I know this isn’t brand new info, but i really don’t want people to underestimate its importance.

Pavement is one of those bands, like the Sonic Youth, that you HAVE to say you are into or your music cred is questioned.

Normally bands like that are automatically my least favorite, but Pavement are truly genius. Out of all of the 90’s bands I find their music to be influential and timeless. If you take Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain or Wowee Zowee and put them on today for someone who hasn’t heard them, you could easily convince them it was a new album. That is the mark of good songwriting. Commercially they weren’t greatly succesful, so its probable that a lot of youngsters have never gotten into them. I really recommend you do.

They were smartasses with a penchant for high follutin intellect, yet they never seemed to muddy up their purpose with language people couldn’t relate to. I truly appreciate this band for that reason.

Bottom line is that they will most likely make their way to your neck of the woods in 2010 so do yourself a favor and go see them.

Much of Tokyo is covered in concrete and pavement. In the photo above, a low traffic small street has impermeable pavement. There is a wide, unnecessary brick sidewalk in the foreground built to accompany a recent apartment building. Two private residences also have concrete car-parks and cement surrounds. If you look very closely, to the left of the red traffic cone, a canna flower is breaking through the concrete and blooming.

Up close, the flower is brilliant on a sunny November day. Even more remarkable is that the plant has somehow managed to break through the pavement. How did it get there? How does it survive the city’s relentless drive to bury every grain of soil? Do the neighbors appreciate this floral beauty and the power of nature over the built environment?

After the jump, a closer view of the plant in its context.

In the context of such poor urban design ,this brilliant canna flower breaking through provides some hope that nature will regenerate despite our best efforts to displace it.

I have a pet peeve. Okay, actually I have pet peeves coming out my ears, but I just want to mention one today. Footpaths: namely, people walking on those footpaths.

Why is it so hard to form a semblance of order when walking in a crowd? To me it’s simple, walk on one side, and stick to that side as much as possible. It works perfectly well on the road; why not give it a go on pavements too?

Home in New Zealand I am a stickler for walking on the left side of the path (we drive on the left over there, for any non-NZ readers). People generally don’t seem too bad at dealing with that, there’s always going to be that one jerk pushing against the flow, but mostly it’s okay.

When I arrived in Spain, I was overly conscious that they drove on the other side of the road. I haven’t driven here, so I’ve mostly put this knowledge to use in my footpath behaviour. I dogmatically walk on the right whenever it’s an option. Everyone else though – they apparently just walk anywhere they want.

People in Spain confuse me. They can be so incredibly patient at times; I’ve stood behind people at a footpath bottleneck who seem nonplussed at the delay, or watched cars double-park to let passengers in and out while the traffic piles quietly up behind them. Yet at other times drivers will lean on their horn in ten second bursts at what is quite clearly a red light. Confusing.

So they walk on any which side of the pavement they like, and it’s not uncommon for someone to stop dead in the path in front of you with no apparent knowledge that you just narrowly avoided crashing into them. For someone with a particular peeve such as mine, it’s incredibly frustrating. Just the other morning, on the way to the bus stop, I got into a jam. As I came around a corner, a man had stopped to check out what some road workers were doing. When I went to pass him he turned to start walking again, directly into my path. I tried to squeeze between him and another oncoming woman (both walking on the left side). For my trouble I got a shoulder in the tit (from the guy, youch!) and the oncoming woman pushed my backpack out of her way. Good start to the day, no?

Last month I went to Dublin for a few days. First off I had to re-readjust my walking side, but once I did I was pleasantly surprised. People are so darn polite over there! They have a far more fluid footpath style, plus wider footpaths than generally found in Spain, so already that makes it easier. Then if someone does stop in front of you, say to detour into a store, they look over their shoulder, see you, and immediately apologise. I was in seventh Heaven!

What is footpath etiquette like in other parts of the world? I imagine I would have to check my sensitivities at the airport before entering a country like India. Anywhere else? Am I the only one who finds navigating chaotic pavements mind-bendingly frustrating?

I realise the title of this post sounds a lot more profound than the actual content.

Traffic/Cone (329/365 11-25-09)

Originally uploaded by CarusoPhoto

On our way to lunch today, I saw this traffic cone just sitting there as pretty as can be. So I got down nice and low and made an exposure.

Greetings!

I have been off having wonderful adventures, and as a result, have fallen behind in the chronicling there of. I’m not really sure you can use ‘there of’ that way, but you can do it in German. Every time I speak english I realize just how useful that construction is.

The last few weeks have been filled with an equal share of travel and music. I spent four days last week in Leipzig, my first real expedition into East Germany. The girl I was traveling with seemed to think that it was a great example of the DDR, and kept pointing out what she saw as differences between east and west. I’ve been here for 3 months, but I don’t feel like I know East vs West enough to assume that the differences between Hamburg and Leipzig are a result of previous political lines. There were two clear differences–Leipzig has an older, more squished, seeming center, and a ton of square dilapidated buildings sprinkled throughout the city.

This past weekend was spent in Bremen with SERVAS hosts. Bremen also has an older, more squished feel than Hamburg (Hamburg feels very airy), and was a lot of fun. Our hosts took us on a tour through the town center the first day, and we stopped at a store and put two display puzzles together, and then walked along the river. For lunch we stopped at a fish cart, and I had Bratfish. Delicious. The second day we took a walk along the moors, and ate an amazing fish stew. I suppose I will have to admit to liking fish.

Now I’m sick. Not terribly sick, but bad enough that I missed school due to illness for the first time (that I remember) since I got food poisoning after Folklife in highschool (food poisoning not from folklife food, rather from some shop in pike market). I was not happy about it. Still, because of the swine flu (who knows if that’s what I have) I had to stay home. I missed out on a play for class, which was disappointing. I’d feel worse if I got someone else sick, though.

I’ve been to two concerts since moving to Hamburg. 1) John Vanderslice at Thalia Zentrale, 2) some british duo at the Pony Bar. I am in love with both locations. Thalia Zentrale is a rectangular room with booth like cusions, tables, chairs, a bar, and a small stage. There were about 30 of us, and the performance was amazing. I didn’t expect an encore (I saw him last semester in Northampton and he didn’t give one) but the one he gave ranks in the top two. He came out with his band and played acoustic versions of three songs with tons of harmony. And I basically stood next to him. And afterwards he gave me a hug.

The second concert was no where near as good. The duo (kyrstie mcgee, or something) has received some attention in England, and they were good, but unimpressive. It was alt-folk/country, and I got a little bored at times. Still, it was free, and worth attending. The Pony Bar stage area is a lot more squished, but super comfy with sofas and arm chairs. I am determined to find more such places throughout Hamburg.

That’s basically it. My classes are going well, my German is improving, I’m not officially in quarantine, but I’m not supposed to be leaving my room too much. I haven’t been diagnosed with anything, and it’s my theory that, so long as whatever I have remains a mystery, I can refrain from disinfecting everything with blue fluid and wearing one of those mouth masks every time I leave my room (there are many dorm regulations for the swine flu). If I’m still sick on Thursday I’ll go get checked out.

All my love!

–Kassia

Oh! Also, I’ve learned to play Canasta! It’s awesome! My new favorite game! And my tandem language partner is fantastic. This Friday we’re going to Hamburg’s Christmas Market and Dom–a festival in the St. Pauli district with Rose Festival type food and rides.

One of my new favorite songs:

http://www.musicisart.ws/kenickie/Pavement_TheSutcliffeCateringSong.mp3

(Grow up and marry me!/I won’t!)

