Diario

I'm a very politically active person, and just to keep myself sane I try to put my politics on my political journal (http://www.xanga.com/elokin_of_the_swift_feet) and my music commentary here, but lately the two have been merging on the issue of Net Neutrality.

First, a little on Net Neutrality:

It's frustrating that soon my own personal noise might be muted because big telecommunications providers don't like what I have to say (or that I'm not willing to pay to say it). I wrote about this before (http://www.xanga.com/elokin_of_the_swift_feet/483717762/listen-up-peeps.html), but I feel the need AT&T and Verizon are lobbying to get Network Neutrality taken out of Internet law. In a nutshell, network neutrality is what keeps Internet users deciding where they want to go on the Internet. It makes the decision of what email service, search engine, blogs, net stores, porn sites you want to go to yours, when telecommunications companies have the technology and the will to make that decision their own. For a more eloquent (and visual) explanation of Net Neutrality, go here: ([url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U";).

An Illustration:

Let's take a walk in Elokin's Internet journey. Today I got an email from moveon.org. I was immediately grateful, in light of AOL's use of its telecommunications power to block emails from dearaol.com (http://news.com.com/AOL+charged+with+blocking+opponents+e-mail/2100-1030_3-6061089.html), a group that is protesting AOL's adoption of a policy that requires marketers to pay to send email. MoveOn asked me to publicize a protest (http://www.savetheinternet.com/=press5) by exercising my own Internet freedom and writing about it. The protest had several speakers, most notably the musician Moby, each discussing the fate of the Internet should Net Neutrality come to an end. Getting this email, I thought about writing an entry about it and went to read my blogs on bloglines. Another friend of mine had written her own entry (http://barcetta.livejournal.com/140429.html?view=410765#t410765) on the subject, and I mused on the fact that, were Net Neutrality to be taken away I may or may not be able to access her blog. For more on how Net Neutrality affects bloggers, check out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5RQrxkGgCM) from the aforementioned blog. So then, all riled up, I sat down to write. You guys know how I am with the links, and after a minute I was inserting left and right. All of my links took me where I wanted them to without any corporate-sponsored delays.

Relevance:

There is a coalition of artists dedicated to Net Neutrality. Their spokesperson is Moby, but their ranks include REM, The Indigo Girls, Jill Sobule, Wilco, and Trent Reznor among others. This isn't really surprising, since the Internet is a major tool for artists to collaborate, record, get their music out, publicize, etc. I don't even have to mention last.fm itself, which would have to be much more corporate were it to continue to exist after net neutrality was revoked.

Just some food for thought.

In my time away I've been honing my pirate exchange skills. My roommate's (ladysinja) massive music collection has yeilded some particularly shiny jewels:

Feist: Oh so cute. I am especially digging the light melodies but pertinent lyrics of Secret Heart.

Alix Olson: How much do I love her? Amazing lyrics, politics just like mine, and beats like no other. I recommend Armpit Hair, america's on sale, and Eve's Mouth.

And a rediscovery: Cindi Lauper. She's amde another album, The Body Acoustic, and her sound has really matured. My old favorite of hers, Money Changes Everything, is especially excellent this time around.

Audra and the Antidote: A combination of mind-tickling ideas, brilliant lyrics, and a Sleater-Kinneyesque sound. I am listening to The Highschool Song.

Yay for new songs!

Am I the only one who both loves The Decemberists, but also notices that they are emo in the morbidly extreme (emo in the pop sense of the world, meaning overly emotional and dramatic)? I mean, let's review a list of their songs:

The Bachelor and the Bride: The Bachelor remains a bachelor because instead of waiting until the honeymoon and then getting consent, he rapes the bride.

Leslie Anne Levine: Leslie is a girl who was prematurely born in a ravine (I guess because it rhymed?).

Odalisque: A woman wants to kill herself after being raped and having a baby (both, it seems, because of the rape trauma and the child she could hardly support).

On the Bus Mall: The singer "doesn't mourn" his/her friend, who he/she used to turn tricks, do drugs, and just generally be a romanticized version of runaway homeless teenager with.

The Engine Driver: Again with the romanticized poverty, but add in that the bankers are tragically unhappy people, and that both are framed by the writer who is tortured by the world he/she refuses to engage.

Granted, these aren't their only songs. 16 Military Wives, whose video got me first hooked on them, is a nice commentary on the different domestic facets of war. And there are light, funny pieces like The Mariner's Revenge thrown in, but in between those exceptions there is a lot of classism and sexism, not to mention a really stereotypical picture of the East (think Infanta).

The last time I thought this much about a band, I found myself unable to enjoy Weezer...

Random challenge of my own design, for my benefit only:

List as many songs as you can with "Rubicon" in them (not as the title, but in the lyrics). I encourage you to use any meanas at your disposal to find songs (i.e. google is not cheating). I'll start you crazy kids off:

Better Version Of Me
High on Sunday 51

{hopes these songs will be fruitful and multiply}

I am really getting into Tori Amos. The songs I like the msot are things like Happy Phantom and Zebra. Can anyone point me more towards songs like that?