And How Have You Been?

Fair warning - this post is going to spray to all fields. But first, a bit of an explanation. 

For some reason, the firewall at work blocks access to Blogger. I can upload any file I want to Google Drive, but blogging is verboten. My new setup is to write bulk text when inspiration hits in a text document in Google Drive, then copy and paste into Blogger (and edit, usually) when I get home later. How's it working? Check the (lack of) archives.

And so, this evening I went through the fragmented ideas I've squirreled away, and found this interesting bit of politics from August 24th of this year:

To Chris Christie:

“Waited silently”? Is that really what you’re going with? Don’t you remember this guy, from only 9 months into the Obama campaign?

Plus, don’t you have a majority at the moment? Make laws and quit complaining about how awful Obama is. He’s doing something to help people while you focus on helping companies.

In light of Christie's kind words for Obama after the hurricane ran roughshod over his state, his criticisms seem less cutting now. I applaud him for considering the humanity over the politics when it mattered (and for designing those awesome sweatshirts - they've inspired me).

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A brief rant about how Google may have worked toward the end goal (an all-encompassing ecosystem like Apple's) before solidifying the components. Remember Google Wave?

Google Alts

Google does lots of things very well and while they seem to improve user interfaces, they also still have baffling disconnects in some areas. Sometimes, it’s just nicer to use a different program than the Google standard.

Vimeo > YouTube (my opinion, only, and by the slimmest of margins)
Wordpress.com > Blogger.com
Flickr > Picasaweb

 I also meant to touch on Android here, as it's a Google property. I don't understand why they didn't just replace the native Android music player with Google Music. The native player has a nice lock-screen control panel, GM doesn't. GM can stream music, native player can't. I know it's a big company, but surely someone within it uses both apps, right?

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And finally, a tip o' the hat to one of my all-time favorite bands, The Flaming Lips:

The Flaming Lips

I just watched the documentary on the Flaming Lips called “The Soft Bulletin” on Pitchfork, and it brought out some odd feelings. I am proud of them. Talk about an anomaly - they’re a garage band making grandiose, artsy records on Warner Brothers. I’ve been trying to get away from the major labels (more specifically, from supporting the RIAA) but the Flaming Lips have made that impossible.

From the time I became aware of them, their music definitely stood out in a crowd of post-punk, genuinely independent bands. I’ve followed most everything from Oh My Gawd through their most recent releases. I’ve not loved everything they’ve released, but it turns out they have had misgivings about a record or two as well.

You should find Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd on Twitter and follow them. Interesting dudes.

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Thank you for your indulgence. I'll do my best to get regular again.