The Dodgers are in town this week and I'm going to the entire series. Tonight I showed up during the fourth inning with a $5.00 ticket and cheap food that I sneaked in from an outside vendor.
I got into the stadium and immediately noticed that an usher was absent from one of the lower level entrances, so I jumped on it and got into the lower section. Walking down, I was dumbfounded because the next usher was also missing from his or her post, so I kept moving. I got all the way down to the rows right behind the $130 diamond club seats with this view:
The crappy cell phone picture shows exactly how close I got for a mere $5.00. I did some solid scouting in on Wilson Betemit and Yhency Brazoban for my fantasy baseball league.
I tried to sneak into the diamond club seats during the 8th inning, which didn't work out so well. But honestly, the only thing that would have made the experience that much better would have been if the Dodgers won 10-0.
Oh wait, that actually happened.
In that case, it could have only been more awesome had I walked away with a foul ball.
I recently sold my old digital camera on eBay so that I could get a new one. Frustrated with how crappy my Rage Against the Machine pictures came out, I wanted a camera that could easily zoom far distances. So, I bought the Canon Powershot S3 IS.
I won't bother doing an in depth review of the camera, but you can find a really good one here, if you want. I just want to show how well the camera can pick up distant shots.
I take part in a tutor / mentoring program in DC. As part of the program, you take your kid out to do something they wouldn't normally get to do. Today another tutor and I took Phil and Tyler to Great Falls National Park. Naturally, I took a lot of pictures.
Take a look at how a picture would normally have come out with my old camera:
The reason I liked 28 Days so much was because I'm a huge fan of realism in movies. I can believe that there is a particularly virulent disease spreading that turns people into rage zombies. Beyond that, I didn't have to accept anything else in 28 Days at face value; everything could have plausibly happened. What makes the movie so great is that the realism raises several interesting questions about the fragility of modern society and human nature.
Although I enjoyed 28 Weeks, it lacked the realism that 28 Days had, making it significantly less intriguing. Here are my three main bones to pick with the film:
Don, the father and one of the bigger protagonists, would not have had full access to everything. Sure, I understand the need to get British citizens involved in the rebuilding process. But seriously. How would he somehow have access to everything in a highly sensitive, heavily militarized operation?
In the event of an attack, civilians would not be herded into a "safe" area in large numbers. If the virus did come back, the way to clearly keep it from spreading would be to have an immediate lock-down. Herding people to a "safe" area puts them out in the open to be bitten and in a room that, if breached, would have dire consequences for everybody in it. If everybody had simply been locked up exactly where they were when the outbreak started, the disease wouldn't have been able to spread.
Code Red. Really? The solution is to immediately kill everybody? I'm not buying.
That kind of poor military planning makes Iraq look like strategic genius.
That's not to say that the film failed to raise any good questions. Two very good ones came up.
Should Don have left his wife?
The noble answer to this question is of course no. But, when you think about it, he had no weapon in his hands, and his wife was clearly going to get infected anyway. Their two kids were still alive, and the dad had a chance of surviving. Better one parent than none, right?
How far will the virus spread?
At the end of the movie we saw that the virus spread to the mainland of Europe. The question now is how far the virus will spread. Will natural barriers like mountains prevent it from spreading far, such as the Alps, Carpathians, and Urals? What about deserts in the Middle East? Could the zombies make it past these obstacles and infect Asia or Africa? If it did travel to Asia, could it hop across the Bering Strait to North America? They would have to go through Siberia, which would make it a little hard for the zombies to run and bite people, since they would freeze. If they did get frozen, does the virus stay alive and dormant?
Will more people resistant to the virus emerge? If they do, is everybody screwed because they can pass for not being infected and get into secured territory?
This is a particularly interesting question because it will have to be addressed in 28 Months Later, planning for which has already started. Stay tuned for that one.
Yesterday I wrote about days one and two of Coachella 2007. As I noted at the end of that post, we were extremely exhausted by the end of the second day. We woke up for day three unmotivated to get to the polo field early. I wanted to see The Avett Brothers, but wavered in my determination. Luckily, Starr manned up and we all got there in time.
The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers is one of those very eclectic bands from North Carolina, not unlike the Squirrel Nut Zippers in many respects. The band combines old-time country, bluegrass, punk, pop melodies, folk, rock and roll, honky tonk and ragtime to produce a sound described by some as "grungegrass".
I was introduced to the Avett Brothers a year ago by Corinne, who taught with me in the Mississippi Delta. This past November I saw their show at Wolf Trap and was really impressed. I was definitely excited to see them again all the way out in California.
Despite being so far away from home, they had plenty of fans in attendance. Many of the people standing around me up front were from the mid-Atlantic region who were talking about previous and future Avett Brothers shows.
Even with the fans that they had in the crowd, it really seemed like they significantly tweaked their set to adapt to the Coachella atmosphere. The songs they played were much harder than many of the songs that they played at Wolf Trap in Virginia. Also, they made a point of thanking the crowd a couple times for being so hospitable and nice. It felt like the band thought it was so far out of its element at Coachella that might get rebuffed. The complete opposite happened. The crowd reception was amazing, and I've read several blogs from people that saw the show on a whim and loved them.
I wish they had stuck to some more of their classic tunes, but then again, they are heavily promoting a new album. Speaking of which, they will be on Conan this Friday. That's not to say they stayed away from their signature songs completely. "Distraction #74" was a huge crowd pleaser, along with "My Last Song to Jennie."
One interesting note is that Scott broke hardly any banjo strings. At the Wolf Trap show, he had to get one replaced literally every song. Starr and I counted him breaking a grand total of only two strings this go-round.
Rodrigo y Gabriella, Kaiser Chiefs, and Willie Nelson
After the Avett Brothers, I lounged for a while because there was really nothing playing that interested me. I got to the Rodrigo y Gabriella show knowing very little about them. I heard a couple of their songs, but didn't know them beyond that. As I walked away from the show, I was fully committed to buying their entire catalog. Their show was nothing to write home about, but their sound is phenomenal. Check them out if you get a chance.
I walked from Rodrigo y Gabriella to Kaiser Chiefs a bit exhausted, so I grabbed a Gatorade and found a seat in the bleachers at the Outdoor Theater. I was pretty relaxed for the show because I needed to save my energy for Rage. The only Kaiser Chiefs song I really wanted to hear was "Na, na, na, na, naa," but they didn't play it. It was a decent show anyway, though.
Before I got dinner, I had to check out Willie Nelson. He's such a legend that I would have felt awful not to. I was surprised that there were so many people watching his show on the main stage. But, then again, I think that people started camping for Rage seats that early. I only stayed for 10 minutes because I needed to eat, but Willie Nelson's show was also pretty good from what I saw. He was very folksy, introducing everyone in his band and telling quick stories about them. Sometimes it's good to hear a little genuine, non-Tim McGraw country music.
Before Rage Against the Machine started, Crowded House had to finish their set, and Manu Chao would follow. As expected, the Rage fans were complete assholes to Crowded House, a mellow British band. Granted, Crowded House sucked. But when the crowd is flipping the bird instead of waving arms back and forth, you've gotta be at least a little sympathetic to the performers.
By the time Crowded House was done, I had met up with Lindsay. Our plan was to get as close as we could for Crowded House, push our way up after their set, and push forward even more after Manu Chao. We got pretty close after Crowded House was done, but came to a barrier between sides of the crowd. We decided that it would be far enough away that we would be safe from the crazy Rage fans, and we had a decent view, so we stayed.
Now, if you've heard Manu Chao's records, you know they are very good, but also very subdued. I was really worried about how the crowd was going to react to Manu Chao, especially after giving Crowded House the one finger salute.
Well, those worries were quickly put to rest as soon as he came on. The contrast between his albums and the live performance couldn't be greater. The songs were packed with energy, and they straight up rocked. Check out this decent bootleg of "El Hoyo" to see what I'm talking about:
The crowd totally dug Manu Chao, which, given the clientèle, was pretty amazing. I'm definitely going to look for a live Manu Chao album. They were by far the biggest surprise of the festival. Definitely see them if you have the chance.
Manu Chao finished and people tried to jostle for better positions, but pretty much everybody in the crowd was waiting for Rage Against the Machine. The crowd around us was really tame during Manu Chao, so I expected everything to be alright for Rage. I figured the crazy Rage fans would all be up front.
Well, that turned out not to be the case. As soon as Rage came out to the stage, people started pushing forward all the way back where we were, crushing us. When you find yourself in this situation, you tend to move in the direction that the crowd moves you, which started to separate me and Lindsay. I already felt bad having dragged her into the crowd and wanted to make sure she got out ok. It wasn't long before I couldn't see her anymore and couldn't take having to fight to remain standing anymore, so I fell back. After I regained some energy, I went back to look for Lindsay in the mass of people, but to no avail. Not knowing what to do, I fell back again to where the crowd was a bit more tame. Eventually I got a text message from her saying she was ok, but I spent about a third of the show worrying about her.
Once that ordeal was over, I could finally enjoy the show, the set list for which was this:
Testify
Bulls on Parade
People of the Sun
Bombtrack
Bullet in the Head
Down Rodeo
Guerrilla Radio
Renegades of Funk
Calm Like a Bomb
Sleep Now in the Fire
Wake Up
Freedom
Killing in the Name
Lindsay found some awesome footage of the show. Check it out:
I was especially pumped that they did "Wake Up," which in my opinion doesn't get the credit that it deserves. The big surprise of the show was this rant that Zach de la Rocha went on in the middle of "Wake Up:"
A good friend of ours said that if the same laws were applied to U.S. Presidents as were applied to the Nazi's after World War II, then every single one of 'em, every last rich white one of 'em from Truman on would have been hung to death, and shot. And this current administration is no exception. They should be hung, and tried, and shot. As any war criminal should be. But the challenges that we face, they go way beyond administrations. Way beyond elections. Way Beyond every four years of pulling levers. Way beyond that, because this whole rotten system has become so vicious and cruel, that in order to sustain itself, it needs to destroy entire countries, and profit from their reconstruction, in order to survive, and that's not a system that changes every four years, it's a system that we have to break down generation after generation after generation after generation after generation. Wake up!
You can bet that Fox News had a good time reporting on that one. Check out their irresponsible journalism and idiotic commentary here and here. The Heritage Foundation commenting on Rage Against the Machine? Really?
They closed the show with "Killing in the Name," which I fully expected. Zach changed the second refrain from "Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses" to "Some of those who burn crosses are the same that hold office" It's the same change that he made at the DNC protest in 2000 and the change in Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, their final album. In the middle of my fist pumping and jumping, I saw that a guy near me knew the lyric change was coming as well as I did. We gave each other a big, angry high-five.
Once Rage was done, the mass of people funneled out of the polo grounds. As we were walking one person started shouting, "F--- you I won't do what you tell me!" and the whole crowd around me started chanting with him.
If only the energy that Rage brings out in people could be channeled into something productive ... but that's the topic of a future post.
My friend Tara is in Iran right now and started a blog about her travels called Tara in Tehran. It's got some pretty interesting and funny stories that are incredibly well written. Definitely worth checking out.
For the uninitiated, Coachella is a multi-day music festival held in Indio, CA. This year was the first time the festival stretched three days. The location is very close to my hometown, but I never actually made it to a show, either because they cost too much in past years or the artists weren't a strong enough draw. This year, several bands I've wanted to see signed on, most notably Rage Against the Machine, so I finally made the trip.
Wait, No Day One?
Yeah, I'm skimping on an entry for day one because most of the performers really weren't my bag. I will say a few things, though. I arrived and immediately went to the Comedians of Comedy. Despite the train whistle blaring behind us through most of that show, it went really well. Particularly funny were Aziz Ansari and Zach Galifianakis. Galifianakis ended his routine by running around and dancing to the tune of "Tomorrow" while tearing through messages on his easel, the last of which read "KILL DANE COOK." Priceless. Transcript and Youtube links here.
My guess is that they were trying out comedians for the Coachella lineup, and I think it went really well. Besides the comedians, I saw Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, Sonic Youth, and Bjork. As I said, I wasn't heavily invested in any of these groups, so I'll sum up the day quickly.
Rufus was good, but I couldn't stay long. I think I might check out a Jarvis album. I left during the first Sonic Youth song. My Bjork experience was plagued by a blond, WASPy girl's dreadlocks that kept hitting me in the face. In retrospect, I wish I had seen Gogol Bordello instead of Bjork. Alas.
Now, onto Day Two.
Afternoon Haze
On our second day we made the mistake of parking at a friend's house instead of the polo fields. It was a mistake because we didn't realize we would have to walk over a mile in the heat to get to the festival gates. I lost a ton of energy and don't really remember much about Fratellis or Peter, Bjorn, and John. The only thing that I do clearly remember was that Peter, Bjorn and John had a recording play for the catchy whistle in "Young Folks" while they faked whistling.
The Decemberists
I left Peter, Bjorn, and John early to get a good seat for the Decemberists, and I'm really glad that I did. I was hoping for their older tunes because I hadn't listened to their new CD, The Crane Wife, extensively. But, most of the stuff that they played was off of their new album. Here is the set list:
The Crane Wife 3
The Island
July, July!
Oh, Valencia!
The Perfect Crime #2
The Mariner's Revenge Song
The new songs didn't detract from the show, though. They played "July, July!" with tons of energy and the crowd was eating it up. When they got to "The Perfect Crime #2," they held an impromptu dance contest to the funk bass line of the song. It's still not clear who won the dance contest.
You probably noticed how short the set list is, and that happened for two reasons. First, they stretched their songs out a little longer than they usually are, especially with the addition of dance contests. The second reason is that "The Mariner's Revenge Song" went on for at least 15 minutes, which culminated with them bringing the whale onstage. It was epic.
All told, the Decemberists were pretty amazing. They were definitely one of my favorite acts.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Once the Decemberists were done, I rushed to get food so that I could go get a good spot for the Arcade Fire -- not that I really wanted to see them; I just wanted to get a good spot for the Chili Peppers. I got to Arcade Fire and watched the show. I was honestly not very impressed. Their intensity was there, but I couldn't get down with their sound. I realize that such an assertion is probably heresy to all the hipsters that love Arcade Fire, but oh well.
Arcade Fire finally finished and I rushed to the front for the Chili Peppers. I was only 20 feet from the stage when they started. But then the crowd started pushing for the stage, which crushed everybody in front, including me. After pushing around in the crowd until I got within 10 feet of the stage, I gave up. It wasn't worth it to be smashed against everybody just to be close to the stage, so I moved to about 30 feet back from the stage by the end of "Can't Stop." The energy was perfect there. The guy filming this video was almost as close as I was:
Here is the set list:
Intro Jam
Can't Stop
Dani California
Baby Appeal Jam (Anthony en Flea)
Otherside
Readymade
Throw Away Your Television
Songbird (John Solo)
Snow ((Hey Oh))
Get On Top
She's Only 18
Flea Solo
Higher Ground
I Feel Love
This Velvet Glove
Don't Forget Me
Give It Away
C'mon Girl
Under The Bridge
By The Way
It was a really long set, especially given that they only had an hour and 15 minutes scheduled. But, when all was said and done, they went for an hour and a half, even after starting 10 minutes late. Maybe Tiesto was late arriving, or maybe they just realized that nobody really cared about Tiesto, but they let the Chili Peppers put on a monster show.
The most awesome part of the Chili Peppers' show was that by the end, when everybody started showing fatigue, the crowd just sang along to "Under the Bridge" and "By the Way." As a Californian, I do feel a stronger connection to the Chili Peppers songs than most, I imagine, and think that many in the crowd were in the same boat. That's the vibe I got, especially from the girl next to me who sang with me.
Tesla Coils
Once the Peppers were done, so was I. I tried to check out Black Keys and the Rapture, but I didn't have the stamina. I sat exhausted by the tesla coils while I waited for Starr and Laila to finish their last shows. Then we walked the mile back to the car. I don't ever remember falling asleep as fast as I did that night.
If anybody out there is at all curious about what exactly the No Child Left Behind Act does and what Congress might be doing to change it, NPR's Justice Talking did a great NCLB piece. Besides the teacher in the beginning, who I completely disagree with, the commentary is really good. Play the audio here:
To really get a gauge for where these two candidates stand, look no further than the bills they have authored for this new, Democratic 110th Congress.
Barack Obama
Right out of the gate, Obama came out swinging. On the first day of the new Congress, he introduced two bills, S.114 and S.116. Analysis of the bills is revealing.
S.114, also known as the "Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act," is a bill that will award competitive grants to ten urban and ten rural / suburban school districts. With the grants awarded, the selected districts would be charged with:
Implementing education data systems that evaluate student progress, identify and share best teaching practices, and rigorously assess student learning
Recruiting and retaining highly effective teachers
Allowing higher pay scales for highly effective teachers that teach in the lowest performing schools
Supporting teacher academies to recruit and place talented teaching candidates
Rigorous principal recruitment and placement
Principal autonomy to hire and fire staff
In short, Obama wants to give a select few districts the tools and support they need for all students to achieve at high levels, and give principals the authority to ensure that it happens.
This kind of reform could never happen on a large scale, at least not now, anyway. The teachers' unions are vehemently opposed to these types of reforms because teachers are in a comfortable position where, because of collective bargaining agreements, it is very difficult for a principal to hold them accountable for educating students.
That said, it could be possible to get a mere 20 districts to institute these reforms.
On an interesting side note, this Innovation Districts Act seems to be a perfect example of the way Obama approaches change. In March, The New Republic wrote a piece on Obama's philosophy for bringing about change, all of which is rooted in his Chicago community organizing days. Obama was a student of Saul Alinsky, who created a community organizing framework that works for change in the world as it exists, instead of interpreting things through an academic or idealistic prism. In other words, it's pragmatism over idealism.
You see this philosophy playing out in S.114. The only way that real reform can take place is little by little. We can talk all day about how things should be, but actually bringing them about is a long, slow process. Obama's solution: start 20 districts with these changes and study them. Find out what works and what didn't. Then refine and expand. Repeat. The case for reforming schools becomes more practical, less idealistic, and much stronger as time goes by.
Obama's other major bill, S.116, also known as "Summer Term Education Programs for Upward Performance Act of 2007" or the STEP UP Act of 2007, is a very pragmatic proposal.
"Summer slump" is a phrase in education used to describe the material that students lose between grades during the summer. At the beginning of a school year, teachers have to reteach material that kids should know, thus leaving less instructional time in the school year for new material.
The STEP UP Act is a proposal to remedy that problem by creating a grant program for states to establish summer learning programs in schools and / or youth developmental organizations for poor students and districts that need it most.
If teachers didn't have to reteach, say, a month and a half of material each year, that would leave room for 18 months of extra learning through grade 12. That's two whole extra school years of learning per student, all told.
So those are Obama's two main educational initiatives, both of which are pretty impressive. Let's compare to Hillary's proposals.
Hillary Clinton
From January 4th to March 9th of the new Congress, the only education bill that Hillary Clinton put forth was S.651, the "Promoting Lifelong Active Communities Every Day Act," or the PLAY Every Day Act. The purpose of the bill: to promote the federally recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
Yes, that's right, with the new Democratic majority, Hillary's only contribution to education was to suggest that everybody get enough exercise.
Finally March rolled around and Hillary proposed S.837, the "Improving the Leadership and Effectiveness of Administrators for Districts Act," or the I LEAD Act.
The purpose of I LEAD is to create a national program to recruit better principals. Despite all of the research showing that teachers are the biggest influence in student achievement, Hillary is going after principals.
Why? Well, she's pandering to the teachers unions. Teachers often report tension with administration as one of the biggest problems at school. My read is that Hillary is pushing this small-scale program as if it will somehow alleviate tension between principals and teachers.
Not convinced that it's a politically calculated move? She followed through last week by going out of her way to rail against No Child Left Behind to the New York State United Teachers. Talk about preaching to the choir for political gain.
I finally received all the responses to all of my law school applications and looks like I will be attending UC Hastings this fall.
You're probably thinking, "UC Hastings? Is that new?"
It's actually pretty old. In fact, it's California's first law school, founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, the first Chief Justice of California. The reason you've probably never heard of it is because it's only a law school. There are no undergraduate programs, sports teams, etc.
I can't tell if the school mascot is official or unofficial, but it's a shark. I'm inclined to think that it's a play on the animal lawyers are most often compared to.
Anyhow, I'm very excited but also scared for the infamous 1L experience. I've been told that after doing Teach For America, it's not nearly as hard as the first year of teaching, but I'm still pretty wound up about it.
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Right out of the gate, Obama came out swinging. On the first day of the new Congress, he introduced two bills, 
From January 4th to March 9th of the new Congress, the only education bill that Hillary Clinton put forth was 
