1. Renaissance Mark Olson. This Saturday, I awoke to an email addressed to “Renaissance Mark Olson.” I assumed this was the Mark Olson we all know and love, and that he had undergone a transformation from the capricious and diabolical “Scourge of the Midwest” to a more understanding, balanced persona. Soon the haze of sleep cleared, however, and I realized this would be like the eagle deciding not to fly, the salmon deciding not to spawn, or the chupacabra deciding not to eat any more goats. (are there chupacabras on the Guzman ranch?) I took a closer look at the email, and it seems I’ve become a part of the budgetary discussions involving some group paying this guy for his “speaking services.” This is horrendously boring (and I probably should not post the actual email), but I learned two cool things: a PhD speaking about farming can command fees of $100/hour, and only ~10% of that needs to be actual speaking. Nifty. Said Mark, “could this be a look into the future?”
2. Space poop. If you’re like me, you’ve spent a lot of time doing two things: thinking about space and pooping. You’ve also probably wondered how astronauts poop. Wonder no more.
Two beautiful things about this video: The climax in the music when the toilet hole illuminates, and the way they talk about “positional alignment” and “docking.”
3. Blame it on the pop. I like this, and I imagine Senor Nonberg would as well. It’s a mashup of all of the 25 top pop songs (Billboard) from 2009.
4. Specter v Sestak tomorrow. Who should I vote for? The attack ads I’ve been seeing lately are impressive, to say the least.
5. Okay, five things actually. A few weeks ago they had a concert here on our version of the Bald Spot (Hub Lawn). It was free, and the bands were pretty good: Titus Andronicus (maybe you’ve heard “A More Perfect Union”?), State Radio, Fabolous, and, most importantly, Matt and Kim. I may be biased because my only association with their music is happy mornings in Stadium, but they were VERY fun to watch. They may not be the most musically talented performers in the world, but they more than make up for it with their enthusiasm (they’re just so damn happy), catchiness, and the enthusiasm of their (admittedly mostly hipster) fans. Said my coworker, “Watching Kim was… a religious experience.” My favorite part was when she would jump up on top of her drum kit and play the bass drum by stomping on it. If you ever get a chance to see them, you should do it.
I approve of all of these things. Graduate School Nonberg does not.
ReplyDelete1. I still wanna know how you got involved in that email discussion...
ReplyDelete2. I love space. but that camera freaks me out.
3. Hate to break it to you Toto, but your 5.5 months late on that mashup. At least in the Carleton World, it was big in January. But I still love it, actually a lot more than most of the songs that make up the mashup.
4. Who did you end up voting for?
5. Matt and Kim are fun and Daylight reminds me of happy spring mornings in stadium too. and Kim is such a cutie.
3. Well poop on you. I've never really had my fingers on the pulse of any music scene anyway. And now that I'm away from Carleton...
ReplyDelete4. Specter, since I figured he had a better shot at actually getting elected than Sestak. Sure he's a double agent, but he's got clout, and he's slightly more centrist. Oh well. And it probably wasn't a good sign that I was only the 12th ballot counted in my precinct by midmorning.
5. I don't think I'll ever be as happy as Kim looks when she's drumming.
Nonberg you make no sense.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think it was possible, but that mashup stumped Sjoberg on Saturday. He was drunk and there was just too much going on in the song...
ReplyDelete