Today is the 35th anniversary of the release of U2’s The Joshua Tree.

I was in college studying music at the time—meaning I was an insufferable twat—but I must’ve played this CD every day for weeks. (Along with everyone else, it seemed.) Which makes me wonder: When was the last time there was such unanimity around a pop music event?

I don’t mean being subjected to whatever tops the Billboard charts at any given moment (1987 also saw a lot of dreck, like Buster Poindexter and Richard Marx); I mean the appearance of a genuine work of art that not only unites disparate tastes, but also achieves both critical and commercial success. Maybe…Nirvana? Radiohead? I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that it saddens me a little at how fractured our culture has become. Part of the reason it’s worth acknowledging The Joshua Tree, or The Wall, or Sgt. Pepper, is that these are shared experiences. “The soundtrack of our lives,” and all that. But with the demise of radio and everyone “curating” their own playlists, I’m afraid those days are long gone.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  comments(1)

cupidity (noun) Excessive desire, especially for wealth; covetousness or avarice. [Middle English cupidite, from Old French, from Latin cupiditas, from cupidus, desiring, from cupere, to desire.]*

“So what do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

Sloan didn’t know why he admitted it. Usually he told women he was a graphic designer—the sort of job that practically guarantees a second date. But then he saw the cupidity in Frederica’s eyes.

“A writer?” She said breathlessly, moving in closer. “Tell me more.”

N.B. No, this has nothing to do with yesterday’s post. I just happened to come across the (apparently misspelled) adjectival form of cupidity this morning in a delightful account of the “not-so-unlikely friendship” between Vladimir Nabokov and William F. Buckley, Jr.

*American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fourth edition (2000).

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

“Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics,” said Wallace Sayre, “because the stakes are so low.” If he were still around today—Sayre died in 1972—he’d probably see in the latest Grammys kerfuffle even more evidence for what came to be known as Sayre’s law.

Don’t get me wrong: Jon Batiste’s “Movement 11′” is absolutely not a classical composition. Check it out for yourself:

But how could anyone say—with a straight face, anyway—that “this jeopardises the credibility of the Grammy awards”? They’ve a been a joke for years. Led Zeppelin, who produced arguably the greatest four-album run in rock history, was nominated only once (for Best New Artist, which they lost to Crosby, Stills & Nash). Meanwhile Skrillex—Skrillex!—has won eight freaking Grammys. I mean, everyone knows how bad they are at this, right?

So, yeah. Awarding Best Classical Composition to Batiste would be dumb. But it wouldn’t be the dumbest thing the Recording Academy has done. Not by a long shot.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Spokane: “We’ll try to get the city plowed in three days.” Montréal: “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Somehow I missed this film when it was released 25 years ago; I watched it with the missus over the weekend and was utterly transfixed. (What? You want a recommendation for something a little newer? Fine. The Last Duel is likewise excellent.)

Now this is a recipe I can get behind.

Tyler Cowen defends an album that shouldn’t need defending, but, well…here we are. (Obligatory old-man-yells-at-cloud comment: In 1966 alone, we saw the release of Pet Sounds, Blonde on Blonde, Revolver, Aftermath, Sunshine Superman, Freak Out!, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. What the hell’s happened to pop music?)

Brooklyn in the 1970s.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Feeling lost? Don’t know which way is up? Needing some direction in your life?

Here are all the answers for you road warriors out there who unthinkingly head out on America’s interstates and highways, never questioning who numbered them and why.

Of course there’s a plan. And of course it makes sense—until it doesn’t. So maybe don’t toss your GPS just yet…

posted by: Linda Anderson  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Big surprise: Deviations in word prevalence scores between men and women “tend to follow gender differences in interests (games, weapons, and technical matters for males; food, clothing, and flowers for females).” And the gaps are significant.

But when I actually look at the table itself, it’s…a little unsettling. I was familiar with 16 of the 20 words known better by males; 14 of the 20 known better by females.

There can be only two explanations for this. Either I’m not as manly as I’ve been led to believe, or my superhuman brain has given me powers well beyond those of normal men.

Pretty sure we all know what the answer is.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Ever wanted to hear The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English? Today’s your lucky day.

Wikitrivia! My best streak is 20. Beat that—no cheating—and I’ll write something nice about you on this very blog.

The “graveyard of ideas” that is TED.

Wondering what to get that special someone for Valentine’s Day? How’s about a horny teddy bear?

And finally, what I’ve been reading lately.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Behold the World Loanword Database!

Coming to us from the fine folks at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, WOLD “provides vocabularies…of 41 languages from around the world, with comprehensive information about the loanword status of each word. It allows users to find loanwords, source words and donor languages in each of the 41 languages, but also makes it easy to compare loanwords across languages.”

Guess I’ve got my evening sorted, then.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment