King James

I don't like the NBA. Of the four major sports, I think it's the biggest joke. College basketball's great, because everyone's got something to prove, but in the NBA it's all about flash and no defense.

I was watching Sportscenter today and saw Lebron James' tattoo of a crown, and remembered his nickname was "King James". I realized that it's a hilarious nickname, one that isn't exactly flattering. If people took the time to do research on the kings named James, they'd realize that they're not someone you'd want to be associated with.

The Stuarts may have been the worst kings in history, possibly with the exception of Charles II. James I (1603-25) popularized the theory of Divine Right, the thought that kings were chosen by God to rule and should basically have absolute power because of it. Thus, he found ways of taxing without using Parliament, who basically derives all its power through taxation. This led to countless disputes with Parliament, which resulted in James constantly dissolving of them once they tried to assert their rights. He personally racked up a large amount of debt because of his extravagence, attempting to resolve it by selling royal lands. He tried to match his son, Charles I, with a Spanish princess, which greatly steamed the nobles as Spain was one of their two rivals at the time. The failure of the match would lead to disastrous war waged by Charles I upon James' death, and the pompous precedents James passed down to Charles would lead the the English Civil War, where Charles was deposed and beheaded, and the country would be subject to eleven years of military rule by the insolent Oliver Cromwell from 1649 to 1660.

James II (1685-1688) was probably worse than James I, if not the worst king in English history. Charles II had done everything in his power to re-legitimize the throne. However, James II threw it all away, very much his father's son (Charles I). James was a devout Catholic, and tried to push the Anglican Church in a very Catholic direction when Anti-Popery was at its highest. He essentially replaced people in every major position of power with Catholics, suspending laws that limited Catholic rights. The man did not know how to be subtle, ordering Anglican priests to read his pro-Catholic acts in church. After he produced a legitimate male heir, the nobles and priests worried about a pro-Catholic dynasty and requested that William of Orange (who was married to James' daughter, Mary) come to England and overthrow James II. He arrived with 15,000 men, the largest invasion force to ever arrive in England. James did not have the manpower to compete with him, especially when a bunch of nobles and clergy pledged to fight on the side of William. James saw that his number was up, and he fled to France, but not before he made some stupid and cowardly decisions on his way out. He destroyed the writs for calling a new Parliament, ordered his supporting army to be disbanded without pay, and in the biggest act of disrespect towards England by a king ever, threw the seal of England into the ocean. He was captured before he ever made it to France by fishermen. Oh, and he was dressed like a woman. In just three years in office, he had managed to infuriate the country enough to dethrone him in the Glorious Revolution.

So go ahead Lebron, go by King James, but don't be surprised if you lose public support somewhere down the road.

Song of the day: The new song by Manchester Orchestra is genius. They are putting out their new album on April 21 entitled "Mean Everything to Nothing". For more information on M.O., see this post.

Musicians Being Replaced by Computers?

I just got back from coaching a hockey tournament. Hockey tournaments are quite possibly one of the greatest experiences a person can be a part of, so it would be an understatement to say that it was a fun weekend.

When I got back and checked my e-mail, I had gotten one from Scott which contained three links to YouTube videos where people had inserted the vocals from famous songs into Songsmith. Now, if you're not acquainted with Songsmith, it's a computer program where you sing a song or put in a melody and it will come up with instrumentation for it. It's admittedly pretty funny when you put in vocal tracks from famous songs. But it worries me. Will the creative process be eased to the extent that music becomes impersonal and generic?

Microsoft came up with an unintentionally hilarious tutorial/ad. There's a guy in a band who's had some trouble coming up with instrumentation for his songs lately. He uses Songsmith to make music to this melody he's been sitting on. The chord progressions of Songsmith are very simple and take no chances. The ones that don't come out conventional are awkward (which is evident if you watch some of the "remixes") and those that aren't are repetitive. They often bounce back and forth between two chords. I'm cool with people using Songsmith for a "general direction" or inspiration, but chances are you won't find either in the program that would be an improvement from the worst accompaniment that you could come up with in your head. If these "remixes" were the progressions that the bands used in the originals, I doubt any of them would have ever had their popularity. Lyrics and a melody can only take you so far.

For now I think music's safe. I don't think computers will be coming up with the most pleasing noises to our ears.

FM to C Turns 1.

The dangerous first year has ended, 63 posts later. I've enjoyed writing the blog, whether anyone's reading or not. It's a fun way to look back, and it can be therapeutic at times. In case you've missed it, here's what the first 63 posts have covered:

1. Introduction
2. A praise and analysis of (Song of the day) Menomena's "Evil Bee"
3. The ways California has ruined my life. Song of the day: Eddie's Gun by the Kooks.
4. Coverage and complaints from the great blizzard of '08.
5. Thoughts on my insomnia (which I definitely no longer suffer from). Song of the day: Fear of Sleep by the Strokes.
6. Confusion on the behavior of shoes.
7. Thoughts on sizes of clothes and people.
8. My top 5 bands with more than one lead singer (which would be different now I'm sure).
9. Jebus loves sluts girl.
10. What happened to people name-dropping Jesus on their shirts?
11. I'm 5'6". Do you expect me to have basketball skills? Song of the day: "Macho" by Tin Circus.
12. Music television is as musical as Taco Bell is Mexican. Song of the day: "TV" by Headlights.
13. How I lost $1.25, and you can too! Song of the day: "Wolves at Night" by Manchester Orchestra.
14. Valentine's Day rebellion.
15. Honoring my own procrastination skills. Song of the day: "Running out of Time" by Hot Hot Heat.
16. Basking in Wisconsin's recognition for the primaries, and (correctly) predicting that the next time we get that much attention would be when Brett Favre retired. Song of the day: Menomena - Weird (Dekoder Remix)
17. Fat guy in flannel = not funny.
18. My magic musical powers. Song of the day: "Just" by Radiohead
19. The most absurd statement in the world.
20. A post about how much I wished the Toadies would reunite (Little did I know they would months later and I would see them twice in the next year). Song(s) of the day: "Possum Kingdom", "Tyler", and "Mister Love" by the Toadies.
21. A celebration of a holiday that only happens every four years (although looking back, I'm pretty sure "quad-annually beans four times a year... I can't be sure, though.)
22. Swing and a miss, Will Ferrell.
23. A great streak ends. Appropriately, the song of the day is "Ice of Boston" by the Dismemberment Plan.
24. A sad day for Packer fans, which would end up being sadder in the following months. Song of the day: "Last Goodbye" by Jeff Buckley
25. A picture update on post #9.
26. The case against St. Patrick's Day. SotD: "Charmer" by the Kings of Leon
27. The night I discovered Liam Finn, who my ears have had a beautiful relationship with ever since. SotD: "Second Chance" by Liam Finn
28. My attempt at being deep?
29. Warm weather bands (I'm hoping for the chance to listen to them soon...)
30. A post about (surprise) the music I'd been listening to lately. SotD: "Need Your Needs" by (now defunct) Georgie James
31. Tips for being green (More exciting than it sounds!) SotD: "Better to Be" by Liam Finn
32. Gushing about the (playoff-bound) Brewers. Update: Grant and I are 11-0 now when in attendance at a Brewers game. Album of the day: Plunder, Beg, and Curse by Colour Revolt.
33. I decide not to identify myself as "straightedge" anymore, and the blog becomes "Feeding Milk to Chickens" from "The Only Straightedge in Madison".
34. Bjork has balls.
35. Dilemma for Christian pot-smokers?
36. Review of the Minus the Bear concert. SotD: "Knights" by Minus the Bear.
37. A rant about how basically anyone can make a crappy college newspaper comic strip. SotD: "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead.
38. Commercial directors need love, too.
39. What college examinations really mean to college students. S(s)otD: "Juneau", "Streetcar", "Great Wide Open" by Funeral for a Friend.
40. Are the Foo Fighters to blame for the death of grunge?
41. What you probably don't know about World War II.
42. Chris Osgood gets shafted (after a performance he hasn't even come close to matching this year). SotD: "Hospital Beds" by Cold War Kids.
43. Why did I bother writing a post about Hillary Duff's sister? Who knows? But there was an awesome song of the day. "Fools" by the Dodos.
44. A story that probably deserves a movie.
45. Live from Hawaii. I'm thinking about going out there and living on the beach with no money, living off of humuhumunukunukuapua'a. SotD: "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" by Jack Johnson.
46. A justification of how I can just forget about Brett Favre like we didn't have a lifelong relationship. SotD: "Backslider" by the Toadies.
47. 5 complaints. SotD: "We Looked Like Giants" by Death Cab for Cutie.
48. Most unintentionally funny commercial ever. SotD: "List of Demands" by Saul Williams
49. What you're missing. SotD: "Hey Hey Hockeytown"
50. Introduction to my new blog about dreams, which has since received 70 dreams. SotD: "Future Foe Scenarios" by Silversun Pickups.
51. How your actions in an elevator tell people who you are. SotD: "Pull Out" by Death from Above 1979.
52. Don't vote... unless. SotD: Murr Murr by Mugison.
53. The checklist for the Brewers that they clearly didn't consult... S(s)otD: "The Great Unrest" "I Want You" "To the Bone" by Mugison.
54. LHC is to nukes as alien doctrine is to Bush Doctrine? SotD: "Subterranean Homesick Alien" by Radiohead.
55. Nostalgia.
56. The musical stylings of Mark Ronson. SotD: "Stop Me" by Mark Ronson ft. Daniel Merriweather.
57. Will Obama taking over lead to higher gas prices? (Signs point to yes, but it's not his fault.) S(s)otD: "Sore", "Carry Around", "Confessor" by Annuals.
58. Why TA's and the IRS are ruining my life. SotD: "Cooking by the Book" by Lazytown ft. Lil Jon.
59. Songs you should listen to to make her think you're sensitive.
60. Just remember, when Demetri Martin gets big, I knew of him before you.
61. Probably the greatest piece of architecture ever.
62. Thoughts I have while I do my wash. SotD: Song of the "Sad Assassin" by Why?
63. Happy anniversary! Song of the day: "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death from Above" by CSS.

Guess what today's song of the day is! How'd you know? CSS is the Brazilian group, who's (gorgeous) lead is Lovefoxxx. I don't normally like dance music, but it's so care-free that I can't hate it. I've known of them for years but never really got around to getting their albums. Now, it's what I listen to when I go to bed every night. Behold the greatness that is Lovefoxxx.



P.S. I've enabled the "followers" tool. I'd love to see who reads this blog, so be a champ and become a follower.