R: Todavía no hemos disfrutado el Primavera Club y ya tenemos aquí la primera gran tanda de confirmaciones para el Primavera Sound 2010 (que se celebrará del 27 al 29 de mayo del año que viene). Por respeto al hecho de que nuestros lectores puede que no sean tan frikis como nosotros, hemos puesto de foto de este post a la que, sin duda, es la confirmación bombazo: Panda Bear. Está claro que Merryweather Post Pavilion estará en las listas de discos de lo mejor de este año, pero el hecho de que el debut de Panda Bear fuera de nuestros preferidos el año pasado y que, por desgracia, todavía no hayamos podido catarlo en directo justifica plenamente la expectación. Ahora, si nos preguntáis sinceramente a quién nos gustaría poner en la foto de aquí al lado nos veremos obligados a responder que a… ¡Bis! Sí señor. Y es que los escoceses autores del mítico Eurodisco se van a reunir para que podamos bailotear semejante temón bajo las estrellas primaverales. Una vez pagado el peaje friki, sigamos con el resto de confirmaciones (a las que no les falta chicha): a los ya anunciados Pavement y Pixies hay que sumar nombres como Wilco (que a nosotros nos interesan bien poco, pero que son un vende entradas seguro y es inteligente tenerlos en cualquier cartel), La Leyenda del Tiempo (homenaje al disco de Camarón), The xx (que, si siguen afinando el formato de trío, pueden protagonizar uno de los momentos del festival), The Fall (Mark E. Smith vale la compra de cualquier entrada), The New Pornographers (que siempre le animan a uno la noche), Hope Sandoval (con nuevo disco bajo el brazo que tendremos que sopesar antes de saber por dónde pueden ir los tiros de su actuación), Wild Beasts (si todavía no te has rendido a su magnífico Two dancers, su actuación será la oportunidad definitiva), The Antlers (emo-prog que en unas semanitas aconsejamos degustar en su gira por salas pequeñas), Joker (¡dubstep!), Delorean, Dum Dum, The Bloody Beetroots, Here we go magic y Ganglians. Pero vamos, que si incluso después de leer tres veces esta lista sigues (como nosotros) en shock por lo de Bis, te aconsejamos que le des al play del video que sigue a este texto y vayas preparando el grito de guerra para el Primavera Sound 2010: ¡Euroooooodiiiiscooooooo!

So, you missed out on tickets for the Pavement curated ATP festival and you’ve cried about this non-stop ever since right?  Yeah me too.  Well, I’d recommend you look away now as the following list of bands added to the festival will only make you feel worse.

Taking place the weekend of the May 14th at the Butlins holiday-camp in Minehead, the festival will take place over three days and has now totally sold out.

Taken from ATP’s official website, the full list of bands added is as follows… and it’s just a bit good;

Broken Social Scene, Mission To Burma, Calexico, The Raincoats, The Fiery Furnaces, The Walkmen, Omar Soulyman + Sublime Frequencies, Atlas Sound, Grails, The Drones, Saccharine Trust, The Clean, Wodden Ships, Sic Alps, Pierced Arrows, Spiral Stairs, Blitzen Trapper, The 3D’s, Marble Valley, The Authorities and Wildbirds and Peacedrums.

Another Brief Memoir
By Jake Jakubuwski

Today it is hard to imagine horses on the streets of Baltimore, but when I was a kid they were so common that no one took any real notice. It was not unusual to hear a horse plodding up our alley with its harness bells tinkling, and the steel banded wagon wheels making a metallic racket all their own on the Belgian block pavement stones. Most often, the fellow driving the wagon was the “Junk Man,” looking for old newspapers, magazines, scrap metal, used clothes — anything that he could turn into cash. Also, of course, there were the “Arabbers” — hucksters that sold produce from their colorful (bright reds, yellows and blues) horse-drawn wagons. Like many kids in Baltimore, I used to work for the Arabbers. The pay wasn’t the greatest, but it was usually enough for a movie and a candy bar, and, perhaps, a Coke.

When we were living on Light Street, in South Baltimore, even the ice man delivered his ice from a horse-drawn wagon. Ice man? Yeah, ice man. In the late 1940s there were still lots of folks that didn’t have electric “Frigidaires,” but they did have thick-walled ice boxes, and the ice in them needed to be replaced on a regular basis. The ice man would come every other day or so, driving his wagon loaded with huge blocks of crystal-clear frozen water, a heavy canvas tarpaulin thrown over it to slow the melt. And you could hear him coming because, besides the clangor of his wagon wheels, he had his own chant to alert his customers. Slowly moving down the street or up the alley (with a dozen kids following behind, trying to snatch a piece of ice out of the wagon’s bed, the shards being viewed by them as a cool summer treat) he’d yell: “EyeEESE-mannnnnn! EyeEESE-mannnnnn!”

