Vermont Public Radio Is Getting Better Every Day

Meets Requirements Satisfactorily

After something of a rant last winter about how much I hated Vermont Public Radio, I've been slowly getting acclimated to an NPR that plays loads and loads of classical music every day. I wasn't very happy making the transition from Chicago Public Radio to VPR, but after a while you just sort of get used it. And Walter Parker is the man, so that helps.

Yet little by little, VPR has been adding programs (or sometimes programmes!) that I enjoy. One night last June I noticed that the World was broadcast every night after Marketplace. O Joy!* Then came news that VPR would be splitting its Classical Network into a separate entity. Starting tomorrow VPR will feature news programs from 9am-3pm -- and that's not all! They've also added American Routes on Saturday nights!**

I'd like to think they saw my blog and took my advice and that I'm pretty much all powerful and awesome to behold in my glory and strength and wisdom and honor forever and ever until the Day of the LORD or Ragnarok or whichever comes first. But let's face it, I'm not and they didn't. Or at least I don't think so from their press release.

VPR didn't follow all my instructions, however. Day to Day is on the new schedule (O Alex Chadwick! How I love you so!) As is BBC Newshour. (Damn fine journalists, those Lobsterbacks!) But no To the Point. (Warren Olney, I'll tie a yellow ribbon for you!) Instead, we've got WBUR's On Point, which I'm not exactly wild about. But when the latter program is from Boston and the former is from California, it makes sense, East Coast Bias and all. KCWR gets no love from the Green Mountain State. Sorry, Nic Harcourt.

Furthermore, This American Life is still not airing in its natural Friday night home, which is just plain immoral. And still no Tavis Smiley Show on the weekends. The Rutland Herald is reporting that all 17 Afro-Americans in Vermont are up in arms. Just kidding. They don't care, either.

All in all, it's a nice improvement, though somewhat sad. For the near future I won't have access to VPR Classical in Rutland unless I purchase a digital receiver (fat chance of that on an AmeriCorps budget), which means no more Peter Fox Smith and Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. And like I said, Walter Parker is the man. Though apparently, he loves music more than journalism. Some days, though, I don't blame him.


*Though now that summer hours are over, and I'm back to Noon-7:30 hours at work, it hasn't been quite so joyous.
**Though maybe they did that ages ago. I'm usually out doing something at that time; though that something is usually no more anti-social and boring and unproductive as listening to the radio all by myself on a Saturday night, so don't think I'm Joe Camel or Marty McFly.

Take That Villainy!

Sticking with the P-Fork theme:

Kim Gordon: Starbucks "Less Evil Than Universal"

Sure, why not.

Jokey McJokepants

From the Onion, Pitchfork Gives Music 6.8

Probably the funniest line comes from the (fake) mouth of EIC Ryan Schreiber: "In the end, though music can be brilliant at times, the whole medium comes off as derivative of Pavement."

Chasing 61

With Alex Rodriguez on a tear lately, it looks as though he's got his sights set on the Yankee's club HR record of 61 set by Roger Maris. And it brings up an interesting question: with all the unknowns surrounding Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and steroids, would A-Rod hitting 62 home runs this season mean something as far as the record books are concerned?

As far as the official MLB records go, no it won't. Until Major League baseball can prove that Bonds and Co. were juicing, those records still stand. But in the hearts and minds of some fans, A-Rod reaching 61 in a post-steroids era does mean something. To a lot of people, should he pass Maris, it would be the first "clean" break of the single season home run record. And in a way, that's fitting, because Maris was chasing another Yankee in that magical 1961 season, as was Mickey Mantle. We forget that Mantle was battling Maris all season long, and ended up with just six dingers shy of 60 himself.

New York Yankees Single Season Home Run Records

• Roger Maris 61 - 1961
• Babe Ruth 60 - 1927
• Babe Ruth 59 - 1921
• Babe Ruth 54 - 1920
• Babe Ruth 54 - 1928
• Mickey Mantle 54 - 1961
• Mickey Mantle 52 -1956
• Alex Rodriguez 52 - 2007 (as of 9/10)
• Babe Ruth 49 -1930
• Lou Gehrig 49 -1936
• Lou Gehrig 49 -1934

That's rare company for A-Rod; and maybe how it should be. If anyone's going to hit 61+ in the Post-Steroids Era, it might as well be a Yankee.

Kimmel Breaks It Down

Via TVSquad, Jimmy Kimmel explains what Miss Teen South Carolina actually meant.

Like such as.

A New Look!

Well, it's not exactly a new template, but it was just as time consuming. There is more to be done, for sure. But I need a break. Knowing next to nothing about HTML and Photoshop makes for fun afternoons, let me tell you!

I want a new template.

And how.

I'm thinking of switching to Wordpress as well. Blogger's templates are a little tired. Also, I need a new computer, too. Maybe that should be my first priority.

Essays that are in the works, but that I haven't had the time or inclination to get them out of my head and/or off loose sheets of notebook paper and into the blogosphere:

1. Real-time thoughts on Deathly Hallows, or Potter-Notes taken on the fly.
2. A full-scale review of my last blog post after reading Deathly Hallows.
3. A short essay on how Ron Weasley is a totally worthless fictional character, and ought to be a Muggle, which he pretty much is anyways.
4. Thoughts on how rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers brings far less guilt then rooting for the Chicago Cubs.
5. Thoughts on the Bourne movies and how kick-ass they are, especially in comparison to any number of James Bond flicks.
6. All sorts of thoughts on good/recent albums by Spoon, Los Campesinos!, St. Vincent, Casey Dienel, Frontier Folk Nebraska, James Yorkston and the Atheletes, Bowerbirds, Bunky, Uncle Earl, The National, The Innocence Mission, Smoosh and The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. Maybe I'll save those for the Bag Blog.
7. Even more thoughts, this time on how the House of Representatives is lame -- way lamer than the Senate.
8. Tons of YouTube clips that I've bookmarked since like, forever.

Until then, I'm just going to keep surfing people's music profiles on Last.Fm. Which is the new YouTube these days, in my awesome opinion; and if you can't handle that, then find another blog. One with a much better template.

They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!

Do you like turtles? This kid does.

Exit Stage Left

Things still aren't going well in Iraq. While I still believe that we have an obligation to the people of Iraq to clean up the mess we've made, it's time to start asking the hard questions about withdrawal. The NY Times has a piece today with five tough questions we have to answer before we can think of a staged exit. Leaving won't be pretty if things don't get better soon. A complete withdrawal will take months. Casualties will increase sharply as we fight our way out. Over 100,000 Iraqi contractors who having been working for the U.S. will either have to be evacuated and relocated, or left to fend for themselves. Billions of dollars of ammunition and fuel would have to be left behind in a quick withdrawal, further fodder for a broiling civil war. And finally, a massive withdrawal could be the greatest logistical problem the U.S. military has ever seen. No one knows how much it will cost shipping the rest of our personal and equipment back to the States in case of a swift exit. There's nothing easy about a decision to withdraw from Iraq. In fact, the President's "stay-the-course" strategy might be the easier short-term decision. Knowing him, I wouldn't expect President Bush to deal with any of these questions during the remainder of his term.

Our next president will have his/her work cut out for them.

Bronx Blogs

My new favorite Yankee blog:

Nomaas.org