Lunar Boulevard

Being a fan of all things space related, it's only natural that I'm a big sci-fi fan. I'm sad that this week marks the season finale of Futurama but thankfully this week also signals the return of the new season of the Doctor Who. These are the only two current shows I care about so it's nice to see great sci-fi alive and well.

It's arguably the best-selling jazz album of all time. It's influenced artists in genres as diverse as rock and classical music. No matter how you look at it or whether you're even aware of it, Kind of Blue has influenced your life and your music in some fashion. After half a century Mile Davis' masterpiece continues to be one of the most impressive and beloved records ever recorded. I'm not going to waste a lot of time talking about this album because, in all honesty, I can't add anything to what has already been said about it. Jazz in particular is a difficult genre to deconstruct and talk about because it's so radically different from everything else. I could talk about how it's based on modality instead of the hard bop style of his earlier records. I could mention that the band was only given sketches of scales and melody lines on which to improvise, having little idea what would actually be played. Lack of rehearsal was something Miles Davis wa...

I spend a lot of time on here defending women, mostly because I think they're amazing and because men haven't really been men. We've failed to treat them as equals, to love them as the individuals God made them to be, and we haven't been the kind of husbands and fathers that we were designed to be. Women have been objectified and treated as things instead of as human beings through the porn industry and even in Hollywood. We see scumbags like Chris Brown receive awards and accolades despite their abusive and degrading behavior toward women. In short: men have failed in their role as protectors, lovers, providers, and leaders. We can't blame it on anyone but ourselves. That's not to say that all men are bad or that women don't have flaws of their own. We're all fallen creatures and one isn't better or more important than the other. I certainly don't put women on a pedestal: they have their own issues and setbacks to deal with. One thing I fin...

"The sound is not asleep/It's moving under my feet." When it comes to making big sounds, few indie bands do it better than Canada's Arcade Fire. They've been critical darlings ever since their debut album, Funeral , was released back in 2004. They managed to overcome the odds and won Album of the Year last year for The Suburbs , something that I never thought a band of their status would win in an industry smothered with shallow pop and repetitive rappers. While their following has continued to grow, it seems their second record, Neon Bible , tends to get slighted and dismissed quite easily, a trend which I don't understand. Granted, any band would have been hard-pressed to follow up Funeral , but Arcade Fire managed to do something different and that's what I love about this album. It's my favorite of theirs and certainly one that rewards those willing to give it repeated listens. It's a dense and darker record than what came before or after ...

So Curiosity touched down on Mars and now we can start exploring again. There's nothing much to say, other than that this is awesome and all of us space geeks can get excited again.