Many residents had signs with changeable numbers on them in their front window, so the ice man could tell how much the customer wanted. If you needed ice and didn’t have a sign, you could just holler and tell him how much. A dime’s worth? A quarter’s worth? Or, maybe a fifty cent block, if you thought that would be enough to make it through the weekend. The ice man would stop his wagon (shooing the kids away from the back ) and begin using an icepick to hack at one of the larger blocks to give the customer whatever amount they were willing to pay for — 25, 50, 75, even 100 pounds. After chopping the larger block to the proper size, the ice man, or his helper, would grab it with a large pair of black tongs and, using a burlap bag on his shoulder to help protect him form the cold, he’d leverage it onto his shoulder and carry it into the house and put it in the icebox.

During the winter months, we didn’t need to buy ice because our family had a window box. That was a box with a wire bottom to allow for drainage that hung outside of a window on the shady side of the house, in which we stored our eggs, butter, milk and other perishables. The window closed down on the top of the box and had a door in the front so you could easily get to the stored items. Folks that didn’t have a window box often had an open back porch where they would keep perishables in a crate, or other container. On top of the container would be a piece of wood with a brick or stone or piece of scrap iron holding the “lid” down so that stray cats and dogs — and any other free-roaming urban creatures — could not get at the goodies.

Our ice man came around even in the winter, too, with the difference being that he now delivered coal. If you had a coal stove or furnace, as we did, he’d back up to the basement window (or coal chute if you had one) and shovel the coal into the coal bin. Then, suddenly it seemed, when I was about eight or so, the ice man showed up driving a truck — the end of an era! The ice/coal truck had a large wooden body, and when delivering coal in the winter it backed up to the coal chute, the man raised the bed of the truck with a crank and the black lumps of energy ran out of the truck like a noisy, dusty river.

It was only a couple of summers until we had a Frigidaire and didn’t need the ice anymore. I guess a lot of folks in the neighborhood bought Frigidaires as well, because I have no memory of the ice man making his rounds after that.

Copyright © 2009 Jake Jakubuwski.

Jake Jakubuwski spent nearly two decades as an active locksmith and door service technician. He has been writing physical security related articles since 1991. Seventeen years ago, Jake wrote his first article for the National Locksmith Magazine and has been their technical editor for fifteen years. Pure Jake Learning Seminars©, his nationally conducted classes, are designed for locksmiths and professional door and hardware installers. For more information, click the “Pure Jake” link in the sidebar blogroll and under the “business” label. (And to read about Jake’s adventures as an “Arabber’s” assistant, check out a short piece on the subject — it was the September 14, 2009 post on this blog.)

 

Concentric (326/365 11-22-09)

Originally uploaded by CarusoPhoto

I saw these circular bike racks and knew there must be a photo in there somewhere. I tried a variety of angles, directions, and lens lengths. This was the one I liked the most.

———-

To read more about my on-going quest to make a photo-a-day, every day, in 2009–my Project 365–please take a moment to check out my post from December 30, 2008 appropriately titled, “Project 365” as well as my 50 day update, similarly appropriately titled, “50 Days? Already?” my more cryptically titled 100 day update, “Day 100…or The Last-Call, Whiskey-Soaked Plan That Didn’t Die,” the rather pedestrian-titled half-year update, “And in a Blink, a Half a Year is Gone…,” and the verbosely titled, “A Hard Time Seeing the Trees for the Forest –or- What I’ve Been Learning these Past 300 Days.”

Those Pavement reunion dates just keep on rolling in.

As things stand as of this minute, the first reunion show that the indie rock big dogs will play on American soil will be at the Sasquatch! Festival, which will come to the Gorge Amphitheatre in Quincy, Washington May 29-31, aka Memorial Day weekend.

At the moment, Pavement is the only band that the Sasquatch! organizers have announced; the full lineup is coming February 16.  So Mark your calendars… see you all there.

Check out Pavements newest released track “True Love” here.

Haftasonu için PicApp’den gelsin. Söyleyin hangisi çirkin ördek yavrusu?

Canelo’s eyes aren’t as evil looking as the owl in my backyard, and he’s friendlier and much more welcoming when I get home.

