jakerosenberg.com

This is what happens kids

update: posted some pics from the Fiery Furnaces show last night... wha happened?

Posted by jake at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Interesting press release.

I am starting to genuinely believe this country might be on the road to a second civil war. Take a second and reflect on what is happening here. The senate and house majority leaders are the leaders of the Republican party. Within one month, both of them are or have been involved with events intented to both promote one specific religious sect's importance in government and reduce the effectiveness of certain constitutional mandates; specifically, the impartiality of the judicial branch and the dissenting party's ability to prevent judicial confirmations. When such prominent figures in the power-holding party publicly endorse views that are so out of the mainstream and absurdly sectarian, I have to wonder how far they can go before it all comes snapping back, hard.

This country has survived such prominent wingnuttery before, and hopefully it will again. But, christ, it’s scary.

Current playlist:

• Barbara Morgenstern - Nichts Muss
• Daniel Johnston - Continued Story / Hi, How Are You?
• Devandra Banhardt - Niño Rojo
• Lewis Black - Rules of Enragement
• Mirah - You Think It’s Like This, But Really It’s Like This
• Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
• Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
• The Rondelles - Shined Nickels and Loose Change

Posted by jake at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This review is genius.

So every time "The O.C." releases one of their mix tapes (this is #4), it's like The Smoking Gun digging up an old crime report on the entire indie scene, blowing the cover on 1) its feelings of isolated superiority, and 2) its supposed disdain for pop music. Hell, even in my Zen-like well-adjusted state, I mentally flinched when I noticed that fully seven of the 12 tracks on this compilation were already somewhere in my digital archives, and that most are tracks that I myself would consider putting on a mix tape.

Now do you get it?

Posted by jake at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A phrase you hear everywhere these days is "liberal elite". Conservatives have successfully used the upper middle class's visible disdain for the great unwashed to convince red america that liberals are, as the Club for Growth put it, a "latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving... Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show". Lemme clear this up:

• Blue america is largely working class. See those little black dots in the center of the blue counties? They're cities, and they're filled with housekeepers, waiters, janitors, bus drivers, factory workers, security guards, and teachers.
• Hollywood, which conservatives often claim is a bastion of liberal elitism scowling at the back-asswardsness of middle america, is in fact owned by big business. The TV networks spouting punditry lamenting America's ongoing moral decay are owned by conglomerates consisting of not just (multiple) television networks, but movie studios and record companies as well. Richard Gere and Alec Baldwin may be liberals, but the real core of Hollywood is the studios. Rupert Murdock owns not only Fox News, but also "fox attitude": remember who released Kinsey next time you're watching Bill O'Reilly rant about Janet Jackson's boobies. Republicans shake their fist at sex, drugs and violence in order to get your blood up, then quietly turn around and offer tax benefits to the large companies that push those things on their billboards and tv commercials.
• And here is the last and most important reason I know there is no liberal elite: I'm not elite. Let me explain.

By all rights, I am the epitome of a latte liberal. Those of you who know me know I don't like coffee, and that I drive an Infiniti instead of a Volvo, but other than that, I have it nailed. Jewish, upper middle class, coastal, semi-metrosexual, and exceedingly liberal: one of my parents was actively communist, for christ's sake. I live in San Francisco, consort with known homosexuals, generally dislike organized religion, and really really love sushi. And here's the kicker: I'm not part of some liberal conspiracy. I don't meet with a kabal of other liberals and plot the demise of this country. I'm not rich. My clout goes about as far as is needed to get a home equity loan. I wait in line at the dmv like everybody else. I'm not a mason; I wasn't even in a fraternity. I didn't go to an ivy league school, because my grades weren't good enough, I'm not a legacy, and no one knows my last name. I go about my daily business like anyone else, making a living, enjoying my hobbies, and trying to find someone to start a family with. When it comes to music, I may be elitist, but when it comes to running this country, I certainly am not an elite.

Now, it's quite possible that somewhere, the little liberal elite club is meeting right now, without me. Maybe I just didn't make their cut. But let's ponder another possibility. Who do we know who is rich, is a skull-and-bones, had bad grades but still went to Yale, does meet weekly with others of political influence to plan the course of the world, and has a powerful family that has been involved in politics for decades? Who is the real elite? Is Bush really a good ol' boy from Midland because you'd like to have a beer with him? And am I elite because sometimes I drink wine instead?

So, middle america, I do disagree with many of your social and religious views. But we have more in common than you think; we both want to level the playing field for the working man or woman. We both have compassion and strong moral convictions. And consider that someone like Sam Brownback -- who uses your religious views to divide and polarize us but then accepts money from pornographers and flip-flops on issues like the death penalty to suit the latest polls -- might not care about your views at all. Maybe he just wants to separate you from me so he can remain a senator, and, well... elite.

