Virtual Flaneurism

Fun fact: He actually became a comedian.

(PS. On that video, best comment award: "Gregg Gethard, still speaking into the mic way too mfing close to his mouth after all these years.")

Dat LEGS.

A great article about why Ron Paul is one of the most dangerous Republican candidates today, illustrating how America, under his reign, would become an uber-Plutocracy, a country lending absolutely no support to the poor, the middle class, minorities and everyone who isn't lucky enough to be on the right side of the market. More frightening? The fact that so many of his supporters misread Ron Paul's motivations, in that his rejection of any and all government involvement is often mistaken through correlation for partisan endorsement of a particular issue or stance.

Also, it seriously troubles me when a large chunk of your political stance is "throw the baby out with the bathwater."

I read an article a month or two ago about the physiology of how we enjoy music. The article (which is lost to time, so you'll just have to trust my recollection, and that the article exists at all) suggested that your brain releases serotonin or some other pleasure-inducing hormone twice for each bit of music you hear. The first release comes from the act of "predicting" the note/chord/progression about to occur, and the second release comes in reaction to your "prediction" being right.

This makes a lot of sense, considering what music is most popular. Many popular songs involve more generic chord progressions that follow easy to follow patterns, which are therefore easier to predict and would more easily elicit hormone releases. This also explains why tone deaf people wouldn't enjoy music -- they can't "hear" the tones correctly, so their brains fail at or elect to avoid "predicting" outright, meaning they get no pleasure from music.

Like most things, I would imagine some of us are better at deducing future notes than others. This may explain varieties in musical taste, like jazz, which I imagine would be more complicated to predict. It also would touch on why some people may dislike pop music, which is generally simpler and would, for someone with more skill in predicting upcoming tones, pose an underwhelming challenge.

I like this idea; it means that listening to music is an active experience, and somewhat akin to solving a puzzle. Your brain works to figure out what tone logically comes next, and derives pleasure from being right. Amusingly, in this scenario, your brain is a smug and self-satisfied ass who enjoys music because it's good at listening to it.

Old, but worth it.

This was me, on Halloween.

This reminds me so strongly of some other, equally hipster song.

I know this is a week old, but I just watched it, and it's too good not to post, even if I am tardy.

If you enjoyed this, check out this entire catalog of songs performed, and up for download!

Amusingly, they never give the correct answer to the riddle:

I love this trailer -- mainly because it preserves the mystery by showing no footage after the first ten seconds of the Games' beginning.

You really don't get more Brooklyn hipster than this video.

The Five People You Meet as a Gay Dad

The hardest part about being a gay dad has nothing to do with raising your children. Sure, at two years old, my twins are already curious as to what a Mommy is and why we don’t have one. But explaining it to them is easy. My kids are smart, open-minded and I’m reasonably sure they’re not homophobic. It’s explaining my family to other people that gets tricky.

There are a lot of questions that can lead there. “Where’s your wife?” “Where’s their mommy?” “I wish my husband would take the kids to the park sometimes.” Or, when I’m out with my partner, the one we get is, “Which one of you is the dad?”

We could lie, but what kind of message would that send to our kids? That there’s something wrong with our family and we have to keep it secret? A much better message for them to get is that strangers can be clueless sometimes, and that it’s our job to educate them.

“We’re both the dad,” we say. And then… we wait. The next move is theirs.

(more...)

You'd think an update means I'm having a laid-back and carefree evening, but in reality I am only updating because the sheer number of tabs I have open with pictures of awkward dogs is giving me a migraine while trying to do work. Sundays!

Now this is bubblegum pop...what a sample.

This is from next week's episode of Glee -- Adele!

Most adorable ad of the year, hands down.

New Madonna song leaked, and it reminds me of Toni Basil. Thoughts?

Yesterday's vote was a liberal jamboree, so I grant you a semi-comprehensive update of recent progressive political victories (list unceremoniously stolen from reddit, citations my own):

(Note: For some reason the below bullets aren't appearing like links in my browser, but clicking them should take you to articles on each of the points)

• Mississippi defeats life at conception bill.
  
  
• Ohio voters overturn anti-union bill.
  
  
• Houston votes to keep first ever openly gay mayor of a major US city.
  
  
• Iowa Republicans lose campaign for essential state senate seat, effectively preventing push for anti- gay marriage constitutional amendment.
  
  
• Successful recall of Russell Pearce, President of the Arizona Senate, author of SB1070.
  
  
• Conservative courts uphold key portions Obama healthcare reform law.
  
  
• Maine defeats GOP’s attempt to eliminate same day voter registration.
  
  
• Georgians can now buy alcohol on Sundays.
  
  
• Kentucky Democratic Governor cruises to a reelection win.
  
  
• Michele Bachmann says we should add three more heads to Mt. Rushmore.
  
  
• Republican Rep Joe Walsh totally loses it at his constituents at one of his events.
  
  
• Romney reiterates that he believes not bailing out Detroit was a good strategy.

This video reminds me of the time I put a fake cockroach on my roommate's pillow and, upon finding it that night, he leapt from his bed in terror. Unfortunately, he was top bunk, and we had hardwood floors.

This whole interview is just one big, "WHY?"

Who knew Nicki Minaj could be so meta?

Some good news on the LGBT rights front from abroad: The United Kingdom has elected to lift its discriminatory prohibition on blood donations from men who've had sex with men.

Sadly, this good news is tempered by the fact that the policy has been replaced with a one year deferral, which still effectively prohibits all men living an active gay lifestyle from donating blood. Still, this policy change is a step in the right direction, and any movement away from homophobia should is a good sign.

I realize I've been posting less lately, and a lot of it is music. I fully blame the internet, which has been doing a shitty job entertaining me with awkward cats.

Or maybe (I must now wonder) --- have I seen so many awkward cats that I'm desensitized?

This may be the worst epiphany of my life.

I was in Chicago last weekend, and spent a pathetic amount of time Shazaaming in Reckless Records, the yuppie hipster record store that inspired "High Fidelty." Needless to say, hipster jams may abound on the blog.

This whole video is funny, but the last clip is child gold.