Beck är en sådan där artist jag kan tycka både bra och illa om. Tänk dig att man träffade en snubbe som var som Beck var i videon till hans megahit “Loser”, nu, år 2009. Mordplaner skulle smidas, pronto. En skönt surfig Cali-snubbe i bolivianska kläder som dessutom fejkrappar, jonglerar med eld och breakdansar till och med sämre än jag gör, men ändå precis fått ett fett skivkontrakt? Gud bevare mig väl. Men 1993 var en annan planet och andra värderingar gällde. Jamiroquai-mössan var het då. För första gången.
Loser är en av de videos jag mest associerar med ZTV som det var när jag gick i högstadiet. Allt skulle vara så jävla coolt, alternativt, slackigt, skejtigt och crazy som bara möjligt. Alla läskreklamer gick ut på att kidsen drack typ Pepsi Max och bara tokskejtade nerför en hemmabyggd ramp de byggt av ett valben eller nåt. Så totalt EXTREMT, bara WHOOOOOAAAA DUDE!!!! Missförstå mig rätt – jag älskade det då! Mestadels.
Så vem vet varför jag just nu fastnade för Loser. Loser kanske bara är rätt för min sinnesstämning just nu. I vilket fall skulle jag just nu gärna rengöra en bilruta, och täcka den blod utklädd till min polare Döden, eller varför inte sitta på ett bilflack iklädd astronautdräkt eller dansa med ett par cheerleaders i Den Negativa Dimensionen. Yo, cut it.
Beck – Loser

En annan bra 90-talsslackervideo är Pavements “Gold Soundz”, där de springer runt framför ett mall bärandes tomtedräkter, skjutandes pilbågar och hittandes ett par bilnycklar i en upptinad kyckling. 90-talet. Allt var så enkelt då.
Pavement – Gold Soundz (notera den crazy ironiska slackiga stavningen av “Soundz”)

rain – I couldn’t decide between the 2 pics, so here are both. I would really like sunlight that will last longer than 2 days at a time. I can’t take the gloom!

There probably isn’t a better band than Pavement to open up the Lost Treasures post category, as a few of their songs ruled the soundtrack to my awkward, mid-90’s – teenage years.  I first saw Pavement when I was 13 years old…Yah my mom dropped me off at the show…Yah I came home with a t-shirt and wore it the next day at school…what?!? My favorite Pavement album (well tied for 1st), Wowee Zowee, has spent the better part of the last 8 years hiding somewhere within my music collection…only to resurface right when word broke that they’ll be playing a few dates in 2010 (mark my words…every major festival.)  Here’s two of my absolute faves off Wowee Zowee, Father To A Sister Of Thought and AT&T.

Father To A Sister Of Thought

AT&T

Inspired by the news that Pavement may be releasing a Best Of record to coincide with their new reunion tour, we’ve decided to launch a new segment: Greatest Hits. For this, we pick one of our favorite bands and the tracklist for a hypothetical Greatest Hits Album by them. So, without further ado:

1. Stereo (from Brighten the Corners): As close as Pavement ever came to a mission statement, “Stereo” starts off this record with a jolt, showcasing Malkmus’ lyrical brilliance and unique voice.

2. Cut Your Hair (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain): Obviously, its imposible to have a greatest hits album without including the closest thing Pavement ever had to a hit, so might as well get it out of the way early.

3. Trigger Cut (Slanted and Enchanced):  “Trigger Cut” is a good example of the raw ability and inventiveness that Pavement showed, early in their career.

4. Grounded (Wowee Zowee): From there we go into “Grounded,” a strangely emotional song for a band that usually prefered cryptic distance. I love that jangly guitar part and the way the song just builds and builds.

5. Gold Soundz (CR, CR): Another one of Pavement’s catchier songs, ”Gold Soundz” feels like more of a breezy, high schoolish song than Pavement’s more distant stuff, but is still incredibly engaging.

6. Spit on a Stranger (Terror Twilight): Terror Twilight is generally considered the redheaded stepchild of the Pavement catalog, since it is missing the lo-fi charm and roughness of their other records. However, the band’s work with Nigel Godrich yielded a lot of excellent songs, most noteably this one.

7. We Are Underused (BtC): “Dying does not meet my expectations.” I think my favorite Pavement  lyrics are on Brighten the Corner and there are few as great as the nonsequiturs and general expressions on the ones on “We Are Underused”

8. And Then (The Hexx) (B-side to BtC): Pavement took a couple different shots at this song before ending up with a version on Terror Twilight. However, I prefer this one, with its sprawling repetition and general disinterest in pop music construction. I also wanted to put a couple B-sides on this record, since one of Pavement’s most interesting features is the fact that material that didn’t make the record was frequently as good as what did. 

