he had met at the zoo, and thought of the others – the other penguins – who could use his help. He remembered also that, despite the gruff that now battled with his usually waxed moustache, he was still very young. He felt, as he had joked with those back home in Newark, that maybe he could still return home – to the humans and their teeth.

            His mitt off again, Dr. Beauchef reached for the tube of procaine. Laughing, he rubbed the numbing grease on his gums.

◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦

Dr. Beauchef had established himself as a successful and even charismatic dentist, opening an office within a year of receiving his Doctorate of Dental Surgery, and retaining most of his savings for his retirement.

            After his visit to a zoo in New York City, Dr. Beauchef approached John D. Rockefeller, who immediately put up the remainder of the expedition’s cost; without the help, he could have only made it to Brazil, about half the way. There was paperwork, something the dentist rarely had the chance to enjoy and he completed it with a sort of nostalgic liking. And, for “insurance purposes,” he was required to list the possessions he would be taking with him: his dentistry equipment, of course (all of which was itemized individually on an attached form); a weeks change of clothes; an extra week each of long johns, briefs and pairs of socks; toiletries; charcoal and six writing tablatures. All other items – provisions, the shelter, etc. – would not be listed.

◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦

The Bowman landed on the shore of Edward VII Land, near the Ross Ice Shelf. As she left for the dark horizon of the sea, Dr. Beauchef was sure he heard the same laughter that had mocked his adventure from its inception.

            Once on the shelf, Dr. Beauchef realized just how alone he was: no one was there. A chill set in and, now more determined to find his true patients, he established camp and bedded early in hopes of finding the penguins the next day.

◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦

The first day was his most successful.

            He awoke early and ate what breakfast he could (cold oatmeal and ham). He strapped his equipment to his back and started for the hill that was farther south. The crisp line of the hill was broken by a mass of black as a small group of penguins approached. His first thought was they had been excited, perhaps because of his camp commotion, maybe even just his arrival. He then reasoned with himself a bit more and knew they were simply coming for their first appointments.

            He approached them, crouched down and slowly, and spoke in a tender voice.

◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦                       ◦

Three months passed and his body was found on a small snow bank less than two hundred yards from camp. Most of his food was discovered to be uneaten and a journal entry revealed how disappointed he was to find that penguins, as he had been told, actually have no teeth.

Old Yeller (1957)

I remember checking the VHS out from the library when I was a kid, either to skip ahead in the book or cos it had a doggie on it. I watched it alone and I remember calling mom into the room as the ending was building up – in denial, probably sitting there smiling like, “Hehe, hi ma, just watch this with me? MY GOD A GUN WHY DOES SHE HAVE A GUN DO YOU OWN A GUN MA?? [spoiler alert] WTF MA??” I haven’t watched it since. I don’t even know if it’s that great but it makes the list since it started it all.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

I finally watched this a couple months ago. Burton and Taylor (and George Segal and Sandy Dennis) are excellent (hell, even the two employees in the scene above are amazing), and I really hope I do watch it again if only to take notes. The uncomfortable moments – and every character has one or more with every other character, it’s insane - make the film, and made it one of the hardest for me to finish.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

A friend of mine did a stage production of this a year or two ago and said that it was hard for him, that developing the character and taking him home every night was depressing. Luckily he wasn’t McMurphy. The film draws you in by showing you a side of the human experience not usually seen and certainly not usually viewed with such sarcasm (i.e. via McMurphy). Is he insane or is he an asshole? (Not me- McMurphy.)

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

The bleakest film I’ve seen – you know, “You can’t always get what you want, and what you need is really, really, really going to suck, man.” But it’s not just the subject matter that bothered me – it was how it was showed: the choppy editing throughout, and especially as the movie crescendos, is just a damn assault. It has more than 2,000 cuts (about four times as many in a typical film), and anyone who has seen it has the scars to prove.

Road to Perdition (2002)

This one is hard to put on here, but the truth is I need to put this on here cos I need to stop watching it. I cry every time. I cry over small shit in this film – like when they leave the old couple something for their trouble. Road to Perdition is one of Sam Mendes’ best moments, capturing the hardships of the Depression, showing why people stick together and how loyalty is not a question of morality.

Painted Veil (2006)

I’m not sure I can talk about why I won’t watch Painted Veil again without spoiling such a damn good film… so I’ll make something up: Trapped in a loveless marriage, Kitty Fane (Naomi Watts) is forced by her husband - the calculating and seemingly spineless Walter Fane (Edward Norton) - to join him in cholera-stricken China. When that doesn’t work, Walter starts ripping heads off kittens (cholera-stricken as well) – one every day until Kitty (Watts, with me?) will sleep with him. This takes years.

Up (2009)

Up is Pixar’s bravest moment and one of their most touching films.(TWENTY MINUTES IN?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME – TWENTY MINUTES IN??)

Blue Valentine (2010)

Did I buy this to facilitate getting over someone? Yes. Did it work? Not fucking immediately. Both performances are superb – with defining characteristics in two different time periods (beginning and end), characteristics that stand out even as the film splices the two time periods together. It has it all: infatuation, love, “What are you doing with your life?,” yelling – all which we had. It’s not all we had, but we certainly couldn’t get through it. And that’s okay. Shit, am I talking about the movie anymore? Yes and no – I remember the good times and bad and I saw them play out in Blue Valentine. Would I (we?) have seen it the same way had we watched it together? (Did we need to watch it at all?)