Posted by jake at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It was a great last few days in Tokyo. By the time we returned to the city, the Sakura had popped like crazy, and the whole city was pink. Highlights of our second Tokyo visit included the Meiji Shrine, the sword museum, the national museum, and both Yoyogi and Ueno parks to check out the trees. I understand why hanami is such a big deal now; it only happens for about a week per year in each city and really it changes the look of the entire place. I got some outstanding pics, so take a look.

After getting to enjoy the sakura, I packed my bags and headed to Narita airport for the journey home. I'm back in the states now, and while it was an outstanding trip, it's nice to be sleeping in my own bed again. The time difference is really messing with me in this direction, though; it feels like morning right now at about 10 pm.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everybody and finding out what I've missed.

Posted by jake at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's been a few great days here in Aomori; I got to see Trevor's whole setup here and meet a bunch of his friends and students. We hit an onsen, a sweet arcade, a lot of sushi, and a lot of karaoke. Speaking of which; I don't remember it too clearly, but evidently last night I earned the nickname "Michael Jackson" among these folks... and no, not because I molested anyone. There may be a clue somwhere in this picture of Miyuki-chan.

Anyways, we are off to Tokyo again for the last few days of the trip. There are a few things there we didn't get to see, so hopefully the cherry blossoms have kicked in by now and we can see the city in its full splendor. Be back in the states as of Saturday... hope to catch up with everyone then! Cheers.

Posted by jake at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well after a week of intense sight-seeing, Trevor and I have arrived at his home base of Aomori. He's checking in at work right now, so I have a few minutes to get a post off. I just took that snow shot from his front porch about 2 minutes ago; obviously there is still snow here (Aomori-shi is in northern Honshu).

As for the last week, here's the breakdown.

Kyoto

Tuesday we packed our stuff up, left Mike and Brock's place in Tokyo, and hopped the shinkansen to Kyoto. The ride is roughly 3 hours. (On a side note, these bullet trains RULE. Fast, safe, cheap, clean, convenient; why are these things not criscrossing California?) Anyways, we checked into our Ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), which was really sweet, and went sightseeing for the next few days. We hit too many temples, shrines, and gardens to list here, but the highlights included Kinkakuji, Kiyomizudera, and my personal favorite, Eikando, also known as Zenrinji. The cool thing about Eikando was that it is still a currently functioning monestary, so there are living quarters on the compound, and monks just strolling around ignoring the tourists. Plus, you can actually go inside many of the temple rooms and see the intricate Buddhas and such. Very fun. Kiyomizudera was pretty sweet, too. They have these two rocks there, and if you walk from one to the other with your eyes closed, your wishes of love will come true. Try to picture old japanese people at a buddhist temple cheering and pointing at an american kid trying to talk another american kid through a crowd of people without knocking over anyone in a kimono. Fun stuff.

Hiroshima

On Friday, we once again packed our stuff and headed to Hiroshima. This was kind of an impulse move, since everyone we talked to since I got here has said it is a must see. But three days of walking all over Kyoto combined with Thursday night's karaoke/nomihodai binge in the Kawaramachi district had left us feeling a bit under the weather, so once we arrived in our hotel in Hiroshima, we decided to take the evening off and watch some DVDs. Saturday morning, we headed out and saw the A-Bomb dome and peace memorial park, which are amazing. The A-bomb dome was a government office building (a Hiroshima landmark) which survived the A-bomb blast since it was almost directly under the hypocenter (i.e., the blast came at it almost straight down, so bulding wasn't blown away). It has been left looking as it did directly after the blast, as a memorial. There are also a number of statues and memorials all over the park, including an eternal flame that will be put out when all nuclear weapons on earth are destroyed, and an amazing museum with artifacts from the blast, artwork from survivors, and a computer library of information about victims. An older japanese gentleman approached me in the library and asked if he could show me something; he then proceeded to look up his parents, who were both in the database with photos. He explained that although his mother had taken he and most of his family 15 miles north for fear of bombing, his father had been in the initial blast range and killed instantly. His mother spent three days wandering the rubble looking for his father and later developed lukemia from the radiation, but survived to die a death of natural causes at 79. It was a pretty incredible story to hear; we exchanged information and I'm hoping we can keep in touch.

Osaka

Hiroshima is beautiful and moving, but pretty intense, so Trevor and I decided to move on to Osaka for a little fun. We again hopped the shinkansen and checked into a cheap hotel. What can I say about this town; absolutely amazing. We've taken to calling it OHHHHHH-saka. I think Trevor put it best: it's as if they have a ring of checkpoints around the city and they verify every girl's hotness level before they are allowed to enter. I honestly have never seen so many jaw-droppingly-gorgeous women anywhere; seriously: Paris, LA, and New York have *nothing* on Osaka. We spent the night hopping gaijin bars -- met a few folks, had a few laughs, the usual story. Then yesterday, we once again grabbed the bullet train and rode it all the way up here to Aomori-shi; it's a bit of a long ride, so we had a chance to recover from the night before.

Well race fans, that's pretty much where we're at. Hope you enjoy the pictures; you can browse the whole set here. Catch you later.

Posted by jake at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)