9. Kennel District (WZ): ”Kennel District” is easily my favorite Spiral Stairs songs, a rambunctious and emotional crowdpleaser that’s every bit as good as anything Malkmus did.

10. Perfume-V (S&E): Pavement’s punk side shows through on this song, that also features one of my favorite vocal moments from the band (“she’s the got the radio active/and it makes me feel okay/I don’t feel okay) which blends some awesomely cryptic lyrics with Malkmus’ lilting, off-beat voice.

11. Box Elder (Slay Tracks 1933-1969): “Teenage Riot” much? That said, this song is the cream of Pavement’s early EPs; you’ve never felt as much like you’re in the room with the band as they’re playing with a song as you do listening to “Box Elder” and the bright, sunny, California feel of the song is infectious.

12. Half a Canyon (WZ): So let’s follow one of their simplest songs with one of their weirdest and most incomprehesible. By the time Malkmus starts screaming “Allez! Allez! Allez!” you’ll understand why Wowee Zowee never followed-through on the commercial potential of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain.

13. Range Life (CR, CR): Perhaps the most direct anti-music industry song on an album that’s full of them, all of the goofy controversy over Malkmus’ shots at some alt-rock contemporaries has melted away over time and what’s left is an indie masterpiece. “Range Life’s” melancholy and homesickness transcend its insider jokiness and the guitar work is spot on.

14. Frontwards (Watery, Domestic): Watery, Domestic was the first recording Pavement did with all five pieces, and it also produced this song, whose meloding, ringing guitar is still one of the most memorable in Pavement’s catalog.

15. Summer Babe (Winter Version) (S&E): Pavement started their first LP by taunting the pop charts, opening with the lyric “Ice baby.” But its a testament to the way the band so often mixed irony and emotion that the song has an unexpected weight and melancholy that has turned it into one of Pavement’s lasting contributions.

16. Fillmore Jive (CR, CR): One of my favorite album tracks, “Fillmore Jive” seems like two songs stuck together, and its epic, soaring rock feels like the right note to end a tribute to one of my favorite bands ever on.

What did I get wrong? What would you put on a Pavement Greatest Hits record?

Realized the other day I somehow missed the ferry (get it??) on soundtracking my Ikea adventures with the appropriate Pavement song.

Download

Self indulgent linkbackage showboating

Apartment Therapy

NYT City Room

Racked

Lesson here: Always assume there is a Pavement song to go with whatever you are writing. This is good, seeing as my upcoming topics of concern include AT&T and the unseen power of the picket fence.

Cross-legged, she on the pavement dumps her Prada bag, a white half moon of nonsequiturs.

Tampon.

Lipstick.

Receipts.

Cigarettes.

Lighter.

Brush.

Yesterday’s gum wad tissue wrapped.

Like an amnesiac, she sees everything, recognizing nothing. He smirks,

Watching over her like flies.

“I am not an idiot.”

“You could have fooled me.”

“You are a fool.”

Car door slam. Engine revs. Tires scream! Hey, did you hear there was an earthquake in California?

In Seattle, news said a man stole a monstrous SUV, led police on a high-speed chase, slamming  two cars. Quiet falls on a full moon.

Her cigarette burns just outside the window.

203477     โครงสร้างพื้นผิวทาง     Pavement Structures

การออกแบบโครงสร้างพื้นผิวทางแบบคอนกรีตและราดยาง ลักษณะการบรรทุกสมบัติของส่วนประกอบพื้นผิวทาง การกระจายหน่วยแรง ผลกระทบของตัวแปรเกี่ยวกับสภาพภูมิอากาศต่อเกณฑ์การออกแบบ การจัดการพื้นผิวทาง

(Structural design of rigid and flexible pavements; loading characteristics; properties of pavement components; stress distribution; effects of climate variables on design criteria; pavement management.)

(203477 มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์)

So I got me a new Canon 7D just 10 days ago.. I couldnt test it or try it out immediatley cuz I had some major school work to do and needed to prepare for my A.C.E exam.. BUT today some friends of mine had a music video to shoot for a class project and I was appointed job cameraman #3 with my 7D.. and it was beeeeaauuutttiiiful! Here are some images.. downsized a little for web.. the video footage will be uploaded soon when their project is finished in less than 2 weeks.