Am I allowed to mention physics here? How about if it’s a rap video?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Am I allowed to mention physics here? How about if it’s a rap video?
I’m down at this funky coffeehouse in Fargo, the Red Raven, watching Roy Zimmerman set up. It’s not too late, the show starts in a half hour, so you Dakotans better come on over! It’s a nice cozy little venue, and a great place for a performance.
Definitely a great performance — Roy is great about making you laugh over situations that ought to make you cry. I heard a few new songs, including one about Sarah Palin that must have been written in just the past few days. Here’s my obligatory fanboy picture:
If you missed him tonight, there are more chances. He’s about halfway through his 48 state tour, and he’s going to be spending the next few days in Minneapolis/St Paul. He’s not actually participating in the Republican National Convention (good thing, too: I think somebody would shoot him in the face), but is doing shows at various venues around the area, so check his website to see the details of his schedule.
This is important: he isn’t booked yet for every single day! If you know of an organization that could use a little relief from the oppressive atmosphere of the RNC this week, bring him in and give him the opportunity to spread a little liberal humor.
Shortly, I’ll be heading north to the lovely town of Fargo for an evening of fine entertainment. Roy Zimmerman will be playing at the Red Raven Espresso Parlor at 8pm! Come on down!
If there any other Pharynguloids in the eastern North Dakota area, let’s try and pack the house!
You can watch it here. She did as well as she could, but whoa…this is a perfect example of how Stephen Colbert will tromp all over an interview for comic effect.
Once upon a time, I made some unfortunate remarks about knitting, and I felt like I’d prodded Madame Defarge, which is never a good idea.
But really, I love you guys, and here’s a whole page of cephalopod craft patterns to show it.
They’re remaking The Day the Earth Stood Still…with Keanu Reeves! It looks very, very bad. What did they think they had to add to a SF classic? More special effects?
(At least there’s one bit of good news: Watchmen looks fabulous.)
Hey, the next episode of the History Channel’s series on evolution is coming up soon: Evolve: Sex. I don’t quite have the stamina to liveblog it tonight — I’m ready to fall asleep sitting down — but I’ll be tuned in and trying to watch it.
I got a request from a reader that I’ll just pass on directly to any musically-inclined readers here…
Any chance Pharyngula readers can help? I have been writing and posting songs under the band name Natural Wastage on Soundclick.com (a sort of music version of myspace/facebook, I guess) for a while, and whilst re-installing some songs last month, I was struck by the number of Christian related genres available. Therefore, in mid July I emailed Soundclick and asked
“Looking through the categories I note that while there is Christian Rock, Country and Rap, Contemporary Christian pop and Pop and Urban Gospel, there is no category for atheist music. Can I ask you, initially, to create ‘Atheist Rock’ as a sub-genre of Rock. This is the category that most of my recent and current music writing falls into”. The reply was I got was
“At this time there has not been enough requests for this genre to be added, so we will not be adding it. Thank you for your suggestion though.”
Best Regards,
Ally Byrd
SoundClick Staff
support@soundclick.comWhat I’d like to ask is whether there are any song writers or performers reading Pharyngula who feel as I do, and if so, would they be prepared to contact Soundclick with a request that they add an Atheist Rock, or Atheist Folk, or whatever, to their list of genres. Please note that I would NOT suggest a blanket, mass emailing by large numbers of people UNLESS, AND ONLY IF they are genuinely prompted by an individual unfulfilled, unrequited need to listen to, or write for, these particular genres. There is absolutely NO reason to suppose Sounclick’s response is anything but honest. So let’s be honest ourselves.
Hmmm. I can think of a few bands with an atheist sensibility (maybe readers can name more here!), but most of their music, with some exceptions, simply doesn’t say anything about gods or jebus or magic spirits dwelling in the trees or whatever. There probably is a dearth of explicitly atheist songs because most are about real subjects, rather than not-real subjects…and you can’t just say that any song that doesn’t mention a god is an atheist song, or you’d have to call the Beach Boys an atheist band.
But hey, maybe there’s a thriving genre out there that I’m missing. If so, let us know about it and try to show Soundclick the light.
Some commenters have asked for an open thread to discuss the Olympic games. Your wish is Danio’s command.
In the spirit of International cooperation and community building, here’s an interactive geography challenge that someone linked to in the comments of some long forgotten post last month (if you want to identify yourself to me I’ll happily give you credit up front). Can you identify all 204 nations participating in the 2008 Games?
